George's Fitness Articles
ARTICLE #14
The Low carbohydrate alcohol myth.
This subject is one that comes up a bit for people looking for a good excuse to drink alcohol and include it in their health and fitness regimine.
These beverages have been marketed as new and improved and a great way to drink if you still want to keep your body in good shape. that's at least what these multi million dollar marketing campaigns are making you believe.
Just want to share some facts about this and talk a little about why this is not the answer to a better approach to drinking while trying to achieve your fitness goals.
• Alcoholic beverages all contain calories, and most of the calories come from the alcohol. (We are speaking about straight spirits, wine, champagne or beer—not mixed drinks which make up more calories.)
• Alcohol is not a carbohydrate. It's classified as a sugar alcohol which contains 7 calories per gram of alcohol.
• Your body processes alcohol first, before fat, protein, or carbs. Thus drinking slows down the burning of fat. This could account for the weight gain seen in some studies.
• Hard liquor is distilled and thus contains no carbohydrates. The current "Zero Carb" campaign alcoholic beverages is a joke and may encourage mindless consumption. It’s like saying that a chocolate bar is "cholesterol-free."
• When grapes are made into wine, most of the fruit sugars (carbs) convert to alcohol, but a few carbs remain. A 5-ounce glass of wine typically contains 110 calories, 5 grams of carbohydrates, and about 13 grams of alcohol (which accounts for 91 of the calories). A 5-ounce glass of wine supplies roughly the same amount of alcohol and number of calories as a 12-ounce light beer or 1.5 ounces of 80-proof spirits.
• Beer, too, contains carbohydrates. The new low-carb beers are not new at all, though this type of beer does indeed have fewer carbs. Low-carb beers are simply the old light beers with a new label and ad campaign.
What alcohol regardless of strength can do to the body in time:
Arthritis
Increases risk of gouty arthritis
Cancer
Increases the risk of cancer in the liver, pancreas, rectum, breast, mouth, pharynx, larynx and esophagus
Fetal Alcohol Syndrome
Causes physical and behavioral abnormalities in the fetus
Heart Disease
Raises blood pressure, blood lipids and the risk of stroke and heart disease in heavy drinkers. Heart disease is generally lower in light to moderate drinkers.
Hyperglycermia
Raises blood glucose
Hypoglycemia
Lowers blood glucose, especially for people with diabetes
Kidney Disease
Enlarges the kidneys, alters hormone functions, and increases the risk of kidney failure
Liver Disease
Causes fatty liver, alcoholic hepatitis and cirrhosis
Malnutrition
Increases the risk of protein-energy malnutrition,; low intakes of protein, calcium, iron, vitamin A, vitamin C, thiamine, vitamin B6 and riboflavin, and impaired absorption of calcium, phosphorus, vitamin D and zinc.
Nervous Disorders
Causes neuropathy and dementia; impairs balance and memory
Obesity
Increases energy intake, but not a primary cause of obesity
Psychological disturbances
Causes depression, anxiety and insomnia
ARTICLE #13
Anti Aging
Here is a simplistic explanation why some people age a lot quicker than others and what can be done right now to keep your body young and healthy.
Oxidation is happens from the effects of free radicals on cells and tissues in the body. It is one of the primary sources of damage associated with aging.
Reducing oxidation in the body will dramatically reduce the damaging effects of aging.
Knowing how and why your body changes and what you can do to slow this process down, can extend your life by many years and keep you looking and feeling a million dollars. This knowledge can also help you age healthily and make the necessary life-style changes to avoid heart problems or strokes and stop developing such conditions as cancer, diabetes, high blood pressure and eye disease.
Our bodies normally make free radicals as part of daily metabolism. The real problems come when our ability to neutralize and eliminate these are non existent.
In addition, when we are exposed to certain types of environmental poisons, more free radicals enter our systems. Just 3 examples of this are cigarette smoke, alcohol and pollution.
The importance of antioxidants in your diet is the way you will combat the situation. These are the substances which fight the oxidative damage in our bodies. Mostly we get these from eating fresh fruits and vegetables.
So if you’re not getting your minimum 7 serves of fruit and veg a day I suggest you include that in your daily food intake today.
ARTICLE #12
Essential Fatty Acids
This is one subject that does come up a lot with my clients as to why these fats are so important and why we need them. So here are a few facts about them.
What are they?
Essential Fatty acids are essential to build cell membranes and for many of the important hormones and other chemical messengers that tell your body what to do.
‘Essential means’ you must get them from the foods you eat. Your body cannot manufacture them because the body lacks the enzymes needed to produce it.
There are 2 essential fatty acids which are: alpha-linolenic acid (ALA) and Linoleic acid (LA)
Alapha linolenic acid is an omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid and your body cannot function optimally without it
The body can break down ALA to make 2 other fatty acids: EPA and DHA. EPA and DHA are naturally found in fish such as salmon, trout and tuna.
EPA and DHA has some great health benefits which include: Treatment for depression and bipolar disease, lowering inflammation, reducing triglycerides in the blood lowering your risk of stroke, and keeping your bodies testosterone levels at an optimal level.
Linoleic acid is an omega 6 fatty acid. Without adequate LA, you may have dry skin, dry hair, poor wound healing and your body will have a higher rate of inflammation.
The typical western diet ratio is 6:1 even up 20:1 of omega 6 to 3. This imbalance causes many health problems.
The ideal ratio to follow in your daily routine is a 3:1 ratio of omega 3 to 6 fatty acids.
You should be conscious of maintaining 10-15% of your food coming from fats. If you’re daily carbohydrate consumption is lower then fats will need to be adjusted accordingly.
What foods contain fatty acids?
Foods high in omega 3: Salmon, tuna, trout, sardines, flaxseed oil grass fed beef, organic omega 3 enriched eggs and in small quantities in walnuts, cold pressed canola oil, wheat germ and dark green leafy vegetables (in tiny amounts).
Foods high in omega 6: Grain fed beef, safflower oil, sunflower oil, olive oil, macadamia oil, avocado, nuts
ARTICLE #11
Manage insulin to keep body fat levels down
Firstly I’ll explain a little about Insulin and what it can do for the body in a positive way and a negative way.
Insulin is a hormone produced by the Pancreas and is raised once blood sugar is raised in the body.
Insulin causes Muscle, Liver and Fat tissue to take up glucose from the blood.
When insulin is absent or low, glucose is not taken up by body cells, and the body begins to use fat as an energy source.
When your body has been fed a carbohydrate based meal your insulin rises to shuttle that blood sugar into the required cells whether it’s in the muscle, liver or Fat deposit depending on current glycogen storage in those areas.
The body requires a certain amount of glucose throughout the day to support all organs and keep your body function well.
Low carbohydrate Diets are so popular because of the results you can achieve from them over a period of time. It’s only when the low carbohydrate diets are taken to extremes by people with the lack of knowledge to structure a good food plan for their body type when they start to cause themselves more damage than healthy results internally, such as putting your body into ketosis (ketones build up in blood stream when you have very little to no glycogen in your liver causing your body to reach a high acid level) and causing your ph levels to switch from alkaline to acidic very quickly. Your body goes into defense mode from there as well as burning your body fat for energy it is also diving into that hard earned muscle you have worked so hard for to be used for energy.
The best thing to do to avoid a fat gain and control your insulin levels is to time your carbohydrate meals around the time you expend the most amount of energy (training) and after a fasted state (sleeping). Your body will use up all of that fuel considering you ingest enough carbohydrates according to your lean muscle weight.
Throughout the day keep your meals at a good portion of protein and some salads/vegetables and good fats and you will be reaching your goal in no time.
ARTICLE #10
Creating your mindset
If you’re training for a goal, whether it’s a personal challenge, for a competition or to get into your swimmers by summer should be easily achievable right?
With a good training program and nutrition plan the answer should be yes.
More times than not, planning the task mentally will have the positive result you’re looking for.
As a trainer I get to see first hand on a daily basis people chasing and achieving their dreams and when things are not going 100% their way, I also share in their frustration. I get to be part of their process which refers to the bigger picture of their training.
Whether you’re training to lose body fat, increase muscle, improve flexibility or any other goal you may have the structure and the visual aspect is crucial to the end result.
Make sure you sit back and really reflect on what you’re planning to accomplish. You never miss a meal, never miss a session and by the goal date you have just achieved what you have set out to do.
Thinking negatively and minimal changes will happen, think positively about your training and balance it accordingly with all aspects of your life, give it your all and you’ll get the best results possible.
Investment versus reward
The hardest part to stick to when you’re training hard is your nutrition. The specifics of the plan will change from person to person and goal to goal but food restriction of some sought will be required (not necessarily calories) and to reach your goals you’ll need to eat in a certain way. When people start to think of restricted calories, they think Diet and that results in pain and failure.
Rewarding yourself when a hard week of training is done or a weekly goal is reached is a positive aspect of your training as it will stop your body from feeling deprived of a certain food.
Reward yourself with quality not quantity
Cravings can be satisfied in 2-3 bites so to reward yourself don’t go out and buy a buy a block of cheap quality chocolate to ingest but instead get some good quality dark chocolate in small quantity to have.
So change the way of your thinking to go for quality rather than quantity.
In this situation the reward will be kept controlled and you won’t be overeating (which is one of the reasons people get fat in the first place).
So once you set your goal start the process of visualization and see the road ahead and with a detailed plan to follow, you will be on your way to the body you want.
ARTICLE #9
What is lower back pain?
Lower back pain can have many causes, such as a strained/pulled back muscle, disc problems, arthritis, or sacroiliac joint dysfunction. In cases where there has not been a definitive diagnosis, the next question that should be asked is: How long have you been suffering? Your pain will fall into one of two categories: acute (which indicates a recent occurrence) or chronic (the pain has been with you for an extended period of time).
What causes lower back pain?
The two most common reasons for lower back pain are trauma and muscle imbalances. Muscle imbalances can have a negative effect on your posture, leading to what are called "postural dysfunctions." These dysfunctions include abnormal alignment of the pelvis and abnormal curvature of the spine. This misalignment causes increased wear and tear on the joints, muscles, and ligaments—even the discs.
The most important thing to understand about any lower back pain is that, barring trauma, it doesn't happen overnight. You may be feel symptoms of back pain very quickly, but it takes a long time for the condition to get to the point where your back finally gives way and becomes painful.
What are the symptoms of lower back pain?
The majority of the complaints range from local pain to radiating pain in the legs or arms, depending on where the herniation is located.
Why do traditional lower back pain treatments fail?
Most traditional treatments fail because they simply address the symptoms and fail to address the cause of the condition. Your low back pain is a physical problem, and it requires a physical solution. There are no pills or injections that can restore postural balance in your body because they are unable to take the pressure off the nerve or make the joints work better.
Conclusion
A well planned weights program that involves training these imbalances will be the best ongoing solution to any back condition as well as having a structured nutrition plan to support the recovery process of training and create a healthy environment to support joint lubrication and save your joints/muscles from degeneration.
ARTICLE #8 - What is Lactic acid and what is the use of it?
As our bodies perform strenuous exercise, we begin to breathe faster as we attempt to shuttle more oxygen to our working muscles. The body prefers to generate most of its energy using aerobic methods, meaning with oxygen. Though interval training and weight bearing activity requires energy production faster than our bodies can adequately deliver oxygen so in this case our bodies will generate energy anaerobically. This energy will come from Glucose.
How this is done is through a process called glycolysis in which glucose is broken down into a substance called pyruvate.
When oxygen is limited generally within 30sec -3min of intensity, the body temporarily converts pyruvate into a substance called lactate and can build up to high levels in the body.
A side effect of high lactate levels is an increase in the acidity of the muscle cells. Even though this sounds like it would be counterproductive for this acid build up, it is a natural defense mechanism for the body that prevents permanent damage during extreme exertion by slowing the key systems needed to maintain muscle contraction. Once the body slows down, oxygen becomes available and lactate reverts back to pyruvate, allowing continued aerobic metabolism and energy for the body’s recovery from strenuous activity.
Lactic acid is not the sole cause of muscle soreness which occurs 24-72 hours after training. It is also the microscopic tearing of the muscle fibers that cause this inflammation in the muscle and the better you can recover after an intense session with a good quality protein source and antioxidant the better your body can rebuild and flush out the toxins from the stress buildup of training.
Article #7 - What is so important about the recovery stage of exercising?
Exercise or any other physical work causes changes in the body such as muscle tissue breakdown and the depletion of energy stores (muscle glycogen) as well as fluid loss. Recovery time allows these stores to be replenished and allows tissue repair to occur. Without sufficient time to repair and replenish, the body will continue to breakdown from intensive exercise. Symptoms of overtraining often occur from a lack of recovery time. Signs of overtraining include a feeling of general fatigue, depression, and decreased sports performance, increased risk of injury and lack of motivation just to name a few.
One or two nights of poor or little sleep won't have much impact on performance, but consistently getting inadequate sleep can result in subtle changes in hormone levels, particularly those related to stress, muscle recovery and mood. Some research indicates that sleep deprivation can lead to increased levels of cortisol (stress hormone), decreased activity of human growth hormone (which is active and crucial during tissue repair), and decreased insulin sensitivity. A good rule of thumb is aiming for 8 hours per night.
Adding appropriate recovery time into any training program is important because this is the time that the body adapts to the stress of exercise and the real training effect takes place. Recovery also allows the body to replenish energy stores and repair damaged tissues.
Always paying attention to how your body feels and how motivated you are will help in determining your recovery needs and modifying your training program accordingly and always keeping your trainer up to date with how you are feeling will help keeping your results continue and not come to a plateau stage.
Another major focus of recovery immediately following exercise has to do with replenishing amino acids (protein), energy stores and fluids lost during exercise and prevent muscle breakdown by eating the right foods at your post workout meal which should a good balance of protein, carbohydrates and fats (amounts depending on what your training goals are).
5 good examples are:
- A good high quality whey protein shake
- A piece of salmon, sweet potato and vegetable
- Tuna and brown/basmati rice
- Omelette with spinach, tomato and mushroom
- Chicken with a large garden salad and avocado
To sum it all up always remember that you should be feeding your body with quality ingredients after an intense workout and throughout the day to ensure your getting the fuel you need to recover and make the effort to get a good night’s sleep.
ARTICLE #6 - STAYING ON TRACK WITH A WELL BALANCED PLAN
Our bodies are very demanding. Our bodies expect us to eat balanced meals containing protein, complex carbohydrates, fruit and vegetables, essential fats, and goodies every now and then. They thrive on smaller meals throughout the day, the proper amount of calories for our body size and activity, and all the little things such as not eating at all hours of the night, not skipping meals and not loading our bodies with foods that lack nutrients or sugary drinks.
There are always consequences to your actions. Your body does the same thing through extra weight, decreased energy and low self-esteem–all results of irresponsible choices in our nutrition habits.
We are successful in so many other areas of our life such as, career, parenting, education, relationships and various hobbies, but when it comes to eating healthy we hardly fuel our bodies to function optimally. How many times have we tried a fad diet or insisted we were going to eat healthy for a few weeks in hopes of changing all of our bad habits over the years.
Demand more of yourself when it comes to nutrition. The most important consequences of our lives are staring us in the face – our healthy or unhealthy bodies –Period!
So either sit down and start writing down your training goals and keep a food journal or sit down with your trainer and work out a simple yet balanced and effective plan to keep you motivated and training hard.
ARTICLE #5 - WHY DO I NEED ANTIOXIDANTS
Toxins/Free radicals cause oxidation while antioxidants prevent oxidation.
When your body is in a toxic state your body builds up a lot of stress and raises cortisol which starts to cause nasty effects on the body such as breaking down muscle, water retention, limiting your immune efficiency, decreases bone density, decreases cell regeneration, and the body's ability to heal itself and ward off illness is considerably slowed down.
Basically anything that has to do with living can cause free radicals. Any stress we put on our bodies can cause free radicals. Other sources are polluted air, stressful event, processed foods and intense exercise.
Antioxidants are substances that prevent or slow down the oxidation process and are needed on a daily basis to prevent this build up of toxin in the body.
You should always be aiming to eat a range of different coloured foods as they differ in the types of antioxidants so it is important to have a diet that is rich in all food colours to ensure that you are getting adequate amounts of each antioxidant.
The key to this article is to really be aware of what you are putting into your mouth throughout the day and really think about what you are eating at times of stress and if it is the appropriate food to keep your body working at an optimal level.
ARTICLE #4 - THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN HIGH INTENSITY CARDIO & MODERATE INTENSITY CARDIO
This question comes up quite a lot to determine which cardio workout would be more beneficial to losing body fat without sacrificing hard earned muscle.
To specify high intensity cardio is based on getting your heart rate to 80% or over of your vo2 max for short periods of time, eg.10-45seconds of a sprint on a bike, running, swimming, etc. This kind of training will build up lactic acid in the muscle causing you to fatigue very quickly and will burn carbohydrate as your primary source of fuel and stimulates similar hormones to that of weight bearing activity. You should be fueled first before performing high intensity training of any kind.
A typical rest period for this kind of training will depend on your current fitness level which is ideally monitored on a heart rate monitor but varies from 1min-3min. Insufficient rest periods will cause you to not perform at 100% for your next interval while too long of a rest will prevent the workout from being effective to your goal.
Moderate intensity cardio is based on getting your heart rate to 60-70% of your vo2 max for longer periods of time, e.g. 40-60min of walking, cycling, rowing etc. This sought of training is better done when our glycogen (fuel) stores are lower i.e. in the morning when your body has been through a fasted stated during the night. This sought of training will use more fat for fuel during the period of training.
Both ways of cardio are effective but your body will adapt to lower intensity very quickly and will plateau sooner where as high intensity training performed effectively will use more of your body’s fat stores as fuel throughout the day as well as speeding up your metabolism. An example of what your body burns through the day is 1 calorie per minute. While performing high intensity training you will be moving that to 4 calories a minute for 3-5 hours then will drop to 2-3 calories per minute for the next 10 hours.
You should include both types of training into your schedule and listen to your body when you think you need a rest day to recover well.
ARTICLE #3 - BENEFITS OF BLUEBERRIES
Blueberries are considered a power food in modern society as they have strong antioxidant properties that are known to flush out free radicals from your body that build up from everyday activities such as driving, working, training, eating and list goes on.
A new study done shows that biological compounds found in blueberries may lower the risk of developing high blood pressure which is also known as hypertension.
Blueberries contain compounds known as anthocyanins, which are one type of flavonoid. Flavonoids, which are also found in dark chocolate, red wine and tea, are antioxidants and have been shown to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease. But the new study showed that anthocyanins in blueberries may work better than other flavonoids at keeping blood pressure low.
Of all the flavonoids, anthocyanins are known to be the most protective in terms of reducing hypertension.
Anthocyanins are also found in blackcurrants, orange juice and eggplant, cranberry, raspberry, blackberry, cherry.
ARTICLE #2 - TAKE CONTROL OF YOUR MIND
Take control of your mind and reach the goals you have always wanted to achieve.
Sometimes your mind can be your worst enemy. For some reason, most people think that they cannot accomplish something, like getting in shape. They see others who have done it successfully but they themselves do not have the conviction that they can do it. These people believe that if they try they will be unsuccessful. Some have tried a few times already and failed while others have not even attempted to try due to fear of failure.
My advice to you is simple. Take control of the way you look and of your life today! Get a well balanced nutrition/training plan and take action! I promise you that if you have the right mindset and nutrition/training plan, not only will you be able to accomplish your goals, but you will also be able to accomplish anything in life!
Be sure to keep a training log with you to write down your goals and progress. Having this information written down in front of you will only be a benefit to reaching your goals.
ARTICLE #1 - TRUTH ABOUT DIETING
The word DIET itself gives it away with the first 3 letters DIE.
Going on a diet normally means depriving your body of nutrients to break down cells and raise your body’s cortisol levels.
Research is continually showing that by under- nourishing our body it is not just fat we are burning off, it is more valuable cells that effect our muscles and things such as liver function, eye sight, kidneys and brain just to name a few. If body fat is the main area that you are concentrating on it is worth taking a lot more time to do it properly. There are way too many commercials on these new and improved fad diets/diet pills that claim they are responsible for burning up to 7 kilos of fat per week but you never seem to see them later on down the track or hear about their long term negative effects on the rest of the body internally.
The point is that the human body is only capable of burning 600-1200 grams of fat per week and for a lot of us its less.
The key to a good nutrition plan is balance and getting the right protein, carbohydrates and fats and micronutrients (vitamins and minerals) into your body so your body can break down any toxin/free radical buildup from everyday things like work/training/driving/environment.
