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Diet and supplements for the new year

January 16, 2012 / Staff

As you’re looking to the new year, like most people you’re probably thinking about some resolutions, and that will almost certainly involve diet and fitness. It’s only natural, and you should take advantage of this impulse. Yet try to make this something permanent. Don’t jump on a fad diet. Instead, if you’re going to try a diet, try one that can transform your lifestyle without a radical, unsustainable approach.

With rankings of the best diets of 2012, the Dash Diet got the nod for the best overall diet for 2012 according to U.S. News and World Report. There’s a reason for this. Basically, this isn’t a fad diet. It’s a diet built around lowering blood pressure, but the essence of the diet is overall health. It’s really about a common sense approach to eating, and if you can work towards this type of diet, you can accomplish many things from lowering blood pressure to improving your overall health.

The diet starts around the premise of lowering sodium intake. This is harder than you might think. You would be shocked to find how many foods in America are loaded with sodium. Start reading labels. Basically, most processed foods at the supermarket are loaded with sodium. Things like soup and lunch meat are also big problem areas.

The other premise is a significant increase in the fruits and vegetables you will be eating every day. This dovetails with the point above about processed food. Look, we’ve become lazy in this country. Most of the food we eat is fast, whether it’s from a drive-through or a processed meal from the grocery store. Go back to the basics – REAL FOOD.

Do your research and you’ll see if this diet is for you. Of course there are many other things to consider along with your basic diet. Workouts are critical, and you might find yourself shopping for a drugstore in Canada to get the supplements and vitamins you want to use as part of your fitness and health strategy.

The key is to get motivated but avoid the quick fix. Build up and get healthy for the long term. You’ll build good habits that are hard to break!

Diets, Nutrition

DASH diet new year's resolutions

Is Angelina Jolie too skinny?

January 16, 2012 / Staff

With the Golden Globes last night, everyone is commenting on the various celebrities as they prance around the red carpet and present awards on the stage. Everything from celebrity fashion to fitness is discussed, and everyone has an opinion. Usually, overweight celebrities get a ton of attention as that’s a very common problem in the country. But with actresses, we often have issues come up around actresses who get too skinny. This often happens as young starlets get older, and the try to get super fit and super cut in order too keep up their looks. Madonna and Demi Moore come to mind.

Last night it was Angelina Jolie’s turn to get the scrutiny. Tons of comments came through on Twitter suggesting that poor Angelina needed a sandwich. Judge for yourself, but she looks fantastic to us. Yes, she’s definitely gotten thinner, and none of us want to see Angelina’s curves go away, but the thinner look works well on her at this stage of her career.

This is the time of year when everyone is obsessed with weight, fitness and appearance as people face the new year and contemplate all sorts of New Year’s resolutions. The concerns tun the gamut from angst about waistlines or dry skin to concerns about hair loss for women. We project onto celebrities our own concerns and insecurities.

The key is to be comfortable in your own skin, while also being self-aware enough to be honest about areas where you can improve your appearance and your health. That’s really the first step, and then you have to be willing to make the changes to achieve your goals.

Diets, Nutrition

celebrity fitness Demi Moore fitness resolutions Madonna skinny celebs

Ray Lewis and the importance of diet in sports

January 13, 2012 / Staff

USA Today has a great profile of Ray Lewis leading up to this weekend’s playoff game. Lewis has had an incredible NFL career, and in this article we see why. He’s always been known as a workout warrior, but here we see how obsessive he is about his diet as well.

Stamped “P.M.,” the bag is filled with multicolored vitamin supplements. Before noon, the iconic Baltimore Ravens linebacker already had consumed a protein shake, egg whites, an apple, 2 gallons of water and a similar bag of “A.M.” supplements.
Lewis, 36, is explaining why he believes he has survived 16 NFL seasons — and still is playing at a Pro Bowl level as the Ravens prepare for Sunday’s AFC divisional playoff game against the Houston Texans— in such a physically demanding sport.
In addition to a relentless year-round conditioning regimen and aggressive therapy for the toe injury that sidelined him for four games this season, Lewis estimates he swallows 50 pills a day.
Then the veteran, hardly ready to declare this playoff run a prelude to retirement, reaches into the briefcase to show off his afternoon snack — another apple.
“I’m watching these guys, with their cheeseburgers and stuff,” he says. “And you’re going to compete against me? Even if you’re younger and faster, your fuel won’t let you beat me.”
His obsession for healthy eating is, well, notorious in the Ravens locker room.
“His diet is so ridiculous, even the people around him have to adjust,” linebacker Terrell Suggs says. “It’s crazy. Last week, I’m eating a bag of chips, and he throws ’em away.”
Lewis is a fish-and-vegetable man who hasn’t touched pork in 12 years and has eaten beef twice during that span. He also doesn’t drink soda or eat bread or sugar — except for scant exceptions. Like his cheat snacks, Twizzlers and Gummy Bears. “To keep living life,” he says.

I remember watching Chad Ochocinco several years ago describing how he ate mostly at McDonald’s. He was young and he could easily burn the fat and calories. Now he’d be wise to read this article and start emulating Lewis, as Chad isn’t the same player he was several years ago. Diet is a critical part of health and performance!

As we get older, we have to be more careful about what we eat. We don’t need to be obsessive like Ray Lewis since most of us aren’t pro athletes. But if you really was to get ripped, then you have to have the same devotion. Match your diet to your goals!

Diets, Men's Health and Wellness, Nutrition, Protein, Sports Health and Fitness, Supplements

athlete diets Chad Ochocinco diet diet for athletes diets for athletes get ripped pro athlete diet Ray Lewis

Biggest Loser Fat Camp

December 31, 2011 / Staff

This is where you don’t want to end up.

With the new year starting tomorrow, the annual resolutions kick in and people try to lose weight and get healthy.

A better strategy is to avoid that entirely by living a healthy lifestyle for the long term.

Read this article from the NY Times on the Biggest Loser Fat Camp and maybe that will motivate you. You can also check out The Biggest Loser Blog.

Exercise

Biggest Loser Biggest Loser Fat Camp fat camp get healthy healthy lifestyle lose weight

Are you in a fitness slump?

December 13, 2011 / Staff

Setting and achieving goals can change your mindset and get you out of that funk. Check out this article from Men’s Fitness:

For those of us who don’t pump iron to make our living, going to the gym might feel like a chore. But stick with it and your sentiment might change, according to a new Rutgers University study.
Researchers asked students to keep a difficult goal (like going to the gym five times a week or quitting the tube) for 40 days, and found that those who were successful at maintaining their goals actually ended up liking the activity more—even if they didn’t enjoy it initially. Why?
“If a person performs a behavior regularly and for long enough, the behavior becomes part of the person’s self-identity or self-concept,” speculates study author Alison Philips, Ph.D. “For example, if I made a goal to start running and succeeded, I’d begin to see myself as a runner.”

This just reinforces the notion that attitude is everything. But you can change your attitudes by developing habits. This then makes you feel better about what you’re doing and makes it easier to plow ahead.

Exercise, Men's Health and Wellness, Motivation

fitness goals fitness habits self-identity