Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Milk
Posted by: Curt | Under: 40's/fit, 50's/fit, Children/fit, Diet and Weight Loss, General Fitness, Health, Ladies/fit, Prime/fit, Quick Tips, Seniors/fit, Supplements, Travel/fit, Youth/fit | Add Comment
Well, maybe not everything, but there is a lot of good info here. With the controversies that are always storming about what is good for you and what will kill you, it is good to know that milk is probably one of the safer things you can consume and it is really good for you as well.
Growing up as a kid, we had milk on the table for all 3 meals. We had milk breaks in grammar school and milk was the only option with the school lunch program. Heck, I’m old enough that I remember the milkman bringing the milk to the back door. You only see that in old movies now! So I’m glad to find out that all that milk was actually good for me. And it still is-
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Does it build muscle?
Absolutely. In fact, milk is one of the best muscle foods on the planet. You see, the protein in milk is about 20 percent whey and 80 percent casein. Both are high-quality proteins, but whey is known as a “fast protein” because it’s quickly broken down into amino acids and absorbed into the bloodstream. That makes it a very good protein to consume after your workout. Casein, on the other hand, is digested more slowly. So it’s ideal for providing your body with a steady supply of smaller amounts of protein for a longer period of time — like between meals or while you sleep. Since milk provides both, one big glass gives your body an ideal combination of muscle-building proteins.
Skim or whole?
It depends on your taste. While you’ve probably always been told to drink reduced-fat milk, the majority of scientific studies show that drinking whole milk actually improves cholesterol levels, just not as much as drinking skim does. One recent exception: Danish researchers found that men who consumed a diet rich in whole milk experienced a slight increase in LDL cholesterol (six points). However, it’s worth noting that these men drank six 8-ounce glasses a day, an unusually high amount. Even so, their triglycerides — another marker of heart-disease risk — decreased by 22 percent.
The bottom line: Drinking two to three glasses of milk a day, whether it’s skim, 2 percent, or whole, lowers the likelihood of both heart attack and stroke — a finding confirmed by British scientists.
If you’re dieting, the lower-fat option is an easy way to save a few calories. When it comes to building muscle, though, whole milk may be your best choice: Scientists at the University of Texas medical branch in Galveston found that drinking whole milk after lifting weights boosted muscle protein synthesis — an indicator of muscle growth — 2.8 times more than drinking skim did.
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Read the whole article at MSN for answers to you questions about hormones, antibiotics and other conspiracy theories…
Posted by: Curt | Under: 40's/fit, 50's/fit, Children/fit, Diet and Weight Loss, General Fitness, Health, Ladies/fit, Prime/fit, Quick Tips, Seniors/fit, Supplements, Travel/fit, Youth/fit | Add Comment
If you don’t like fish, there is some good news in a study by the University of South Dakota in Sioux Falls that shows fish oil capsules do an equally good job at supplying Omega 3 fatty acids. This refutes the popular notion that it is better to eat the fish. That is partially true since the fish contains high quality protein and other nutrients that the capsules don’t. But if fish isn’t on your list of palatable foods, do your self a favor and get the capsules. Aways take them with other food so you don’t get fishy tasting indigestion.
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“We went into the project assuming that fish would be better, based on some previous literature from other people,” Harris noted in an interview. Based on the current findings, he added, “it doesn’t make any difference whether you get your omega 3 fatty acids from a concentrate in a capsule or in fish — they have the same effect on enriching the tissues with omega 3.”
Posted by: Curt | Under: 40's/fit, 50's/fit, Children/fit, Diet and Weight Loss, General Fitness, Health, Ladies/fit, Prime/fit, Seniors/fit, Travel/fit, Youth/fit | Add Comment
Well, I don’t know about fun so much, but it is definitely good for fitness. Swimming was my main sport in High School and there is no doubt that I was in incredible shape back then. Great cardio, core strength and flexibility. It also takes a bit of coordination to swim properly so that is an added bonus. So find a local pool (YMCA, aquatics club, etc) and schedule an hour to swim. If you travel a lot, many of the better hotels now have indoor pools which are usually deserted most of the time. But even if you just go to the pool and do water aerobics like my elderly mom, you will get some benefit from it. Here is some more from Men’s Health via MSN-
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A swimming pool—the kind with lanes, not a swim-up bar—triggers a negative twinge in many men. Too cold, too inconvenient, too… wet. And that’s too bad. Swimming gives you a great cardiovascular workout with none of the joint-jarring of running. You’ll burn roughly the same number of calories per minute as you would biking, without the traffic risks. You’ll get a restorative workout that helps you come back strong in your other sports. And you’ll develop that lean-and-powerful look that draws so many women to the TV when the Olympics are on.
Swimming builds functional strength, starting with your core muscles—back, chest, abdominals. “People think it’s about making your arms and legs strong, but those are simply extensions of what the core does when you swim properly,” says Terry Laughlin, a veteran swimming coach and author of Triathlon Swimming Made Easy. Problem is, many men can’t swim properly—they thrash, struggle, sink, and give up. Not you. Your swimming lesson, adult version, begins here.
Posted by: Curt | Under: 40's/fit, 50's/fit, Children/fit, General Fitness, Health, Ladies/fit, Prime/fit, Seniors/fit, Travel/fit, Youth/fit | Add Comment
Well, it was time for some new gym shoes and I was dreading it. First, there is the hunt to find something you like the looks of, and then you hope they fit and are comfortable. Being an average guy with no Nike contract, I ended up with a pair of Avia cross-trainers that looked OK and fit really good. I tried a bunch of shoes on at Sports Authority and I really wanted the cool looking Pumas, but they just didn’t fit good. I have an odd shaped foot, I guess, with the bony part by my little toe that sticks out pretty far. Makes it hard to find shoes that don’t hurt. So I need a shoe that is pretty wide at that part. Turns out that the Avias were just about the cheapest shoes there even though that wasn’t a primary concern since I keep my shoes forever. But I still hate breaking them in. Seems like it takes weeks until they are really comfortable. If I were a pro athlete, I or my shoe company, would pay someone to break them in for me. But since that ain’t happening, I’m just going to have to do it the old way of wearing them a few hours at a time until they are broke in. But here is a tip- get the gel heel inserts. Awesome. they add a level of comfort that the shoes just don’t have “stock”. Since we customize everything else we have, might as well add gym shoes to the list. Tomorrow I get to try them out in the gym for the first time doing legs. I might bring my old shoes along just in case…
Posted by: Curt | Under: General Fitness | Add Comment
Since it is Christmas, I thought we could have a little fun…
Exercise for Depression, Stress and Anxiety
Posted by: Curt | Under: 40's/fit, 50's/fit, Children/fit, Diet and Weight Loss, General Fitness, Health, Ladies/fit, Prime/fit, Seniors/fit, Spiritual/Emotional, Travel/fit, Youth/fit | Add Comment
The holidays can be an especially stressful and depressing time for a lot of people. There are lots of expectations and things that have to be done. On top of that, there is the underlying stress and anxiety of daily life in our culture. What most people don’t realize is that a little exercise not only helps us physically, but also emotionally. There are a lot of reasons for this and this article by the Mayo Clinic lists some of them as well as some strategies for exercising when you really don’t want to. One of the problems with depression and stress is that we tend to think that exercise is the last thing we want to do when it should be one of the first. This is an excellent article and can probably help you and someone you know.
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Exercise has long been touted as a way to maintain physical fitness and help prevent high blood pressure, diabetes and other diseases. A growing volume of research shows that exercise can also help improve symptoms of certain mental health conditions, including depression and anxiety. Exercise may also help prevent a relapse after treatment for depression or anxiety.
Exercise has many psychological and emotional benefits when you have depression or anxiety. These include:
- Confidence. Being physically active gives you a sense of accomplishment. Meeting goals or challenges, no matter how small, can boost self-confidence at times when you need it most. Exercise can also make you feel better about your appearance and your self-worth.
- Distraction. When you have depression or anxiety, it’s easy to dwell on how badly you feel. But dwelling interferes with your ability to problem solve and cope in a healthy way. Dwelling can also make depression more severe and longer lasting. Exercise can shift the focus away from unpleasant thoughts to something more pleasant, such as your surroundings or the music you enjoy listening to while you exercise.
- Interactions. Depression and anxiety can lead to isolation. That, in turn, can worsen your condition. Exercise may give you the chance to meet or socialize with others, even if it’s just exchanging a friendly smile or greeting as you walk around your neighborhood.
- Healthy coping. Doing something positive to manage depression or anxiety is a healthy coping strategy. Trying to feel better by drinking alcohol excessively, dwelling on how badly you feel, or hoping depression and anxiety will go away on their own aren’t helpful coping strategies.
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So get out there and do something! You will feel a lot better- physically and mentally.
Posted by: Curt | Under: 40's/fit, 50's/fit, Children/fit, Diet and Weight Loss, General Fitness, Health, Prime/fit, Seniors/fit, Supplements, Travel/fit, Youth/fit | Add Comment
Milk is a great, cheap source of vitamins, minerals and protein, but almost 1/2 of adults are lactose intolerant. Lactose is the sugar in milk that requires the enzyme lactase to digest. As we get older, a lot of people don’t make enough of the enzyme to digest dairy products and so they experience digestive problems. I’m in that group and so I have to eat dairy products sparingly. Check out this page for info on this. But that doesn’t mean that there aren’t other good sources for the things in milk. Dr. Mirkin has a good post on his blog that list some other great sources for these nutrients. Calcium is one of the most important so make sure you are getting enough every day.
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You can eliminate all dairy products and still have a perfectly healthy diet. Yes, milk is a good source of calcium, vitamin D, protein and other nutrients, but it is far from essential. You can get all the calcium you need from a variety of other foods.
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Check it out.
Posted by: Curt | Under: 40's/fit, 50's/fit, General Fitness, Health, Ladies/fit, Prime/fit, Seniors/fit, Travel/fit, Youth/fit | Add Comment
Men’s Health as a quick list of 10 things you can do to avoid back pain and injury. The doctor I went to for my back problems told me that the only thing people go to the doctor for more often than back pain, is toothaches. So it really is in your best interest to do everything you can to avoid back problems. Probably not all 10 of them apply to everyone, but I’m sure you can use several of them. Number one on my list is simply stretching several times a day by hanging from a straight bar or pull-up bar. (See the post from a couple of days ago…)
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Aim for a dozen crunches every day.
Seventy-five percent of all lower-back problems can be prevented by building your abs muscles. When your abs are weak, the muscles of your butt and the backs of your legs have to work harder to keep your spine stable.
Posted by: Curt | Under: 40's/fit, 50's/fit, Children/fit, Diet and Weight Loss, General Fitness, Health, Ladies/fit, Prime/fit, Seniors/fit, Travel/fit, Youth/fit | Add Comment
Alwyn Cosgrove has a really good post about how the 80/20 (Pareto) principle works in our daily lives- and how it applies to working out. Basically, the principle states that in any group or activity, 80% of the results come from 20% of the causes. We see this everywhere- at home, work and school. This principle seems to be so universal, that even churches and denominations see it at work, ie. 20% of the people give 80% of the money and 20% of the people do 80% of the work. Cosgrove applies it to how we work out and there is some important stuff to remember, so head over and read…
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But what about fitness training? How can we use the Pareto Principle?
- Understand that training methods and exercise selection fall under the same rules – 20% of your activities are responsible for 80% of your results.
In other words – if you did ten sets of deadlifts – it’s likely that you would get 80% of that benefit with only two sets – the law of diminishing returns.
- Big, compound exercises recruit more muscle, allow you to use more load and burn more calories than isolation exercises – build your program around them. Identify the effective 20%. For example – Rep for rep – a deadlift or a squat out-performs most other exercises – make sure they are in your program first.
- A 30 minute full-body workout performed three times per week – that includes squats, deadlifts, presses and rows will easily be 80% as effective as any other routine that you can think of.
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If you only have time for a few exercises and can only workout several times a week, try doing squats, deadlifts, pull-ups, and dumbbell presses twice a week. If you do them hard and fast, you will be amazed at how much progress you can make.
Posted by: Curt | Under: 40's/fit, 50's/fit, Children/fit, General Fitness, Health, Ladies/fit, Prime/fit, Seniors/fit, Travel/fit, Youth/fit | Add Comment
There have been several reports out recently that indicate that stretching does very little to enhance speed, strength, or performance. Some would even say it does little to avoid injuries as long as you are warmed up. So why stretch? Well the short answer is that it still enhances flexibility, mobility and reduces pain and tightness in muscles and joints. This is especially true if you have a chronic problem like lower back pain which is usually a mixture of spine, nerve and muscle problems. Since there are probably a million different stretching routines you could do, I will spare you another one. But I will give you one great stretch to do consistently, while you are working out or just during the day if you can find a good place to do it- Hang from a straight pull-up bar with your hands shoulder width apart. This will stretch your abs, arms, shoulders, upper back, and lumbar region. Hang for as long as you can grip the bar and do it several times during your workout. Pretty soon you will look forward to it since it feels good and decompresses your spine, hips and legs.
