CoachBioArt

You’ve gotta try this… these shakes are amazing. They pack a whole bunch of nutrients/vitamins, w/ very little calories and great taste! It also feels you up pretty well.

Contact me if you want to find out more about Shakeology. I drink it every day and feel better than ever!

One of my favorite blogs, In The Pipeline deals with the pharma industry and often talks about interesting discoveries.  He has a very nice write up on a research paper published in the journal Nature.  In that paper, the authors looked at the effect of calorie restriction on lifespan and fertility in fruit flies.  This has been done in the past, but the interesting thing is that they started adding back nutrients to their diets to see what the effect was.  The conclusions are very interesting, in that adding carbs did not affect lifespan, but that adding methionine (one of the essential amino acids) had a more significant effect than adding anything else.

Now, Don’t go out and start overeating carbohydrates… those are still things to keep in check for diabetes/etc., but it is likely that you will see reformulations of supplements to include less methionine and other amino acids.  Very cool stuff, good to keep an eye out for…

That Late-night Snack: Worse Than You Think.

Interesting article on the ScienceDaily site.   Basically they examined the effects of timing of food intake on weight gain.   Finding the optimal time for eating is almost as important as what you eat!

From the writeup: “Our circadian clock, or biological timing system, governs our daily cycles of feeding, activity and sleep, with respect to external dark and light cycles. Recent studies have found the body’s internal clock also regulates energy use, suggesting the timing of meals may matter in the balance between caloric intake and expenditure.”

The question is, what is the right time?

There’s an interesting article on the NYTimes Well Blog about how fatty foods can affect memory on laboratory experiments (on rats).  So, if this holds for humans, Atkins will help you lose weight, but should affect your mind.  Interesting thing is that I felt the same way when I was doing Atkins… I felt a little cloudy most of the time (like a fog of war for those of you gamers).  Sure, the low sugar will do some of that, but since switching to a more balanced diet, I am certainly more alert and I can do a lot better on my high-intensity workouts!

Don’t get me wrong, a high fat burger or other fried delicacy is good every now and then, but the point is to keep it to “every now and then!”….

The image below makes me sleepy just looking at it.  Look closely… The carbohydrate overdose will cause an insulin coma and according to the article, the fat will make you slow and senile.  At least you’ll have a smile on while eating it, but is it worth it?  If you are like me, you’ll want to indulge every now and then, but trust me… Run to the gym right after eating it (or 1-2 hours later if you are responsible for cleanup duty where you work out, in case you lose some it while working out!).

You’ll regret it more if you don’t.

Go check out The Healthy and Fit Algorithm, written by Adam Gilber of mybodytutor.com
It is a very good collection of hints for eating well and staying fit.   Yes, you’ve heard most of the points somewhere else, but here, they are nicely put together…

In particular, I love the first three dealing with exercise:

Do it 4 times per week for at least 30 minutes. Seriously, doesn’t matter. Basketball, jogging, weights, push ups, etc. Unless you have a specific goal just make sure to get it done!

The two day rule! You can’t miss 2 days of working out in a row. You can skip one day. But not the next!

Don’t let the “Exercise Monster” build up. When I don’t do laundry for a while it becomes what I like to call the ‘Laundry Monster’. It builds up in my mind and I avoid doing it at all costs. Until finally, I have to. And it’s never as bad as I think it’ll be! Don’t let it happen to you. Follow the two day rule!

My old rugby coach used to say: “For every 2 days you skip, you lose a day of work”   This means, that if you only work out three days a week (skipping 4) it means that you really once worked out once a week.

Similarly, one of my favorite Tony Horton’s quotes is: “If you are going to only work out 3 days a week, you might as well throw yourself down the stairs… you’ll be just as sore and no more fit”

As you can see… these things are all telling you the same thing.  Work out 5-6 days a week (even if you don’t kill yourself at it).  The benefts of doing some physical exercise almost every day are bigger than what you get from any single day.  In other words, the sum is greater than the parts.

Here’s a nice reference guide to reading food labels.  Granted, they go a little over the top in saying that some of the artificial sweeteners are worse than they actually are, but overall it’s a pretty good read!

Food Labels… Do You Read Them Before You Buy?

Thanks @jjaruba for sharing this first!