Fight the Afternoon Workday Crash!!!!!

Most of us have experienced that afternoon fatigue at our job that sets in somewhere between lunch and quitting time.  The good news is there are some simple things that you can do to help boost energy when this occurs!

The first thing you should do is take a break away from the desk or job you perform.  Just getting away from your “job” for a few minutes can give you a well deserved mental break and often this little break alone can increase your energy levels. 

Perform some simple stretches to open up those stiff muscles that sitting or standing all day can cause.  I do some simple standing forward bends, half moon stretches on each side, shallow back bends,  and some quadriceps stretches to name a few.  Letting some energy start to flow into these stiff areas can do wonders in terms of upping your energy!

Perform some simple exercises in the office or outside.  Some of my favorites are push-ups against a wall, arm circles, standing calf raises, stomach flexes, standing trunk twists, and jumping jacks.  Not only will you increase circulation, but you’ll burn some extra calories.  We can all stand to burn a few extra calories particularly after lunch!

Take some deep breaths.  This is a very simple thing you can do even while sitting at your desk or driving.  Fatigue can be caused from a lack of oxygen to the brain (hence the reason we yawn).  Taking a few deep breaths back-t-back can bring in some well needed oxygen to the brain and muscles.

Try using a stability ball as a chair.  Again you build some core strength over time, burn extra calories throughout the day and improve balance.  Oh and I forgot to mention that moving around a bit on the ball can help keep you awake J

Have a healthy snack and drink water.  I make homemade energy bars with agave nectar, nuts, oatmeal, bran cereal and a few other ingredients that really can help keep the metabolism burning and stabilize blood sugar levels.  Vegetables, fruits and nuts are all really healthy options as a mid-afternoon snack. 

Give these little tricks a try next time you find yourself about to fall over from fatigue at work!  They really can boost energy and who knows, they might just save your job in the end!

The Holiday Battle of the Bulge!

So the Holidays are here and if you are like me, I am sure you totally stuffed yourself over the last several days (Thanksgiving and leftovers) so now more than ever it’s important that we up our activity level in order to avoid adding unwanted weight.  The thing to keep in mind is regardless of the types of calories that you consume, be it from cake or carrots, can lead to weight gain of there exists a surplus of calories in your diet.  Obviously foods with sugars and simple carbohydrates have an easier time being converted and stored as body fat, so it’s even more important that we limit these foods. 

So here is some encouraging news: even walking has some pretty substantial health benefits.  Walking for 20 minutes burns 100 calories and can help you lose up to 16 pounds per year if you walk daily (given that you don’t increase the number of calories that you consume).  Walking 30 minutes a day can help you burn 160 calories and up to 35 pounds per year.  It also reduces your risk of cancer, heart disease and Type-II diabetes.  All of that, just from walking 20-30 minutes a day!  So even if you’re traveling for the Holidays or the gym is closed, you can get out and walk just about anywhere!  Some other simple exercises that you can do while traveling included burpees, jumping jacks, push-ups, crunches, sit-ups, triceps dips, lunges, leg lifts, and plank just to name a few.  Get creative and put together a simple 15 minute routine that you can do in addition to walking and you really can scorch some of those Holiday calories you consume!

Kick the Habit!!!! Now!!!!

Being a former smoker, last month was my 2 year anniversary of quitting, I have become a pretty big advocate for stopping smoking.  I saw firsthand the negative health impacts that smoking can have, and have since quitting, spent the last 2 years trying to get my lungs back into shape through endurance training.  It’s estimated that 430,000 people die annually in the U.S. from smoking, making it one of the leading causes of death in our country. 

I also work as a social worker in the Community Mental Health field and many of the severe and persistently mentally ill people that I work with are smokers.  It is reported that half of all the cigarettes sold in America are consumed by people with severe mental illness.  This is due to in part by the fact that people without mental illness are quitting at a higher rate, which can be attributed to an increased understanding of the detrimental health effects that smoking causes.  There is a new line of medications that is surfacing to assist these people with their quitting efforts, but I can personally attest to the emotional dependency that many smokers have with cigarettes.  For me and for most smokers, cigarettes became a way for me to relax whenever I experienced stress.  For those with severe mental illness, stress and maladaptive responses to it are a very common occurrence, so in this way, it becomes even harder for these folks to break the habit.  One thing that I try to do with the people I work with is to educate them in terms of the negative health impacts that smoking causes, as well as motivating them to begin simple exercise routines within their physical capabilities.

Exercise is one of the most effective ways that a person can stop smoking.  In fact smokers are 75-80% more likely to stop smoking if taking up a running routine.  For me, running was what gave me the strength to stop.  By having to breathe deeply to run, I was constantly aware of my lungs during my runs.  I was able to feel them getting stronger with each week and this was such a motivation to me.  I simply could not imagine going back on the gains that I had made in terms of improving my lungs and breathing.  I can still feel this process taking place during tough runs where I push myself!

So if you’re looking for a way to stop smoking, I suggest getting active and getting serious with your exercise!  It makes no sense to try to improve your health through exercise, only to do something as harmful as to smoke.  It is a fact…..exercise will substantially increase your likelihood of quitting for good!

Strength and Functional Training

It has long been my personal position that athletes of all types and all levels can benefit from a well designed and well executed strength training program.  I have repeatedly seen this to be the case in my own athletic endeavors stemming in team sports.  Regardless of what sport I was playing at any given time, weight and strength training were a part of our overall training programs, and for good reason.  Strength training builds strength obviously, but depending on the type and design of the strength training program, athletes can improve balance, coordination, flexibility, power, speed and endurance.  One area of strength training that has been gaining popularity over the last 5 years is Functional Training (although many of the movements have been around for a long, long time).

Functional Training is focused on building strength in the muscles we use to perform daily functions like carrying groceries, walking up and down stairs, chopping wood, shoveling the driveway, etc.  Training in this way makes sense in that the strength gains made are applicable to the areas that we need strength in.  If you think about it this way, although the bench press is a great weight training movement, I would not say that it necessarily helps a person that is looking to gain strength needed for their job as a fireman (I know someone out there will argue with that example but I am certain you get the point).  Think of functional training as specific to the sport or life that a person lives.  I read a neat phrase yesterday that said learn to train the “go” muscles, not the “show” muscles.  That pretty much sums up functional training. 

So what are some Functional Training moves?  There are literally hundreds of functional movements, and it fact I would say you can make an argument that most all exercises can in some ways be considered functional movements, but for the sake of this writing, we’ll just name a few of the more commonly used ones.  Keep in mind that Functional Training can involve weights and weight machines, and often used resistance bands, medicine balls, kettle bells, ropes, pull-up bars, plyometric “jump” boxes or platforms and stability balls.  Think of it like this, I would say the primary mover muscles used in swimming are the shoulders, the legs and the back.  Secondary muscles would be the arms, the hips and the core muscles.  In order to set up a functional training program for swimming, I would recommend a person focus of strengthening movements that target both primary and secondary muscles used.  I would say pull-ups and other pulling movements would be beneficial for the back muscles.  Overhead presses and lateral raises with kettle bells or resistance bands would be good choices for the shoulders, but also add some movements that target the rear muscles of the shoulders and the rotator cuff muscles for balance.  Most times injuries can occur in the shoulders resulting from a lack of strength in particular muscles within the shoulders.  For legs, squats are always a go-to exercise and leg presses work well.  I just read an article talking about becoming a faster pool swimmer and how a person can tap in the “free” speed that comes from a strong kick-off from the sides of the pool.  This particular article mentioned squats as a movement to help a swimming increase the power they generate from kicking off the sides during each lap.  So it’s actually pretty easy to develop a functional program if you think about it.  Just look at which muscles you’re using for a particular function, and then find exercises that strengthen those muscles, then start performing those exercises!

It’s also worth mentioning that many exercise that require balancing, like One-Leg Romanian Squats using a bench and dumbbells, you work on balance and strengthen the muscles that are involved in balancing yourself during the exercise.  This improves balance obviously, but can translate into more power and agility, which are both vitally important in sports performance.  So do some Internet searching on Functional Training and Sport Specific Strength Training programs to take your game to the next level.  I have stressed the point several times in other blogs, but I’ll say it again here:  Strength training is a must for any of us looking to be competitive in any sport or recreational activity.  Whether you do resistance band training, weight training, power yoga, Cross Fit or any other type of strength training, it should be considered just as important as flexibility and specific sports training! 

Cinnamon Rocks!!!!

Cinnamon is one of the oldest spices known to man, dating back to 2,700 BC according to both Chinese and Egyptian texts.  Cinnamon is a small tree grown in Asia and South America, and is produced by taking the bark from the tree and drying it.  It is then typically ground into powder for consumption.  There are 4 different varieties of cinnamon, but the most common type found in grocery stores is Cassia cinnamon. 

Cinnamon offers a good deal of health benefits including regulation of blood sugar, relieving pain associated with arthritis, improved memory and brain functioning, anti-clotting and blood thinning effects, helping with cold symptoms including a stuffy nose, reducing flatulence and nausea ,and can help with painful menstrual cramping.  Cinnamon also contains important nutrients including manganese, iron, calcium and fiber.  The combination of calcium and fiber is particularly important in that it has been linked to a reduced risk of colon cancer.  Both calcium and fiber bind to bile salts and bile salt has been scientifically linked to colon cancer.  Cinnamon has also been demonstrated to reduce both cholesterol and blood pressure.  A study published in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition confirms that cinnamon reduces blood pressure.

A 2003 study published in the medical journal Diabetes Care reported that after 40 days of cinnamon consumption, test subjects presented a 18 to 29% reduction in fasting blood glucose levels and a reduction in total cholesterol by 12 to 26%.  Before using cinnamon to reduce blood glucose levels, consult with your doctor, especially if taking medications for diabetes.

Cinnamon has an anti-microbial effect and therefore has been shown to help treat yeast infections.  Cinnamon stops the growth of harmful bacteria in the stomach and intestines. 

Cinnamon is also high in antioxidants (see my earlier blog on antioxidants).  Antioxidants help to reduce free radicals in the body, which are damaging to cells.                                                                                                                                             

Great 30 Minute Swim Workout

If you haven't figured it out yet, I love me some 30 minute workouts!  I came up with a pretty decent little swim workout that hits on some drill work, as well as speed building all within a 30 minute block of time. 

Here's how it goes:

Warm-Up: (6 laps total)- 25 yards Catch-up, 25 swim/ 25 Fingertip Drag, 25 swim/ 25 Fist, 25 swim x 2

Main Set:   (6 laps total)- 25 easy, 25 sprint, 25 easy x 4 (I take a 10 second rest after every 75 yd. set)
                  (6 laps total)- Continuous swim- Descending set
                  (3 laps total)- Kickboard

Cool Down: (4 laps total)- Pull Buoy

Total Laps- 25 = 1250 yds.

So if you're pressed for time or training for a sprint triathlon, this is a great workout! 

Say No to High Fructose Corn Syrup!!!!!!

High Fructose Corn Syrup is a widely used sweetener that is a cheap alternative to table sugar.  It was developed in the 1970’s and began being used in the food industry across the board in the practically everything from crackers to soda by the 1980's.  If you have watched television in the last couple of years, you may have noticed commercials claiming that there is no difference between High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) or what they call in the ads as “corn sugar” and cane sugar.  The reason for these advertisements stems from the surge of research and literature exposing many of dangers associated with the use of HFCS.  There is absolutely no truth to the advertisement's claims that the body does not know the difference between the two types of sugars.  While it is true that using any sugar in excess is detrimental to health (so in this way, I suppose there is one similarity) HFCS presents many unique dangers to consumers.  The problem is compounded by the fact that even when used in moderate amounts, HFCS causes heart disease, cancer, obesity, tooth decay, liver failure and more.  There is also some link between HFCS use and dementia.

A recent study conducted by a research team at Princeton University determined that HFCS causes a substantially higher rate of fat gain than fruit based sugars.  In the study, some rats were given the same amount of a fruit-derived sugar while others were given HFCS.  Those rats given the HFCS gained fat 300% more quickly than the others given the fruit based sugar!  This literally means that HFCS leads to obesity.  As we in America are seeing ever-increasing numbers of obese adults, roughly 1 in 4 Americans and projected to be close to 1 in 2 by 2018, most people continue to consume huge amounts of HFCS.

High fructose corn syrup consumption leads to a much higher risk of developing Type-II Diabetes (see a previous blog post I did on diabetes).  The biochemical make-up of HFCS is the reason behind this.  HFCS is made up of both glucose and fructose, as is natural table sugar, yet HFCS consists at a ratio of 55% fructose and 45% glucose (table sugar is 50%-50%).  There is also no chemical bond between the fructose and glucose in HCFS, as there is in table sugar.  Therefore, no digestion is required for HFCS, and it is rapidly absorbed into the bloodstream.  The fructose goes right to the liver and causes potential damage to the organ and leads to fat deposits on the liver.  The rapidly absorbed glucose can trigger spikes in insulin, which causes fat storage.  Both of these reactions cause diabetes and the other conditions listed in the first paragraph of this blog post.

There is research to support the claim that HFCS can actually strip the body of vitamins and minerals it needs for normal functioning such as magnesium, chromium and copper, as HFCS requires nutrients to be metabolized. 

HFCS has been demonstrated to cause elevations in both blood pressure and LDL cholesterol (the bad one).  It can also lead to holes in the lining of the stomach which can in turn allow bacteria from the stomach to enter into the blood stream. 

One test conducted by the federal government found HFCS samples to contain mercury.  Over 50% of the samples tested contained alarmingly high levels of the contaminant.  Mercury is not regulated or measured by the FDA.  The scary part is mercury can cause both brain and nervous system damage, neither of which I care to experience!

It’s no secret, Americans, as a society, are gaining more and more weight each year.  This includes children, which is especially troubling to me.  Instead of constantly trying to find a magic weight-loss pill, we as a country must learn to identify the food products that we consume that are causing not only obesity, but also many of the health problems we are seeing in this country.  High fructose corn syrup is not the same as other natural sugars and there is irrefutable scientific research that has linked HFCS to many detrimental effects on the body.  So do yourself a favor and start reading food labels at the grocery store.  If a food contains HFCS in the list of ingredients, I say find another product that does not.  Your body is a miraculous thing and therefore it should be treated that way through healthy eating and living!

References:

"The Not So Sweet Truth About HFCS." 2011. Mark Hyman, MD. Published on huffingtonpost.com

"5 Health Dangers of HFCS." 2010. Dr. Edward Group III, DC, ND. Global Heath Center.

"Dangers of HFCS." www.livestrong.com/article/139744-dangers-high-fructose-corn-syrup/