Tag Archive for: @LongBeachTRNR

Choosing The Right Exercise For You

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The type of exercise you do all depends on you and what you like to do. What you hate doing, paying membership fees, and whether or not to buy equipment are all things you need to consider as well as answer.

If you choose something that you don’t like to do, you aren’t going to keep doing it for a long period of time. Give it some thought – if you don’t like jogging, you aren’t going to get up at 6 AM and go running. If you can’t find something you like to do, choose something you hate the least, which will normally be walking.

exercise

Walking is great exercise, as it suits all levels of fitness. Anyone can start a walking program at any time, it’s normally the intensity and duration that differs. Walking is also a social exercise, as it isn’t difficult to find a training partner to chat with while you exercise. Walking with a partner will also make time go by faster.

No matter what exercise you choose, you should start at a low level of intensity and build it up over a period of weeks, which is essential to the longevity of your exercise program. If you start off too hard, you could end up with an injury which will require time off to get over.

If you are really in bad shape, you should start off by walking for 10 minutes each day. Then, increase it by 5 minutes every 2 weeks. To make things more interesting, you should try walking a different course every few days. You can also roster a different friend to walk with you each day of the week.

If walking isn’t your thing, then you may want to try a fitness center. They have loads of variety and normally have trainers on hand to answer any questions you may have. When you choose a fitness center, make sure that they give good service.

If they aren’t willing to treat you well before you join, then they certainly won’t after you join. You should also make sure that the equipment they use is well taken care of. It’s easy to find out, as all you have to do is listen to the machines. If they squeak a lot or make noise, then chances are they aren’t being taken care of.

If you still aren’t sure what you should do, then you should look into golf or tennis. Both are good social activities in most areas, and you can even meet new friends. Tennis is great for fitness although it isn’t for someone who is just starting out. If you haven’t exercised in a long time, then golf may be the best activity for you.

 

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Nutrition for a Healthy Mom and Baby

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Being pregnant should be a joyous time for the soon-to-be mom and their baby, but for many it’s a scary time with preeclampsia, pregnancy induced hypertension, toxemia, and other conditions. While you may not be able to avoid having a problem during your pregnancy, there are some nutritional things you can do to reduce your risk.

Let’s have a look at some of those eating strategies.

mom

  • You should never be shy about dairy products because as a mother to be you need at least 4 servings or 1000-1300 mg of calcium daily. You also need at least 4000 IU’s of Vitamin D3 per day.

  • Iron is very important during pregnancy. You need to get at least 27 mg a day. You can increase your iron by taking an iron supplement. In fact, your doctor may instruct you to do so. The top 10 foods for iron are:

  • Artichokes
  •  Beans, chick peas, lentils and soybeans
  •  Dark, leafy greens (ie spinach, collards)
  •  Dried fruit (ie prunes, raisins)
  •  Egg yolks
  •  Iron-enriched cereals and grains
  •  Liver
  •  Mollusks (ie clams, oysters, scallops)
  •  Red meat
  •  Turkey or chicken giblets

Pregnant women need at least 70 mg of Vitamin C daily. Vitamin C helps to fight off infection and keep you healthy. Some good sources of Vitamin C include:

  • Oranges
  • Strawberries
  • Tomatoes
  • Broccoli
  • Dark Leafy Greens

You likely will have huge cravings but at the same time, you should decrease your fat intake so that it is no more than 30 percent of your total daily calorie intake. Make sure to read labels.

Omega 3s are important for the development of your baby’s vision and brain.

Easy on the mayo or cheese limiting your cholesterol to 300 mg a day.

Protein develops every cell of your baby. You need to eat 80 to 100 grams of protein a day. If you find that the smell of meat makes you sick, keep in mind that you can get your protein from drinking a whey protein shake.

Being pregnant isn’t easy and eating healthy can be a real challenge. Some days you’ll feel fantastic, while other days the idea of eating is the farthest thing from your mind. A healthy weight gain is generally 25 to 35 pounds. However, if you are underweight, you should gain 28 to 40 pounds and if you are overweight, you should gain15 to 25 pounds.

When your nutrient intake isn’t the best it could be, you increase your risk of developing pregnancy related conditions such as preeclampsia, pregnancy hypertension, toxemia, and HELLP syndrome.

 

 

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How To Choose A Perfect Fitness Tracker For Yourself

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When buying a fitness tracker, or any product for that matter, it is important to identify what works best for you not just in terms of functionality but personal style as well. The market is flooded with many fitness tracking gadgets that differ in pricing and model among many other things.

What are some of the things to consider when buying a lifestyle tracker so that you get maximum value for money?

fitness tracker

Extra functionality

Yes, a product that offers extra benefits is definitely a great buy. There are fitness trackers that have incorporated the latest technology to improve their ability to collect and present data. The newer brands of trackers have some additional capabilities like having built-in heartbeat rate monitors, a lot of sensors and also smartphone notifications. They are sort of hybrids between smartwatches and fitness trackers. You should also take note of the software of accompanying application, battery life and the ability to synchronize data with your phone or the web.

Design

Since these gadgets are wearable, choose one that compliments your personal style. What’s your favorite color? Are you looking for a small screen or a large one? These trackers come in different designs and for you to have some personal attachment to them it is necessary that you choose something that suits your personal style. It’s similar to having a favorite car, clothe or even toy. The more you feel that it is a reflection of you the more you get attached to it. Trackers can also act as great fashion pieces and if you are a fashion forward person, you can use them to make a fashion statement.

Durability

Of course you don’t expect to buy something that will break down or get damaged within a very short time after purchase so it is necessary that you go for quality. Buying a fitness tracker that is durable will ensure that you enjoy its benefits for a long time and truly get good value for money. You can determine the durability of your tracker by checking the quality of material used to manufacture it. Some fitness tracking devices are also waterproof which makes them suitable for those who enjoy swimming or water sports.

Your age, weight and height

Because fitness trackers use algorithms to process data and relay information, choosing a gadget that matches your physical and biological features is one way of ensuring that you get accurate results. Buy a fitness tracker that is meant for somebody of your age, weight and height since that improves the accuracy of the data gathered and statistics presented.

Warranty

Products, more especially tech-gadgets, can malfunction at will even without your intervention. Buying a fitness tracking device that has a warranty ensures that you don’t suffer any losses in case it stops working within a year from the time of purchase. It’s a way of safeguarding your investment so that you get value for money.

These are some of the important factors that can help you purchase the best fitness tracker that will serve its purpose and motivate you towards achieving your fitness goals.

Make Whole Food Vitamins Part of Your Pregnancy Diet

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When it comes to nutrition during pregnancy, pregnant women should think about adding whole food vitamins to their diet. This type of vitamin supplement is extracted from natural sources rather than being chemically engineered. That makes these a better choice during pregnancy and after childbirth as well.

Why Mothers-to-be Need to Take Vitamin Supplements as Part of Pregnancy Nutrition

nutrition

There’s no question – the human body is amazing and has an incredible ability to get what it needs through resources nature has to offer. When we eat a healthy diet, we can extract the right balance of vitamins, fats, minerals, and energy sources to keep the body running optimally. During pregnancy, we must be even more vigilant to ensure we get the nutrients that the fetus requires to develop both mentally and physically into a healthy term baby.

Unfortunately, many of us aren’t eating a healthy well balanced diet and in no other time has the need for specialized pregnancy nutrition been necessary. There are a number of reasons why there has been such a change in the way we eat, which includes convenience, low cost, and availability of processed foods. Adding whole food vitamins makes it easier to ensure some of those essential compounds that are missing from processed foods are received by mother and baby on a daily basis. That’s important for the development of the child and the mother’s overall health.

Why Whole Food Vitamins are Better
Whole food vitamins don’t use synthesized compounds. Rather, they use sources that can be found in nature. This type of vitamin is better assimilated by the body. Sure the best way to get the nutrients we need is by eating healthy – lots of fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains, etc.; however, most of us are not able to maintain that on a daily basis. This is even more important when you are pregnant, and so whole food vitamins do a better job of filling that void.

The body can easily recognize these natural compounds and use them compared to synthetic vitamins where as much as 90% pass through never being used by the body. It doesn’t make a lot of sense to take these if you are only going to get 10% value. Instead, by making the whole food vitamins part of your daily nutrition you can be sure the baby and you are getting the maximum nutritional value.

3 Tips for Losing Weight Healthily

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Losing excess weight not only makes you look and feel good, but also significantly reduces your risk of getting diseases like obesity, diabetes, heart attack and high blood pressure. There are numerous crash diets and over the top workout programs sold online that promise to help you lose weight fast, but most of them don’t work in the long term.

If you’ve tried any of them and failed, don’t give up just yet. There are numerous steps you can take to develop a healthy relationship with food and attain lasting weight loss. Here are 3 tips for losing weight healthily:

weight
 Introduce Changes Gradually

Our bodies use the foods we eat for energy. When you eat more food than your body requires for daily activities, the excess energy is stored as fat. The more food you eat, the more fat your body stores and the more weight you’ll gain. To lose weight in a healthy way, it is very important that you gradually change your eating habits.
Making small changes here and there can make a big difference in the long run. So, if you are used to eating unhealthy foods, try cutting them out slowly and replacing them with healthier alternatives (vegetables, fruits, whole grains and lean meat). Swap snacks like biscuits, candy bars or potato chips for fruits such as an apple to ensure you remain fuller for longer.

Reduce Your Calorie Intake

Other than introducing healthier foods to your diet, you also need to limit the amount of food you eat to lose weight. A good starting point is cutting down on foods that have added sugar and refined carbohydrates like white bread, energy drinks and white rice among others. Aim to eat at least 300-500 calories less everyday, and you’ll be able to lose between 1-2 pounds per week. This may seem a bit slow, but it is more realistic and sustainable. Eat smaller portions of the foods you usually enjoy, and you’ll be able to lose weight for sure.

Increase Your Activity Level

Every time you exercise more than you usually do, but maintain your calorie intake, you’ll burn calories and fat. There are many physical activities you can do to increase your level of activity even if you don’t like going to the gym. This can be anything from using the stairs at work instead of the lift, watching your favorite TV programs while jogging on a tread mill or using a stationary bicycle, swimming, or taking longer walks than you usually do.

The key to long-term weight loss is to eat less calories than your body needs, do physical activities that you enjoy regularly and make lifestyle changes that contribute to your overall health. Always remember that every extra step you take in the right direction brings you closer to achieving your weight loss goal.

10 Reasons Why Fad Diets Suck

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A Fad diet is a conventional diet that promises people fast results through simple methods. These diets are very tempting given that losing weight is a challenge to many people with most of them having a misconception that they can lose weight overnight. The fact is fad diets are all hype and may cause you, even more, harm than good.Below Are 10 Reasons why Fad Diets Suck:

Unnecessary food restrictions — Fad diets that promise quick weight loss will usually instruct you to eat more of one food type and restrict yourself from eating another food type. This could lead to an unbalanced diet. To address that, fad diets will usually recommend many supplements, but then again, many supplements might cause nutritional deficiencies.

diets

Against the fat level as recommended by the government — Fad diets does not follow government recommendations for fat concentrations in the diet. Most fad diets will recommend high fat and low carb diet, which is not good for your health when taken long term. You will indeed lose weight but taking so much fat could lead to heart disease.

Failure to address the root cause of weight gain — The reason that fad diets are considered bad is that these diets do not address the root cause of the weight gain. You regain back the weight you lost at the end of the day!

Expensive — Some fad diets require people to take pills and drink potions which can be costly.

Anti-exercises — Any diet that promises you weight loss without counting your calories or doing exercise is a fad diet. These diets do not encourage weight loss patients to incorporate exercises into their programs.

Elimination of healthy foods — Usually, fad diets ask people to eliminate certain food groups from their diet because they are bad. Some of the foods are carbohydrates, dietary fiber, and essential fatty acids.

Short term results — Fad diets are just a temporary solution and will not make any permanent change to your figure and eating habits. In a few weeks time, you will regain all the weight as you will fall back to your old eating habits.

Extremely unhealthy — The short-term weight loss effects followed by weight gain is extremely unhealthy and may cause many diseases such as high blood pressure or coronary heart disease.

Not motivating — They will make you feel bad and guilty whenever you break the overly restrictive diet. After a few days of following the diet and restricting yourself of certain foods, you will start craving and start being bored and sad about your diet.

Unbalanced diet — Many fad diets do not give you a balanced intake of fruits and vegetables, which is important to keep yourself healthy.

Conclusion Diet and Exercise

Irrespective of how good the fad diet advertisement is, don’t fall for these diets, they will not help you in the long term. The only way to achieve weight loss is to eat moderately, eat a balanced diet, exercise, etc.

What Is A Fitness Tracker?

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Technological advancement has given rise to many smart applications that not only improve efficiency
but also make tracking and monitoring of different activities easier. It’s always important to monitor
your progress as far as your health and fitness regimen is concerned. A fitness tracker is therefore that
application or device used in tracking and monitoring fitness goals.

It measures metrics such as distance run or walked, rate of heartbeat, calories consumed and sometimes even the quality of your sleep. Most of these tracking devices are wirelessly synchronized to a smartphone or computer for the purposes of regular data tracking and reporting.

fitness

In many cases, people have fitness goals or targets, whether monthly or on a daily basis, that they hope
to achieve. Monitoring the progress of your fitness regimen can be a challenge especially if you are not a
certified fitness trainer or health practitioner. Fitness tracking devices give you the capability to monitor
your progress and determine how far you are from meeting your targets, or if indeed you achieved or
exceeded them.

Most of them are wearable and can also serve as regular digital watches. Some people wear them as accessories because of their fashion forward designs. These devices have become so main stream that some firms have decided to use them in encouraging consumers to live healthily.

The electronic fitness trackers are basically an advanced version of pedometers. Apart from counting
steps, they also use accelerometers to determine distance covered, graph general physical activity and
calculate calorie usage. In some cases they also keep track of and graph quality of sleep and heart rate.

As you go about your fitness routines, there are various activities that you engage in such as walking,
running, swimming, jogging, bike rides and normal house chores. It is important that you stay true to
your goals and monitor your progress because that is the only way you’ll be able to achieve your
objectives.

A fitness tracker is an ideal way to easily monitor your activity with great accuracy. You can imagine it to
be an electronic finger on your pulse, measuring your vitals on a regular basis. These trackers have made
use of the latest technology to enable fitness enthusiasts monitor their activities and keep track of their
progress. Most people spend so much time on their smartphones or tablets which is why fitness trackers
are synchronized with these devices for report displays.

Trackers can also be connected to social media apps like Facebook but one has to be careful since there are some instances when private information has ended up in the internet and public domain. There are different trackers available in the market and people can therefore make buying decisions based on prices, functionality and personal style.

Why Does Exercise Feel Bad?

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A lot of people will try and tell you that exercise will feel really good. Normally these are people with something to sell but they can also include friends and colleagues who seem to have an unhealthy love of exercise and want to recommend it to everyone that they meet.

The rest of us know different. When you first start trying to exercise on a regular basis it is far from fun. Sure, there might be some ‘runners’ high’ effect, but most of us have never lasted long enough to encounter it. Instead, we get the feeling of sickness, the ‘burn’, muscle cramp and more. exercise

Why does this happen?

The Burn

Let’s look at the ‘burn’ sensation first. Often you will hear bodybuilders talking about this sensation as though it were magical and highly desirable. Some even go as far as to say it’s highly pleasurable (cough Arnie cough). Whether or not that is true is somewhat debatable but where exactly does it come from?

Specifically, the burn is caused by the build-up of metabolites in the muscles. This is partly the result of blood and oxygen being pumped into the muscles to provide fuel and nutrients. The more you use your muscle, the more this build-up occurs. Simultaneously, the contraction of the muscle also ‘traps’ the blood in that area, causing it to pool.

Meanwhile, by-products are created as a result of the glycogen lactic acid system. All this can eventually result in a painful sensation that some people believe is a key indicator that you have done enough to trigger growth.

Sickness

The other thing you’ll notice and particularly when taking part in cardio workouts (HIIT even moreso) is that you start to feel somewhat sick. This is again due to the build-up of metabolites and lactate, this time in the bloodstream.

It is thought that the body responds to this increased lactate by feeling sick and that this might even be a signal that the body uses to force you to reduce the intensity of your workouts. Lactate is only really created during very intensive training sessions and as such, it is most likely to occur when you push yourself. Eventually this leads to the ‘lactate inflection point’ which is the most lactate you can manage in your bloodstream. When that happens, you’re ready to slow down and return to an aerobic state.

DOMS

DOMS stands for ‘Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness’ and is the pain you get the next day following intense training. Again, there is some debate over what precisely causes DOMS but it’s generally agreed that it has to do with ‘microtears in the muscle’. That is to say that making small tears in the muscle fiber not only trigger subsequent repair and thus growth but also cause discomfort as essentially these are very minor injuries!

Regular Old Pain…

And of course workouts can also just hurt. When you’re curling weights, you’ll find that you rub the skin on your hands painfully. When you’re jogging, you’ll jolt your joints and also your feet inside your shoes…
Training hurts… But the more you do it, the less it will start to hurt!

5 Best Healthy Foods For A Longer List

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Living longer is about exercising and eating only healthy foods. The healthier the foods that you eat, the more likely you are to live a happy life for a very long, long time. Obviously there are thousands upon thousands of healthy foods. Almost all vegetable that you may come across is likely healthy, as are the majority of all fruits. Natural grains tend to be in the upper pinnacle of healthy eating, etc.

But what are the healthiest foods – the foods that if you eat them regularly you are guaranteed to get the most nutrients you can from your meal? What are the foods that everyone should be eating in order to live a long and healthy life?healthy

The Healthiest Foods – a Countdown

5. Quinoa (Whole Grains)

Whole grains are vital for healthy living, and quinoa is one of the healthiest of those whole grains. A rather bland food overall, quinoa is very easy to flavor with things like lemon, garlic, oils, salt, and other flavors that make it taste significantly better. It is extremely high in both protein and fiber, and it is also a good source of iron and magnesium.

4. Cranberries (Berries)

Berries are another extremely healthy food. They have a number of antioxidants that are vital for healthy living. Cranberries are just one of several berries that are extremely high in antioxidants, but all berries have their benefits and should be eaten regularly.

3. Spinach (Greens)

Greens are a great source of protein, fiber, calcium and other important pieces of nutrition. Spinach is actually not quite as good for you as Kale and Collard Greens, but Spinach is more versatile and can be eaten in far more ways that just salad, so it can easily become a staple in your cuisine even when you want to mix it up.

2. Soy

Soy is simply a fantastically healthy food. It has fiber, vitamins, Omega-3, protein, calcium – almost everything that you could need from a meal. It can also be found in almost every different type of food, as vegetarians can find soy meats, soy cheeses, tofu and other food types that can all be used to get soy in every meal.

1. Salmon

Salmon, however, is like soy on steroids. Loaded with Omega-3 fatty acids, protein and other beneficial nutrients, salmon has almost everything that you need all in one grilled piece of fish. It is also low in fat and cholesterol (high in good cholesterol), and is a great addition to anyone’s diet.

All five of those foods are considered some of the healthiest foods in the world – but beyond that, they are all also incredibly versatile, so it is not too difficult to get them into your daily diet regularly. For anyone who want to improve their overall health and wellness and planning on eating a significantly healthier diet regularly, these foods are the first place you should go. They are simply loaded with all of the necessary ingredients that you need in order to improve your health.

Why You MUST Eat Your Vitamins if You Want to Lose Weight

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Too many people who are trying to lose weight will focus purely on their macronutrients. These are things like carbohydrates and proteins – the basic food groups that we can break all food down into. While this might appear to make sense though, the unfortunate reality is that it misses out some very crucial details.

Specifically, focusing purely on carbs vs fats and the calories therein means that you miss the importance of micronutrients. Vitamins, minerals and other nutrients such as amino acids, fatty acids and enzymes all play very important roles in our diet and they can make all the difference when it comes to losing weight. Read on to find out why and what you can do about it.lose weight

Energy

When you try and fail to lose weight, you might well find that you blame the amount of time (or lack of time) that you have in a day.

In other words, you don’t have time to exercise and you don’t have time to prepare the right food.

In reality though, time is not often what is really to blame.

More likely is that it is energy that is the problem.

If you have low energy, then you’ll find that you struggle to bring yourself to exercise at the end of the day or that you struggle to stay motivated in order to make healthy foods rather than just binge on chocolate and sweets.

Think about it: if time is the problem, then why not just wake up half an hour earlier? Because your energy levels won’t let you.

Eating vitamins is crucial then because it helps you to get your energy levels back.

If you want to feel more awake and more alive, then eating more vitamin C and B complex vitamins is perhaps the very best strategy and can bring instant benefits.

Metabolism

The other reason that micronutrients are so important is that they will actually help you to speed up your metabolism to help you burn more fat and feel more energetic as a result.

Take something like lutein for example. This is a nutrient that is often thought of mainly for its ability to prevent degenerative eye disease. What is less well known however, is that it is also capable of speeding up the rate at which you burn fat.

Lutein helps to improve the function of the mitochondria, which are the tiny ‘energy factories’ found in our cells.

Other nutrients that can do the same thing (through similar or completely different mechanisms) include coenzyme Q10, PQQ, B vitamins, resveratrol and others.

What you may not realize is that most of the supplements that you consume to lose weight or perform better in the gym are simply vitamins and minerals.

The best way I recommend to get more of this in your diet is to focus on foods that we would have eaten naturally in the wild. Foods like meats (especially organ meats), vegetables and fruits contain everything we need to survive.