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I was in my nutrition & performance class (I'm an exercise science major) and we came across this slide. I thought I would share a little about what my class went over on the differences about not eating enough and eating too much. ** This applies to all populations, not just athletes looking to perform **  Many of us want to live healthy and perform better on a day to day basis, whether its in a sport, the gym or just be able to do every day activities. THIS IS FOR EVERYONE, NOT JUST ATHLETES!
MALNUTRITION: This can be either underrating or overeating! (undernutrition/over-nutrition) Undernutrition: (not enough nutrients/calories) Lets say we are an individual looking to lose weight. AND, we are underrating, this is where things go wrong.... - Energy: If we do not eat enough and deprive our body of nutrients, we are lacking vital nutrients, minerals and nutrients that allow our body's to use towards energy and keep up feeling well and alert all day. This is not good, especially if you're an athlete (actually all of this is not good, but you get the point). - Metabolism: Given that we aren't eating enough, our metabolism starts to freak out. We start to gain weight (metabolism slows down) as the body realizes that we aren't feeding it adequate nutrients and we go into "starvation mode", so the body holds on to whatever it already has. If this is kept up, eventually the body starts to eat away at fat and valuable muscle mass (proteins) to keep organs working. This then turns into an eating disorder and the body turns on itself, losing large amounts of weight. - Enzymes: These guys are responsible for helping up build up tissues (muscles, other enzymes, etc). If we under-eat, there enzymes are not being made and are starting to diminish. If we are working out on top of not eating enough calories, we are just adding to the down hill spiral... Overeating: (way too many nutrients/calories) Lets say we are an individual who is very small/hard gainer, looking to increase size in body composition. BUT we consume way too many calories (grand majority, unhealthy calories). - Physiology: Disruption of normal physiological processes. This is a complicated, very detailed bit. So, lets just say we are eating are amounts of unhealthy foods such as pizza, burgers, fast food in general. (very bad thing to do, to gain weight...healthy weight). This disrupts the body ability to metabolize or consume large amounts of nutrients, leading to certain complications that can turn into disease and eventually death. Ex: consuming large mounts of protein will cause your body's pH balance to change and poison itself. Or consuming large amounts of sugar, over time, diabetes can be a metabolic disease that can arise due to your body's inability to metabolize sugars property. - Body Composition: This is where our appearance starts to change. We gain weight but its all fat mass that we gained. We are not happy with how we look. This is due to over consumption of calories and not being active enough. NOTE: eating large amounts of heathy foods, is STILL an over consumption of calories and WILL result is unwanted weight gained. Not beaches the food is healthy, doesn't mean you can eat and eat and eat, you will still gain weight with healthy foods. That is why gradual increases in calories is recommended and not a sudden spike in caloric intake. I know this is a long read, but it is very useful information. At least it lets you know and you are more aware of how not to go about losing or gaining weight. I am even guilty of some of this, we aren't just born knowing all this information. Its important to know what is wrong so that we can adjust and try a healthier route.
What you guys like best? Over the head, buds or wireless?  Back Beat GO2 White Earbuds This is my favorite small meal/snack item to have. I recently started playing around with different food options and I came across this delicious and fun way to snack. Give it a shot and share with a friend who would like it!  So it was very simple to make.
Ingredients: - grilled chicken - small/medium portobello mushroom caps - diced up tomato & onion - shredded cheese Cooking directions: I already had my grilled chicken cooked (since I cook food in bulk) but if you don't already have it cooked, clean your chicken breast, season it with your favorite seasoning and throw that bad boy on the grill. A small to medium chicken breast will do. If its big, you'll just save some for later or make several sliders. While the chicken is cooking, grab 2 of your portobello caps and rinse them. To cook the mushroom, I used a normal teflon pan and placed them on there on low heat and cover them with a lid so they are in a way getting steamed. Every 2 minuted I would flip them so that they cook evenly. I usually have on the heat fro about 6-8 minutes. But the best way to know if they are cooked is to poke them with a fork and the fork goes through smoothly all the way through. Oh... DON'T FORGET YOUR CHICKEN ON THE GRILL!! Flip your chicken too :) So while the portobello is cooking/steaming and your chicken is on the grill, lets start prepping your veggies. I had a bag of spinach and one tomato and onion. I diced up one tomato and some onion. I mixed both the tomato and onion to make a similar pico de gallo mix. So you have your 3 veggies ready (spinach, onion and tomato). Get your shredded cheese and thats it! Take your chicken off the grill, and remove your mushrooms off the stove top. (steps from pic above) #1 Place one portobello cap on plate and place a few spinach leafs on it. #2 Cut up your chicken to the amount desired #3 Throw some cheese on that bad boy #4 Next, top with your pico mix #5 Slap on the 2nd portobello cap on top & ENJOY!! Easy. Healthy. Happy. - Raul C.  I have started recently adding ginger root tea to my diet because of several reasons. I often notice that because of my exercise regimen, work and school, I get tired quicker as the day goes on. Someone mentioned to me just how beneficial ginger is to ones’ health and especially to those who exercise. Being active is hard on the body, so one of the many reasons I take ginger is because of its powerful antioxidant properties. I can notice a difference in just how my body responds after I drink the tea. It’s not immediate but a couple hours later I feel better, more alert, and my muscles feel recovered. It definitely is something I feel and notice. Ginger helps alleviate achy and sore muscles. That allows me to be fresh the next day to workout again, more recovered. Being lethargic is something I can’t afford with my busy schedule. Most of the time, that mid day crash is due to your glucose levels being off balance. That causes one to feel tired and sluggish. Ginger has been shown to help regulate blood glucose levels and improve alertness in individuals. Adding ginger to your lunch and boosting your focus for the rest of the day is a great all natural alternative to your sugary filed energy drinks. HOW I MAKE MY GINGER ROOT TEA…..
Ok, so its simple. I will cut up a small chunk of my ginger into small pieces, I weighed it out and it was about 3g of ginger, so not that much. That made me about 5 cups to drink throughout my day. I the get a sauce pan or whatever you wish to boil water in. I added about 5 cups of water to my sauce pan with my ginger in it. Set on high to medium heat on stove until it boils, leave on for about 3-5 min. Remove from stove, let cool and drink! ** If you checked out my Instagram (@rcfitness) you saw that I mixed my ginger tea with Alpha Aminos. It was delicious. I loved that combo, you can bet I will be doing it again! BENEFITS OF GINGER: - Fights cancer - Helps with irritable bowel syndrome - Protects against Alzheimer’s disease - Digestive Health - Weight loss - Relieves tired muscles - Helps manage glucose levels - Absorbing nutrients - Helps morning sickness - Reduces arthritic inflation - Opens up inflamed airways - Improves circulation - Relieves gas  Many of us, including myself, have tried to lose weight but sometimes it feels as if things aren't going our way. Reducing body fat involves much more than just dieting, you’re probably thinking, “Great, more things to worry about”. It’s not as bad as you may think, take a deep breath and lets talk about how you can kick-start your weight loss.
As I mentioned previously, dieting or consuming fewer calories than we burn, is what helps us lose weight. Even when it seems like we have it all figured out and progress is starting to show, results come to an abrupt stop. I have outlined 5 different reasons that you must follow in order to jump-start your journey to a healthier life. 1. Improve Your Gut Health. The digestive system is a very complicated and complex structure. Many bacteria live in our gut and they are essential in making sure the food we consume gets broken down and nutrients absorbed for the growth of our body. If you want to continue to burn fat, boost your immune defenses and just feel better on a daily basis, your digestive system must be in good health. We often don’t realize the importance of our digestive system until its too late. Some things you can do to alleviate some stress form your gut is to reduce the amounts of sugars, processed foods, pastured dairy, and making sure that we chew our food completely before swallowing. 2. Add More Fiber to Your Diet. Fiber goes hand in hand with the health of your digestive system. It also helps with satiety, adding volume to your meals so that you feel fuller which helps consuming fewer calories. A good rule of thumb is to consume about 30 grams of fiber per 1,000 calories. Some easy ways to add more fiber to your diet is to eat a variety of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains. Ex: brown rice, quinoa, and steal-cut oatmeal. 3. Let’s Reduce Stress. Stress has been named “the silent killer”. It definitely lives up to its name when it comes to weight loss. Stress triggers a physiological response in the body and a hormone called “cortisol” is released. This hormone will be sure to stop your weight loss journey dead in its tracks. High levels of cortisol trigger the response to increase fat storage, degrade muscle tissue and can lead to cardiovascular disease! It’s time to reduce our stress! Yes, it’s not as easy as it sounds, but with a conscious effort you can decrease stress by doing the following. Surround yourself with positive people, wake up prepared for your day, meditate, try yoga, and make sure you are getting plenty of sleep each night! 4. You’re Lacking Sleep. You see, while you sleep, a hormone called “growth hormone” is released and has the opposite effect of cortisol. GH improves the function of your organs, reduces stress, improves immune health, and encourages fat loss. Another important thing about sleep, it helps regulate the hormones responsible for hunger. This can very well help you control the amount of calories you consume a day. Everyone is different, but it is recommended to get about 7 to 9 hours of sleep a night. 5. Drink More Water. We always hear about how important it is to drink water, yet so many people still don’t drink enough water! There are tons of benefits to being hydrated but when we are dehydrated that’s when things start to go bad. Your kidneys are responsible for the filtration of fluids, so when the kidneys are impaired because of lack of fluid intake, it forces your liver to take over. The liver has a main purpose of metabolizing fat, if the liver is doing the work of the kidneys, then your body isn’t efficiently work like it should. Leading you to have health issues and weight gain. Stay hydrated! Drink when you are thirsty and always be sure to have water when you are exercising. I hope that you picked up on a pattern. Everything builds on each other. Could any of these be guilty of holding back your progress? Be sure to take action and start feeling better! |
Raul CervantesHey guys, here you'll find useful information that I know will help you along your fitness journey. Categories
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