Food Is Not Optional

I had a conversation with an athlete recently about concerns of abdominal fat and how to get rid of it. I gave my answer of:

• you can't isolate a particular body area to remove fat from (unless you look into liposuction - NOT RECOMMENDED)
• performing high intensity workouts along with a clean diet will allow the body to start burning fat to be used as energy

Then I was asked about running and getting rid of abdominal fat. My jaw clenched for a second:

• running is a great exercise to keep the heart rate elevated and experience the feeling of "runners high", like you accomplished something great
• any type of moderate intensity, long-distance running causes a hormone in the body, cortisol, to be released
• leads to a breakdown of muscle protein (that's why distance runners are skinny and possess no muscle mass) - NOT GOOD FOR OUR INTENTIONS
• with prolonged cortisol secretion, the adrenal glands become exhausted and weak resulting in adrenal fatigue
• can lead to increased body fat, depression, and other symptoms
• so, if you're going to run, do sprint intervals

Afterwards, I remembered a great post the I had read with regards to how important nutrition is whether you are exercising or not. Click here for the site or continue on for the article:

What We Feed Our Kids (and ourselves)

World renowned chef, Jamie Oliver, is determined on improving the diets of people in the United Kingdom and United States. He is also a strong advocate of removing processed foods from schools.


The following is an excerpt from his show Jamie Oliver Food Revolution.

Gestational Diabetes (Part 2)

In Part 1 of the gestational diabetes article, we learned, in a nut shell, what gestational diabetes is and how it affects the fetus and mother. Now, without further adieu, is the second instalment of gestational diabetes.

How does GD occur?

It’s believed that pregnancy hormones such as progesterone (being the main culprit along with cortisol), human placental lactogen, prolactin, and estradiol all interfere with the action of insulin. These hormones bind to the insulin receptors on cell membranes.

Gestational Diabetes (Part 1)

I have a couple of friends/family that have developed this all too common "disease" that seems to only affect women (thankfully). If you haven't guessed by the title, the "disease" I refer to is pregnancy. Hahaha. I know. I know. It's not a disease. Women only have this alien-like creature mature inside of them feeding off of the nutrients that the mother is taking in. Hmmm... Kind of like a parasite. Then this "alien" grows up to be an attractive person like you.

Sleep

What's more dangerous? Swallowing a sword or lacking sleep? Petting an untamed tiger or lacking sleep? Well, the untamed tiger would probably kill you before the lack of sleep does.


Check out the following poster regarding some quick facts about the importance of sleep.

Maple Syrup

There may be a few things that are more Canadian than maple syrup, but it ranks pretty high. Maple syrup is that golden, sweet nectar from the maple tree. Before the winter months, the trees store starch in their stems. When spring arrives, the starch is converted to sugar, mainly sucrose. Trees are tapped and the sap collected is then heated to evaporate the water. The result is the golden brown, sweet-tasting, sticky fluid we know as maple syrup. Did you know that Quebec produces most of the world's supply of syrup?

Ten Commandments Of Health

Even back in the 70's (or 80's) they were on the right track to living healthy lives.