Author: andrew-custard

Women, who are significantly more likely to suffer bone loss, weakness, and fractures later in life, need weight training even more than men. For women, osteoporosis should be the scariest word in the English language. This debilitating condition, in which bone becomes less dense and therefore more fragile, afflicts 25 million Americans, 80percent of them women. Osteoporosis is serious bone loss that comes with age, inactivity, and calcium depletion. Beginning at about age 35, an adult woman can lose 1 percent of her bone mass every year, which translates to 5 to 7 pounds per decade. During and after menopause,…

Every living cell, whether plant or animal, contains iron. Most of it in the body is a component of the proteins: hemoglobin in red blood cells and myoglobin in muscle cells. Oxygen transport throughout the body is reliant on these red blood cell carriers. Red blood cells live only about three to four months, but when they die the spleen and liver break them down and save the iron. It is then shipped back to the bone marrow to be recycled. Iron also helps many enzymes in energy pathways to use oxygen, and is needed to make new cells, amino…

Both appetite and food preferences are altered across a range of mood states; preference for “junk food” and increased caloric intake is enhanced during negative moodstates whereas preference for healthier foods is increased during positive mood states. Numerous associations between mood states and emotional eating have been reported, and stress-associated eating is more common in those who are overweight or obese. Various psychological theories of emotional eating have been proposed, most of which conclude that emotional eating fails to produce any lasting benefit to psychological and mood states. Eating behavior links the internal world of molecules and physiological processes with…

There’s no doubt that training less frequently as one gets older works better. Since you don’t work out as often, you have more desire and stamina to train harder. With the hormone slowdown that occurs with age, called andropause, recuperation from hard workouts takes longer and longer. Younger athletes often train six days a week, working upper body one day and lower body the next. The feeling of recuperation and well being is present after each workout. In many cases the total workout lasts up to three hours. Then the workout and training system evolve and becomes more sophisticated. In…

A deficiency of vitamin E is quite rare. There are three main reasons why this is true. (1) The vitamin is so widespread in food that it would be very difficult to create a deficit; (2) because vitamin E is fat soluble, the body efficiently stores it in body fat and has continuous, ample reserves; and (3) the body cells may recycle their working supply of vitamin E. Cases of toxicity are also uncommon. It is being put to constant use in the body as an antioxidant. Vitamin E Functions The primary role of Vitamin E is that of antioxidant,…

We can name three crucial benefits that carrots have in the prevention and treatment of eye disorders: Preventing Night Blindness Vitamin A helps you see well in the dark. Your retina (the layer of light-sensitive cells at the back of your eye) contains large amounts of Vitamin A, especially in the tiny structures called rods that are used for night vision. If you don’t get enough Vitamin A, you develop night blindness—you can’t see well in the dark or in dim light. We all lose a little of our night vision as we grow older, but Vitamin A can help…

This is a very big category in sports nutrition and one that should certainly be used if gaining maximum muscle without adding fat is your goal. Meal replacements basically provide a “perfect-meal” without all the bad things like fat, cholesterol, and sugar that come with eating whole food. In reality, a good MRP really is not a meal replacement because you could not structure a whole food meal that would contain all the nutrients in just one packet. They contain a special blend of different proteins to regulate the rate of nitrogen delivery to your muscles. A good MRP should…

To keep the body humming, drink at least eight glasses of water during the course of a day—more if it’s hot or dry, or when you are working out. In fact, it is especially important to drink before you begin exercising, to drink as you go, and to rehydrate after your workout. If you wait until you are thirsty to drink, you have waited too long. Most experts recommend drinking about 16 ounces of water one to two hours before exercising. One hour is the commonly accepted standard, but if you hydrate two hours before working out, it will allow…

Substitute: Wheat bread with: Bread made with rice, millet, amaranth, quinoa, soy and oat flours Substitute: Wheat crackers with: Rice – and potato-based crackers Substitute: Wheat pasta with: Rice, corn, quinoa, and buckwheat pasta Substitute: Wheat cookies with: Rice, oat, barley and millet flour cookies Substitute: Cow’s milk with: Soy, rice, nut and multiple grain milks made from oats, barley, amaranth and rice Substitute: Butter with: Flaxseed oil, Spectrum Spread

Potassium is the principal positively-charged ion inside body cells. It is vital for muscle contraction, nerve impulses, and function of heart and kidneys. It is necessary for regulation of the fluid-electrolyte balance within cells and in regulating blood pressure. There’s some evidence that diets high in potassium rich fruits and vegetables reduce the risk of hypertension and stroke. Food Sources: Fresh foods of all kinds. fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, etc. Sodium is the chief ion used to maintain the volume of fluid outside the cells. Sodium attracts water. It is essential to muscle contraction and nerve transmission. The connection…