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In the past two months I've talked about the four big lies around weight and health, the sad truth that diets overwhelmingly fail us in a myriad of ways and other articles about nutrition.
But now what? If diets don't really work what are we to do? We know that health and weight aren't particularly connected, but for most of us health and some level of fitness are definite values we'd like to honor.
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Free radicals and antioxidants are terms that gets bandied about in our progressively more health conscious culture, but they are also one of those more misunderstood things. Marketers are always taking advantage of this, touting everything from Vitamin C supplements to the latest "super food" such as acai berries.
So today we are going to take a closer look at the science behind the hype. What are free radicals, exactly? How are they formed? What do we need to do about them in everyday life and if we are working out or even trying to get the dream performance out of our bodies?
We all know water is crucial for any body to function well, but why is it such a big deal? This article takes a look at water and exercise. We take a look at where we keep body within our bodies. Crucial functions of water are briefly explained. Sweating, electrolytes and the dangers of too much water are explored as well. Exciting right? This is where to come if you want to understand a little of the physiology of water in plain language.
Contrary to the popular wisdom that we are 70% water, the actual range is from about 40% to 70% of our body's mass, or about 42 liters. It makes up 65% to 75% of muscle mass and 10% of the fat mass. Because body fat has a low water percentage, those with more fat have a lower overall percentage of their body weight as water.
The time has come to talk about food and exercise. For today, this means I shall elucidate what exercise physiology has learned about macronutrients (carbs, fats, proteins) and their role in the body for exercising. Macronutrients are characterized by having their ability to provide energy and significant storage in the body in one form or another.
Keep reading to get a deeper look into our body's need for macronutrients in exercise. As a fitness professional with a background in therapy, I've found that its important to question the assumptions we make about weight and health. As part of this process, I am currently reading Body of Truth by Harriet Brown.
What I would like to share now is four important lies Brown addresses in her book. For more detail on these lies and the research both showing how the lies happened and what the truth is, go read her excellent book.
Here's a reference sheet for pre and post race nutrition. The primary source of this information is from Dr. Phillip Maffetone's fabulous book The Big Book of Endurance Training and Racing. I'll be expanding on it in future articles, but I figure full information downloads are fun too, as long as they aren't lengthy....
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