Top Athletes Follow Simple Plans To Eat Right, Not Be Perfect

One of the most significant issues people have regarding nutrition and getting the vital nutrients they need to succeed in everyday life is being overwhelmed by the data. Studies are great, and they are essential for us to understand the latest science, but they are also a mess of information about confusing things – what on earth is sea moss anyway? – that can lead to people simply giving up and maintaining old (unhealthy) habits.

Getting vital nutrients and being healthy isn’t nearly as hard as some of these studies make it seem. One person looking to make a difference in overall nutrition by making things simpler is Dr. Mike Molloy. Dr. Molloy – a nutritional coach – has worked with athletes such as Crossfitter and UK’s fittest man Zack George, Crossfitter Sara Sigmundsdottir, and world judo champion An Changrim. These are the elite of the elite in terms of athletes. Dr. Molloy believes nutrition principles that allow athletes to perform at their peak while also enjoying a healthy and productive lifestyle can also be used by everyone to be healthier mentally and physically.

Here are his three core concepts to getting those vital nutrients into our body and still loving life.

It begins with the basics

The building blocks of nutrition are ones we can all follow. In many cases, changes begin with eating a high-quality, balanced diet filled with protein. This kind of dieting is one stage of gaining vital nutrition that all athletes swear by, and it’s more common practice in the world of professional sports than taking a lot of supplements.

The other key to nutrition is to stay hydrated. Most people don’t intake nearly enough water on a day-to-day basis. Something as simple as adding an extra 32 ounces of high-quality H2O per day could be the missing piece in reaching your personal nutritional and fitness goals. Finally, make sure you are getting enough good-quality sleep. LeBron James – for example – averages 12 hours of sleep per day. While this is not possible for everyone, it can be used as a sleep guide for overnight sleep and rest periods during the day.

“Sleep and hydration might seem tangential to nutrition, but they are incredibly important for driving good nutritional behaviors,” Dr. Molloy told Insider.com in a recent interview.

Eat for the right reason

The biggest difference between your nutritional needs and that of a professional athlete is an expectation of what the food you consume will allow you to do. An athlete is looking at food from the perspective of optimal performance and is trying to get enough good calories into the body to drive a workout or a competition. While there is some element of that with people just looking to eat better – especially when it comes to working out – the overall goal is often to lose weight and be leaner instead of shredding the body to absorb hits by an outside linebacker. They are different goals, but the same basic principles of knowing what you are eating and how it will get you to that goal apply.

Dr. Molloy again. “It’s not restriction-based; it’s goal-oriented. Not ‘How can I eat as little as possible?’ but ‘How can I eat the right amount to fuel my training so that I’m energized throughout the day, not feeling sluggish, and I’m not hungry?'”

Eat what you want in the right quantities

Circling back around to that sea moss, we get to the point where eating what you want – as opposed to eating what you are told – is vitally important. Nutrition and consuming vital nutrients shouldn’t feel like a chore because if it does, then there is no you will stick with it. Think of this as a long-term planning approach: Telling yourself you can never have pizza is very different from deciding not to have pizza for the two weeks leading up to that lake trip this summer. Know where you want to be at your peak in terms of fitness and nutrition and work back from there, ensuring what you enjoy and like worked into your plans.

“It’s not about never going out for dinner or never eating chocolate; we just build it into their routine,” Molloy said. “As serious as they are as athletes, it’s not about being perfect.”

Seven Vital Foods To Help Fight The Coronavirus

We have already mentioned on this site how one of the best ways to prepare yourself for a COVID-19 infection is to have an immune system ready and raring to fight the virus. In that article, we offered guidance about the basic vitamins and minerals that would provide vital nutrients for fighting Coronavirus as well as any pathogen you might encounter. This time around, we are going to get a little more specific and look at foods that you should be eating to maintain that nutrient balance during the pandemic.

Here are seven foods you may want to have in your house at this time:

1.  Mushrooms:  We know that Vitamin D is a huge immune system booster. While it is most often sourced through sun exposure, there are also some foods that are a reliable source of the vitamin. Mushrooms are one such food and they are so versatile that they can be incorporated into almost any dish.

2.  Yogurt:  It’s known for being a source of probiotics – think good bacteria – and it will provide a great boost to your immune system. When deciding which to buy, go as basic as possible by getting a good, plain, probiotic filled yogurt and throwing some fruit into it.

3.  Strawberries:  Vitamin C protects against cell damage and about half a cup of the delicious berries will give you half of your recommended daily need. You can do plenty with strawberries – there is nothing wrong with eating them plain or with cream – but add them to a spinach salad for something a little different.

4.  Broccoli:  This could really be titled the ‘Green Leafy Catchall.”. This is another Vitamin C source and with the amount you have to eat (only half a cup) to get half of your recommended daily amount, there is really no reason to be slacking. Broccoli should be one of your go-to vegetables to add in any stir fry.

5.  Red Bell Pepper:  The red peppers contain double the amount of Vitamin C of the famed citrus fruits. Throw in their high levels of beta carotene and you have a very powerful little vegetable. They are another versatile workhorse veggie, too, as eating them raw on sandwiches or cooked on a pizza are just two ways to enjoy them and get their vital nutrients.

6.  Sunflower seeds:  They may seem simple, but sunflower seeds are a great snack for the immune system. Vitamin B-6 is one that is important, as is the Vitamin E, magnesium, and phosphorous that these power pellets provide. Just salt them and eat them (or throw them onto that broccoli based stir fry).

7.  Papaya:  So, you want your recommended Vitamin C in one dose? A single papaya has 224% of your daily need.  In addition, Papayas have an enzyme called papain that helps with inflammation.  They also have potassium and B vitamins and they are delicious.

There are many other foods that will give your immune system a boost or keep it operating at peak levels.  Partner them with some exercise and appropriate rest for your best chance of fighting off any infection.

Article by Vital Guidance

Vitamins help prepare for the unknown affects of viruses

One of the biggest hurdles that we will all struggle with at one time or another in the face of the COVID-19 situation is the unknown. The truth is that no one – scientists, government officials, the neighbor with the cat that knows everything (nothing) really has no idea about the scope of this worldwide virus. That is why what we need to do is focus on the things we do know and the things that we can do something about.

Eating healthy won’t keep the Coronavirus at bay.  What it will do, however, is have your immune system as ready and healthy as possible to fight off the invasive threat.  This is a story as old as time itself and it is a well-known way to stay healthy through troubling times.  Here are a few nutrients to focus on in the weeks ahead:

Vitamin D
Sun exposure is important as there are immune cells that use vitamin D to destroy viral pathogens that cause infections.  Getting just a few minutes outdoors will help with this sun retention – though more is obviously better as it will also help your mental health to get out and relax.   Also, a number of food brands can be found with added vitamin D to help with this vital nutrient.

Vitamin C/E
These vitamins protect your cells from oxidative stress as they shore up your structures and reduce possible inflammations. Vitamin C is especially important as it will help the body get back to normal more quickly by reacting and causing an immune response that will clean up any junk in the system as quickly as possible. Citrus fruits are the go-to options here.

Vitamin A
Another structure vitamin, Vitamin A forms a barrier in the respiratory tract and gut as your initial line of defense against a virus. This vitamin is also important for making the antibodies that will fight the virus and it can be found in oily fish, cheese, and egg yolks.

B vitamins
All useful, but B6, B9, and B12 are the best of the bunch. They attack a pathogen by causing infected cells to implode and stop their spread around the body. Cereals and leafy greens are good sources of B vitamins, with B12 being found in eggs, meat, and dairy products.

Getting as much healthy food into the system – with vitamins and minerals in the right doses – will give your body a greater chance of fighting off not only COVID-19, but also the seasonal flu and other viral infections. This will put you in the best position to make it through any outbreak on the mild end of the scale.  Stay safe.

Article by Vital Guidance

Opioid Abuse Leads To Harmful Consequences

Taking prescription opioids to manage pain is part of everyday life for millions of people.  As a mentor presenting vital guidance to your friends and loved ones it is important that you know how to spot problems and behaviors that are associated with opioid abuse, opioid dependency, and an opioid overdose.

The first sign of dependency is a fairly obvious one. Prescription medication comes with detailed information on when and how much medication should be taken. If you notice someone taking their meds more than instructed – or at a higher dose than instructed – then there is already a problem. This is because they need to increase their exposure to the drug in order to find relief that was manageable before, but might be quickly spinning out of control.

Other signs of dependency are what you would expect from a category of drugs – including the lines of morphine, oxycodone, and fentanyl – that have the ability to take over a person’s life. Increased tolerance begets persistent use of the drug despite obviously harmful consequences. A person will lose interest in their normal activities, obligations, and routines as they fall victim to the drug, becoming ever more dependent and moving one step closer to a life threatening – and often life taking – overdose.

The signs of an overdose are terrifying, but if you know anyone who is on opioids – be it for a legitimate reason or not – then it is important to recognize them instantly. The difference between an overdose and a very strong high are not always that obvious, making it even harder to tell if a person is in serious danger.

Overdose symptoms include:

  • Labored, slow, or even zero breathing
  • Limp body
  • Pin-point pupils
  • Pale, cold or blue skin
  • Choking and/or gurgling sounds
  • Unresponsive to anything you do

Overdoses are killers, and you must react in a rapid and calm way to find help quickly. As dependency often falls along multiple lines, be aware the chances of overdose has vastly increased when opioids are mixed with sedatives and/or alcohol.

Prevention is always going to be the first choice when dealing with opioid abuse, doing whatever it takes to help someone get away from the drugs that are hurting them. Sometimes – even with the best will in the world – this isn’t possible and in those situations knowing if it is an opioid overdose or a strong high can be the difference between life and death.

“It is important that we change the viewpoint that our nation and the medical community currently has about opioid addiction,” says Dr. Andre Waisman, founder of The ANR Clinic which educates and treats opioid addictions around the world.  “Rather than treating it as a chronic relapsing illness, doctors should approach it from the angle of a disease for treatment of the root cause rather than only it’s symptoms. By doing so we can move forward towards an age where treatment is no longer the same unsuccessful methods from 30 years ago but rather a more beneficial and humane treatment for patients of opioid addiction.”

For more information or for treatment of opioid addictions, call The ANR Clinic in Tampa, FL at (813) 750-7470.

Article by Vital Guidance

ANR Clinic Treats Opioid Addictions At A Different Level

For decades the narrative on opioids has been that it is a mental health problem that people fall victim to who are weak minded. Maybe at first this made sense. Maybe back in the early stages of the opioid epidemic it was easy to turn the other cheek when seeing people fall victim to addiction and just say “That would never happen to me”.

Those days are gone.

We are living in a country in the middle of a crisis because of how opioid issues have been treated from the beginning. This is not a disease that only affects junkies, it is something that anyone in any walk of life can fall victim to.  All it takes it one accident that requires painkillers for the cycle to start. A car collision, an injury on the job site, simply stepping wrong while walking and hurting an ankle, these can all be the first step towards an addiction that will change everything about you as a person.

Rehab centers are not the only answer, and may not even be the best answer. Sure, the vital guidance they give is helpful to some, but the number of people seeking treatment four or five times over tells you everything you need to know about their effectiveness to the masses. One reason they don’t work is because the treatment – be it mental health work or replacing one opioid with another to wean someone off of a drug – is summarily ineffective and inefficient.

This is not a mental health problem at its core. If it was then the government wouldn’t have to spend almost $2 billion a year to combat what has become a national epidemic.  Synthetic opioids have become an even bigger problem. In 2017, almost 60% of opioid deaths were chalked up to synthetic products. Many times these are coming from illicit manufacturers with no skin in the game other than to get their product out and make money for what has become a lucrative criminal enterprise product.

According to Dr. Andre Waismann of the ANR Clinic, the problem instead should be focused on the physical. Opioid use has been proven to alter brain structures. The receptors in the brain are altered and the dependency takes hold. From there, it doesn’t matter what guidance are given by mental health professionals, the damage has been done and the need for further drug use is now built in.  To cure this epidemic it is the physical side we need to concentrate on, he says.

In 1998, after successfully treating thousands of patients, including a 6-year old child that became opioid-dependent after a brain tumor operation, Dr. Waismann shared his findings around the efficacy and safety of his method at the International Congress of Anesthesia at Frankfurt.  In 2019, he established the first US ANR Clinic in Tampa, FL as the international headquarters for education, treatment, and further academic efforts for opioid addiction.

For more information or for treatment, call the ANR Clinic in Tampa, FL at (813) 750-7470.

Article by Vital Guidance

Your Carbon Footprint Reduction Makes Earth Healthier

What if eating healthier and getting more of the vital nutrition you need could also help reduce your carbon footprint and play a part in making the earth a healthier and more sustainable place?

With climate change and resource extraction being such hot-button issues there are many people who want to know what they can do to help. One way of doing so is to turn towards more sustainable eating patterns, with some research suggesting that doing so could help slash greenhouse gas emissions by up to 70% over time.

You can’t chance the future of the earth on your own, but you can make nutritional decisions that make you a healthier person while also helping the global fight against climate change in your own way.

Here are some ideas to help:

No More Plastic

This one is an easy change to make that works on multiple levels. Goods packaged in boxes, styrofoam, and plastic are usually full of preservatives and chemicals. Instead of buying these items, go for fresh produce that is full of the vital nutrients you need to live a better life. Beyond that, don’t be tempted to put your groceries inside the plastic bags or wrap provided by the store and don’t use the single use grocery bags. Instead, use your own bags and feel good about what you walk out of the store with.

Eat Less Meat

This is another simple change that you might be shocked to learn would contribute to a serious decline in greenhouse gas emissions if everyone followed a more vegetarian or vegan friendly lifestyle. This is because the emissions from beef and dairy cattle specifically – and livestock production in general – represents about 14.5% of global human-induced greenhouse gas emissions. While taking all meat out of a diet might now be possible, limiting yourself to one meat based meal a day is something that everyone could try.

Grow Your Own Food

For centuries, humans have grown their own food in their back yards, fields or allotments. This is something we have moved away from over time with our city or suburb based lives to the point that it is now rare to see a working adult with a vegetable patch that they cultivate and use. Growing your own fruit and vegetables obviously reduces your need to plastic and other carbon footprint altering materials. Along with the vital nutrients you are guaranteed from your own produce, having a garden to tend to also helps reduce stress and promotes an improved state of emotional well being.

Buy Local

This is an extension of the growing-your-own-food concept but on a larger scale. Local food is less damaging on the environment because it is much easier to transport food on a local level. More than that, local food tends to be seasonal. This is important because food grown out of season – mass produced for a national market – takes a much higher toll on the environment. The added benefit here is that money stays in the local economy and you will learn to love foods native to where you live.

Article by Vital Guidance

Three Vital Nutritional Ideas For Creating A New You

With a new year just around the corner it is that time of the season where we take stock of our lives. One area that we immediately focus on is nutrition, something that makes sense given the role that nutrients play in our health and quality of life.

There are a number of ways to clean up your eating habits and get the most nutrition for your buck. One such way is to look at the little mistakes you are making in what you eat.  Then make simple changes that can add to your overall health.

Here are three small mistakes that are easy – and inexpensive – to change.

Being afraid to make dietary mistakes

Nutrition and healthy eating isn’t a catch-all system. What works for one person – even someone in your own family – won’t necessarily work for you. This can be frustrating when nothing seems to work, but the truth is, finding out what works and what doesn’t is sometimes nothing more than trial and error.

To that end, feel free to try things. If Keto isn’t working for you then move to a different type of nutritional regime. There are so many healthy eating options out there that’ll allow you to get your vital nutrients without having to follow the crowd.

Add don’t subtract

Many people try to start their path to healthy eating by taking things out of their diet.  While we probably all have something we could remove and not cause any damage, it is never wise to suddenly shock the system and take away foods that are actually helping your nutritional balance.

Instead of removing everything, try cutting back while adding other foods. Maybe you can add grains such as quinoa to your diet.  Even adding more plant-based fats or fresh fish would be ideal and help with your nutritional goals. Instead of just restricting, look to expand into new areas and new foods that you haven’t experienced before.

Tracking progress on a scale

Scales do have their place, but they shouldn’t be your total measure of nutritional health. Building muscle is going to counteract the fat loss because muscle weighs more than fat.  Therefore, focus on your body composition and how you feel mentally. Better nutrition leads to better mental health.  Also, it will make you feel more awake, alert, and energetic.

In terms of body, look at the overall size and shape of your muscles and track those as opposed to weight. This will help you set your goals and provide immediate feedback on how your new nutritional program is shaping a new you.

Article by Vital Guidance

These 7 Small Changes In Diet Can Have Big Results

Getting healthy and staying healthy can be a pain in the butt for almost everyone on planet earth, mostly because of the stress we all go through to get to that ‘stunning slim size’. The truth is, being slim doesn’t necessarily mean that one is healthy. You can be taking in foods and performing exercises that are horrible for your body type and health, and the loss of weight could just be your body crying for help.

Eating healthy is one of the best ways to keep you and/or your family healthy. Eating the right foods can be easy, fun, delicious and affordable. It is really all about making the right choices of foods and drinks in order to build an overall healthy dietary pattern.

Small changes in your diets can result in big changes in your health. If you want to get healthy by eating healthy you should incorporate the following steps into your lifestyle.

Switch from sugary drinks to water or unsweetened drinks

Sugary drinks contain a lot of unnecessary calories, by cutting them out of your diet pattern and replacing them with water or unsweetened drinks will reduce the amount of useless calories taken into the body. If you want a little flavour in your drinks, you can add a slice of lime or lemon into your glass of water or even squeeze some orange juice in.

Cut back on solid fats

Foods and snacks that contain solid fats like cakes, cookies, hot dogs, ice cream, etc. should be reduced from your diet.

Eat more lean proteins

Nuts, meat, seafood, fish, eggs, and beans are great examples of items that are in the protein food group. A better choice of proteins that are healthier are the leaner cuts of meat where there is less fat in the meat e.g. turkey breast and chicken breast.

Control your portion size

When you are full, please leave the food on the plate and not inside your stomach. If the temptation is too great, you can prevent it from occurring by using smaller plates. Please note that portion size depends on the gender, age, and activity level of the individual.

Related Article: Personal Nutrition May Be Best For Your Health, Fitness

Fruits, Fruits, Fruits.

Fruits are nutrient-packed foods that help in fighting off diseases while being insanely delicious. Fruits like watermelons, oranges, bananas and pineapples are easily accessible grocery stores as well as fruit stands.  Pineapples are wonderful fruits which are sweet as well as highly nutritious. For many people, they are the go-to fruits for eating healthy.

Vegetables

They might not be the tastiest thing to eat, but they are among the healthiest. Vegetables are important sources of nutrients including potassium, vitamin A, vitamin C, folic acid and fiber. The fiber in vegetables provide a fullness with fewer calories and also aids smooth bowel movement. So, you definitely need to add them to your dietary pattern.

Whole-grain not refined-grain

Switching completely from refined-grain foods to whole-grain or making half of the grains you eat whole-grain improves your diet, which equally improves your health. Instead of white bread, you could eat whole-wheat bread. The same thing for rice, brown rice is way better than white rice.

You don’t have to make a complete change in your eating habits all it once. Research has shown just little changes can lead to big results over time.  Happy eating!

Article by Vital Guidance

Drinking Water Helps Your Body In Many Ways

Water is the most beneficial thing that is so easy and so free and yet so easily overlooked. Our bodies are made up of about 70% water and our brains, a whooping 90%. If most of what we are is water then it’s completely obvious that it is vital to our functioning. To be reminded how necessary water is so that you can do your best to consume it, here are some points:

Brain juice

Drinking water increase the brain’s temperature and washes away toxins and dead cells. It enables cells and chemical processes that regulate stress and anxiety to function properly. Our brains are the first to feel the effect of dehydration and this is manifested as poor concentration and light-headedness. It is also harder to memorize and recall things when poorly hydrated. Dehydration has also been found to trigger headaches and migraines in some individuals.

Weight loss

Most of us are interested in dropping some pounds and drinking enough water is key to the process. Water removes by-products of fat, reduces food craving. It increases your metabolic rate which means faster burning of calories. While it can create the filled-up feeling, it has zero calories!

Skincare

We spend a bunch on moisturizers but moisturizing is not just a surface phenomenon. Drinking water keeps your skin supple, silky and glowing from within. Another great way of using water in your skin care is not wiping off after a shower then applying your moisturizer. This seals in the water while your skin absorbs it.

Immune system boost

A person who is big on drinking water is not as likely to fall ill as one who isn’t, all things considered. Because water gets rid of harmful chemicals called free radicals which are by products of your body’s metabolism, it keeps you in tip-top shape.

Keeps your bowel moving

Since constipation is linked to dehydration in the colon, you need to ensure you consume lots of water. When your body is properly hydrated, less water will be reabsorbed from the colon and this will keep your stool soft and easy to evacuate.

Temperature regulation

Water is stored in the middle layer of the skin which is known as the dermis and this comes to the skin surface as sweat when the body heats up. While it evaporates, it cools the body down. Scientists have observed that when there is too little water in the body, heat storage increase and one’s ability to tolerate heat strain dips.

Prevents kidney damage

The kidneys are two bean-shaped organs in the abdomen that regulate fluid in the body. Insufficient water can cause a build up of calcium in the kidneys and lead to kidney stones and other problems. Without our kidneys functioning properly, they’ll be a build up of toxins in our bodies which is very dangerous.

Prevents hangovers

Most of us are aware of that unpleasant feeling that comes the morning after a night of going wild on alcohol. Alcohol makes you lose more water when you take it and lead to dehydration. A great way to reduce hangovers is to drink a glass of water between drinks.

 

Article by Vital Guidance

Personal Nutrition May Be Best For Your Health, Fitness

We are aware that getting vital nutrients into the body with what we eat and drink is the best way to maintain health and fitness. While knowing that and following basic nutritional guidelines helps, there is still the question: Am I getting the right amount of vital nutrients for my specific body composite?

A one-size-fits-all diet sounds perfect, but the truth is there is no one catch-all solution to what we should be eating and drinking. Some people may need more potassium in their diet, while others may need to focus on protein and iron to feed their genetic makeup.

This is, obviously, pretty frustrating. It is why people can quickly become disheartened when what they are taking into their body causes them to gain weight or be sick, while others eating a worse diet of nutrients lose weight and remain healthy.

The answer to this problem lies in the science of personal nutrition.

This solution is making some noise in nutrition circles, especially at the top end of the market. The science is pretty simple and works just like personalized medicine. By analyzing your genes, scientists and nutritionists can then determine which foods and supplements will suit you best. Personalized nutrients will allow you to reach your health goals quicker, and it will result in you having more energy and a healthier overall lifestyle.

How these new sciences can help vary. At its most simple level, a wearable device can collect data such as the amount of physical activity you do in a day and your body’s response to that. The next level involves home-testing kits that can use blood, urine, and DNA samples to determine which vital nutrients you are overexposed to or lacking in your body. That data can then be used to formulate a program to adjust what you eat.

Personalized nutritional programs are most often used at the highest levels of sports. This is where athletes need the data on a day-to-day basis to complement their training and performance programs. The trickle-down effect has started, however, with more and more of this technology and science being available to the general public, who also have their own health goals to meet.

Preventing diseases is at the forefront of every nutritionist’s mind. These advances in science will only make their job easier, and personalized nutrition programs will soon become a more significant part of everyone’s life.

Article by Vital Guidance