Tag: #wellness

A Beautiful Combo

Chia!

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A Beautiful Combo

A Beautiful Combo

 

You want to lose weight? Stop drinking crap (soda, diet soda, Monsters, etc.) and start drinking more water. Even try this beautiful combo: Green Tea and Chia seeds! Weight loss is ALL about Nutrition! Your workouts definitely speed up the weight loss process, but nutrition is 85-90% of the battle.

1 Tbsp. of Chia has 70 calories (40 from fat), very little sodium, 6 grams of fiber (makes you feel full longer so you don’t get hungry and eat more than you need to), 2.9 grams of Omega-3s (this is the ‘good & healthy’ fat that our body NEEDS, as opposed to the bad fat found at fastfood restaurants), 1 gram of carbs, and 3 grams of protein. I get my Chia from Trader Joe’s and my Green Tea from Target. I also put chia in my yogurt (the few times I eat yogurt), in my protein shakes, and other shtuff.

 

No more excuses fam, let’s get to work! Start paying more attention to your nutrition and you will start seeing the results that you work so damn hard for! Ch(ia)eers!!

 

“What you eat in private, you wear in public.”

 

Flaxseed

What the Flaxseed?

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Flaxseed

Flaxseed

It reduces your risk of heart disease, stroke and diabetes. It may help protect you against breast cancer, prostate cancer and colon cancer. It helps you lose weight and it helps clean your GI tract. You could add it to pretty much anything that you eat and it doesn’t really taste like anything so you wouldn’t even notice. And it doesn’t cost much. You can find it for less than $4 online or just get it at Trader Joe’s for a little more than that. If those aren’t reason enough to start adding flaxseed to your diet, I’ve added a few facts about it’s three main components (Fiber, Lignans and Omega-3s) below.

FIBER:

There are two types of fiber: soluble and insoluble. Flaxseed has both!

  • Soluble fiber is good for us because it attracts water and together they combine to form a gel. This gel helps slow down our digestion which means that we have that feeling of ‘fullness’ for a lot longer. Soluble fiber also helps lower our LDL blood cholesterol levels by interfering with the absorption of dietary cholesterol. LDLs collect in the walls of blood vessels and causes blockages and blood clots that may cause atherosclerosis (plaque buildup in the arteries) which in turn may lead to a heart attack, a stroke or even death.
  • Insoluble fiber is considered ‘gut-healthy’ because it has a laxative effect and prevents constipation. Because it’s insoluble (it doesn’t dissolve in water), it goes through our GI tract and grabs on to all the crap in our body and then we poop it out.
  • How much fiber do we need?
    • 35-40 grams a day for men
    • 25 grams a day for women

Lignans:

Lignans are a chemical compound found in plants and have antioxidant qualities. Just like fiber, lignans help lower our LDL levels. The lignans found in flaxseed help reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke because they have been shown to reduce atherosclerotic plaque buildup by up to 75%.

Omega-3 Fats:

Omega-3s act as an anti-inflammatory by helping block the release of pro-inflammatory agents. This reduction of inflammation associated with plaque buildup in the arteries may be another reason that flaxseed helps reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke. And because there is less plaque in our arteries, our heartbeat and blood pressure normalizes.

Give flaxseed a shot! What do you got to lose?

How Pro Athletes Deal With Anxiety

My Take Aways From: How Pro Athletes Deal With Anxiety by Kevin Gray

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How Pro Athletes Deal With Anxiety

How Pro Athletes Deal With Anxiety by Kevin Gray (Men’s Journal May 2013)

Here are the key points I took away from this article by Kevin Gray:

  • “Nervousness is your friend. It’s a normal reaction to an important moment in your life.” – JoAnn Dahlkoetter Stanford Medical Center Sport Psychologist
  • Anxiety is basically an adrenaline dump, your body’s fight-or-flight response.
  • This natural response goes off the rails when the body gets run down or is already ridden with stress.
  • Hangovers are a known trigger for panic attacks: a heavy night of drinking can lead to fatigue, dehydration, too much caffeine, and not enough food.
  • Stress is the most common trigger.
  • The most effective way to inhibit their internal fears and fend off a panic attach is to breathe.
  • Full blown panic attacks occur when there is an imbalance of oxygen and carbon dioxide
  • Slow deep breathing gets much-needed oxygen to the brain.
  • “Square Breathing” – breathe in deeply on a count of four and then exhale completely on a count of four, repeating three or four times. The key is to exhale all the way because you can’t take in air unless you completely empty out your lungs.
  • Mental visualization also helps: see yourself doing exactly what needs to be done. (ie., the tennis strokes you’ll use, your approach shots, your line game, etc.). But also visualize distractions, upsets, and other scenarios.
  • Anxiousminds.org is a website created by Royce White to educate anxiety sufferers.
Triple Crown 10K

Triple Crown 10K

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You know the routine: after a race, I eat food and drink water and post a picture with a long caption on my IG account. So here’s what I posted on my IG after my 10K today:

Triple Crown 10K

Triple Crown 10K

“4th 10K in the books. This was a very familiar run because I’ve run Lake Merced plenty of times before. The only difference was the direction we ran for this 10K; I usually run counterclockwise, but this race was run clockwise. I placed 1st in my age group and 1st overall in the 10K field!!! Woooo!!! In yo face Usain Bolt!!!  Yea, the field was 4 deep and I was the only male and the youngest female of the group was 46, but hey, shut your mouth :). Now it’s time for a fresh cut before I see the gang. Happy Sunday everyone!“

I was really happy with my overall time. Ever since I got this Garmin, I’ve been pushing myself a little harder. This was a faster pace than my 8-miler last week on the same course. I have a crazy week ahead of me, so I hope I can make time to do my runs and get some good rest; we’ll see how that goes. I hope you’re all doing well! Go 9ers!!! Cheers!!