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Showing posts with label you. Show all posts
Showing posts with label you. Show all posts

Wednesday, April 8, 2015

Pregnancy Symptoms Week 1 after Conception Can you feel it

Pregnancy is usually a good news except a few situations when people want to avoid it. But one thing is common in both of these situations. That is, everybody want to know it as soon as possible. Usually women find it after they miss a period. But missing a period means that you are 1 to 3 weeks pregnant. Here are trying to find a way to find it after withing one week after conception.

There are no visible effects on the body of a women in 1 week pregnancy. According to some gynecologists fertilization takes place during the second week of pregnancy, so its hard to detect it during week 1. however some symptoms can be noticed during week one of pregnancy. These symptoms are:
  • Fatigue
  • Loss of interest in things
  • Mood Swings
  • Constant need to urinate

There are some other means to detect pregnancy during week 1. In some cases these symptoms appear in second week.

  • Digestive problems like gas
  • Constipation
  • Nausea
  • Tender breasts
  • Morning sickness
  • Other hormonal changes

Usually fertilization can take place only after first 2 weeks of menstrual cycle. But doctors count pregnancy from the first day of last menstrual cycle. 9 months period is calculated from that day.

Pregnancy symptoms differ from women to women. In some cases women think these symptoms to be PMS symptoms.

Can you feel Week 1 Pregnancy ?


No, usually its impossible to feel pregnancy just by feeling something in your stomach. Usually early symptoms may also take more than 1 week to appear properly. 
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Saturday, March 21, 2015

Have You Had Your Greens Today

Photo: Andy Rogers

How does a four-ton elephant get its protein? What about a gorilla that can easily bench press 2,000 pounds? Both consume large amounts of green leaves.

Benefits of Eating Leaf Protein:
  • loaded with vitamins, minerals, enzymes, phytochemicals, antioxidants and chlorophyll
  • easy to digest
  • nutrients absorb quickly
  • none of the harmful effects of flesh protein
While everyone agrees that leafy green vegetables are a great way to get the nutrients you need for optimum health, the average person doesnt even consume one green salad a day.

Smoothies are a quick and easy way to start adding more greens to your diet. Green smoothies are a complete food, containing all essential amino acids. If you follow a ratio of 60% fruit mixed with 40% green leafy vegetables, you cant go wrong. Dr. Ann Wigmore called them Energy Soup, and added avocado and sprouts to the mix.

Variety Is The Spice of Life

Its very important to rotate your greens. Leafy greens contain alkaloids that can be slightly toxic if you eat the same greens every day. But with so many different varieties, it shouldnt be hard to mix it up a bit.

Greens found at Whole Foods Market:
  • Arugula
  • Beet greens
  • Bok choy
  • Chard
  • Collard greens
  • Dandelion greens
  • Endive (Chicory)
  • Escarole
  • Fresee
  • Kale
  • Mizuna
  • Mustard greens
  • Radicchio
  • Romaine lettuce
  • Spinach
  • Turnip Greens
Start Your Blenders

The amount of time you blend will depend upon your blender. If youre fortunate enough to own a high-powered commercial blender, youll be done in 60 seconds. I always start by blending my greens. Other people will tell you to begin with your fruit. Some people like ice in their smoothies. I dont. In other words, its all a matter of taste and preference. Do what works for you. Have fun experimenting!

To thin your smoothie, you can use filtered water, coconut water, or Rejuvelac.


Heres some recipes I enjoy. Each will yield one quart.

3 handfuls fresh baby spinach
1 C frozen mixed berries
1/4 inch fresh ginger, grated
2 C water


1 bunch romaine lettuce
1 C pineapple chunks
2 seedless oranges
3 dates
1 C coconut water


6 kale leaves (pull them off the stem)
10 mint leaves
3 bananas
2 Tbsp carob powder
2 C water


2 handfuls mixed baby greens
2 stalks celery
1 cucumber
1 handful dulse
1 banana
2 Fuji apples
2 C water

Whats your favorite green smoothie recipe?
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Saturday, March 14, 2015

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Tuesday, March 10, 2015

You Can Quote Me Planning Is Key

I started smoking when I was 12 years old. Smoking and Dexatrim™ became my diet of choice for many years. A dozen years ago, I had a desire to change my relationship to tobacco. I was a Sacred Pipe carrier and smoked a pack and a half of cigarettes a day. It seemed conflicted to me that I would use tobacco in prayer and ceremony, and then mindlessly abuse it throughout the day. I set a goal: July 4, 1997 would be my Day of Independence, freedom from smoking. Then, I came up with a plan to work toward my goal.

Success! Eleven years and counting, smoke free!

Of course, I put on 100 pounds in the meantime. Transferring one addiction for another is not freedom.

With the extra pounds, came a host of chronic physical symptoms – heartburn, headaches, edema, aches, pains, fatigue, depression, shortness of breath – and quite frankly, I was sick and tired of feeling sick and tired, all the time.

On the last summer solstice, I set an intention to change my relationship to food and regain my health and vitality. The goal, for me, wasnt so much about the number on the scale. I wanted to find freedom from mindless, compulsive eating. I wanted to begin living a healthier lifestyle that was more in alignment with my core beliefs. And I knew that having a PLAN was the key.

And so began my transition from highly refined and processed foods to a diet of primarily fresh, organic, plant-based foods.

First things first: planning my meals. This actually involves forethought and grocery shopping. Imagine that. And, it means ensuring that I have plenty of fresh fruits, vegetables, sprouts, seeds and nuts on hand. I also like to stock an assortment of fruit in the freezer, cut and ready to throw into the blender for delicious green smoothies.

Have mason jar, will travel

Ive learned from experience that when Im away from home and hunger strikes, its just too easy for me to make poor food choices. For years, my car was set to auto-pilot to the nearest drive-thru window. So now, if I know Im going to be out running around for more than several hours, Ill plan on taking a mason jar of green smoothie with me. Little bags of organic baby carrots,
crunchy sprouts, dried fruits, and nuts are great take-alongs too.

Heres what raw food chef and author Kristen Suzanne says about having things planned and ready to eat:
Living the Raw Vegan lifestyle is really easy, there is no doubt about that. Whether youre eating a simple apple for breakfast or making a pate-stuffed tomato for lunch, it can take very little time out of your day. The key when starting out is to be focused and organized, which also makes it easy to stay on your Raw diet. I have found that half the battle for most people trying to stick to a diet is simply having things planned and ready to eat. Once you have that figured out, there is no guess work, making it less likely for you to fall off your chosen path to optimal health. (Continue reading)
Fail to Plan. Plan to Fail. Simple. And, you can quote me on that.

What are some things you do to PLAN for success on your diet?

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Friday, March 6, 2015

Can You Use Acupuncture For Weight Loss



Everyone is looking for the secret to weight loss, without falling victim to the latest gimmicks. With so many different opinions about how to lose weight, it can be difficult to tell what will really work.
Fortunately there is a technique for weight loss that has been tested for centuries:  acupuncture.
This technique is safe, sound and reliable. And, even more exciting, using acupuncture for weight loss helps you lose weight in several different ways.


Is There Proof That Acupuncture Helps With Weight Loss?

Yes. In one study by Professor Sabina Lim, at the East-West Medical Research Institute at Kyung Hee University in Seoul, South Korea, researchers found that auricular acupuncture (acupuncture which uses the ear points) resulted in about a 6% reduction in body mass index (BMI) over 8 weeks. This is especially interesting because they found this same result with two different protocols, one with four needles and one with only one needle. Both techniques resulted in lower BMI.
Researchers continue to study the effectiveness of acupuncture for weight loss, but the results look promising.


How Does Acupuncture Help With Weight Loss?

There are three primary ways that acupuncture can help with weight loss.
First of all, acupuncture helps balance hormones. Acupuncture can increase endorphins, which reduce cravings and generally make you feel more positive. This can help reduce binge eating.
It also decreases the hormones that contribute to weight gain. Dr. Burak Bahar and his team at the Ankara Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Training and Research Hospital in Ankara, Turkey found that both leptin and insulin levels dropped with acupuncture. Leptin regulates fat storage and metabolism and stimulates the feeling of being full.  Insulin regulates carbohydrate and fat metabolism and the absorption of glucose from the blood. This finding suggests that acupuncture may actually reduce the hormones that lead to overeating.
But if leptin stimulates the feeling of being full, why is it good to have reduced levels? Like insulin-resistance, cells can become immune to the effects of leptin when the levels are too high. Many obese people have excessively high levels of leptin. When your leptin level is high, you can no longer tell when to stop eating. Restoring balance to leptin levels may help to reduce leptin-resistance, making it easier to stop eating before you overeat.
The third way that acupuncture helps with weight loss is by reducing stress. Cortisol, the stress hormone, can affect weight in several ways. It disrupts digestion, contributes to depression and escalates your “fight or flight” response. If you feel overwhelmed, you are more likely to binge for emotional reasons and to assume you have no time to prepare healthy meals.
And finally, acupuncture can aid digestion. According to Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), the spleen is responsible for digestion. Disharmony and imbalance in the spleen can lead to fatigue, slow metabolism, water retention, loose stools, and a feeling of heaviness. The liver is responsible for the flow of Qi, blood and emotions. Disharmony in your liver can lead to cravings and compulsive eating.
By balancing your organ system, you support weight loss both physically and psychologically.


How Can I Regulate My Metabolism At Home?

Of course, good metabolism relies on all the things you know are good for you—exercise, good nutrition, sleep and reduced stress. But there is one easy thing you can do using TCM principles to regulate your metabolism: ear massage.
There are several acupuncture points on your ears that help reduce cravings. To stimulate these points, massage your ear several times a day. Start by rubbing your upper ear. Grab your ear with your thumb on the upper, inner ear and your index finger behind your ear. Rub in circular motions for 15 seconds. Next, use your index finger to rub the inner crevices of your upper ear. Rub the front of your ear where it attaches to your head. And finally, massage your ear lobes by gently pulling on them and rubbing them in circles for 15 seconds.
If you like the idea of do-it-yourself acupressure, make an appointment with me to have your pulses taken. Once I know the specifics of your constitution and how it affects your weight loss, I can give you additional points to control your hunger, cravings and metabolism.
Source: http://www.wellspringsacupuncture.com/can-you-use-acupuncture-for-weight-loss/
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How do you raise a daughter with a positive body image when you are terrified of making her fat

Parenting in a world that is in the midst of an obesity crisis, and worships thin, fit bodies is not easy.


We know that children in this country are dangerously overweight. Indeed, the statistics make for some pretty grim reading: there are 100,000 obese children in the country; another 300,000 are classed as overweight. A third of Irish seven-year-olds has a weight problem.
But this particular study - carried out in conjunction with Temple Street Childrens Hospital - reveals more. One 15-year-old being treated at the hospitals obesity clinic told researchers: "I dont go outside anymore."
Another 13-year-old was upset that her mum "found the food I was hiding". Then there is the eight-year-old who stated: "I hate my body - I need a diet".
Perhaps most heart-wrenching of all was the child aged just five, who said: "Nobody in my class will play with me."
These are words that no parent wants to hear. Being five is about running around; playing with friends and siblings; certainly about being care-free.
I cant be the only one to think that there is a particular parental worry that comes with being a mother to a daughter. There is the unique fear that your girl is perhaps getting too fat - because youre making her fat.
You tip-toe around the issue, worried that any mention of her weight will make her unreasonably paranoid. Countless studies highlight the particular impact a mothers attitude to food has on her daughters.
My little girl, Giulia, is now aged 18 months. She has some time left still, I hope, before I have to worry about her being fat or thin; about her - or me - becoming preoccupied about what shes eating and why. Giulia is healthy - she eats well and has a varied diet with plenty of fresh produce. But, like most parents, I suspect, Im still guilty of handing her a biscuit when Im tired, or giving in to her requests for another yogurt a little too easily.
Psychotherapist Harriet Parsons works with the eating disorders awareness group BodyWhys as services co-ordinator. She also lectures in the Dublin Business School and University College Dublin.
"We know that parents reward their children with treats - and we know that they withhold treats as punishment," Harriet explains. "Certainly, mums and dads shouldnt feel they need to avoid that pattern at all costs because we also know a certain amount of that is normal.
"What we do want to avoid, however, is making food a symbol of being a good or being a bad person."
She says for those that are concerned that their child is becoming overly focused on being thin, more than just diet needs to be examined. "Ask your child their opinion and how they feel - allow them to make decisions. Praise them as much as you can; get them involved in a sport or hobby. All these things do wonders for a young persons confidence, leaving them less vulnerable to developing an eating disorder." Harriet concludes: "Children are very good at picking up on comments about dieting and food made by their parents. They also watch these extreme weight-loss shows on television that are not only misrepresentative of real life, but they also reward getting thinner with materialistic things. We are recognise that its all just entertainment, but a child doesnt have that filter."
At my smallest, Ive squeezed into a size 8; at my biggest Ive been a size 14/16. When I was pregnant I was applauded for maintaining a slim physique. Afterwards, I was back in my old clothes almost immediately. All of this was applauded enthusiastically, with me admittedly basking in every compliment.
This summer, I was in an in-shape 10, but I know already, without having to step on the scales, that Ive now crept up to a size 12. Its hardly massive, but its begun to get me down. So in the eight weeks we have until Christmas, Im already planning a juice detox to kick off proceedings, followed by an alcohol-free November, as well as regular exercise sessions.
Not that any of this seems particularly out-of-the-ordinary. A lot of my friends find themselves in the same boat a few times a year: you diet down and allow the weight creep back up. Most of us have two or three different sizes in our wardrobes: "thin" clothes interspersed with "fat" items.
Its a vicious cycle that any mother - myself included - would love to shield their daughter from. But far from lamenting the pressures of advertising, popular culture and celebrities, I know that as my daughter gets older, I need to examine more closely my own actions. Research in 2009 demonstrated that mothers who diet are almost twice as likely to have daughters who suffer from an eating disorder.
There are plenty of celebrity stories that serve as cautionary tales on how a womans weight and body image is often associated, rightly or wrongly, with their mothers approval. Actress Portia de Rossi (41) has described how her weight plummeted to an astonishing 82lbs in the late 90s as she found fame on the television show, Ally McBeal.
Portia in her book Unbearable Lightness described how at the beginning of her career, her mother applauded weight-loss. Explaining how she lost 5lbs in five days on her "first diet", she says: "Thanks to my rigid self-discipline, I shifted the extra pounds. I was proud of myself, and my mother was proud of me, too."
She goes on to describe visiting her mother months later, when her weight had dropped to 95lbs.
"I wasnt getting the reaction I was hoping for from my mother. I wanted her to tell me that I looked great and that I had finally got it together after all the years of hell my weight had put us both through. Instead, she called me into her bedroom one morning and sobbed: Youre so thin, darling. If you dont eat something youre going to die!"
Actress Jamie Lee Curtis is the daughter of Hollywood royalty Janet Leigh and Tony Curtis. She has publicly spoken about her struggles with alcohol and painkillers, as well as the pressures of celebrity.
"My mother was incredibly proud that she returned to her 20-inch waist mere weeks after pregnancies," Jamie Lee has revealed. "She judged other actresses whose bodies grew and softened. I think she was afraid that it would happen to her too." But Jamie Lee (55) added that "by acknowledging my own changing body, I rebelled against my mothers fear of it".
One Kildare-based mother of three girls aged between six and 13 told Health & Living that she resolutely refuses to mention words such as "diet" or "detox" at home.
"I remember my mother doing an hour-long exercise video every single day, including Christmas Day and our birthdays," she explains. "From an early age, she taught me tricks like having a single bite of a dessert, or a single square of chocolate, rather than the whole thing."
And one incidence in particular stands out: "It was my Confirmation and I was horribly self-conscious standing beside her for photographs because I knew that she was slighter than I was. It was awful. And I do my utmost now to ensure that my daughters wont ever feel like that."
Suzanne Brett lives in Cork with her husband and their daughter, Olivia, whos 10: "Of course mums worry as their daughters approach their teenage years - as mine is now - that theyll go on some silly, unhealthy diet. Or worse; theyll become obsessed with food and losing weight," she states frankly.
She also bemoans the "yummy mummies" for whom six-days-a-week gym sessions and the latest faddy diet are standard.
"That sort of approach will undoubtedly have a negative impact on your children," she says, adding: "A big, calorie-infused dessert should neither be just a standard way to finish off every evening meal or an absolute no-go zone that comes with all sorts of guilty feelings. Balance and moderation is possible for adults - and as parents we need to teach that to our children. Its part and parcel of raising a healthy family."
Its a problem that is made even more difficult in the currrent childhood obesity crisis. In the last month, Safefood has launched its Lets Say No campaign, which aims to encourage parents to cut down on the amount of unhealthy snacks that a child has in between meals. Its a campaign being supported by Dr John Sharry, an author and the founding director of the Parents Plus Charity. His website solutiontalk.ie is also immensely popular with parents looking for advice and guidance.
"I always think that the focus should be on health and well-being rather than just weight - the family needs to approach issues together," Dr Sharry explains.
"Keeping biscuits and fizzy drinks just for the weekend is one solution - that strikes a balance between excess and deprivation."
Dr Sharry, who works with the Mater Hospital in the area of child and adolescent mental health services, is furthermore a senior lecturer at the School of Psychology in University College Dublin.
When I quiz him about the issue of anorexia, he says that although serious, eating disorders present themselves infrequently in comparison to the far more pressing matter of obesity.
"I can understand that parents - in particular mothers - might be worried about their daughters developing an unhealthy aversion to normal, healthy eating," he explains. "However, no health professional can deny the everyday truths that we witness: anorexia is extremely rare - obesity is not."


Tips from  the expert

Irene Deering is a psychotherapist based at Mind And Body Works in Dublins city centre. She has worked extensively with Transition Year students in the area of anxiety and eating disorders, also providing guidance to parents and teachers. 
Encourage individual interests and talents - inspire your daughter to take pleasure in hobbies, rather than placing emphasis on winning or being the best.
Talk to her about your own experiences of resisting the pressure to fit in.
Girls should know that advertising and magazine shoots do not represent real life - if you feel your daughter is idolising a celebritys appearance, take time to explain these images are not necessarily authentic.
Children emulate their mothers. Think carefully about how your actions around your daughter - dieting; passing comment on other peoples appearance; reaching for a bottle of wine during times of stress - might impact on her adversely.
Always be your daughters biggest fan. She should feel that she can turn to you in times of crises. Make sure to speak with her regularly about school, her friends and hobbies - you shouldnt wait until intervention is needed.
By Gillian Fitzpatrick
Source: http://www.independent.ie/life/family/parenting/how-do-you-raise-a-daughter-with-a-positive-body-image-when-you-are-terrified-of-making-her-fat-30690139.html
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Thursday, March 5, 2015

Running For Weight Loss Why You Might Not Lose Weight While Running

While training for optimal performance on race day is the main focus for our coaches here at RunnersConnect, many of the athletes we coach set secondary goals to lose weight and generally desire to be healthier overall.
Certainly, sometimes these two goals – setting a new pr and losing weight – go hand-in-hand, but as coaches we tend to focus on letting weight loss come naturally as the body adapts to training and new levels of fitness.
However, we can appreciate that runners might want to speedup the weight loss aspect of training, which is why I wrote this earlier post on losing weight while running.
Unfortunately, sometimes when a runner first begins serious training, the needle on the scale doesn’t immediately go down, and sometimes it can even head in the wrong direction.
This trend can be frustrating and demoralizing to many runners. However, if you understand the science behind initial weight loss and the practical reasons for why this occurs, you can temper yourself from getting discouraged and make positive and long-term gains both to your overall fitness and to your race times.
So, here are some reasons why you might actually gain weight when training hard.

The Scale is a Trickster

If the scale were a human, he/she would be considered a deceptive trickster. A scale only provides one number, your absolute weight, which isn’t always an accurate measurement of what is happening in your body. Drink a gallon of water and you’ve instantly gained 8.3 pounds. Remove a kidney and you’ve lost 2 pounds.
Extreme examples, I know, but I think it proves that your absolute weight on a scale isn’t always a truthful assessment of changes in your weight, or more importantly your fitness. Here are just a few reasons the numbers on the scale will lie to you:

You will store extra water

When you increase your training to gear up for your goal race, your body begins to store more water to repair damaged muscle fibers and to deliver glycogen to the working muscles. Likewise, you may even be drinking more water to supplement the miles and ensure your hydrated. All this water adds pounds to the scale, but isn’t indicative of your actually weight loss.

Muscle weighs more than fat

While you’re not going to turn into a body builder after just a few days of running, your body will slowly begin to build muscle and burn fat. While this is great news for your overall fitness and race times, you’re actually gaining weight by supplementing low density fat tissue for high density muscle tissue. While it may not look great on the scale, it’s much healthier and will help you to continue to get faster and fitter.

Looking for short-term results

It takes a deficit of 3500 calories to lose one pound. Ideally, you should target a 300-600 a day calorie deficit if you want to lose weight safely and be healthy. This means, you can expect to lose about 1-2 pounds per week. Checking the scale every morning is going to revel very little about your long-term progress or the actual state of your weight loss.
If you weigh yourself everyday, you’re simply measuring day-to-day fluctuations in your hydration levels  and other non-essential weight metrics. Just like you wouldn’t expect a 1 minute drop in your 5k PR after a week of training, don’t expect a 5 pound weight loss after your first week of running.

Eating Too Much to Compensate

You burn more calories while running than almost any other activity you can do. Unfortunately, while the energy demands of running are high, this does not mean that you can eat a big mac and a donut guilt-free and still lose weight.
I often hear runners rationalize their dessert intake by saying, “hey, I ran 5 miles today, I deserve it”. Likewise, I see many running groups meet-up at Starbucks or the local coffee shop after a weekend run. Unfortunately, an iced latté and a small scone will quickly eliminate any caloric deficit from the run and negate possible weight loss.
While running does burn calories, you have to be careful not to quickly or inadvertently eat them back with non-nutrient dense foods.
Likewise, as mentioned in my article on how to lose weight and still run well, you should be providing your muscles with the necessary carbohydrates and protein to recover. This is a delicate balance, and probably the most difficult element to losing weight while running.
As a coach, I think it is more important to focus on recovery and ensure that your muscles have the nutrients they need to rebuild. The harder you train, the more often you will get hungry and the real secret is to refuel with nutrient dense and high quality foods.
Sacrificing recovery for a few less calories is not a good long-term plan. The numbers on the scale are arbitrary and focusing on them can be detrimental to your long-term progression. If you can continue to build your fitness and training levels, you’ll be running farther, faster, and be much healthier overall.

Calculating how may calories you burn while running

On average, a runner will burn 100 calories per mile, but this will depend on your pace, size and metabolism.

Hidden Calories

Many marathon runners automatically assume they are going shed pounds with all the extra mileage they are putting in. However, not only should you ensure that you’re recovering properly after your hard workouts and long runs by eating the right foods, you also need to account for what I call “hidden calories”.
Primarily, hidden calories come in the form of sports drinks and energy gels, which have a high caloric content.
It’s critical that you practice your fueling strategy during your long runs and hard workouts for optimal performance on race day. Likewise, to sustain high levels of training and to complete long and arduous marathon workouts, you need to fuel during your training sessions with sports drinks and energy gels.
However, this also means that the total number of calories you will burn from these long runs and hard workouts will be less than you might realize. Again, for optimal performance and training progression, you need these extra calories.
Unfortunately, they can also be the reason you might not see the weight loss on a scale.

Focus On The Right Metrics

The bottom line is this: running will not automatically result in an immediate weight loss.
Yes, running burns more calories than any other form of exercise, but the scale should not be the primary metric by which you gauge your fitness level and training progression.
While I understand weight loss is an important goal for many runners, don’t become a slave to the numbers on the scale. Pay attention to how you feel – do you have more energy, feel stronger, starting to fit into your clothes better? While not absolute measurements, these emotions are a much more accurate measurement of your progression.
If you have questions about weight loss and running, post them in the comments section and we’ll be sure to help you out.
By Coach Jeff
Source: http://runnersconnect.net/running-nutrition-articles/why-you-might-gain-weight-while-running/
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Are You Overtraining Two Scientifically Proven Methods to Test Yourself Method 1 Heart Rate Variability Analyses

It may sound like the invention of the heart rate monitor industry, but its a matter of scientific "fact" that HRV analyses are a great tool to monitor and manage training and recovery.
Overtraining, its existence, consequences and detection is and has always been one of the hottest topics in the fitness community. While some practitioners and trainers claim that it does not even exist, others fear it so much that they constantly undertrain. The result? Stagnation.

In the highly competitive world of the average iron-willed gymrat, its however pretty rare that the gains aint coming, cause he or she is under-training. I would guesstimate that the exact opposite is the case for at least 75% of the self-proclaimed hard-gainers. Overtraining, undereating and/or  a lack of consistency are the stumbling blocks of 99% of the trainees.

I know that you know all that, ...

... so Ill cut this short and get right to the point. Within the past two weeks I hit upon two interesting papers that describe very different, but - in both cases - effective methods to determine whether you are overtraining, or not. While I originally wanted to tackle both in one article, I had to realize that the day has only 24h for my to write and you to read SuppVersity articles. Therefore, I decided to tackle heart rate variability monitoring today and postpone writing about the other to next weeks follow up (stay tuned!).

You can learn more about overtraining at the SuppVersity

Heart Rate Variability

ABEL Test

Overtraining & Undereating

Calculate your Energy Intake!

There Are No Magic Macros!

Reinvent Your Training!
I guess you may have heard about the usefulness of the latter on my buddy Carl Lanores Super Human Radio, already and are thus familiar with the idea that your heart’s ability to produce fluctuations in the beat-to-beat interval in response to different situations. According to José Morales and his colleagues from the Laboratory of Sport Sciences a the Ramon Llull University in Spain,

Dont turn into the guy on the left, dont overtrain & undereat | learn more
"the use of heart rate variability (HRV) as a training tool has progressively increased and deserves attention as a tool to monitor the possible states of overtraining and recovery after a training process. [...] Several studies suggest that the quantification of HRV can be used as a non-invasive method for assessing autonomic  cardiovascular  control  via  the  impact  of  HRV  on  beat-to-beat  heart  rate  modifications." (Morales. 2013)
The relationship between autonomic modulation and HRV is different during exercise and immediate recovery compared to rest periods. This makes the HRV a viable tool for the non-invasive assessment of the autonomic cardiovascular control and a comparatively objective measure of your training status (Camm. 1996; Seiler. 2007; Bosquet. 2008) .
Hold on: What exactly is my HRV? Actually its much less complicated than terms like fourier-transforms and frequency domain suggest. If you say "my heart rate is 60 beats per minute", this is an average you measured over a certain timespan. If you counted every beat for 60s, for example, the iterval between the beats probably was not exactly 1s. One beat may have been "premature", another took a little more than one second to finally come. The HRV is a measure for the variation in the time interval between heartbeats. In other words, if your heart beats 60 times per minute 24/7, your HRV would be zero and youre probably a cyborg ;-)
The HRV responds particularly to heavy loads / intense workouts. The magnitude of the workout-induced stress is thought to be proportional to the activation of the sympathetic arm of the autonomic nervous system and thus the variations in autonomic balance, which can be indirectly assessed using HRV analysis (Seiler. 2007). A significantly lowered HRV days after a heavy workout is thus a signal that your central nervous system is still recovering. It tells you that youd better insert a light cardio day or spend the time with friends instead of getting back onto the grind for another torturous 5x5 session.

Technology vs. psyche - HRV vs. RESTQ-Sport

Compared to psychological tests like the Recovery Questionnaire for Athletes (RESTQ-Sport), which is frequently used in research to observe the balance between stress and recovery during training processes, the physiological data you evaluate with the HRV method is obviously more objective. It is yet still debated whether it is also reliable and can / should replace or complement the classic psychological testing procedures.
Table 1: Overview of the training weeks of the two groups (Morales. 2013)
For Morales and his colleagues this doubt was among the most important reasons to conduct a study that would integrate both methodologies. To this ends, the researchers recruited 14 male national-standard judo players (age 22.85 years; height 174.08 cm; body mass 76.85 kg) and randomized them to four-weeks of...
  • high training load (HTL - 8 sessions per week ➙ short recovery periods)
  • moderate training load (MTL - 4 sessions per week ➙ long recovery periods) 
For the detection of the HRV at the beginning of the first and last session in weeks 1 and 4, the researchers used a Polar S810 cardiotachometer which provided the scientists with the following parameters either directly or the corresponding data to calculate them:
Figure 1: A wide spread (green ellipse) of the poincare plot indicates full recovery.
  • the mean inter-beat (RR) interval,
  • the standard deviation of the inter-beat (RR) interval , 
  • the heart rate & its standard deviation
  • the square root of the mean squared difference of successive RR intervals, 
  • the number of consecutive RRs that differed by more than 5 ms each, and 
  • the percentage of consecutive RRs that differed by more than 5 ms each
That sounds extremely complicated, but in the day and age of automated data acquisition and immediate processing (including fourier transformation to get the frequency data, etc.), there are lot of tiny little gadgets and apps that can do all the hard math-work for us.

HRV + RESTQ-SPORT + HTL vs. MTL = reliable training analysis

The next thing they did was to to simply plot pairs of inter-beat intervals, e.g. 1/60 vs. 1/64, 1/64 vs. 1/76, etc. the resulting graph is a so-called poincare plot (see Figure 1) and the spread of the point in this graph can tell you whether you are well-rested (wide ellipse) or overtrained / need rest (narrow ellipse)
Figure 2: Changes in selected HRV variables, left; performance, as well as stress + recovery values in the RESTQ-Sport, right; all differences expressed relative to values at the beginning to study (Morales. 2013)
The data in Figure 2 (left) does yet demonstrate - the poincare plot of the inter-beat variables characterizes the decreased heart rate variability (HRV) quite well.
"The multivariate test indicated that there was an interaction effect between the testing time and group on HRV variables. [...] the HTL group showed lower square root of the mean squared difference for successive RR intervals, very low frequency, high frequency, short-term variability and short-range scaling exponent in the post-test than in the pre-test (p < 0.05). The HTL group showed higher low/high frequency ratio in the post-test than in the pre-test. Finally, there were no differences between the pre-test and post-test in the MTL group." (Morales. 2013)
In other words: While the HTL group showed the expected increase in HRV, the judo players in the MTL group did not experience any significant changes in heart rate variability.

The question that remains - at least until you take a look at the data in Figure 2 (right) - is: Do these abstract figures really tell me that I am overtraining? The answer the comparison to the data from the RESTQ-Sport questionnaire gives us is YES, it does!
Dont be that guy or girl who works his / her ass off for nothing. Learn how to identify and combat the Athletes Triad | read all articles.
Bottom Line: The accumulating scientific evidence and the ever-increasing number of practitioners (trainers and trainees) who rely on heart rate variability analyses to judge whether or not they are over-training clearly suggest that a heart rate monitor and the appropriate software (usually part of the bundle) would make a valuable addition to any (over-)ambitious athletes Christmas gift list.

If there is still room for another present on your wishlist, Id suggest you come back next week for part II of this series, to learn about another, maybe sexier method to find out whether your perception that training 1h-2h with no sweat every day wont have you overtrain (note: not sweating or feeling cold in the gym can be signs of severe or chronic overtraining).
Reference:
  • Bosquet, L, et al. "Is heart rate a convenient tool to monitor over-reaching? A systematic review of the literature." British journal of sports medicine 42.9 (2008): 709-714.
  • Camm, A. J., et al. "Heart rate variability: standards of measurement, physiological interpretation and clinical use. Task Force of the European Society of Cardiology and the North American Society of Pacing and Electrophysiology." Circulation 93.5 (1996): 1043-1065.
  • Morales, J., Álamo, J. M., García-Massó, X., López, J. L., Serra-Añó, P., & González, L. M. (2013). The Use Of Heart Rate Variability In Monitoring Stress And Recovery In Judo Athletes. Journal of strength and conditioning research/National Strength & Conditioning Association. 
  • Seiler, Stephen, Olav Haugen, and Erin Kuffel. "Autonomic recovery after exercise in trained athletes: intensity and duration effects." Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise 39.8 (2007): 1366.  
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Don’t let the holidays bully you


According to Google, “Bullying is unwanted, aggressive behavior…that involves a real or perceived power imbalance.”  How can the holidays bully you?  The popular belief is that most people gain weight through the holidays.  Because it is a popular belief, we sometimes convince ourselves that it is an inevitable fact that we will gain weight, or that it is “impossible” to lose weight through the holidays.  Because we believe we have no choice, there is a perceived imbalance of power–the holidays seem to have more power than you. But you always have a choice!
There are 62 days between November 1 and January 1.  If you are eating the recommended 6 meals a day, that means you will consume 372 meals during that time period.  Out of those 372 meals, how many of them will it really be a challenge?  A few possibilities include 1 meal on Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, Christmas day, New Year’s Eve, and New Year’s Day, and 9 days of Hannukah.  These special meals are very few compared to the 372 meals you will be eating during this time period.  If you choose to indulge in a few must-have foods in these meals, there is no reason why you cannot maintain your weight, or even LOSE weight between November and December.  Imagine ringing in the New Year 10 to 15 lb down from where you are now.  How would that feel?!
Have you decided what your goal is for the holidays yet?  Do you want to lose weight?  Do you want to gain weight?  Or do you simply want to maintain?  You always get to choose which of these games you want to play.  Don’t just let whatever happens happen.  Make what you WANT to happens happen.  You get to choose.  Just come up with a strategy to make it happen and elicit the support of someone that will hold you accountable to your goal and your strategy.
It IS possible to have healthy, and fun, holidays!
Source: http://missionhealthypeople.wordpress.com/2014/11/05/dont-let-the-holidays-bully-you/
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Organic Its Not Just What You Eat! My Favorite Safe Products and Gift Ideas

Lulu Organics Hair Powder
A dry shampoo without the worries of talc!

Follow Foods For Long Life on FACEBOOK !

Organic - Is it Worth It?
In April I wrote about organic fruits and vegetables and if they are worth the extra money. Although many of us go ahead and spend more for organic foods to avoid consuming pesticide residues, we are less conscious of other ways that we expose ourselves to harmful chemicals. 
Think about how many products we use in or on our bodies? Shampoo, toothpaste, lotion, lip balm, shaving cream, tampons, mouth wash - and the list goes on and on. Even licking an envelope exposes you to whatever happens to be in the glue! So today, because its a big shopping day, Im going to share a few of my favorite products that I feel safe using on my body.


iLike and Juice Beauty Organic Skin Care Products
One of the best things I did for myself this year was allow myself to be pampered. I started going to Amazing Face Sebastopol, where I got hooked on the most pleasurable facials in the world by Marianne Allred, the owner of the establishment. Besides knowing how to pamper, she really understands skin care products and only uses those with safe, organic ingredients. I was turned on to two product lines that she uses, which I now cannot live without! One is iLike and the other is Juice Beauty.
The iLike (pronounced "ey-lee-kay) products are so fresh and natural, you feel like they just came out of your blender! Ingredients for their products are grown and harvested in the Carpathian region of Hungary. My favorite product of theirs is the Rosehip Exfoliator but, honestly, every one of their products that I have tried has been amazing. Of course its best to support your local businesses so try to find this product locally. If you live in or near Sebastopol, you can pick these up at Amazing Face Sebastopol.  If you cannot find them locally, try sites like Skinbotanica - they carry the full line of iLike products.


iLike Rosehip Exfoliator is my favorite but ALL of their products are truly amazing!


I also fell in love with Juice Beauty, my favorite products being their Stem Cellular Repair products as well as their reflecting gloss lip color. Their moisturizer smells like fresh citrus and you can almost feel it "eating up" the free radicals on your skin! I use the Stem Cellular Repair Moisturizer , Juice Beauty Green Apple Age Defy Serum and the Stem Cellular Repair Eye Treatment. In Sebastopol, you can buy Juice Beauty products at Amazing Face Sebastopol.


Juice Beauty Stem Cell Repair Products


Dry Shampoo - Lulu Organics
OK, I admit it. Some days I just dont want to wash my hair. In fact, there are many days like that. Especially in the winter when its cold and rainy. So being able to shake a little hair powder in my hand, rub it through my hair for a few seconds and be done for the day is a blessing!
Dry shampoos arent new but they are usually made with talc. Turns out that there are serious concerns that talc can be carcinogenic. I shutter to think how I freely powdered my babies bottoms with talcum powder without even thinking about that!
Out of this concern, my daughter, Linda Aldredge, created Lulu Organics and developed a "talc free" hair powder . This dry shampoo comes in 4 delicious scents, Lavender and Clary Sage, Jasmine, Patchouli and Amber, and Vetiver and Black Pepper. They come in Full 4 oz bottles which can last a long time so they are worth the $30 price or if you want to try a few different scents, you can get the 1 oz travel size which are offered in both Lavender and Jasmine. New York Magazine listed this product in The Gift Guide 2011 - Stocking Stuffer Ideas. It was also listed as the number 1 hair powder in the Zoe Report. Follow Lulu Organics on Facebook


Lulu Organics Travel Size hair powder.
Offered in Lavender + Clary Sage and
Jasmine.


Dont Forget about those Lips!
I am especially worried about products that go on my lips. After all, we lick our lips all day long so whatever is on them, ends up in our body. A friend of mine whose wife suffered from celiac, went on a strict gluten free diet. When she found no relief, they discovered there was gluten in her lipstick! So we should worry about the ingredients in our lip products.
My two favorite lip products are Juice Beauty Reflecting Gloss and Lulu Organics Lip Balm


Juice Beauty Reflecting Gloss




Lulu Organics Lip Balm in Ruby Mint and Cardamom


Great Holiday Gifts
So when you are thinking about stocking stuffers and holiday gift giving, think about introducing your friends and families to one of these or other "safe" products. To check out how safe your favorite cosmetics are, go to EWGs Skin Deep Cosmetics Database.
To sample some of Lulu Organics most popular products, check out the Travel Kits. The Deluxe travel kit comes with 2 of Lulu Organics Hair powders, both Lip balms and a travel soap in a Walker Dunham bag.
Happy shopping!


Lulu Organics Deluxe Travel Bag features Lavender + Clary Sage hair powder, Jasmine hair powder, Ruby mint lip balm, Cardamom lip balm, Lavender +Oatmeal Soap - All in a reusable Walker Dunham bag.




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True or False Washing Your Fruit and Veggies is Useless You Cant Wash Away the Pesticides Anyway!

Its a good idea to wash your veggies, but this is not the most effective method. Bath them in warm water, dont wash them under the faucet.
Despite the fact that I had my reasons to end the SuppVersity "True or False" Series back in the day. The popularity of the corresponding articles that appear from time to time as SuppVersity Classics on Facebook does yet tell me that you wont be mad at me, if I revive it and try to tackle a statement Ive overheard in one of those infamous gym conversations between two ladies on the cross-trainer: "I always wash those pepper extra thoroughly, you know... tomatoes are among the veggies with the highest amounts of pesticides on them." Answer lady two: "Ha, you dont really believe the pesticides are on the outside of the tomatoes only, do you? They are in the tomato. Washing them will at best remove some of the dirt on their skin!"

True or False: "Its useless to wash your peppers."

False - I was surprised, when I realized that the answer to this True or False item was much easier to find than I had thought. It took me a while, though, before I found a study that analyzed data from more than just one vegetable variety, but the basic answer,  i.e. "No, its not useless to wash your peppers - quite the contrary!" popped up right in my first cursory database search.
Figure 1: Amount of ethylenebisdithiocarbamates and chlorpyrifos on selected vegetable (µg/kg) before and after washing; the figure above the bars indicate %-change from pre to post washing (Chavarri. 2004; Randhawa. 2007)
If you look at the data of two studies I selected more or less randomly (see Figure 1) you will yet see that the effectiveness of the "wash away the pesticide approach" depends on both, the type of vegetable and the type of pesticide. With a mean total endusulfan reduction of >20% it should however be absolutely obvious that not washing your veggies would be wreckless.
Table 1: Current European Union Maximum Residue Levels in mg/kg (Council Directives 76/895/EEC and 90/642/EEC, last revised in June 2004)
Artificially contamination ➫ standardization: The baseline pesticide level of the vegetables in the Chavarri study was achieved by spraying fresh produce from controlled plots with no previous pesticide applications with those pesticides farmers usually use in the EU. The reason should be obvious: standardization. Thus, the pesticide levels were within the contemporary EU limits (s. Table 1) - something you cannot necessarily expect from every product you buy in the supermarket.
I mean, I shouldnt have to tell you to that its unquestionably healthy not to be exposed to the full load of 24µ/kg chlorpyrifos and 1,626µg/kg ethylenebisdithiocarbamates (both have carcinogenic effects in humans; cf. Houeto. 1995, Josephson. 2005), from the tomatoes - specifically in view of the fact that 5.% of the tomatoes that are sold in the EU exceed the contemporary pesticide limits (Nasreddine. 2002) and would thus contain way more of these hazardous substances to begin with.

Aprospos washing! How do you do that?

You dont know how to wash veggies? Well, I obviously cant tell you what the absolute optimal way is, but what I can tell you is how scientists washed the specimen that were used in the studies the data in Figure 1 is based on: They placed the veggies in a dish or a clean lavatory with warm tap water and cleaned them with "gentle rotations of the hand" (Randhawa. 2007), before they grapped a conventional paper towel and blotted them dry.
Figure 2:  Illustration of the processing steps in Chavarri et al. (2007).
Thats similar to what you do? Great, and you know what, I would bet thats not the only similarity between yourself and the average scientist. Just like you, scientists dont eat all their veggies raw. Consequently, both Chavarri et al. as well as Randhawa et al. conducted additional analyses of the pesticide content of their veggies after the produce had been blanched (the peppers were roasted, not blanched), peeled, pureed (Chavarri. 2004; see Figure 1) and cooked or peeled and cooked (Randhawa. 2007), respectively.
Figure 3: Relative ethylenebisdithiocarbamates and total endosulfan levels (in % of baseline) after washing, peeling, blanching / cooking & co. (Chavarri. 2004; Randhawa. 2007)
As you can see in Figure 3, each of these processing steps lead to a further reduction of pesticides. For the initially highly intoxicated asparagus, for example, even the last traces of pesticides ended up in the cooking water. If you would now decide to recycle the water for a soup or whatever, all your efforts to rid yourself of the pesticide would have been in vein.

"Conventional vs. Organic is not about getting more, but about getting  less for your money" | more
Bottom line: Wash your damn veggies you lazy *****! If you still dont believe that its well worth spending this inconvenient extra-minute it takes to prepare warm water (28-32 °C), put your foods in, scrub a little with your hand and then continue processing them, Id suggest you take a look at a recent meta-analysis from Ghent University in which the authors dealt with the exact same question and conclude:

"Reduction of residue levels was indicated by blanching, boiling, canning, frying, juicing, peeling and washing of fruits and vegetables with an average response ratio ranging from 0.10 to 0.82." (Keikotlhaile. 2010)

References:
  • Chavarri, M. J., Herrera, A., & Arino, A. (2005). The decrease in pesticides in fruit and vegetables during commercial processing. International journal of food science & technology, 40(2), 205-211. 
  • Houeto, P., Bindoula, G., & Hoffman, J. R. (1995). Ethylenebisdithiocarbamates and ethylenethiourea: possible human health hazards. Environmental health perspectives, 103(6), 568.
  • Keikotlhaile, B. M., Spanoghe, P., & Steurbaut, W. (2010). Effects of food processing on pesticide residues in fruits and vegetables: a meta-analysis approach. Food and Chemical Toxicology, 48(1), 1-6.
  • Nasreddine, L., & Parent-Massin, D. (2002). Food contamination by metals and pesticides in the European Union. Should we worry?. Toxicology letters, 127(1), 29-41.
  • Randhawa, M. A., Anjum, F. M., Asi, M. R., Butt, M. S., Ahmed, A., & Randhawa, M. S. (2007). Removal of endosulfan residues from vegetables by household processing. Journal of Scientific and Industrial Research, 66(10), 849.
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