Tag Archives: Health

07.17.13
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Macronutrients: Fuel Up Before and After You Exercise

Healthy lifestyle womanAt least three times a week I have to ask my clients, “Did you have a snack before you came to see me?” 75% of the time they exclaim, “Yes!” and proceed to talk about the piece of fruit, protein shake, or granola bar they chowed down 30-60 minutes before they came. The other 25% talk about their large lunches, their lack of time, or how they don’t want to eat while driving (driving I can understand). These 25%ers run the risk of passing out, not having enough energy to push themselves, or even complete their workouts! They also risk eating up that good muscle they’ve been building during their workouts, by not having the adequate nutritional fuel to help them go that extra mile.

I cannot stress enough how important it is to fuel up before and after your workout.

Let’s discuss the 3 macronutrients that are essential parts of a healthy diet: carbohydrates; fat; protein. 

fibrous carbohydrates weight lossCarbohydrates are your body’s preferred fuel source. They can be simple (composed of 1 or 2 sugar molecules) and complex (3 or more sugar molecules).

Simple carbohydrates are the easiest for your body to absorb as they have the simplest structure; they also are the carbohydrates you should consume the least! Simple carbohydrates can be found in a wide variety of sweet tasting temptations such as the table sugar you add to your coffee or tea; honey; refined white flour products; milk; yogurt; candy; fruit (and juice!); and the most popular culprit,  soda. Now, just because simple carbs should be consumed the least, don’t avoid them entirely! Fruit, for example, has plenty of simple sugars in the form of fructose, but fruits also contain a lot of essential micronutrients such as vitamins and minerals! Milk, another example, contains the dissacharide sugar molecule lactose, but milk also contains protein; an essential macronutrient!

Complex carbohydrates are the preferred form of carbohydrate intake because they are generally rich in fiber and micronutrients such as vitamins and minerals. I believe it is better to not need to supplement your diet with pills in order to get these great micronutrients; instead get them through proper nutrition (aka Eat Your Way to Health!) Complex carbs can be found in vegetables, whole grains, legumes and other vegetation.

Good-fats-e1361315391685Fat, generally seen as a bad word and to be avoided at all costs, is the most misunderstood macronutrient.  Fat is necessary in the diet as it can be used as fuel, can help control hormone production, provides padding and insulation around your vital organs, and transports fat-soluble vitamins (yay, micronutrients!) throughout the body.  There are 5 major types of  fat: cholesterol, triglycerides, saturated fats, polyunsaturated fats, and monounsaturated fats.

Cholesterol comes in 2 types: high density lipoproteins (HDL) and low density lipoproteins (LDL). HDL decreases the buildup of fatty deposits (LDL) within the cardiovascular system by transporting these fatty deposits back to the liver to be excreted. Your body actually produces cholesterol on its own so it is NOT necessary to have it in the diet! Cholesterol can be found in foods such as full cream milk and milk based products (like cheese and butter), the brains, liver and kidney of mammals, and eggs.

Triglycerides are the most common form of fat and oil found in food. Your body stores triglycerides as fat tissue! But don’t start knocking this fat tissue yet; it happens to be a very useful storage of energy for the body! You burn this energy during your workouts!

Saturated fats increase the LDL cholesterol levels in the body, and are the leading cause of obesity. Saturated fats are found in animal products such as meat and full fat dairy products. You’ll also consume them from eating deep fried foods, chocolate, and bread sweets as they are often made with animal products and fat.

Polyunsaturated fats are considered the essential fats and are classified into 2 groups: omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids. These fats are found in a wide range of plant and animal based food, and tend to lower cholesterol and triglyceride levels. However, they may also lower the good HDL levels.  Omega-3 can be found in fish and seafood products and can reduce the risk of blood clots and treat heart disease, hypertension, and arthritis, to name a few benefits.  Omega-6 can be found in plant oils such as safflower, sunflower, corn, soyabean and cottonbean. It can also be found in meat products, which means we generally consume enough omega-6!

Monounsaturated fats are great because they can help lower your LDL cholesterol levels without decreasing the HDL levels at the same time! These fats can be found in nuts, olives, canola, and avocado.

shutterstock_120465325-628x421Proteins, our final macronutrient, consist of one or more chains of amino acids, and are a necessary component of all cells in the body.  Amino acids are classified Essential or Non-Essential depending on whether the body can replicate them or not. Essential amino acids must be consumed in the diet. Protein is used in building muscle, skin, hair, nails, bone and teeth. It is used for hormone and enzyme production, the replication of DNA, and the transportation of molecules throughout the body. Complete proteins are proteins that contain all essential amino acids and those can be found in animal based products such as dairy, meat, seafood, eggs. The only non-animal product to contain all the Essential amino acids is soybeans. You can also consume incomplete proteins in combination to make a complete protein meal. Examples of incomplete proteins are legumes, nuts, seeds, cereals. If you were to eat a serving of both rice AND beans, you’d have a complete protein meal.

OK, now that I’ve saturated your noggin with macronutrient basics, let’s turn this new knowledge into power; literally! If you’re going to exercise, you’re going to need to provide your body with the energy it needs to perform. We’ve learned that carbohydrates are your body’s preferred source of fuel, that fats are necessary in the diet and stored fat acts as a reserve of energy for body functions, and that proteins are the building blocks of all cells and regulate many vital functions!

So now what should we eat? How about we give ourselves a nice complex carbohydrates boost with a little necessary fat before we workout, and a nice dose of everything after? Fuel our body with its preferred energy source, then let it recover with the macronutrients it needs to function!

Here‘s a great list of pre and post-workout snacks.

05.31.13
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How Regular Aerobic Exercise Will Make YOU Happy

Please note: some of the information below uses information paraphrased and revised from this blog entry.

First off let’s address aerobic exercise. Aerobic exercise is physical exertion performed within the aerobic heart-rate training zone (70-80% Maximum Heart Rate). Exercise zones are generally determined by using the formula (220-age)*(Zone). Let’s use an example: Subject A is 27 years old and wants to stay in the aerobic training zone. We’ll take: (220-27)*(.7) and (220-27)*(.8) to get a target heart rate between 135-154 BPM. Note: Subject A‘s Maximum Heart Rate is 193 BPM.

Exercise Zones

The CDC recommends these minimums to achieve important health benefits for adults:

walking 2 hours and 30 minutes (150 minutes) of moderate-intensity aerobic activity (i.e., brisk walking) every week and
weight training muscle-strengthening activities on 2 or more days a week that work all major muscle groups (legs, hips, back, abdomen, chest,  shoulders, and arms).
OR
jogging 1 hour and 15 minutes (75 minutes) of vigorous-intensity aerobic activity (i.e., jogging or running) every week and
weight training muscle-strengthening activities on 2 or more days a week that work all major muscle groups (legs, hips, back, abdomen, chest,  shoulders, and arms).
OR
jogging An equivalent mix of moderate- and vigorous-intensity aerobic activity and
weight training muscle-strengthening activities on 2 or more days a week that work all major muscle groups (legs, hips, back, abdomen, chest,  shoulders, and arms).

Now let’s discuss wellness! Wellness seems like a very convoluted idea. For our purposes let’s define wellness as feelings that are opposite any negative emotion that would decrease the functioning level of the individual, such as depression and anxiety. We want to feel POSITIVE, feel ENERGIZED, and feel HEALTHY.

Now that we have defined our concept let’s get to the sales pitch …

Do you (or someone you know) suffer from moodiness: anxiety; depression; or low self-esteem? Do you want IMMEDIATE relief that doesn’t require you to take a pill? Then AEROBIC EXERCISE IS FOR YOU! Aerobic Exercise: Providing immediate and long-term relief from the blues since time immemorial.

It is important to back up this claim with RESEARCH.  There are numerous studies that outline the immediate effects of a single frequency and short duration bout of aerobic exercise on mood, which have been evaluated through questionnaires following aerobic exertion or quiet-rest. In a small clinical trial, researchers at the University of Vermont had 48 students split between cycling on an exercise bike for 20 minutes, or participating in quiet-rest for the same duration. The participants were asked to fill out questionnaires at 1, 2, 4, 8, 12 and 24 hours following their designated program. Researchers found that those who participated in the aerobic activity felt a significant improvement in mood up to 12 hours later, compared to the group who were at rest. There was no significant difference after 24 hours; thus leaving them to conclude that daily exercise can improve mood and relieve daily stressors.

In another single frequency study, this time performed at University of Texas at Austin, participants suffering from major depressive mood disorder (MDD) were assigned to either participate in an acute aerobic exercise program or quiet-rest control. Those assigned to perform aerobic exercise underwent a single session of brisk-walking for 30 minutes where their heart rate was monitored to stay between 60-70% of their maximal heart rate, thus keeping them in the aerobic exercise threshold. Participants in the quiet-rest control stayed in a silent room for 30 minutes where they were not allowed to exercise, eat, sleep or read. At the end of the 30 minutes all participates were asked to fill out a questionnaire at 5, 30 and 60 minutes. Of the 9 subscales that Bartholomew and his colleagues assessed, exercise has had two additional benefits over quiet-rest when it came to psychological well-being (wellness) and vigor. They concluded that a single session of aerobic exercise appears to have a short-term, positive effect on mood in patients with MDD.

Now tell me, how COOL is that? Turns out a single session of exercise can provide enough mood enhancement to act as your daily medication.  Let’s now look at the LONG TERM benefits.

Researchers M. Otto and J. Smits found that, “Exercise can be as powerful as antidepressants in treating depression, and, more broadly, regular exercise is linked with decreased anxiety, stress and hostility”. Otto and Smits looked at dozens of clinical trials and population based studies to come up with this opinion. One large-scale study looked at over 10,000 Harvard alumni over a period of 20 years to see if there was a relationship between depression and physical activity over time. The study found that the more exercise the alumni participated in, the fewer and less severe incidents of depression.

This long-term effect opinion is also strengthened by a study performed by Dr. J. Blumenthal on the effects of exercise training on patients major depression, where a 16 week exercise program was found to be as effective in treating patients with depression as antidepressants.  Kirsten Weir, of the American Psychological Association, also reports that Blumenthal explored the mood-exercise relationship through a chain of randomized control trials. In one trial Blumenthal assigned inactive adults suffering from major-depressive disorder to one of four groups; two of these groups included exercise regiments, one had antidepressant medication, and one group was on a placebo. After four months of treatment the patients on the exercise and antidepressant treatments had higher rates of remission. After one year Blumenthal found that the subjects under the regular exercise program who continued to follow their regiments had lower depression scores than their non-active counterparts. He concluded that exercise was not only important in treating depression, but also in preventing a relapse.

So let’s recap: Exercising daily can provide immediate mood enhancement! Exercising regularly can provide a lifetime of wellness!

So what are you waiting for? Go out and get happy!

Did you know?: Sport Psychology is an interdisciplinary science field that began in the early 20th century. These professionals make it their business to study the impact of psychological factors (like mood!) on sports, and vice-versa!

05.31.13
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The Relationship Between Aerobic Exercise on Feelings of Wellness

Please note: The entry below is in the APA style, for the benefit of providing conclusive evidence that aerobic exercise has a positive effect on wellness. A layman’s blog entry can be found here. 
 

In the last two decades claims have arisen that aerobic exercise is an effective tool for increasing feelings of wellness. In the 1950s Halbert Dunn, chief of the National Office of Vital Statistics, defined wellness as, “an integrated method of functioning, which is oriented toward maximizing the potential of which the individual is capable” (Zimmer, 2010, ¶ 4). Simplified, feelings of wellness are those that are opposite any negative emotion that would decrease the functioning level of the individual such as depression and anxiety. Aerobic exercise is physical exercise that is low in intensity and long in duration that uses oxygen to meet the energy demands of the activity.  There can be multiple physiological benefits from performing aerobic activity based upon the frequency and duration of said performance, such as an improving and strengthening the function of the cardiovascular system, as well as providing weight-control.

Just as there can be different physical benefits based on the frequency and duration of aerobic exercise performance, it is also possible that there are different emotional benefits that are tied to this same principal of frequency and duration. The short and long-term benefits of activity in relationship to wellness may be used for various treatments.

Understanding the scientific relationship between the application of aerobic exercise on feelings of wellness in the short and long term, when considering the frequency and duration of the exercise, is important because it may substantiate the claims with evidence that exercise is an effective tool for mood improvement. Ultimately this leads to the question: is there a relationship between aerobic exercise performance and a feeling of wellness?

There are numerous studies that outline the immediate effects of a single frequency and short duration bout of aerobic exercise on mood, which have been evaluated through questionnaires following aerobic exertion or quiet-rest (Bartholomew et al., 2005; Hellmich, 2009). In a small clinical trial, researchers at the University of Vermont had 48 students split between cycling on an exercise bike for 20 minutes, or participating in quiet-rest for the same duration (2009, ¶ 2).  The participants were asked to fill out questionnaires at 1, 2, 4, 8, 12 and 24 hours following their designated program. Researchers found that those who participated in the aerobic activity felt a significant improvement in mood up to 12 hours later, compared to the group who were at rest (2009, ¶ 4).   There was no significant difference after 24 hours; thus leaving them to conclude that daily exercise can improve mood and relieve daily stressors (2009, ¶ 8).

In another single frequency study, this time performed by Bartholomew, Ciccolo and Morrison of the University of Texas at Austin, participants suffering from major depressive mood disorder (MDD) were assigned to either participate in an acute aerobic exercise program or quiet-rest control (Bartholomew et al., 2005, p. 2033). Those assigned to perform aerobic exercise underwent a single session of brisk-walking for 30 minutes where their heart rate was monitored to stay between 60-70% of their maximal heart rate, thus keeping them in the aerobic exercise threshold. Participants in the quiet-rest control stayed in a silent room for 30 minutes where they were not allowed to exercise, eat, sleep or read. At the end of the 30 minutes all participates were asked to fill out a questionnaire at 5, 30 and 60 minutes. Of the 9 subscales that Bartholomew and his colleagues assessed, exercise has had two additional benefits over quiet-rest when it came to psychological well-being (wellness) and vigor (2005, p. 2034). They concluded that a single session of aerobic exercise appears to have a short-term, positive effect on mood in patients with MDD (2005, p. 2035).

Looking at the effects of long-term aerobic exercise performance, researchers M. Otto and J. Smits found that, “Exercise can be as powerful as antidepressants in treating depression, and, more broadly, regular exercise is linked with decreased anxiety, stress and hostility” (Otto and Smits, 2011, p. 12). Otto and Smits looked at dozens of clinical trials and population based studies to come up with this opinion. One large-scale study looked at over 10,000 Harvard alumni over a period of 20 years to see if there was a relationship between depression and physical activity over time. The study found that the more exercise the alumni participated in, the fewer and less severe incidents of depression (2011, p. 13).

This research is also strengthened by a study performed by Dr. J. Blumenthal on the effects of exercise training on patients major depression, where a 16 week exercise program was found to be as effective in treating patients with depression as antidepressants (Bartholomew et al., 2005, p. 2032).  Kirsten Weir of the American Psychological Association also reports that Blumenthal explored the mood-exercise relationship through a chain of randomized control trials (Weir, 2011, ¶ 9). In one trial Blumenthal assigned inactive adults suffering from major-depressive disorder to one of four groups; two of these groups included exercise regiments, one had antidepressant medication, and one group was on a placebo. After four months of treatment the patients on the exercise and antidepressant treatments had higher rates of remission. After one year Blumenthal found that the subjects under the regular exercise program who continued to follow their regiments had lower depression scores than their non-active counterparts. He concluded that exercise was not only important in treating depression, but also in preventing a relapse (2011, ¶ 10).

In another scientific study, Dr. Philip Holmes and his associates at Georgia University have shown that exercise can alter brain chemistry (Blue, 2010, ¶ 7). In one study certain genes are shown to switch on after a few weeks of regular exercise performance. These genes increase the level of a peptide neurotransmitter in the brain that regulates the stress hormone, nor-epinephrine, thus lessening the body’s reaction to stress (2010, ¶ 7).

The present study researched the validity of the claims that there was not only a relationship between aerobic exercise performance on feelings of wellness, but that the relationship is a positive one. In the most acute cases, up to 24 hours after aerobic exercise performance, two provided studies have shown that there is a decrease in depression and anxiety, or an elevation of mood associated with aerobic exercise (Bartholomew et al., 2005; Hellmich, 2009). Looking at the longer-term, from 4 months to 20 years, there also appears to be a correlation between the frequency of aerobic exercise performance  on mood management and the frequency and severity of depressive episodes (Bartholomew et al., 2005; Otto and Smits, 2011; Weir, 2011).  There is even scientific research to substantiate that there is a biological reason for the effect of exercise performance on feelings on wellness (Blue, 2010). This research correlates exercise activity and its effect on neurotransmitters in the brain.

By looking at the short-term (acute) and long-term (chronic) effects of exercise, based on frequency and duration, with relation to mood disorders and anxiety in clinical and population based studies, it appears to be conclusive that exercise can have a substantial effect of eliciting feelings of wellness. This research also concludes that this relationship is a positive one, where aerobic exercise performance can immediately elicit feelings of wellness.

Reference List