Josh Perez Fitness

Measuring your fitness level is multi-dimensional. Endurance athletes have excellent cardiovascular health, but they’re all legs and lungs, and they won’t have a lot of strength or flexibility. By the same measure, someone who is overweight and aerobically fit is healthier than someone who is in the normal weight range but doesn’t exercise. Your overall physical fitness level is said to consist of five different components:

• Aerobic or cardiovascular endurance
• Body composition
• Flexibility
• Muscular endurance
• Muscular strength

Thorough fitness evaluations include exercises and activities that specifically measure your ability to participate in aerobic, or cardiovascular, exercise as well as your muscular strength, endurance, and joint flexibility. Special tools are also used to determine your body composition or percentage of total body fat.

Working to optimize each of these five components of fitness is crucial to enhancing your overall fitness, general health, and potentially reaching your desired bodyfat percentage. If you have specific health problems or medical limitations, check with your doctor or personal trainer before implementing a routine to bolster your fitness. Once your doctor or personal trainer gives you the green light, you have no more EXCUSES!

Starting out I suggest follow to U.S. guidelines for the minimum amount of exercise. That means exercising at a moderate intensity level for at least 3.5 hours spread over most days each week. At least twice a week, supplement aerobic exercise with weight-bearing activities that target all major muscle groups (glutes, back, chest, legs, etc). Avoid inactivity – some exercise at any level of intensity is better than none while you’re building up your endurance.

Walking is the easiest way to get started: Get motivated by enlisting a friend to join you and adding variety to your routine. Walking is simple and manageable for pretty much anyone – wear a pedometer from day one or the Nike +, it has a great tracking system that goes straight to your iPod/iPhone. Think of walking in three parts – a five-minute warm-up of walking slowly, followed by a fast walk, then a five-minute cool-down of comfortable walking .

Compete only against yourself: No matter what activity you choose for getting fit, never compare your progress to someone else’s. Do set goals, and if you are out of shape and hate exercise, start low and go slow – Do not compare yourself with your best friend who weighs 75 pounds less and just finished her 20th triathlon. Even if the same group of women walked at the same pace every morning, they would not all show the same levels of fitness measures.

Avoid overexertion: One highly recommended preventive step is to check your resting heart rate before getting out of bed every morning and making a chart so you can see a consistent, but gradual, decrease over time. If your resting heart rate begins to increase, you may be overdoing it. Another indicator of overexertion is muscle soreness that doesn’t go away after a couple days. People generally will not push themselves enough but the worst offenders are those who think they can jump in where they left off. For example, take a bunch of 40-year-old guys who think they are still on the high school football team and start running multiple laps, but end up gassing out or throwing up – know your limits.

As you work on improving your fitness, take it slow and steady to avoid injury or burnout. Above all, remember that consistency is key — if you keep at it, your hard work will pay off and most important of all, you will see results!

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Thanks Mark for the article and thanks to Dr. Mao and his team for the research!

Soda, pop, cola, soft drink — whatever you call it, it is one of the worst beverages that you could be drinking for your health. As the debate for whether to put a tax on the sale of soft drinks continues, you should know how they affect your body so that you can make an informed choice on your own.

Soft drinks are hard on your health
Soft drinks contain little to no vitamins or other essential nutrients. However, it is what they do contain that is the problem: caffeine, carbonation, simple sugars — or worse, sugar substitutes — and often food additives such as artificial coloring, flavoring, and preservatives. A lot of research has found that consumption of soft drinks in high quantity, especially by children, is responsible for many health problems that include tooth decay, nutritional depletion, obesity, type-2 diabetes, and heart disease.

Why the sugar in soft drinks isn’t so sweet
Most soft drinks contain a high amount of simple sugars. The USDA recommendation of sugar consumption for a 2,000-calorie diet is a daily allotment of 10 teaspoons of added sugars. Many soft drinks contain more than this amount!

Just why is too much sugar so unhealthy? Well, to start, let’s talk about what happens to you as sugar enters your body. When you drink sodas that are packed with simple sugars, the pancreas is called upon to produce and release insulin, a hormone that empties the sugar in your blood stream into all the tissues and cells for usage. The result of overindulging in simple sugar is raised insulin levels. Raised blood insulin levels beyond the norm can lead to depression of the immune system, which in turn weakens your ability to fight disease.

Something else to consider is that most of the excess sugar ends up being stored as fat in your body, which results in weight gain and elevates risk for heart disease and cancer. One study found that when subjects were given refined sugar, their white blood cell count decreased significantly for several hours afterwards. Another study discovered that rats fed a high-sugar diet had a substantially elevated rate of breast cancer when compared to rats on a regular diet.

The health effects of diet soda
You may come to the conclusion that diet or sugar-free soda is a better choice. However, one study discovered that drinking one or more soft drinks a day — and it didn’t matter whether it was diet or regular — led to a 30% greater chance of weight gain around the belly. Diet soda is filled with artificial sweeteners such as aspartame, sucralose, or saccharin. These artificial sweeteners pose a threat to your health. Saccharin, for instance, has been found to be carcinogenic, and studies have found that it produced bladder cancer in rats.

Aspartame, commonly known as nutrasweet, is a chemical that stimulates the brain to think the food is sweet. It breaks down into acpartic acid, phenylalanine, and methanol at a temperature of 86 degrees. (Remember, your stomach is somewhere around 98 degrees.) An article put out by the University of Texas found that aspartame has been linked to obesity. The process of stimulating the brain causes more cravings for sweets and leads to carbohydrate loading.

Carbonation depletes calcium
Beverages with bubbles contain phosphoric acid, which can severely deplete the blood calcium levels; calcium is a key component of the bone matrix. With less concentration of calcium over a long time, it can lower deposition rates so that bone mass and density suffer. This means that drinking sodas and carbonated water increases your risk of osteoporosis.

Add in the caffeine usually present in soft drinks, and you are in for even more trouble. Caffeine can deplete the body’s calcium, in addition to stimulating your central nervous system and contributing to stress, a racing mind, and insomnia.

Skip the soda and go for:

Fresh water
Water is a vital beverage for good health. Each and every cell needs water to perform its essential functions. Since studies show that tap water is filled with contaminants, antibiotics, and a number of other unhealthy substances, consider investing in a quality carbon-based filter for your tap water. To find out more about a high-performance filtration system, click here.

On the go? Try using a stainless steel thermos or glass bottle, filled with filtered water. Enhance the flavor of your water with a refreshing infusion of basil, mint leaves, and a drop of honey.

Fruit Juice
If you are a juice drinker, try watering down your juice to cut back on the sugar content. Buy a jar of organic 100% juice, especially cranberry, acai, pomegranate, and then dilute three parts filtered water to one part juice. You will get a subtle sweet taste and the benefit of antioxidants. After a couple of weeks, you will no longer miss the sweetness of sugary concentrated juices.

Tea

Tea gently lifts your energy and has numerous health benefits. Black, green, white, and oolong teas all contain antioxidant polyphenols. In fact, tea ranks as high or higher than many fruits and vegetables on the ORAC scale, the score that measures antioxidant potential of plant-based foods. Herbal tea does not have the same antioxidant properties, though it is still a great beverage choice with other health benefits, such as inducing calming and relaxing effects.

If tea doesn’t satisfy your sweet tooth, try adding cinnamon or a little honey, which has important health benefits that refined sugar lacks. For a selection of healthy teas that promote total body wellness, click here.

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Red meat can be part of a healthy diet, but eating too much — especially fatty cuts and processed products — raises your health risks. If you eat a lot of fatty and processed red meat, you may be setting the stage for a variety of medical conditions, including obesity, heart disease, even cancer. Here’s the scoop on what to avoid and what to eat in moderation.

The Health Risks:

Fatty red meat is high in saturated fats, which tend to raise the “bad” cholesterol in the blood, otherwise known as low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol. Elevated levels of LDL cholesterol increase your risk for coronary heart disease.

Fatty cuts of beef, ground beef (especially if less than 90 percent lean), lamb, pork, sausage, hot dogs, and bacon are all culprits. Deli meats, too, can contain high levels of fat. In addition to being linked to an increased risk of heart disease, eating large amounts of fatty red meat increases your overall calorie intake, possibly leading to excess weight and obesity.

Cancer Research:

A recent study from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) found that if your diet includes a lot of red meat and processed meat (like salami, bacon, or deli meats), rather than non-processed white meat (skinless chicken and turkey), you may have a shortened life span because of the link to heart disease and cancer. The study specifically noted that people who ate the most red meat increased their risk of death by more than 30 percent compared to those who ate the least. This included death from heart disease and cancer.

Another study highlighted the link between a high consumption of red and processed meat and colon cancer. High consumption of beef, lamb, or pork was described as 3 or more ounces a day for men and 2 or more ounces for women; high consumption of hot dogs, bacon, ham, sausage, or cold cuts was considered to be 1 ounce eaten five to six days a week for men, and two to three days a week for women. In this study, people who ate the most processed meat had a 60% greater risk of colon cancer and a 30% greater risk of rectal cancer as compared to those who ate the least.

Choosing Lean Meat:

Protein, found in meat, is an important part of a healthy diet, along with carbohydrates and the right kinds of fat. The body uses protein as its building blocks for your muscles, bones, cartilage, blood, and skin. As long as it’s not your only source of protein, lean meat is the better way to enjoy red meat. Look for cuts that have no visible fat (these often include the word “loin”) or with less marbling; opt for ground beef that’s at least 90 percent lean.

Fatty fish, such as salmon, trout, and herring. These are high in a type of polyunsaturated fatty acids (one of the good fats) called omega-3 fatty acids. Eating these fish may reduce your risk of death from heart disease.
Seeds and nuts, like walnuts and flax. These are particularly good sources of essential fatty acids. Others, such as sunflower seeds, hazelnuts, and almonds, are also good sources of vitamin E. They are all, however, very calorie-dense, so watch your portions.

Reduce Fat When Cooking:

To further reduce the amount of fat in cooked lean meat, opt to broil, bake, roast, or simmer, rather than fry. Then, drain and discard any fat released during cooking. Be aware that the NCI recommends avoiding overcooking meats, especially blackening or charring meats, because of evidence that there may be increased risk of some cancers from eating meat prepared this way.

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We all know the pleasures of a eating a good meal and how that can be followed by discomfort around the belt buckle when we’ve eaten too much. While occasional episodes of feeling bloated after eating are the price we pay for overindulgence, for some people this unpleasant sensation is an all too common occurrence. With the right nutrition adjustments and simple changes in eating habits, it is possible to enjoy food and feel good afterward.

Feeling that uncomfortable, bloated-after-eating feeling is typically caused by too much intestinal gas and or excessive contents in the intestine. This in turn makes the stomach swell and feel tight. The exact cause of bloating, however, can vary from individual to individual. Some people feel bloated after eating because they simply ate too much. The more a person eats, the longer it takes for the food to move from the stomach to the small intestine for digestion and the more bloated after eating you can feel. Or you may be sensitive to certain types of food and spices.

For people who are lactose-intolerant, consuming regular milk and dairy products can cause discomfort. In addition, too much fiber in your diet can contribute to bloating after eating.

“High fiber intakes are not a problem if you are used to them, but going from a low to high [fiber diet] too rapidly can cause temporary discomfort in some people,” says Susan B. Roberts, PhD, professor in the nutrition and psychiatry departments at Tufts University in Boston and author of The Instinct Diet (Workman). You definitely want to enjoy the health benefits of a high-fiber diet, but add fiber to your diet more gradually if you think that’s the source of your bloated feeling.

The number of calories you eat can also be a trigger. The body secretes hormones from the walls of the intestines that can cause nausea and bloating when too many calories are consumed. Try eating four to six small meals rather than three large meals a day. “Eating smaller meals can help prevent bloating,” says Joan Salge Blake, RD, clinical associate professor in the department of health sciences at Boston University. “And slow down!” Eating or drinking too quickly can cause excess air to be swallowed, which contributes to the problem, she says.

In addition, watch what you eat. “Fatty foods take longer to digest,” says Lona Sandon, RD, assistant professor in the department of clinical nutrition at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. “Also, vegetables like broccoli, cauliflower, and beans can cause more gas to be formed when digested in the small intestine.” Of course, this doesn’t mean you should avoid these healthful choices, just try to eat smaller portions of them at each sitting to see if that helps your body digest them more easily.

Here are some tips to relieve bloating after eating:

• Drink plenty of fluids, like water, to aid digestion. Sip slowly throughout the day, however; don’t chug. as that will defeat the purpose.
• Carbonated beverages and drinks like coffee that have a diuretic effect don’t count.
• Consider adding some probiotic yogurts to your diet to encourage a healthy digestive tract. Keep in mind it may take a few weeks to notice its positive effects.
• Take a walk after you eat and get adequate exercise on a regular basis; both can ease bloating and help with overall digestion.

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It is extremely important for you to find an exercise plan that will help you achieve your goal weight without putting you at risk for further injury. I always suggest consulting a fitness professional to create a customized fitness plan based on your goals, injuries, and time frame.

First, it’s important to stretch before you attempt any kind of exercise. Stretching exercises will help increase the mobility and flexibility of the soft tissues that surround your spine. Focus especially on the hamstrings, in the backs of your thighs, and the gluteal muscles of your buttocks. It’s also important to increase the strength of your core muscles, which stabilize your back and abdomen. There are a number of different approaches for this that a fitness professional can teach you.

Lastly, remember that you should seek low-impact activities, such as walking, biking, and swimming. Try to avoid exercises that put undue strain on your back, like sit-ups, or those that require you to twist or use weights. Shoot for 2-3 sets of 10-15 repetitions for timely holds. Each repetition should be held for a minimum of 10 seconds. I always suggest doing core stability work with self myo-fascial release stretching. These approaches will help you reach your desired goal of losing weight without the risk of re-injuring your back.

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