Nutrition Information

With the release of the new dietary guidelines, in the form of the new food pyramid, I still find that many people don’t actually understand what nutrition actually means. Because of this, dietary choices can seem overwhelming. Even greater confusion can be generated by prime time news specials which only strive to educate through clever sound-bites and diet fads which lead some to believe that all of their answers are found in one single “magic food.” So what is nutrition and how can you understand it in a way that helps you apply it to your life and to the benefit of those you know and love? Here’s an analogy I have found helpful in teaching those who attend my free Sunday Night Wellness Call.

Your body functions in a manner similar to a car assembly plant. At that plant, a steady stream of new parts, the correct parts and parts in the right ratios to each other are absolutely necessary in order to keep that plant open for business and running smoothly.

What would happen if someone in purchasing forgot to provide that plant with steering wheels? The cars would be almost functional. But because of a single part deficiency, that car would not be able to carry out its intended function.

If this only happened to a few cars, it probably wouldn’t be a big deal. You wouldn’t see any symptoms of a parts deficiency. But what if that plant had no steering wheels for an entire month? How about year? First the plant would probably close, the community would fail. Good people would move away and the “bad elements” would most likely take over the town. The lack of balanced parts would eventually lead to dire conditions.

What happens when the cells of your body are missing parts?

You eat to provide your cells with nourishment. It’s not just about calories. That nourishment is the collection of parts every cell in your body needs to function properly. You provide your cells with parts and those parts are assembled according to instructions in your DNA to create a variety of finished products. That could include new cells, of which there are many kinds, anti bodies to fight disease, neurotransmitters to carry signals between nerves, and hormones to regulate your body.

So again, there are beneficial raw materials in foods, which our bodies use, and need, to carry out vital cellular functions.

These functions keep us alive.

These functions combat disease.

These functions allow us to heal.

These functions allow our cells to build new cells and all of the other finished materials that are necessary for normal life and optimal health.

And these raw materials are called nutrients.

We eat to give our body access to nutrients.

Sadly, our food does not contain the nutrients it once had in abundance, so it is necessary to supplement a good diet with quality nutritional supplementation to ensure that our cells do not suffer from a parts deficiency. We should still strive to have a good diet, from as many whole foods as possible, with supplementation being a means to supplement, not substitute, the benefits of a good diet.

Dave Saunders is a certified nutritional educator, wellness coach,
member of the American International Association of Nutritional Education (AIANE) and author. He is also the host of a weekly, nation-wide telephone lecture on health and nutrition.

For additional information, please visit http://www.glycoboy.com or http://www.glycowellness.com or email Dave at dave@glycoboy.com>

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If you just walked into the health store to purchase muscle building supplements, you are probably lost, confused and being pushed a dozen products by the salesman. But, how do you know which supplements are the right products for your goals? There are various levels of muscle building supplements and some may not be right for you. But, there are a handful that are excellent choices for anyone looking to build muscle.

Remember, you don’t always need these supplements to build muscle, but these will definitely accelerate you towards your goals. They work as a tool to help you increase your potential for muscular development. They help in muscle growth, and quicker recovery times. Some important ingredients of muscle building supplements are:

Protein: The protein supplements are full of amino acids which are the building blocks for your muscles. Make sure that you include a supplement that takes into account proteins. You can take up to one to two grams of protein per pound of your weight. If you don’t want to take them in a pill form, get the protein through shakes or even bars. Also, look for those that contain eggs, whey, soy or casein.

Creatine: The next important ingredient in the supplement you choose should be creatine. It will help to increase muscle mass by decreasing muscle fatigue and improving muscle recovery. It helps to increase something called ATP which is an energy source that will allow you to do more reps of higher weight. It is recommended that this should be taken in cycles e.g. four weeks on it then two weeks off of it.

Micro-nutrients - multivitamins and multiminerals: Many people mistakenly assume that they are getting enough vitamins and minerals through their normal diet. Unfortunately, this is not the case. We would have to consume extremely large quantities of food to get the recommended daily intake. An easier approach would be to supplement our diet with a good quality multi-vitamin/multi-mineral supplement. If you do not have one specific mineral in your diet, this can slow down your ability to develop muscles or improve your health.

Mike Singh is the publisher of http://www.1-stop-fitness.com/ On his website he provides articles about womens health and fitness and adjustable weight benches.

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The next step on your road to real health is supplements. And I’m not talking about one multivitamin a day either. Exactly what you take is up to you, but you need to get in the habit of taking quite a few pills or powders every day. In this article I’m going to lay out the case for supplements.

You might be thinking, why supplement? By now, you should be eating more good food, fruits and vegetables, drinking more water, getting sunlight, and eating more whole grain foods. You should also be reading labels on food to avoid health-robbing ingredients. However, two factors work against you being able to get all the nutrients you need just from the food you eat.

The first is soil depletion. Our farmers do produce a lot of food. However, the minerals in the soil, that the plants take up through their roots and then pass on to us, have been depleted. In medieval times, farmers would let a field lie fallow for one or two growing seasons. This allowed the soil to replenish itself. These days, this is not feasible. The plants do grow, of course, due to the use of either chemical or organic fertilizers.

These plants grow and are healthy and good for you to eat. However, they often lack the minerals you need or have reduced amounts of them. So, to get all the you need, you would need to eat a lot of them. This is the second factor. In prehistoric times, people walked and gathered and ate, all day. They took in a lot of calories and expended a lot.

You however, have other things to do. It has been estimated for you to get all the nutrients you need on a daily basis, you would have to eat 10,000 calories a day. You’d be eating all day and you’d obviously gain weight. This is not practical at all in today’s world.

Supplements get their nutrients from whole foods. Vegetables, microalgae, grain, fruits, and other healthy foods are dried and combined, either in powder form or pill form. This makes it relatively easy to get the nutrients you need, without having to spend all day eating.

Barbara Pfieffer writes about gaining real health on her blog, Real Health.

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