If you could live a longer, healthier life by taking a small pill each day, you'd do it wouldn't you? You’d be crazy not to! With this fact in mind, the incredible growth of dietary supplements makes sense. It's estimated one out of every three Americans currently takes some sort of nutritional supplement each day. According to government statistics, more than $11 billion is spent each year on vitamins and minerals in the U.S. alone!
This extreme interest in health and nutrition is, unfortunately, fueled by false advertisement. The Internet, television, and product labels make claims not backed by science, fooling millions and reaping a sizable paycheck. And in America, supplements are regulated by the Food and Drug Administration the same way that foods are, not as if they are medications. This means supplement manufacturers aren't required to back their claims by science. In your quest for fitness, don't be fooled by these three myths surrounding the use of nutritional supplements. Myth #1: “More Is Better” If vitamins, minerals, botanicals, and herbs are good for you and available over the counter, they must be safe to take in high doses, right? Science has proven otherwise. You feel a cold coming on so you pop the vitamin C pills and lozenges to ward it off, but too much of certain vitamins and minerals can be dangerous. For example, when you overdose on vitamin C, your body loses its ability to absorb copper; too much phosphorous and your body can't absorb enough calcium; vitamins A, D, and K can build up to toxic levels when large doses are taken; too much vitamin A will put you at risk for osteoporosis; vitamin E may increase your risk of stroke; and iron your risk of heart disease. And you thought those supplements came with no risks. When choosing a multivitamin and other supplement, look for ones that contain no more than 100 percent of each ingredient and be careful of combining a multivitamin with another vitamin supplement. Myth #2: “A Supplement Will Make Up for My Unhealthy Diet” Hate vegetables? Drink too much caffeine? Like to skip breakfast? Well, be wary of relying solely on supplements to make up for your nutritional deficiencies. Your body is better able to absorb nutrients from real food, so supplements should only be taken as icing on your healthy cake. Besides, relying on supplements to fill in nutritional gaps can put you at risk for the overdosing dangers mentioned above. With a healthy diet that includes plenty of fruits, vegetables and lean proteins, you’ve got little room for the need of supplements. Eating a healthy well-rounded diet will also provide millions of phytonutrients unavailable in supplement form. It also helps your supplements be more effective when you do take them, as supplements are made less effective when taken on an empty stomach. Myth #3: “I Can Trust the Claims of Supplement Labels” Many supplement containers describe the health benefits their ingredients aim to provide. These range from increased vitality to improved disease immunity. Great as these claims may sound, they are not backed up by significant, proper research. They are, however, great marketing tools that will pull you in and trick you right out of your money. It isn’t surprising that the claims of supplements aren’t proven by anything other than anecdotal evidence. Recently, independent research found that 30 percent of products labeled as multivitamins do not include the ingredients in the amounts listed on the labels and occasionally contain dangerous ingredients. If you haven’t yet become one of my valued clients then now is the time! I’d like to show you how a consistent, challenging exercise program will dramatically transform your body – once and for all! Call or email today to get started!
0 Comments
You wake up each morning with every intention of eating “good” today.
You’ll skip the drive thru line on your way to work. You’ll refuse to get fast food with co-workers at lunch. You’ll boycott the vending machine in the mid-afternoon. And you won’t even think about having dessert after dinner. But then your cravings kick in… Your friend drops by with a big fluffy muffin and a latte for breakfast. A group of co-workers invite you to that greasy spoon down the street for lunch. Cake is passed around at the mid-afternoon staff meeting. And after dinner your honey surprises you with a bowl of your favorite ice cream. You tell yourself that tomorrow will be different. Tomorrow you won’t give in to food cravings. But then tomorrow comes with its own special circumstances, and cravings get the best of you once again. Why Do Food Cravings Always Win? Let’s face it, we live in a world where food temptations are everywhere…which leads to cravings, which leads to eating things that you shouldn’t, which leads to pounds gained. Again. And again. And again. Until you’re so fed up with your body that you don’t even know where to begin to get yourself back on track. Stores display the most tantalizing junk food items right where you could easily reach them. TV commercials for greasy, fattening foods portray them so scrumptiously that you literally salivate. Sugary snack items have full-page, glossy pictures in your favorite magazines. And as if all of these weren’t enough, the people in your daily life are another (constant) source of food temptation. To make matters worse, you’ve been conditioned since childhood to have a positive association with the act of indulging in your cravings. You use food as a reward. You use food as a source of emotional comfort. You use food as a way to relieve stress. And quickly these associations and uses of food become habit. A habit that’s not easily broken. New Technique to End Food Cravings Food cravings don’t need to have the upper hand on you anymore. Here’s how you can fight back using your most powerful asset: your brain. Remember that your mind is an amazing thing. Once your mind is made up about something it’s nearly impossible to change it. Try This Powerful Mind Exercise: Imagine that you are peacefully floating down a river on a raft. The sun is shining, birds are chirping, and you are having a fun, relaxing time. You feel wonderful about the river because it’s making you feel happy. Now change perspectives for a moment. You’re now in a plane flying over the river and the raft. Instantly our eye is drawn to an enormous rocky waterfall. Then you look back to the person floating on the raft, having a wonderful time, headed straight for the treacherous falls. With this new perspective of the river, do you think that you’d agree to get on a raft and take your chances floating toward the falls? Laughable, right? You’ve seen the hidden danger of the river. You know it leads to pain and suffering. Now your negative association (watery death) with the river has replaced your initial positive association (relaxing fun). This is the key to overcoming food temptations and putting an end to food cravings: building negative associations in place of existing positive ones. I’ll break this process down for you in two steps: Step One: Create a STRONG Negative Association with Unhealthy Food You may not have realized it, but up until this point you’ve placed unhealthy, fattening foods on a pedestal in your mind. As long as the wrong foods are on that pedestal you’ll continue to give into your cravings and will continue to gain fat. Take the wrong food off that pedestal by listing off everything negative about them… ✓ These foods make you unhealthy. ✓ These foods cause weight gain. ✓ These foods drain your energy. ✓ These foods kill your confidence. ✓ These foods lessen your quality of life. ✓ These foods damage your love life. Every time that you feel tempted to eat an unhealthy food, focus on your list of negatives. Kick the junk off the pedestal and put something healthy in its place. Step Two: Create a STRONG Positive Association with Wholesome Foods Now that your mental food pedestal has been cleared, put truly wholesome food items on it. Juicy fresh fruit, crispy vegetables and savory lean meats are the place to start. List off the things that you love about healthy food... ✓ These foods make you healthy. ✓ These foods promote fat loss. ✓ These foods boost your energy. ✓ These foods build your confidence. ✓ These foods improve your quality of life. ✓ These foods enhance your love life. I encourage you to immerse yourself into the world of healthy, wholesome foods. Browse the aisles of your local natural foods store. Stroll through a farmer’s market. Pack healthy snacks to bring to work. Clear your kitchen of junk. Use the technique above consistently and you will soon find that healthy, wholesome foods are your favorite. And craving the wrong foods will be a thing of your past. Call or email me today and I’ll get you started on a fitness program that will change your life and your body forever! You may think the 30 minutes you spend every other day in the gym is enough to keep you trim and healthy, but it’s not. If you want overall good health, you need to eat well and find windows of exercising opportunity every day—not just during your scheduled workouts.
How can you squeeze in a little exercise when most of your hours are spent sitting at a desk, meeting in the conference room, and preparing for big presentations? Read on to find out when you can squeeze in exercise and how to do it. 1. On the Way to Work. To start your day with a smidgen of calorie-burning exercise, you may need to wake up a few minutes earlier than usual. Not to get in a workout before tossing on your power suit, but rather so you’ll have time to torch a few calories on the way to work. To shed some calories before clocking in, you have a number of options depending on your situation. You can bike or walk to work, perform seated calf raises on the bus or train, or park your car at the far end of the parking lot so you get to walk farther to reach your office. And of course, once you get to your building, take the stairs. 2. When Doing Mindless Tasks. Admit it: everything you do at work doesn’t require an amazing amount of brainpower. Take advantage of the easy tasks by multitasking with some exercise. The easiest option is to flex and squeeze your body. From your glutes and your abs to your pecs and thighs, you can get rid of a few calories by simply flexing them as you work. As you grow accustomed to the flexing, you may find it to be a great way to work your way through a long, difficult meeting. 3. Every Time You Finish a Task. When you first get to work, make a to-do list. This will help keep you on track and will also set you up for exercise rewards. Each time you cross a task off your list, give yourself an exercise reward. This could be walking a couple laps around the office, standing up and doing a couple quick stretches, or closing your office door and knocking out a dozen push-ups. Know what your reward of the day will be and go for it. 4. When You Need to Communicate. Helpful as email may be, there is a way to communicate with your colleagues that actually keeps your body moving. That way? Getting out of your seat and walking to your coworker’s office to talk things through. Have to make a few phone calls? Stand up as you talk or better yet, pace back and forth during the conversation. 5. At the Top of the Hour. A great way to sneak a little calorie burning into your routine is to get up every hour. And your exercising doesn’t need to be super intense. All you need to do is stand up. Do this for five minutes, eight times a day, and you will drop 100 calories a day. That’s right—all you have to do to stand up for your health is stand up! All of these bonus calorie burning tips are great – when done in conjunction with a consistent, challenging exercise program. If you aren’t yet one of my valued clients then now is the time to join in – call or email today to get started! |
AuthorBrandon Dunston Archives
April 2019
Categories |