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A strong core makes everything you do easier. What people don’t realize is that your core muscles are actually the center of your body’s strength. A strong core can make you not only stronger but also more stable as you perform daily activities.
Here is a list of some of the benefits of a strong core:
1. Strengthening core muscles will improve posture and prevent low muscular back pain.
2. Helps avoid back injury.
3. Improves physical performance
4. Improves balance
So get working on your core - we have classes almost everyday to help you with this!!!
Tonight join us in ZUMBA where you move your hips and core for an hour, or Tomorrow for POWER ABS and PILATES where you can spend over an hour just focusing on your core!
What's portion paralysis?
That's when your brain and your eyes have become so accustomed to a particular portion size for a particular meal, that change isn't anything but automatic.
But sometimes it's wise to reduce portions.
Take me for instance. In December I injured my back - pretty badly. Consequently my exercise regime went out the window. Rehab was very slow. Despite knowing better, I didn't adjust my portions with my drop off in exercise and sure enough, over 3 months time, I gained a tiny bit of weight.
When I realized what was going on, I resumed keeping a careful food diary and re-recognized which were my higher calorie meals.
One really stuck with me. It was pita pizza - a go-to meal for when I'm in a hurry and I want comfort-y food, but certainly not terrifically low in calories. Back in my exercising days, I'd have 3 pitas worth, and so my simple quick fix, was to downshift my pita pizza portion to only have 2. What was fascinating to me, was that especially when I was in a hurry or distracted, despite mentally decided to eat less, sometimes I'd literally forget.
And sometimes I still do, and before I know it, there are 3 out on the pizza stone.
It's important for me to mention, it's not because I'm still hungry after 2, that I eat 3. I think that it's just after years of always having 3, unless I consciously challenge my portion sizes, whether it's pita pizzas or otherwise, I automatically revert to my established larger portions.
I've lost the weight I gained, and I'm slowly starting to retrain, but given this experience I've taken to really analyzing what I feel I need portion wise prior to cooking or plating, and more often than not, I'm having just a tiny bit less than what had become habitual, and more importantly, I'm not missing what's gone.
Do you have any automated portions?
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Discover 5 Amazing Benefits of EPA/DHA (Omega-3 Fatty Acid Fish Oil)
Amazing indeed! This powerhouse of a supplement really packs an overall health and nutritional power punch. Scientists were first alerted to the many benefits of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) in the early 1970’s when Danish physicians observed that Greenland Eskimos had an exceptionally low incidence of heart disease and arthritis, despite the fact that they consumed a high-fat diet.
Intensive research soon discovered that two of the fats (oils) they consumed in large quantities, EPA and DHA came from their high fish diet, and were the primary cause for their low incidence of heart disease and arthritis.
More recent research has established the following 7 Amazing Benefits of EPA/DHA (Omega-3 Fatty Acid Fish Oils):
In a recent clinical study, 60 patients with advanced metastatic cancer were split into two groups. One group received a placebo, another a high dose fish oil. The results were spectacular. With the placebo 38% survived for 6 mos., 10% one year, and none for a year and a half. With the fish oil, 93% survived for 6 months, 70% for one year and about 20% for 18 months.
What is really amazing about the long-chain omega 3’s found in cold water fish and fish oil supplements is that they turn off the gene that controls fat storage! For the first time, science has proven beyond a doubt that nutritional components of our diet can directly control and influence key metabolic genes in our cells. This means the EFA’s we consume can significantly affect the way we store and burn fat.
In a pilot study presented at the North American Association for Study of Obesity (NAASO) Annual Meeting, November 2004, including 20 women with severe obesity (Body Mass Index, BMI, more than 40), the women were already on a very low calorie diet. The group given the omega-3 concentrate reduced their weight by 20% more than the group given placebo after only three weeks of treatment. BMI was reduced by as much as 15%. The effects were highly impressive because of the short treatment period.
So what exactly is EPA/DHA (Omega-3 Fatty Acid Fish Oil)? Omega-3 acids are found in flaxseed oil, walnut oil, and marine plankton and fatty fish. The main component of flaxseed and walnut oils is alpha-linolenic acid, while the predominant fatty acids found in fatty fish and fish oils are eicosapentaenoic acid and docosahexaenoic acid. The most beneficial and active of these fatty acids are EPA and DHA. Alpha-linolenic acid can be converted to EPA and DHA in the body, but the conversion is quite inefficient – especially in the elderly.
The health benefits of marine omega-3 fatty acids are increasingly being accepted worldwide. The scientific evidence continues to mount, representing an opportunity for the treatment and prevention of common diseases. The American Heart Association and the World Health Organization both support the addition of omega-3 fatty acids to diets citing their importance in maintaining good health.
The recommended dosage on most fish oil supplement bottles is usually the minimum required, and does not yield many of the benefits listed above (especially the fat burning benefit). I have seen best results with my clients and patients when they use three grams (three soft gels) with breakfast, lunch, and dinner totaling nine grams per day.
A colleague of mine who works mostly with professional athletes in Arizona has been known to recommend much higher dosages that taper down to nine grams per day for a fat loss regimen. His recommendation is to start with 25 soft gels (25 grams) per day in five divided doses for a period of five days. On the sixth day the dosage drops to 20 grams per day or five doses of four grams per day for five days. After that phase has been completed, the dosage drops to 15 grams in five doses of three grams per day for an additional five days and going to nine grams per day in three doses of three grams each.
When taking these high amounts of fish oil, it is also recommended to supplement with vitamin E. He recommends Pure Encapsulations – Ultra Synergist E which consists of a blend of mixed tocopherols. While on the 25 grams per day through the 20 grams per day phase, three vitamin E capsules (with breakfast, lunch, and dinner) are recommended, lowering the dosage to two during the 15 gram phase, and eventually down to one for the nine gram or final phase. Because of the antioxidant benefits of vitamin E, when down to the nine gram per day phase, I recommend taking it after a workout.
Once the nine gram per day phase has been reached, which is the maintenance amount, as well as the required amount for many of the benefits listed in this article, only one Ultra Synergist E capsule is needed. Some people do not enjoy using fish oil as it sometimes may cause a fish tasting “burp.” This is easily fixed by taking a digestive enzyme called Betaine HCl Pepsin starting with one capsule each time the fish oil is taken and increasing it by one capsule until the amount taken stops the “fish burp” from happening. As the fish oil dose is lowered, so is the Betaine HCl Pepsin. There is a slight chance that using these high dosages of fish oil may cause some gastro intestinal discomfort such as diarrhea for a very small number of individuals. If this is the case, they just drop the dosage to the next lower level and continue with it for a shorter period (two or three days instead of five) until they reach the maintenance dose of nine per day.
Happy Hour at Gold's Gym
Every Friday from 4:00-6:00pm
Purchase any Protein or Fruit Shake and receive $1.00 off