FitSugar

The Skinny on Lactic Acid

FitSugar — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 10:00:00 -0800

When I was a young runner, lactic acid was blamed for the delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) that interfered with my ability to climb onto the school bus with ease the day following a hard practice. Since then, we have learned that post-exercise pain is caused by micro tears created when we tax our muscles, and the former scapegoat, lactic acid, doesn't hang out in muscles after a workout. Lactic acid actually fuels our cells when we push ourselves during high intensity workouts. It is hydrogen ions, a by-product of burning lactic acid as fuel, which creates the heavy legged sensation, burning sensation that accompanies running hard and fast.

You will come across the term "lactate threshold" when reading intense training manuals. This threshold is when the lactic acid begins to accumulate in the blood. And when you push yourself to work past that threshold, you train your body to better deal with the biological by product of using lactic acid as fuel. Increasing your lactate threshold helps you run faster for longer and is considered a good performance predictor for endurance events. Training to increase this threshold involves tempo runs and interval training with long steady paced runs. So now that you know how to increase your lactate threshold, will you?

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The Skinny on: Breast Cancer Diets

FitSugar — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 03:00:00 -0700

In case you missed it, it is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. October is dedicated to highlighting this disease, which will affect one out of eight women. They say you are what you eat, but the connection between diet and breast cancer prevention is confusing to say the least.

An article over at Nutrition Data helped me sort out the topic, although there really is no clear-cut answer. The two most researched dietary links to breast cancer are low fat diets and soy products. Although cultures with high fat diets have a higher incidence of breast cancer, there have been no clear-cut conclusions from clinical trials on this subject. There are two sides of the debate on soy products. Since soy contains phytoestrogens, which act as weak estrogens in the body, it is thought to either stimulate estrogen-related cancers, like breast cancer, or to help prevent them. Once again there is no conclusive evidence either way, and most experts feel that soy products are fine in moderation.

These ambiguous conclusions don't mean that you are completely powerless in trying to prevent breast cancer. To see what you can do, just read more.

Being overweight is considered a primary risk factor for developing the disease, so maintaining a healthy weight is considered a means of prevention. Diets high in fruits and veggies help prevent all types of cancer, and are also low in calories. Adding at least five servings of fruits and vegetables is a win-win situation.
Another well-documented means of preventing breast cancer is limiting the amount of alcohol you drink daily. Drinking more than one serving of alcohol a day, including red wine, increases your risk of developing breast cancer.
Exercise, although it is not food related, is an important part of the breast cancer prevention lifestyle. Exercising 30 minutes a day has been shown to be highly protective against the disease.

For me the hardest healthy habit to follow is limiting myself to one glass of wine, but lately I have been really good about doing this - especially since my neighbor's gynecologist emphasized this point at her last check-up, which jump started my will power when it comes to vino. What about you? Are any of these preventative measures hard for you? Please share them in the comments section below.

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The Skinny on: Vitamins vs. Minerals

FitSugar — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 14:30:00 -0700

We all know we should be consuming enough vitamins and minerals. We need them in order to stay healthy, but did you ever think about what the difference between the two is? Vitamins come from the plants and meat we eat. They are essential nutrients that fall into one of two categories: water soluble or fat soluble. Vitamin C and all eight B vitamins are water-soluble, which means water is required for their absorption. These nine vitamins are found mostly in fruits, veggies, and grains. You need water-soluble vitamins every day, and the extra is flushed out when you go to the bathroom. Vitamins A, D, E, and K are fat-soluble, and are mostly found in fatty foods such as meat, dairy, vegetable oils, and oily fish. They require fat for absorption and are stored in fat tissue for later use. If you eat excessive amounts of fat-soluble vitamins, they can be harmful to your body so pay close attention to your diet.

To hear all about minerals and find out if taking supplements is necessary read more.

Minerals fall into one of two categories as well: macro or micro. The ones needed in quantities of 100 mg or more are considered macro such as calcium, phosphorus, potassium, sodium, chloride, magnesium, and sulfur. The ones needed in much smaller, trace amounts are considered micro. Iron, iodine, zinc, chromium, selenium, fluoride, molybdenum, copper, and manganese are micro minerals. There are 16 essential minerals needed by the body, and you can obtain them from a variety of foods including meat, cereals, bread, fish, milk, vegetables, fruit (especially dried fruit), nuts, and also from water.

Fit's Tip: The best way to get the vitamins and minerals your body needs is from your diet. As long as you're eating a variety of foods, vitamin supplements aren't necessary.

The Skinny On: High Fructose Corn Syrup

FitSugar — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 03:30:00 -0700

When I started reading food labels, way back when, I must admit that I thought high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) was made out of fruit, because of the "fructose," as well as corn. Now that I have been schooled over the years, I know that this sweetener is made from cornstarch that goes through a serious amount of processing.

The Corn Refiners Association has started the sweet surprise ad campaign to try to reclaim consumers' hearts and dollars. Corn and all its permutations have been getting a bad rap of late, from sources like the documentary King Corn and Michael Pollan's treatise on eating In Defense of Food. The parallel growth of HFCS consumption and the obesity epidemic is the stuff from which seemingly correct, but nevertheless faulty armchair science is formed. Recent studies have found that HFCS as an ingredient isn't solely to blame for the obesity epidemic, since the human body processes HFCS and sugar in the same way and that they have the same caloric load.

To see how high fructose corn syrup differs from sugar, just read more.

The truth is though that HFCS is not chemically the same as sugar. Sugar is sucrose and HFCS is made from glucose and fructose, but not a single molecule of sucrose. Fructose turns into fat in the liver, which is not healthy because it is not broken down earlier in the digestion process. Fructose has a negative impact on insulin and the hunger hormone leptin creating increased appetite. Even though HFCS is made from cornstarch degraded into glucose by using chemicals or enzymes degraded, then altered again with enzymes to convert fractions of glucose into fructose, it can still be labeled natural according to the FDA. This is as long as no synthetic fixing agents touch the sweet syrup in the manufacturing process.

The truth is that even after all that ecologically devastating processing, HFCS is cheaper to produce than sugar. In fact, the average American consumes 78 pounds of it a year and 500 of it calories a day. Cheap processed ingredients make inexpensive processed foods, and because they are cheap, widely available, with long shelf lives, more and more processed food is eaten. Leading to overeating foods that don't offer much nutritionally.

Once again, moderation is the key when it comes to any sweetener, processed or natural. Just like they say in those sweet surprise ads. If you need some corn in your life, why not just eat straight off the cob?

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The Skinny On: Sports Drinks

FitSugar — Tue, 31 Jul 2007 08:45:00 -0700

Staying hydrated when exercising in hot, humid weather is really important. However, if you are exercising, at a moderate level, for longer than an hour you should probably reach for a sports drink.

Unlike water, sports drinks contain electrolytes and carbohydrates to help your body absorb and retain fluid lost during exercise. Because of this, sports drinks do a better job of preventing dehydration and maintaining proper electrolyte balance, especially in warm, humid conditions when you sweat out more fluid and sodium. Replenishing sodium enhances fluid absorption and retention and prevents hyponatremia, the condition when blood sodium blood levels fall below normal, which in extreme cases can be fatal.

Look for a sports drink that contains at least 500 to 700 milligrams (mg) of sodium per liter. Also select one you don't feel like you need to dilute due to taste, since you'll dilute the electrolyte and carbohydrate concentration as well. To avoid guzzling too much at one time since no one likes to run with a belly full of liquid, drink it in small amounts at regular intervals, every 15 to 20 minutes.

Fit's Tip: To figure out how much you need to drink, weigh yourself naked before and after a typical hour of working out. Then drink the same amount you lost. For example, if you lose two pounds during one hour of running, you need to replace about 32 ounces (two pounds) of fluid during each hour of exercise. This is the equation you should use if you are racing too. If you're consuming more than that, you're probably over-hydrating.

The Skinny on: Antioxidants

FitSugar — Mon, 19 Mar 2007 08:45:00 -0700

Over a delightful dinner of corned beef and cabbage this Saturday night, a dinner guest (with a PhD in science) asked me what was all the hype around antioxidants. So we all know that they are good for us, but why?

Antioxidants help clean up our bodies on a molecular level. According to the National Cancer Institute:

Antioxidants are substances that may protect cells from the damage caused by unstable molecules known as free radicals. Free radical damage may lead to cancer. Antioxidants interact with and stabilize free radicals and may prevent some of the damage free radicals otherwise might cause. Examples of antioxidants include beta-carotene, lycopene, vitamins C, E, and A, and other substances.

Essentially, free radicals can disrupt cell production and lead to mutation. Antioxidants are molecules that slow or prevent the oxidation of other chemicals by free radicals; antioxidants deactivate the free radicals. Although oxidation is essential for life, the process can create some serious damage or be considered carcinogenic.

The jury is still out on a definitive answer as to whether antioxidants can prevent cancer. Although early studies were all optimistic, more recent studies have not been conclusive. Recent studies suggest that dietary supplements of antioxidants do not seem to increase life span and ingesting these vitamins and minerals from food is the best bet.

The Skinny On: Fruit Flavored Water

FitSugar — Wed, 27 Dec 2006 10:14:21 -0800

When it comes to hydration do flavored waters do the job?

Just about every water company has some new fangled version of water on the market, but are they as healthy as plain water?

Glaceau makes some vitamin waters that contain a lot less sugar than fruit juices making them an alternative. Plus each flavor contains a different set of vitamins and nutrients. They also make fruit waters which add a little bit of flavor to plain water, but they also add sugar and 50 calories.

Some fruit flavored waters, like Fruit2O, use artificial sweeteners like Splenda to sweeten up the drink without adding calories.

Fit's Tips: I wouldn't exactly put these flavored waters in the category of good old natural healthy hydrating water. It's a great alternative to soda, but don't replace it for water. When traveling, choose plain old water instead.

The Skinny On: Peppermint

FitSugar — Fri, 22 Dec 2006 17:29:06 -0800

Two of my favorite treats are a hot mug of peppermint tea and a cold dish of peppermint ice cream. I must also say that candy canes receive an honorable mention.

Peppermint has long been grandma's answer to belly aches and you know what? She was right on target. Peppermint calms the belly and stimulates digestion. It is often taken by folks with Irritable Bowel Syndrome to lessen the syndrome's irritating symptoms like bloating, gas, and diarrhea.

More than just a tonic for your tummy, peppermint is also an expectorant and a decongestant. It may offer some relief for mild asthma attacks, lessening bronchial constriction and making it easier to breathe. Peppermint promotes sweating, which could possibly help regulate body temperature during a fever, which is good news during cold and flu season.

Medicinally, peppermint is available in many forms: tea, tinctures, capsules, creams, ointments, or essential oil. It is generally considered safe when used properly.

FYI - Peppermint is YumSugar's secret ingredient this week. If you have a recipe that includes peppermint, you should definitely stop by and share it with her.

The Skinny on: Cracking Your Knuckles

FitSugar — Fri, 08 Dec 2006 04:00:00 -0800

When someone tells you that cracking your knuckles will lead to arthritis, they're wrong.

What exactly makes that "popping" sound? When you crack your knuckles, or back, or whatever, you are pushing the joint into or out of its normal position. Joints are the meeting points of 2 separate bones. A thick liquid called synovial fluid is found between the bones. When you stretch, twist, push, or pull those bones apart, the pressure is reduced on that fluid, and bubbles form and quickly burst - making that familiar "pop."

Research from the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine shows that people who crack their back, neck, knuckles or knees generally have healthier joints than those who don't. Well, actually, people who tend to pop their joints are more likely to be more physically active than non-crackers.

So go ahead and crack away. It may be annoying to others, but at least it's not hurting you.

The Skinny On: Resistant Starches

FitSugar — Mon, 27 Nov 2006 03:00:00 -0800

"Feel full foods", developed by companies like Slim-Fast and Kraft, are scientifically proven to make you feel like you've eaten a large meal when you have, in fact, only eaten a 200 calorie snack.

How do they do that? They manipulate the fat molecules to stay intact until they reach the lower part of the small intestine. At that point, the manipulated molecules spark a whole bunch of hormones to send an "I'm full" message to the brain. These "resistant starches" act like fiber, but have the taste and texture of starch. They slow down digestion, so you feel full longer. Eating these kinds of food could decrease fat accumulation in the long-term. Wow.

Resistant starches can also be used to boost a product’s fiber level “label value” so the product can claim to be a “good” or "excellent” source of fiber, when it doesn't actually contain "natural" fiber, so be on the look out.

Eating good old fashioned real foods that actually contain fiber naturally are your best bet. Foods like beans, whole grains, fruits, and vegetables will make you feel full naturally without the scientifically modified flare.

Fit's Tip: Eat fruit at every meal. Apples, bananas, oranges, pears and berries are good sources of fiber. Why not slice some into your dinner salad?