I have Shin Splints!
Have you ever had shin pain following exercise? If you have then you are probably familiar with shin splints, the term used for shin pain. Shin splints usually occur when there is a slight separation between the shin muscle and the bone. You can get shin splints from increasing your exercise routine above what your body can handle or from wearing a new pair of shoes. Exercises that you have not done before can also cause shin splints.
The best way to cure shin splints is to rest your shin muscles for a few days. Do not attempt to perform the same exercises until you are free from pain. After resting for several days without pain, start back to your exercise routine slowly. People with shin splints should not increase their exercise program by more than 10 percent a week. Doing any more than this will cause the shin splints to return. Ice can be used to reduce inflammation and dull pain. Massaging the area is also helpful.
Shin splints can be prevented by strengthening the shin muscles. Often shin splints occur when the muscles are weak and unable to work in harmony with the calves. There are simple exercises that you can do at home to help strengthen your shins. One exercise is to stand on the floor or on the edge of a step. Distribute your body weight evenly over the length of your food and lift and lower your toes and the balls of your feet 25 times. Taking time to stretch your calf muscles can also help you to prevent injury.
Replacing your athletic shoe regularly can help to keep your shins getting sore. When your old shoes loose their cushion and support they can cause you to feel more of the pounding that occurs when you exercise. If you have chronic shin splints you may want to consult with a podiatrist or sports-medicine specialist to find an appropriate solution. Sometimes a special pair of shoe inserts must be worn in your shoes to help you to recover and to prevent additional shin problems.
Certified Trainer
As a nutrition expert you may also be interested in physical fitness as well. If you are looking for a certified trainer, you will want to find someone who has been certified by the best organizations. Many of these organizations have websites that can refer you to trainers in your area. When you look for a trainer you should check that your trainers certification is current and check to see if your trainer participates in continuing education classes.
Here is a list of some organizations that offer certification for personal trainers.
-Aerobics and Fitness Association of America (AFAA): This organization offers a variety of different certification courses. The certification exam to become a personal trainer is not as intensive as the exam offered by the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM). This organization is popular among people who have had some experience but who do not have enough education to pass the ACSM exam.
-American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM): The ACSM is an organization that offers certifications to individuals who have a graduate degree in the exercise sciences. A person who attains certification as a Health/Fitness Instructor from the ACSM is considered highly trained in this field.
-American Council of Exercise (ACE): The ACE certifies personal trainers and group trainers, such as aerobic insturctors. This certification is the most popular in the personal training industry because the test is easier than the ACSM Health/Fitness Instructor test and the program is designed to teach trainers to design fitness programs for various fitness levels and medical conditions.
-International Sport Science Association (ISSA): The ISSA is an organization that emphasizes bodybuilding. However, this association has ten different certification programs that are more academically challenging because they require case studies and written papers as well as a written exam as part of the certification process.
-National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM): This group requires trainers to attend workshops and pass an exam. Trainers are expected to understand physiology, anatomy, and biomechanics. The certification process provides students with information about education, solutions and tools needed by fitness professional to help clients reach their unique fitness goals.
-National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA): This organization offers certification as a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS) and a Certified Personal Trainer (CPT). This certification process requires that prospective trainers pass a three-part written exam and video analysis of exercises. The NSCA requires that trainers know how muscles are involved in the exercises and movement.
Choosing Good Carbohydrates
Good carbohydrates can give you lasting energy compared processed and nutritionally-void sugars. If you are an athlete or exerciser, you should eat plenty of complex carbohydrates. These types of carbohydrates can be found in beans, whole-wheat pasta, grains and vegetables. If you are worried about high calorie foods, most complex carbohydrates are low in calories, low in fat and high in fiber.
Most Americans eat between 12 and 17 grams of fiber each day. That may sound like a decent amount but the federal government recommends nearly twice that amount, 20-35 grams per day. Fiber can be found in whole-grain foods like vegetables, fruit, oats, and whole-wheat bread. Dry beans, peas, nuts and seeds are also excellent sources of fiber. Processed foods on the other hand, contain very little fiber.
Fiber is extremely beneficial at keeping your colon healthy and your bowel moving regularly. If you do not eat enough fiber you will become constipated and over time you could develop cancer in the colon or intestines. Fiber also helps to reduce cholesterol and generally helps you to feel full for longer periods of time.
As much as possible, avoid processed carbohydrates. These types of carbohydrates can cause your blood sugar to elevate quickly and plunge soon after, causing you to feel tired and hungry. Carbohydrates from simple sugars, like fruits, are better than from processed foods like twinkies. The sugars from fruits are also associated with important vitamins and minerals that are beneficial to the body compared to processed carbohydrates that have no beneficial characteristics or associations.
When choosing healthy food options, choose whole-grain products. Read food label carefully and limit foods that are high in calories from corn syrup, honey, maple syrup, maltodextrin, or sucrose when possible.
Calorie Control for Your Health
The best way to improve our body is to improve what you put into it and the amount that you put in. As a nation, although we label our foods to be low-fat, low-calorie, high fiber and so on, what we do not pay enough attention to is how much of these foods we eat. If you eat more calories than your body is able to metabolize you will gain weight. You can loose weight and feel great by exercising and consuming enough calories to meet your daily needs. Too much will be stored as fat and too little will cause your body to think it is in starvation mode and compensate for the lack of calories by hanging on to what ever fat stores you have.
Here are some suggestions on how you can control you calories:
-Start small. Each meal should start small. You can always go back for more food but if you start will a moderate portion you may find that you are not as hungry as you initially thought.
-Fat-free is not the same as calorie-free: Fat-free foods are often very high in calories and can do more harm than good to your diet. Often fat-free foods are high in sugar and that means more calories.
-Choose moderation over deprivation: Depriving yourself of certain foods could cause you more damage in the long run. You can only hold out for so long before you dive head first into that piece of chocolate cake or lasagna. If you have craving for a certain food, eating a small piece can satisfy your craving and prevent you from over-indulging later.
-Eat slowly: If you eat slowly you will give your body a chance to signal that you are full. If you eat too quickly, you will eat more than your body needs or wants. Take your time. Enjoy your food and listen to your body.
-Refrain from alcohol: Alcohol can cause you to feel hungry. Drinking alcohol regularly can lead to overeating and weight gain.
-Don't skip a meal: Eating regular meals can help you to loose weight. Skipping meals will cause you to become famished and likely eat everything in sight. Don't skip meals. Eating several small healthy meals throughout the day is better than one large unhealthy meal.
How to Improve Flexibility
Flexibility is usually not the first thing that comes to mind when people think about fitness and conditioning. Most people equate physical health with physical strength or attractiveness. Very rarely is flexibility considered an important aspect of physical health by everyday people. As a personal trainer flexibility is considered an important aspect of health that should not be discounted and which can be measured.
Flexibility refers to your ability to move parts of your body around a joints axis. It is basically how well you can extend through a range of motion. Scientifically, what you are trying to determine is how well your muscles are able to move your bones around a joint.
There are several flexibility tests that you can do to determine how flexible you are in certain areas of your body. A common test that you can do is called the “sit and reach” test. This test simply requires you to sit with your legs out straight and your feet flat on the side. With your legs straight, lean forward and see how far you can reach toward your toes. The tighter your muscles are the more difficult it will be to stretch.
There is another very simple test that you can do standing up, with or without help. All you need to do is take off your shoes and stand with your feet together and your knees straight. Do not lock your knees. Bend forward at the waist and reach for the floor. If you can touch the floor with little to no discomfort in your rear thighs or lower back then you have good flexibility. If you find that touching your toes is just barely possible without causing you any discomfort than you should consider stretching more often. If you can't touch your toes at all or if you feel pain then you may increase your chances for lower-back problems. You should consider stretching regularly at least once a day to help loosen your muscles and improve your flexibility.
Cranberries: A Great Fruit for the Kidneys and Bladder
The Cranberry is a native North American plant that usually grows in boggy areas. Most cranberries are cultivated for commercial use in Massachusetts, New Jersey, Wisconsin, Oregon, and Washington. These bright red fruit belong to the same family as the blueberry and huckleberry. Unlike, blueberries and huckleberries, cranberries are extremely tart. Most commercial manufactures sweeten the berries. Otherwise, cranberries are usually too tart to eat raw.
Cranberry juice has been used as a home remedy for preventing kidney and bladder stones for many years. It has also been found to be a remedy for cystitis. The beneficial action in the cranberry is thought to come from a natural antibiotic substance it possesses. This substance keeps organisms from clinging to bladder walls and forming colonies. Cranberries also contain quinic acid, which has been found to increase urine acidity and prevent cystitis.
Many urologists and gynecologists suggest that patients drink a couple of glasses of cranberry juice daily to help prevent chronic bladder infections. If symptoms develop or continue, a patient should consult with his physician, who will likely prescribe antibiotics to cure an established urinary infection.
Commercial cranberry juice usually contains large amounts of sugar to make the cranberry juice more palatable. Also, commercial cranberry juice is often too diluted to be effective at fighting off or treating urinary infections. To maximize the health benefits of cranberries, a juicer can be used to make your own cranberry juice. Making your own juice can also give you control over the amount of sugar you add.
When eaten whole, cranberries provide fiber, These small berries also provide a fair source of vitamin C and bioflavinoids.
Diet and Diabetes
More than 16 million Americans are diagnosed with diabetes mellitus. This chronic disease is serious and can make cause the body to have a difficult time converting sugar into energy. There are two types of diabetes. Type 1 diabetes affects almost one million Americans. This type if diabetes is insulin dependent and is also called juvenile onset diabetes because it commonly develops during childhood and in young adults. Most often this diabetes occurs after an infection such as chicken pox or a cold and continues to attack body tissues resulting in the destruction of cells that produce insulin in the pancreas.
More than 15 million Americans have type II diabetes, otherwise known as non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus. This diabetes occurs in adults that are typically overweight and middle-aged. People with this type of diabetes usually have enough insulin but their bodies have a difficult time using the insulin properly.
Diabetics must carefully monitor their diets and exercise. As a registered dietician you can help people to learn about preventative measures that can be taken. People with type II diabetes can manage their diabetes with diet and exercise alone. In some less common cases, people have needed oral medications and insulin injections. People with type I diabetes generally need insulin injections daily. Without daily insulin injections, a person with type I diabetes could die.
A healthy diet can help to stabilize blood sugar and stop diabetic symptoms. A registered dietician is an excellent resource for diabetics. Most dieticians can help to create individual diets that are designed around a patient's individual needs and tastes. A dietician can help to balance the ratio of carbohydrates, fats and proteins in a diabetic's diet and can show a diabetic how to reduce fat, cholesterol, and protein in order to protect the heart and kidneys from disease.
Complex carbohydrates, like vegetables, breads, cereals and pasta are better choices than processed and refined carbohydrates. This is primarily because the fiber content of complex carbohydrates helps to slow down the release of glucose into the blood stream, thereby preventing an increase in blood sugar after a high-carbohydrate meal.
Battling Acne with Nutrition
Acne is an inflammatory skin condition that affects the sebaceous glands of the face, neck, chest and back. It can occur at any age but most often acne is experienced during the teenage years. On average about 80 percent of teenagers will experience acne, which can continue into adulthood.
Symptoms of acne are characterized by blackheads, whiteheads, pustules, inflamed nodules, sacs and cysts. Infection in the pilosebaceous follicle can cause the pores to become permanently dilated and can also lead to severe scarring. Symptoms increase during puberty because hormone changes can affect the sebaceous glands causing excess oils to be produced.
Diet can also cause an increase in acne breakouts and as a nutritionist, I have experienced this first hand.. The main offender in the modern diet is saturated fat. Any diet that is high in saturated fats from animal proteins, cheese and milk can cause the abnormal development of the sebaceous glands. Junk food, like hot dogs, cheeseburgers, french fries, chips, butter, sugar, candy, chocolate and carbonated beverages can increase acne. Most often milk is the greatest cause of acne, due to its high levels of fat.
Certain dietary deficiencies have also been associated with acne. Vitamin B6, zinc and essential fatty acids have all been found to be important to preventing acne breakouts and are usually deficient in people who suffer with acne. Vitamin B6 deficiency is commonly found in women who experience acne related to their menstrual cycle. Zinc has also been found deficient during puberty, when adolescents are growing rapidly.
One of the best, natural ways to battle acne is to eliminate as many saturated fats from your diet as possible. If possible, try and refrain from consuming any saturated fats for 6 to 8 weeks. Eat a very healthy diet consisting of non citrus fruits, raw vegetables juices, salads, cooked vegetables, seaweeds, seeds, nuts and whole grains, in moderation. Seaweed is especially beneficial due to the high iodine content.
For maximum results, dairy products should be eliminated from the diet. However, if eliminating dairy is too difficult to do then consider choosing healthier dairy options. Choose dairy products that have a very low butterfat content. Dried skim milk and evaporated skim milk are two options that have the least butterfat content.
Nutritionist: Training For a Marathon
I have a friend who decided to train for the Honolulu Marathon this December. Normally, I wouldn’t think twice about someone’s announcement to take part in this annual event. However, I consider my friend to be the ultimate couch potato. So, for me to hear him announce his ambition to actually run or walk the 26 mile course was shocking. How does a couch potato turn into a marathon runner…or walker? I guess what I really mean to ask is, how does a person who has no ambition to do much more than channel surf go from laying on the couch to surviving a 26 mile run/walk? Is it even possible? A know a lot of strength training and conditioning will need to go in to this endeavor.
Well, after some major research on my friend’s part, it seems to be more and more possible every day. Here are a few simple tips that any couch potato, who is considering a marathon, should do before the big day.
-Get off the couch. This may sound funny but it will take a lot of commitment and hard work to overcome the physical demands of a 26 mile walk or run. If you are not used to doing regular daily exercise, you will need to recommit to moving your body by walking or running every day.
-Start Slow. Jumping into an extreme exercise routine is the best way to quite right. Always start exercise at a moderate pace. This is especially true for people who don’t normally exercise. If you take it slow and steady you will eventually increase your endurance. If you jump into exercising full force, you may hurt yourself or become too discouraged to continue. If you don’t know where to begin, consider mapping out a few miles in your neighborhood and commit to walking that path at least 4 times a week. As your endurance grows, take turns walking and running for two minutes. As you build your endurance, increase your distance.
-Eat Your Energy. Your body requires fuel like a vehicle to move. If you don’t give it the right fuel you could be reducing your endurance. Choosing energized healthy foods like vegetables, fruits and high fiber foods can help you to maintain your energy over the 26 miles. You should start improving your diet as soon as possible. You will need the improved diet to sustain you through your regular workout routines.
Bioflavanoids
Bioflavonoids are the natural pigments found in fruits and vegetables. There are over 800 bioflavonoids that have been identified. Many experts believe that bioflavonoids are beneficial to the body for the following reasons:
Inhibit clot formation: Research has indicated that bioflavonoids are able to naturally inhibit clots can may be effective at treating clotting disorders.
Protect against heart disease: Grape skins contain a bioflavonoid that is thought to be the ingredient in wine that makes wine effective at reducing the risk of heart attacks for people who moderately drink wine.
Act as an antioxidant: Many bioflavonoids have been found to help prevent free radical damage to the body. Free radicals are unstable molecules that can form when the body burns oxygen. Bioflavonoids are often used as food preservatives to prevent the oxidation of fats.
Enhance vitamin C: Bioflavonoids and vitamin C are processed by the body in the same way and are found together in the same foods. Research suggests that these components work together synergistically in the body.
Maintain capillaries: Bioflavonoids have been found to maintain the proper degree of permeability in capillaries. This is important because if blood capillaries are too fragile the are unable to pass oxygen, hormones, nutrients, and antibodies from the bloodstream to individual cells.
Helps prevent cancer: Research studies indicate that some bioflavonoids are able to stop or slow the growth of malignant cancer cells in the body. Bioflavonoids may even be effective at protecting the body against cancer-causing substances.
A natural antibiotic: Some bioflavonoids are effective at destroying certain bacteria, slowing down food spoilage, and protecting people from food-borne infections.
All of these examples probably make adding a few more fruits and vegetables into your daily diet seem like a good idea for your over all health and well-being. Adding a little color in your diet is one of the best ways to ensure you are getting all of the valuable bioflavonoids your body needs.
