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Lead Stories: Saturday, September 6, 2008

Low Blood Sugar Causes Mental Fatigue During Competition

Posted November 23rd, 2007 at 3:45 PM by Martha Jones

Section: Nutrition, Race Prep & Recov, Health & Fitness, Exercise

Athletes can expect to feel fatigued when their blood sugar levels drop. Researchers at Loughborough University, UK showed that athletes who did not take sugar during soccer competition lasting 90 minutes felt more tired, had less competitive desire, and had far lower blood sugar levels than athletes who took a sugared drink every 15 minutes during their game (Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports, October 2007).

Your brain gets more than 98 percent of its energy from sugar in the bloodstream. However there is only enough sugar in the bloodstream to last about three minutes. The liver must constantly release sugar into the bloodstream, but there is only enough sugar in the liver to last eight hours during rest and far less than that during exercise. So athletes who do not take a source of sugar during events lasting more than an hour can suffer the psychological effects of low blood sugar levels what include a mental feeling of fatigue and lowered competitive desire.
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Type 2 Diabetes: How diet and exercise could save your life (PART 4)

Posted December 20th, 2006 at 2:05 PM by Megan Hueter

Section: Health & Fitness, Exercise, Weight Loss

This is the final installment of a four part series. Part 4 is entitled: “Type 2 Diabetes and the Benefits of Resistance Training”.

Attention type 2 diabetics: studies show that adding resistance training to your exercise program can enhance its benefits and improve insulin control. With a total change in lifestyle (through education about type 2 diabetes, adherence to a strict diet, aerobic exercise and resistance training) you can restore you body’s sugar to a non-diabetic level.

The treatment goal for type 2 diabetic individuals is to achieve and maintain near to normal blood sugar levels and optimal fat levels in the body. With exercise the body becomes less resistant to insulin. Aerobic exercise is commonly prescribed.
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Type 2 Diabetes: How diet and exercise could save your life (PART 3)

Posted December 13th, 2006 at 7:00 AM by Megan Hueter

Section: Nutrition, Healthy Eating, Health & Fitness, Exercise, Weight Loss

This is the third installment of a four part series. Part 3 is entitled: “Type 2 Diabetes: How Aerobic Exercise Can Save Your Life “.

Attention Type 2 diabetics: studies show that a change in lifestyle can restore the body’s sugar levels to a non-diabetic level. Understanding how this happens could save your life.

The treatment goal for type 2 diabetic individuals is to achieve and maintain near to normal blood sugar levels and optimal fat levels in the body. With exercise the body becomes less resistant to insulin. Therefore, aerobic exercise is a very effective treatment modality and is commonly prescribed.
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Type 2 Diabetes: How diet and exercise could save your life (PART 2)

Posted December 6th, 2006 at 7:00 AM by Megan Hueter

Section: Nutrition, Healthy Eating, Health & Fitness, Exercise, Weight Loss

This is the second installment of a four part series. Part 2 is entitled: “Type 2 Diabetes and Nutrition”. To check out Part 1: “Understanding Type 2 Diabetes”, please click here.

Attention Type 2 diabetics: recent studies show that a nutritional diet combined with physical can restore the body’s sugar levels to a non-diabetic level. Understanding the importance of the nutritional diet could save your life.

When diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, patients are commonly prescribed an immediate change in lifestyle which includes a very strict nutritional diet. The purpose of this diet is to maintain a quality level of glycemic control. This means that a carefully monitored diet can manage the amount of sugar in the blood. Because obesity is very common with those suffering from type 2 diabetes, the most important component of diet therapy is weight loss.

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Type 2 Diabetes: How diet and exercise could save your life (PART 1)

Posted November 29th, 2006 at 12:00 PM by Megan Hueter

Section: Nutrition, Healthy Eating, Health & Fitness, Exercise

This is the first installment of a four part series. Part 1 is entitled: “Understanding Type 2 Diabetes”.

Do you or someone you know suffer from type 2 diabetes? If you answered yes, you’re not alone. Recent studies show that a nutritional diet combined with physical exercise such as aerobic exercise and resistance training can restore the body’s sugar levels to a non-diabetic level. Understanding how this happens could save your life.

Diabetes mellitus is one of the leading causes of death and disability in the United States. There are currently 20.8 million people in the country suffering from diabetes, which is 7% of the population (1). Approximately 90-95% of these cases are categorized as type 2 diabetes. (3,4) Type 2 diabetes is strongly related to being overweight and obese, which has become a very serious public health problem of the past 25 years. Read the rest of this entry »

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Race Longer with a Low-Glycemic-Index Meal

Posted November 3rd, 2006 at 7:00 AM by Martha Jones

Section: Running & Training, Nutrition, Race Prep & Recov, Training Tips, Health & Fitness, Exercise

The Glycemic Index measures how high blood sugar levels rise 30 to 120 minutes after eating a particular food or combination of foods.

A study from Loughborough University in England shows that athletes in sports events lasting more than a couple hours may benefit from a pre-competition meal that has a low glycemic index (American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, August 2006).

How long you can exercise a muscle without hurting depends on how much sugar you can store in that muscle and how long you can keep that sugar in the muscle during competition.

Just about everyone agrees that taking extra carbohydrates for two or there days prior to an endurance competition can help fill your muscles maximally with stored sugar and therefore increase endurance. [Read more about Carbo-Loading].

Since it takes up to 24 hours to fill your muscles maximally with sugar, the pre-race meal is not used for that purpose. This new study showed that a low-glycemic index meal taken three hours prior to competition may help an athlete to exercise longer by causing muscles to use more fat, and less sugar, for energy. Read the rest of this entry »

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Avoiding Afternoon Fatigue

Posted October 25th, 2006 at 1:14 PM by Seth Braun

Section: Nutrition, Healthy Eating, Health & Fitness

This article is written by a TFS guest contributor, Mr. Seth Braun, natural health expert and best-selling author. Seth can be contacted for a complimentary consultation through his site or at his clinic, (303)-444-2357.

Are you one of the many people that gets to 3 PM with a drowsy feeling and struggle to make it to the evening, when you feel a pick me up again?

If you are, than you are not alone. This has become such a common occurrence that advertising has begun to aggressively push quick fix solutions. I recently saw an ad for a new version of several classic candy bars that were offered as a solution to the afternoon slump.

That is more likely the cause of the slump than the solution…

How did American’s get into this? Read the rest of this entry »

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