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Lead Stories: Saturday, September 6, 2008

Supplements and Absorption

Posted December 1st, 2007 at 7:00 PM by Shannon Clark

Section: Nutrition, Supplements

vitamins supplements One concern that some individuals have when it comes to their supplement routine is making sure that what they are taking is being absorbed effectively. You’ve likely heard that getting your nutrition from real foods is often better than taking it in pill form, and this is a big reason why. Generally the body will absorb nutrients slightly better when it comes from food because this is how mother nature intended it.

Read the rest of this entry at our partner site: HesFit.com

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TFS Media’s Crib Sheet on Carbohydrate Cycling

Posted November 27th, 2007 at 11:05 AM by Shannon Martin

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

female athlete carbs eating apple One of the more popular diet methods out there for athletes looking to improve performance is carbohydrate cycling. It is used by athletes with specific training goals and advising from experts. Not only does it help to ensure that your leptin levels (a hormone that regulates body fat and calorie intake) do not change drastically, but it helps keep energy levels up as well.

The body prefers to work off carbohydrates during exercise. While it can run effectively on fat if you work at a lower intensity, as soon as you try and perform high intensity work you will find yourself becoming fatigued, because your body needs glucose to rev up its engine for harder workouts.

Read the rest of this entry at our partner site: HerActiveLife.com

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TFS Review: Tanita’s IRONMAN Elite InnerScan Body Composition Monitor

Posted February 18th, 2007 at 12:00 PM by Adam Jacobs

Section: Gear & Apparel, Gadgets & Acces., Miscellaneous, Product Reviews, Special Features, TFS Reviews

Product: Tanita’s IRONMAN Elite InnerScan Monitor
Price: $129.99
Rating: Very Good 8.0/10.0
Pros: Surprisingly accurate; easy to use; memory for multiple users; sleek design; quick and convenient
Cons: A bit expensive for amateur athletes; results affected by fluctuation in body water levels
Overall: Considering the prohibitive expense of water displacement tests and the inaccurate results provided by most at-home options, Tanita’s IRONMAN Elite InnerScan is an excellent choice for athletes who want to monitor the effectiveness of their fitness and nutritional regimens.

Tanita’s IRONMAN Elite Series InnerScan is a high-performance body composition monitor. It uses Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis (BIA) to determine your body-fat percentage by transmitting a small electric current through your body(don’t worry, you won’t feel a thing) that measures the resistance of muscle and fat.

The InnerScan measures and calculates weight, percentage body fat, total body water (%), muscle mass, visceral fat (which can indicate Type-2 Diabetes and heart disease), metabolic age, physique rating, and Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR). BMR is the amount of energy (aka calories) that your body needs to function properly at rest. This indicates the caloric intake that is required to support your body’s basic systems.
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Master athletes age better

Posted November 25th, 2006 at 12:00 PM by Martin Kennedy

Section: Health & Fitness, Exercise

Almost 50 percent of Americans die of heart attacks and strokes, diseases that are associated with a faulty diet and lack of exercise. Almost 80 percent are overweight or obese, which is also associated with lack of exercise. Yet only 13 percent of people over 65 engage in vigorous physical activity three or more days a week. Among those over 75, only six percent exercise regularly.

Master athletes are older men and women who compete in sports at a very high level, no matter how old they are. They are healthier than age-matched people in virtually every category that has been measured (Nutrition Today, Volume 40, 2006). Of course they are more fit, as measured by their maximal ability to take in and use oxygen. They have lower cholesterol’s, comparable to those of people in their twenties. They have lower glucose tolerance and HBA1C screening tests for diabetes. They have lower waist-to-hip ratios, decreasing their risk for metabolic syndrome and diabetes. They have far less body fat. Read the rest of this entry »

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Spot reduction doesn’t work

Posted November 20th, 2006 at 12:00 PM by Martha Jones

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

You’ll see lots of different machines on television that are advertised to get rid of fat from your belly. While they can strengthen your belly muscles, there is no such thing as spot reduction.

When you take in more calories than your body burns, you store them as fat . Some people store fat primarily in their hips and are at low risk for heart attacks and diabetes, while others who store their fat primarily in their bellies are at increased risk for heart attacks and diabetes. You store more that half the fat in your body underneath your skin and over your muscles. Exercising a muscle does not get rid of fat over the specific muscles that are exercised. If it did, tennis players would have less fat in their tennis arms, but they don’t. Read the rest of this entry »

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