Fitness & Wellness

Managing Your Health During A Pandemic

Managing Your Health During A Pandemic

Even if you worked relentlessly on staying fit for years, you were probably more focused on good health since the pandemic started. Everyone will agree that managing your health during a pandemic is extremely important, but staying healthy at all times should also be at the top of your “must do” list. At Iron Fit in San Antonio, TX, we can help you with that and provide information you need, plus workouts that will help you shed pounds and look your fittest.

Obesity is the leading cause of preventable deaths.

Not only does obesity increase your risk of serious conditions like heart disease, diabetes, stroke, and certain types of cancer. New studies show that obesity can also increase your risk of developing Covid-19. If you’re obese are 48% more likely to die of Covid-19, 74% more likely to require intensive care and 113% more likely to be hospitalized. One of the theories why this happens is from inactivity and poor diet, but others think the actual fat cells may be part of the problem. When your immune system is working correctly, it creates inflammation that helps the body fight an invader. Too many fat cells can also cause inflammation. Not only is the body weakened by this constant inflammation barrage, when it does happen, the fat cells cause excess inflammation, a problem most Covid-19 patients face.

The right nutrition can help prevent or minimize the effect of Covid-19.

Eat foods high in antioxidants that protect your cells, such as blueberries. Not only do they protect your from other serious conditions, such as cancer, they also aid in boosting your immunity in a pandemic. Inflammation plays a big role in the seriousness of a bout with Covid-19 and certain foods and spices can help reduce inflammation. Start by eliminating added sugar from your diet and switch to vegetables, fruits, nuts, whole grains, fatty fish, green tea and yes! Coffee! Dairy products that aren’t fermented like kifir and yogurt, processed meats and fried foods need to be eliminated. High soluble fiber foods that feed your gut bacteria, which boosts your immune system should be added, such as beans, avocado and sweet potatoes.

Minimize stress and get plenty of sleep.

When you sleep your body repairs itself. That’s necessary to stay healthy. Stress can strip you of good sleep, plus tear down many of the body processes, effecting your immune system as well. How can you prevent stress when it seems to engulf you every day? Exercise is one way. It doesn’t stop stress but it burns off the hormones of stress and gets you back to normal. Deep breathing exercises also help relax you and so can meditation. You can stop the effects of stress in its tracks with those two techniques.

  • Include foods that contain zinc and vitamin C. Foods with zinc include red meat, oysters, crab, whole grains and lobster. Vitamin C foods include citrus fruit, cantaloupe, red bell peppers and broccoli.
  • Stress hormones not only cause tax your immune system, one stress hormone, cortisol, contributes to belly fat—visceral fat. It’s the most dangerous type of fat, since it crowds your organs.
  • Do safe sunning, eat foods higher in vitamin D, such as meat, fatty fish or eggs. Vitamin D helps your immune system. Studies link vitamin D deficiency to the severity and infection of Covid-19.
  • Follow the rules and boost your immune system with herbs. Wash your hands frequently, social distance and wear a mask. Turmeric, ginger, cinnamon, garlic and orange peel improve flavor and boost your immune system.

For more information, contact us today at IronFit San Antonio


Health Benefits Of Dark Chocolate

Health Benefits Of Dark Chocolate

Yes, food and snacks that taste good can also be good for you! Nothing proves this more than identifying the health benefits of dark chocolate. While apples and fresh fruit is sweet and delicious, sometimes you want something a little special. You don’t have to settle for less if you have some dark chocolate available. Start first with the type of chocolate you need. Only dark chocolate provides the real benefits. Milk chocolate not only contains a high amount sugar, it has a lot of milk added, too. Milk interferes with absorption of polyphenols that are in the cocoa bean. The fat profile of dark chocolate has a far better fat profile, too.

Protect your cells with the antioxidants in dark chocolate.

Those polyphenols that the milk in milk chocolate block are antioxidants, which protect your cells from free radicals that cause damage and death to the cells. It also has other free radicals, flavonoids. It has more antioxidants than wine and green tea. You need to eat chocolate that’s lower in sugar and higher in cacao. Bars with the most benefits start at 70% cocoa/cacao and increase in benefits as the content increases. Choosing a bar that has 90% or higher might be too bitter for your taste, even though it’s healthier.

If you buy a candy heart for Valentine’s Day, make it a dark chocolate heart.

Yes, dark chocolate is heart healthy, so what would be better as a gift than a dark chocolate heart? Not only does it have heart protective antioxidants, it also has healthy fat. One study showed that eating just a small amount of dark chocolate each week could improve your cholesterol profile, decrease platelet activity, prevent clotting and reduce inflammation. You can even increase blood flow to the brain and heart, plus reduce your blood pressure. One significant study showed that people who had an increased chocolate intake had a fewer cardiac problems.

Could you prevent mental aging, Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s by eating chocolates.

Studies vary and don’t come to the same conclusion, but one thing is fact, chocolate contains the flavanol epicatechin. Epicatechin helps prevent oxidative stress and when used in a mouse study, aided in lowering neuroinflammation—inflammation of the brain and nervous system—and oxidative stress. It also helped reduce anxiety and improve memory. Some believe that oxidative stress and inflammation may be the cause of Alzheimer’s or add to the problem.

  • Lower your risk of cancer by eating dark chocolate. It helps prevent colon cancer and the growth of cancer cells by reducing inflammation, blocking cancer cell growth and oxidative stress.
  • While eating dark chocolate may boost your health benefits, you can get too much of a good thing. One study showed that eating just 0.2 ounces—6 grams—lowered the risk of stroke or heart disease by 39%. Since the average chocolate bar is 100-grams, that’s about a half of a single square.
  • Another study showed that eating a small amount of dark chocolate could improve visual acuity, while also increasing contrast sensitivity. However, more studies are needed as the study was small.
  • You might look younger if you eat a bit of dark chocolate every day. The flavonols in dark chocolate help protect the skin from the sun, improve blood flow to the skin, aid in hydration and lower the potential for roughness of the skin.

For more information, contact us today at IronFit San Antonio


Can Probiotics Help You Lose Weight?

Can Probiotics Help You Lose Weight?

One of the newest miracle supplements being touted for health benefits are probiotics. While they do provide benefits for health, such as aid in stopping diarrhea, balancing friendly bacteria, aiding in mental health, improved heart health, boosting immunity and even aiding with allergies. There’s a dispute, however, whether probiotics will help you lose weight. While some say it definitely helps, other are just as emphatic that it doesn’t.

How might probiotics help you lose weight?

Some studies show that there might be a benefit to using probiotics to lose weight, especially belly fat. Microbes help with digestion and also block some food from being digested. Probiotics are part of that process. When it’s about weight loss, probiotics will slow or block the absorption of fat in the intestinal tract. Rather than being absorbed as calories, it is eliminated in waste. By doing that it reduces the number of calories your body has available for use.

There are more potential reasons that probiotics may help weight loss.

Some will help you feel fuller by increasing certain hormone levels. A study that compared two groups of women, one who took probiotics and one who didn’t, found that the group that took them, lost 50% more after three months than those that didn’t. A healthy gut, not one with inflammation, processes amino acids properly. If there’s inflammation, it can cause less absorption of amino acids much needed for muscle mass. The more muscle mass you have, the easier it is to lose weight.

Not all probiotics cause weight loss.

Only certain probiotics lead to weight loss, Lactobacillus acidophilus, a probiotic, can actually lead to weight gain. So far, there is no clear identification of the strains that support weight loss. So whether eating probiotic foods or taking supplements, knowing which ones to chose is the problem. The probiotics have been shown that they don’t colonize in your digestive tract on a permanent basis, but pass through and out of your body with waste.

  • Considering the number of microbes in your colon, approximately 100 trillion, the amount you get from eating probiotic food or taking probiotic supplements is insignificant.
  • While probiotics are good for you, if you don’t have adequate dietary fiber, you’re cheating yourself. Dietary fiber is considered prebiotics. It feeds the beneficial microbes and helps the number of beneficial ones grow.
  • Including high-fiber foods in your diet, such as vegetables, fruits, nuts, beans and whole grains, not only increase the amount of fiber—prebiotics—but also make you feel fuller.
  • Even though probiotics are healthy, they’re not the final answer to weight loss. If you think that simply eating probiotics or taking a supplement is all you need to do, think again. You have to eat healthy and eat fewer calories than you burn to lose weight.

For more information, contact us today at IronFit


How Low Carb Diets Can Boost Brain Health

How Low Carb Diets Can Boost Brain Health

At Iron Fit in San Antonio, Texas, we not only focus on getting healthier. The health of the body affects all parts of life. It even affects brain health. There are many ways low carb diets can boost brain health. Low carbohydrate diets have been used for thousands of years to prevent epileptic seizures. In fact, fasting was used in Biblical times. In fact, there’s reference in the Bible to fasting to eliminate the demons that caused seizures.

How does fasting or a keto diet help stop seizures and affect brain health?

An imbalance of brain chemicals cause the activity of the brain to either be overly excited or inhibited. It causes an irritation of sorts. Once the activity of excitement begins, it spreads through the brain causing seizures. Today, there is medication that helps to control those seizures, but for about 30% of the people they don’t work. Today, a low carb diet is used to help those people.

Why a low carb diet works?

Low carb diets are higher in fat and have a moderate amount of protein. Carbs in the diet are turned into glucose for energy. That feeds the body. If there’s no glucose available, the liver changes fat into ketones, which are used to feed the brain. One theory why is that the ketones calm the brain, which reduces the seizures and the amount of chemicals that cause seizures.

Low carb diets do more for the brain than just help relieve seizures.

New studies show that the very changes a low carb diet makes for the brain of epileptics may also help people with Alzheimer’s disease. Brain tangles and plaque forms in Alzheimer’s, causing loss of memory. It’s often called type 3 diabetes, since the brain becomes insulin-resistant and can’t use glucose right. Several studies backed this finding. A diet very low in carbs has shown Alzheimer’s patients to have a significant improvement in memory.

  • Your brain will function better, according to studies with obese and older rats, when consuming a diet low in carbohydrates. A healthy body boosts the potential for a healthy brain.
  • Low blood sugar can lead to brain damage. That type of condition is called congenital hyperinsulinism and has successfully treated with a low carb diet. It helps prevent spikes.
  • If you suffer from migraine headaches, research shows that a ketogenic/low carb diet can help bring some relief for the problem. Always talk to your health care professional first.
  • Small studies show indication that people with Parkinson’s disease can get some improvement in the area of pain and non motor symptoms with a low carb diet.

For more information, contact us today at IronFit


Bone Broth And Why You Should Make It

Bone Broth And Why You Should Make It

The most frugal cooks often create bone broth from leftovers, just as those that create epicurean delights. Bone broth is made with leftover bones and connective tissue that are baked then simmered for hours. The stock is rich in nutrients and used for sauces, soup and even a healthy drink. Bones that are normally discarded, such as knuckles, hooves, beaks or fins are used. The bones or connective tissues of beef, such as pork, fish, bison, venison and poultry are used.

Bone broth is both delicious and nutritious.

There’s no way to indicate just how much nutrition broth contains, since it depends on how you make it and what you use. However, there are some factors that are included in making any kind of broth. Bones, particularly animal bones, are a source of magnesium, calcium, phosphorus, potassium and many other trace minerals. These minerals strengthen the bones. Fish bones have iodine. If connective tissue is used, chondroitin and glucosamine are found in the broth. When bone marrow is in the broth, there’s vitamin A, vitamin K2, zinc, boron, iron, omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids, selenium and manganese.

Bone broth is good for digestive issues.

Your digestive system benefits from bone broth. The health of your digestive system and a healthy balance of the microbes is important for your entire body. In some cases, the balance of the microbes even determine your mental health. Bone broth is easily digested and can help with digestive issues. Bone broth contains gelatin that not only binds to water, but helps food pass through the digestive system. The gelatin contains glutamine, which helps the digestive walls to function properly. There’s suggestion that it can help prevent or heal leaky gut, IBS, Crohn’s disease and IBD, which can lead to other health issues.

Inflammation is hazardous to overall health.

Glycine and arginine are both in bone broth and both are anti-inflammatory. In fact, one animal study showed that giving asthmatic mice arginine helped reduce the inflammation and improve breathing. Other animal studies showed it helps fight inflammation in obese individuals. Inflammation is one of the causes of heart disease, metabolic syndrome, diabetes, Alzheimer’s disease, some forms of cancer and arthritis. Consuming food that is anti-inflammatory, including bone broth, plays an important role in good health.

  • Bone broth contains glucosamine and chondroitin, which help build cartridge. It also contains proline and glycine to build connective tissue to protect the joints. Drinking bone broth could help arthritic joints.
  • Is weight loss important? Bone broth can help. It’s filling and low in calories. Substituting it for higher calorie alternatives could help you lose weight.
  • Bone broth contains glycine, which studies show may help you relax. Other studies show that it also helps promote sleep faster, sleep deeper and wake up less during the night.
  • You can add bone broth to your diet inexpensively, since you make it from leftover bones or use inexpensive bones you purchase specifically for this purpose. Drinking one cup a day can provide significant health benefits.

For more information, contact us today at IronFit


Foods High In Vitamin D

Foods High In Vitamin D

Your body is an amazing machine. It fuels itself in a number of ways. It draws in oxygen and eliminates carbon dioxide, changes food to fuel and changes sunlight to nutrients it needs. That’s right, the sun’s ultraviolet rays changes cholesterol into vitamin D. However, too much exposure to the sun can cause skin cancer, so an alternative to getting the vitamin D you need is to eat foods high in Vitamin D.

Vitamin D is vital for your health and many people lack it.

If you get vitamin D from the sun, it seems like you’d get enough, right? Not necessarily. Most people don’t spend much time out in the sun as much today. When they do, they often have clothing covering most of their skin, unless they’re on vacation or at the beach. That doesn’t happen daily for most of us. With the dangers of skin cancer, even when people are outside, they often block the rays of the sun. One study showed about 42% of the adult population in the US has a shortage of vitamin D. What’s the danger of too little vitamin D? Vitamin D boosts your immune system. In fact, another study found that 80% of covid-19 patients were low on vitamin D. Too little vitamin D can lead to muscle weakness, osteoporosis, cancer, death and depression. So what is the best way to make sure you have enough?

Eat a health diet and include these foods.

Many of the foods that have vitamin D are Vitamin D fortified. There’s fortified orange juice, milk, cereal, tofu and even yogurt. They even have a new type of mushroom that’s exposed to ultraviolet lights, which they convert and become higher in vitamin D. Food naturally high in vitamin D include liver, fatty fish, fish roe, lard from free-range pork, eel, duck fat, cod liver oil and eggs. If the source is from an animal, how it’s raised makes a difference. It’s better if it’s free-range or grass-fed.

Additional benefits of some vitamin D foods.

Fatty fish, like salmon, are good sources of vitamin D and also a good sources of healthy fat. The type of salmon you choose does make a difference for both. Wild salmon has about four times as much vitamin D as farmed salmon and more omega 3 fatty acids. The same is true of grass-fed or free-range land animals, rather than those in factory farms. For instance, grass fed animal products have increased amounts of vitamin A, omega-3 and CLA.

  • The older you are, the more vitamin D you need. People between age one and age seventy need about 600 IU of vitamin D each day, but once you pass the age of 70, the amount increases to 800 IU.
  • Adequate vitamin D is important to dental and bone health. It helps the absorption of both calcium and phosphorous so teeth can repair and rebuild themselves.
  • While you can get much of your vitamin D from diet, it’s hard. Getting some time in the sun is important. Safe sunning, can help you do that.
  • There are several types of vitamin D, but just two main forms are found in food, vitamin D2 and Vitamin D3. D2 comes primarily from plant sources and D3 from animal sources.

For more information, contact us today at IronFit San Antonio


Is Sugar Really That Bad For You?

Is Sugar Really That Bad For You?

We focus on exercise at Iron Fit in San Antonio, Texas, but also realize that what you eat makes a huge difference in your health, your weight loss and your overall fitness. That’s one reason I like to take time to provide nutritional information that you can use to improve weight loss and get into shape faster. One of the biggest offenders in many people’s diets is the sugar they consume. Not only will added sugar slow or reverse weight loss, it’s bad for you.

All types of extra sugar are bad, even natural types.

That sounds pretty bad for fruit that contains sugar, but it’s not. Fruit is naturally occurring in fruit and not added. Fruit is high in fiber, which also contains a lot of fiber and water, which slows digestion and there’s far less sugar in fruit, such as an apple, than there is in a soft drink. An apple not only fills you up, it satisfies your desire for sweets with 23 grams of sugar and has many nutrients. A 16-ounce container of cola has 52 grams of sugar and no nutritional benefit. While the added sugar in cola may be mostly fructose, a natural sugar that’s also in apples, it’s definitely not healthy for you.

Added sugar triggers health risks.

If you sprinkle a spoon of sugar in your coffee or on your cereal, you’re adding sugar. Baked goods or any product man-made also qualify as having added sugar. That extra sugar increases your risk of heart disease and diabetes, adds to the potential for obesity. Most people already realize it can cause tooth decay, but they don’t realize how it can impair their immune system or even accelerate the aging process.

HFCS—high fructose corn syrup—is even worse than regular table sugar.

You’ve probably heard those commercials about high fructose corn syrup, saying it’s healthy because it’s natural. Nothing could be further from the truth. Remember, tobacco is natural and that doesn’t make it healthy. High fructose corn syrup comes from the stalks of the corn. In order to release it from the stalks, the manufacturers use a chemical process that creates a Frankenstein sugar. Your body even has to metabolize it differently from fructose. It isn’t converted to glucose in the intestines, like most sugar. Instead, it goes to the liver. Unlike other sugars, it’s not converted to glucose, so your blood sugar doesn’t raise. That means it doesn’t trigger the release of leptin that tells you that you’re full, no matter how many calories you’ve eaten.

  • Besides the fiber that fruit contains, which slows down the processing of sugar, there’s very little sugar in a piece of fruit, so you don’t have the same effect as you do when you choose added sugar.
  • Added sugar increases your risk of dementia, heart disease and damage to the stomach lining. It can upset the microbiome, which not only aids digestion, helps boost immunity among many other things.
  • Sugar is highly addictive. It triggers the same receptors in the brain as cocaine does. It can alter your sense of taste, making you want sweeter and sweeter food.
  • Sugar plays a major role in raising blood pressure. Cutting out sugar is just as important as cutting out salt if you’re trying to control your blood pressure.

For more information, contact us today at IronFit San Antonio


Is Ginger Good For Diabetes??

Is Ginger Good For Diabetes??

What you eat and how much you exercise, sleep or live a basically healthy lifestyle, has a big effect on your health if you’re diabetic. It’s true for both type 1 and type 2 diabetics. However, that’s where much of the health information ends. Those with type 1 diabetes fail to produce insulin, while people with type 2, start by not using insulin effectively and eventually don’t make enough. That’s why diet and exercise can often help people with type 2 reverse the disease, but not cure it. This discussion of the benefits of ginger for diabetes, focuses primarily on type 2 diabetics.

Ginger can help lower blood sugar levels.

Ginger is known for its many healing properties. In fact, not too long ago, drinking ginger ale was the “go to” remedy for an upset stomach. However, ginger also has a low glycemic level, meaning it won’t cause blood sugar spikes. Even small doses of ginger can help diabetics lower their blood sugar levels. Not only that, one study found that combining it with cinnamon, another spice that helps lower blood sugar, can potentially help reduce fat and body weight, while increasing insulin levels.

More studies show ginger effective.

Supplementing with ginger powder may also improve fasting blood sugar levels. It also improved other markers that showed it could help to protect diabetics from certain complications, such as heart problems. Ginger is an anti-inflammatory. Chronic inflammation can lead to a number of diseases, such as arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease, heart disease, Alzheimer’s, obesity and more. It can even escalate the aging process.

There’s a difference between fresh and dried ginger, but both have health benefits.

Both dried and fresh ginger have benefits for diabetics. Fresh ginger contains more gingerol, which provides the benefits. The dehydration and grinding of ginger tends to reduce the gingerol, but it also increases shogaols, which also provide health benefits, many of which gingerol provide. If you want to maximize both types of benefits, alternate between using dried ginger root, which is convenient, and fresh.

  • One way to increase your use of ginger is to make ginger tea. Just peel it and steep it in water for a delicious tea or steep both it and green tea together for a delicious flavor. You can also make ginger-cinnamon tea, ginger-turmeric tea and other combinations.
  • Stir-fry is another dish that is complemented by ginger. You can use it on fish, in soups, glazes and marinades. A sea food favorite like coconut shrimp is enhanced with ginger.
  • Managing diabetes and reversing it doesn’t mean curing it. While you won’t have to take medication, it doesn’t mean you can go back to an unhealthy diet and sedentary lifestyle. Eating healthy and exercise are still important to keep it at bay.
  • Before you start any program of exercise or dietary change to reverse diabetes, always discuss it with your health care professional first.

For more information, contact us today at Iron Fit San Antonio


Should You Workout Twice A Day?

Should You Workout Twice A Day?

Most people barely find time to do a daily exercise routine, let alone workout twice a day. However, there are those who seem to be overachievers and reasons to increase your workout. For most people, it’s not necessary, unless you break your exercise sessions up to smaller amounts of time. For instance, instead of a thirty-minute workout, you have two fifteen-minute workouts or three ten-minute workouts. Studies show that as long as the workout is at least ten minutes, breaking a workout into several sessions provides the same benefits.

You’ll be working out more when you exercise twice a day.

Of course, it’s obvious that you’ll be logging in more time, but the key here is that it will also be more quality time in the gym. Consider this, if you’re working out for an hour straight, is the last ten minutes as productive as the first? Some strength coaches swear by training twice a day, noting that it can increase muscle growth and strength by increasing protein synthesis, volume, anabolic output and metabolic capacity. However, the caveat is that it has to be correctly programmed with safety in mind.

While exercise burns off hormones that create stress, it also creates stress.

Double the workouts means not only double the sweaty gym clothes but also double the stress. While exercise burns off hormones from emotional stress, it also creates physical stress. Eventually, over time, your body adapts to that stress, but it can actually cause problems if you workout too much or too often. You can get too much of a good thing, especially if your body isn’t ready for it. Overworking your body, whether it’s doing strength training too often or working out twice a day, can create symptoms that range from suppressing your immune system to changes in your behavior and mood.

It all depends on why you’re training and if you have a coach.

If you have a goal that includes competition training or for a specific type of event like a Mudder or Iron Man competition, you’re probably better off only training once a day, unless you’re breaking down your training to shorter sessions, such as doing a 45-minute session in three 15-minute sessions. For those training for competition or have been training for a while, it’s always best to consult a personal trainer before starting a rigorous twice a day full workout.

  • Rather than train twice a day, how about increasing your movement throughout the day. Take a ten-minute walk at lunchtime or turn on the music and dance for a while at home.
  • Studies show that you’ll benefit from getting five minutes of exercise every hour, even if you workout regularly, if your job is sedentary. It’s all about keeping moving throughout the day.
  • If you’re going to exercise twice a day, do the most strenuous workout at the start of the day and take it easier on the second workout, which should be at least six hours or more after the first one.
  • Make sure you’re getting adequate sleep and good nutrition if you go the double workout route. Only do it if you’re already in shape and not if you’re a beginner.

For more information, contact us today at Iron Fit San Antonio


Are Protein Supplements Worth It?

Are Protein Supplements Worth It?

At Iron Fit in San Antonio, Texas, we work on getting you fit, losing weight and building muscles. People often think immediately of taking protein supplements when they want to build muscle tissue, but is that always the right thing to do? If you go to the grocery, you’ll find stacks of protein supplements on the shelves near the vitamins. The same is true at drug stores. I don’t even have to not how many protein supplements in stores that strictly sell supplements and health food. There are aisles designated to them. Should you take them? Are they good for you? Do you need them? One group may. That group is senior citizens that don’t process protein as efficiently. How about the rest and how much do they need?

The amount of protein you need is based partly on how active you are.

Active people require more protein than sedentary people do. That’s because they need it to repair, replace and build more muscle mass. If you’re sedentary you only need 1.2 grams per 1 kilogram of body weight. Since one kilogram equals 2.2 pounds just divide your weight by 2.2 to find kilograms. Extremely active people need approximately 1.6 gram per kilogram of body weight.

While protein shortage may take place in underdeveloped countries, it’s not prominent in the US.

Kwashiorkor—a lack of adequate protein—isn’t often found in the US and other developed nations, but when it is, certain symptoms occur. Loss and wasting of muscle mass, thinning hair, dry flaky skin, nail ridges, stunted growth in children and edema, are a few. There’s also a problem if you consume too much. For instance, eating more than 2.2 grams per kilogram of weight over an extended period can create issues like exhaustion, diarrhea, dehydration, irritability, headache and nausea. It can even lead to blood vessel disorder, kidney or liver disease, seizures and cardiovascular disease.

Eat healthy and ditch the supplements.

It’s actually hard to get too little protein if you’re eating healthy, but if you’re adding a lot of supplements, it’s easy to get too much. Focus on healthy meals with plenty of fruits and vegetables. If you want to take a protein supplement, add it to a smoothie that you’re using for a quick lunch, rather than supplementing every meal with it. To be your healthiest, you need to eat your healthiest and learning how to do that without supplements should be top priority.

  • Protein is important since every cell in your body requires it. It’s an important building block for skin, muscles, bones, blood and cartilage.
  • Taking a protein supplement may fulfill your protein requirements, but you won’t get all the other nutrients and phytonutrients real food provides. Many times these nutrients work together in synergy, so getting them in food is even more important.
  • Don’t avoid protein, worried that you’ll get too much. It fills you up, so you’ll feel full longer, helping you to lose weight, but also aiding in controlling how much you really need.
  • If you eat healthy food and make sure your plate is a rainbow of colors from fruits and vegetables and healthy sources of protein, not only can you get adequate nutrition, you’ll lose weight.

For more information, contact us today at Iron Fit San Antonio