What The Fitness Is Going On In The News!?
By admin
Here is something news worthy… my calves are out to get me! They have been cramping left and right, and I have NO IDEA what the heck is going on. Hopefully extra foam-rolling, massages and hydration will allow them to take a chill pill before my race this weekend!
Okay, I don’t really thing that Huffington Post is going to run a story on my calves but there really are some pretty interesting things going on in the world of fitness news right now.
Things that you and I need to know! Things we deserve to know to improve our lives and to perhaps to help you have some great conversations with co-workers today.
It’s time for a new episode of…
What The Fitness: Top News Stories For Those That Love Health & Fitness
Don’t have time to listen in right now? Or perhaps one of the stories sparked your interest and you want to dig in deeper?
Here’s what peaked our fitness interest for the episode:
Proposed New Nutrition Labels!?
Michelle Obama proposed a big change… changing food labels. Her proposal would make manufactuers update their labels to include changes such as:
–> Bigger font for calories
–> Break down of sugar (added, natural, etc)
–> No more Vitamin A/C references, and instead Potassium and Vitamin D
–> Update serving sizes. A bottle of juice will say 1 serving instead of 2 or even 2.5 as it had previously.
What do you think? Will it help people make smarter decisions? Dan mentioned in the podcast, that having it color coded would be awesome!
Can You Consume Only 5% Of Calories From Sugar?
Going off food labels, let’s talk sugar.
Before it was recommended that Americans take in less than 10% of their daily calories from sugar (added sugar). But now the World Health Organization is recommending that we might want to try to half that amount… 5%.
To put that into perspective, one coke contains 7% of your recommended daily amount of sugar!
Let me also stress that this is for added sugar, not natural sugars found in fruit.
What are some added sugars? Table sugar, brown sugar, maple syrup, HFCS, molasses, and any other sweeteners added to a food.
Can you do it? Can you take in just 100 calories per day (or less) of added sugar? I’m going to find out if we can!
Poor protein. First it was fat, then it was carbs, and now protein is getting a bad rap. A recent study (found here) has gotten a ton of attention for showing evidence that protein may have the power to increase cancer risk by as much as 4 times. And diabetes by as much as 5 times.
While the research did raise my eyebrows, I couldn’t help but wonder…
–> What about in people under the age of 50, since the study was done on 50+ participants?
–> What were the activity levels of those surveyed?
–> In the mice research, mice were injected with cancer. So does protein raise risk of developing cancer? Or does it increase the speed of tumor growth already present in the body?
If protein has such a negative affect… what about bodybuilders or other groups known for digesting higher than normal protein levels. Do bodybuilders tend to have a shorter lifespan? Higher cancer risks?
Read up on the article and let me know what you think!
Abdominal Fat Accumulation Prevented By Unsaturated Fats
What controls how weight is stored? There are two ways we can make the number on the scale go up… increased fat or increased muscle mass. Of course exercise is the big factor to increasing lean muscle, but what control does diet have?
According to this study. more than I thought.
Subjects increased daily caloric intake by 750. Half of the subjects increased with a polyunsaturated fat source, sunflower oil. The others increased with a saturated fat, palm oil.
The outcome? Those that increased calories with the sunflower oil, saw an increase in weight from muscle mass, while the others increased weight by fat.
Now… I feel like there are A LOT of elements not disclosed such as what was the workout regiment, the rest of the diet, etc… so, I am going to continue researching this one!
Pregnancy Weight Gain And Mindset
This is an interesting topic… but the report stated that women who carried a relaxed point of view with their pregnancy, or those that had the mindset of “I’m eating for two”, ended up gaining more weight than pregnant women who were conscious about nutrition and weight gain.
A bit of a no-brainer perhaps, but it does bring to light how important mindset is for success and health. Having a positive mind set can make a huge difference in health, productivity, fitness, relationships and more!
The Fitness Tech Fads
And finally, we end the show talking about the tech fit fads. Trackers galore, apps, training online, and more. It seems that everyone company under the sun is in a race to create the big new fit tracker. Rumors have it that Apple will have their own bracelet too.
But are these here to stay? Should local studios (myself included) be worried as more and more people turn to online training for help? And are the trackers all that fabulous?
To be honest, I haven’t used my Jawbone in weeks now. For one reason, it broke (and I haven’t heard from JawBone) but for another, now that I used it to take a baseline… I don’t need it. I know now what it takes to get my steps in each day. <– I think there is an opportunity for a rental tracker company!
Before signing off…. here’s a boring (but really interesting video) of the fancy Samsung Watch (Gear) and just how much it’s capable of. We’re talking heart rate, steps, and more! Pretty cool.
Have you heard anything share worthy lately?