Save up to 50% on your Sports Drinks! - Saving Time and Money Series

I am sorry, I had made a mistake last week by scheduling the breath technique drills during my annual trip to Long Beach Island, Surf City, New Jersey.  It is a lovely place and is my 23^rd year and counting. 

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This week I am going to be talking about how to save you money on your daily nutrition needs.  Sports drinks, protein shakes, and vitamin supplements can take a bite out of your budget.  As you may know, single servings of these drinks can be upwards of $2.00 (per scoop).  Who has the money for nutrition use on a daily basis with these unit prices?  In order to sew the hole back up in your pocket, I will illustrate a simple set of rules to follow when looking for your training nutrition.

 

Rule #1 - Research, Research, Research!

Constant research is a must when looking to shed a few dollars on your nutrition bills.  Try starting with Google Shopping.  Search for your favorite training and racing nutrition starting with the lowest price+shipping.  Let’s use EnduroxR4 as an example.  Just do a few calculations and find the lowest priced bottle per serving.  Try researching once every 1-2 weeks.  It only takes 5-10 minutes and is the most important rule to remember!

Rule #2 – Avoid Traditional Sites like GNC

While Vitamin World and GNC have been around for a good while, their prices reflect the added expense of employee knowledge.  Avoid these traditional stores for your purchases.  Weight lifting websites tend to carry a broad scope of products.  In the crossfires they sometimes pick up endurance supplements like Hammer Nutrition’s Heed, and previously stated Pacific Health’s Endurox R4.  In time these products don’t sell as well on the site and tend to be put onto clearance.   You’re not doing too bad when you get a large tub of a sports drink at 50% of the price!

• Amazon.com – A great collaboration of smaller online stores
• Smartbody Nutrition
• VitaminFix.com

Rule #3 - Look into trying different flavors

Certain flavors of sports nutrition can go faster than others.  Calling out Endurox R4 again, Fruit Punch tends to be a top seller for the product line.  After finding Lemon-Lime on clearance, I found Lemon-Lime has a much smoother flavor for working out and settles in the stomach better.  Since the find, I haven’t switched back!  Try something new!

Rule #4 - Buy in Bulk, Take the Discounts as they come

You may look at your nutrition inventory and say, “I have plenty for the next 3-4 months, why would I need more?”  The answer: You don’t, but you Will.  If you find a stellar sale, Go For It!  Some sales (especially clearance), come up very rarely and should be taken advantage of.  Don’t worry about over-buying, most sports nutrition products [that are stored properly] last for years before they expire.  Just relax, you will eventually use it.

How do you save YOUR money on Nutrition? Let us know!

Rule #5 - Look to your friends who belong to Clubs

Many clubs have special sponsorships with different companies.  National Running Center gives a 10-20% discount to clubs who sign up.  Share an order cost with a friend to take part in these discounts.

Rule #6 - Call to Place your Order

After following Rule #1, you may find some stores give free shipping, while others do not.  Check to see who has the lowest supplement prices and give them a call.  Chances are that if you site “www.Example Site.com” has “Free Shipping at this price” they may be able to knock off the shipping expenses for you to secure your business.  Be proactive!  There’s nothing wrong with penny pinching.   

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Eating Healthy is LAME! : Nutritional Series

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Nutrition, like exercise, is considered by many as a lifestyle, not a task to an end.  What’s great about, Lifestyle is it can shift, but only in small increments.  The human body craves nutritious and healthy food and good quality exercise.  Yet because the way we have evolved, it is easy to be self-destructive with the foods and activity patterns of modern society.  I would like you as the reader, not to be defensive towards the ideas listed here.  Read them, learn them, and even apply them if you wish.  

I have been living a low sugar/carb, natural diet for a few years now.  I stay away from most processed and high sugar foods.  Though last week I visited my Aunt’s house in long island and fell away from my normal diet.  She makes the Greatest chocolate chip cookies known to man and just like Crack-Cocaine, the high of getting one, is all about getting more.  After eating about 12 cookies, I became nauseous (like I usually do) and felt sluggish for the next 2 days.  It's easy to realize how un-healthy certain things are when you don’t have them often.  But how can you move to a healthier lifestyle?  It’s not as easy as a magical transformation or going cold turkey from all un-healthy foods… It’s about small lifestyle changes.  

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Below is a screen shot of a healthy lifestyle presentation I made for increasing athletic performance.  The graph stresses the importance of taking small steps to change your lifestyle.  While, you will notice you become stressed when your lifestyle shifts to an “un-healthier” state, you also become stressed (temporarily) when your lifestyle shifts to a healthier state.  Only when this new stress disappates and becomes part of your normal lifestyle should you include another healthy habit and stress the lifestyle again.  (Athletes, does this sound familiar?  Stress the body, rest, stress the body, rest)

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How to: Try using the following steps to make small lifestyle changes healthier and happier living!

The LAME Method

Limit – Every 2-3 weeks, Limit intakes of damaging nutrition.  Find one “un-healthy” staple of your diet and greatly limit your intake.  Some examples would be Soda, Fast-food, or other processed foods such as high added sugars, hydrogenated, or partially hydrogenated oils.  This goes for activity as well, possibly limit TV to two hours instead of three.

Add – Every 2-3 weeks, add intakes of healthy nutrition.  Find a healthier food to try to regularly add to your diet.  These can include fresh vegetables, fresh fruits, olive oil, eggs, or even daily goals.  Goals could be shown as “eating a fresh vegetable/fruit at every meal,” or eating a healthy non-sugar/carb breakfast every day.  You can devote to add a 15-30 minute slow walk around the neighborhood after meals.  These smalls decisions will add up over the weeks and months and slowly develop your lifestyle without stress.

Maintain – After 2-3 weeks ends and a new cycle begins, try to continue with the small lifestyle changes you had made recently and try to incorporate another cycles of changes with those.  If you haven’t become completely accustomed to the new changes that were made, don’t incorporate anything new but take another week or two and get used to what you changed.  It’s not perfect, but what lifestyle is? 

Enjoy – You may find that over time you can’t imagine how you lived without the new changes.  Your changes hopefully become routine and easy to remember over time.  Just remember, it’s just a series of small, slow steps to healthier living.  But the most important factor is to ENJOY what you are doing.  If you don’t like tofu, try eggs, if you don’t like zucchini, try a cucumber instead.  Tastes, preferences, and abilities all vary and there are endless possibilities to living healthy!  Eat, Exercise, Enjoy!

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The "Mainstream" Disagreement - Dr. Oz's Eggs - Nutritional Series

Recently Dr. Oz had an article in the June edition of  People's magazine on 15 things you should carry in your kitchen.  There were a few things that carried with them a certain "myth-busting" feeling.  For years, many of these foods have been seen as harmful to the human body and should be avoided at all costs.  It's incredible how slowly the mainstream view on diet changes and what really should be and not be included in our diets.  The following is an explanation of certain disagreements between Dr. Oz and mainstream thinking.

Vitamin Supplements
This debate goes back and forth on the truth about vitamin absorption rates in multivitamins and supplements.  Dr. Oz suggests a multivitamin and calcium be included in our diet, not as a substitute, but just as a way to make sure everything is there.  If you're worried about the mainstream thought that vitamins are a waste of money because the majority never gets absorbed into your bloodstream, try a liquid multivitamin like ReViva.  (I always like buying in Bulk from Sam's Club, saves me some money.)

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Milk

1-2% Milk is Great

What's suggested?  Give it a guess!  Whole milk? 2%? 1%? Skim?  Dr. Oz gives the go ahead to buy 2% milk (Organic).  But mainstream always suggests Skim to be healthiest, like blogs and articles like Skinny Chef tell us!  The human body works more efficiently when it has all the vitamins, minerals, structural macro-nutrients (protein and fat), and energy macro-nutrients (carbs) working together at once.  It is said by some experts that calcium is more readily absorbed in the body in higher fat milk than skim and that the higher saturated fat content isn't as bad for you as once thought.  Take your milk experience to the next level and look for Raw Milk (from grass fed cows) which includes higher packed and easily digestible nutrients.

On a side note: Milk is a great after workout recovery snack.  Take a glass and choose a workout from the Fitness Workout Database!

Do Not Avoid Eggs!

Eggs
Say it!  Go for it!  "Cholesterol in eggs is bad for you."  Well, Dr. Oz says you should keep Eggs (organic/free range) in your kitchen.  "Yes, even the yolk."  Unfortunately, studies from decades ago still rule mainstream thought that eggs lead to heart disease and other "wonderful" illnesses.  Eggs should be viewed as the start of life and therefore bursting with the building blocks for the human body.  Eat plentiful every morning, crack a few open for lunch, and maybe even throw in one with your steak for dinner.  (As an Elite athlete, I eat 4 eggs every morning. 2-3 a day is perfectly safe and healthy.)  While Free Range eggs cost a little more, they tend to be 10-20 times more nutrient packed than regular eggs.  A suggestion for the financial minded: Buy 2 packs, one regular pack, one organic pack, and use 1 of each for breakfast.  Another suggestion:  Use an Egg Slicer on Hardboiled eggs for convenient eating, and wonderful salad presentations.

Well there you have it, myths twisted in a knot.  Take your vitamins, eat your eggs, and drink your milk and you will grow to be strong and healthy!

Workout of the Week
The Brick of Death by Sue Rodgers in MCT Triathlon's Workout Website Wiki

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Fluffy Eggs Recipe

Fluffy Eggs Recipe

1. Take 3 eggs, crack, and put 1 full egg and 2 whites into Pam sprayed frying pan.
2. Keep flame Very Low
3. Put a large pinch of finely shredded mozzarella cheese into eggs.
4. Mix Cheese throughout egg whites WITHOUT breaking the yolk.
5. Continue to mix, break, and scramble the egg WHITES as they become cooked.
6. When whites still look wet but are cooked, break yolk and start to scramble into whites.
7. Continue to STIR, cook, and scramble until desired wetness and dryness (I like my eggs on the wet side)
8. Serve with multi-grain english muffin and mixed fruit.
9. So Nutritious! So Flavorful!

The following recipe was taken from the MCT Triathlon Workout Website Wiki.

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The Ultimate Stew

This is an ridiculously healthy and amazingly delicious stew. Take a look at the MCT TriathlonVideo!



Ingredients:

• Cabbage
• 2 Green Peppers
• 1 Green Zucchini
  
• 2 Yellow Squash
• 1 Butternut Squash
• 1 Head of Garlic
• 1 lb of Carrots
• I head of Broccoli
  
• 2 Heads of Celery
• 3 White Potatoes
  
• 4 Sweet Potatoes
• 1 Larger carton of Mushrooms
• 1 Large Can of Diced Tomatoes
• 3 Yellow Onions
• 1 Can of Chick Peas
• 1 Can of Kidney Beans
• 1 Can of Black Beans
• 1 Can of Sweet Golden Corn
• 1 Can of Sweet Peas
• I Can of Water Chestnuts
  
• 3 Cans of Lower Sodium Beef Broth
  
• 2.5 lbs of Meat (sirloin tip)
  
• 1 Medium Bag of Barley
  
• To Your Liking
• Salt
• Garlic Pepper
• Garlic Salt
• Pepper
• Italian Seasonings

Directions:

• Dice up all the Vegetables and Meat
• Brown the Meat in the Pot
• Throw in the rest of the Vegetables
• Boil and cook the rest of the Barley separately
• Keep low and Cook the stew on a low light for 4-5 hours - constantly stirring
• Spice the Stew to your liking
  

Note: The Stew is going to taste bland on first making. Spice the stew somewhat excessively and to your liking. Find the Video at the WWW or Youtube.

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Physical and Mental Benefits of Exercise by Liz Davies

Physical and Mental Benefits of Exercise by Liz Davies

Regular exercise is vital for a person who enjoys good health and is especially important for a person suffering from cancer. The physical and mental benefits of exercise are many. Though the body of even a healthy person finds exercise stressful at first, the body adapts to that stress, becomes stronger and will work more efficiently over time. This is true, to an extent, for someone suffering from a systemic disease such as cancer.

Exercise helps oxygen and nutrients get into the body and also helps remove carbon dioxide and other waste products from the body, all of which are crucial to a cancer patient. This improves stamina and raises energy levels, which helps the patient better endure whatever treatment they’re undergoing for their disease.

Other benefits of exercise are stronger bones, ligaments and tendons, which lessens the chance of injury. Exercise lowers the resting heart rate, enlarges the arteries to the heart and strengthens the heart over all. It also lowers blood pressure, blood cholesterol and triglyceride levels. At the same time, exercise raises levels of HDL, or the good cholesterol. Exercise improves immune function, which is also very important in the fight against cancer. Exercise also gets calcium into the bones and helps prevent osteoporosis. Nothing says that just because a person has cancer they can't contract other diseases or conditions. Exercise helps keep other maladies at bay, and so gives the body more energy to fight the cancer.

The cancer patient should choose an exercise that won’t overtax them and should consult their physician before they take on an exercise routine. Exercises can be any activity the patient enjoys, like dancing, gardening, golfing, swimming, tennis, housecleaning, jogging and even plain old walking. The best exercises are ones that keep the heart rate up.

Maybe even more important than what it does for the body, regular exercise also elevates the mood. Cancer patient are often subject to periods of depression, fear and worry and these unhappy states decrease with regular exercise. This is because, as studies show, exercise boosts mood-elevating substances called endorphins. This effect is enhanced when the patient shares their exercise routine with other patients. It’s important that the cancer patient not be isolated, and exercising with others will make it easier to commit to a schedule. There are also other ways of sharing ideas with people who are going through the same things. Support groups are very popular and there are groups for many different types of cancers, even mesothelioma support groups.

Exercise proves to be very beneficial for cancer patients both physically and mentally. Exercise often promotes cancer patients to make other positive changes in their lives as well.

Liz Davies is a recent college graduate and aspiring writer especially interested in health and wellness. She wants to make a difference in people’s lives because she sees how cancer has devastated so many people in this world. Liz also likes running, playing lacrosse, reading and playing with her dog, April.

Recovery Schedule

I've been focusing on recovery in the past few weeks. So what should i do? More hard workouts? Run Intervals? Swimming should be at the top of the top of the list. On Monday I start with the high school team (actually last Monday, but I transposed this late.) They're going to kick my ass back in swimming form. I'm at a much better place than I was a year ago. I've been swimming a lot so... I'll be swimming magnificently by Burlington. I need to continue to focus on cycling strength, very important... Those hills will suck the life out of you. I need to be much lighter for worlds in November. Breaking 150 would be ideal. Obviously I need to start a nutritional schedule. 500-700 calories less per day. Now that means strict dieting but I have to figure out what my body can do per day. Basic Metabolism, insulin spikes, efficient use of vitamins. Life water should help w/ the fact that vitamins and such. 30-40-30 on some days and 10-70-20 on others (give or take). These are either side of the spectrum. The day should fall in the middle of it using my "daily food" routines and also using things like grains, veggies, fruit, maltose sugars, HFCS sugars, and malodextrin carbs. Also need to pay attention to the GI index which plays a role. Proteins in the morning, Low GI foods in the evening, High HI foods after workouts. Other recovery methods are a must and are very important and must be utilized. Like self-massage, full massage, stretching, icing, heat, contrast hydrotherapy, anti-inflamatory drugs, insulin spikes, recovery workouts with quick recovery drinks, elevation therapy (gravity boots), lung (respiratory) stretching, capacity work, and hypoxic training. All these things need to work in conjunction and need to be evaluated as to how often? How Much? How cold? How hot? Don't forget compression therapy! Almost forgot that one. Zenzah's. Water (Lifewater) is the engine of all processes. Meditation could be another form of recovery, though this is closer to mental than physical recovery (which I believe have very close ties, so take it as you may).

Anaerobic stress

So I did some intervals today. Felt good. We're going to Florida in a couple of days and my mom's freaking out about packing as usual. So much fun. My calves are a little tight today from the workout. I need to use the calve compression socks. That will shape them up. Being relaxed, that is a skill I will be trying to accomplish in the coming months. I really enjoyed using my critical thinking brain today with the hot dog stand. It was wonderful to think again. I need to start doing that on a regular basis from now on. It's tough. Daring; just to have a schedule.

Workout
Run 68 min
1x800
12x200 w/ 1 min r
3x800 w/ 2 min r
6x400 w/ 2 min r

Evening
45 min swim

Nutrition
Fluffy Eggs
Cereal (bran 4 and oats and strawberries)
banana and strawberries with yogurt
toast and butter
string cheese
tuna w/ corn, mayo, pepper, cheese, celery, and carrots

Lots of Projects in my Head

So I have lots of projects in my head and cannot choose just one. I want to do everything though there isn't enough time for all of them to be gotten. Let's see where my nose takes me.

Today's Workout
Afternoon
Run 30 min - Fartlek - 6 intervals 1-2 minutes each
Bike 60 min - Easy - with Shoulder Routine (5lbs)
4x25 Full Situps
4x25 Pushups
Full Body Stretch

Today's Nutrition
Oatmeal (pecans, raisins, almonds), Orange, English Muffin (honey wheat), Chocolate milk, 3 egg whites 1 egg yolk w/ mozzarella cheese :-)
2 pieces of chocolate from Christina's Gift :-)
32oz Life Water
Small Bowl Mac and Cheese
Chocolate Milk
2 pieces of chocolate from Christina's Gift :-)
Orange
2 Plum Tomatoes
Chicken Cordon Blue (and broccoli)
Salad (Matt's Salad)
Brown Rice
Mixed Fruit, Vanilla, Whipped Cream, Dark Chocolate

Long Endurance Day

What a great day today. Great workout, great nutrition, felt great, felt strong. I became slightly irritated by the end though. I wanted to get out of there. Haha. But 5 hours in the gym is a long time.

Today's Workout

4:30 Hour Endurance Workout

Swim 90
400 Warmup
200 Kick board
2 x 400 on 8:00
200 Single Arm
2 x 400 on 8:00
200 Kick by side
1 x 600 @ 12:00

Bike 90 Straight

Elliptical (Run) 90
Start at 10 angle
Decrease 1 angle every 10 minutes.

Average Heart Rate for 5 hour (transitions) workout: 156 BPM (180 Ceiling)