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Showing posts from November 24, 2019

Holiday eating and the health conscious athlete

If you consider yourself a health conscious individual, the holiday season may fill you with a bit of anxiety and stress. While there is much to celebrate and enjoy, you may worry about some of the uncomfortable food-related situations that you may face at family gatherings, holiday parties or work events. For example: Being told that you eat "too healthy." Feeling like you are judged for your eating habits or your body image. Worry about emotional/stress eating. Fear of overeating/overindulging. Having to turn down food that you don't like/can't eat. For anyone who has experienced any of the above scenarios, it can be rather difficult to enjoy a holiday meal when you are worried about the food around you or how you will respond when people comment on your eating habits. As an advocate of intuitive eating, consider the following "Intuitive Eating Holiday Bill of Rights" to help you feel more at ease when you are at or around the food table. T

Fasted workouts - are they really working for you?

Fasted workouts are stressful. By working out on an empty stomach, you are introducing another level of stress to your body. Even if research says you are teaching your body how to adapt to become better equipped to utilizing fat as a fuel source – this doesn’t mean this approach will work for you. For this marginal gain approach to truly work, you need to carefully program rest and proper nutrition around your fasted workout so you can recover and refuel properly for this approach to work. Additionally, training needs to be manipulated in a way that you are actually taping into fat burning during the workout - which can be difficult to quantitively measure. My advice: Nail the basics first. A well balanced diet, good sleep (at least 7-8 hours), mobility, good recovery – get all these things dialed in before you attempt incoroprating fasted workouts into your training. Without a solid foundation of nailing the basics, you risk under performing during your workouts and the risk f

The work-life balance - is it achievable?

Picture source Do you find yourself constantly stressed and busy?  Do you feel overwhelmed with your work/life responsibilities?  Do you feel like there is little time for yourself?  Do you feel like life is quickly rushing by you? I've always been intrigued by this idea of the perfect life-work balance - where everything seems to flow perfectly from sunup to sundown. As great as it sounds, it's a difficult concept to achieve.  In life, we are constantly juggling the demands of work, alongside other hobbies, family, obligations and taking care of our health and well-being. Life is constantly changing, which requires our focus and energy to move in different directions. Trying to give 100% to everything that you do in life is a recipe for burn out. In order to tackle your never ending daily to-do list, move up on the career ladder or to please others, you may find yourself neglecting important areas in your life - like your health, happiness and mental well-being. I