Gout and Exercise: Finding the Right Balance
Living with gout can be challenging, but with proper management, individuals can lead active and fulfilling lives. Exercise and nutrition play crucial roles in managing gout symptoms and improving overall health. In this post, we'll explore the relationship between gout and physical activity, offer exercise tips, and discuss dietary considerations to help keep gout under control.Gout and Working OutGout is a form of inflammatory arthritis that causes sudden and severe pain, often in the joints.
Comparing Hydration Testing Methods: Urine Color vs. Body Weight
There are many different methods for testing hydration status. That's because hydration (and dehydration) is actually a fairly complex process. We've already compared urine color versus saliva; in this post, we'll compare urine color versus body weight for measuring hydration.When is body weight best for hydration monitoring?Body weight measurements work very well for assessing changes in hydration. In fact, body weight change is often used as a gold standard comparator in research articles int
Hydration Testing Method Comparison: Urine Color Vs. Saliva
In this article, we’ll discuss the pros and cons of urine color vs saliva for hydration testing.
Autonomous Athletes: Attaining Elite Performance
Reaching elite levels of athletic performance takes significant commitment. By and large, autonomous athletes are the ones to reach this level, and coaches, athletic trainers, team cultures, and technology alike can all help foster higher levels of increased intrinsic motivation through self-regulation and autonomy. Self Determination TheorySelf-determination theory (SDT) is a psychological framework developed by Dr. Edward Deci and Dr. Richard Ryan in the 1980s that suggests that humans have th
Hydration Safety in the Workplace
It's hard to overstate the importance of hydration for workplace safety. A review of 33 studies and over 13,000 workers identified 35% of these employees experience occupational heat stress after their shift, and a a review of 11 studies and over 8,000 workers showed that 30% of these employees reported a loss in productivity due to heat [1]. A further 15% of over 20,000 workers studies presented with kidney disease or acute kidney injury due to prolonged heat exposure.In fact, BLS statistics sh
Staying Healthy and Hydrated During the Holidays
How can athletes stay hydrated during the holiday season? Despite all of the meals, events, and gatherings scheduled throughout the holidays, keeping adequately hydrated can still be accomplished by planning ahead. Here are some easy tips to keep your hydration on track:Keep Your Hydration Habits for HealthKeep on top of your regular hydration habits before, during, and after your workouts. With all the added events and merriment, maintaining your existing fluid intake habits will be key to f
The Top 5 Ways to Empower Your Athletes and Drive a High Performance Culture
The buzz around international sport for more than a half decade has surrounded the concept of High Performance. While there are varied interpretations of this term, common underlying concepts focus on several key aspects within a team environment...
How to Identify Healthy Proteins for Seniors
Susan Baker is a guest author and the founder of Insurancefaq.net. She strives to spread positive, and useful information for senior’s on Medicaid or afflicted by chronic disease.If there’s anything that surviving through the last year of a pandemic has taught people, it’s that it’s important to take control of our wellness. From our activity level to eating clean, people are actively learning to improve their quality of life. This is especially true of the senior community and those with chroni
A DAY IN THE LIFE OF A SPORTS SCIENTIST
Tracking hydration on a regular basis allows medical and performance practitioners in a team setting to optimize athlete recovery and performance. Hydration is central to basic health and wellness and can prove to be a difference maker in training and competition. Whether it affects decision making, reaction time, or physical performance, the negative impacts of not being optimally hydrated can act as compounders to a variety of elements that detract from team performance. In team sports, one at
Diseases Caused by Dehydration
Despite the importance of proper hydration, this vital part of our diet is often neglected. Learn about the diseases caused by dehydration.
Is Salt Bad for Diabetics?
While it's always a good idea to watch your salt intake regardless of whether you're diabetic, many are still confused about the exact...
Salt and Inflammation: Understanding Anti-Inflammatory Diets
When eating an anti-inflammatory diet, you should avoid eating heavily processed foods like lunch meats and junk food.
Pregnancy Diet: Proper Nutrition for Each Trimester
Guest Author Bio: Marie Jones is a freelance writer and a mother of two. A movie fan, nutrition enthusiast, and an avid reader.Is there anything more exciting than becoming a parent? In our humble opinion, we’d be hard-pressed to find something that thwarts such an experience. But for expecting mothers, pregnancy can mean a lot of sacrifices and a completely altered lifestyle. It can represent a time of great uncertainty; for example, do you know what you need to eat in each trimester? We’re her
Am I Eating Too Much Salt? (2 Questions to Ask Yourself)
If you are wondering whether you are eating too much salt, you should first congratulate yourself. Identifying high sodium intake as a major source of global health complications30041-8/fulltext) is an important first step towards a healthy diet.And most people could stand to eat less. The average daily sodium intake in the U.S. is nearly 3,600 mg, whereas the recommended upper limit is 2,300 mg. Most of us eat more sodium than the recommended limit everyday.Tracking your sodium intake can be an
Home Remedy for High Blood Pressure that Really Works (5 Techniques)
When you’re looking for home remedies for high blood pressure that really work, it’s good to have some proof to back it up.Track your sodium intake Reduce sodium intake by tracking your consumption.As recommended by the American Heart Association, the American Diabetes Association, the World Health Organization, the National Kidney Foundation, and many othersWhen 156 individuals with chronic kidney disease were asked to report the barriers to adopting a low-sodium diet, a short list emerged. Amo
Lower Blood Pressure Naturally (without Drugs)
If you have high blood pressure (aka hypertension), you’re not alone. According to the American Heart Association, nearly half of US adults have high blood pressure. Though several medications exist to help those with hypertension, there are also ways in which you can lower blood pressure naturally.Comparing Medications to Natural Solutions“What we’re observing from the combined dietary intervention is a reduction in systolic blood pressure as high as, if not greater than, that achieved with pre
Salt and Blood Pressure (3 Charts for Perspective)
Diet and blood pressure are intimately linked. One of the chief culprits is sodium, a major component of salt. In this post, we’ll discuss some of the details surrounding the relationship between salt and blood pressure.The 2019 Global Burden of Disease Report update published in Lancet has reported that suboptimal diet is responsible for 1 out of every 5 deaths, globally.One out of every five…It’s hard to emphasize how big of a deal that is. Even if it happens to be an overshot by some amount,
A Sustainable Diet: Personal, Population, & Planetary Health
A sustainable diet is a multidimensional idea. But at its core, a sustainable diet addresses two key themes.1. Health of Humanity2. Health of our PlanetWe are increasingly stressing natural resources as global populations continue to rise. Large-scale agriculture often requires the destruction and cultivation of wild lands, reducing wildlife habitat, biodiversity, and ecosystem services in the process. And oceanic fish stocks are dangerously low. Meanwhile, human health continues to suffer from
My Personal Diet: How Your Identity Shapes What You Choose to Eat
We like to think we have total control over what we eat and when we eat it. Yet many of us still struggle with our personal diet. Psychology and eating behavior go hand in hand, and our identities shape our eating habits in more ways than you probably realize.One key aspect of personalized nutrition is the idea that each of us chooses and enjoys different types of foods. But as you’ll see, the reasons you choose your personal diet don’t simply come down to taste and hunger.My Personal Diet vs. M
Improving Nutrition: What Gets Measured, Gets Managed
This age-old axiom was spawned in the world of business, but holds true in many aspects of life.That includes fitness and nutrition.The premise is simple.Those looking to optimize their efficiency and progress need to measure the metrics they look to improve.Without measuring and tracking progress, some troubling questions can arise. • Which tactic is leading to my progress? • Which approach works the best? • Is progress being made, at all?A scale is one way to track your progress towards improv
High Carb Diet: The Surprising Case for Optimal Health
High carb diet for optimal health?Blasphemy!Most of the dieting world would have you believe that carbs are evil. They’re the source of obesity. The source of malnutrition. The source of disease.Although most of their intentions are in the right place, low-carb advocates can, at times, be misguided.I’ll provide 4 arguments why a high carb diet is the most optimal diet for your health.1. The healthiest diets rated by leading health organizations and the majority of dietitians are high carb diets.
Intake's Mission
Proper nutrition should be the first priority in global disease prevention.We believe that a change to healthy diets will have the largest impact on global health. And we’re not alone. Dietary risks are the greatest disease risk factor in America, roughly half of the leading causes of death are due to poor nutrition, and the World Health Organization suggests 80% of deaths from cardiovascular disease, 80% of type 2 diabetes, 80% of strokes, and 40% of all cancers could be prevented by better lif
51 Facts About Your Dietary Protein Intake
There is a lot of information out there on how best to manage your protein intake. You can search and easily find information telling you protein can prevent cancer, help you lose weight, prevent heart disease, and even slow down aging!Claims without citations make it difficult to know what is true, what has been exaggerated, and what is flat out false.After some research into the scientific literature, scouring blogs from nutritionists, and combing through reports from health institutions like
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America's Micronutrient Intake at a Glance [Interactive Chart]
The primary way average micronutrient intake is determined in America is through surveys. The CDC conducts the National Health and...
Ikarian Diet: Healthy Diets that are Insanely Delicious
Ikaria, Greece is one of the healthiest places in the world. It’s residents not only tend to live past 100, but they remain active well into their 90s. Their low rates of obesity, diabetes, dementia, and other non-communicable diseases makes you wonder: what’s going on over there? Naturally, the Ikarian diet plays a major role.The Ikarian Diet Relies Heavily on Local, Fresh Fruits and VegetablesThe Ikarian diet is similar to many traditional rural greek diets. First off, rural Greek cuisine is v
Why Is A Healthy Diet Important? 10 Reasons To Eat Well
The number one reason why diets fail is simple, but not easy. See where to focus your strategy when it comes to figuring out your diet.
Diet and Evolution: How Modern Diets Clash with our Genes
Why is obesity a problem today? Why does high blood pressure and diabetes continue to rise, while cardiovascular disease remains the number one killer across the globe?One theory is called the evolutionary mismatch theory. In a nutshell, it is about the mismatch between how our DNA has evolved over millions of years and the ways in which we live in modern society.One of the difficult parts of grasping this theory, is trying to get a sense of just how long it takes for evolution to shift genetics
Dietary Fiber Intake: What Is It, and How Much Do I Need?
We’re consistently told to add more fiber to our diets. Increasing your fiber intake is healthy for you, and Western diets are notoriously low in it.But what is fiber? Does it add calories? How is it healthy for me, and how much should I be eating?In this post, we dive into some of these details, and more.What is Fiber?The basics.Fiber is sometimes grouped into the “carbs” category, but this can often be misleading. Here’s a better way to determine what is fiber: all of the polysaccharides that
How Vitamins Helped Shape Modern Medicine
Nutrition science is often the center of jokes about the seemingly never-ending flow of contradicting research.Eggs are good for you. No, now they’re bad for you. No, just the whites are good. Nope, wait…now they’re good again.How are we supposed to know which is true? How do we know how anything in medicine is true?Enter, the clinical trial.Clinical trials are the gold standard of medical science and the cornerstone of systematic experimentation used to discover medical truths. They’re not perf
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Macronutrient Intake: America Averages [Interactive Charts]
Carbohydrate Intake; Sugar Intake; Fat Intake; Saturated Fat Intake; Protein Intake. Sugars are a subcategory of total carbohydrates, and...
Micronutrient Deficiency: 5 Groups At Risk
Most of the world does not eat a well-balanced diet. In fact, the Global Nutrition Report has found that 1 in 3 people are malnourished.
Sugar Consumption in America: Do You Eat More than Average?
We’ve heard it before: _We eat too much sugar! _But just how high is sugar consumption in America?Short answer? Very High.“90% of Americans consume too much sugar, everyday.”As recommended by the World Health Organization, no more than 10% of your daily calories should come from sugar. Ideally, no more than 5%.Sugar Consumption Stats • The average sugar consumption in America is over twice the recommended amount • Roughly 90% of Americans eat more than the 10% threshold, everyday • The top 10% o
Chronic Disease Prevention: 7 Nutrition Related Diseases
Diet is one of the most important lifestyle factors for health. Learn about 7 nutrition related chronic diseases.
3 Global Micronutrient Deficiencies: How You Can Help
Persistence of Global Micronutrient DeficienciesAlthough the developed world has largely eliminated many acute diseases that stem from micronutrient deficiencies, like scurvy and rickets, most of us still do not consume recommended amounts of most vitamins and minerals on a regular basis. This chronic, sub-clinical intake of micronutrients may have negative long-term health consequences, despite the lack of acute symptoms.But much of the world still suffers from acute diseases that stem directly
Diet and Longevity: Okinawa's Secret
For some us, numbers just make sense. So when I learned that inhabitants of Okinawa, Japan (one of the Blue Zones harboring a disproportionate share of centenarians with low levels of obesity and chronic diseases) apply a principle to eating known as Hara Hachi Bu, I became curious…In 2005, Dan Buettner created a concept explained in a National Geographic cover story that led to a decades-long research endeavor into the secrets of a long, healthy life. This led to the study of five, so-called Bl
Too Much Protein: Is It Possible? Who Should Cut Back?
Is it possible to eat too much protein? In this post, we’ll summarize the research to see how much protein you need per day and what happens if you eat too much protein. Looking to learn how to track your protein intake? How much protein do I need? Dietary protein is essential for life. See 51 facts about your dietary protein intake. Protein deficiency, even when eating enough calories, leads to a condition known as kwashiorkor. Although rare in the developed world, this often occurs in areas du
What Counts as Fat?
The question isn’t as straightforward as it sounds.There’s what society says. This depends on where you live as much as it does when you live.What’s arguably more important, is what your doctor says. Or essentially, when does body fat become a concern for your health?Diet and nutrition is best managed by a balance of key nutrients. Not too little. Not too much.The same logic applies to body fat.Too much body fat can lead to poor health outcomes. Obesity is linked to a slew of negative heart effe
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What is Metabolism? [Infographic]
1. BMR. Speaking of breathing, your basal metabolic rate, or BMR, is your “minimal cost of living.” That means, you need to burn these...
Top Non Meat Sources of Protein (Best of 6 Food Groups)
Nearly every type of meat is an excellent source of quality protein. Beef, poultry, fish, you name it. They all contain significant quantities of all essential amino acids in a highly digestible form.But meat isn’t your only source of protein. Non meat sources of protein are quite extensive, and may surprise you with just how much protein they can provide.In fact, the often-held view that vegetarians and vegans need to “carefully combine” foods in order to meet their protein needs is outdated an