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AI 101: AI Explained
Do you struggle with AI? Have parents, friends, and others who struggle with terminology and understanding what AI is good for?
The guide defines basics terms that are often mentioned in numerous online videos and definitely can be confusing to a new user.
Check out my guide, free to use, no data collected.
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Which supplement should I take? #Supplement Explorer
Are you always on your phone looking at which supplements you should take? Do you look at reviews? How do you decide what to buy?
As someone who has been in the nutraceutical industry for over 10 years, I’ve worked with many suppliers and companies to understand why an ingredient is chosen, what research is behind it, and how to sell it to a consumer, so if you are looking for some answers to questions you may have, drop a comment, or even better check out the Supplement Explorer on the site. It is free to use, 3 questions, and a simple output. No info is stored.I made the Supplement Explorer purely for my use and then thought, well, if it is useful for me, maybe it is useful for others. The tool is not affiliated with any company or brand, but was just a way for me to showcase what I find useful. If you use it, do give me feedback as to what you’d like to see it on too.
Stay well and remember, before taking any supplements, check with your doctor if it is a good fit for you or not!
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Is eating plant-based truly healthier?
No matter where you go today, the grocery store or even shopping online will result in you coming across products that are plant-based. The food industry wants you to reduce the carbon footprint by having you eat more plant-based products and less meat but what does that mean really?
Previously, plant-based eating meant eating salads, whole foods, vegetables, fruits, etc but today it means eating burgers that are similar to a real burger but still vegetarian! So we are substituting a bunch of chemicals for another set, under the pretense of it being healthier? Think of it another way, just cause pizza is made from cauliflower crust, does it really make the pizza healthier? What else was added to make it taste good and similar to regular pizza? Another example is sugar and replacing it with monk fruit sweetener may make it taste sweeter but did you actually make your beverage healthier just because you added a plant-based ingredient to it?
Questions like these are important to ask before you buy your healthier product item because marketing can sure make anything sound better but the effects are going to be dependent on each individual. The company’s intentions are correct but the question again becomes when did plant-based eating starting originating in the lab or manufacturing plant versus a farm?
image the lazy artist gallery
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Finances–A health and wellness contributor
Cardi B is super famous right now for her song Money and that got me to thinking about how money can dramatically affect your health in multiple ways. Money management is hard for many people but money management is not just how much money you have in your 401k or your bank account, it is also about how you use it.
By now, if you have been reading along, you have noticed that to buy quality supplements and eat clean, it costs more money than eating fast food so you must have some discretionary income to buy these items. Yes, going to Taco Bell and eating food off the dollar menu is so much easier than cooking and buying produce that usually is $2 per pound but remember cooking is always going be far better as you know exactly what you are consuming if you make it yourself.
Another way finances can impact your health is if you are always worried about how much to save, how to pay rent, job uncertainty etc. This constant stress is forever going to cause you to have increased cortisol which will increase your visceral fat on your belly and butt. What can you do about it? Talk to your financial advisor for tips on money management. Another option is talk to your family/spouse if they are willing to hear you out about how to better save and pay bills. Finances are always difficult to discuss as you can’t really sugar coat it.
Financial health can dramatically influence your overall well-being so don’t take it lightly and definitely know that a strong plan of action can only aid you in achieving your goals.
image from rawpixel
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Do you falsely justify your choices?
Since I recently started coaching at Crossfit, one thing that I have noticed is how people justify their actions. From being present at the gym to what they do after the gym. Do you fall into the below situations as well or do you make better choices? Remember, what you put in is what you get out, no matter the goals.
I’ve talked about this before but justifying going to the gym or not going to the gym can be detrimental to your success. Why? If you have to justify going to the gym, that in itself is a bad start. You should be wanting to go to the gym and it should be a habit and part of your lifestyle especially after you have already made that initial step into it. Not going back because you didn’t get results as quickly as you wanted is also another bad justification to not achieve it. I remind my fellow athletes about how good they feel after they put in the work at the gym—that is why you should keep coming back to the gym.
Another thing that I noticed was that my coached athletes tend to eat fast food, doughnuts, and even have wine after the workout because the justification is that well I worked out and so I can indulge in this. Ok, so willpower is needed if you want to achieve your goal. You can’t decide to indulge in bad for you foods and expect that one hour of working out is going to give you the body you desire. No one is perfect and small indulgences that are planned are ok but come on, you know better than jugging wine right after working out—you should be jugging water for recovery and flushing out toxins!
We all justify doing something or not doing something but don’t let that justification trap you from achieving your goal. Nothing easily achieved will last forever as the journey to good health and wellness is a lifelong one and not a quick-fix!
image Craig Adderley
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A side effect of too much caffeine!
Most of us begin our day with either a cup of coffee or tea and that is mostly out of habit or necessity but what happens if you have too much caffeine? One side effect of reliance on caffeine is that you crave more and more of it to start your day or continue your day. One cup of coffee can quickly turn to three or more. Yes, coffee has a lot of benefits like antioxidants and is great for your energy surge before your workout (and thus reducing your reliance on pre-workouts) but what about the side effects? Can you go without your cup of coffee or tea?
One unfortunate side effect for me is that I am now bored of coffee. Even though I only drink one cup a day be it with heavy cream or bulletproof style, I just don’t enjoy it now. Even going to Starbucks or Dunkin Donuts has not really made me excited for that cup anymore, why is that? Like all good things, if you have too much of something you get bored. Aside from the occasional Coke Zero or Diet Coke, I’m not much of a caffeine addict. Another way I can tell this is that if I have the coffee midday or later, it does nothing for me. I can actually even fall asleep after the cup of coffee/tea so that means I should be able to give up that cup easily right? Wrong!
When you have become accustomed to having something everyday, breaking the habit is tough. I don’t rely on coffee but when I gave it up, I noticed that I was missing my starting drink of the day and was reaching for something—which ended up becoming sparkling water followed by a protein shake. I noticed the first few days I was cranky and sometimes even got a headache but after the initial recovery symptoms, I was fine and life was back to normal. What does this mean?
Giving up something you enjoy and think you need, doesn’t have to be hard. The benefits sometimes outweigh the sacrifices. Here’s to another cup of coffee, oops strike that, here’s to another cup of a non-caffeinated beverage!
image from pixabay
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I lose control on the weekends!
Have you been trying to achieve a goal—diet, fitness, or some other goal—and then the weekend rolls around and you lose control? What happens? How do you feel? Is it the end of the world? Of course not but it does show that you are human and nothing worth achieving comes without some sacrifice.
This week at work, I had two co-workers tell me that they feel miserable because not only did they gain weight but also lost motivation to continue with their diet. I was surprised that it only took one weekend of failure to dishearten them and overwhelm them compared to the success they were seeing up to that point. That’s human nature, right? Sort of. We are less motivated by weight loss when it comes off at 2 pound increments than 80 pound increments. Do you really see 2 pounds loss in the mirror? No! However, if you weighed yourself and the scale now shows a weight gain of 2 pounds, you definitely will notice that and be disheartened. Watch out if you are doing this to yourself, it’s a no-win situation.
What you should do instead is figure out how to get back on track to achieve your goal. Weekend failures don’t have to set you bad too badly. You can always pick up with your clean eating or exercise routine without worrying about the past weekend. If you have a goal in mind and want to achieve, small setbacks are not going to prevent you from achieving them!
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Leptin and its body weight relationship
Do you grab a doughnut first thing in the morning or do you crave midnight snacks? Even if you are following a diet that includes 80% clean eating, there might be times when you succumb to eating junk food or fast food. For those on cleaning eating diets, that usually is a cheat meal and it doesn’t hamper progress too much but for others, eating these extra treats is leading to weight gain and extra calories. What can you do about it?
So far I have talked about what all one can do about their diet and exercise to help lead a healthier life but you know what plays a big role in your weight control—leptin! Leptin is a hormone that signals to your brain whether you are hungry or need more food. For example, when you don’t eat a meal or a snack, your body fat goes down and therefore leptin signals the brain to eat more and burn less or if your body fat is going up, leptin signals the brain to tell you to eat less and burn more. Nice, right? You have an in-built detector to tell you to start and stop! So why are people fat or have extra belly weight?
This leptin detector might be off for a few people and that is known as leptin resistance so your body gets confused by the mixed messaging. This is likely due to the poor diet choices that have led to the weight gain. If you watch any weight loss reality TV show, you see the success story of those individuals but did you know most people gain that weight back because the leptin signals to the brain are giving mixed messages. Sad right? That doughnut or processed food or even lack of sleep could have contributed to this weight gain. How can you fix this?
As mentioned in many previous posts, eat right, exercise, and sleep are things that you can control. Avoiding processed foods (foods from a box or can, no matter how cheap it may be) and fast food are two solutions to get your body’s hormones working properly. Eat protein and eat fiber as both will keep you full longer and therefore result in less temptation to eat junk food or midnight snacks. Small changes can make significant health impacts!
image from slim land
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Work stress Equals Health Decline
With Americans working more and more everyday, one thing that continues to contribute to our health decline is work stress. No matter how clean you eat or how much you exercise, sometimes the scale won’t change and the visceral fat won’t go away and that’s because you are stressed.
Work stress can alter how you feel. Resulting in eating less—converting muscle to fat—or eating more, unhealthy items at odd times—resulting in weight gain so what can you do to combat these issues? One, continue to exercise. Two, stick to your clean eating. Most importantly, try to limit work after hours as sharing your week and time doing things you like or with your friends and family is going to relax you. Sometimes, just taking your dog out for a walk is relaxing enough so the activity you choose doesn’t have to be grand and costly.
Remember, stress build up occurs due to cortisol which can increase belly fat (that visceral fat) that prevents you from seeing your abs. If you limit stress, not only will you see improvement on the belly but perhaps even other issues like high cholesterol, migraines/headaches, sleep, and acne might remedy themselves.
If you do take vitamins, B vitamins are good for energy boost and are usually part of multivitamins so maybe even that can help you but if you are unsure if that is for you do check with your doctor.
image by energepic.com
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Dipotassium phosphate in your food!
Have you eaten cheese lately or had pasta or a non-dairy creamer or even had a ready to drink protein shake, then likely you have consumed the ingredient dipotassium phosphate (DKP). DKP is in the product for multiple reasons including allowing it to stay stable until the expiration date that is on there.
DKP is a food additive that is GRAS or generally recognized as safe by the FDA. It can be used as a stabilizer and emulsifier as well as a buffering agent so that the products doesn’t get too acidic or basic and result in an off-taste. For these multiple reasons, it shows up in various products but DKP does have other benefits too.
Since it is a source of potassium and phosphate, it is often found in the sports supplement arena as a source of energy. How does this work? If you are doing an activity that requires endurance, the theory is that by having DKP in your product, you are able to recover faster and therefore have energy to perform the activity again without a long rest time. Basically, DKP is helping your body get oxygen moving around faster so you can continue with your activity. Again, all this science is great but if you are unsure about an ingredient and its effect, do some research as well as ask your doctor. Best to be aware of something and why it is there, rather than blindly consuming it, right?
Dipotassium phosphate can be a beneficial ingredient but if you are trying to avoid it, then it should be pretty to easy to do so as most labels do declare it. Check out the ingredient list and see if it meets your criteria for clean eating!
Be well!
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What you need to know about Lecithin!
An ingredient that usually shows up in many products from cooking spray to candy bars to protein bars is lecithin. Lecithin is an interesting ingredient for many reasons. Yes, the name doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue but the ingredient makes a significant impact in how your product is presented to you. Why is that?
Lecithin is used in the food space as an emulsifier and is GRAS or generally recognized as safe by the FDA. It is a food additive that allows your candy bars or protein bars to not separate out from the chocolate, for example. It is also used in cooking sprays to allow food items to release easily, nobody want to scrape every pan right, even if you have a nonstick pan! Lecithin sources include soy, egg, red meats, and various plants so check the source if you are allergic or practice a certain religion.
Lecithin in the supplement space is being used for its choline benefits as it is composed of phosphatidylcholines. Remember, choline is something you get from eggs and most of us don’t eat enough in a day to get the memory health benefits of choline so that’s why you find lecithin in the supplement aisle.
Now that you know what lecithin does, next time you see it on the label, you won’t be as surprised!
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Gum arabic–good or bad for you?
Packaging for foods or beverages may list gum arabic or gum acacia on the ingredient list. The typical nutritionist will tell you to be aware of anything you can’t pronounce or don’t know but did you know gum arabic is actually from a tree? It is a natural source and is in your product for a reason.
Gum arabic is a good stabilizer. What this means is that if you didn’t have this ingredient in your product, it might separate out. Think of a salad dressing bottle. If you let it sit, the oil will separate out but this can be avoided with an inclusion of gum arabic. Why do manufacturers use it? One because it is from a natural source but most importantly it allows for them provide you a product that otherwise could only be offered in a oil form. For example, if you are doing the keto diet, you are probably consuming MCT oil. But what if you didn’t have to add it to your coffee as an oil but as a powder. This is where gum arabic could come in. With some processing of MCT oil and gum arabic, you’d be able to make a powder that was good for various applications.
Gum arabic is also a soluble dietary fiber so it helps you feel full longer. Plus, manufacturers love it because it can be a good substitute for high fructose corn syrup as well as corn syrup solids. Remember, don’t put the product away just because it has an unfamiliar sounding ingredients as sometimes names can’t be made simple for an item!
Gum Arabic tree, pic from online
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