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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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Potassium sorbate is in my product, why?
If you have picked up a food item recently, you probably recognize potassium on it but what is potassium sorbate? Why is it in there?
We all know that clean eating is what is good for you but what happens if you pick up a packaged product for your kids or for a party, shouldn’t you know what ingredients are in that food and what it is doing for your product? Potassium sorbate is usually in a product as a preservative. It is there to help extend the shelf life of the product or how long it sits on the shelf before it goes bad. It is a popular preservative because it is not only effective as a preservative but it also doesn’t impart any taste or change to the product so for a manufacturer that is a win!
Think about this if you picked up your favorite beverage and their was mold or yeast in it, most likely you wouldn’t buy it; this is where potassium sorbate can help. It too usually shows up on the end of a label ingredient list as it is used at smaller percentages in a food/beverage item.
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Why is silicon dioxide in my food?
This week, I’m going to share food ingredient terminology that you probably glance at it but don’t know its purpose in your chosen item.
Silicon dioxide is often seen on the label and is usually towards the end of the label list because it is used as a processing aid in most cases—remember, the ingredients at the end of a label are typically in the lowest amount in the product). What does that mean? Well, if you picked up your favorite protein powder for example and it was clumpy and you couldn’t pour it out, you probably wouldn’t be happy! For this reason, silicon dioxide (aka silica) is added to the product to prevent clumping. Silicon dioxide is used as an anti-caking ingredient so that you have flowing powder.
Next time, you wonder why silica or silicon dioxide is in the package, remember without it you might not have flowing powder!
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Inspiration within your Circle!
This week I wrote about athlete envy but that is different from getting inspired. Inspiration can come from anywhere and anyone so make sure it is something that drives you further to achieve a goal. What do I mean?
Recently, in my family and friend circle, two people started the keto diet. Both are vegetarian and both are very determined individuals who go after their goals and both started the diet about one week apart. Person A is in their 50s while Person B is in their late 30s. Person A started the diet one week before Person B. So now that we know the differences, let’s see how both fared.
Person B tried the diet for a week and bailed because being vegetarian and eating keto required learning how to make things that were unfamiliar and it also required learning how to cook those items. Person A had more cooking experience and knew how to adapt to the diet so continued with it and is still on it. What’s interesting is that everytime Person B wanted to give up, Person A inspired them to keep pushing forward but only to a point. Why? I’m a huge proponent of doing what’s best for you and Person B realized that this diet was not ideal for them.
Another good learning that both individuals had was that eating healthy and clean is expensive! Buying fast food is a lot cheaper than buying fresh veggies so until this changes no matter the intention, clean eating won’t be adopted easily so what should you do?
If you want to get healthy and eat better, start with small changes in your diet like substitute a salad for fries and limit alcohol intake. Simple changes can result in results as well. Look in your family and friend circle, you might be surprised that inspiration is already around you!
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Synergy of health and fitness at your gym
Since I started the week with a discussion about home gyms and Crossfit, I figured it was great to re-share this article about why you find so many new and different products at a gym. Just because it is at a gym, are you willing to try it? Or do you look to see if it meets your goal? Should more companies try to market products to you at the gym?
Today the avenues to improve your health are tremendous so don’t be afraid to reach out for more info to your family, friends, and doctors before jumping into anything you are unsure about. Improving your health is not a quick-fix, it takes time but the results will be worth it!
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Athlete Envy
One thing that I have noticed is that people come to me for advice on how to lose weight or what I should eat for this specific goal but commitment is more than changing what you eat or how you exercise, it is also about creating a habit that you can follow through on. Many of us start off with the best intentions to go to the gym and may even do it successfully for a 1 week or even a month but when results are not occurring, should you quit? No but people do. Why?
The reason many don’t make it through on their commitment is athlete envy. What is athlete envy? It’s that fleeting thought of “why can’t I look like that? or why don’t I have abs? or why don’t I have larger calf muscles? or why don’t I have that waist size?” All these are natural thoughts when one gets started but if they linger that’s when you have a problem achieving your goal. How should one overcome this?
The best way I find that you can overcome such thoughts is by 1) finding something that you like to do and can commit to doing and 2) working out with friends. Both of these are super important to not only help you keep going to the gym but also because if you workout with friends you are likely going to have fun and motivation to make you keep going back! One of the main reasons that I still do Crossfit is because of the community aspect. No matter when and where I am, dropping into a Crossfit gym is great because many people approach you to say hi and if you join a gym, those same people might become friends! If you prefer activities which are for lone individuals, like running, find a track or a place you like to run that you can’t wait to tackle and then follow through will become easy!
Don’t let athlete envy stop you from achieving your best health, abs or no abs, you will be improving your health!
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Do you CrossFit?
One of the most trending activities today to stay active is Crossfit. What is it? Simply put, it is a way to exercise that allow you to move various types of weight at high intensity that are functional movements. In other words, let’s say you have to sit on a chair or your toilet, what are you doing? You are going to squat to sit—that’s a functional movement! Some movement that you do or need daily perhaps.
I’m not going to lie but going into a CrossFit gym can be intimidating but unlike globo gyms, the community embraces you. Likely when you work out at gym, you don’t know many people’s names but here you’ll form bonds and friendships as you train. Yes, CrossFit is expensive but imagine signing up for personal training and then kind of checking in monthly to determine your progress versus going to a CrossFit gym where classes typically are no more than 10 people and coaches are looking your form and technique while you train. Of course, this too depends on the gym you choose and the level of trainer that you get because not every gym has skilled trainers to help you, so do some research before signing up.
Other benefits of CrossFit include that if you don’t know how to do something a coach there will help you learn that movement and will guide you with what weight you should be doing so that you can avoid injury. The beauty of CrossFit is that everything can be scaled based on your ability and if you have injuries so make sure you mention anything that might hinder proper form and technique because you’re working out to get stronger not hurt!
Venture into a CrossFit gym, if you would like to get form and technique help and like to make friends while you work out as both will help you get results versus trying to go at it alone!
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Home Gym Life
If you don’t like going to the gym, should you not work out? That would be such a bad excuse to not to do so. A good option would be to buy some equipment for your home. A home gym can be many things to many different people depending on your interests.
For some a home gym is basically replicating what they would have at their regular globo gym like cardio and weights while for others it is matching up with their crossfit gym and having equipment like rings, ski ergs, and more but don’t let these be the constraints for setting up your gym! Think about what excites you and what will let you work out in your home when you come home from a tired work day or let you do the work out if your kids are sleeping.
In the past, for me, I had a boxing bag at home in a separate room as I really loved to box and this was a good way to get in a fast 30 min workout without stressing about hitting the gym. I know others who had a good pool in their backyard that they made use of for swimming laps as that is what they enjoyed. For some, just riding a stationary bike in front of the TV was enough to keep them motivated. One of the most valuable items you can have are kettlebells-a lighter one and a heavier one–as you can do so many full and isolated body exercises with them. Consider investing in two sets.
Purchasing home gym equipment can be expensive so look for bargains on Amazon, Ebay, gyms trying to get rid of equipment, thrift stores, and even your friends as you may find the right equipment for a reasonable price.
Find what fuels you and you will be successful!
Image from men’s health
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Is my diet working?
When you undertake a new challenge, how do you measure success? Hopefully, you started by making SMART goals (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, time bound). This is key in finding success!
Most of us measure diet goals by either weighing ourselves or how we look in the mirror but if you had SMART goals then that would be even better. An example of SMART goal is something like this:
S= I want to weigh 160 pounds
M=I will lose 10 pounds and measure this via a weighing scale
A=I will exercise 3x per week with weights and eat clean every day (no junk food)
R=exercise and diet along with weight loss are relevant to my goal
T=I want to achieve this by April 1
I have to admit that when I have a SMART goal results are more achievable because you know what you are targeting. Doing the latest diet, keto/paleo/Atkins, will help you get there but by itself you don’t really have something to achieve. For me, when I don’t have such a goal what happens is that I tend to make excuses and say ok I missed my diet today so I’ll pick it up tomorrow or I couldn’t go to the gym today so I’ll go tomorrow. With nothing to hold you reliable, excuses creep into your lifestyle pretty quickly.
Find success in whatever you are doing, write down some SMART goals.
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Is there Fiber in your diet?
All the successful diets in the world won’t keep your stomach from growling if you aren’t getting enough fiber in your diet. This is so important.
Fibers are in many fruits and vegetables that we eat daily. You can even go to your local Walmart or Wholefoods or even shop on Amazon for fiber supplements but why do you need fiber? The higher the content of fiber in your food, the longer you will feel full and it will be less likely that you will want to devour unhealthy foods.
One reason we make smoothies with fruit and veggies is that the fiber content helps us feel satiated. Mangoes and broccoli are fantastic in their fiber content and thus are often in green smoothies. If you don’t like smoothies, perhaps you drink a fiber drink like Metamucil? We drink these type of supplements to keep us regular.
Often, we look at the nutrition label and determine the ratio of carbs and proteins but we skip over dietary fiber but you should check it out because it will actually tell you how many carbs you are actually consuming. Remember, carbs are burned by your body for energy so if you calculate net carbs (total carbs – fiber) then you will know the true amount of carbs consumed. For example, if something has 15g carbs and 7g fiber, this product has high fiber content which will keep you full but you are only consuming 8g net carbs–especially important if you are on keto or the Atkins diet.
What types of fibers are there? Fibers fit into two categories, soluble and insoluble. As the name implies, insoluble fiber is fiber that doesn’t break down in the bloodstream and is used to add bulk to waste so that you can stay regular while soluble fibers absorb water in the digestive tract and can form a gel-like substance that can then bind to cholesterol and sugar and therefore result in blood sugar management. Most foods will have both types of fibers and therefore is listed as total dietary fiber on the nutritional panel on a product. Insoluble fiber can be found in items like potatoes, cauliflower, and green beans while soluble fiber can be found in apples, carrots, and peas.
Add fiber to your diet and reap possible benefits like satiety, blood sugar management, and cholesterol management.
pic from eat this, not that
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Day 2 of a Diet/Lifestyle Change
If you are undertaking a new challenge or lifestyle change, success can’t be measured by progress or failure on Day 1 or Day 2 because always remember habits take time to form. What is easy usually isn’t going to benefit you or give you the results you seek. This advice is relevant to many parts of life but let me focus on what happens on Day 2 of this new diet you are following.
Well, you survived Day 1 of your new diet plan. It didn’t go as smoothly as you wanted. Maybe because you didn’t cook enough or didn’t know how to make the right things or simply just didn’t enjoy the food. Do you give up? No. Twenty four hours later, you decide to undertake that challenge again, it is now Day 2. This time you attacked the problem differently. You tweaked your cooking style, logged your food in properly, portion controlled what you were eating, and Bam! you were able to implement this new diet into your life! Is this a measure of success? Yes and no. Yes, because you were able to figure out what works for you. No, because just doing something one day doesn’t make it so that you can repeat it the next day. You may have learned some useful tips on Day 2 but as the diet or lifestyle change goes on, you’ll have to figure out how to continue with it in different situations as well as not stress about this every day.
Think about this—you undertook this new lifestyle challenge to improve your health and wellness, right? Does adding stress on how to cook, what to eat, how many groceries should I buy, when should I go to the gym, how long should I go to the gym, etc. help you achieve your goal? No, of course not. Yes, those are all important questions but if you stress, any good you are doing is going out the window so to speak.
Make every day a successful day based on what you achieved and not what you didn’t achieve! Less stress and more results will be forthcoming!
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