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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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Tech Tip: Styr App–customized nutrition for you
I discovered the Styr app by chance when I was looking up personalized nutrition online. Like Fitbit, it too allows you to track steps, diet, and sleep but there are some unique features to this app.
If you would like to know more about how your lifestyle affects your wellness, Styr maybe the app for you. On their app, you can purchase a weighing scale, an activity tracker (think Fitbit style), and a connected water bottle for $99 as of this writing. By linking all these devices to the app, you can get a better understanding of your lifestyle activities. Pros and cons to this are always there. For example, you have to remember to weigh yourself and drink water out of that specific bottle but on the other hand, you do get more customized info.
If you are interested in personalized nutrition, this would be a great way to jump in because after you log in to the app for a few days, the data can be used to determine what protein and vitamin combo they can create for you. How cool is that! That is one feature that I really like. Plus, they have a great messaging feature where you can ask the rep questions and they get back to you quickly.
The only caveat that I have noticed so far is that one it doesn’t sync with My Fitness Pal (which I have the premium version on) so I have to re-input all the meals again and doing this is a chore especially since the restaurant choices are more limited in the Styr app so I have to input approximates, otherwise I do like the app. I also recently learned that if you are doing the keto diet, then this app isn’t the best for you but you can still input your data. Nonetheless, if you are looking to ramp up your investment in personalized nutrition, this is a great start.
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Tech Tip: Your smartphone
One device that most of us have is a smartphone. We all use it for social media but did you know there are plenty of other uses for it especially if you are trying to attain a health and wellness goal.
Yesterday, I mentioned how My Fitness Pal app is a great app to track your food but today I’ll talk about linking your phone to your smart watch or your health tracker (like a Fitbit or Google Fit). Based on what I do for a living, I know that I can’t always wear a watch so a smart watch doesn’t make sense for me to be useful as a fitness tracker but I know I can carry my phone around so I logged into Google fit and it allows me to measure the impact of all the walking and heart health improvement due to it which I like and it allows me to sync to My Fitness Pal so for me the convenience of linking both of those is important.
I don’t own a Fitbit or an Apple Watch but I know a lot of people use both to not only track steps but/or also sleep. I think Fitbit has a headstart in terms of all that they offer as they have been in the business longer than others plus often times you don’t want a watch with a screen that can break when you are at the gym. The interactive nature of Fitbit where you can compete with others is something a lot of my friends enjoy so there is a benefit to that too if you are competitive. Either way, no matter which option you choose, your smartphone can be a great companion on your journey to wellness.
Finally, I think the most important way your smartphone is useful is because you can Google search whatever it is that you are interested in while making a purchase decision, eating decision, etc. Twenty years ago, we wouldn’t have been able to get all that information about an ingredient or what is in a product so if you have the time and interest, use your smartphone to lean more about what you are putting into your body. A healthy body will help you recover from illness faster and will help you lead a long healthy life.
Google pixel 2 xl. A great smartphone in the world of iPhones!
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Tech Tip: My Fitness Pal App
This week, I’ll give you some quick and easy tech tips that can help you with your health and wellness journey.
My favorite app to use is My Fitness Pal. It is available for both iOS and Android. What I like about it is that you have plenty of choices to choose from–restaurant items, restaurant item modifications, and you can even input your own meals. For example, if you are eating a chicken bowl at Chipotle, you can look that up. If you have modified that chicken bowl with no rice, you can look that up as well. What if you can’t find what you are looking for in the database? You can enter it as create your own food and the nutrient values will be input.
If you pay for the premium service, then you can adjust grams that you are eating for carbs/proteins/fats. Only $49/yr and well worth it. If you don’t pay for the premium service, you still get all the features except you can’t enter grams of macros but rather percentages so if your nutritionist tells you to eat x amount of grams, you won’t be able to enter that in unless it is a percentage.
The nice thing about the app is that you can use the exercise tab to figure out how many calories you burned and it will account for that. I populate it but don’t factor that into my caloric expenditure as I don’t think the app fully captures the amount of calories burned based on the intensity put in. Another nice feature is that the app lets you track your water intake. Finally, if you are looking to connect an exercise tracker, this app can pull data from that and sync with it.
A must have for health and wellness enthusiast is an app that lets you track your food consumption. If you don’t know what and how much you are eating, it will be even harder to reach your goals!
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New Products–Wellness and Health Related Added
Interested in products or items that I have talked about in my posts..visit the link below on Amazon and my fave products are there for you to browse:
Check back frequently for updates!
https://www.amazon.com/shop/2howyalldoing
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Sodium and its effect
Sodium is an ingredient that can affect how you feel daily. Iodized salt was necessary and developed to allow us to not develop goiters and thyroid issues but if you look at most packaging today there is a ton of salt in our diet. Do we need this much salt?
If you are looking to get healthier, the easiest way to see results without too much hard work is to limit your salt intake (after you check with your doc, of course). Remember, even a simple V8 juice, which many consider healthy, can have amounts like 1000 mg of salt. So what is making you healthier may also be making you bloated! What can you do about it? Read that nutrition label and see what your daily intake of salt is and then decide where you can cut back.
What can happen if you are eating too much sodium? Well, we know that if you are exercising and your body has too much salt, you will retain water and feel bloated which could result in that lethargic feeling or even cause headaches. Too much salt can also make you want to drink more which in turn leads to more bloating. High salt intakes are also known to cause kidney stones and stomach ulcers–both of which aren’t pleasant. Not to mention, increased salt intake can lead to higher blood pressure, resulting in the need for pharmaceutical meds as part of your regiment.
There are numerous reasons to watch your salt intake so whether you are eating out or eating at home, monitor your salt intake for the betterment of your health!
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Is water gluten-free?
So lately I’ve been seeing a lot of different type of labels and certifications on products and packaging so this leads me to wonder when have manufacturers gone too far to convince you to buy their product?
An example is when I see a bottled water that instead of saying it is made of material that is recyclable says water is gluten-free! Can someone please explain to me how water will have gluten in it? Yes, I understand someone with a gluten sensitivity or Celiac’s disease needs to be aware of any gluten they are consuming but I’m sure even those individuals know that water is innately gluten-free. Has the manufacturer gone too far to fit in with the trends?
Another example is when the packaging says new and improved. Ok, either the product is new or it is improved, how can it be both? if you have replaced the synthetic flavors with natural ones, you are either launching a new product or you improved it so that it is more wholesome and clean label. As a consumer, we are trained to see new and improved without understanding that something can’t be both.
In the race to make clean label products, manufacturers may make a product with simpler ingredients but they forget it has to taste good too otherwise who is buying it? Would you buy a naturally flavored cereal with low sugar content and lots of vitamins? Yes, of course, you would but only if it tasted as good as the cereal that it was replacing. The challenge for manufacturers is making a product that fits the current trend without isolating their customers. Recall what happened when Coke changed its formula for Coke Zero to Coke Zero Sugar? Consumers notice when their favorite product is altered.
So if you are not on Google and learning about a particular product, which very few of us are doing for what we consume, that means a manufacturer will put everything on a label that entices you to buy that product–so have they gone too far, labeling water as gluten-free?
Gluten-free gone too far?
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Veggies and fruits on a label–makes a product healthier?
With the latest trend to avoid putting chemical names on the ingredient list of a product, manufacturers are now putting fruits and veggies as the source of the vitamins and minerals. For example, Vitamin A may be listed as Vitamin A (from carrots). Does this convince the consumer, you, to buy the product?
Well, if you are health conscious, then you definitely would be interested in seeing whole food names on the label but did you know that sometimes that data on the label is coming from a database like the USDA database that tells you how much vitamin A that a carrot has in a certain serving size. So if you went by the label, then yes, you are getting Vitamin A from carrots but how much is the question. A good manufacturer will be able to tell you that it was tested for but such test methods are limited so it is always wise to ask the company. Why? Lot to lot variation can occur. Remember, a carrot grown beside another carrot on the same farm could have distinctly different amounts of Vitamin A due to the weather, soil, etc. conditions. So to standardize it, did the farmer add vitamins to it? Good question right? Plus, remember depending on the processing to make that product, are you truly getting the full amount of Vitamin A from that carrot that was initially harvested? Another thought to ponder, right?
If you have more questions about the label, definitely Google or search on Reddit what others are saying about the product. Best way to find out about what you are taking is to ask the manufacturer of the product and see what they have to say. Most products have a website that will lead you to a customer service agent who should be able to answer those questions for you.
Eating healthy doesn’t have to be hard but you definitely need to be aware of the marketing a product has!
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Why are we scared of chemical names?
This week, I’m going to write about topics that are often talked about but from a different perspective.
What do Janet, Mariah, Atif, Juhi, Steven, Troy, and Mark have in common? They are all names of people. What do H20, Sodium Benzoate, Tocopherols, and Ascorbic Acid have in common? They are all chemical names so why are we scared of them? Is the movement for clean labels and words we can say that important for our health and well being?
Everything is a chemical including water or H20. If packaging said H20, would you be less likely to pick it up? Similarly, if a box said tocopherols instead of Vitamin E, would you be less likely to pick it up? Yes, complex names are often a deterrent when eating foods because we should be eating whole foods and foods that we cook but not many of us have the time or the luxury of doing that because eating clean and healthy is expensive, as discussed in earlier posts. So what should you do?
Don’t demonize chemical names. Often times, a manufacturer lists the chemical name to differentiate what the source of a vitamin or mineral is. For example, Vitamin C can be listed as Ascorbic Acid as well as Sodium Ascorbate, both of which help you to get the Vitamin C that you need.
A food that has chemical sounding names should be looked at in terms of what is acceptable to be there and not. If it is being fortified, then that is good because it will help you get your RDA (recommended daily allowance) for that item but if it is being used as a preservative or shelf stabilizer than it probably is something you can be iffy about but that too depends on what you are consuming.
When unsure about something, take the time to research/Google what it is that you don’t like about the product because of times that chemical sounding name is there to help you meet your RDA.
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New Products–Wellness and Health Related Added
Interested in products or items that I have talked about in my posts..visit the link below on Amazon and my fave products are there for you to browse:
Check back frequently for updates!
https://www.amazon.com/shop/2howyalldoing
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