After a workout, you can lose salt through sweat, which can lead to muscle cramps or hyponatremia for extremely active women. “The sodium in soup makes it a wonderful recovery food,” says Clark. “Add a little chicken or fish for protein and whole-grain noodles or rice for carbs and it’s a perfect post workout meal.”
The protein helps with muscle repair after a vigorous weight training workout, and the carbs help replace depleted muscle glycogen. Be sure to eat within 30 minutes of your workout, since not eating after a workout can backfire on you later in the days, says Clark. “That’s when the cookie monster attacks if you have gotten too hungry. Eat soup right after your workout to help stop late-afternoon cravings.” Oxygen Magazine, December 2009. By, Linda Melone.
This creamy treat makes an ideal meal after exercise because it combines high-quality protein (yogurt) with simple carbohydrates (from berries) to promote muscle growth. It also has an ample amount of omega 3’s (healthy fat from flaxseeds), which aid in muscle repair.
* 8 oz. plain non-fat Greek yogurt
* 1/2 cup uncooked ready-to-eat oatmeal
* 2 tbsp. ground flaxseeds
* 1/4 cup strawberries
* 1/4 cup blueberries
*Layer all ingredients in a tall glass and serve.
Nutrients per serving:
calories: 288, total fats: 6 g., saturated fat: <0.5 g., trans fats: 0 g., cholesterol: o g., sodium: 86 mg., total carbohydrates: 34 g., dietary fiber: 8 g., sugars: 6 g., protein: 27 g., iron: 6 g. Oxygen Magazine December 2009
Share
Here’s some sweet news: Blueberries may help lower blood-sugar levels and insulin resistance, researchers in Canada found. In a small study, overweight men at risk for heart disease and diabetes and diabetes drank 1 cup of wild blueberry juice every day for 3 weeks. Their blood sugar dropped by roughly 10 percent, and their insulin resistance also fell compared with that of control-group participants who drank a placebo. Study coauthor Marva Sweeney, PhD., says the benefits may come from the effect of the pancreas of the fruit’s high levels of anthocyanins. (The pancreas regulates blood sugar by producing insulin.) Frozen wild blueberries offer the same benefits as juice. Farmed blueberries also contain anthocyanins, but in lower amounts. Mens Fitness Magazine, November 2009
Herbs and spices flavor food without adding fat, sugar or calories. Even better, they might also provide a health boost. Research indicates that certain herbs and spices act as antioxidants and can help prevent inflammation. In addition, if you like to grill or broil meat, pork, fish or poultry, marinate it first in a sauce made with black or green tea, garlic, onion, parsley or virgin olive oil to decrease the formation of heterocyclic amines, the potential cancer-causing compounds produced in meat, poultry and fish cooked at high temperatures.
Tips For Cooking Substitute: Use brewed black or green tea (cooled) for some of the water of liquid in your favorite marinade. Chicken: Mix lemon juice, rosemary and virgin olive oil; brush on breasts before cooking. Italian seasoning, oregano and tarragon are also great on chicken. Fish: Lemon juice combined with garlic works great on most whitefish. Other spices that can bring out flavor include basil, garlic, lemongrass, parsley, rosemary and thyme. Muscle & Fitness hers Magazine Sept / Oct 2009
Many experts recommend cooking with olive oil for its health benefits, but a new study suggests that it may also be an effective pain-reliever. For decades, scientists have known that bitter medicine is the best medicine. Now a study from the University of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia) finds that newly pressed extra-virgin olive oil contains oleocanthal, a chemical compound that induces a strong stinging sensation in the throat, just like the popular painkiller ibuprofen.
Based on these two products’ similarly irritating tastes, researchers tested whether oleocanthal mimics the pain-fighting properties of ibuprofen. The compound was found to indeed act as a natural anti-inflammatory in a way that’s “strikingly similar” to a dose of Advil. The findings also raise the possibility that long-term consumption of extra-virgin olive oil – as little as 50 grams a day, or about 10% of the ibuprofen dosage recommended for pain relief – might help reduce the risk of certain cancers or blood disorders. Muscle & Fitness hers Magazine, Sept / Oct 2009
Ingredients
* 2 c. unsweetened pomegranate juice
* Peel 1 orange
* 1/2 c. fresh orange juice
* 1/2 c. water
* 2 cinnamon sticks
* 6 cloves, whole
* 2 tsp. raw organic honey
Instructions
* Combine all ingredients in a medium saucepot over medium heat. * Cover pot and simmer for at least 20 minutes.
* 2. Strain cinnamon sticks and cloves from liquid and divide mulled juice into mugs.
* 3. Serve with or without orange peel pieces in beverage, as garnish.
1 Cold Stone Cupcake = 380 cal., 19 g. total fat, 14 g. saturated fat, 30 g. cholesterol, 170 mg. sodium, 50 g. total carbohydrates, 2 g. fiber, 42 g. sugar, 4 g. protein
The heart is a finicky muscle, by turns durable and capable of impressive perseverance, and unpredictable and susceptible to a lack of exercise and poor diet. One symptom of the latter behavior is high blood pressure, a cardiovascular disease risk that increases with age. In fact, by age 35, a majority of the population is affected by pre-hypertension.
Exercise and diet are two of the better ways to avoid those symptoms, and new research published in Circulation, the journal of the American Heart Association, suggests that the amino acid glutamic acid, found most prominently in vegetable protein, may be linked to lowering blood pressure.
Past research has shown that vegetable protein can have a positive effect on hypertension, but researchers believe this is the first study to show a relationship between glutamic acid intake and blood pressure. The pressure drop – 1.5 to 3.0 millimeters of mercury on the systolic side – represents a small but potentially significant number.
“It is estimated that reducing a population’s average systolic blood pressure by 2mm Hg could cut stroke death rates by 6% and reduce mortality from coronary heart disease by 4%,” said Jeremiah Stamler, MD, professor emeritus of the department of preventive medicine in the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University in Chicago, and lead author of the study.
Perhaps even more encouraging is the fact that these results were achieved with just a 4.72% intake increase of glutamic acid as a percent of total dietary protein. Whether you’re hypertensive or not, add extra glutamic acid to your diet, and increase your intake of beans, pasts – durum wheat is a good source of vegetable protein – soy and whole grains. Sept / Oct 2009 Muscle & Fitness Hers Magazine pg. 25
Share
