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Nut Nutrition Information For Fitness Energy.
By: Kevin Doberstein CFT
As a young aspiring bodybuilder who was just starting out learning a lot of different methods of building muscle, I was taught “by experts” that fat in the diet was taboo. Any kind of fat. It didn’t matter the source. It was just bad. They were wrong. If you still believe in this myth, I hope I can change your mind after reading this article.
The fats I am talking about are from nuts. Peanuts, walnuts, almonds and all other nuts. Being mainly composed of unsaturated fat provide an excellent source of energy. They are also rich in nutrients that are lacking from most people’s diets. Nuts also have phytochemicals, which help prevent cancer, diabetes and hypertension. High in natural fiber. As a whole, nuts are a very healthy nutrition treat that tastes good.
As a bodybuilder that is trying to gain muscular weight, nuts can provide the extra calories that are needed. You can snack on them between meals. They are easy to take along with you anywhere.
For the bodybuilder that is trying to lose fat, nuts fit into your low carbohydrate day. And you don’t have to feel guilty eating them. The key is to replace carbohydrate calories with the calories you would be getting from the nuts.
Women and Nuts
In a controlled study, postmenopausal women who ate a bag of low-salt soy nuts a day had a rather great reduction in blood pressure. Each bag had 25 grams of soy protein. You can find soy nuts at most grocery stores.
Nutrition Breakdown of a bag of almonds. ¼ cup
Calories 200, from fat 150
Total Fat 18g 2g saturated
Carbohydrates 7g
Protein 7g
The US Department of Agriculture did a study with nut eaters and non-nut eaters and found even though the nut eaters consumed more energy calories they actually had a lower BMI (body mass index) than the non-nut eaters.
In summary, the Almighty would have never created nuts if they didn’t have a useful propose in life. When was the last time you seen a squirrel scampering across the ground and suddenly falling down and having a heart attack.
About the Author
Kevin Doberstein is a Certified Fitness Trainer and has been a natural bodybuilder for the past 25 years. 15 years as a gym owner. For more articles about bodybuilding, bodyshaping and nutrition you can visit his site at www.nature-boy-bodybuilding.com. You can join the Nature Boy bodybuilding Newsletter for the latest information about bodybuilding fitness at this site.
You can contact him at natureboy_bodybuilding@hotmail.com
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The Power of Stretching - Dave Snape
Your
muscles ache from a good stretch. This is quite
normal and is part of the process. Stretching has
seemingly been with us and particularly with athletes
since the beginning of time.
A very key point to good stretching is to hold the
stretch for at least seventeen seconds. This is a
pearl of wisdom gleaned from a ballet teacher a few
years back. She said that any stretch under 17
seconds was just not effective.
The 17 second rule is exceeded in the high intensity
Bikram's yoga where stretches are held for about 30
seconds. Don't forget the high level of heat that is
used in Bikram's to extract that last little bit of
stretch out of your muscles. An interesting twist
that
is not necessary to gain benefits from stretching.
But,
it can't hurt, right?
So what kind of benefits can you expect from
stretching? That's an easy one. Have you ever seen
the
movie, Blood Sport? Did you know that Frank Dux could
truly stretch his body to the extreme. The actor that
played him was quite elastic as well.
Great elasticity is also something you might see in
well trained Spetsnaz (Russian) agents. They often
work
out with Russian kettlebells too. They are for
superior
strength gains and the ability to withstand ballistic
shocks.
Why are stretching and flexibility considered
important
to these people? Stretching gives one the ability to
have explosive power available at one's fingertips
without the need to warm up. Of course most of us are
not martial artists or agents. But, you'll be happy
to
know there are plenty of other benefits.
Let me give you an example. After learning to sit in
the full lotus position for long periods of time, my
ankles became very flexible. One day I was walking
along and my left foot fell into a pothole. This
mishap
pushed my ankle sideways to about 90 degrees from
it's
normal position.
Amazingly, this didn't even hurt, not one bit. If my
ankle hadn't been so flexible, I may have suffered a
sprained ankle. At the very least, it would have hurt
for days.
Key point: stretching helps you to avoid injuries.
Not only that but if you do have a muscle, tendon or
ligament injury it should heal faster, theoretically
speaking.
Stretching actually grows the ligaments, tendons and
muscles being stretched. They really grow longer over
time.
Check with your physician before undertaking any type
of exercise, including stretching.
Here is some good
instructional material on stretching:
http://tinyurl.com/6c6kq
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Dave Snape
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