Jamcore Training Blog

Popularity: 100% [?]

The easiest way to cheat on your diet starts out innocently enough. It’s a colleague’s birthday, an anniversary, or a night out with friends. You’re at a restaurant, and all of the dishes just look so good. How can you avoid the tantalizing pasta or sizzling sirloin and stick with a boring salad?

Don’t be miserable while your friends indulge. Order what you want, but avoid the hundreds of extra calories prepared foods will cost you. Order the HALF SIZE portion. Most restaurants do not have this option on their menu, but if you simply ask, most are glad to prepare it. Best of all, this can cut costs as well as calories. It may also be noted as the appetizer portion in the menu, but check to see what size it is – sometimes the appetizer portion can be nearly as loaded with calories and fat as the main event. In case the restaurant does not offer half sizes, just ask to be served only half of the meal, and for the other half to be boxed to take home with you.

Popularity: 98% [?]

So, you did it – you finally busted through that frustrating plateau, achieved a new personal best, or fit into those skinny jeans. That’s great, but the battle isn’t completely over – you’ve got to maintain your new physique. Unfortunately, that’s a lot easier said than done over the holiday season. Everyone complains about the binge-friendly family celebrations, calorie-laden holiday treats, and booze-heavy office parties, but it’s time to do something about it. This year, take control of your eating habits – and chances are, you’ll have an even more memorable holiday.

1. Stay active! Of course you’ll pack on a few pounds if you overindulge in homemade sweets and spend a ton of time in front of the tube. Yet tons of normally fit, active people fall prey to this cruel holiday tradition each year. Just because your routine is a bit different doesn’t give you an excuse to skip the gym. By setting a schedule – and sticking to it – you’re setting yourself up for success. With time off work, you may even be able to fit in MORE gym sessions. Go for a run while cooking a side dish, or while the prized Thanksgiving turkey roasts. Make a deal with yourself that you will squeeze in one hour of physical activity per day.
2. Involve the whole family. Visit a farm and chop down your own Christmas tree. You can start a new tradition and get exercise walking around and inspecting all the different pines. Take a weekend ski trip, or just visit the local ice rink. Even if your family members have health complications or problems that prevent them from partaking in more high-impact sports, you can always try to take a walk around the neighborhood (caroling, anyone?). After all, every little bit counts!
3. Track your calories. You may have to do some creative estimation with complicated recipes, but just keeping a simple log of everything you eat will help you stay aware of all the calories you’re consuming. Remember, the less aware you are, the more you eat. You can safeguard yourself from common ‘mindless eating’ habits by steering clear of nut or pretzel bowls, cookie trays, or cheese and cracker platters. Sit far away, and grab a big glass of water to stay hydrated and satiated.
4. Don’t deprive yourself of your favorites. When we restrict ourselves too much, we’re more likely to binge later. If you want a piece of Grandma’s famous pumpkin pie, by all means, go for it. It may be hard, but try to skip the whipped cream and ask for a smaller portion. Allow yourself to indulge your cravings, but do it in a conservative manner.
5. Don’t take a vacation from the scale. Be honest with yourself. Just because you’re on holiday doesn’t mean your weight is. Instead of getting a big fat January surprise, weigh yourself each week and adjust your eating patterns accordingly. This way, when New Year’s rolls around, you won’t be making a resolution that has anything to do with weight loss!

Popularity: 98% [?]

By Dr. Sean Hashmi

We all know what a nuisance the common cold can be. For over 60 years people have thought that Vitamin C was a great defense. In fact, Vitamin C’s popularity in treating the common cold rose greatly in the 1970’s when the Nobel Prize winner, Linus Pauling stated its effectiveness based on an earlier trial. But the question remains that whether or not there is any evidence to support the efficacy of Vitamin C?

To answer this question, I turned to the Cochrane database. Their systematic review of thirty (yes thirty!!!) trials involving 11,350 participants showed that regular ingestion of Vitamin C had no effect on the common cold incidence in the general population. However, in a subgroup of 642 marathon runners, skiers, and soldiers on sub-arctic exercises had a reduction in the incidence of the common cold by almost 50%.

Bottom line is that for most people megadoses of Vitamin C is not beneficial for fighting the common cold.

Popularity: 94% [?]

We’ve discussed the benefits of raw food before, but I’d like to devote a little more time to the raw food movement. The push to eat all-natural, unprocessed, organic foods has taken hold of many dejected dieters. Unlike other fad diets, in which the weight piles back on the second you stop dieting, the raw food diet is a movement and a lifestyle change.

Proponents of raw food assert that the enzymes found in natural, uncooked foods stimulate digestion and prevent chronic and neurodegenerative disease. Critics nag that medical research hasn’t yet offered definitive proof of prevention, but it’s undeniable that a raw diet is full of healthy nutrition choices and benefits for the body. Raw foodists eat at least 75% of living or raw food. The goal is to consume a diet composed entirely of uncooked, unprocessed, natural food. While organic foods are prized for their low amounts of pesticides, they are not a required element of a raw food diet, just a recommended component. Health benefits can include higher energy levels, weight loss, and a more resistant immune system.

Popularity: 95% [?]

As you all know, after we have engaged in high-intensity physical exercise our muscles are all but depleted of glycogen. Glycogen is typically the primary stored fuel source we use to push us through these workouts and also aid in our recovery so we can repeat our efforts next time. New research recorded recently has shown that athletes who ingested caffeine combined with their post workout carbohydrate drink had 66% more glycogen in the muscles up to four hours after finishing exercise than those who consumed a carbohydrate drink alone.

In order for us to be ready for the next workout, ‘re-fueling’ is paramount. However, if we can store a little more fuel in our muscles it can only result in us being able to give more effort in our activities and for longer period of time. That being said, if we are able to increase glycogen uptake in the muscles this can do absolutely no harm in our goals to increase muscle size long term either.

The study was done with seven well trained cyclists in a double blind setting, meaning neither the researchers nor the test subjects knew what they were ingesting (However they were prepared before hand into 2 regimens {carbs/caffeine and just carbs}). To ensure that the end results were fair and more apparent, the cyclists engaged in a stationary cycling session until exhaustion and then were only allowed to have a low carbohydrate meal afterward and nothing more until the next day prior to the actual test. This way all seven subjects would have low levels of glycogen.

After the completion of the second stationary cycling session, they then took either the carbohydrate/caffeine drink or the carbohydrate drink alone. Then during the rest time, muscle biopsies and blood tests were conducted to measure the amount of glycogen in the muscle, glucose, insulin, glucose regulating metabolites.

The sessions were then repeated 7-10 days later, only this time the athletes swapped the type of drink they consumed. (Regimens swapped).

It’s unknown how caffeine affects the uptake of glycogen into muscle but they believe it has something to do with possibility that caffeine may increase the activity of several signalling enzymes, including the calcium-dependent protein kinase and protein kinase B (also called Akt), which have roles in muscle glucose uptake during and after exercise.

Now the dosages used in the athletes tested were around 8mg per kilogram of bodyweight (125ml of filter coffee has between 60-100 mg of caffeine) which for some of us who are hypersensitive to caffeine could be a little too much. It should be stressed that you should apply caution if trying this for yourself and observe the implications surrounding stimulant usage. Maybe start off with lesser amounts and build this up as there are no indications to suggest that a lesser amount would have a lesser effect at this point.

Popularity: 21% [?]

We’ve talked before about how salads purchased in restaurants or at the drive-through are rarely what they appear to be, but I was shocked when I saw the cold, hard numbers. In the latest Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine review of fast-food and sandwich chain salads, only TWO out of 34 sampled salads checked out and received full marks on a five-star nutritional scale for fiber content and low saturated fat, cholesterol, sodium, and calorie levels.

Some dishes, like McDonald’s Crispy Chicken Bacon Ranch Salad, pack an even nastier nutritional punch. This salad actually has more fat and calories than a Big Mac. In fact, the results were so stark that researchers explained that consuming many of the salad offerings at fast food chains is equivalent to eating a burger without the bun, dipped in fatty salad dressing.

HALF of the salads in the study were given a 1-star “Unacceptable” ranking. Some of the reasons they received this rating were for massive fat quantities (many were in the 30-40 gram range, with a few offerings topping the 50 gram mark) as well as absurd saturated fat, sodium, and cholesterol levels. The PCRM lamented the fact that the salads relied on cheap, high-calorie, high-sodium toppers such as cheese and meat instead of protein-rich, nutritious beans or healthful vegetables.

Some salads were salvage-able – that is to say, you can still order them, with modifications. For example, try one of Wendy’s salads without the calorie-dense, carb-laden crispy noodles, and substitute fat-free dressing instead of the loaded dressing that comes with the salad. Avoid cheese and meat-topped salads, like Subway’s Meatball monstrosity. The report also listed salads that are simply to be avoided at all costs, such as the previously-mentioned Chicken Bacon Ranch Salad or Taco Bell’s Taco Salad, which packs upwards of 800 calories. So before you opt for a salad next time you’re at a fast-food place, check the nutritional guide before you make any decisions. You could be buying something that’s actually worse than the more obvious culprits on the menu!

Popularity: 23% [?]

By Jamie Yu

If I asked you what your favourite supplement was besides Whey Protein, what would you say it was? I think I’d probably hear something along the lines of Nitric Oxide type products or Creatine delivery systems. Granted, this new wave of supplements are fantastic and definitely have a place within any serious minded athlete’s repertoire.

But did you know that there is one supplement that has of late been placed on the back burner to make way for these other supplements I’ve just touched on? This supplement has been clinically shown to be incredibly effective and, in comparison to a lot of the supplements on the market, is much more cost effective?

That supplement is Desiccated Liver. Liver in general provides heme iron, high quality protein and B vitamins which by our terms as hard working athletes meets the increased nutritional requirements in one go. However, cooking and consuming liver as a meat source decreases the bio-availability of the above elements, so liver in the desiccated format is far more superior for absorption.

Endurance athletes in recent times have discovered the benefits of desiccated liver and the heme iron found within. Heme iron is responsible for haemoglobin’s ability to carry oxygen within red blood cells; which means that when the need for energy is drawn from the foods we eat an ‘oxidation’ process occurs in the body. If we can improve the amount of oxidation performed in the body then we can offset fatigue that comes from intense and long sessions of exercise.

‘Sports Anemia’ as it’s called occurs when muscle fibers are damaged during intense exercise training. If there is an inadequate protein intake then the body draws upon haemoglobins and red blood cells as a source of protein to repair the muscles. Athletes with low haemoglobin levels do not perform as well at endurance events. This could also be apparent in people who train or exercise for more than two hours in any one session.

Here is food for thought, iron deficiency is widely recognised as the most common in the world and as many as 22% of American women are iron deficient, as well as people who follow a mainly vegetarian diet. However there is also evidence to suggest that intense exercise also induces iron deficiency.

Liver is also a fabulous source of vitamin B12 and B12 and plays a massive role in assisting the body with the burning of fats and carbohydrates. It can also be used in the prevention of heart disease.

As with any ‘mineral’ based supplement, if you are going to give it a try then always keep to the directions on the label and do not exceed the stated dose.

Popularity: 18% [?]

By Bonnie Pfiester

Traveling can be tough for dieters; convenience store junk food, the infamous airline snack box, and combo meals all add up to a diet disaster.

There is something about traveling that makes us think we’re hungry. Let’s start with road trips. I don’t know about you, but Steve and I have the worst snack attacks when driving long distances. Although the need to feed mostly stems from boredom, the million billboards showcasing juicy hamburgers don’t help either.

Once a billboard convinces you to stop and eat, you find yourself driving down an unknown road with restaurant after restaurant calling your name. Taco Bell, McDonald’s, Denny’s, Dairy Queen, Applebees – they all have a special, or menu item, to capture your attention.

Once you decide where to eat, you have to battle the menu. No matter how many times I’ve been to a restaurant, and even if I know what I should order, I still feel the need to read the entire menu. What in the world am I thinking? I’m just welcoming temptation. Before you know it, I’ve justified why I can afford to eat a hamburger and fries.

If you are not traveling on the ground you have a different set of problems. Opposite of having too many choices, airline passengers have very few food choices. You’re trapped 35,000 feet in the air when a stewardess offers you an unappealing selection of nuts, cookies, crackers and cheese surprise. While first classers eat their high-calorie mystery meal, coach passengers get a sorry selection of the most boring sandwiches, bagels, or salads they’ve ever wasted calories on.

In any case, the answer to the dieter’s traveling blues is planning ahead. You’ll pack your toothbrush, so why not pack your food? It’s not like you don’t know you’re going to be stuck in a car or plane for several hours.

First, pack healthy snacks like pretzels, whole fruit, yogurt, cheese sticks, beef jerky, lunch meat, nuts, rice cakes, or protein bars to prevent you from getting hungry and making poor choices. Second, learn to say no – plain and simple. Third, keep a calorie book on you. It’s much easier to cheat when you don’t know what you are eating. Lastly, bring other things to entertain you besides food, like a good book or magazine.

Traveling will always be tough for dieters, but with a little planning you can beat the need to feed.

Popularity: 35% [?]

The RDA recommends 0.8 grams of protein for each kilogram you weigh for healthy adults. But the guidelines for athletes are greater, of course: 1.4 – 2.0 grams, depending on what type of athlete you are. This is up to two and a half times the recommended amount for typical adults. How do you know where you fall into the range? If you’re a distance athlete, you fall into the lower end of the category. Try to get about 1.4 g per kilogram of your weight. If you’re a 150-pound male, that would be about 95 grams of protein per day. If you’re a weightlifter or strength trainer, you fall into the upper bounds. A 150-lb. strength trainer would require up to 136 g of protein per day. Some healthy sources of protein: chicken breast (20g in 100g serving), milk (about 8 g per cup), yogurt (13 g per oz), tuna salad (32 g in 1 cup), or cottage cheese (14 g per 100 g serving).

Popularity: 23% [?]