Weight Loss Wonders: Tips and Tricks

Avocados have exploded in popularity over the past two decades. Per capita consumption of avocados has risen four fold , from 2 pounds in 2001 to nearly 8 pounds in 2018. Why avocados have become so coveted is pretty obvious – they are super tasty! But that is clearly not the sole driver. Recent surveys suggest that around 3 out of 4 people who buy avocados do so because they are good for their health. And avocados do indeed have a lot going for them, from that standpoint. Avocados are a good source of vitamins, minerals, and fiber. They also contain carotenoids, and have been shown enhance your ability to take up carotenoids from other foods. Adding avocado boosts absorption of lycopene and beta-carotene from salsa by 2.6-4.4 fold . Perhaps most notably, they are a rich source of monounsaturated fats and antioxidants, which seem to modulate blood lipids and keep your coronary arteries happy .  But some of the most compelling attributes of avocados can’t be found on the ...

Why do we train? Fitness is fundamentally a process of adaptation . When skeletal muscle is exposed to the stress of physical exercise, it is forced to adapt to improve its function (assuming adequate recovery, of course). But in order to elicit a maximal training stimulus, you need to expose your muscles to a sufficient level of stress. You have to push past mental and physical discomfort and fatigue. Like most things in life, improvement is generally the product of continuous hard work. It is understandable, then, that so many people are drawn to ergogenic aids, or supplements that can make it easier to train harder and longer, or even enhance the adaptations associated with exercise. One such supplement is beta-alanine , which you might recall we discussed previously with Jeff Rothschild . Beta alanine is a non-essential amino acid that is a precursor to the synthesis of carnosine, which in turn is a buffer of acidosis in skeletal muscle. Exercise trials have shown that high...

Within our gut resides a vast ecosystem that guides countless facets of health and performance.  Now, the most obvious function of the gut is breaking down food and extracting nutrients, which of course is super important. But its influence appears to extend far beyond that. Emerging research shows that your gut microbiota may impact many different and seemingly unrelated aspects of health and bodily function, including appetite and body weight regulation , lifespan , mood , cognition , and even athletic performance . We also know that the gut plays a role in the immune system. In fact, it is thought that over 70% of the body’s immune cells reside in the gut . This might sound kind of weird at first, but it actually shouldn’t be too surprising. Think about it: The gastrointestinal system is the primary route of contact with all the gnarly things that surround us in the external environment. Every day, it is bombarded with loads of stimuli from the outside world. Some of t...