What Can Quercetin Do for You?

Before you can answer What Can Quercetin Do for You? you first need to know what it is and where it comes from.  If you workout hard, if you compete on any level, this is important to know.  This article tells you why.

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What Can Quercetin Do for You? It has been determined through sports science and nutritional research that quercetin can do quite a bit for your performance during exercise. Quercetin is a bioactive compound and phytonutrient. Phytonutrients give fruits and vegetables their color. Quercetin is found in apples, onions, and other fruits and vegetables that have a yellow color or yellow hue. This flavonoid has been found to have many benefits for humans. When Quercetin is used in products it will give a yellow color to the supplement. The brighter the yellow, the more pure the quercetin. Beachbody Performance Energize and Hydrate are two of the best supplements on the market that contain quercetin. Their day-glow yellow color proves that the quercetin is very pure.

To understand What Can Quercetin Do for You? you first must have a better understanding what it is and what it can do to benefit you and your performance during workouts.

WHAT CAN QUERCETIN DO FOR YOU?

Quercetin can help enhance your immune system. Quercetin may have antiviral benefits, and help fight oxidative stress, which in turn can help regulate immune function, and reduce your chances of developing illness when you are training hard.

Though quercetin can help with these immune functions, it does this best when combined with specific nutrients.  When combined with vitamin C and Omega-3 fatty acids it has a greater impact on the reduction of oxidative stress.

Quercetin can also help decrease Inflammation. It has been known to be high in anti-inflammatory properties following exercise. Scientists have seen that when quercetin is combined with green tea (another powerful flavonoid), a reduction in inflammation takes place immediately after exercise. This is a huge benefit since acute inflammation slows recovery, and contributes to DOMS (Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness).

Quercetin increases energy. It increases energy by supporting mitochondrial biogenesis. Mitochondria produce the energy that powers the cells in the body. The more mitochondria, the more energy. More energy, the greater physical output one will have. This means the body will be faster, stronger, and perform better.

WHAT CAN QUERCETIN DO FOR YOU?

What Can Quercetin Do for You? Anyone who engages in exercise should seriously consider having quercetin as a part of their supplementation plan. Quercetin when combined with the other nutrients that are important to your body will help boost your performance and protect your body from unnecessary damage. Get your performance and body in top form by using Energize and Hydrate from the Beachbody Performance Line. These two products have the right amount of Quercetin, and the other nutrients needed to have peak performance and recovery.

Another year goes by...another year older.  How do you maintain your vitality?  No quick fix, but you can be intentional about staying "young".  There are more benefits than you realize.  Here are 5 of them...

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Strength Training Will Keep You Young

Many people today are continually looking for a magical quick-fix to weight loss, maintenance of health, youthful appearance, and vitality. The truth is…

There is no quick fix! There is however a way that can help with the things people are looking for, and it can be accomplished in 30-40 minutes. The best solution has proven success and has shown to help in all areas, time and time again. The answer is strength training.

Strength Training Will Keep You Young!  Strength Training is exercise that creates a muscular contraction by using gravity or a force to oppose muscle contraction. Strength Training Will Keep You Young, and has shown to be the closest thing to the Fountain of Youth. It has many health benefits such as strengthening your bones and heart, improving your balance, helping you lose body fat, maintain skeletal muscle, and more. No other single activity has a more positive impact on your mind and body, than Strength Training which is why Strength Training Will Keep You Young.

STRENGTH TRAINING WILL KEEP YOU YOUNG AND PROVIDE…

1. Increased Bone Density, Preservation of Lean Muscle, and Joint Support

People can lose up to 1% of their muscle and bone density per year after the age 30. For women this amount doubles during menopause. Decreased bone density is the leading cause of osteoporosis, yet it is preventable nine times out of ten with regular weight bearing exercise.

Muscle hypertrophy and atrophy can be prevented through regular strength training. It will preserve lean muscle mass, prevent saggy skin, and help keep joint pain to a minimum.

The best protection for the joints is to ensure their surrounding muscles are strong enough to support them. Your core (abdominal and low back muscles) supports your spine, your leg muscles (hamstrings, quadriceps, and calves) support your knee, and so on.

Improvements on bone density, muscle strength and tone, and joint support keeps injuries at a minimum or prevents them all together.

2. Increased Metabolism

Research has found that for every pound of muscle you gain, you burn 35-50 more calories each day. Every muscle cell gained helps increase the metabolism. Therefore, you burn more calories, when active, inactive AND while sleeping.

3. Better Posture

Stronger muscles help maintain proper posture. Improved posture allows you to move more efficiently, with more range of motion and freedom, will give you more confidence, and makes you look slimmer.

4. Decreases the Risk of Diabetes

Adult-onset diabetes is a growing epidemic. Research has found that a few months of regular weight training can increase glucose utilization by 23%.

5. Reduced Stress

Strength training elevates the level of endorphins which has been shown to combat stress. Strength training has also been recommended as one of the greatest antidepressant, improved sleep aid, and overall factor in quality of life improvement because it combats stress.

STRENGTH TRAINING WILL KEEP YOU YOUNG

No Matter How Old You Are Strength Training Will Keep You Young and Feeling Good. Remember this doesn’t mean bodybuilding and bulking up big muscles. The implementation of a regular weight/strength training routine that targets specific muscle groups can give you exactly what you need. This can also be done right at home with Beachbody’s New Master’s Hammer and Chisel Program, or other programs like P90X3, Body Beast, 21 Day Fix, or 21 Day Fix Extreme. Regardless of your gender, age, or current abilities, all of these programs can be modified to fit your training abilities and provide you the muscle your body needs and craves to have.  

Strength training will make you will feel healthier, have more energy, look better, reduce the risk of injury, and decrease joint and muscle pain. Strength Training Will Keep You Young, and is the closest thing we have to the Fountain of Youth. It is never too late to get started.

How Alcohol Can Ruin Your Health and Fitness Goals

Dry January: As New Year's resolutions go, cutting back on food and drink are right at the top of the list.  For regular drinkers, the tradition may involve "dry January": giving up booze for a month.  Could such a short-term breakup with alcohol provide any measurable health benefits?  What about your Health and Fitness goals?

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We all like to go out with our friends and have a few drinks. We also heard that when we are trying to obtain different health goals that alcohol can hinder those goals. So, How Alcohol Can Ruin Your Health and Fitness Goals really needs to be something you understand.

Here is the deal, and we are going to be real. Not all drinks and beverages are bad for you. Yes many are filled with sugar or corn syrup, and yes these will not help you reach your health goals. There are also some drinks that won’t hurt your waistline or health and fitness goals quite as much, especially if consumed in real moderation. They can actually have some benefits. Again I want to remind you that this is moderation.

HOW ALCOHOL CAN RUIN YOUR HEALTH AND FITNESS GOALS

How Alcohol Can Ruin Your Health and Fitness Goals comes mostly when you over indulge, meaning more than 1-3 drinks per week, and consume mixed drinks. Mixed drinks are among the worst alcohol beverages you can drink because of the juices, sodas, and other sugary substances that make a mixed drink just that, a mixed drink. Then if consuming more than 1-3 drinks per week this can pack on a lot of calories and calories that your body has a more difficult time processing. When your body struggles with processing calories, they become sugars and can be stored as fat.

HERE ARE SOME SIDE EFFECTS OF THOSE OVER INDULGENCES AND MIXED DRINKS:

1. Alcohol has more calories per gram than the macronutrients protein, carbohydrates, and fats. Therefore you are consuming less in quantity but far more calories.
2. Decreases your Inhibitions which means your decision making is decreased and you are more likely to choose foods and other things that you would not normally choose.
3. Alcohol can damage your liver, kidneys, and digestive system. All things we need running at their best to have a more balanced health.
4. Alcohol lowers testosterone levels in both men and women. It is never good to have lowered hormone levels for any reason.
5. Alcohol has been found to increase your appetite because it triggers the brain to send the signal that you are hungry. Again striking up the possibility for over indulgence of food.

It has been proven that the choice of alcohol and the amount drank will negate any efforts to lose body fat and will alter performance for the worst. The best advice would be to totally abstain to keep peak performance and hit your weight loss goals. Once your goals are obtained it would be highly recommended that you stick to the best choice which would be wine. Beer is okay, but if you consume more than 12 ounces 1-3 times per week it would be added to the How Alcohol Can Ruin Your Health and Fitness Goals list.

HERE IS THE NEWS THAT I KNOW MOST OF YOU WANT TO HEAR…

You can see wine has not been mentioned as a better choice. Wine can still be on the How Alcohol Can Ruin Your Health and Fitness Goals if the consumption surpasses the 1-3 drinks per week rule, or you binge drink it, but if consumed appropriately it can have many health benefits.

If you have reached your goals, the wine could be something you add back into your life in moderation. Though it would still be recommended that if you are training for something specific, that you keep it to the bare minimum.

Red wine contains a chemical called Ellagic acid. This acid can actually slow the growth of fat cells and stop formation of new ones. It can also help burn more fatty acids in the liver cells. Now this doesn’t mean go drink a bunch of wine. We don’t want you to take this article to say that. When people do that, that is when we have a problem. Keep it in context, because creating too acidic of an environment in the body creates fat and water storage.

Even with this new research, you still need to keep it to 1-3 drinks per week and at the appropriate portion. Remember a glass of wine is really 4 ounces.

The other benefits of wine are it contains active antioxidants like quercetin which may kill cancer cells, it also may help lower risk of heart disease and stroke. Tannins in red wine that give it the red color, contain procyanidins, which have been known for protecting against heart disease. Resveratrol also found in wine can help to remove chemicals responsible for causing blood clots, help prevent cancer, aid in general heart health, lowering LDL cholesterol and increasing HDL cholesterol, and in the prevention of Alzheimer’s Disease.

Clearly there are many benefits to drinking red wine. The thing to remember is the “How alcohol can ruin my health and fitness goals.” That list is the one to remember. If you keep that list in mind, choose wine over other alcohol, and maintain a higher level of moderation, you can have some alcohol without ruining your health and fitness goals.

Of course the biggest recommendation is to abstain and focus on your health and fitness goals through proper nutrition, high-quality dense nutritional supplements, portion control (not over indulging), and proper exercise and fitness.

An Easy Diet to Get You Started!

It's a New Year.  How do you get started on your good intentions of improving your health?  The hardest step is getting started.  Here's an easy way to get started...

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Transition diets are the best Easy Diet to start your journey to better health and be a healthier eater. Of course when we say Easy Diet, what we really mean is a nutrition plan that is easy to implement and sets you up for a healthy eating lifestyle. The biggest goal when starting is to create a plan that has includes more natural, whole foods and less junk.  

That first step itself constitutes an Easy Diet. Why is this…? Because there are no secrets to healthy eating. Healthy nutrition is simply understanding that eating healthy means you have to minimize junk food. If 90% of your nutrition is real food (remember, the stuff nature makes?) your body will respond and your exercise efforts will pay off with better results.

AN EASY DIET TO GET YOU STARTED!

Take 2-4 weeks to start implementing some mainstays that are necessary for balanced nutrition. After you clean out the junk it is time to focus on what you can eat, rather than what you can’t eat. You will find that this list is a lot to chow down on. Small changes make healthy eating pretty easy and his is the best way to get ready for a new nutrition plan and exercise program.

EASY DIET WEEK 1 – ELIMINATE, CHEAT DAYS, AND FOCUS

• Cheat Days: Since no one’s perfect, you get two days during this week to cheat. Yep, eat anything you want! Be sure to listen to your body, it will tell you it wants everything that you have cut out and over time how you feel is a great indicator of what nutrients you are deficient in, rather than a cue to eat junk. Listen to your body. Example: Craving ice cream, you may be short on essential fatty acids. Craving a hamburger, your nutrition may lack protein. Listen to your body and learn what it really needs and then choose food items that can really give it those nutrients, versus giving into the junk like ice cream or hamburgers. Being in tune with your body is a lifestyle benefit that will pay off for the rest of your life.

• Eliminate: No junk. Eliminate junk food from your diet. That’s it, just junk. The definition of junk is obvious stuff, like potato chips, candy, ice cream, cake, and other salt- and sugar-loaded foods.

• Focus: After you rid the junk, focus on the fact that in week one you can eat whatever and whenever you like. Also don’t forget to focus on water, 8-10 eight ounce glasses of water per day, or even better focus on a gallon. As much as 65-75% of us walk around dehydrated. Once you are hydrated you will notice changes in your body and how it craves food. Another focus should be on minimizing or eliminating other drinks such as juice, sodas (obviously), and alcohol.

AN EASY DIET TO GET YOU STARTED!

EASY DIET WEEK 2 – NO JUNK AND PROPER PORTIONS, CHEAT MEALS, AND FOCUS

• Yes still “no junk” and learning proper portion sizes. Remember that this is a process, and things need to be done over and over again for it to become a part of your life.Eat proper portions of food, and eat more often. Eat every 3-4 hours and try not to eat anything about two hours before you go to sleep. This helps keep your blood sugar levels more static and your energy level more consistent. The basic recommended times to eat are Breakfast, Mid-Morning Snack, Lunch, Mid-Afternoon Snack, and Dinner. Learn proper portions such as – ½ cup of high fiber grains, 1 cup of vegetables, 1 cup of fruit, 3-4 ounces of lean meat, and ¼ cup of healthy fats. Sticking to these portions and the proper numbers of each portion per day will keep your metabolism firing on all cylinders.

• Cheat Meals: Yes your full Cheat Days from week one are now Cheat Meals. You can have two Cheat Meals per week. You will notice that having an entire day to cheat is not necessary. Though you may be tempted may happen every now and again, you will see it is not necessary to cheat more often. When cravings come, you will find that having one cheat meal generally suffices. Plus more times than not, cravings are more mental than physical. Gradually decreasing your cheat meals and knowing it’s mostly in your head helps break those mental habits.

• Focus: Carbs are not the enemy. Your body needs them, just like it needs proteins and fats. The key is choosing the right style carbs. As a society, we eat too much refined sugar. Complex grain carbs, like whole-grain breads, whole-grain rice, sweet potatoes, and legumes are great choices. Keep in mind that vegetables and fruits are carbs as well. The right carbohydrates will maximize your body’s ability to function properly and participate in exercise and other daily activities.

EASY DIET WEEK 3 – SAME FOCUS, MORE VARIETY, AND SUPPLEMENTATION

• Focus: Stick to No Junk and Cheat Meals on two different days per week.

• Have more variety, eat more colorful foods, and try foods you have never had before. Try recipes that are easy to make and provide balanced nutrition. For great recipes be sure to check out the Fixate Cookbook by celebrity trainer Autumn Calabrese. Remember the richer the colors, the fresher the products tend to be. Try to eat a variety of colors in your diet. Be sure to have a variety of all food types, including proteins, grains, vegetables, and fruits. Be sure to vary meal as well. You don’t want your meals to be too heavy in one nutrient or another. Balance matters!

• Total Nutrition Supplementation: Starting to implement total nutritional supplements that are clean and artificial ingredient free is very important. This helps your body do a better job of utilizing the nutrients from the foods you are eat, provides the nutrients you cannot get from food sources, and may help with many other aspects of your body function and efficiency. Shakeology and its Shakeology Boosts are some of the best and cleanest total nutrition supplements you can add to your diet.

Taking time to transition and use these easy diet suggestions to get started will make other changes a lot easier along the way. Following the steps of a process you are more likely to succeed than just random efforts. Start here and you will find getting into your nutrition and exercise plan will be easier and results will happen sooner!

Tips to Leave the High Calorie Holidays Behind

The party's over.  Back to reality.  Fast-track your return from the calories.  Timely, practical and do-able.  You won't believe how easy it really is.  You just need to pull it all together and do it.  This list will help.

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Okay, the holidays are about over. It is time to leave the high-calorie holiday world behind. Here are Tips to Leave the High Calorie Holidays Behind and get back on track to fat loss and a healthy body.

These Tips to Leave the High Calorie Holidays Behind will help you get on the fast-track to results, but in a way you can use for the entire year as you implement all your health and fitness strategies to a healthier lifestyle.

TIPS TO LEAVE THE HIGH CALORIE HOLIDAYS BEHIND

• Plan, Shop, and Prepare a Meal Plan

Plan, shop, and prepare is a MUST. I don’t just mean planning what you are going to eat for dinner. I mean planning what you are going to eat for every meal for the next 2 weeks.

Your schedule might go like this:

• Pre-exercise – Daily Energy
• Breakfast – 2-3 eggs, 1 apple, Green Tea or coffee (if you do a post workout recovery drink use half an apple and only two eggs)
• Snack – 1 oz raw almonds, 1 pear, Green Tea or Shakeology
• Lunch – Grilled chicken, fish, or black beans with a spinach salad, onions, peppers, etc., a banana or bowl of cherries, 2 cups unsweetened iced tea with lemon
• Snack – Raw vegetables and hummus
• Dinner – Protein, vegetables and fruit… Steak, chicken or fish, a sweet potato, your favorite vegetables, and a bowl of your favorite fruit for dessert.

Once per week you can have a slightly larger meal of your favorite foods – whatever you want. Just remember there is NO binging or eating into a food coma.

Sticking to this for 14 days could cause weight loss of 5-11 pounds in 14 days.

• Use High Intensity Workouts

You really have everything you need to get started. Most programs don’t need any equipment, or they need something as easy as a resistance band. Check out Beachbody On-Demand for the best High Intensity Workouts that are only 30 minutes. Yes, done in 30 minutes.

TIPS TO LEAVE THE HIGH CALORIE HOLIDAYS BEHIND

Let nothing stand in the way of your workouts except real emergencies! Switching to High Intensity Workouts will burn more fat than the usual walking,  jogging, or elliptical sessions.

Be sure to check out Beachbody On-Demand for the best workouts available for at home use.

• Write Your Way to Fat Loss

Writing and journaling about what you are doing is good for the mind, body, and soul.

You must also carve out 15 minutes to write out two outcome goals and three process goals for the next 2 weeks. Write down EXACTLY what you want to accomplish for the outcome goals (i.e. lose 6 pounds), and then three process goals (action steps) so you can achieve your outcome goal (i.e. drink Shakeology each day, do all 21 Day Fix Workouts per the Calendar, and drink 10 cups of water each day).

Next write a letter to yourself how you will do these action goals every day or else. Each day before you start in your journal write the action goals for that day (i.e. drink my Shakeology, do 21 Day Fix Dirty 30, Drink 10 glasses of water). At the end of the day, journal how your day went, how the exercise and nutrition went, and whether you completed your goals.

• Recruit an Accountability Partner

Research has shown that recording your nutrition in a food journal, and having someone review and or do it with you increases your chances of reaching your goals. A third study found that even having an accountability coach online increased your chances of success by 70%. This is why Beachbody has Free Coaches that can help you reach your goals, and you can participate in their Challenge Groups to work with a group and get results faster.

• Journal Check-In and Cheat Meal

When you have made it seven days and can truly go into your journal and say I accomplished seven days with success. You can have a cheat meal (meal, not day). Be honest. If you truly didn’t do what you needed to do, then be honest.

This cheat meal doesn’t mean gorging. It simply means having a normal meal of your favorite foods to give you a mental break from your plan. When the meal is over, don’t go back for seconds. Get right back on track.

• Mental Performance Review

Since you will be reviewing your journal you may want to take a weekly Mental Performance Review. Write down all obstacles that are still in your way of success, and then develop two solutions that can help you overcome each of them. Get some help from your accountability partner, coach, or challenge group. The more you and your group shares solutions, the more weight loss you will all accomplish.  

Using these Tips to Leave the High Calorie Holidays Behind should be used on a two-week basis. Once you have completed two weeks’ review and start the process again. In the first two weeks if you use a coach, sound nutrition plan, and a high quality workout program, I bet you will lose 5-10 pounds of fat, have a good start on developing healthy habits that you could stick to for life.