Nutrition

Nutrition

Pre-Workout Nutrition

As you establish your training plan, it’s important to support your activity through sound pre-workout nutrition. The most common struggles related to sports nutrition includes not eating enough, eating the wrong foods at the wrong times, or skipping workout nutrition entirely. Let’s take a closer look at how skipping a pre-workout meal can set you back […]

smoothies for any occasion
Nutrition

3 Great Smoothies for Any Time of Day

Smoothies are a nutritious and convenient option for a quick meal on the go. Because you increase volume of your ingredients through ice and air, they can also help you to feel full on fewer calories. The trick is choosing the right smoothie and watching your ingredients. While nut butters, bananas, and dairy can help […]

Best Muscle Recovery Foods for Post Workout Regeneration Meals
Fitness

Muscle Recovery Foods for Post Workout Meals

Here is a great summary of some of the best muscle recovery foods when you’re feeling rundown following a tough workout.  You could recover more quickly after tough workouts, with improved post-workout nutrition.  Taking advantage of the best muscle recovery foods and timing around your workouts can go a long way when it comes to […]

workout nutrition
Nutrition

The Ultimate Guide To Pre- And Post-Workout Nutrition

Carbs, protein, liquids — there is so much to keep track of when you’re on a training schedule. Get these tips for pre- and post-workout nutrition and never be confused again.

Healthy School Lunches
Nutrition

5 Simple Tips For Healthy School Lunches and Snacks

Break away from baby carrots! Here are five super-practical tips to help keep school lunches healthy, tasty and fun for the whole school year.

Wheat-Free Flour
Nutrition

How To Bake Without Wheat Flour

Learn about the top wheat-free flours and their unique benefits and properties. Get tips for how to incorporate them into your cooking and baking.

Skinny Recipes for the Fourth of July
Nutrition

Guilt-free Recipes For The Fourth Of July

Take advantage of fresh, local produce and make these 5 super-easy, guilt-free recipes for your Fourth of July get-together.

Is Yogurt Healthy
Nutrition

Are All Yogurts Equal? Surprising Secrets Behind The Label.

All yogurt is not equal. Learn the benefits of fermented foods like yogurt. Get our picks on the healthiest options and how to make yogurt healthy.

Low Carb Almond Snack Recipe
Nutrition

How to Crush Carb Cravings with a Heart-Healthy Almond Snack Recipe

February is heart month, and I have a special place in my heart for this occasion. (See what I did there?) My dad has suffered from a heart condition called Atrial Fibrillation since I was in middle school. It was pretty scary growing up knowing that he had such a serious issue, and he has since had surgeries […]

Workout recovery boosters
Nutrition

Big Time Recovery Boosters

For the best workout foods outside of your workout fueling and immediate recovery window, you need to maximize micro-nutrients for overall health and long term muscle recovery, as well as include plenty of protein and produce to support muscle building and your immune system around the clock. Start working these powerhouses into your meal prep […]

super foods for pre-workout
Nutrition

5 Super Foods to Eat Before Your Next Workout

For the best pre- and post-workout foods, you’re looking for maximum efficiency and absorption to give your muscles the fuel they need to perform hard and maximize recovery. Pre-workout fueling can start as early as three hours prior to your workout and post workout takes place up to two hours after your workout (don’t wait […]

Nutrition

Why You're Not Losing Weight: Part I

Despite what you consider your best efforts, are you having problems losing weight? Don’t feel bad, while many people THINK they are doing all the right things, there are quite a few little things that we can all do that will go a long way in finally shedding those unwanted extra pounds. But before we […]

Horizon Fitness | Vision Fitness | Supplements
Nutrition

Ask an Expert: Nutritional Supplements

Question: I’ve read a lot about nutritional supplements lately. Are they something I should consider adding to improve my health and fitness? If so, what is the best (and safest) way to start? I get asked at least a few times a week about different supplements and exactly what people should or shouldn’t be taking to help […]

Nutrition

Simple Recommendations for a Healthier Heart

February is American Heart Month in the United States, aimed at bringing attention to a national effort to prevent one million heart attacks in the United States. Simple choices in diet and exercise can have a substantial impact on your overall heart health by improving overall cardiovascular function and decreasing cholesterol and tri-glyceride levels. For […]

Nutrition

Post-Workout Nutrition

Eating the right foods at the right time is equal parts science, art and experimentation. But it’s something you can master with just a little guidance. For example, pre-workout nutrition should leave you feeling energized and nourished, without worrying about your digestion. While post-workout nutrition should help you with recovery, gaining strength, and better performance. […]

Nutrition

Workout Nutrition: Timing Meals

If you read the first article in this three part nutrition series, then this article may seem in direct contradiction to my advice in the Pre-Workout Nutrition article, but I promise it all ties together. A common mistake many people make when it comes to properly fueling a workout is eating too much food too close to the […]

Nutrition-myths
Nutrition

Common Nutrition Myths

In today’s age of television infomercials, the internet and social media, people can easily get confused when it comes to health and fitness, causing common nutrition myths to circulate. Everywhere you turn, so called “experts” are telling you to work out this way or eat that way. And as long as people continually search for that […]

Nutrition

Ask an Expert: Staying Healthy During the Holidays

Question: Now that the kids are back in school, I’m finally making progress on my fitness goals. I’m scared of getting off track over the upcoming holidays. Do you have any advice on how to stay healthy during the holidays? — Sara First of all, congratulations on committing to a healthy lifestyle! It’s natural to feel […]

Nutrition

How To Treat Exercise-Related Hypoglycemia

Manage blood sugar drops and sugar cravings by getting your exercise-related hypoglycemia under control. Follow these 3 steps so you can enjoy exercising again.

Nutrition

What To Eat Before A 5K Race

A 5K race (3.1 miles) is a great distance for beginning racers, as well as for more experienced runners looking to warm-up for the season. To give yourself every pre-race advantage, it’s important to consider what you put into your body. As you’ve heard countless times before, breakfast is the most important meal of the day. […]

Nutrition

Should you go gluten-free?

The health food industry seems to operate in waves. Every so often a different food or substance is vilified. Suddenly, it becomes a badge of honor for foods to be labeled as free of it. Once it was fat, then carbs became the target. Right now, gluten seems to be the thing to avoid. A […]

Nutrition

The fat-free fallacy

Imagine yourself in this familiar situation: You’re at the store considering two similar foods options. They’re roughly the same product, except one boasts “no fat” and maybe even “high fiber.” You’re trying to eat healthy so you opt for the second choice,  avoiding the fat. Sometimes these products are even labeled as the “smart” or […]

Nutrition

Could intermittent fasting work for you?

How often do you eat? If you’re like most fitness enthusiasts, you probably go beyond the three traditional meals and have five or even six small meals every day. And for years, this has been the prevailing wisdom. The driving force behind this approach is the idea that doing so will boost your metabolism and […]

Nutrition

The full effects of appetite suppression pills

Weight control, in its simplest form,seems pretty straightforward: We gain weight because we eat and we eat because we’re hungry. It’s completely logical, then, to assume that appetite suppressants hold the key to weight loss. But do these supplements really offer a useful solution? Are there any potential side effects associated with common,  over-the-counter products? How They Work Appetite suppressants, as the name suggests, limit your cravings for food. The hope is that this will stop you from taking in the excess calories that get stored as fat. Different products try to . Generally, a stimulant such as caffeine, is also included to increase the effects. In fact, caffeine itself has appetite suppressing effects. Because of all this variety, it’s difficult to pinpoint the exact mechanism by which these products actually suppress your appetite. The question of whether or not appetite suppressants actually work is as difficult to answer as how they work, and for the same reasons. With all this uncertainty, you may not be comfortable investing money in some of these pills. Is there anything else you should know if you’re considering using appetite suppressants? Potential Concerns A major source of concern when it comes to the efficacy of appetite suppressants is this very lack uniformity. When combined with a lack of evidence regarding the usefulness of some compounds, […]

Nutrition

Power lunches: The healthiest ways to brown bag

Whether you work in an office or work out of your home, you have three choices for lunch. 1. Eat out. This limits your food options to what’s available nearby, and can double or triple your meal choices. 2. Skip lunch. This is more common than you’d think, and sets you up for poor productivity […]

Nutrition

Protein powders: What they do and don't do

One of the most widely used sports supplements by far is protein powder. Generally consisting of either dehydrated whey or casein, protein powder is featured in the routines of bodybuilders, runners and everyone in between. And while the research bears out the usefulness of protein powder in certain situations, it has also been promoted as […]

Nutrition

Condiments can make or break your diet

What would a burger be without ketchup? A sandwich without mayo? Or a baked potato without sour cream? It’s hard to imagine eating many foods without their condiment counterparts. But using high-calorie condiments may actually be sabotaging your healthy eating efforts. Condiments and Your Waistline Condiments kick dishes up a notch by adding flavor. But […]

Nutrition

Coconut oil: Miracle or myth?

Celebrity doctors and health food enthusiasts alike are touting coconut oil as the new miracle food. From preventing Alzheimer’s disease to promoting weight loss to giving you silky-smooth skin and even soothing diaper rash, it seems like there’s nothing that coconut oil can’t do. Or is there? Health or hype? Coconut oil isn’t a new […]

Nutrition

The truth behind negative calorie foods

Imagine a food that actually burns more calories than it provides, that helps you lose weight just by eating it. The idea sounds pretty good, doesn’t it? These so-called negative calorie foods have been promoted by many fitness books and diet plans. But do they work? Is there science to back this claim or is it […]

Nutrition

8 Alternative snacks

Between-meal snacking is either forbidden or essential, depending on which diet you choose to follow. Either way, most quick and available snack foods are decidedly weight-loss and nutrition unfriendly. Try these eight alternatives for your late morning, afternoon and after dinner munchies. 1. Good Ol’ Raisins and Peanuts (Gorp) There’s a reason hikers and campers […]

Nutrition

Chronic fat and why it keeps coming back

For some people, it seems like fat just melts off and losing weight is a matter of deciding that they want to. For many others, unfortunately, it’s not such an easy process. Many feel like they struggle their entire lives in a constant battle to lose the fat and keep it off. In fact, chronic […]

Nutrition

A crash course on cholesterol

Whether you have a family history of heart disease or are simply looking to take care of yourself for a lifetime, it’s smart to get a handle on your cholesterol status. The American Heart Association recommends regular screening of cholesterol blood levels for all adults over the age of 20, so if you don’t remember […]

carrots
Nutrition

Filling foods that won't pack on the pounds

It’s the dieter’s dilemma: you’re still hungry, though you just ate. Do you “cheat” and reach for more food? Or do you allow yourself to starve, which may make you more likely to overindulge later? Neither of these options are truly solutions. In fact, eating more than you should or not eating enough could end […]

Nutrition

Eating fresh in the winter cold

Unless you live someplace like California or Florida, eating fresh can be tricky during the winter months, and even in those warm locales, changing seasons still means changing availability of favorite crops. It’s not impossible to keep up your fruit and vegetable rotation in the cold seasons, but it does require some extra knowledge and […]

Nutrition

Finding the sweet spot: The best sweetener for you

Although sugar has a long history of human domestication and consumption, with records of its use going as far back as 510 BC., the sweet stuff has come under attack in the last 30 years. Common sugar, more correctly called sucrose, is generally taken from sugar cane or sugar beets and is available in many […]

Nutrition

Diet and exercise for seasonal depression

Short, grey days and cold weather are generally enough to drive even the most optimistic of us into a bit of a funk. But if you’re an avid exerciser who can’t get in your regular workout because of bad weather, the stress and rush of the holiday season can really throw you off your game. These […]

Nutrition

Diet reviews: The sardine diet

Fish, with its huge doses of omega-3 fatty acids, has received a recent push as a healthy protein choice. It’s no surprise, then, that many diets have been released that are specifically designed to help you up your fish intake. The Sardine Diet, as its name suggests, is just such a program. First detailed in […]

Nutrition

The skinny on holiday dieting

Staying on your diet during the holidays can be a real challenge, so much so that many people simply opt to call all of December a giant “cheat day.” This can lead to discouragement and destructive crash dieting come January. Instead, try any (or all) of these 20 basic tips to keep yourself on the […]

Nutrition

Beware of high-calorie holiday drinks

Nothing says “it’s the holidays” quite like a creamy cup of eggnog or a mug of spiced apple cider. But drinking too many of these festive beverages can leave you looking like Santa. Calories in Holiday Beverages Before you reach for that glass of cheer, take note: fancy beverages are often loaded with calories, fat […]

Nutrition

The Glycemic Index: What you should know

Your body is full of delicate balancing acts. Different chemicals are constantly competing to counteract each other and keep things running smoothly, in a process clinically known as homeostasis. This ability to self-regulate allows our bodies to maintain a healthy temperature, blood pressure and water levels. Another important example of homeostasis that has been receiving […]