In this Blog Post we will cover everything you need to know about micronutrients. If you want to improve your health and knowledge, keep reading.

What are micronutrients?

Micronutrients are vitamins and minerals that are only needed in small amounts. Our bodies are not able to produce all of the nutrients that we need to function properly, so we have to eat them.

Vitamins are compounds which are necessary for our normal growth and function. Most of the compounds needed for our body cells to function properly can be made by our cells from other nutrients. However, our bodies don’t have the ability to make the small number that we call vitamins. We only need a very tiny amount of vitamins. They are still present in ample amounts in various foods, but it is possible to become deficient in vitamins. If this happens, there could be some health issues that arise.

Which vitamins should you eat?

There are 13 vitamins which all interact within our cell enzymes to regulate a variety of essential bodily functions. They are crucial for many metabolic processes such as releasing energy from nutrients, building and maintaining bones, teeth, skin, blood and many other vital body tissues.

There are also two main categories of vitamins fat-soluble and water-soluble.

What is a water soluble vitamin?

Water soluble vitamins are not able to be stored in our bodies for very long. In fact, we pee them out – so we need to eat them almost every day.

The water-soluble vitamins are all of the B vitamins, C vitamins, and also vitamin H. Water-soluble vitamins are not stored in our bodies, so any excess amounts of these vitamins that are consumed are usually removed from our bodies via our urine.

What is a fat soluble vitamin?

Fat-soluble vitamins use the fats that we eat as a transport system to get around our body, and are stored in fatty tissues as well as our liver.

The fat-soluble vitamins are A, D, E and K. One reason why we need fat in our diet is that the fat-soluble vitamins are transported with fats in “lipoproteins” in our blood, or with specific transport proteins because they can not dissolve in water or blood. These vitamins operate in cells as well as their membranes. Due to the fact that these vitamins can be stored in our body, excessively high intakes of them can be toxic harmful.

Why are minerals needed in our diets?

To understand why we need to eat minerals, it’s best to first understand what minerals are. Minerals are inorganic substances, which occur naturally in non-living things such as water, rocks, soil, plants, and even animals. Some minerals are required for our cells to function properly, so they are actively taken into plants from the soil and water. We obtain minerals when they eat plants, as well as from water.

What is the use of dietary minerals?

The minerals in our diet are essential for a variety of bodily functions. They are important for building strong bones, teeth, blood, skin, hair, nerve function, muscle and for metabolic processes such as those that turn the food we eat into energy. In simple terms, this means that minerals are needed for the body to work properly for proper health as well as stable growth and development.

Different minerals are required in different amounts, but they are all essential. Minerals are grouped depending on how much they are needed on a daily basis, so the minerals that are needed in bigger amounts are known as the minerals, macro-minerals and major minerals. The minerals that are needed in smaller amounts are known as micro-minerals or “trace elements”.

I hope after reading this you feel like you have learned almost all the important things that there is to know about micronutrients.

-Blake Bernstein Resilient Fitness Personal Trainer

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Do you want to be as care free as possible on your much deserved vacation without worrying about the scale skyrocketing once you return? Here are some keys to help you avoid weight gain!

In the end, how much or how little your vacation ends up interfering with your overall progress/physique is on you. But if you are smart about it, you will come home fine and be right back to where you were before you left. Below is a short list of options that will hopefully put your mind at ease about what to do while you’re on vacation:

Portion control

Maybe you are staying at an all-inclusive resort where food & drinks are abundant 24/7. That’s totally fine, but control yourself. If you have a huge breakfast at a buffet, try not to stuff yourself with a one-pound cheeseburger and a pile of waffle fries for lunch. If you opt for a light lunch or a snack instead, it . Or you can always go with my personal philosophy – eat until you’re comfortably full. Don’t eat until you are so full that you hate yourself. The same thing goes for drinks.

Intermittent fasting

There is not anything inherently magical about intermittent fasting. It is just a way to control your overall food intake. If you are on vacation, it means you’ll be able to find something fun & exciting to do. So maybe skip breakfast after you wake up and occupy your mind and your time with something fun until noon comes around and it is time for lunch. Time flies when you are on vacation. It should not be hard to fill your time with other things. You can decide what time you want to fast and what time you want to eat.

Staying active

Most resorts have gyms. Better yet – most resorts have a beach! Go run. Go swim in the water! If you’re active, you’re more likely to burn off the food you ate. Even if you can’t find time to exercise, you’d probably be surprised at the number of calories you burn just by walking around and sightseeing. There are a number of ways to stay active. Literally anything besides sitting down all day.

Making Your Own Meals

This option sucks, but if you are REALLY worried about not being able to do any of the above, making your own meals might be the best option, and honestly, it’s the only way to accurately know how many calories you’re eating. Will it be convenient? No, probably not. But it all depends on where you’re at with your fitness goals and what you’re willing to sacrifice to accomplish them.

And finally…Do nothing

That’s right. It isn’t a secret to staying slim. But does it make you care free? Yeah. After all, it’s called a vacation for a reason – you VACATE your regular life for a bit. It’s a good break for your mind, it’s good break for your body. Might this option result in coming back a few pounds heavier than when you left? Well if you vacationed right, then yeah it might! I kid, I kid. But seriously, it most likely will. And that is totally fine.

You know exactly what you need to do to get back on track with things when you get home. Get back to your exercises, drink plenty of water, and get your diet in check again. Most of your post-vacation weight gain is going to be from glycogen, sodium, water, and a small percentage might be actual fat. But again, get back on track and you’ll be back to normal in only a few short days.

People don’t give the human body enough credit. It is incredibly efficient at maintaining it’s current state. You really have to give it a reason to change. It doesn’t want to lose or gain weight. It is happy where it is. That’s not to say gaining weight is hard. That’s the easy part. This is where I go back to portion control. Be smart about what you eat and how much you eat, and I bet you’ll surprise yourself with how easy it is to stay around your normal weight upon returning.

Blake Bernstein – Personal Trainer

The post Secrets to Avoid Weight Gain On Vacation appeared first on Resilient Fitness in Wellington, FL.

You may have heard people say “I have a slow metabolism,” or “I have a fast metabolism.” It’s as if they think of their metabolism the same way they think of their liver – like it is some mechanism or some separate thing with a specific bodily task (that task being burning food).

To put it simply: your metabolism is your body.

Your metabolism is your bodily functions and processes themselves. It is the chemical reaction within the cells of your body. The chemical reactions are either catabolic (to be breaking down matter and releasing energy) or anabolic (to be building up matter). 

Now, your metabolism can be influenced in a few different ways: Gaining weight, losing weight, or by exercising.

Energy Expenditure

The biggest misconception about metabolism is the myth that some people have a slow metabolism and that some people have a fast metabolism. The first factor to consider when talking about ones metabolism is someone’s energy expenditure. This means how many calories someone is expending on a given day based upon a variety of different things they may be doing, such as their exercise/daily movement.

The second misconception is the amount of muscle mass compared to the amount of fat they carry. This is an important variable. Since muscle burns more calories than fat even though this amount is very very tiny, a lean person that is of the same height and weight as an overweight person may have a slightly higher basal metabolic rate.

The leaner person is also going to be more effective at calorie partionining. That is to say, his or her body may be more likely to store excess calories as muscle instead of fat. 

This is where hormones come into play. Calories are king. Hormones generally play 2nd to calories, but nonetheless they can have an effect on one’s ability to gain muscle, lose fat, or both. And they play a role in how much muscle or fat is created. A lean person is going to be much more effective at gaining muscle than an overweight person.

If you are lean, you are more likely to have increased insulin sensitivity, and insulin is one of the most powerful anabolic hormones synthesized in the body. This means that an overweight person is going to be more likely to be gaining fat.

Body Types & Metabolism

You may also hear people talk about body types: mesomorph, endomorph, ectomorph.

And while it’s true that people do have different body sizes and shapes, these body type labels are not an excuse to say you have a slow or fast metabolism.

If you’re an ”endomorph”, it’s likely because you grew up and became that way over time. Your body adapted to the food you were giving it.

Once adulthood was reached, your body had its shape.

So if you’re an ”endomorph”, you’re already at a predisposition to gain more fat when in a calorie surplus.

The ”ectomorph”, on the other hand, never ate enough growing up to become overweight, and so his body appears thin and skinny. Again, this doesn’t mean he has a fast metabolism. It just means he doesn’t eat enough to gain any significant weight. 

People will always say, “I know so-and-so, and he eats anything and everything and never gains any weight.”

This one is always laughable to hear. Are you sure about that? Do you monitor his food intake? Do you calculate his daily calorie intake vs expenditure? I highly doubt that. And if you did, you’d find out that on a weekly average, his intake vs expenditure comes out to be a wash. That’s why he doesn’t ever gain weight. He may gorge on foods on certain days, and eat very little on other days.

It balances out. If you are skinny and struggling to put on weight, you probably need to eat more.. Or provide your muscles with a more effective stimulus to grow, or both. If you’re struggling to lose weight, you probably need to eat less, or switch up your exercise routine, or both.

These are some of the biggest reasons why the fast or slow metabolism myth has perpetuated over the years. They are completely wrong though. Once you know the truth and understand it, you can use this new knowledge to make more progress and adjust your current plan.

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Almost everybody wants to get leaner and live a healthier life. You may have many friends who are following different diets or exercise regimens that are shedding fat like crazy. Some may even try to guilt you for not following the same lifestyle as them. You are not sure what is the truth anymore with all of the false information out there, but all you know is that you are beyond desperate to find a diet that will finally work for you. In this blog post you will be presented with some of the biggest nutrition myths.

Myth #1

“A Calorie Is Not A Calorie.”

No one ever wants to accept this or believe this. Both of these statements are myths that are perpetuated constantly by the general public and even people who are into fitness and nutrition. This is simply due to the misunderstanding of what a calorie actually is. A calorie is a unit of energy. It is a unit used to measure the energy needed to increase the temperature of water by 1° celsius. That is all that it is. So when someone says not all calories are created equal, this person is not actually referring to calories; he/she is unwittingly referring to the macronutrients (carbs, fats, protein, and also alcohol) and micronutrients – think vitamins and minerals. 

When measured out equally, 300 calories of chicken breast is the same as 300 calories of chocolate chips. That is to say, the energy is the same. It is no different than asking, “What’s heavier, a bag of quarters that weighs 10 pounds or a bag of feathers that weighs 10 pounds?”. The weight is the same, and it is only the contents of the bags that are different. Quarters & feathers have different purposes. In the same sense, calories are calories. It is the macronutrients and the micronutrients that are different. So instead of saying the calories in chicken are not the same as the calories in chocolate chips, the correct statement should be: “The nutritional content in chicken is vastly different than the nutritional content of chocolate chips.”

Nutritional content refers to nutrients, which are our macros and micros. Calories are units of energy. Macros CONTAIN calories, but rest assured they are not calories themselves. This is where the confusion comes from. When people argue that not all calories are the same, they have the right idea most of the time, but they’re simply confused on what they’re talking about. So next time some one says that, you can kindly clear up the confusion for them.

Myth #2

”Starvation Mode”

A reasonable caloric restricted diet can certainly stall progress, but it isn’t due to the reasons that you are hearing from the masses. This is often termed as “Starvation Mode” – This term is often used out of context and most people take it to the extreme and truly believe “you won’t lose fat if you starve yourself”. This is why people don’t like the term.

“Starvation Mode” realistically means that while in a significant caloric deficit your body will slow down non-vital functions in order to maintain its current state (homeostasis). This means that NEAT (Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis) will slow down — Things like fidgeting, knee bouncing, pacing, etc. will stop. Things like cognitive function will also start to decline (if you ever had any friends who competed in body building shows, you may have heard a term called prep brain). Energy levels will be down from the low caloric intake and then people start to become more sedentary – no evening walks, decreasing the distance they would walk their dogs, no trips to the mall, or family outings – all things that cause energy expenditure (calories being used up).

All of that apparently causes “Starvation Mode”. Your body is NOT holding on to fat. Your body is SLOWING everything down in order to MAINTAIN homeostasis. In your typical dieter, the stress of dieting & hunger will increase cortisol levels & will A) cause muscle protein breakdown (muscle loss) & B) cause water retention, masking fat loss.

If you eat too little, you will starve to death. Period. Your body will do everything it can to prevent this and support vital functions. While you will use both fat & muscle for energy, your body will first utilize fat for energy, then muscle. This has been seen in those who are fasting for various reasons. An example that is easy to see is bodybuilders. People who practically starve themselves to leanness are able to maintain muscle mass and lose fat (yes, they increase protein and train to minimize that loss). 

Sometimes you see someone who is NOT losing weight on very low calories. They are accurately tracking and they are not bingeing. Outside of the RARE metabolic disorder, they are not losing because this very low calorie intake is their current maintenance calories because of the DECREASE in NEAT and an INCREASE in cortisol. When we increase calories, they have more energy & are less stressed – this causes an INCREASE in NEAT and a DECREASE in cortisol. They are moving more due to more energy and their maintenance calories are now over what the increased calories are. Thus weight loss on more calories.

Quick Example-

You eat 1400 calories a day. This results in you being tired & also low activity (decreased NEAT). Which then leads to low TDEE(Total Daily Energy Expenditure) which equals stalled progress. You now decide to eat 1800 calories. You now have more energy and have more of a want to do activities. So you increase your NEAT. Which now gives you a higher TDEE.. Which equals weight loss. 

Myth #3.

‘’BCAA Supplementation is useful for growth and recovery’’

BCAA’S are one of the most popular supplements on the market at the moment, and they have been for quite some time. There is a lot of misinformation circulating not just the internet, but word of mouth everywhere. From, supplement shop owners, from your personal trainer in your local gym, to even your close friends. I am sure you were given the ‘’hype’’ about BCAA’S and all of the magical benefits you will be provided once you add these to your daily supplement regimen. And while yes they are critical to your muscle tissue as well as most other tissues in your body, they provide no benefit when compared to a high quality leucine rich whey protein. To get the most benefit to improve your growth and recovery – eat your protein. 

Protein is, by itself, a substantial source of BCAA and no further supplementation is required nor helpful. You get all the BCAA and EAA you need in your meals. BCAA, nor protein, aid in any feeling of recovery, added perceivable energy (beyond the calories consumed) nor any other of the fancy terms thrown about by the marketing press. They are simply a small but important part of protein as a whole, and work silently to build various tissues in the body. So save the money you would buy on your monthly BCAA haul, and treat yourself to a little something.

Not being able to identify what is true and what is false in the fitness community can be quite discouraging, but I hope that these myths being debunked along with the assistance of our great trainers at Resilient Fitness can help with pointing you in the right direction to tackling your goals this year with knowledge and confidence. Give us a call today at (561) 204-5033 so we can discuss how to book your first training assessment at Resilient Fitness.

Blake Bernstein, Personal Trainer

References-

1. Byrne NM, Wood RE, Schutz Y, Hills AP. Does metabolic compensation explain the majority of less-than-expected weight loss in obese adults during a short-term severe diet and exercise intervention? International Journal of Obesity (2005). 2012;36(11):1472–1478. doi:10.1038/ijo.2012.109.

2. Johannsen DL, Knuth ND, Huizenga R, Rood JC, Ravussin E, Hall KD. Metabolic slowing with massive weight loss despite preservation of fat-free mass. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2012;97(7):2489–2496. doi:10.1210/jc.2012-1444.

3. Rosenbaum M, Hirsch J, Gallagher DA, Leibel RL. Long-term persistence of adaptive thermogenesis in subjects who have maintained a reduced body weight. Am J Clin Nutr. 2008;88(4):906–912. Available at: https://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/88/4/906.long.

4. Goele K, Bosy-Westphal A, Rumcker B, Lagerpusch M, Muller MJ. Influence of changes in body composition and adaptive thermogenesis on the difference between measured and predicted weight loss in obese women. Obes Facts. 2009;2(2):105–109. doi:10.1159/000210369.

5.Buchholz, A C, and D A Schoeller. “Is a calorie a calorie?” The American journal of clinical nutrition., U.S. National Library of Medicine, May 2004, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15113737.

6. Dieter, B P, et al. “The data do not seem to support a benefit to BCAA supplementation during periods of caloric restriction.” Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition., U.S. National Library of Medicine, 11 May 2016, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27175106.

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