These workout-specific, pre-gym snacks will help you maximize your energy systems.

Eating before your workout fuels growth, but a space-age supplement isn’t always the best option. “Whole foods provide more nutritious sources of protein, carbs and fats your needs.

A – Best for heavy lifting
2 or 3 large pieces of beef or turkey jerky, 1 handful of macadamia nuts (about 20 nuts)
Total – 523 calories, 26g protein, 46g carbs, 28g fat

B – Best for cardio sprint
1 handful of dried fruit, 2 tbsp of peanut butter, 60g of mozzarella cheese (about 2 slices)
Total – 452 calories, 23g protein, 35g carbs, 25g fat

C Best for weight circuit
Small handful of almonds (great for memory) (about 20 nuts) 2 tbsp of low fat cottage cheese, 1 handful of pineapple chunks
Total – 499 calories, 31g protein, 32g carbs, 23g fat

Everyone knows a high access of salt can cause high blood pressure and cardiovascular disease. Every year in the UK 150,000 people suffer a stroke, according to the Stroke Association, while three in five people don’t know they should limit their daily salt to 6g.

In a review of 13 studies, researchers analyzed data on more than 170,000 people and found a scarily strong link between too much sodium and cardiovascular disease and stroke. As in eating just 5 extra grams of salt (about a teaspoon) daily upped the stroke rate by 23 percent. As in that same 5 grams of salt increased the cardiovascular disease rate by 17 percent.

The researchers say cutting 5 grams of salt daily around the world could prevent more than a million strokes and 3 million cardiovascular disease deaths per year. Yikes.
Tracey
NotSuperHuman.com

1 – Buy Fresh

One of the easiest ways to lower your intake is to buy fresh food instead of prepared and packaged, which is where most of your daily dose comes from.

2 – Check the label

Even seemingly healthy foods such as bread can be high in salt. Foods are said to be high in salt if they contain more than 1.5g salt (or 06 sodium) per 100g. Low-salt foods have less than 0.3g salt (or 0.1g sodium) per 100g.

3 – Break the habit

It’s easy to add salt after cooking, but this is often down to little more than habit. Stop shaking tons of salt on your chips, your rice and food. Leave the cellar in the cupboard and not in the middle of the table. More often than not you’ll forget about it!

4 – Buy Try before you sprinkle

Taste your food to see if it actually needs salt. You can flavour your favourite dishes with lemon juice, garlic or chilli power or from a mixture of herbs.

5 – Pick a substitute

Low-sodium alternatives, such as Lo-Salt, provide the flavour but use potassium instead of sodium, which is the main cause of health problems. However, people with kidney problems shouldn’t use these products.

Credits – Tracey and AuntieP Flickr for the photo.

Everyone knows we live in a modern, fast and digital world – the planet is changing, more and more people are connecting through social networking and more and more people are eating snacks from vending machines. Confused? It’s clearly true, there are more vending machines for crisps, chocolates, sweets and fizzy drinks then ever, especially in the UK. We are so busy and consumed with our daily lives we have adopted buying snacks on the move like sugar bag filled Coke-a-Cola and Sunny D that we have stopped to think about the long term effects.

Eating slowly is recommended for health. Slow eating reduces the consumption of food, as it postpones much of the meal to a time when the absorption of nutrients begin to produce physiological signals of satiety (feeling full). By taking your time eating, not only will the food you have eaten release signals to make you feel and think your full, it will help you relax, sleep better and unwind – you can appreciate your food and find “me time” to contemplate – gain patience and humility.

Slow eating will help you with chewing your food and this will result in the exercise of your jaws mixing with saliva with food, hence a complete efficient digestion taking place, food particles are cut into smaller pieces, not requiring much churning in the stomach or intestine.

“A bad stomach is the cause of the majority of the worlds problems” – Arm-Bar..

Do you agree with our quote above? Food causes problems to your heart, your brain – food can make you greedy, angry, depressed – over eating can of course. Eating food that causes you to feel bloated to a degree, fill and poison your bile flow will disrupt your whole body overtime. Poor stomach digestion is the cause to much of the worlds problems on a clear degree.

Take a look at three reasons why you should take your time to eat and remember our advice on the last reason #4 about balance.

1) Better Digestion

When taking your time to chew food rather than wolfing it down, you will absorb more nutrients. The digestion process begins in your mouth and not your stomach – your digestive system can absorb only a small fraction of the nutrients available in inadequately chewed food. More goodness is taken when you chew properly.

2) Less Stress

Eating at a sensible speed not only causes less stress on your stomach, it helps with relaxing your brain. Pausing to actually taste and savour the food, instead of rushing to get it from plate to gut as soon as possible, releases feel good chemicals in your brain, helping you stay happy and relaxed. It can increase your tolerance and being patient skills.

3) Weight loss

Studies have shown that you can loose 20lb (9kg) a year just by eating slower. It takes your stomach around 20 minutes to produce the hormones that tell your brain that it’s full. Eating more slowly allows you to become more full before eating – meaning you are less likely to reach for seconds on a high-calorie desert.

4) Arm-Bar.co.uk – Balance Formula

Remember this formula on balance.

Your stomach should separated into three parts; One-third for food, one-third for liquids, and one-third for breath.

If you you split your stomach into three portions, 1/3 part of it for your food which you have consumed slowly, another 1/3 for water and liquids – lastly making sure you have 1/3 of your stomach empty and free for air and circulation. This is a flawless solution to becoming more healthy – taking into account your other actives like sports and training at the gym.

Arm-Bar