Essential Fatty Acids

Posted by Susan - 11/24/08 at 03:11:55 pm

I’ve stumbled upon alot of research recently regarding Essential Fatty Acids (EFAs), including how long chain Omega-3 fatty acids modulate hunger signals.

More on that later. In the meantime, as a primer, an essential nutrient is

1. Required by the body for proper function and,
2. One that cannot be made in sufficient quantities by the body and thus must be obtained through ones diet

The Essential Fatty Acids include

1. alpha-linoleic acid
2. linolenic acid

Alpha-linoleic acid (ALA) as well as the fatty acids eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) belongs to a group of fatty acids called Omega-3 acids. EPA and DHA are found primarily in fish while ALAis highly concentrated in certain plant oils such as flaxseed oil and, to a lesser extent, canola, soy and walnut oils.

Most Omega-6 fatty acids are consumed in the diet from vegetable oils as linolenic acid (LA).

While the ratio of Omega-6 to Omega-3 should be close to 1:1, the typical North American diet has ratios now over 10:1 due to the addition of corn, sunflower, safflower, and sesame oils to our food supply.

Consequently, this shift is thought by many to be a factor in a number of chronic medical conditions including arthritis, cardiovascular disease, asthma, acne, depression and even obesity.

According to a recent study published in the November 2008 issue of Appetite, 232 overweight and obese volunteers were provided with a calorie restricted, balanced diet. Participants were randomly assigned to take a low dose of Omega-3 (260 mg/day) or a high dose of Omega-3 (1300 mg/day) supplement for a period of 2-weeks.

Those who received the high dose of Omega-3 maintained a better level of satiety immediately following meals as well as two hours post-meal. Blood tests showed not only a higher concentration of Omega-3 in these individuals, but an improved Omega-3 to Omega-6 ratio as well.

If you’re one of those individuals who are hungry 20 minutes following a meal, consider adding more Omega-3 rich foods to your diet!

Foods with high levels of Omega-3 include:

• Salmon
• Scallops
• Sardines
• Shrimp
• Cod
• Flaxseeds
• Walnuts
• Cauliflower
• Cabbage
• Romaine Lettuce
• Broccoli

Being that most folks on Gyminee are concerned with their body fat, It’s important to note that healthy fats do not make us fat. Quite the opposite. Healthy fats suppress appetite and Omega-3s help you lose body fat.  “Fat-Free” diets are partially responsible for the current obesity epidemic in America.  Eat fats, but choose wisely.

Train hard; stay strong.

Peace.

Susan

www.catapultfitnessblog.com

Gyminee is a Finalist

Posted by Stephen - 11/20/08 at 11:11:12 am

We’re excited to announce that Gyminee is a finalist in Mashable’s Open Web Awards. The Open Web Awards are:

the only multilingual international online voting competition that covers major innovations in web technology. Through an online nominating and voting process, the Open Web Awards recognizes and honors the top achievements in 26 categories.

If you think Gyminee is the best fitness site on the web, then please cast your vote right away. Simply enter your email address in the widget below to vote. Thanks!

Better Food Search!

Posted by Stephen - 11/13/08 at 09:11:24 am

So, I know many of you have been wondering what’s been going on behind-the-scenes at Gyminee. Well, the answer is a lot!

Most of what we have been working on recently has been totally behind-the-scenes (server upgrades, bug fixes, optimizations, etc.). We expect the Gyminee user-base to continue growing, and to do so at a much quicker pace in the near future. Soon, the Gyminee website will be able to scale at near 100% efficiency.

One of the updates that isn’t completely behind the scenes is a new and improved Food Search. I would expect that some of you keen-eyed users have noticed some improvements with their search results lately. This is because of a combination of things.

For one, we have completely revamped the search engine that helps drive the Food, GymBuddy, Exercise, and Forum searches. It will be faster, more stable, and also return more accurate results for all of the above.

On top of that, the (surprisingly complex) algorithm that helps return the best food results possible has been completely rewritten. Things such as how many times the food has been eaten and whether or not it has an image are now taken into account when you search for foods.

Enjoy and stay tuned for more updates in the near future!

Nutrient Timing

Posted by Susan - 11/10/08 at 02:11:22 pm

In an effort to start putting on muscle (and no, I’m not worried about bulking up!) I’ve started educating myself on the science of nutrient timing.

For edification purposes I read published articles and research papers by Dr. John Berardi, Alan Aragon and Dr. John Ivy.  I’ve become a fan of Dr. Ivy, who has spent his career researching healthy options for building strength, endurance and muscle mass.

Up until now my focus has been on what to eat and how much to eat.  With my goal being to build lean muscle mass I will now begin to incorporate nutrient timing, or when to eat, into my daily protocol.

In this posting I’ll briefly summarize Dr. Ivy’s position.  For a more detailed explanation check out Dr. Ivy’s book, Nutrient Timing, available on Amazon.com for around $10 US.

If anyone out there has utilized nutrient timing as part of your regime, I’d love to hear about your results!

Biology 101

Adenosine Triphosphate (ATP) provides the energy currency (fuel) for the body to perform mechanical work such as muscle contraction.  It is created by the breakdown of food, which is why it’s imperative that if you’re exercising you keep your body well nourished.

ATP can be generated both anaerobically (without oxygen) and aerobically (with oxygen).

Anaerobically, ATP is formed through the phosphagen system and through glycolysis.  The phosphagen system provides enough energy to fuel 5 to 10 seconds of activity while glycolysis fuels activities that last around 30 to 120 seconds.

For longer duration activities such as a marathon, the body relies on the aerobic pathway where carbohydrates, protein and fat are utilized for ATP production.

So, while muscles can only store enough ATP for a few seconds of high intensity contraction (e.g, sprinting), our bodies are constantly generating more ATP.  The more intense the exercise, the greater the body’s demand for ATP, the more wear and tear on the body.

This is where nutrient timing comes in to play.

Recommendations

In his research findings, Dr. Ivy identified a time span during which nutrition will impact an athletes ability to improve endurance, reduce muscle damage and improve recovery.  Specifically:

• 30 minutes prior to exercise fully hydrate by consuming 14 - 20 ounces of water or electrolyte solution.
• During exercise fluids should be replenished every 15 - 20 minutes.  And, not just water.  A drink consisting of a 4:1 carbohydrate to protein ratio can increase endurance and limit muscle damage.
• 30 minutes post-workout is the window of opportunity where a muscle’s potential to rebuild peaks.  Ivy suggests high quality protein and carbohydrates be consumed during this period.

Summary

For the average person who does not spend a considerable amount of time exercising, focusing on the what and how much to eat will ensure they are able to maintain a desired weight.

As for the athlete or person spending a considerable amount of time in the gym seeking to change their body composition, nutrient timing is well worth the exploration.

Train hard; stay strong.

Peace.

Susan

www.catapultfitnessblog.com

Gyminee Featured on Lifehacker

Posted by JuryDuty - 11/09/08 at 01:11:05 pm

This week Gyminee was featured on Lifehacker, one of the Internet’s very popular destinations for “tips and downloads for getting things done.”

Here’s their synopsis about Gyminee:

“Weightloss webapp Gyminee takes your fitness goals to the cloud. Search for new workouts, nutritional information, join groups of like-minded exercisers, participate in challenges, and find “GymBuddies” to serve as accountability partners and morale boosters. The layout of the site is clean and the functions easy to access. The home base of your Gyminee experience is “My Locker Room” where you can track a variety of fitness goals from defaults like body weight, body fat, resting heart rate, and size measurements, to custom user-defined entries like mile times, lap speed, or any other fitness goal you want to track. The locker room also has charts to map out your progress, a journal for detailing your fitness transformation, and a section for progress pictures so everyone can see how you went from Cubicle Jockey to Jacked and Tan.”

We welcome any Lifehacker readers who want to give Gyminee a try! We believe you’ll find it to be the BEST place on the web for tracking your exercise and nutrition, bar none.

Meanwhile, we encourage Gyminee users to jump over to Lifehacker, check their site out and let their readers know what you like about Gyminee in the comments section of their article.

–JuryDuty

(Christopher Maselli at WritingMomentum.com)

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