Christina

5 Running Tips to help you run more efficiently:

Breathe! : A friend once told me about cadence breathing, and to this day, it is the technique that has worked for me and others I've passed it along to. This is simply inhaling and exhaling to the ‘tempo' or cadence of the right or left arm or right or left foot movement. The most popular breathing cadence (and the one that has worked best for me) is breathing in and out to the cadence of the dominant foot side, so for example, for 2 steps, you would breathe out, and another 2 steps, you would breathe in. Sounds simple enough, right? Try it the next time you jog or run. It just might help you go a little farther next time.

Relax! : This will allow you to run more efficiently. When your upper body is relaxed, everything else flows. Make sure shoulders are limber and your arms fall at your sides (at waist level or a little below) with open relaxed hands (not clenched). Your airways will be open up more and your lungs will be more efficient.

Make sure the shoe fits : Wearing the right shoe is key to running performance. Knowing whether you over pronate (feet turn in), supinate (feet turn out), or are an even heel striker will determine what type of shoe you should be wearing. If your feet aren't happy then most likely other body parts (hips, knees, shins, etc) won't be either. Get fitted at a running store where the help are runners themselves, so they will be best at helping you find the right shoe.

Strength Train! : This is a must if you want to become a stronger runner and will also help you in avoiding injuries. Stretching will help, but it is only one of the pieces to building a stronger, more efficient runner. Strengthening the muscles that are working while running is of vital importance. Take it from me; you must strengthen your hamstrings, gluteal muscles, hips and quadriceps. Strengthening your lower leg muscles such as you do in single leg exercises (ankle flexibility) is also key. Building a strong core is also very important; this is when all those silly looking balance gadgets come in handy.

If you have a goal then…Whether you want to get faster, train for a 5K, 10K, half marathon, or full marathon, you must have a plan. If you run the same distance at the same tempo every time, you will never improve. You must train at different intensities and distances to become a stronger runner.

Is It Really Sugar Free?

Wondering why you're not getting leaner after all the months of hard work you've been putting in at the gym? After all, you've changed your eating habits by cutting out all those fattening foods. But have you?

The fact is, there are hundreds of products out on the market today that claim to be sugar free. The deal is, sugar is disguised in many different forms, so the public is easily fooled into believing that what they're eating is a sugar free food. How can this be, you ask?

Read Your Labels – Carefully!
If any food is labeled sugar free you must read the fine print to really know if the food is indeed sugar free. I'll first touch on sugar alcohols, also known as polyols. Chemically sugar alcohol resembles alcohol and sugar, with alcohol containing 7 calories per gram and sugar containing 4 calories per gram. They are a form of natural sugar and can be found in protein bars, cakes, cookies, sugar-free candies – you get the idea. Scientific names for this sugar include sorbitol, mannitol, and xylitol. They provide sweetness, texture, and help retain moistness. As I mentioned, simple sugars contain 4 calories per gram while sugar alcohols contain 2.6 calories per gram. Sugar alcohol won't bring about the sudden rush of sugar like regular sugar, but keep in mind they can have an effect on your blood sugar and ultimately insulin production (although less than simple sugars). Some of you may already know that these polyols have been accepted by the American Medical Association for people with diabetes because of the slower absorption rate into the bloodstream than simple sugars. However, that doesn't make it ideal. Ingest enough sugar alcohol and a blood sugar spike is very possible, so these calories do count!

Also Look Out For:

• Fructose – simple sugar found in abundance in fruit and honey
• Dextrose – sucrose
• Dextrin - sugar
• Corn syrup & high fructose corn syrup - sugar
• Carob powder - 75% sucrose, glucose, and fructose
• Lactose – milk sugar
• Maltose – breaks down into glucose in the intestine
• Saccharose - sucrose
• Turbinado - sucrose
  That's not even a complete list, but you get the idea that it's easy for manufacturers to disguise their products as “sugar free” when in fact they're not.

A Simple Fact About Simple Sugars
Sugar, when ingested, will have an effect on your potential to release fat. The sugar gets absorbed into the bloodstream all at once. In response, the pancreas increases its production of insulin who's job it is to remove that sugar from the bloodstream and store it in the liver and muscles as glycogen. Another hormone, glucagon is a release hormone (mobilizes fat to be used as energy and thus burned) which is in turn lowered. When insulin levels are up and glucagon levels down, it is virtually impossible to burn stored body fat.

Bottom line: you want to stabilize your insulin/glucagon levels by eating more complex carbohydrates such as brown rice, oatmeal, and other whole grains as these have a much slower absorption rate into the bloodstream and provide sustained energy throughout the day. Processed carbohydrates such as white flour and white rice are virtually treated like a simple sugar by the body. With complex carbohydrates, you'll burn stored body fat a lot quicker!

Net Carbs Equals Net Calories!
I'm sorry, but this whole net carb/low carb craze has made me crazed! Kinda sounds similar to the “fat free” craze of the early 90's when everyone got fat eating “fat free” because of all the sugar. Also worth mentioning is that many of these “low carb” foods are high in fat! Come on people, are we really that gullible?!!? Bottom line, read what you're eating. If the product reads “net carbs” know that contains sugar in some form or another. I'm not telling you not to eat it, but if your goal is to lose body fat, you want to reduce or cut out sugars, and that includes all forms.

I hope I clarified things for you, but if you would like more information on this and other topics in nutrition and how to get results, contact me Christina Tolon at 954-632-0980.