Practical Nutrition

There have been countless FADS, detoxes, diets and more that have been popularized on various social media platforms. The newest buzz on Tik Tok is something called Parasite Cleanses. This is described as any supplement, diet or other “detox” product that is intended to eliminate parasites from your body without using prescription meds. Before we go into more detail about this topic, we have a special guest with us today! You may recognize her name and voice from your nightly news in the Southwest Missouri Area…. Today we are welcoming Maria Naider, KY3 news anchor to Practical Nutrition! Welcome Maria!!

Today we are going to discuss a nutrition and fitness lifestyle that is trending among Millennials and Gen-Z-ers; it is called Cycle Syncing. “Cycle” as in menstrual cycles.  As most of us know, menstruation is a monthly cycle in the female body that is driven by hormonal fluctuations. But did you know that menstruation is more than just the days of bleeding? The bleeding part is just one of 4 phases which occur during a month. Girls should start having cycles at the beginning of puberty, and will continue having them every month until menopause, (woo hoo, lucky us) unless there is an outstanding circumstance such as pregnancy, medical condition, meds/contraceptives or undernutrition. With the monthly hormonal fluctuations comes changes in mood, energy levels, appetite, skin, and body water retention, and more. Could Cycle Syncing be the answer to alleviating these symptoms? Let’s take a closer look. 

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“The first device to hack your metabolism. Enhance fat burn, lose weight, and boost energy naturally.” Lumen is the world’s first hand-held, portable device to accurately measure metabolism. It uses a carbon dioxide sensor to determine the carbon dioxide concentration in a single breath.

I just read to you the description of a product available for direct consumer purchase touted for facilitating weight loss and overall health by understanding if your body is currently in a state of fat burning or carb burning. Sounds amazing, right? Don’t jump out of your chair and dart to your computer to purchase this product just yet. We are going to go into more detail on if this product is something you should have alongside your healthy lifestyle journey or if it’s a waste of money.

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What can you do to better prepare for school sports? Our topic today is something we get lots of questions about and we will give you some practical tips for success! This topic could also be helpful for preparing for any workout during your day. These tips have been shown to help improve sports performance!

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When you think of testosterone, what comes to mind? Macho men? Aggressive, impatient, type A behavior? Road rage? Violence? Athleticism? Testosterone's role in “macho” behavior is largely a myth. What's more, testosterone plays other important roles in health and disease that may surprise you. For example, did you know that testosterone is a key player in prostate cancer? Or, that women need testosterone, too? There's more to testosterone than “men just being men.” Today we will discuss the roles of testosterone, normal levels, Testosterone Replacement Therapy (TRT), and ways we can modulate our testosterone through nutrition and fitness.

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If you’ve ever sat on the other side of the table with one of us in a nutrition session, you may have caught on to us avoiding using absolute terminology.

That’s because, the reality of it is, you don’t have to do this or never do this. We are all about taking what’s called a client-centered approach. Instead of having standardized “rules” that we give clients, we listen to where you are at in your healthy lifestyle journey - your current exercise routine, foods you love, drinks you love, and where you want to eventually be in your healthy lifestyle journey….just to name a few. We are here to help motivate you through your own journey at your own pace, while giving healthy lifestyle recommendations along the way. Today we are going to talk to you a little bit more about our healthy lifestyle recommendation process and how we counsel our clients at AYB to help them achieve their best and healthiest self.

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Dementia is the 6th leading cause of death in the US! Mediterranean and DASH diets have been shown to be associated with slower brain decline as we age. These two eating patterns were put together to make a super charged eating pattern called the MIND diet. That stands for Mediterranean-Dash Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay.

The overall premise of the MIND diet includes 10 food groups that were associated with less brain decline and 5 food groups that were associated with more brain decline. These food choices were based on previous studies that linked these foods to either benefit or harm to your brain aging process. Foods that have been associated with brain aging improvements have several things in common. They are high in fiber, omega 3’s, B vitamins, vitamin E, and antioxidants such as carotenoids and flavonoids.

To put this eating pattern to the test, almost 1000 older people were studied over 5 years as part of the Memory and Aging Project. It is important to remember that this was not a randomized, placebo controlled trial, so it just shows association, not causation. Also, we don’t know if what was studied is the best recommendation because this research did not study that in particular. However, the association was statistically strong and this eating pattern warrants further study. In the research, participants in the top quartile of MIND Diet scores vs the lowest quartile of scores showed a difference in cognitive aging of 7.5 years younger! More research is needed to show definite benefits, but these foods are healthy to include anyways, so you can follow the MIND diet recommendations while we are waiting for more research!

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Blood sugar- it sounds like something only diabetics should be paying attention to, right? Being mindful of blood sugar control, even for healthy people, athletes, and the general population, can help you feel your best. Blood sugar plays a major role in our mood, sleep, physical performance, weight, and much more. Not that we think you need to wear one of those continuous glucose monitors (as we discussed a few episodes ago), or obsess over the numbers, but knowing the symptoms of irregular blood sugar can help you understand how to prevent it from causing issues. You hear us talk about BALANCED eating all the time… and one reason is for blood sugar control.

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If you are a frequent flier here at Practical Nutrition podcast, you already know how much we love food over supplements - if you’re new here…now you know. However, there’s no denying that supplementation is still a huge part of the American population’s routine - it’s estimated 3 out of 4 people are taking supplements. 76% of Americans report using a vitamin and mineral supplement, 40% report taking some kind of specialty supplement, 39% herbs and botanicals, 28% sports nutrition supplements, and 17% weight loss supplements. Do you fall into one of these categories? If you do, listen up!

There are certainly times when supplements are necessary, and we want to help you choose as safe and high quality of an option as possible. If you are curious if your non-prescription supplementation is necessary, contact us! Today, we are going to talk you through what to look for when choosing a supplement.

Take yourself through these 7 questions to screen the supplement for safety. Answer yes or no to the following questions.

If you answered no to 4 or more of these questions - then the product is a “no-go”. If you answered yes to 4 or more of these questions, then the product is okay.

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We are finally here- summer vacation season! According to national statistics, 9 out of 10 summer trips are typically in personal vehicles and within 250 miles of home. This summer with gas prices and airfare prices, this trend will likely continue.

Just to put things into perspective: Weekends are about 30% of your time each week…and summer is about 27% of the year. When you think about it, this is a significant amount of your time and all the more reason to not let your health take the backseat! Today we are going to talk about how to balance fun and health so you can avoid that all or nothing mentality. You CAN have an amazing summer and be healthy at the same time!

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