Athletes - Are You Taking Your Vitamins?

If you are an athlete or live a very active lifestyle you had better be taking high quality vitamins. All world class and Olympic athletes take vitamin supplements on a daily basis to make sure they are getting the proper nutrition to perform their best.

It doesn't matter if you are a golfer, a runner, or a pro football player, as an athlete you need your vitamins for one critical reason above all others; you need them to prevent sickness and injury.

Injuries, such as broken bones, sprains, strains, bruises etc. are often a result of poor nutrition in the body. Vitamins keep all parts of your body in top shape which can help you fend off annoying injuries that keep you sidelined. Also you get sicknesses such as the flu and the common cold because your body's immune system is worn down and susceptible for an attack. Vitamins also ensure that your immune system is functioning at its best.

Don't get me wrong, high quality vitamins aren't going to make you invincible, but they should give you the confidence that your body is at its best. The rest of your athletic ability is then up to you and your training.

What kinds of vitamins athletes take is more important than just taking them because many store bought vitamins and minerals are useless because they are never absorbed by the body. They literally go right through you.

Why Are Most Vitamin and Mineral Supplements Useless for Athletes?

Well, just simply put, they are poorly made. They are more like vitamin bricks than fuel for athletes.

Why would companies do this to athletes? Easy answer, money. They are more concerned with making the cash than how well you perform as an athlete. Don't be too disappointed, however, because there are several different natural nutrition companies that do make exceptional vitamins that are proven to not only be absorbed by your body, but also be absorbed by the correct part of the body.

You see, each vitamin and mineral has its own specific job in a specific part of your body. This is why you need so many different vitamins and minerals to stay healthy. For example:

* Folic acid should be released only into the stomach
* B vitamins and vitamin C should have a sustained release function so they can maintain blood nutrient levels for over 12 hours
* Amino acids should only be released when they reach the upper intestine. Most amino acids are destroyed by stomach acids because they are absorbed in the stomach, not where they should be, in the intestines.
* Vitamin supplements should always be taken with food to ensure proper absorption

As an athlete you may have never heard of some of the great natural vitamin companies because they don't waste tons of money on advertising, they spend it on research and scientists to develop top notch products that actually make a difference for athletes. Then they spread the word through Olympic and world class athletes who actually use their vitamins without being paid to.

Where Can Athletes Find High Quality Vitamins?

Most vitamins for athletes will be found online or at your local health food store. To determine if the vitamins are high quality the company should have:

* Integrity - make sure that they have a track record of success
* Clinical studies published in scientific journals proving that the vitamins are absorbed and used by the body
* Easy customer access to the ingredients and any other info pertaining to the product
* A money back guarantee so you can return them if they don't work
* Proof that real athletes use them

To get published in one of the clinical journals is extremely difficult because the scientific community as a whole has to agree with the findings of the independent clinical study. Most companies hire their own scientists to put out studies that "may suggest this and that," but prove nothing and aren't even reviewed by the independent scientific community as a whole. Athletes can't afford to waste their time, talent, or money on vitamins that aren't "proven" to work.

Athletes should also try to get their vitamins through healthy food like organic fruits and vegetables, as a healthy diet is also necessary for an athlete's body to perform at its best

To Your Health,
Diet Health & Fitness
'Blog Squad'
DietHealthandFitness.com

Discover Why You Can't Lose Weight

Most people begin an exercise program designed for weight loss with the intention of sticking with it. Unfortunately, the majority give up after six months, deciding they simply do not have the time to exercise regularly. There are usually two reasons behind any decision; the real reason, and the one that sounds good.

Individuals claiming, "they do not have the time" are often hiding the fact that their expectations for weight loss were not met. Simply put, they were not making the progress they were promised. On an intellectual level, most people know they "should exercise more." However, any good salesperson will tell you that we do not make decisions based on intellectual reasoning. We base them on emotion.

Most of us exercise because, at a very basic level, we want to look and feel better. We exercise because it appeals to our sense of vanity and pride. We want to look and feel good. Now if you are not used to exercising we suggest you find a way to get used to it if you plan on losing those extra pounds that just do not seem to go away. We are not saying you have to run fifteen miles a day, pound out 300 push ups in twenty minutes or even jump rope for an hour, what we are saying is do something!

If all you do every day is get in your car, drive to work, sit at a desk, eat fast food for all your meals, drive home, eat dinner and watch television until you fall asleep, we have a News Flash for you, wake up and smell the coffee! How does anyone expect weight to just start "falling off" if they are not even moving? It blows me away when I hear people complain that they "tried" this diet or that diet and it "did not work." I usually ask them "did you work?"

Listen, the truth is this, nothing good in life comes easy. If you are not willing to give up that 1 hour of television you know you watch every single night, if you are not willing to get off your butt and walk around your neighborhood a few times or go hiking for 45 minutes or even just run around with your kids for a half an hour a day, then how do you expect your body to burn enough calories to lose any weight?

There is no magic pill for you to take, there is no magic potion to drink, it is called dedication to your health and wanting it bad enough.

Did you know that there are approximately 3,555 calories in just one pound of fat?

Do you think you can sit on your couch every night while still doing what you are doing and these calories are going to burn themselves away?

Now here is the deal, when you lose weight from dieting alone, some of the weight lost comes from lean muscle tissue. In an effort to retain lean muscle while still losing weight from fat you must include leucine in your diet.

Leucine is an amino acid that helps build muscle. Research shows that leucine heads straight to muscles where it can initiate protein synthesis for muscle building. That is why a lot of Olympic and world class athletes use it.

As you diet, you consume less calories. There is one problem with this, as you lose fat you are also losing muscle mass. Even if you lose your desired amount of weight you will become flabby because your muscle has been broken down along with the fat. Leucine helps control muscle breakdown that occurs while dieting.

Leucine is one of the twenty most common essential amino acids your body needs when maintaining lean muscle mass. Leucine is the most common amino acid found in proteins and is essential for optimal growth throughout infancy, childhood and adulthood.

Leucine plays a part in maintaining muscles by equalizing synthesis and breakdown of proteins while also regulating your appetite, assisting in the growth and repair of muscle tissues and helping you regulate your blood sugar as well. You can enjoy the benefits of leucine as a natural supplement or you can find it in some foods, such as, brown rice, beans, nuts and whole wheat.

To Your Health,

Diet Health & Fitness
'Blog Squad'
DietHealthandFitness.com

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