Friday, October 22, 2010

Don't Trust your Food


When shopping for your food, it's important to arm yourself with a bit of knowledge. Food manufacturers are not always on your side, and knowing a few of their tricks can help you make sure you put healthy and happy food into your body.

First, let's look at some common mis-labeling (why it's legal to say, we don't know).

1. No Trans Fats

Trans fats, or hydrogenated oils, are definitely bad for you, but food can be labeled "No Trans Fats" and still have up to 2.2 grams per serving!!! Can you believe that? So look at the nutrition label and the ingredient list before trusting this label. If it lists hydrogenated oils, put it back!

http://www.treelight.com/health/nutrition/TransFatLabels.html

2. Made from Whole Grains

Every grain starts whole, so that's where this gets sticky. The whole grain label is on a lot of breads and other foods, but again, we must look at the ingredient list to find the real truth. If the ingredients are any type of flour, even whole wheat flour, it's not a whole grain. Flour is powder as you know, and if it's in powder form, it's processed, and not good. So look for sprouted grains the next time you get a loaf.

Now that we've unearthed a few bad labels, let's look at the nutrition label a bit more in depth. Here are some ingredients that might sound harmless, but are not your friends.

Any color dye - they can lead to allergies, hyperactive behavior, tumors, and can be cancerous, so stay away.

High Fructose Corn Syrup - this highly processed sugar is just plain toxic, just google it and you can learn about all the side effects.

Aspartame - this can be labeled as Neotame, Canderal or Nutrisweet. It is in many diet foods for it's low calorie nature, but stay away - http://aspartame.mercola.com/

And finally MSG, which can negatively affect your blood pressure, brain, endocrine system, digestive system etc. The list goes on and on, so let's just agree it's not the best.

MSG is a tricky little guy and is hidden in the ingredient list. Thanks to the Sports Care Center (www.sportscarecenter.net), there is a list of additives that contain MSG at the bottom of this post.

Those are just a few tips, and will hopefully help you get through the grocery store with a healthier basket.


MSG list (www.sportscarecenter.net)

Additives that always contain MSG:

E621, 620, 621, 622, 623, 624, 625)
Hydrolysed anything
Plant protein extract
Sodium caseinate
Calcium caseinate
Yeast extract
Textured protein
Autolysed yeast

Frequently contain MSG:

Malt extract
Malt flavoring
Bouillon
Broth
Stock
Flavoring
Natural flavoring
Natural beef flavoring
Natural chicken flavoring
Seasoning
Spices


Friday, October 1, 2010

Run Dirty

At Rough-Fit, we often find ourselves yelling to people as they run by to "get on the dirt!" So we asked ourselves why?

We figured it's because many runners don't know the difference between dirt, asphalt and concrete, so they choose the smoothest surface available. Well, we all know knowledge is power, so here is the lowdown on why you should run on the dirt.

First we must understand that running is essentially a series of collisions between your foot and the surface you are running on. This impact sends a shock wave through your body, and your tendons, ligaments and muscles compress to absorb the impact and act like a spring to send you forward. Over the course of a marathon, you will have over 30,000 collisions.

Research has shown that a force equal to five times body weight can travel up the legs when running is carried out on very hard materials, and that this force drops to less than twice body weight on very compliant surfaces ('The Influence of Track Compliance on Running,' Journal of Biomechanics, vol. 12, pp. 893-904, 1979)

Concrete is the hardest surface, and some sources say it is up to 10x harder than even asphalt!

The softest, and least impactual surfaces that we see around town are grass and dirt trails. Using these softer surfaces not only reduce impact on the body, thereby decreasing the risk of overuse injury, but they also force your muscles to work harder, making you a stronger runner and burning extra calories.

Dirt trails are also a usually a sign that you are headed somewhere picturesque and inspirational, so when given the option, take the dirty road!