Food for Thought

As a fitness professional, nutrition is often considered in terms of performance (eat this to go faster, further or improve recovery times) or appearance (body composition, lose or gain weight or improve muscle definition and shape).  Whilst many fitness professionals do have an understanding of how food affects the emotions, very little thought is given to the impact of what we eat on how we feel or why we eat what we do.

Curiously, the impact of food on how we feel is also rarely considered by those in the mental health services - specifically I'm thinking of counselling and psychotherapy professions.  Yet what we eat can have a profound affect on how we feel.

For example, it is known that caffeine and sugar can increase feelings of anxiety and depression despite giving an initial lift to our feelings, therapists will rarely suggest to clients that an alteration in diet may reduce the burden of difficult feelings like anxiety and depression.

This knowledge is often known by fitness professionals, but rarely is it asked for by clients - this is one of the examples of where counselling and personal training can actually meet: the mind and body is ultimately part of a single unit that should be treated as an integrated whole: YOU!

Stair Running

What is it?

Stair running is what it says - running up and down stairs.  Think about how hard you work walking up a few flights of stairs (please tell me you use the stairs and not the lift or escalator!) - it doesn't take much to get you out of breath.

Stair running challenges the body aerobically, as the effort to lift the body vertical is much greater than that of simply moving forwards.  Extra oxygen is required by the working muscles to keep them burning fuel, that requires deeper inhalation of the lungs and stronger and more frequent pumping of the heart, increasing the body's ability to burn fat.  Incidentally, a stair run episode of 20-30 minutes can be twice as effective as a run of the same duration in improving aerobic performance and will burn approximately twice as many calories as a run of the same duration.

Stair running also gets deep into the buttock and leg muscles as the upward motion requires a much stronger response from those big muscles.  In fact, it's more likely to invoke the glutes than standard running, as those muscles only really get involved in the more forceful movements.

Additionally, stair running improves balance and coordination and that makes for safer running.  It can also provide a less impact intensive alternative to conventional running (provided you take it very easy on the descent).

As a result, stair running is an excellent component of any running, half marathon or marathon training program.

What to do

Get warmed up!  This is strenuous exercise and you should be well warmed up before starting.

Find a set of stairs which aren't used that much (so you won't be fighting past people).  Typically, these might be fire escapes (indoors or outdoors), footbridges or you might have access to the steps in a stadium.  I use the steps between IKEA and the other shops at the Eastgate Shopping Centre; there are a set that don't get much use.  I think these are about the equivalent of two flights in a house.

The rest is easy!  Run up the stairs as fast as you can and take about twice as long coming back down to recover.  Repeat any number of times; I do a anywhere between 12-16 runs of one type before changing over and doing a different kind of run.

Types of Stair Run

Basic

Run up the stairs just as you would walk them by placing one foot on the next step up from the other foot as quickly as you can.

Quick Feet

Take one step at a time, placing both feet on the step.  Alternating starting foot so that your left leg leads for the first ascent, then your right foot leads for the second ascent.  This exercise is good for working on agility.

Sideways

Turing sideways to the stairs so that your feet are longwise on each step and your hips and body face the handrail (assuming there is a handrail), move as quickly up the stairs without allowing your hips or feet to twist towards the steps.  This exercise works agility and coordination as well as getting deep into the calf muscles.

Bounding

Take two steps at a time and bound all the way up.  The greater force required will get deep into those big leg muscles.

Leaping

Starting with only single steps, jump forward so that both feet end up on the next step at the same time.  You can increase the number of step to two or three, but do take extra care with this version of the exercise as the risks of falling are greatly increased.

Finally…

For obvious reasons, do take extra care if doing this in the dark or wet!

Nutrients in Carbohydrates

Recap

In my post Calories in Carbohydrates, I looked at level, types and quality of the energy that our bodies could get from the various complex carb sources (eg potato, pasta, bread, rice) - always with half an eye on weight management.  This time I'm looking at these essential food sources from the point of view of what kind of nutrients do they have.

So What Have We Got?

Once again there's a table below with all the key complex carbs, this time the table isn't sorted because there isn't any clear way of organizing into a single view.

So I'll start with a fairly well known story about rice and the disease Beriberi (see Wikipedia Beriberi), caused by a deficit of Vitamin B1 (Thiamin) - as the story goes a Dutch doctor in Java found that prisoners eating white rice developed the disease, whereas those fed brown rice did not ... ironically, the table below doesn't bear that out - the reason being that white rice is very often fortified in developed countries to combat that very problem!

Fiber

From the grid, you can pretty easily see that brown/wholegrain foods deliver better on the fiber front than their refined alternatives.  Fiber is primarily used to help digestion, without being digestible itself: it gives the body something to push against and the bacteria in the gut something to feed on.  Getting an adequate quantity of fiber has been demonstrated to reduce the risk of many cancers and heart conditions.

Vitamin A

Vitamin A is necessary for healthy eyes, skin and linings of things like the digestive tracts (among other things); you'll find it as beta-carotene in brightly coloured fruit and veg ... too much can cause horrible things like birth defects, liver disorders and can increase the bone breakdown!  Note that sweet potatoes deliver a massive kick of Vitamin A!

B Vitamins

These are associated with energy production - converting stored sugars, fat and protein into energy to move, think and exist.  they are involved in all the processes that get you moving (eg nervous system, healthy heart, blood production) and the most commonly added to enrich food.  In the table you can see a fairly even distribution of B Vitamins throughout the carb sources, until you get to Folate (Folic Acid); in developed countries Folate is routinely added to grain products (especially flour) as a guard against birth defects.

Vitamin C

Potatoes deliver a healthy punch of Vitamin C, but that's one vitamin that anyone who eats plenty of fruit and veg will get enough of anyway.

Vitamin D

Wasn't measured in the sources I was using, so I can't report of it's quantities.

Vitamin E

Is an important antioxidant and has a key role in nourishing cells; it's rarely added to food, and is naturally higher in the brown and wholegrain foods below.

Vitamin K

Vitamin K is essential for blood clotting (see Discovery of Vitamin K at Wikipedia), but its levels are pretty low in the sources listed below (one mg = 1000 mcg).

Minerals

Generally, unrefined carbohydrate sources have a much higher level of minerals than their refined equivalents (ie wholegrain/brown is better for you than white), but potatoes (both types) deliver one hell of a big punch in the potassium department: it has a key role, along with reduced sodium intake, in reducing and managing blood pressure.  Then compare potatoes' Sodium content with the other sources: it's much, much lower - potatoes, when prepared in a healthy manner (ie not fried, roasted, mashed with butter or made to actually taste like anything) could have a major roll in managing blood pressure!

before I write off other complex carb sources, just take a look at wholegrain bread's phosphorus, magnesium and calcium content.  These three minerals are crucial for bone and teeth development, as well as energy, the nervous system and healthy brain functioning.

Food	RDA - 35 year old 65kg male * approx - no RDA exists	Wholegrain Bread	White Bread	Potato	Sweet Potato	Brown Rice	White Rice	Brown Pasta	White Pasta	Egg Noodles	Brown Bread
Fibre	24* g	7 g	3 g	4 g	7 g	2 g	1 g	4.5 g	1.2g	3 g	6 g
Vitamins
Vitamin A	900.0 mcg	0.0 IU	0.0 IU	10.0 IU	38433 IU	0.0 IU	0.0 IU	4.0 IU	0.0 mg	62.0 IU	3 IU
Thiamin	1.2 mg	0.3 mg	0.4 mcg	0.1 mg	0.2 mg	0.1 mg	0.3 mg	0.2 mg	0.0 mg	0.2 mg	0.3 mg
Riboflavin	1.3 mg	0.1 mg	0.3 mg	0.1 mg	0.2 mg	0.0 mg	0..0 mg	0.1 mg	0.0 mg	0.1 mg	0.2 mg
Niacin	16.0 mg	4.0 mg	3.9 mg	3.1 mg	3.0 mg	1.5 mg	2.3 mg	1.0 mg	0.4 mg	2.1 mg	4.0 mg
Vitamin B6	1.3 mg	0.3 mg	0.1 mg	0.6 mg	0.6 mg	0.1 mg	0.1 mg	0.1 mg	0.0 mg	0.2 mg	0.2 mg
Folate	400 mcg	75.0 mcg	104 mcg	22.0 mcg	12.0 mcg	4.0 mcg	91.6 mcg	7.0 mcg	7.0 mcg	29.0 mcg	65.0 mg
Vitamin B12	2.4 mcg	0.0 mcg	0.0 mcg	0.0 mcg	0.0 mcg	0.0 mcg	0.0 mcg	~	0.0 mcg	0.3 mcg	0.0 mcg
Pantothenic Acid	5.0* mg	0.3 mg	0.3 mg	0.9 mg	1.8 mg	0.3 mg	0.6 mg	0.6 mg	0.1 mg	0.9 mg	0.5 mg
Vitamin C	90.0 mg	0.1 mg	0.0 mg	13.5 mg	39.2 mg	0.0 mg	0.0 mg	0.0 mg	0.0 mg	0.0 mg	0 mg
Vitamin D	5.0* mcg	~	~	~	~	~	~	~	~	~	~
Vitamin E	15.0 mg	0.4 mcg	0.2 mg	0.0 mg	1.4 mg	0.0 mg	0.1 mg	0.4 mg	0.1 mg	0.4 mg	0.8 mg
Vitamin K	120.0* mg	1.4 mcg	3.4 mg	1.7 mcg	4.6 mcg	0.6 mcg	0.0 mcg	1.0 mcg	0.0 mcg	0.5 mcg	9.4 mcg
Minerals
Calcium	1,000.0 mg	103 mg	119 mg	34.0 mg	76.0 mg	10.0 mg	15.8 mg	21.0 mg	7.0 mg	35.0 mg	33.0 mg
Iron	8.0 mg	2.5 mg	3.3 mg	7.0 mg	1.4 mg	0.4 mg	1.9 mg	1.5 mg	1.3 mg	1.9 mg	3.1 mg
Magnesium	420.0 mg	78.0 mg	26.0 mg	43.0 mg	54.0 mg	43.0 mg	19.0 mg	42.0 mg	18.0 mg	58.0 mg	81.0 mg
Phosphorus	700.0 mg	228.0 mg	103 mg	101 mg	108.0 mg	83.0 mg	68.0 mg	125.0 mg	58.0 mg	241.0 mg	187.0 mg
Potassium	4.7* mg	230.0 mg	131 mg	573 mg	950.0 mg	43.0 mg	55.3 mg	62.0 mg	44.0 mg	244.0 mg	314.0 mg
Sodium	1.5* mg	420.0 mg	592 mg	21.0 mg	72.0 mg	5.0 mg	1.6 mg	4.0 mg	1.0 mg	21.0 mg	346.0 mg
Zinc	11.0 mg	1.7 mg	0.7 mg	0.5 mg	0.6 mg	0.6 mg	0.8 mg	1.1 mg	0.5 mg	1.9 mg	1.5 mg
Copper	900.0 mcg	0.3 mg	0.1 mg	0.8 mg	0.3 mg	0.1 mg	0.1 mg	0.2 mg	0.1 mg	0.3 mg	0.3 mg
Manganese	2.3* mg	2.0 mg	0.4 mg	0.6 mg	1.0 mg	0.9 mg	0.7 mg	1.9 mg	0.3 mg	0.9 mg	1.9 mg
Selenium	55.0 mcg	32.9 mcg	31.0 mcg	0.7 mcg	0.4 mcg	9.8 mcg	11.9 mcg	36.3 mcg	26.4 mcg	78.8 mcg	38.6 mcg

Project Handstand and the Body Fat Scales

Practical Use for a Handstand

A funny thought took me: I've got a set of scales that do body fat percentage; I often use them with clients to demonstrate that the program they are following is helping them to lose fat and not lose mass from muscle, bone or other lean tissue.

So I wondered, people stand on these scales and it calculates the percentage body fat, this is possible because the electrical impedance of fat is greater than that of muscle: so electricity flows more freely through muscle than fat.

The thing with body fat scales is that the circuit is from one foot, up the leg, across the groin and down the other leg. So I wondered whether I'd get a different answer if I did a handstand on them.

Suffering for Science

This proved really difficult. I can get into a handstand with hands shoulder-width apart fairly easily and even hold it freestanding for short periods (as long as a wall catches me initially). Narrow handstands are quite something else!

Mine are inelegant and incredibly unstable and I have to have some help!

Somehow I managed one for long enough for the scales to get my weight and do the electrical impedance test.

The Results are In!

The result? It was practically the same body fat percentage!!!

I weigh 66kg. Standing with my feet on the scales I'm 11.5% fat.

Handstanding on the scales I'm 11.7% fat.

I'd expected an even lower number than for the normal, lower body version; nearly identical was a real surprise!

Next I wondered, OK  my limbs are consistent, what happens if I have one foot on the scales and one hand and force the current through my mid-riff?

The difference isn't that great. With one hand and one foot I'm 11.9% fat.

That's quite a small variation overall and really boosts my confidence in the body fat scales: whether they are "right" or "wrong", they are consistent. I'll enjoy telling my clients about this!  perhaps it'd be fun to try the experiment on other people and see what it reveals...

Narrow Handstand on Body Fat Scales