Body Weight & Mobility

Clients at 180 Fitness in Gloucester, ON know I believe that drinking more water is good for both workouts and overall health. The body is about 60% water and blood, about 90%. When you become dehydrated, even mildly dehydrated, you lose energy, which can dramatically reduce the effectiveness of your workout. It’s also not good for your health or appearance. Even mild dehydration can lead to wrinkling.

Besides being tired, mild dehydration can affect the joints.

If you’ve ever worked out and felt sluggish, then drank some water and perked back up, you know that dehydration affects your energy, but did you know it also can cause achy joints? Staying hydrated is important for circulation and blood volume, which help your body recover more quickly, delivering nutrients to each cell. Dehydration increases inflammation and can contribute to joint pain, although it may not be the main problem. Unlike boosting your energy level, eliminating mild pain takes more than just drinking one glass of water, but staying hydrated throughout the day. Water lubricates the joints. Try increasing your water throughout the day and you may find joint pain is far less than it had been.

Your teeth will be healthier when you drink more water.

Water is necessary to develop saliva and keep your nose, mouth and eyes moist. It helps keep the mouth clean and delivers vitamins and minerals to keep dental decay and gum disease at bay. Drinking adequate amounts of water can help flush away acids and sugar from food and the bacteria that causes dental decay. Some of the bacteria water washes away creates odor, causing bad breath. Rather than grabbing a breath mint, grab a bottle of water to fight bad breath.

Your brain and digestive system depend on water.

Water not only cushions the brain, it’s involved in creating neurotransmitters and hormones. It also affects how the brain functions and its structure. Even mild dehydration can affect your reasoning process and how you think. Dehydration can also cause your digestive system to have problems. Not only does too little water cause constipation, it can lead to heartburn and stomach ulcers.

• Too often people grab for a soft drink when they’re thirsty. That adds extra calories and affects your health. A tall glass of water is best for weight control and overall health.
• Your blood will become thicker and more difficult to pump if you lack fluids. Drinking more water can help you maintain a normal blood pressure if the problem is dehydration.
• Kidney damage from kidney stones create by chronic mild dehydration can be a problem if you drink too little water. Mild dehydration can also make allergies and asthma worse.
• Drinking more water can help you lose weight. It can fill you up if consumed before a meal and lower your calorie intake. Sometimes, the body mistakes thirst for hunger and you eat calories you don’t need. Drinking more water can prevent that.

For more information, contact us today at 180 Fitness

Passing gas or flatulence and burping are two common occurrences. In fact everyone passes gas about 14 times a day and produce about 1 to 4 pints of gas. Passing gas is part of the body’s natural process to relieve ourselves from built up gasses in the system. Unfortunately, we can’t always choose where it happens. It can be embarrassing, especially when your in a large group that’s quiet. Excess gas can be your normal or suddenly occur, leaving you wonder why you’re more gassy than normal. Gas builds up in your body for several reasons, which include normal gas everyone has to some gas with lethal odors that have the potential to be weaponized.

Your intake of fiber may have increased dramatically.

Many times, the food we eat affects the amount of gas we produce. Too much fiber can be at the heart of the problem, particularly if you ate little fiber before and are trying to get healthier. Fiber is important, but when you’re increasing it in your diet, increasing it slowly is also important. There are two types of fiber, soluble and insoluble. Soluble fiber is the food for bacteria, which break it down with fermentation, which produces gas. If you’re increasing the fiber in your diet, go slowly.

You may be sensitive to some foods.

Lactose intolerance occurs because the body doesn’t make lactase, which breaks down lactose or milk products. How much or how little lactase the body makes will vary and so will the results of consuming milk products. Sometimes, the results are mild flatulence and for those who are very lactose intolerant, violent cramping and pain. Your body can’t break down the milk sugars or absorb them, so it creats a lot of gas in a short time period, which can cause pain in the intestines. Other food intolerance can cause the same problems.

You may be swallowing air without realizing it.

Drinking through a straw, smoking or even eating and drinking while talking can cause you to swallow air, so can eating too fast. Sometimes chewing gum or sucking on candies can, too. If you breathe through your mouth when you sleep, you’re probably swallowing air at night. Carbonated beverages also cause gassiness. People that swallow air frequently as a nervous habit are also frequently gassy.

• Allergies to certain foods can also create similar gassiness like a food intolerance. Many times it’s certain carbs or sugars for food intolerance. The best way to find out is to follow a low FODMAP diet and reintroduce food slowly.
• Keeping a food diary can also help you identify foods that make you gassy. Just note every food you eat and when you have the worst problems with gas. From that information, you can narrow down the culprit.
• Built up gas can occur if you don’t walk after meals. When people move their legs as they walk, often small amounts of gas are expelled. Taking a walk after a meal can help relieve gassiness.
• While most cases of gassiness are benign and normal, some aren’t. It could be a condition like GERD or celiac disease. Excess gas and abdominal pain should always be investigated with your health care professional if it occurs frequently.

For more information, contact us today at 180 Fitness

If you’ve popped a multivitamin and thought you were good for the day and didn’t need to eat healthy, you’d be wrong. While even the most natural of multivitamins contain essential vitamins and minerals, they aren’t always processed by the human body or require certain phytonutrients, nutrients from plants, to boost their effectiveness. That’s why eating healthy and choosing food that is healthy is important. It’s also important that your diet contains a multitude of colorful vegetables and fruits for maximum benefit.

Start alphabetically with vitamin A.

The name vitamin A is a bit deceptive, since it’s a group of organic compounds that include beta-carotene and retinol, to name a few. It’s fat soluble, which means it requires fat to dissolve and it’s stored in fat tissues, so potentially, you can get too much. That only occurs for some forms of vitamin A. It plays an important role in the immune system and the functioning of the heart, lungs and kidneys. Lack of vitamin A is associated with eye diseases, skin problems from hair follicles and poor bone growth. Beef liver, frozen spinach, raw carrots and baked sweet potatoes are good sources.

Vitamin C is best known for boosting immune functioning.

The body needs vitamin C to repair tissue and keep the skin, bones and teeth healthy. It’s an antioxidant, so it protects cells from free radical damage and damage from toxins, including radiation. You need vitamin C to absorb iron in the intestines, too. Scurvy was once a problem, particularly for people aboard ships. It’s caused from lack of vitamin C. In fact, the British navy used lime juice to help cure scurvy in the beginning of the 19th century, so limey became a slanderous term for people in the British Royal Navy. Signs of scurvy are swelling gums, fatigue corkscrew hairs and bad wound healing. It’s water-soluble, so excess flushes out with urine, but too much can upset your stomach and lead to kidney stones. Raw red peppers, citrus fruit like limes, broccoli and baked white potato contain higher amounts of vitamin C.

Vitamins D and E are both important.

Vitamin D is important for your immune system. In fact, studies show a link between the development of complications from covid-19 and low vitamin D levels. It also helps mineralization of bones and teeth, maintaining normal calcium levels in the blood and reducing inflammation. The body makes vitamin D when exposed to the sun, so safe sunning is the easiest way to get it, but cod liver oil and salmon also has a lot. Vitamin E helps blood vessels widen and prevents clotting. It’s also an antioxidant that protects cells. Deficiency can occur due to malabsorption and cause anemia, immune system weakness, muscle weakness and fatigue. Wheat germ, sunflower seeds, almonds and peanut butter contain vitamin E.

• Vitamin K found in collard and turnip greens, kale and spinach, helps form blood clots. It also plays a role in bone and dental health. Deficiency is rare, since gut bacteria make it.
• Riboflavin is vitamin B2. It’s in beef liver, clams, yogurt and protabella mushrooms. It’s important for cell growth, skin, hair, nails and eyesight. Cracks on the corners of the mouth and on lips indicate a deficiency. Too much alcohol can cause a deficiency.
• Niacin—vitamin B3—helps gut, nerve and skin health and assists in providing cell energy. It comes from beef liver, chicken breast and tuna. Folic acid—B-9—helps cell growth and is found in beef liver, cereal and frozen spinach.
• Vitamin B12 is important for the nervous system and the creation of RNA, DNA, fats and proteins. It helps build red blood cells. It’s found in beef liver, ground beef, clams and salmon.

For more information, contact us today at 180 Fitness