The Top 6 Triathlon Nutrition Supplement Mistakes

In reality, most triathletes take supplements. With the advantage increased energy and nutrient requirements, a desire to enhance performance, and a greater degree of food and exercise based inflammation, we really can get a bit of a benefit by popping pills (legally, of course).

However, many athletes indiscriminately grab their “morning handful” of capsules, swallow them, and “check off” their nutrition supplements for the day. The fact is, this supplement shot-gunning approach can result in sub-par absorption and utilization of the nutrients, vitamins, minerals or other desirable compound in the nutrition supplement.

So here are the top 6 nutrition supplement mistakes, and how you can avoid them:

Nutrition Supplement Mistake #1: Eating Fiber With Your Fish Oil

Most people take their fish oil supplement in the morning, along with breakfast. The problem is that most breakfast foods are high fiber. And soluble fibers such as pectin, guar gum, and oat bran, and also the insoluble fiber lignin (found in plant cell walls) can affect fat absorption by “wrapping” fatty acids within the digestive tract and decreasing their absorption. Fatty acids and cholesterol that are bound to fiber are less absorbed – and only free fatty acids allow for fat to be transported through the walls of the small intestine. Fiber-bound fatty acids will mostly pass into the large intestine.

In other words, by popping your fish oil capsules with a high-fiber morning cereal, you’re basically making expensive fish oil poop. So what should you do? Try taking your fish oil with an afternoon, fat-based snack, such as a handful of olives, almond butter on pita, or avocado with crackers.

Nutrition Supplement Mistake #2: Taking High Dose Antioxidants Regularly

This can be confusing, especially if you’ve been indoctrinated with the idea that all antioxidants are good, but recent research suggests that antioxidant nutrition supplements, such as high dose Vitamin C, may actually impair recovery, increase inflammation, decrease insulin sensitivity, and lead to a lower fitness response to exercise. The basic idea is behind this is that antioxidants protect the body from the damage produced by free radicals, but if you’re always taking high dose antioxidants, your body never learns to generate it’s own antioxidant activity, and thus does not not grow strong free radical buffering capacity on it’s own.

While this is a fairly new topic in sports nutrition, and research is scant, my recommendation is to save any high dose antioxidant supplements for your harder training days (such as long training weekends) when your body probably needs a little extra help. But on recovery days and easy or short training days, hold back on the antioxidants. You probably don’t need them and they may be doing you more harm than good.

Nutrition Supplement Mistake #3: Eating Amino Acids When You’re Trying To Control Appetite

Branched Chain Amino Acids, also known as “BCAA’s”, are in a ton of different during-exercise and post-exercise nutrition supplements. But it is a little known fact that in cancer patients who need to gain weight, BCAA’s are actually used to stimulate appetite and help people to eat more. Obviously, if you’re trying to lose weight or control appetite, eating a handful of BCAA’s in the evening before dinner may not be such a good idea. This is only a worry for a select few folks who are focusing on appetite control and weight loss, but is certainly good to know if you regularly experience food cravings.

Nutrition Supplement Mistake #4: Taking Proteolytic Enzymes on a Full Stomach

Protelytic enzymes, like BCAA’s, are found quite regularly in recovery-based nutrition supplements. Check the nutrition label of your recovery nutrition supplement for words like “papain”, “bromelain”, “trypsin” and “chymotrypsin” – these are all proteolytic enzymes. The primary benefit of these enzymes is to enhance recovery by decreasing inflammation. But the inflammation-reducing benefit of proteolytic enzymes is significantly decreased when the enzymes are taken on a full stomach or with a meal. Therefore, popping your post-exercise proteolytic enzymes with your post-exercise meal is not the best idea.

Instead, take any supplements containing proteolytic enzymes on an empty stomach, such as in the mid-morning or mid-afternoon, or even right before you go to bed at night. If you tend to wait for 1-2 hours post-exercise to eat a meal, this would also be a good time to take proteolytic enzyme nutrition supplements.

Nutrition Supplement Mistake #5: Not Timing Fat Burning Supplements Properly

The premise behind “fat burning” supplements is that they contain components such as insulin and blood sugar stabilizing components such as chromium, vanadium or even cinnamon. From a strategic standpoint, these compounds should be absorbed and active in your body well prior to eating a meal. Swallowing a fat-burning supplement with breakfast, directly before breakfast, or directly after a meal is not going to do much for you. So the best time to take a fat-burning supplement is 30-60 minutes prior to consuming your 2-3 main meals of the day. Incidentally, I do not recommend high caffeine or ephedra based fat burning supplements, as they can be hard on your adrenal glands and central nervous system.

Nutrition Supplement Mistake #6: Allowing Fish Oil or Flax Oil To Get Warm

When the fragile oils in fish oil, flax seed oil, or just about any other seed or vegetable based oil becomes warm or heated, the oil can become oxidized, and form free radicals that can do cellular damage to your body. A warm fish oil does you more harm than good. So if you drive in your car with fish oil or flax oil sitting in a gym bag on the back seat, this is a very bad idea. So is traveling to a race with fat-based nutrition supplements in your backpack or race bag, if it is going to be in a hot airplane compartment or sitting in the sun. It would be better not take these nutrition supplements at all if that will be the case.

Instead, keep fish oil or flax oil type supplements in your refrigerator or freezer, and keep them as cool as possible when traveling. If they do get warm, throw them out. They’re not going to do you any good at that point.

Las Vegas Real Estate Market – 2006 Reflections

As another year comes to a close it’s a great time to ponder what 2007 will bring to the Las Vegas real estate market. Perhaps 2006 reflections will give us a clue of what we have to look forward to.There’s more to Las Vegas than neon lights, casinos, and late night entertainment. It’s also a wonderful place to put your roots down. Here is a state with no state taxes, low unemployment, lots of recreation and parks, and terrific neighborhoods to raise your children in. And it’s apparent that this little secret is out says the Las Vegas real estate market of 2006 statistics.If you prefer the look and feel of a country club atmosphere just head to North Las Vegas and check out the North Las Vegas real estate market where you will find planned communities designed for active adults that want to make Vegas their home or perhaps even retire here – after all the weather’s perfect. The Las Vegas real estate market reflected just that last year.Based on the most recent Las Vegas real estate market information collected from the MLS records it appears that the house prices in the Las Vegas real estate market are still very close to what they were in the latter part of 2005.During 2006 the Las Vegas real estate market saw the average single family dwelling was selling around the $340,000 for a one bedroom home, $370,000 for a three bedroom home, and $520,000 for a four bedroom home.The Las Vegas real estate market also saw town homes and condos come in around the $250,000 figure. And although no numbers are presented for commercial development there was at least a 20% increase on average over what the Las Vegas real estate market saw in 2005.It’s interesting to note that although the selling price for 2006 was up the Las Vegas real estate market saw a decrease in the actual number of homes that sold although for those houses that did sell more than 65% sold in less than 60 days.You might be surprised to discover that the average family income for 2005 was just over $50,000 and the medium household income average was around $45,000. These numbers would indicate that the average purchasers where not wealthy but in fact living on a modest income.The Las Vegas real estate market caters to three different markets two of which fit the average earnings criteria – those that have retired living on a fixed income and your average younger family.Then there is one third of the market that fits the criteria of wealthy. This group finds their home in Vegas for a variety of reasons – entertainment, business and investment opportunities, climate, and location. Whatever the reason that brings this group to the area to explore the Las Vegas real estate market they know exactly what they want.The Las Vegas real estate market is a lucrative market that can provide a home now and an investment for the future.Copyright © 2007 Joel Teo. All rights reserved. (You may publish this article in its entirety with the following author’s information with live links only.)

Culinary Arts Education

Culinary arts have been considered as both an art and a science. It is but a complex concept that involves not just the need for cooking skills and talents, but also the knowledge of everything involved in the craft. It’s no wonder then that experts strongly advised the modern chefs or cooks to wear a number of hats. What I mean is that they must not only exercise their creativity in the kitchen, but they must also learn how to become a business man, how to develop their computer and marketing skills, and must observe safety and health issues in the workplace. Well, it is for these requirements actually that proper culinary education is deemed crucial for everyone wanting to learn the craft and operate a culinary business in the future.Culinary arts education is luckily available throughout the world. A lot of culinary programs are already offered for you to choose from. According to a recent survey, the American Culinary Federation (ACF), which is the leader of standards for culinary professions, has already accredited more than 100 schools offering culinary programs. These programs are offered for people to enroll in and obtain the knowledge and skills necessary in the culinary field.As mentioned, the culinary education begins by choosing a program. It is important to note that the culinary programs normally abide to the strict guidelines and rules maintained by the ACF. One of those rules is to cover approximately three years of culinary arts education with emphasis on implementing preparation and lab courses. This coverage is typically considered along with emphasis on sanitation, menu planning and cost, nutrition, as well as business.There are also certain programs in culinary arts that are designed for those who wish to obtain an associate degree and certification in culinary. This area of culinary education is in the first place developed to provide the people the chance to develop their potentials in cooking. Also, the certifications are considered as an advanced form of culinary education that it is offered to ensure that the ones practicing the craft are good enough to be considered as professionals.Another important part of the culinary education is the training or apprenticeship. The apprenticeship programs now come in great number, each features areas of study that are to some degree unique from the others. However, for the apprenticeship to be taken, the student taking up culinary education must have completed first a three years study which include both classroom instruction and work experience. And, knowing how important the apprenticeships are in culinary arts education, it is no wonder that today about more than 80 apprenticeship programs are already available.The culinary arts education, with all the stages and requirements that needed to be considered, is very expensive. Yes, attending a culinary arts school can be one of the biggest investments you can ever make. But knowing how proper education is important in developing not just your knowledge in the craft, but your skills and talents, the total benefits of attending a culinary arts education outdo the price.