health

And the Race Goes On!

I ran in the California International Marathon this past Sunday. It was an AMAZING event that took place in Sacramento. The race started 26 miles away from the finish and the runners crossed the line in front of the capital building. The weather was terrible! There were 38 mph winds and pouring rain the entire race! Leading up to the race there were flood warnings all over the news and talk about a terrible storm scheduled to hit during the hours of the race. After months of training, I could have taken this as very disappointing news because my goal of breaking 2:30 was out the window due to the high head winds expected, but instead I put my battle face on.  Read More…

Ups and Downs

Lately my races haven’t been quite as fast as I would like them to be. Since running my first marathon this past January, it has taken me much longer than I thought it would to recover. While my times have still been good and I have even won a few races since the marathon, I just thought that I would be performing at a slightly higher level. When I get stuck in a rut like this, it reminds me to take a step back and look at the situation in a different perspective. I remind myself that a few races that are sub par don’t really matter in the grand scheme of life. I remember that I have two beautiful, healthy children to come home to (along with a very, loving husband) after every run, workout and race.

There is so much more to life then just our athletics. Sometimes its hard to think that life will go on after a bad race or loss in any other type of sporting event. We must always remind ourselves that in the bigger picture, it really doesn’t matter. We eventually will forget about our less than perfect performances and look forward to the ones in our future with much room for improvement. In addition, we can always learn from our bad races and games too. For me, I can take a step back and remind myself not to take out too fast or too slow when the gun goes off. I can also look at my training and evaluate whether I am doing too much or not enough in my interval workouts. For someone else, they can also step back and take a look at how they can make their game better and fix it!

No matter what it is that makes us not perform exactly how we want to, we can always learn more about ourselves from it. More importantly too, we can also always remind ourselves to keep our sports in perspective in the bigger picture in our lives. Write down all of the things that are important to you OTHER than sports as a way to teach yourself how many special things you have in your life. School, friends, family, pets, good health, STRONG BONES, any type of other hobbies or fun that you have outside of your athletics. When I do this, it helps me relax and take some pressure off my races and training. What always ends up happening then, is I end up performing even better than I did before because my mind is finally at ease and my nerves calm down. As competitive athletes sometimes it works better to be a little less intense, take a step back and just breathe. Not being too hard on ourselves is sometimes the answer to success!

NUTRITION TIP OF THE DAY: Coconut water! Drink lots of it! Now that summer is around the corner, the temps are going up and we need to be extra careful about hydrating. Coconut water is like a natural gatorade. There are tons of electrolytes which will help you replenish and recover from sports. Stores sell it everywhere these days, so don’t hesitate to give it a try when you see it!

Calcium + Vitamin D!

The Food and Nutrition Board of the National Academy of Science recommends that children between the ages of 9 to 18 years old get at least 1,300 mg of calcium a day. Everyone needs calcium in their diet every day to build and maintain healthy strong bones. This is especially true for kids in their bone building years. Low calcium intake during childhood is associated with osteoporosis later in life. Osteoporosis is a disease of low bone mass, and thinning of bone tissues that can result in broken bones.

Although milk and foods made from milk are the most concentrated source of dietary calcium, children who don’t like drinking milk can get their calcium from other high-calcium rich foods. Many foods are supplemented with calcium, such as juices and cereals. Be sure to check the label for the amount of calcium and be sure to watch for levels of salt and sugar in processed foods. You don’t want to add too much of that in an attempt to get calcium!

Many dark leafy vegetables contain calcium. So do some nuts. Check out our list to get a sample of great sources for calcium. In addition to eating the right foods and getting enough calcium to prevent osteoporosis later on, children should also get enough vitamin D. Vitamin D promotes calcium absorption so is essential for bone growth. The easiest way to get vitamin D is through exposure to sunlight – but we don’t recommend trying to go that route. Find foods with vitamin D and consider adding a supplement – they’re pretty inexpensive.

Kill two birds with one stone—the exercise stone that is.

Because I am so passionate about Public Health, I figured why not learn about preventing bone disease. Yes, granted, it’s a disease that predominately affects older people, but hey! It’s never too early to prevent something that may occur in the future. Plus, preventative measures are lighter on your pockets than actually treating the disease! In anycase, I digress!

Did you know that exercising not only benefits one by reducing their risk of contracting a heart disease such as diabetes and stroke but it can also help prevent various bone diseases such as osteoporosis. You are probably wondering how the heck does exercising promote healthy bones. Well, just like your muscles, bones are tissues that get stronger when one exercises. Young adults that exercise build more bone density compared to those that don’t. So young adults, it’s not too late for you to build stronger bones! Why not kill two birds with one stone? Why not exercise to stay in shape WHILE building healthy, strong bones to avoid bone disease in the future?

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