SWFL IMA Health and Nutrition

     After long workouts multiple days out of the week, your body will start to become fatigued. Ensuring you do not become faully fatigued, or otherwise injured while in this state, is an important consideration in light of the time you will have to spend away from attaining your physical goals. Whether your recovery time is weeks or days, understanding how to distance yourself from fatigue will result in more and better workouts, an objective factor for success in any goal.       Muscle fibers can and will recover properly, given they receive a good combination and rest and nutrient intake. Chief among these nutrients, protein, the building blocks of muscle. Comprised of many amino acids, the intake of protein after an intensive workout will undoubtedly lead to faster, more complete recovery. Whether you drink a protein shake or eat a protein-rich meal immediately after your workout will put your muscles into recovery mode, so be prepared to take res...

     Happy 2022, readers. Don't let 2022 become "2020 2: The Sequel," keep your health optimal to give your immune system a fighting chance against the new variants of Covid-19, which will soon become something like a seasonal flu should the less-severe symptoms and lower hospitalization rates that came from Omicron become a trend for future strains of the virus.      That's all you'll hear from me about Covid, I think we're through the worst of it and life can go back to normal. For the martially-motivated among us, let's turn our focus to something decidedly martial since all three of my prvious postings have been on nutrition. Most people visiting are likely hearing the term "Internal Arts" for the first time ever and are probably wondering what the difference between an internal martial art form and any other martial art form. The difference between internal and external martial art forms is the approach the practitioner uses for power genera...

Now that we have discussed two major categories of nutrition, macro nutrients and micro nutrients, you might be lost as to how one can get enough in their diet without spending a lot of money on expensive health food, health supplements, and organic food which is supposedly a lot healthier than non-organic. Perhaps the idea of taking multiple health supplements turns you off completely; trust me, I get this. If you are a person like I just described, then there is plenty good news for you in this post.  After many years of taking supplements and shelling out cash for expensive protein powders, I have developed a plan to get these vital nutrients from regular food. Out of your three macro nutrients, protein is arguably the most difficult to come by at a reasonable price. Specific amino acids, the building blocks of protein, can be beneficial in higher quantities. Knowing which foods contain those amino acids in large quantities can make a big difference in your recovery. Simply by e...

 A common analogy I use when discussing micro vs. macro nutrients is a car. In order to get anywhere, not only does the fuel tank have to be filled, but the internal components also need to be in a functional state or else that fuel won't take you as far as it potentially is able to. Where I am going with this is simple, macro nutrients are the fuel for your car, while micro nutrients are the internal components, such as the fuel line, spark plugs, water pump, etc. More concisely, micro nutrients are what keeps those internal components in proper working order. In my previous post, I discussed macro nutrients and their three sources: protein, carbohydrates, and lipids (fats). In stark contrast to the three sources for macro nutrients, the number of micro nutrients is vast and many in number.  The first broad category of micro nutrients is vitamins. Vitamins A, B, C, D, E, and K comprise this sub-category of micro nutrients. Each of these vitamins have multiple forms and sub-ca...

          If you are like me, trying to learn more on the subject of nutrition can be a frustrating and difficult task, especially when one does not necessarily know where to begin.          While I am not formally educated on the subject, just like you, I began with a desire to understand proper nutrition as a method to retain health at older ages, feel better, be more focused, and live the best life that I could. My first true experience with health knowledge began with a documentary called "Food Matters," which was a collection of interviews from various health professionals, often nutritionists and alternative medicine practitioners, who set up the comparison between proper nutrition and modern medicine. Essentially, the contrast was made that nutrition and health come first and could prevent a costly trip to the hospital.           Hospitals are an indispensable resource to our society an...