Sunday, March 23, 2014

Going Lighter

If you are like me you have aches and pains that just seem to come with the aging process. I found that lifting heavy all the time was really hard on my body. Especially bench presses and squats, tow of the more important lifts in my routine.

So I bit the bullet and went light!  I dropped the bench press altogether. I went to dumbell flyes, using a weight I could get 15 reps out of. I use the cable rowing machine as a back exercise with pretty light level there too. Also the leg press with only 175-200 lbs on it.

The point of doing the 15 reps is to go slow and still get a good pump out of it. It has been shown that exercising to failure with light weights does as much for muscle as the heavy weights lower reps does.

SO why hurt yourself?  If you are having joint and lower back pain, try this lighter routine and see what it can do for you.
  Oh and don't skip the stretches before and after....a few minutes makes a world of difference.

Friday, March 7, 2014

Resistant Starch is good for you

There is a lot of buzz about RS or resistant starch. These are foods that are digested by the bacteria in your gut and tough for your body to breakdown with regular digestive juices. These starches support the microbes in your gut which help you lower your blood sugar naturally, and increase your energy level.
This is good news. You can eat some higher carb foods and still keep our blood sugar inline.

These foods include- beans, rice- especially cooled rice, potatoes and one of the best forms of RS potato starch. Navy beans are a good form of RS as well as green bananas, lentils, and more.

You can buy potato starch at many food stores. Add a tablespoon or two to your daily diet. It will improve your digestion, though you may get gassy for a little while. Then you get used to it and your regularity will improve.

I do it this way--

Take a cup of plain full fat yogurt. Add two tbs potato starch, a tbs or two of plain cocoa, and some sweetener. I use Stevia.

Mix this well and eat.

Our ancestors ate resistant starch in the form of roots and tubers. Mostly uncooked.

Try to get some into your diet.