None of us is getting any younger. Take it from someone who’s old: You don’t want to reach the Age of Senior Discounts with regrets about all the things you didn’t do to prepare your body and mind. Fortunately, there’s a lot you can do, at any age. In the following article, we’ll cover the best practices for aging well—preserving longevity, quality of life, and healthspan. They include: The very short list of things you should avoid. The much more detailed list of what you can do to get the most out of the time you have. The most impactful way to combine a healthy life with a happy life. Som ..read more

Reviewed by Brian St. Pierre, MS, RD “Cargo pants are back.” This was the news that Brian St. Pierre, PN’s director of nutrition, broke when we met. (St. Pierre, a father, found this out via his 12-year-old daughter.) Why does this matter? Apparently, a certain type of exercise is running a parallel cycle: An old trend resurfacing as a new “it” thing. Cardio’s back, baby. Specifically, zone 2 cardio—also known as steady state cardio, low intensity steady state cardio (LISS), or what your treadmill may call the “fat burning zone” (more on this term later). When I got into the fitness industry o ..read more

Angela Fitch’s family history of obesity caught up to her at age 40, when she was pregnant with her first child. As a physician and obesity medicine specialist, Dr. Fitch knew the lifestyle levers to pull—and she had the financial means to yank them hard. After giving birth, she lifted weights with a trainer twice a week. She sweated through one Peloton workout after another and tracked her food intake on MyFitnessPal. Nevertheless, for the next decade, Dr. Fitch lost (and regained) the same five to ten pounds. Her blood pressure crept upward. Then came a sleep apnea diagnosis. As her 50th bir ..read more

Reviewed by Brian St. Pierre, MS, RD Calorie manipulation—whether to lose weight or gain muscle—seems simple. After all, it’s just math… right? Sort of. But it’s tricky. Your body is a complex machine. In order to determine how many calories your body needs to achieve your goals, you need to first understand how your body burns (and stores) calories. Want to find out more about what your body does with calories? Keep reading. What’s the average necessary daily calorie intake? The concept of a calorie is grounded in tangible science: One calorie equals the energy needed to raise the temper ..read more

Reviewed by Brian St. Pierre, MS, RD Not all foods fit into neat macro categories. Meeting your macro goals can seem simple on paper or on an orderly spreadsheet, but in real life, it can sometimes feel more like a child’s finger painting. Finding foods that align perfectly with your macro targets can be challenging, making the task of accurately tracking your intake feel impossible. While there are many apps that can help you track the nutritional breakdown of each food you eat, using an app doesn’t work for everyone. For those trying to track macros without the assistance of an app in your b ..read more

Reviewed by Brian St. Pierre, MS, RD Health coaching goes beyond diet and exercise advice. To improve your health, a good health coach will not just consider your physical needs, but also your goals, personal preferences, and overall value system. There are many reasons why you might decide to work with a health coach, but many people haven’t considered just how much a health coach can help—and how they can help. Below, we’ll look at four ways a health coach can benefit you that you might not have known about. First, what is a health coach? A health coach is a guide, someone who assists you in ..read more

Reviewed by Brian St. Pierre, MS, RD Growing up, we learn that vitamins and minerals are essential for health. (We all took those animal-shaped multis, right?) But what does that mean? What vitamins do we need, and why? How can we get the minerals our body needs for optimal health and well-being? In this article, we’ll take a detailed look at vitamins and minerals, where they come from, what they do, and what happens if you don’t get enough or too many of them. What are micronutrients? Micronutrients are the vitamins and minerals your body needs in smaller quantities (as opposed to macronutrie ..read more

Reviewed by Brian St. Pierre, MS, RD Are there “good” and “bad” fats? And how much fat, exactly, should a health-conscious person strive to eat? In this article, we’ll talk all about fats, including the effects of certain fats on your health, plus how fats work in your body. What is fat? Fat, an essential macronutrient, plays a crucial role in maintaining the proper functioning of your body. Fat is a concentrated energy source which contains more calories per gram than either carbohydrates or protein. (Fat contains 9 Calories per gram, whereas carbs and proteins contain 4 Calories per gram.) T ..read more

Reviewed by Brian St. Pierre, MS, RD Are there “good” and “bad” fats? And how much fat, exactly, should a health-conscious person strive to eat? In this article, we’ll talk all about fats, including the effects of certain fats on your health, plus how fats work in your body. What is fat? Fat, an essential macronutrient, plays a crucial role in maintaining the proper functioning of your body. Fat is a concentrated energy source which contains more calories per gram than either carbohydrates or protein. (Fat contains 9 Calories per gram, whereas carbs and proteins contain 4 Calories per gram.) T ..read more

Massive industry-wide survey reveals the personality characteristics linked to phenomenal success in the health and fitness industry. The post Caliper | Special Report for Health and Fitness Professionals [Free PDF] appeared first on Precision Nutrition ..read more