Whey Protein: More Than Just Muscles – InVite Health Podcast, Episode 198
When it comes to whey protein, most of the time we think of working out. But it can also be beneficial in terms of enhancing our overall longevity.
Tag: weight
Protein & The Benefits of Its Amino Acids, Part 1 – Invite Health Podcast, Episode 100
Protein is one of the basic building blocks of the human body and is essential for things like healthy skin, muscle building, energy and more! Whey Protein is the best source, in order to reap all of the benefits of its important amino acids.
5-HTP: The Happiness Molecule for Weight Control – Invite Health Podcast, Episode 91
Invite Health Podcast, Episode hosted by Jerry Hickey. Ph
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Serotonin is known as the happiness molecule and it also makes you feel full when you are eating. A supplement called 5-HTP has been shown to raise the level of serotonin in your brain, which makes you feel good and full. If you feel happy and full, it is easier to stick with your weight loss plan.
What is 5-HTP?
5-HTP stands for 5-hydroxytryptophan. It comes from the seed of a plant that’s called Griffonia simplicifolia and it grows in western Africa. 5-HTP easily enters your brain and is quickly converted into serotonin. Serotonin is a very important neurotransmitter and has multiple benefits for your brain. Neurotransmitters – and we know of about 100 of them in the human brain – transmit messages throughout the brain. Serotonin transmits happiness and helps you fend off depression, anxiety and symptoms of stress. But in the brain, serotonin also helps you feel full.
In many of us, our appetite control has abandoned us. This is not surprising, considering our American appetite for sugar. The average American consumes about 152 pounds of sugar each year! This means many are consuming about three cups of sugar per day. Besides sugar triggering specialized taste buds on your tongue that make you want to eat more sugary foods, sugar sends messages from your gut to your brain that also want you to eat more sugar. This is how sugar is found to be addictive.
5-HTP, if you take it as a supplement, easily enters your brain and is the precursor to serotonin. In other words, 5-HTP is converted into serotonin. The right amount of serotonin in your brain makes you feel satisfied with the amount of food you’ve eaten. This helps you to not overeat. The problem is that the effect of 5-HTP on serotonin is short lived. Taking a time-release version stretches out the benefit, can help reduce your sugar cravings and in-between snacking, as well. With 5-HTP the effects are nice and subtle; you get a more acceptable rate of weight loss due to the improved levels of satiation you feel overtime.
Scientific Evidence for Weight Control
Very recent research shows that food is far more fattening when you consume it while you are stressed out. Other research shows that stress leads to poor control of your appetite and more fattening food choices. So blocking the symptoms of stress also helps with weight control. Back in the 1990s, the journal Alternative Medicine Review was already publishing data on 5-HTP, how it is easily converted into serotonin, how it controlled appetite, improved their mood, helped them handle anxiety, and conquer stress.
How 5-HTP Helps Depression, Stress and Anxiety in Clinical Studies. Listen now >>
A study published in the International Journal of Obesity from researchers from the University of Pavia in Italy, tested the effects of naturally derived 5-HTP in overweight women over a two month period. This was a state-of-the-art human clinical study – placebo-controlled and randomized. Over the eight week period, the women on 5-HTP experienced a significantly greater increase in their feelings of satiation, or feeling full. In between their meals, they were not hungry and their appetite was curbed. They lost weight and it was fat weight. Three years later, the study results were duplicated by the same researchers. Published in the journal of Eating and Weight Disorders, the same researchers showed evidence that 5-HTP obtained from the seed of the plant controls appetite in overweight women. It was a randomized, double-blind trial over a four week period in conjunction with a weight loss diet this time. When you are placed on a calorie restricted diet, you may feel hungry all of the time. The 5-HTP lead to a good improvement on modified hunger scales.
In a very interesting study published by the University of Rome Sapienza in the journal of Neural Transmission focusing on overweight women ages 30-40. They were supplemented with 5-HTP or placebo for five week, with no restrictions placed on their eating habits or food choices. Results showed the women taking 5-HTP had a steady feeling of feeling satisfied with their meals and they were eating less overtime. They also lost weight. The interesting thing about this study was that is was a crossover study, meaning the women who were in the 5-HTP group were also in the placebo group and vice versa. Three years later these researchers duplicated their study and published their findings in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. In the second study in obese men and women, there was significant weight loss in the 5-HTP supplemented group. This group also ate far less carbohydrates and did not experience food cravings.
What do you think about this supplement? Leave a comment below to join the discussion.
Thank you for tuning in to the Invite Health Podcast. You can find all of our episodes for free wherever you listen to podcasts or by visiting www.invitehealth.com/podcast. Make sure you subscribe and leave us a review! Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram at Invite Health today. We’ll see you next time on another episode of the Invite Health Podcast.
Keto Carb Blocker Ingredients Set The Bar High For Effectiveness
With so many keto products on the market, how do you know that the InVite® Keto Carb Blocker can work best for you? Here is the evidence behind the ingredients that make up a product that is the perfect addition to your keto lifestyle.
Can Intermittent Fasting Help Ease Metabolic Syndrome?
The American Heart Association reports that metabolic syndrome affects about 23% of adults. A new study now says that eating within a certain time window – intermittent fasting – can help tackle that.
The Top 5 Components For The Most Effective Workout
Photo by Anupam Mahapatra on Unsplash
You’ve made the decision to become more physically active. But where do you begin? Did you know that there are five components to fitness?
According to the American Heart Association, you should ask yourself (or your doctor) to help you access where you fall within these five components of fitness by recording:
- Your pulse rate before and after walking one mile
- How long it takes to walk one mile
- How many push ups you can do in one set
- How far you can reach forward while seated on the floor with your legs in front of you (and whether your legs are totally straight or bent)
- Your waist circumference
- Your body mass index
Here’s what you need to know in order to optimize your workout and, ultimately, your overall health.
1. Cardiovascular Endurance
This component of fitness is also commonly called aerobic fitness. It includes anything that will keep your body producing a high heart rate for a long period of time. The reason it’s number one? Endurance activity keeps your heart, lungs and circulatory system healthy and improves your overall fitness. Cardiovascular fitness allows your heart and lungs to supply oxygen-rich blood to the working muscle tissues. It also allows for the muscle to use oxygen to produce energy for movement for a sustained duration. As a result, according to the American Heart Association, practicing cardiovascular endurance may also reduce your risk of many diseases like diabetes, heart disease and stroke.
Examples of this fitness component include walking briskly, running or jogging, dancing, swimming, biking or playing spots like basketball or soccer.
2. Muscular Strength
This is the amount of force a muscle can produce with a single maximal effort (like one rep). The American Heart Association recommends strength training at least twice per week. This type of fitness gives you the ability to perform everyday activities and helps protect your body from injury. “Stronger muscles also lead to a boost in your metabolic rate, which means you’ll burn more calories.”
Examples of this fitness component include lifting the heaviest weight you can manage at one time, but it’s not like professional body building. Simple weight-bearing exercises that use free weights or machines may work best for you.
3. Muscular Endurance
Different than muscular strength, this is the ability of muscle fibers to exert force and movement and remain active for a long period of time. It includes your muscles ability to resist, withstand, recover from and have immunity to trauma, wounds and fracture. You may already have high endurance capabilities in your core, for example, but not your arms.
Examples of muscular endurance include using light weights at a higher rep count, using your body as a weight like in planking or using increasing your resistance on your spinning bike.
4. Flexibility
Flexibility exercises stretch your muscles and can help your body stay flexible. These exercises may not improve your endurance or strength but being flexible allows for more freedom of movement and helps with your everyday activities. The best time to do flexibility exercises? In order to stretch farther without tightness or pain, the AHA recommends flexibility exercises when your muscles are already warmed up like after a quick walk or jog.
Stretch 3-5 times during each session. You may also want to try our yoga or Pilates.
5. Body Composition
One of the most dreaded components of fitness is the body composition aspect (think back to high school when your gym teacher made you record it!). Body composition is used to describe the percentage of fat, bone, water and muscle you have in order to determine how lean you are. It does not actually refer to your weight in pounds or what kind of figure you have.
This final fitness component is actually one of the simplest – if you are working on all four other forms, this one will fall into place naturally.