Athletes may be caught juicing with a new performance enhancing product soon. But this product is legal and it really is juice. Recent studies have been conducted with competitive cyclists and a somewhat foreign ingredient called beetroot juice.
Athletes in these tests were given the beetroot juice before a time trial. Multiple distances were timed and the cyclists who drank the complete beetroot formula were found to be over 2.5% faster than they were without the juice.
Beetroot juice is a natural source of nitrate. The nitrate ingredient is what is believed to be causing the enhanced performance. Nitrate widens blood vessels which lowers blood pressure and allows for more blood flow. Nitrate also reduces the amount of oxygen needed by muscles during activity. These two effects combined are the source for the improved performance of the cyclists in the research.
The cycling tests have surely sparked the interest of other athletes as well. If this natural and legal product can improve performance in one physical area, it seems plausible that it can help improve the performance of other activities as well. When dealing with sports, where seconds can mean the difference between second place or champion, beetroot juice may soon needs its own sports agent.
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From the exterior, The Juice Press may seem like many of the other smoothie and juice bars that can be found in any metropolitan area in the U.S. But this particular shop, with a location in the East Village and another soon to be opening, offers only organic and raw foods. All of the juices are cold-pressed and the menu includes sandwiches, chia seed pudding, soups, vegan desserts and salads.
Shops like the The Juice Press are proof of growing interest in raw diets. Supporters argue that raw plants are the richest source of nutrients, and that eating a diet consisting solely or mostly of raw foods will result in better health.
Marcus Antebi, founder of The Juice Press, came to raw foods in the course of his competitive muay thai boxing. “I was trying to get an edge with my training,” he explains. Antebi found that drinking freshly pressed juice and consuming raw foods helped him maintain a high level of physical activity without bulking up.” I had an ulterior motive, I wasn’t trying to seek ultimate health, I was really just trying to get better output.”
Watch our interview with Marcus below …
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This guest post comes from Gale Tern, author, alternative health proponent, and blogger at Arthritis Pain Central.
According to mainstream medical literature, lupus is one of many disorders of the immune system known as auto-immune disease. The immune system is supposed to protect the body from invaders like harmful bacteria and viruses. However, in the case of auto-immune diseases, the immune system actually attacks parts of the body it is supposed to protect.
The theory is that when your body turns on itself and begins to damage cells and body tissue, this leads to inflammation. And so the inflammation you see associated with lupus is really a symptom of the disease. Lupus affects all parts of the body including the heart, kidneys, joints, skin, lungs, brain, tendons, and blood vessels. The most common symptoms of lupus include extreme pain, inflammation, kidney problems, swelling of the joints, fever, weight gain, and skin rashes.
The thing about lupus is that it discriminates. It primarily affects women. In fact, approximately ninety percent of all lupus cases affect women in their thirties.
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St. Patrick’s Day is fast approaching, and the holiday brings to mind all things green. One of the best ways to get into the spirit is with green food and drink. Rather than adding food coloring to your milk – tried and true, been there, done that and need to move to something more fun – why not try some of these great green drink options? Beware that some are better for you than others, but all are green!
Green Tea – Packed full of flavonoids, green tea is known to have fat burning properties and has been enjoyed in China and Japan for years.
McDonald’s Shamrock Shake – This cult favorite has an enormous following, as is evidenced by a website devoted to “Shamrock Shake sightings”. The shake may be tasty, but it is nutritionally a disaster, with 550 calories in one 16 ounce serving. 13 grams of fat and 96 grams of carbs means you’ve blown your diet in just one drink.
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Remember a few years ago when pomegranate juice was all the rage? Well, it seems as though there may be a new super-food fruit juice in town: tart cherry juice.
Makers of tart cherry juice claim that the drink can do everything from help with wrinkles, insomnia, headaches, swelling, puffiness around the eyes and — most importantly for exercisers — increase muscle recovery time. Manufacturers say that tart cherry juice is high in the antioxidant vitamin E, along with melatonin, vitamin A and beta carotene.
While there hasn’t been that much independent research on the juice, one study published in the online version of the British Journal of Sports Medicine evaluated whether or not a highly-concentrated, specially-processed tart cherry juice blend could prevent the symptoms of muscle damage in a 14 male college students. The study participants were asked to either drink a bottle of the cherry juice blend twice a day for three days before exercise and for four days afterwards, or to drink a placebo juice containing no cherries. The 12-ounce bottle of juice contained the liquid equivalent of 50 to 60 tart cherries blended with commercially available apple juice (from all the cherry juice blends on the market, this is a pretty typical blend, I’ve found).
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