Nutrition Corner

Arnold Schwarzenegger Discusses If You Need to Add Carbs to Post-Workout Meals: Fitness Volt Arnold Schwarzenegger has never underestimated the power of nutrition when it comes to muscle building.

14 Best Protein Powders for Weight Loss 2024: We take great pride in the products we recommend.

Recipe for The Day

Clam Chowder with Broccoli Stems & Corn: Keeping frozen corn, canned clams and clam juice on hand means spur-of-the-moment chowder in any season. If you typically compost your broccoli stems, save them for this soup--they hold up better than florets. Set out bowls of toppings like diced red bell pepper, snipped chives or more bacon.

Lifestyle & Fitness Focus

3 Benefits of Oats, a True Superfood

• Offers Excellent Nutrition: Oats are loaded with nutrition such as fiber, minerals, certain vitamins yet very low in sugar and relatively low in fat and calories.Eating gluten-free oatmeal regularly is a good way to obtain manganese, selenium, copper, phosphorus, zinc, magnesium and iron, as well as some B vitamins.

• Helps Lower Cholesterol: Oatmeal contains soluble fiber, particularly beta-glucans, which can help naturally lower cholesterol when eaten several times or more per week. B-glucan is a soluble dietary fiber found in the endosperm cell walls of oats that’s known for its cholesterol-lowering, insulin-regulating properties. In fact, because they contain more soluble fiber than many other grains, oats are one of the most recommended grains for reducing LDL (“bad”) cholesterol, total cholesterol levels and the risk of heart disease. That is why the American Heart Association considers oatmeal to be a heart-healthy food.

• Helps Promote Normal Blood Sugar: Steel-cut or rolled oats (the kind that are unsweetened and unflavored) have a low score on the glycemic index, especially compared to enriched or refined carbohydrates. This means they can prevent spikes and dips in blood sugar and energy, as demonstrated in both human and animal studies. Oatmeal provides slow-releasing carbohydrates that keep blood sugar in check and support sustainable energy. Whole grains can also improve insulin sensitivity. This is one reason they’re tied to lower rates of diabetes and other chronic diseases.

How to Wake Up Early in the Morning: 4 Tricks That Help

• Shift Your Wake-Up Time Gradually: You shouldn’t jump from a 9 a.m. wakeup time to a 7 a.m. wake-up call within a day. Your body won’t get the rest it needs if you’re cutting into your sleep time and the reset won’t be sustainable. The best way to successfully shift your sleep cycle is to do so gradually in 15- to 20-minute increments. Ideally you should give yourself at least three nights to get comfortable with the new schedule before you shift an additional 15 to 20 minutes. With this in mind, it should take slightly over a week to shift to an hour earlier wake-up time.

• Don’t Sleep Late on the Weekends: If you’re running on empty by the time Friday rolls around, you may be dreaming of a Saturday sleep-in session. But staying in bed until 11 a.m. on the weekend will unravel your efforts during the week, interrupting your natural body clock. This applies to people in a hybrid work situation who sleep in on at-home work days, too.

• Wind Down 2 Hours Before Bedtime: Build an evening routine that helps you relax and primes you for bedtime. Start by shutting down on all goal-directed activities. That means no work emails, no homework, no rigorous workouts. Limit exposure to bright light, lower the brightness on your screens, and — better yet — tuck away the devices about two hours before it’s time for bed. Studies have pointed to a link between screen time before bed delaying the amount of time it takes someone to fall asleep

• Get Bright Light First Thing in the Morning: Bright lights on your devices can make it harder for you to go to sleep, but it has the same effect in the morning, too. Having bright light in the morning resets your internal clock and that’s going to help you wake up earlier in the long run. Play upbeat music, splash cold water on your face, or hop in the shower.

The Health Benefits of Pistachios Are So Good, It's Nuts

• Contain Antioxidants: Stellar source of antioxidant compounds such as B-carotene, lutein, and tocopherol. They also contain chlorophyll, an antioxidant compound that gives pistachios (and plants in general) their greenish hue. Antioxidants, such as those in pistachios, can decrease inflammation and oxidative stress, which can be underlying mechanisms behind chronic diseases.

• Promote Healthy Digestion: The seed contains both soluble and insoluble fiber. The seeds also contain prebiotic fibers, which are non-digestible carbohydrates that act as food for the beneficial bacteria in [your] gut.

• Support Heart Health: Pistachios offer healthy monounsaturated fatty acids, which are great for your heart, as they can help lower LDL ("bad") cholesterol. High LDL cholesterol increases the risk of heart disease and stroke, [but] eating a diet high in monounsaturated fats can lower your risk. Pistachios also contain potassium, a mineral that's important for maintaining healthy blood pressure levels. This can also help stave off heart issues, as high blood pressure is a major risk factor of heart disease.

• Promote Satiety: Pistachios are a wonderfully satiating food due to [their] high fat content. Basically, fat slows down the digestion of food, thus keeping you fuller for longer. The protein and fiber in pistachios lend a hand, too. Protein works to [reduce] ghrelin, the hormone that tells you that you're hungry. [Meanwhile,] fiber creates volume in the stomach, which helps promote the feeling of fullness. These satiating properties of pistachios can help you stay full and energized, making it easy to focus on everything else you have to do on busy days

Best Bodyweight Leg Exercises, According to a Personal Trainer

• Bodyweight Squats: Bodyweight squats are a foundational compound leg exercise that strengthen all of the major muscles in your lower body. They’re also a helpful building block, teaching you a primary movement pattern used in more advanced lower body workouts.

• Jump Squats: Jump squats are a plyometric exercise to build power and explosive strength in your glutes, quads, and calves. In addition to being a great full-body exercise, this movement will give you a small cardio workout by elevating your heart rate.

• Rear-Elevated Split Squat/Bulgarian Split Squat: Commonly known as the Bulgarian split squat, this exercise is a great way to isolate the workload onto the quad and glute muscles in your front leg. If you are doing this workout at home, you can use a coffee table, chair, or step to elevate your back foot. If you’re at a gym, use a weight bench.

• Glute Bridge: The glute bridge is a great beginner-friendly bodyweight exercise. Initially, start with both feet on the ground at the same time. As you build strength, progress to a single-leg bridge by lifting one leg up straight into the air and pressing through one heel at a time.

• Single-Leg Hip Thrust: While the glute bridge is a good beginner-friendly bodyweight leg exercise, more advanced athletes can progress to a single-leg hip thrust. Compared to the previous exercise, this isometric movement will create more of a challenge by loading all of your body weight onto one leg. This exercise could be the key to building muscle.

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