What Is Cobalamin Vitamin B12
I discuss Cobalamin/Vitamin B12. Some of its functions in the body, foods rich in Vitamin B12, some of the effects of deficiency, and daily recommendations.
Cobalamin, also known as vitamin B12 is a water soluble vitamin and plays an important role in the cell function of bone marrow, nervous tissue, and gastrointestinal tract.
B12 is found in milk, meats, clams, and eggs; although most of B12 is lost in eggs when cooking.
Because B12 is mostly found in animal based products, vegans and vegetarians are at a higher risk of deficiency; therefore supplementation or consuming fortified or enriched foods may be worth consideration for this population. Deficiency can lead to neurological dysfunction and in some cases irreversible damage to the brain and nervous system.
The recommended daily amount of B12 is 2.4 micrograms. For instance, Two servings of milk per day provides 2.4 micrograms of B12.
If you are eating a balanced diet for all the food groups you are likely getting the required intake of B12. Deficiency Concerns are relatively low, getting a rating of 2 on our scale.
What Is And How Much Vitamin C
I discuss Vitamin C. Some of its functions in the body, foods rich in Vitamin C, some of the effects of deficiency and daily recommendations.
L-ascorbic acid, also known as vitamin C is a water soluble vitamin. Vitamin C plays an important role as an antioxidant and for the production of collagen which is an essential component of skin, bone, ligaments, and other connective structures.
Vitamin C can be found in green leafy vegetables and several different citrus fruits.
Deficiencies in vitamin C can lead to resistance in healing cuts and weakness in bones, cartilage, and connective tissue.
The recommended amount of Vitamin C to be consumed daily is 75mg for women and 90 mg for men. For instance, 1/2 cup of Kale (40mg) and 1/2 cup of strawberries (50mg) would provide the recommended daily amount.
If you are getting multiple servings of fruits and vegetables daily of which at least one leafy green veggie and one citrus fruit is consumed, there is little concern for meeting the daily recommendation for vitamin c. In our vitamin deficiency rating scale, vitamin c is a 2.
Fitness And Nutrition Are Mental
Many people start up a new diet or fitness routine to improve their health, or to lose weight, but actually in most cases they only want to look better. And that’s not a knock, looking better makes you feel better, it improves your confidence, which in most cases improves your overall health.
So, what most people do, when it comes to fitness and nutrition is look for keywords. The main keywords being secrets, short cuts and small number values. For instance, secrets to getting great glutes, or short cuts to building muscle and losing fat. As far as small number values go, which of these would you choose, 3 weeks to 3 pack abs, or lose 20 pounds in 20 weeks? C’mon now, 3 weeks vs 20 weeks…3 weeks it is.
The problem is, is that when it comes to fitness and nutrition; there are really no short cuts or secrets. As with anything you want to accomplish in life, even looking better and improving your health, it takes time, a lot of hard work, and a mental shift.
We often focus on the foods we are eating and the exercises we are performing, and while both of these are important, we really don’t focus any attention to our mental state. You see, changing how you eat and what you eat is easy, for a short period of time. Sticking to a consistent exercise program is also easy for a short period of time.
When you are first starting out, your brain is laser focused on changing the way you look, and at first you can see the changes happen fast. Weight comes flying off and you are feeling a mental high quite a bit. Dropping sizes in the clothes you wear, everyone telling you how great you look, people asking you for your secrets, short cuts and any advice you can give to them. Your change in physical appearance and all of this attention you are getting is just pleasuring your brain with mental stimulation.
But, there comes a point when all of this kind of levels off. Maybe you have transformed your body quite a bit, reached a point where it is much more difficult to see any more physical changes, and people are used to your new physical appearance, so that attention you were getting just isn’t there anymore.
This is where it can go all bad. Slowly you start to go back to the way you lived your life before all of your changes. Rather than working out 4 times a week, you cut back to twice a week so you can watch all of the new shows on all the streaming devices that everyone else is watching. Eating healthier and smaller portions, yea that was great and all, but man I miss scrolling the internet and downing a whole pan of cinnamon rolls. “you know what, I’ll get back to my healthy routine next week”.
Before you know it, you are back to living your life the way you did before your transformation. Sitting most of the day, binge watching shows, eating like a garbage disposer, and getting metal stimulation from media sources and high calorie non-nutrient dense foods.
You see, what happens in cases like this is that while you went through a physical appearance transformation, and a slight brain transformation, you didn’t go through a complete mental transformation.
Usually we get focused on a goal, maybe to lose weight and look better. Along that journey, the immediate physical changes we see, and the attention we get from other people fuel us to continue the journey. But then bam, we have reached that goal, physical changes aren’t as noticeable and the attention has completely disappeared. The motivation goes away and we slowly go back to living how we did before our massive change.
Ultimately this is why fitness and nutrition are mostly mental. You have to change the way you live your life, change the way you think, change the way you make decisions, basically change the way your brain is programmed. And folks that is flipping hard. Because we have lived our whole life one way, and along the way, our brain gets programmed, see a box of doughnuts on the co unter, eat a doughnut, regardless of if we are hungry.
As far as nutrition goes, you have to put in the hard work to change the way you think about food. A great first step is to educate yourself about serving sizes and portion sizes, educate yourself about nutrient dense foods vs calorically dense foods, and learn about moderation. It is impossible to go through life and not eat foods that you love even if they are not nutritious, you just have to learn to eat them in moderation.
As far as exercising goes, make it a priority in your life. Most of us everyday make ourselves go to work, even though we don’t want to we still go. If you have to, make yourself go and exercise, no excuses. If you can find a workout partner, even better.
After a quick 5 minute warm up we started the first circuit with a chest press with legs up. She used lighter dumbbells being in this position, and this exercise will work her pecs or chest muscles, triceps in the back of her upper arms, shoulders, and having her legs up will provide some leg and core engagement as well.
Next up is a single leg side step up to hammer curl where she keeps her palm facing in. This exercise requires lateral or sideways movement, and will work her legs, balance forearms and the biceps in the front of her upper arm.
Next up is trx suspension trainer body weight rows, where Lisa angles her body with the ground to a position that is challenging for her and uses the suspension trainer to pull herself up and lower herself down. This exercise targets her back and will also help improve her grip strength.
Last up in this circuit is resistance band shoulder pulls, where she is in an athletic position, slight bend at the waist and knees and with a straight elbow pulls the band out away from the poll. Both sides of her body, and this will work her shoulders, but this is also taxing on her core and legs.
3 times thorough this circuit, some short rest then the next circuit.
We started with a resistance band split stance row, which will work her back and shoulders, and being in the split stance will also require core engagement and also really works her front leg.
Next up is an extension with her legs up, where she extends at the elbows pushing the dumbbells up above her. This exercise will work her tricpes in the back of her upper arms, and also requires some leg and core engagement.
The next exercise is a forward single leg step up to a shoulder press. Lisa steps up with one leg and keeps a slightly bent knee and pushes the weight above her head. This exercise will work her shoulders, legs and tests her balance as well.
The last exercise is trx suspension trainer arm curls, where she again, angles her body with the ground to a position that is challenging for her and uses the suspension trainer to pull herself up by bending at the elbows doing a curling motion. This exercise targets her biceps in the front of her upper arms and also works her forearms and grip strength.
3 times thorough this circuit, some short rest then the next circuit.
The last circuit started with a split stance resistance band fly, where she uses a semicircular motion to push the band out in front of her, keeping a similar elbow angle throughout the movement. This exercise will work her chest muscles, shoulders, core and legs.
Next up is sinlge leg dumbbell lift where she lowers the dumbbell down to the ground by mainly bending at the waist, keeping a similar knee angle throughout the movement. This exercise targets her hamstings in the back of her upper legs.
And the last exercise is trx suspension trainer t’s, where she again, angles her body with the ground to a position that is challenging for her and uses the suspension trainer to pull herself up by keeping her elbows extended. This exercise targets her shoulders, and also works her forearms and grip strength.
Once again, 3 times through this circuit then a quick cool down.
So, to recap, in this routine, we did strength training exercises for all the major area of the body, arms, legs, chest, back, shoulders and core, she also kept moving working her cardio, and we really focused on upper body in this routine, but, by using split stance positions and stepping up to a platform got in plenty of leg work, and this routine took about 35 minutes.
