Addicted to Fitness Show Notes – An Interview with Clinical Psychologist Dr. Nydia Conrad

We’re back with another Thursday episode of the Addicted to Fitness podcast, which means another interview with a health & fitness pro. Shannon and I regularly discuss the importance of mental fitness on overall health, which is why I’m excited to bring you this episode with clinical psychologist Dr. Nydia Conrad.

In addition to being a clinical psychologist, Dr. Conrad is a relationship counselor, sex therapist and an avid yoga practitioner.  Dr. Conrad and I chat about the process of discovering your passion, the positive effect exercise can have on controlling anxiety and why a supportive “family” structure can help you reach your goals.

Make sure you listen to the entire episode to hear all the helpful advice & info from Dr. Conrad. If you’re interested in contacting her directly, click here to visit her profile on psychologytoday.com and/or reach out to her on Twitter at @Dr_N_Conrad. Make sure you say that you heard about her on the Addicted to Fitness podcast.

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Don’t forget that we’re always looking for suggestions on compelling individuals from the field of health & fitness to ask to come on the podcast. Please send your recommendations to TheATFpodcast@gmail.com and don’t forget to rate, review and share the podcast.

Links to this episode

iTunes: https://goo.gl/sryxUq 

Soundcloud: https://goo.gl/uN2Qeq

Website: https://goo.gl/16gjr9

What’s on the Menu – These Veggies Could Save Your Life

Vegetables are a great source of vital nutrients. I know that’s not exactly a news flash but eating a variety of veggies is necessary to obtain a wide range of vitamins, minerals and other beneficial organic compounds.

One such group of veggies that Shannon and I try to each multiple times a week are cruciferous vegetables. The member of this veggie family, including the brussels sprouts pictured below, contain organic compounds known as glucosinolates that have been found to have anti-cancer, anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidative effects (source).

I love roasting them in the oven, but when I’m crunched for time, I simply boil them up, cover them in spices & butter and chow down. I want to point out that eating them with a fat source, like butter, helps you absorb the tremendous amount to of Vitamin K contained in these mini cabbages.

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Addicted to Fitness Show Notes – What is the Pegan Diet?

We lead off this episode of the ATF podcast with the announcement of an important milestone.

We finally have a website solely dedicated to podcast!

Visit addictedtofitnesspodcast.com and check out all of Shannon’s recent handy work. We’ll still post show notes here until we get all the content transferred to that site, but go ahead and bookmark it now.

Listeners Talk Back

Our listeners are noticing the new changes on the website and Facebook page because we’re getting lots of thumbs up on the new podcast logo and cover photo.

Our recent episode featuring the lactation cookie taste test is also eliciting a response from people. One listener asked me in person about how they tasted and the company that produces them, Stork and Dove, told us how much they enjoyed the episode on twitter. They even shared it on their social media.

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New ATF content can now be found on our WEBSITE!

Training Recap

Shannon has not done much more than her daily morning yoga routine and doesn’t feel guilty about it. However, she did get a stand-up desk at work, which has allowed her to incorporate periodic compound & isometric exercises, in addition to standing while she works. These movements are important because recent studies show that standing can be just as bad as sitting. Check out this article to find out ways you can properly use a standing desk.

I’m pretty stoked by the fact that I officially enrolled in the June Stick Mobility certification course. In order to hone my stick skills, I’m leading a Stick class at Tampa Strength every Saturday at 1030 AM (message me if you’d like to attend).

I’m also stoked about the new weekly ATF episodes that dropped last week. I don’t want to give too much away about the episode that will be dropping this week, but I will tell you that it has a lot to do with mindfulness. If you haven’t listened to the first Thursday episode with certified personal trainer & mobility specialist Alexis Rivera, download it today!

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Contact Nick to learn more about Stick training

Pegan Diet

Shannon recently discovered an article on Well+Good describing the benefits of a paleo, vegan hybrid diet. This approach to nutrition is championed by Dr. Mark Hyman, author of Eat Fat, Get Thin (which I’ve listened to on audible) and Food: What the Heck Should I Eat. 

Dr. Hyman believes that Peganism combines the best practices from both diets. He’s quoted in the article saying “A pegan diet is low-glycemic, high in plant foods, low in sugar, and includes adequate protein for appetite control and muscle synthesis.”

He also adds that each person should tweak it to fit their own particular health conditions, preferences, and needs

“If you’re vegan and don’t want to eat anything with a mother for moral or religious reasons, then that’s perfectly okay. But it’s critical to get omega-3 fatty acids, and not just ALA (or alpha-Linolenic acid) found in plants you need pre-formed DHA, which is what most of your brain is made from. The good news: You can get it from algae.”

I’m a huge fan of the idea of peganism. I feel the majority of our food should come from whole vegetables and fruit. I also know that animal products are high in important nutrients like heme iron, vitamin B12, and the aforementioned DHA. If you want to be fully optimized nutritionally, without having to rely on supplementation, I think the Pegan diet is an attractive approach.

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If you already subscribe to the Pegan diet, let us know on the ATF Podcast Facebook page how it’s working for you. While you’re there, please leave us a rating & review, which we’d also appreciate if you could do in iTunes. It only takes a few minutes and really helps us reach more listeners.

We also strongly encourage you visit hempcoffeeexchange.com and read about their delicious & nutritious sustainable super coffee. When you decide to purchase some of their tasty product, don’t forget to use our exclusive promo code “ATF” at checkout to get 20% off your order.

Links to this week’s episode

iTunes: https://goo.gl/XHHCrZ

Soundcloud: https://goo.gl/PyAEQX

Website: https://goo.gl/JbQjwd

Weekend Workout – Why the One-Legged Man is Strong as Hell

Have you ever tried to balance on one leg for 60 seconds? If not, go ahead and try it now, I’ll wait……..

Not that easy right? Single leg exercises are great for enhancing stability and allowing you to build strength independently between legs, which is why the weekend workout below is full of them .

Head to the Tampa Strength YouTube channel (link) if you need further instruction on several of the exercises listed below. I recommend performing the workout in interval format (45 sec work/15 sec rest) for 16-24 minutes. Don’t forget to warmup and modify the workout to match your fitness level.

Let us know in the comment section below if you completed this or any weekend workout. ENJOY!

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Addicted to Fitness Show Notes – An Interview with Personal Trainer & Mobility Specialist, Alexis Rivera

THE DAY HAS FINALLY COME! The inaugural Thursday edition of the Addicted to Fitness podcast has arrived. These episodes will be dedicated to conversations with professionals, experts and compelling individuals from the world of health and fitness.

The first individual I have the pleasure of speaking with is personal trainer, certified Precision Nutrition coach and Stick Mobility & FRC specialist Alexis Rivera. Alexis and I chat about his past struggles with body image, the benefits mobility training can have for all fitness levels and how “small victories” can be the key to a successful nutrition plan.

Listen to the entire episode for more useful health info from Alexis and check out his awesome Instagram feed @the_holistic_hipster (love that handle). If you’re interested in utilizing his online personal training services, click here to contact him directly.

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We’ll be bringing you interviews with health & fitness pros each week, which means we’d love to hear your suggestions on who we should have on ATF. Send your recommendations to TheATFpodcast@gmail.com and don’t forget to rate, review and share the podcast.

Links to this episode

iTunes: https://goo.gl/NW6Nxr

Soundcloud: https://goo.gl/qxxBN6

Website: https://goo.gl/GLWkUH

What’s on the Menu – Goes Together Like Peas & Coffee

A few weeks ago I shared my favorite dairy coffee creamer, but I want to let all you know that I’m also a fan of nondairy creamers. As mentioned in the previous post the variety of nondairy choices you have to choose from is borderline overwhelming.

Soy, almond, and coconut are probably the most popular (besides the uber processed coffemate), but there is one that is starting to show up more in stores that I believe provides the most nutritional benefits.

Ripple Foods produces “milk” made up primarily of pea protein. Eight ounces contain nearly 5 g of fat and 8 grams of protein. It doesn’t have as short of an ingredient list as I’m use to, but it’s much more nutritious than almond milk.

Too much dairy wreaks havoc on my digestion so I like to add this and some unsweetened coconut milk to one of my daily coffee concoctions.

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Addicted to Fitness Show Notes – Care/of Vitamins Unboxing & Lactation Cookie Taste Test

What’s up peeps! We’ve got another exciting and informative episode of Addicted to Fitness this week. Before we jump into all our intriguing health topics, we lead off the podcast by telling you all about our awesome sponsors.

The Hemp & Coffee Exchange is dedicated to providing “high-quality consumables” like their super coffee, which combines the nutritional benefits of hemp hearts/seeds with single origin green coffee beans that they roast themselves. Do yourself a favor and visit hempcoffeeexchange.com and get 20% off your order by using our exclusive “ATF” promo code. 

After giving our sponsors the love they so rightly deserve, we dive into the helpful fitness info with our training recaps.

My training recap consists of two BIG announcements. First off, starting Saturday, March 24th, I’ll be leading a group Stick Mobility (pictured above) class at Tampa Strength. If you live in the Tampa Bay Area, contact me at nick@elementaltampa.com to learn all the details about this innovative training modality.

The second big announcement has to do with this very podcast. I want to let all the dedicated listeners know that you’ll no longer get one ATF episode a week……you’ll be getting TWO! That’s right, starting this Thursday (March 22nd), we’ll be posting two episodes a week filled with useful health & fitness info.

Shannon’s week of training includes daily yoga practice, periodic HIIT workouts and dancing her socks off at our friends’ wedding. She danced so hard that she had to ice her knee for several days after the wedding. My lady goes hard on the dance floor!

After our training recaps, we do a quick overview of the effectiveness of generic multivitamins. A 2013 editorial from the Annals of Internal Medicine claimed that multivitamins purchased over the counter provide no significant benefit to preventing chronic diseases. However, several rebuttals, including one from my platonic woman crush Dr. Rhonda Patrick, claim that the scientific research used by the editorial did not tell the whole story.

The bottom line is that multivitamins can benefit certain individuals, but they are not a miracle cure. You are probably better off finding out which vitamins & minerals you actually need opposed to taking a daily dose of multiple ones and hoping it helps. Which is a perfect segue to the “unboxing” of Shannon’s personalized vitamins from Care/of.

Shannon took the quiz on the Care/of website and based on her lifestyle & health goals, she was prescribed a month’s worth of customized daily vitamin packs that included substantial info about the effectiveness of each vitamin along with links to all the research associated with them.

She spent around $50 for her monthly subscription but was able to get half off her first month thanks to a promo code from another podcast. If you want to see the entire unboxing video, head to the ATF podcast Facebook page and make sure you follow Care/of on Instagram (@careofvitamins) to learn more about their products.

Last, but certainly not least, we taste test a very unique health food. Since bringing Ella home from the hospital, Shannon has had the challenging endeavor of providing her with her exclusive source of nutrition. Yes folks, I’m talking about breastfeeding.

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Shannon and I are super stoked that she has been able to feed Ella only breast milk for the first 5 months of her life. We’re introducing new sources of nutrition, but Shannon and I still want breast milk to be a large part of Ella’s diet. Which is why Shannon is willing to try anything that claims to increase breast milk production, like Booby Boons – Lactation Cookies from Stork and Dove.

These cookies are made with ingredients (nutritional yeast, oats and flax) that research suggest can help stimulate breast milk production. We both gave them a try (yes both of us) and found that they were quite tasty. You’ll have to keep listening to find out if they were effective or not.

In the meantime, please visit the ATF podcast Facebook page and leave us a comment, which we’ll feature in a future Listeners Talk Back segment. We’d also appreciate you giving us a rating & review on iTunes. May not seem like a big deal but it’s a quick, easy task that can really help us reach more people.

Links to this week’s episode

iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/care-of-vitamins-unboxing-lactation-cookie-taste-test/id1121420986?i=1000406810340&mt=2

Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/nick-burch-702220833/care-of-vitamins-unboxing

Website: http://addictedtofitness.libsyn.com/careof-unboxing-lactation-cookie-taste-test

Weekend Workout – My Love-Hate Exercise Relationship

If I had to pick which exercise I hate performing the most, it would have to be the lunge. My body, and mind, hate seeing it in my workout programming, but I love the benefits this compound exercise can provide. I decided that this edition of the weekend workout should be dedicated to the exercise I love to hate & works multiple muscle groups simultaneously.

Head to the ETT YouTube channel (link) if you need further instruction on several of the exercises listed below. I recommend performing the workout in interval format (45 sec work/15 sec rest) for 16-24 minutes. Don’t forget to warmup and modify the workout to match your fitness level.

Let us know in the comment section below if you completed this or any weekend workout. ENJOY!

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