Great fuel, but the engine's not running...
Let's talk about something that most folks may not completely understand (and some nutrition professors will argue with me on this - as they already have). You can take all of the supplements in the world, but if you do not exercise, they will have limited effectiveness. Same things goes for diet. Eat as healthy as you want, take all of the supplements you can stand; yet, if you do not exercise then you will not obtain your potential (not even close to it).
Don't believe me? Fine, but your own personal experience in your life will completely back me up on this one, folks. You can not sit around and stave off the big diseases. Here is an article from Harvard on the matter. There are many more articles like this - just crank up a search engine to see them. If you see something that counters this obvious fact, then beware the source.
You are meant to move
Consider how you are put together. Actually, consider how just about any mammal is put together. Let's talk bones. Your bones, if you do *not* stress them, become brittle and weak. They actually need stress to stay strong. What does that say to you? You are meant to move.
Muscles. What happens when you start using them? They grow. Read that again. They grow! When they grow, you become stronger. You know this from personal experience in your life - no articles need be cited here. As a side note - this particular entry in the blog doesn't need any supporting evidence other than what you've already experienced in your life - this is the best kind of 'evidence' there is. If you weren't meant to move, your muscles would not grow after stimulation - the opposite would occur. You are meant to move.
The heart and lungs. Well, what happens here if you exercise - especially endurance based exercise? Yep, you see the trend. Blood pressure decreases, cholesterol decreases, VO2 max increases. In other words, the efficiency of your 'engine' goes up - way up. How do you know this? Because the first time you tried to exercise, you thought you were going to have a heart attack. After that, as you stuck with it, you found it became easier. Easier? How is this? Because you were meant to move.
Supplements - the right kind - work!
Interestingly enough, what happens if you exercise a lot? Why, you can get sick. This happens when you exercise too much (common when you first start out) or exercise too hard for your given fitness level (you usually have to push it quite hard, however). Why would this be? Because there is only so much stress any organism can handle - even if it is good stress.
Supplements can help! If you exercise, then taking supplementation will help (definitively) you to recover from your workouts. Let's consider cycling. Is cycling for 4 hours natural? No way. This type of exercise can do a number on your immune system for the untrained. Even for the trained, you are doing something unnatural. Therefore, you need to take extraordinary measures to cope with it. Enter supplementation. You will deprive your body of numerous vitamins/minerals under hard exercise - food alone will not be able to compensate. Supplements typically have larges doses of these vitamins/minerals for just this type of activity.
Elemental Nutrition does try to help you out on what supplements to take. Look at the benefit icons on the site - they will help to guide you matching the correct supplement to the desired benefit. Take a look.
Now, get out there and exercise.
Patrick
President and Founder
www.elementalnutrition.com
Saturday, October 25, 2008
Sunday, March 23, 2008
I don't wanna take supplements!!
Of course you don't. Neither do I! So, why do we do it? I can think of 2 main reasons:
1) To shore up deficiencies of nutrients that we are not getting from our diet.
2) To increase the amount of nutrients beyond 'normal' levels to gain additional benefit.
Never allow deficiencies to occur
By far and away, the most important reason to continue life-long supplementation is to prevent deficiencies in any nutrient. When we are lacking in a certain nutrient, or several nutrients, our body attempts to make up for those deficiencies by placing additional strain on your other reserves. If you are using up other nutrients (i.e. placing additional load on other nutrients, thereby accelerating the time until they are also deficient) to handle duties normally performed by a lacking nutrient, you put yourself into a 'vicious circle'. In other words, once you begin the practice of 'robbing Peter to pay Paul' with your nutrient stores, you will shorten the time until you are deficient in other nutrients. When that happens, your health absolutely will suffer. You will wonder why you get sick often, or can't run anymore, or just feel depressed, or you get cancer, or you seem to be aging quickly, or any other number of ailments. Not fun.
Life is short, and the older you get the shorter it seems. It is imperative that you have your health in order to enjoy life to the fullest. Why only enjoy a few short years in your 20s and 30s, only to be dogged by ailments for the majority of your life afterward? You can enjoy an extremely active life if you only maintain your nutrient status. Further, as technology moves along, and discoveries are made about other nutrients, we at Elemental Nutrition will modify and improve our products making them that much better. Everything we do here is based on solid science and proven technology.
Gaining additional benefits
Some folk want to take supplements to gain a performance edge in athletics, or business, or to feel better than normal on a daily basis. This is where some of the gray area comes into play. Some supplements will provide a performance edge when taken in larger amounts. Consider L-Arginine, for example. If it is busy soaking up the ammonia in your system, thereby sparing your muscles from being catabolized by that very same ammonia, you will stay stronger. Consider L-Carnitine: if you have sufficient amounts of that in your system, you will be able to continue burning fat in endurance sports long after those who did not have enough of it. However, having more Vitamin A than you need will not produce any performance effects (although it may correct a deficiency, as stated above).
As you tour the Elemental Nutrition site, you will see certain 'benefit' icons pictured underneath each product. Those denote the types of benefits you could gain from taking them. We've tried to make it even easier for you to notice these benefits, by adding a way to categorize the products by benefit. So, you could go to the 'endurance' benefit icon, click on it, and you will see the products that might give you a performance edge. Be sure to read the product descriptions, however, for the detailed information about usage and what you might expect.
Best,
Patrick
President and Founder
www.elementalnutrition.com
1) To shore up deficiencies of nutrients that we are not getting from our diet.
2) To increase the amount of nutrients beyond 'normal' levels to gain additional benefit.
Never allow deficiencies to occur
By far and away, the most important reason to continue life-long supplementation is to prevent deficiencies in any nutrient. When we are lacking in a certain nutrient, or several nutrients, our body attempts to make up for those deficiencies by placing additional strain on your other reserves. If you are using up other nutrients (i.e. placing additional load on other nutrients, thereby accelerating the time until they are also deficient) to handle duties normally performed by a lacking nutrient, you put yourself into a 'vicious circle'. In other words, once you begin the practice of 'robbing Peter to pay Paul' with your nutrient stores, you will shorten the time until you are deficient in other nutrients. When that happens, your health absolutely will suffer. You will wonder why you get sick often, or can't run anymore, or just feel depressed, or you get cancer, or you seem to be aging quickly, or any other number of ailments. Not fun.
Life is short, and the older you get the shorter it seems. It is imperative that you have your health in order to enjoy life to the fullest. Why only enjoy a few short years in your 20s and 30s, only to be dogged by ailments for the majority of your life afterward? You can enjoy an extremely active life if you only maintain your nutrient status. Further, as technology moves along, and discoveries are made about other nutrients, we at Elemental Nutrition will modify and improve our products making them that much better. Everything we do here is based on solid science and proven technology.
Gaining additional benefits
Some folk want to take supplements to gain a performance edge in athletics, or business, or to feel better than normal on a daily basis. This is where some of the gray area comes into play. Some supplements will provide a performance edge when taken in larger amounts. Consider L-Arginine, for example. If it is busy soaking up the ammonia in your system, thereby sparing your muscles from being catabolized by that very same ammonia, you will stay stronger. Consider L-Carnitine: if you have sufficient amounts of that in your system, you will be able to continue burning fat in endurance sports long after those who did not have enough of it. However, having more Vitamin A than you need will not produce any performance effects (although it may correct a deficiency, as stated above).
As you tour the Elemental Nutrition site, you will see certain 'benefit' icons pictured underneath each product. Those denote the types of benefits you could gain from taking them. We've tried to make it even easier for you to notice these benefits, by adding a way to categorize the products by benefit. So, you could go to the 'endurance' benefit icon, click on it, and you will see the products that might give you a performance edge. Be sure to read the product descriptions, however, for the detailed information about usage and what you might expect.
Best,
Patrick
President and Founder
www.elementalnutrition.com
Friday, December 28, 2007
Reflections
Starting out
As 2007 draws to a close, I am compelled to review the past year for our young company. Our doors opened in March of this year, so that was a big day (of course)! That, however, was only the beginning of a continuing journey. Just because your doors are open doesn’t mean anybody will walk in. Guess how many hits we had that day? Outside of a few individuals ‘in the know’, we had virtually none. Hmmmm. Over the next couple of months, besides a continual infrastructure improvement, we began to increase visibility to our site by utilizing various search engines, ad words, and adding more content to our site. Over the summer, we began to see a gradual rise in visits to our site, but still nowhere near what we wanted.
Interestingly, everybody who used our product absolutely loved it! That is, those that responded, of course. We have had many repeat customers who can tell when they are getting the ‘real deal’. Curious about that? Look at our new website under the ‘Why Elemental Nutrition’ section for more details.
Growing!
Later in the year, we gained some exposure when registered dietitians took notice of our site. You can see a recipe where our vanilla whey protein was used in a fantastic peanut butter pudding recipe by registered dietitian Jean Jitomir. Additionally, we sponsored the Procon cycling team which brought even more attention. Speaking of – we want to sponsor more organizations, so contact us! At the close of the year, our exposure has increased greatly, and we anticipate much, much more for 2008. Our new web site was launched in December of 2007, which contains more information than the previous one. Additionally, look for our products to be offered through retail channels in 2008 as well. This information will be posted as it becomes available.
To all of our customers, business partners, and others, I thank you from the bottom of my heart. None of this could have happened without each and every individual. I’m anxious to get 2008 under way!
Happy Holidays!
Patrick
President and Founder
www.elementalnutrition.com
As 2007 draws to a close, I am compelled to review the past year for our young company. Our doors opened in March of this year, so that was a big day (of course)! That, however, was only the beginning of a continuing journey. Just because your doors are open doesn’t mean anybody will walk in. Guess how many hits we had that day? Outside of a few individuals ‘in the know’, we had virtually none. Hmmmm. Over the next couple of months, besides a continual infrastructure improvement, we began to increase visibility to our site by utilizing various search engines, ad words, and adding more content to our site. Over the summer, we began to see a gradual rise in visits to our site, but still nowhere near what we wanted.
Interestingly, everybody who used our product absolutely loved it! That is, those that responded, of course. We have had many repeat customers who can tell when they are getting the ‘real deal’. Curious about that? Look at our new website under the ‘Why Elemental Nutrition’ section for more details.
Growing!
Later in the year, we gained some exposure when registered dietitians took notice of our site. You can see a recipe where our vanilla whey protein was used in a fantastic peanut butter pudding recipe by registered dietitian Jean Jitomir. Additionally, we sponsored the Procon cycling team which brought even more attention. Speaking of – we want to sponsor more organizations, so contact us! At the close of the year, our exposure has increased greatly, and we anticipate much, much more for 2008. Our new web site was launched in December of 2007, which contains more information than the previous one. Additionally, look for our products to be offered through retail channels in 2008 as well. This information will be posted as it becomes available.
To all of our customers, business partners, and others, I thank you from the bottom of my heart. None of this could have happened without each and every individual. I’m anxious to get 2008 under way!
Happy Holidays!
Patrick
President and Founder
www.elementalnutrition.com
Thursday, November 8, 2007
Does your grandmother have stronger joints than you?
She just might, if she is taking Glucosamine with Chondroitin and MSM. The joints in our bodies have long been a weak point in our evolution. In fact, it is THE thing that determines how any living creatures moves about on this planet. If you joint doesn't move a certain way, then you don't move a certain way - it's that simple.
We were meant to move
In the past, the human race was typically much more active on average than we are now. Office jobs/watching tv/sitting for long periods are a recent environmental change for which we were not really designed. We get progressivly weaker in those environments - not stronger. Additionally, the more you are inactive and not working those joints, the weaker you become and the stiffer those joints become as well. Eventually, you have trouble getting OUT of those inactive positions to move at all!
On the other hand... or foot...
On the other side of the spectrum, our bodies were not really meant to run marathons, or bike 100 miles, or play football - but we do it anyway. This is the opposite problem in that the joints are possibly overworked and are taking a pounding (especially if your form is less than stellar).
What can we do about it?
Glucosamine, MSM and Chondroitin to the rescue
Nutritional science is slowly nutting out what can help our joints and what can't. Elemental Nutrition offers a supplement that can help your body to repair and maintain those tissues located within your joints.
There are numerous articles out on the internet that you can read for more information. Try this one from the Mayo Clinic, for example, or just search on those substances.
Patrick
President and Founder
www.elementalnutrition.com
We were meant to move
In the past, the human race was typically much more active on average than we are now. Office jobs/watching tv/sitting for long periods are a recent environmental change for which we were not really designed. We get progressivly weaker in those environments - not stronger. Additionally, the more you are inactive and not working those joints, the weaker you become and the stiffer those joints become as well. Eventually, you have trouble getting OUT of those inactive positions to move at all!
On the other hand... or foot...
On the other side of the spectrum, our bodies were not really meant to run marathons, or bike 100 miles, or play football - but we do it anyway. This is the opposite problem in that the joints are possibly overworked and are taking a pounding (especially if your form is less than stellar).
What can we do about it?
Glucosamine, MSM and Chondroitin to the rescue
Nutritional science is slowly nutting out what can help our joints and what can't. Elemental Nutrition offers a supplement that can help your body to repair and maintain those tissues located within your joints.
There are numerous articles out on the internet that you can read for more information. Try this one from the Mayo Clinic, for example, or just search on those substances.
Patrick
President and Founder
www.elementalnutrition.com
Monday, September 17, 2007
Throw Away Your Television
Interestingly, this is the title of a song by the Red Hot Chili Peppers, but that is not from where I got it. In fact, in an attempt to simplify my life so that I can better run my company, be a better friend, and certainly stay more active, I have learned to remove distractions.
"Out of sight, out of mind"
If you are anything like me, you have to remove a temptation from your house in order to resist it. For lack of a better guess, I'm assuming this works because it appeals to our inner couch potato - takes too much work to go to the store and buy those Red Vines, so we just eat whatever we have - even if it's healthy! Net result - no consumption of empty calories, and (assuming you purchased healthy food) consumption of nutrient dense calories. So, why not take advantage of our inherit desire to do less work? Try it, you will see.
TV is preferring the company of imaginary people to real people
You come home, nuke a dinner, plop on the coach and watch TV. You can't help it as it is simply habit forming. You just can't say no to that re-run of "Friends" coming on twice in a row while you eat. Before you know it, half of your evening is gone and it's too late to do anything with your friends. Remove all TVs from the house. Blasphemy you say! Outcast! I can hear it now - you fear that removing it will make you seem like some sort of wackjob that everyone in the neighborhood talks about. It won't. What is will do, however, is force you to start looking for other things to do.
Notice the emphasis on the word 'do'. Watching TV isn't really 'doing' anything, for the most part, and we 'do' it for hours. If you have no TV, you will begin to quickly realize how boring it is to sit around the house. You will feel the urge to be entertained, to use your mind, to use your body, or to interact with real people - not the imaginary ones on TV. Personally, I believe that part of the problem is that we prefer the company of those characters on the screen, but let me tell you: there is no getting around the human race.
You are surrounded by people
You are surrounded by people, so you might as well get to know them. Get involved with them, be a part of their ups and downs, their issues, their luggage, and their benefits. It is better than watching made up versions of exactly that on TV. Those people on TV do not love you back. Additionally, you will almost certainly burn more calories and be more physically active when you remove the thing that forces you to sit from your house. It's a better way to be. I have now done it, and I certainly went through withdrawal for a while before I began to enjoy the lack of TV. Now I find them (the TVs) nearly offensive.
So, remove your television, become active, and become more engaged in your life.
Patrick
President and Founder
www.elementalnutrition.com
"Out of sight, out of mind"
If you are anything like me, you have to remove a temptation from your house in order to resist it. For lack of a better guess, I'm assuming this works because it appeals to our inner couch potato - takes too much work to go to the store and buy those Red Vines, so we just eat whatever we have - even if it's healthy! Net result - no consumption of empty calories, and (assuming you purchased healthy food) consumption of nutrient dense calories. So, why not take advantage of our inherit desire to do less work? Try it, you will see.
TV is preferring the company of imaginary people to real people
You come home, nuke a dinner, plop on the coach and watch TV. You can't help it as it is simply habit forming. You just can't say no to that re-run of "Friends" coming on twice in a row while you eat. Before you know it, half of your evening is gone and it's too late to do anything with your friends. Remove all TVs from the house. Blasphemy you say! Outcast! I can hear it now - you fear that removing it will make you seem like some sort of wackjob that everyone in the neighborhood talks about. It won't. What is will do, however, is force you to start looking for other things to do.
Notice the emphasis on the word 'do'. Watching TV isn't really 'doing' anything, for the most part, and we 'do' it for hours. If you have no TV, you will begin to quickly realize how boring it is to sit around the house. You will feel the urge to be entertained, to use your mind, to use your body, or to interact with real people - not the imaginary ones on TV. Personally, I believe that part of the problem is that we prefer the company of those characters on the screen, but let me tell you: there is no getting around the human race.
You are surrounded by people
You are surrounded by people, so you might as well get to know them. Get involved with them, be a part of their ups and downs, their issues, their luggage, and their benefits. It is better than watching made up versions of exactly that on TV. Those people on TV do not love you back. Additionally, you will almost certainly burn more calories and be more physically active when you remove the thing that forces you to sit from your house. It's a better way to be. I have now done it, and I certainly went through withdrawal for a while before I began to enjoy the lack of TV. Now I find them (the TVs) nearly offensive.
So, remove your television, become active, and become more engaged in your life.
Patrick
President and Founder
www.elementalnutrition.com
Thursday, June 28, 2007
What is the best way to reduce inflammation?
We've all felt it at some point or another - and it definitely gets worse as we age. It's that pain in our joints that we all know and... well, hate. In your knees, and simply walking can be a chore. In your elbows? Try throwing a ball and see how that feels. Wrists? It can make holding a cup of tea painful.
So, what do we do normally? We head for the Ibuprofen (like Advil), or Acetaminophen (like Tylenol) in order to get fast, effective relief. Of course, drugs work! Otherwise they wouldn't be able to sell them. That being said, they *are* drugs, and as such, must be detoxified in the liver. If you click on the link immediately preceding this sentence, you will see how this done. Take a note on the nutrients required for detoxification as well - look familiar?
So, is there something else that might do the trick? Well, yes - Omega 3 fatty acids. That answer surprised me as well, as I had thought their main function was for various heart/circulatory benefits. But, they do so much more. According to the Journal of the American College of Nutrition, this essential nutrient also reduces inflammation. For myself, being a competitive cyclist, once I started taking fish oil regularly (which has copious amounts of omega 3s, as well as some other nutrients which are made from omega 3s), I noticed that my knee inflammation problems disappeared completely.
At Elemental Nutrition, we sell the highest quality fish oil you can buy, and it is the same one that I take on a daily basis. If you don't get it here, get it somewhere because it will go a long way to keeping pain out of your joints, and it also performs a number of other healthy functions in your body which you should be aware of.
Best of health,
Click here to go directly to Elemental Nutrition Fish Oil.
Patrick
President and Founder
www.elementalnutrition.com
So, what do we do normally? We head for the Ibuprofen (like Advil), or Acetaminophen (like Tylenol) in order to get fast, effective relief. Of course, drugs work! Otherwise they wouldn't be able to sell them. That being said, they *are* drugs, and as such, must be detoxified in the liver. If you click on the link immediately preceding this sentence, you will see how this done. Take a note on the nutrients required for detoxification as well - look familiar?
So, is there something else that might do the trick? Well, yes - Omega 3 fatty acids. That answer surprised me as well, as I had thought their main function was for various heart/circulatory benefits. But, they do so much more. According to the Journal of the American College of Nutrition, this essential nutrient also reduces inflammation. For myself, being a competitive cyclist, once I started taking fish oil regularly (which has copious amounts of omega 3s, as well as some other nutrients which are made from omega 3s), I noticed that my knee inflammation problems disappeared completely.
At Elemental Nutrition, we sell the highest quality fish oil you can buy, and it is the same one that I take on a daily basis. If you don't get it here, get it somewhere because it will go a long way to keeping pain out of your joints, and it also performs a number of other healthy functions in your body which you should be aware of.
Best of health,
Click here to go directly to Elemental Nutrition Fish Oil.
Patrick
President and Founder
www.elementalnutrition.com
Monday, April 23, 2007
Racing is fun
Anybody out there like to race? Doesn't really matter what activity, because competition brings out traits in us that maybe we didn't even know were there. When I first started cycling, I was in it for me. After joining a team, however, I find myself wanting to be a good 'domestique' - in cycling terms that is basically a 'role player' who sacrifices himself for the team. See, I just moved up to a higher category, and I've realized that I'm usually not a threat to win any races in this new category (yet). So, I'm trying to get our stronger team members up on the podium!
In the picture below, that's me protecting my teammate in a race. I am in front of him in the pic, but that's because I'm either blocking the wind for him, or chasing down any breakaways. He ended up in 2nd place, so I felt really good about our situation!
Running a company is a lot like a cycling team as well. In this instance, most times I'm the 'leader' while I bring on extremely talented individuals to help me be successful. Other times, I'm a domestique because I need to enable them to do their jobs. No matter which role I play, however, I realize that teamwork is vital to the success of any endeavor - whether it be racing, running a company, being in a relationship - you name it.
Patrick
President and Founder
www.elementalnutrition.com
In the picture below, that's me protecting my teammate in a race. I am in front of him in the pic, but that's because I'm either blocking the wind for him, or chasing down any breakaways. He ended up in 2nd place, so I felt really good about our situation!
Running a company is a lot like a cycling team as well. In this instance, most times I'm the 'leader' while I bring on extremely talented individuals to help me be successful. Other times, I'm a domestique because I need to enable them to do their jobs. No matter which role I play, however, I realize that teamwork is vital to the success of any endeavor - whether it be racing, running a company, being in a relationship - you name it.
Patrick
President and Founder
www.elementalnutrition.com
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