Snack Foods Association

Nutrition

Fitness And Nutrition Practices To Avoid

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There are many misconceptions about proper care of your fitness and nutrition. Most of which should be taken note of because wrong practices may worsen our health conditions instead of improving it as we intended to do.

Sometimes, people jump from one diet plan to another without knowing the risks. Whenever they hear about the latest fad weight loss diet, they immediately get into it. Though there are many ways to get your desired fitness and nutrition level, there are some common practices which you have to avoid. Here are some of them:

Eating power bars in replace of meals
This is a common mistake that people thought could improve their fitness and nutrition. Yes eating power bars will improve your metabolism but it requires you to eat a full balanced meal for it to work effectively. Power bars generates more energy thats very handy when exercising or doing a vigorous activity. It is supposed to be consumed as an added regimen to our food and not as a replacement.

Completely avoiding carbohydrates
This is another common misconception in maintaining our fitness and nutrition. It is true that carbohydrates make you fat but only if you have taken more than the recommended daily intake. But generally carbohydrates are helpful in promoting our fitness and nutrition in our body because it is the main source of our energy. Others may replace it with other kinds of food like protein based diets but in the end, they still need to take in carbohydrates to sustain a well balanced fitness and nutrition.

Taking muscle building supplements
For those who want to build up their muscles fast, taking in muscle building supplements is not the best way to promote your fitness and nutrition health. It may be true that these supplements can help build your muscles effectively but one must remember that these are just supplements. It will only work properly if the body has proper nutritional intake. If you want to increase the protein in your body, which is very helpful in enhancing your muscles, then there are many alternatives and more natural ways like eating fish and lean meat.

Reducing your intake of fluids
Some believe that reducing the intake of water can make you lose weight faster. This is entirely wrong. To promote fitness and nutrition properly, you must be able to drink at least 8 glasses of water every day. Experts say that even 1 percent of lack of fluids can affect our body negatively. Especially when exercising, its best to take in more than the usual 8 glasses to replace fluids you have lost.

Starving yourself
People believe that eating can make you fat. This is not true; on the contrary it is overeating of the wrong kinds of food that can make your fitness and nutrition levels go down. Starving yourself is not the key to better health. If you skip a meal, there is a tendency that you will eat more on your next meal.

A Important Third Party Review Of Rain Nutrition – Should You Be Part Of This New Company

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One in all the most recent corporations in the network selling business that is generating a heap of buzz is Rain Nutrition. Besides the actual fact that it’s an organization that is very new to the scene, there are some seasoned marketers that have brought their groups to the company. Now, whereas there are several new distributors promoting the vision of this new company, it is vital that you do your own analysis if you are puzzling over partnering with Rain Nutrition. During this third party review, I can go into Rain Nutrition’s background, merchandise, compensation plan and, most importantly, whether or not or not it is a scam. I am going to additionally bit upon what it can actually take to also have a likelihood of succeeding in building a Rain Nutrition business.

Rain Nutrition started in Could of 2009 and was founded, and currently based, in Highland, Utah. The corporate uses a network marketing, or multilevel selling, model to sell nutritional products. According the corporate web site, their product were formed in partnership with Dr. Arnold Leonardo. It’s important to notice that Dr. Leonardo was appointed to the Congressional Health Care Committee for his research on preventive health care. This said partnership, and Dr. Leoardo’s credibility, undoubtedly goes against the notion that Rain Nutrition could be a scam.

While the corporate markets seven different health products, their flagship product is a liquid nutritional supplement known as Soul. It’s said that a one three ounce shot of Soul can facilitate your improve your overall health and longevity from the within out. It’s benefits embrace:

1. Rich in antioxidants that scale back free radical damage

2. Loaded with Omega 3 fatty acids

3. Contains anti-aging properties

4. Supports your Immune System

5. Supports heart, liver and kidney operate

6. Aids in circulatory perform

7. Supports the repair of free radical damage.

While they seem to own extremely prime quality products, I’d still advise you to try and do a little research of your own on their product line, therefore you are feeling comfy and confidant selling them.

As so much as the compensation set up goes, Rain Nutrition proposes a very generous payout to it’s distributors, claiming to pay place fifty% of all Commissionable Volume on a weekly basis. The compensation arrange runs on a binary model, however your unilevel team conjointly gets tracked by the computer. This is because there a certain components of the compensation set up that will pay you on your binary team, and bound components that will pay you on your unilevel team.

While there are seven ways to induce paid, they can all be dampened into two categories: Immediate, upfront income and monthly residual income. Assuming you’ll personally sponsor new distributors consistently, market products and train people to do the identical, you can build a important income building a Rain Nutrition business.

In closing, based on the documentation on the corporate, products and compensation arrange, Rain Nutrition is certainly not a scam. However, merely joining the corporate will not guarantee you success. The only factor Rain provides is an opportunity, nothing a lot of and zip less. In alternative words, the company can not create you successful. Ultimately, your success depends on you. It is you that will have to require the steps necessary to create a successful business. And one of the foremost important steps is learning the way to be a professional marketer. Having the right coaching and obtaining the correct skills will enable you to sponsor 10-20 new folks into your business each single month. And, if you’ll be able to do this, you’ll be well on your approach to putting together a wildly profitable and successful business.

Nutrition Tips For People On A Weight Loss Program

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People on weight loss programs often focus so much on losing weight that they forget an important aspect of staying healthy that is, providing nutrition to the body.

If you are on a weight loss program, you should follow the important diet tips given here.

Include A Lot Of Vegetables And Fruits In Your Diet

Vegetables and fruits are a good source of vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants. They are low in calories and high in fiber. Therefore, you should include plenty of vegetables and fruits, of varying colors, in your diet. This will help you to lose weight faster and also keep you full.

Avoid Empty Calories

Empty calories refer to food items that are high in calories but low in nutrition. Some examples of such food items are aerated drinks, French fries, cookies, white bread and so forth. These food items are not useful for the body. They make the digestive system sluggish and inefficient. It is best for a person to refrain from consuming these food items irrespective of whether he or she is trying to lose weight or not.

Have Small Meals At Regular Intervals

Instead of having three big meals a day, you should eat five to six small meals at small intervals of three to four hours. Eating small meals helps in improving metabolism. It also helps in easy digestion and maintaining uniform energy level throughout the day. You should include a variety of foods in your meals so that your body gets proper nutrition. For example, if you have a sandwich, which is high in carbohydrates, for breakfast, you should have fruits and nuts in between breakfast and lunch, and tofu or lean meat, which are high in proteins, for lunch. In this manner, your body will get all the essential nutrients, minerals and vitamins.

Never Skip Breakfast

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. You should never skip it; otherwise you will tend to consume high calorie foods during the later part of the day. A wholesome and healthy breakfast is essential for good health.

Read Food Labels

Before buying any packaged or processed food, you should read its label. Check the nutrition facts. Learn to interpret the information on food labels to avoid falling prey to marketing gimmicks. For example, a low-fat food or a low-sugar food does not necessarily mean the food is low in calories.

Do Not Completely Eliminate Carbohydrates From Your Diet

Many people on weight loss programs make the mistake of avoiding carbohydrates all together. Carbohydrates are a good source of energy. A well balanced diet should contain around 40 percent of carbohydrates. For your daily carbohydrate requirement, you should choose whole grains, vegetables, and fruits.

Drink Plenty Of Water

Water helps the body in transportation and assimilation of nutrients. You should consume at least eight glasses of water everyday. That will not only help your body absorb nutrients and eliminate toxins, but will also help you feel full.

It is best to seek advice of a dietician or a nutrition consultant before starting a weight loss program. They will be able to chart a diet plan for you so that you can lose weight without compromising on nutrition.

How To Build Muscle Lose Fat Today From Scratch

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It is commonly believed that if you add too much muscle quickly, you will add fat at the same time. That occurs in the muscle gaining process. It is inevitable and you have to know and agree with that if you want to gain muscle mass. Calories are a must and the more the better if you want to gain bigger muscle mass to your body. For the extra calories, you can’t direct where they go, some of them will go for growing your muscle, some won’t. And the left calories would generate fat.

If you want to make your body shape changes in a short period of time, you should focus on gaining muscle mass in a period of time and then focus on losing additional body fat in another period of time.

In order to slash your extra fat, you have to increase your metabolic rate. Muscle level controls your metabolic rate. So getting muscle mass first is good for dropping your fat. For this reason, build a bulking phase of muscle is a good start.

Based on what we get here, your goal of gaining weight should be: gain small amount of fat and big amount of muscle as you can. In this step, your main purpose is to not rid of fat completely but to get them as little as possible.

It can be accomplished by three ways.

Count the exact additional calories you need.

Instead of talking about “optimal nutrition”, we are going to talk about “super nutrition” here. Getting extra calories is needed to make your muscles larger, but eating as much as you can of random foods beyond what you need to make your muscle tissue larger will cause you to gain more fat than you should.

15 to 20 percent of extra calories of your daily needs are a good point for your muscle growth. If your calorie intake is in this range, you don’t need any more calories.

Be careful your nutrition sources.

Most of the extra food should be in the form of lean proteins, carbohydrates that are high in fiber and unsaturated, healthy fats. Don’t just eat everything you like. You should eat something good for you. Such like eating lean meat and high fiber carbohydrates for stabilizing your blood sugar level and stay away from high amount of saturated fats.

Start your cardio sessions.

Cardio workout is less important for build bulk muscle, but it will help you gain less fat. You don’t need to go overboard, it is just an additional workout. Just keep cardio workout high strength and short. 10 to 20 minutes long workouts are perfect type for keeping from losing muscle mass.

Once you’ve gained big muscle mass that you are pleased, and then it’s time to switch to fat loss exercises and focus on that to help you drop extra body fat and keep your muscle mass level. You will gain muscle and fat at the same time. It is an inevitable truth. The best course of action is just to keep the fat gain at a minimum instead of attempting to avoid it altogether.

Fight Breast Cancer With Calcium D-glucarate And Other Nutritional Supplements

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Most likely, there is nothing more frightening for a woman than the discovery of a lump in her breast. Her mind is quickly flooded with cancer and all of its consequences. Most women have a friend, a sister, or a coworker who has been diagnosed with the disease and know how difficult dealing with it can be. Fortunately, 80% of all breast lumps are not cancer, as most are cysts or a benign clump of tissue. From puberty on, a womans breasts undergo many changes. Because of these continual changes, breast tissue requires adequate nutrition. Although everyone benefits from a healthy diet, there are additional nutrients which can specifically benefit women including B vitamins, calcium D-glucarate, broccoli extract, green tea, maitake mushrooms, and iodine.

Because scientists can learn a lot about diseases from simply observing it, they have learned that certain cultures have a very low incidence of breast cancer, among these being China and Japan. As compared to women in America, Canada, and parts of Europe, the Asian cultures have a much lower breast cancer rate and it seems likely that something in their diet could be protecting these women from the disease. As Asian women adopt a western diet their breast cancer rates climb. It has also been recognized that certain types of vegetables play a large role in the prevention of all types of disease, including cancer. Based on this, scientists have carried out many studies to determine what it is about these nutrients that can prevent breast cancer.

Deficiencies in vitamin B12 can result in a serious type of anemia, as well as nerve damage, and is now being researched to see if these deficiencies can also, in part, cause breast cancer. A scientific study proved that women who had the lowest levels of B12 in their blood had the highest rates of breast cancer. Another study discovered that when B12 was applied directly to cancer cells, it actually stopped cancer cells from growing. The researchers conducting this experiment believe that giving B12 to women with breast cancer as a part of a chemotherapy regime might help to keep cancer in check.

Similarly, low folic acid intake is linked to the development of all cancers because folic acid is crucial to the making and continual repair of DNA. A recent study discovered that high intakes of folic cancer may actually reduce the risk of breast cancer, as women who eat lots of foods that contain folic acid have much lower rates of breast cancer. Although there is no clear-cut, single cause of breast cancer, many factors are required for the disease to appear, including estrogen. Studies have shown that women who have higher levels of estrogen tend to develop breast cancer more often. This means that women who got the periods before age eleven or entered menopause after the age of fifty-five have a higher risk of breast cancer. Another factor affecting breast cancer is the consumption of alcohol. Since alcohol raises estrogen levels, a woman who consumes even moderate amounts of alcohol increases her risk of breast cancer. However a recent study has shown that folic acid can overtake this link between alcohol consumption and breast cancer as those women who drink one alcoholic drink a day and have high levels of folic acid have the same rate of breast cancer as those women with high folic acid intakes who did not drink.

While women need estrogen to soften skin, thicken hair, and fill out hips and breasts, estrogen can also nourish breast tumors and help them to grow bigger, stronger, and more deadly. Thanks to good nutrition, American women get their periods early and go through menopause later in life. Today, women also have fewer pregnancies, with the average number of children being one or two. Each of these factors increases the time in which womens bodies are exposed to estrogen, meaning increased opportunities for estrogen to cause trouble. We are also continuously exposed to cancer-causing chemicals and toxins, coming from contaminants in the food we eat and pollutants in the air we breathe. Although the body does have a system that eliminates some of the excess estrogen and toxic chemicals before they cause harm, an enzyme called beta-glucuronidase can interrupt the excretion process, allowing the hormone or toxin to continue to cause harm. Fortunately, scientists have discovered a natural substance found in foods, calcium d-glucarate (CDG), which can stop the activity of beta-glucuronidase. CDG, which is found in fruits and vegetables, has been shown in experimental studies to significantly slow breast cancer growth. There are also many other trials currently underway studying its ability to decrease the breast cancer risk in women at high risk for the disease.

Iodine, which is the trace element in a hormone found in the thyroid gland and is involved in several metabolic functions, functions as a protection of breast tissue from cancerous cells. A study exposing breast cancer cells and breast tissue without any cancer to a type of seaweed containing high amounts of iodine concluded that the seaweed killed all of the cancerous cells and did not harm the normal breast cells. Researchers believe that it is because many Japanese women eat this kind of seaweed, containing great amounts of iodine, that they have very low rates of breast cancer.

For a great deal of time, cruciferous vegetables including broccoli, cabbage, and cauliflower, have been observed by scientists for their ability to reduce the risk of diseases including cancer. It appears that the phytochemical sulforaphane, found in broccoli, is one of the chemicals responsible for this beneficial ability. Sulforaphane increases certain enzymes in the body called phase 2 enzymes, which deactivate cancer-causing chemicals. When breast cancer cells were exposed to sulforaphane in a lab experiment, the compound inhibited the growth of the cancer cells up to eighty percent.

There is a good amount of research that has concluded that green tea beverage consumption is associated with a lower incidence of breast cancer. Researchers have long noted the low rates of breast cancer in Japan, where green tea is consumed at great amounts. The active compound found in green tea that is responsible for breast cancer inhibition is EGCG, which stops the cells from growing, causes them to lose their ability to replicate, and die.

For many years, maitake mushrooms have been linked to good health in all that eat them, partly because they contain an important compound called D-fraction. D-fraction not only stops the growth of cancerous tumors, but it also alerts and stimulates immune cells to fight the disease. Due to its success, maitake is now being used in clinical trials of women with breast cancer, improving many symptoms including reduction of the tumor.

These nutrients should not be used in place of traditional treatment for breast cancer, as none of these nutrients can cure breast cancer. However, they can be a part of plan of treatment. If you have breast cancer, talk to your healthcare practitioner about these nutrients and remember that nutritional supplements are supplements to your food, medication, and treatment, to enhance and prevent, not a replacement. Supplements like B vitamins, calcium D-glucarate, broccoli extract, green tea, maitake mushrooms, and iodine can be found at your local or internet health food store.

Sports Nutrition For Mma – Rewards Of Performance Nutrition

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As soon as you chose to be involved with mma, you separated yourself from the ordinary sports athletes that do not really want to go the extra distance with their working out. Many athletes considering whether or not to get into mixed martial arts want to head straight for the drills that work on flexibility, strength, speed, and very specific work, believing that will certainly get them to much better overall performance. Although, this perception is accurate you must not overlook one significant element of your mma training that can not be foregotten if you are planning to get to your potential. That portion is what we call peak performance nutrition.

You are ultimately and foremost an athlete. This signifies you can not nourish your body with the similar food that normal people utilize. You are different, and have unique nutritional specifications if you are planning to execute at your highest level. Your current body system is a high performing vehicle, and you have to energize it as this. You, therefore, need to find excellent diet information and facts that will aid you to eat in the right way for the rest of your life as an athlete.

Overall performance nutrition is essential to an athlete in mma for four important reasons. First, a mixed martial artist needs the proper energy to maintain your effectiveness out in the octagon or on the mixed martial arts mat. Next, the right fuel will as well help you to build top quality strength and prevent personal injury. 3rd, dieting correctly will decrease body excess fat levels, which in turn will help you to be quicker and improve your stamina. Finally, developing proper eating habits will prevent future health risks, prolong your career, and steer you to greater self-esteem.

Well before worrying about whether you even need health supplements or not, first start with the basics. All too often, mma athletes will jump to the extras, ahead of doing their groundwork. Eating should first be viewed as simple ahead of you attempt to look at it as complex.

Be sure that you consume lots of water all through the day time. (Avoid pop and high-sugar fruit juices.)

Take in 5-6 little meals in the course of the daytime as opposed of 2-3 larger sized meals.

Stay clear of products including high quantities of sugar, extreme fructose corn syrup, and fat.

Make sure that furthermore there is a balance of necessary protein, carbohydrate, and fat in every single meal in which you eat within the day.

Be certain that you have a high-quality after mma training meal promptly right after exercise such as a carb-protein concoction.

Attempt to snack an hour before exercise or a training session.

Challenge your self with the subsequent thought: “What is more necessary to me? To be successful in Mma or to eat badly?” If you answered to be excellent in MMA, then your final choice has been produced. Now you will need to adhere to it.

If you appreciated reading through this article about training in mma and nutrition routine and desire to study additional content make sure you go to The MMA Zone.

Information On Macaroni Salad Nutrition

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When it comes to macaroni salad nutrition there are a few things to consider. Although you’ll obviously get energy from the carbohydrates contained in any macaroni salad it will largely depend on what other ingredients there are as to what benefits you receive nutritionally.

Most people tend to opt for a mayonnaise based choice sauce but this can be heavy and high in calories. Choosing an olive oil and lemon juice based one instead will be lighter and better on the digestion and is a good option if you are considering losing weight or if you just fancy something light on the palate.

Nutrients and vitamins are absorbed by the body from vegetables and by combining these with your pasta and dressing you can receive a range of health benefits. Green leafy vegetables rich and iron can be chopped and added to your recipe to enhance taste and make it healthier too.

You may also try fruit as well. These provide you with a range of benefits and can provide you with natural sugar which is a lot better for you than processed ones. Be careful to use ones that work well in combination with the other ingredients

You can also opt for a different kind of macaroni to change the balance of your salad. Try a whole grain variety. These give you slow release energy that the body uses throughout the day and this is better to balance blood sugar and stop you craving snack in between your meals.

Get your fill of the proteins that are necessary for muscle growth and repair by having a food like chicken or turkey. These are versatile and can be cooked in different ways to change their texture proving to be an excellent addition that works well with many other elements that you have made use of.

Optimum Nutrition Pro Complex Gainer Helps Gain Body Mass With Fewer Calories.

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Optimum Nutrition Pro Complex Gainer helps gain Body Mass with fewer calories.

Considered the “Gold Standard” of protein for serious athletes Whey protein helps those who work hard to develop and sustain a strong, lean, and well-defined physique. Depending on how much Athletes work out, they often need as much as twice the recommended daily allowance of protein in their diet. A preferred choice of protein for athletes is Whey protein. There are several reasons that the protein they choose can make a difference like the Optimum Nutrition Gold Standard.

Protein powders can be an excellent supplement between meals or as a meal replacement for those who want to control or lose weight. A nutritious daily diet includes foods that have “complete proteins”. Complete proteins must be obtained through the diet each day and contain all of the essential amino acids required. Optimum Nutrition 100% Natural Gold Standard Whey is a great source of protein and contains no artificial sweeteners, color, or flavoring. It is very low in carbohydrates, saturated fat, lactose, cholesterol and other fats.

These are the main proteins in order of the highest to lowest order of how proteins are rated and how well the body utilizes them. They are: Whey protein, Egg white, Fish, Dairy products, Beef, Soy, and Legumes (e.g., beans and lentils). Optimum Nutrition Pro complex contains Egg Albumen; Whey Protein Isolates and Hydrolyzed proteins which are proteins extracted from plants such as soybeans and are broken down into amino acids which are used in the production of products like bullion or soy sauce as a flavor enhancer. To enhance muscle-building, they have created a premium blend of protein by using a combination of 8 different sources.

Optimum Nutrition Pro Complex Gainer is the perfect example of “lean gainer” in the supplement category. Unlike typical weight gain formulas, Pro Complex Gainer derives a much higher percentage of its calories from protein. And while some “ultra-hard gainers” require 1,000, 1,200…even 1,500 calorie/serving weight gain product, many athletes can gain quality mass with considerably less. So, in addition to having fewer calories, Pro Complex Gainer provides a blend of 6 premium protein sources, complex carbohydrates including dietary fiber, lipids, digestive enzymes, vitamins and minerals.

For serious athletes Whey protein helps those who work hard to develop and sustain a strong, lean, and well-defined physique. Depending on how much Athletes work out, they often need as much as twice the recommended daily allowance of protein in their diet. A preferred choice of protein for athletes is Whey protein. There are several reasons that the protein they choose can make a difference like the Optimum Nutrition Gold Standard.

Right Nutrition For Your Children’s Health

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Obviously having children is the most beautiful gift anyone can have but taking care of them is a full time job. And quite naturally, one wouldn’t mind such a beautiful job provided you are adept with it. A healthy child grows up with a healthy and nutritious diet and that is something that you can control. But unfortunately, this is one issue many parents face: the right nutrition for my child! While results reveal that kids consume 25% of their calories from junk food, your kid might one of them. French fries, soft drinks, cookies, hotdogs and sweets are something all children love and are often addicted to it but is it the right food for your child?

Sensing the need of the hour, i.e. to educate every parent of their child’s nutrition, globalpediatrician.com is on a wide spread mission to spread its tentacle across the globe, reach out to all parents and educate them about kids and health. There is after all no harm is having an expert advice online from experts across the globe, even if your child is completely alright.

Children’s Diet Today

Childrens health these days witnesses a decline in resistance and immunity predominantly owing to their diet. The junk food they crave for and are addicted to is only spoiling their internal immunity and wellness. This ultimately leads to grave concerns like obesity, heart problems, growth imbalance, height and weight issues, stunted development, IQ problems and so much more. And the worst part is that most kids don’t eat the way we would like them to eat for their own health. It becomes so difficult to get down the essential vitamins and minerals down their throat of they have been growing up as -picky eaters’.

The right nutrition is the basic foundation to childrens health and hence a complete knowledge of how much and what and when your child should eat is a must. What is amazing here is that with just one mouse click, a concerned parent can learn so much of his/her child’s health and nutrition and that is by logging onto the dedicated services of globalpediatrician.com! While exploring the site, you will find that so many unanswered queries cropping in your mind time and again will be answered with a click and then taking care of your child would become comparatively simple.

Right from the pregnancy stage to childbirth to the development years of child, you can find a nutritional chart for all age groups. One must know that from the time of birth up to the age of three, children develop over 75% of their brain and thus the baby’s nutritional intake during these years should act like a bank. Plus, after the age of 2, the diet of your child should go down in fat content to avoid the chances of obeisity and heart diseases. Growing children up to the age of 5 would have about 90% of their brain developed and so a nutritional intake in those years is crucial; it must be full of proteins and carbohydrates to match the intensity with which the child makes use of his growing brain.

Running And Calf Cramps – Cause And Prevention

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Calf cramps, also known as leg cramps, are the most common running injury that all runners suffer from at one point, sooner or later. Why do runners get calf cramps? What to do when you have them? How can you prevent them? These are the most common questions people ask about calf cramps. This article attempts to answer those questions and explain a thing or two about them.

Why do runners get calf cramps?

For an issue that is so common, it is interesting to see that the running experts don’t have an all-inclusive explanation for the causes of leg cramps. A number of factors have been identified that are possible contributors to calf cramps. These include too much exercise / exertion, dehydration, poor nutrition etc.

Too much exercise

One of the known causes of calf cramps is exertion. When your legs are tired and you stretch your calf muscles leg cramps can suddenly hit you. It’s the muscle’s way of protecting itself and telling you: Buddy, I had enough for today. Sure, maybe tomorrow, certainly the day after, but NO MORE today!”

Dehydration

Even though the link between dehydration and calf cramps is not clear it is argued that it is a reason for calf cramps. So, the calf cramps can also be caused by dehydration. If it is, this could be a reason why many people experience leg cramps during the night. I hardly ever have leg cramps (touch wood!), but when I have them it is often in the middle of the night or when I wake up. Because we don’t drink during the night and are lying under warm blankets generally, we dehydrate quite a bit.

Poor nutrition

Important building stones in a runner’s diet are sodium, potassium and magnesium. When they are lacking a runner is said to be prone to calf cramps. This could be the other reason that we experience calf cramps during the night because we don’t refuel while sleeping.

Thus, exertion, dehydration or poor nutrition are all linked to calf cramps. Striking that there is no clear-cut answer for a phenomenon so common.

What to do when you get calf cramps while running?

If you feel calf cramps coming up during your run, then it is best to slow down. You may be able to keep on walking/running just at the threshold of getting leg cramps or not. When they hit, you will have no choice but to stop your running. Then try to get rid of the calf cramps by stretching your calves and massaging them. A known stretch of the calves is to keep your heels on the ground, pull your toes up and try to reach your toes with your hands. When the pain has subsided, you can try to start running again, but at a slower speed. Also try to avoid any sudden turns, basically anything that will put any extra pressure on your calves. Shorten your run as much as possible and make sure you have a nice warm shower afterwards. After that, apply some heat to the calves, e.g. via tiger balm, arnica oil. This will help blood circulation.

How to prevent leg cramps?

Usually you will know why you got your calf cramps while running. You might have pushed yourself too hard; you might have been ignoring your diet and fluid intake. As said before these are all seen to be contributing factors to leg cramps. So prevention going forward depends on you taking a critical view at those factors and establishing what the cause was. When you are running to become faster, fitter, better you will have the occasional leg cramp attack. But if you feel you are doing everything right and they keep on coming back, then, instead of going for your usual training run, run to see a doctor!

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