I was asked recently to speak about why it is important for Christians to be physically healthy. This post is going to be bit different than my last posts and will cover a lot of religious language that may not be appropriate for some of my readers. From first blush, the line from the Bible that comes to mind is the whole notion of our bodies being temples and then my ADHD goes down a track and looks at the... Read more

Well, I did not write a post last week. I took a nasty spill on my bike on Saturday and Sunday was spent just trying to make it through with what I think was a broken pinky, mangled knuckes, sprained wrist and jacked up shoulder. I rode 30 miles in the Black Fork Gravel Grinder down near Loudonville, Ohio in a state park called Mohican State Park. The day was perfect and I really rode well, until the last 7... Read more

This week, I want to look at a concept I came across in a recent training, the idea of physical literacy. Physical literacy is defined as “the motivation, confidence, physical competence, knowledge, and understanding to value and take responsibility for engagement in physical activities for life.” – The International Physical Literacy Association, May 2014. In this blog, I talk a lot about nutrition and this truly is only part of the puzzle. As poor diets are the trend right now,... Read more

The Vitamin B complex is comprised of 8 B vitamins: B-1 (thiamine) B-2 (riboflavin) B-3 (niacin) B-5 (pantothenic acid) B-6 (pyridoxine) B-7 (biotin) B-9 (folic acid) B-12 (cobalamin) Today, I want to look at B 3 and B 6 and their role in mental health. In a previous post, I talked about how you are what you eat and with the B vitamins, this could not be further from the truth. Both B 3 and B 6 play roles in... Read more

The other day, I heard a disturbing statistic that suggested that at the height of our COVID-19 lockdown, some people were gaining .5lbs a week. Lightly called the COVID 19, it is indeed a real problem that some have had to deal with during this pandemic. This week, I would like to address this issue. For many of those who work desk jobs, myself included, we have either moved to working from home or in some capacity are still working... Read more

This week, I want to talk about the gut’s role in inflamation. What you eat is what you are. Food can impact systemic inflamation in the body. There are auto immune diseases that can lead chronic inflamation. Gastritis is one such condition where the lining of the stomach becomes inflamced. Gastritis is linked to a bacteria that causes ulcers in the stomach. Pain relievers and excess alcohol can contribute to gastritis. Other inflamations are or can be normal respsonses to... Read more

I am guilty. I have said this too often to clients knowing full well that it is much more complicated than this. In the American Council of Exercise(ACE)’s March 2021 issue of Certified, Daniel Green visits this conventional wisdom and shows how much more complicated weight loss is. This will be a critique of Green’s article. For many years, many, myself included have engaged in reductionist logic regarding weight loss. As I have gotten older and more educated, I have... Read more

This week, I would like to move away from diet for a moment and celebrate that it was warm this week, well, warmer. Soon however, it will be really warm and we will all be shedding our sweaters and sweatpants for t shirts and tank tops. It’s time to get our guns out. In order to get our guns out though, we may have to do some work getting them ready. This week, I am going to give you 5... Read more

This week, I want to look at two overlooked aspects of “exercise”. I want to talk about Excess Post Exercise Oxygen Consumption (EPOC) and Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis (NEAT). EPOC- Your body is not done after you get done exercising. In the same manner that your engine in your car is not cold immediately after switching it off, your body goes through a similar process of cooling down. EPOC is the amount of oxygen required to restore your body to its... Read more

It was a busy weekend. I had my first event for 2021, a 45 mile gravel race over in Ohio’s Amish country. It was a beautiful, sunny day across windswept farm land, buggys, horse drawn farm machinery and Amish children smiling and waving. Oh and it was cold, mid 20’s with a max wind gust of 15 mph making the real feel in the teens. I knocked out the ride in 3:45, and I am not sure how people did... Read more