Blog - Optilife Academy

Please, Don’t Call Me “Trainer”: Why CSCS Means More Than You Might Realize

I'm not writing this article to bash personal trainers out there. There are a lot who know their craft extremely well and offer incredible training. I have immense respect for anyone who goes above and beyond the minimal requirements to make sure he or she is offering a quality service. I do, however, want to differentiat...

Vexing Vocabulary: Organic

Vexing Vocabulary: Organic In this edition of the Vexing Vocabulary blog series, we want to explore another commonly misunderstood nutrition buzz word: organic. We see it popping up in grocery stores more than ever before, but what exactly does “organic” mean? It may be easiest to start with defining the non-organic foo...

Supplementation: A Food First Approach

Supplementation: A Food First Approach Supplementation has become increasingly popular in the United States over the past 20 years. Many products have potential application and benefits to target populations, but it is rare that a supplement truly enhances the health or performance of the general population better than an opti...

Never Get Stuck

Never Get Stuck I don’t know about you, but I am a creature of habit. I like routine. Don’t get me wrong, spontaneity has its place in my life, but when it comes to most daily activities, I like to have at least a tentative plan. This can mean different things to different people. Some like to have the same schedule Monday...

The Ketogenic Diet

Ketogenic Diet: Potential Applications Thus far in the blog we have discussed endurance activity using carbohydrate as the primary fuel source. In the last three weeks we outlined the protocol for pre, during and post workout fueling. While our body does prioritize carbohydrate as the primary fuel source for activity and brain...

Intermittent Fasting

Intermittent Fasting Is Intermittent Fasting a Diet fad or return to a more logical eating style? There are so many diet trends. Even as a nutrition expert it becomes easy to brush past them as “just another pitch”. To avoid this, I remind myself I am a counselor, and as such I need to be prepared to field a variety of que...

Happy Holidays – Hold the Weight Gain

FILL MY PLATE, HOLD THE WEIGHT GAIN With the Holiday Season right around the corner, most families are filling their refrigerators and bringing out the pants with the elastic band. If your priority this season is to eat yourself into a food coma and sleep through the Thanksgiving Day football game, more power to you! But wha...

Fueling for Progress

Fueling for Progress Diet and exercise always work well together. Whether you are trying to build muscle, lose weight, or optimize performance, one without the other compromises results. When an athlete follows a structured exercise routine and fails to eat properly, optimum performance cannot exist. In competition, this is a ...

Body Composition

Body Composition: We bill insurance based on BMI. Unfortunately, the body mass index does not consider everything. The study done to create the BMI chart was attempting to prove correlation between weight and chronic disease risk. It was correlated, and the health industry took it as gold. Unfortunately, our recent research has not overcome th...

Vexing Vocabulary: Exploring Energy

Vexing Vocabulary: Exploring Energy “I feel like I don’t have any energy. What can I eat to give me energy?” This is a quote I hear from new clients on a regular basis in my private practice. Being a Dietitian and self-cited mediator of information, what better way to...