In these modern days, we have the freedom to select and consume a wide variety of information, right? Well! not exactly. We do have access to enormous streams of information, but did you know that the majority of those streams actually come from very few sources. Consider the broad effects of this current format and ask yourself what information that you see each day is provided by a large corporation and what do they stand to benefit from it?Next ask how many different people are affected by this? The truth is that everyone is. The customer, the news reporter, the filmmaker, the artist, and the advertiser are controlled by the monopolies that allow us to share our creative works, or to view what they choose for us to see.This is not the first time the monopolization of information has happened. One hundred years ago, in 1913 AT&T (Ma Bell) became the ultimate telecommunication monopoly. They even averted an antitrust lawsuit by convincing the US President that it was for the greater good of society that they should be allowed to sustain their enormous size.In 1982 their luck ended and the government won a court order, causing them to split into seven operating companies knows as Baby bells for antitrust violations again. Still, it didn’t stop them as even now they strive to rebuild. From 1995-2005 four of the seven baby bells were acquired by SBC and in 2006 they rebranded themselves as At&T. While Verizon along with Comcast purchased $3.6 billion worth of wireless spectrum, plus the recent reports of the merger of Comcast and Time Warner… 6 of the 7 Baby Bells will reunite and become part of an even greater corporate telecommunication monopoly, Comast-Time Warner!Recognizing now, this monopoly controls much more than just our telephones… Our TV shows, News, Sports, Movies and even the ads that play in between are in their hands. You can see it will all be strongly influenced by the philosophies, ideas and financial motivations of one single source. Please notice, they are doing it with the same false claim that it is for the greater good of all of us, they say it will cost less if it’s all bundled closely together. Is it worth it? Is the cost of bundling worth the loss of the truth, options and creative competition?A more extensive list of dangers associated with a monopoly of information is available, but a few highlights are: sensationalism of products and activities that financially benefit the monopoly, and censorship of truthful information that could cause harm to it’s success and survival. When you consider the wide spectrum of control of information had by these giant monopolies, it’s not hard to start looking at what we watch through an improved lens of speculation.
The Top 6 Triathlon Nutrition Supplement Mistakes
In reality, most triathletes take supplements. With the advantage increased energy and nutrient requirements, a desire to enhance performance, and a greater degree of food and exercise based inflammation, we really can get a bit of a benefit by popping pills (legally, of course).However, many athletes indiscriminately grab their “morning handful” of capsules, swallow them, and “check off” their nutrition supplements for the day. The fact is, this supplement shot-gunning approach can result in sub-par absorption and utilization of the nutrients, vitamins, minerals or other desirable compound in the nutrition supplement.So here are the top 6 nutrition supplement mistakes, and how you can avoid them:Nutrition Supplement Mistake #1: Eating Fiber With Your Fish OilMost people take their fish oil supplement in the morning, along with breakfast. The problem is that most breakfast foods are high fiber. And soluble fibers such as pectin, guar gum, and oat bran, and also the insoluble fiber lignin (found in plant cell walls) can affect fat absorption by “wrapping” fatty acids within the digestive tract and decreasing their absorption. Fatty acids and cholesterol that are bound to fiber are less absorbed – and only free fatty acids allow for fat to be transported through the walls of the small intestine. Fiber-bound fatty acids will mostly pass into the large intestine.In other words, by popping your fish oil capsules with a high-fiber morning cereal, you’re basically making expensive fish oil poop. So what should you do? Try taking your fish oil with an afternoon, fat-based snack, such as a handful of olives, almond butter on pita, or avocado with crackers.Nutrition Supplement Mistake #2: Taking High Dose Antioxidants RegularlyThis can be confusing, especially if you’ve been indoctrinated with the idea that all antioxidants are good, but recent research suggests that antioxidant nutrition supplements, such as high dose Vitamin C, may actually impair recovery, increase inflammation, decrease insulin sensitivity, and lead to a lower fitness response to exercise. The basic idea is behind this is that antioxidants protect the body from the damage produced by free radicals, but if you’re always taking high dose antioxidants, your body never learns to generate it’s own antioxidant activity, and thus does not not grow strong free radical buffering capacity on it’s own.While this is a fairly new topic in sports nutrition, and research is scant, my recommendation is to save any high dose antioxidant supplements for your harder training days (such as long training weekends) when your body probably needs a little extra help. But on recovery days and easy or short training days, hold back on the antioxidants. You probably don’t need them and they may be doing you more harm than good.Nutrition Supplement Mistake #3: Eating Amino Acids When You’re Trying To Control AppetiteBranched Chain Amino Acids, also known as “BCAA’s”, are in a ton of different during-exercise and post-exercise nutrition supplements. But it is a little known fact that in cancer patients who need to gain weight, BCAA’s are actually used to stimulate appetite and help people to eat more. Obviously, if you’re trying to lose weight or control appetite, eating a handful of BCAA’s in the evening before dinner may not be such a good idea. This is only a worry for a select few folks who are focusing on appetite control and weight loss, but is certainly good to know if you regularly experience food cravings.Nutrition Supplement Mistake #4: Taking Proteolytic Enzymes on a Full StomachProtelytic enzymes, like BCAA’s, are found quite regularly in recovery-based nutrition supplements. Check the nutrition label of your recovery nutrition supplement for words like “papain”, “bromelain”, “trypsin” and “chymotrypsin” – these are all proteolytic enzymes. The primary benefit of these enzymes is to enhance recovery by decreasing inflammation. But the inflammation-reducing benefit of proteolytic enzymes is significantly decreased when the enzymes are taken on a full stomach or with a meal. Therefore, popping your post-exercise proteolytic enzymes with your post-exercise meal is not the best idea.Instead, take any supplements containing proteolytic enzymes on an empty stomach, such as in the mid-morning or mid-afternoon, or even right before you go to bed at night. If you tend to wait for 1-2 hours post-exercise to eat a meal, this would also be a good time to take proteolytic enzyme nutrition supplements.Nutrition Supplement Mistake #5: Not Timing Fat Burning Supplements ProperlyThe premise behind “fat burning” supplements is that they contain components such as insulin and blood sugar stabilizing components such as chromium, vanadium or even cinnamon. From a strategic standpoint, these compounds should be absorbed and active in your body well prior to eating a meal. Swallowing a fat-burning supplement with breakfast, directly before breakfast, or directly after a meal is not going to do much for you. So the best time to take a fat-burning supplement is 30-60 minutes prior to consuming your 2-3 main meals of the day. Incidentally, I do not recommend high caffeine or ephedra based fat burning supplements, as they can be hard on your adrenal glands and central nervous system.Nutrition Supplement Mistake #6: Allowing Fish Oil or Flax Oil To Get WarmWhen the fragile oils in fish oil, flax seed oil, or just about any other seed or vegetable based oil becomes warm or heated, the oil can become oxidized, and form free radicals that can do cellular damage to your body. A warm fish oil does you more harm than good. So if you drive in your car with fish oil or flax oil sitting in a gym bag on the back seat, this is a very bad idea. So is traveling to a race with fat-based nutrition supplements in your backpack or race bag, if it is going to be in a hot airplane compartment or sitting in the sun. It would be better not take these nutrition supplements at all if that will be the case.Instead, keep fish oil or flax oil type supplements in your refrigerator or freezer, and keep them as cool as possible when traveling. If they do get warm, throw them out. They’re not going to do you any good at that point.
Online Travel Agent – What Does That Mean?
Once upon a time, in a place not far away, but in an era long since forgotten, there was a magical thing called a full service gas station. Do you remember? People would actually come out and pump your gas for you! It may sound like just a fairy tale, but it’s true, it really did happen!Now days, our travel agents are going the way of the full service gas station. People just don’t have time anymore, time to go in and meet with a travel agent, time to go over options, basically – they don’t have time for full service. Online travel agents are all around us now, on the internet. They are convenient, but not quite the full service “station” we are used to when making our travel plans.What is an online travel agent? An online travel agent is more like an online booking resource. It is any website that you can go to make travel arrangements. I am sure most of you have visited a site like this. You can log in, do multiple searches for flights, hotel rooms, car rentals etc. and place your order online – very convenient!Online travel agent bookings sites are helpful in many ways; people can explore all of their different options for travel right in one spot. If you are looking for a flight to Europe, for example, and your route is flexible, users can map out different itineraries online. Then, the user can pick which works best for them and make a decision about what they want to do. Also, the user gets exposed to options that they may not have thought of before; therefore broadening their horizons of what type of travel arrangements are available to them.Another pro for using an online travel agent website is the wide variety of products that they offer. Not only can a customer browse airfare, car rental, and hotel options. Travel insurance, airport shuttles, and tour tickets are also available for purchase. This is very helpful to an online travel planner, as they can cover most of their travel planning needs in one visit to a website.After booking a confirmation on a travel website, the customer will receive an email with confirmations and contact information. The information that is provided to the customer usually includes information about any E-tickets, car rental policies (or where to go to look for the policies), and provides information on what to do if the travel plans change. All of this information right at the fingertips of the travel planning consumer.Many people wonder if booking these types of travel arrangements online is safe. Yes – it is. Websites spend a lot of time and productivity making sure that their payment systems, whether outsourced or not, are safe. It is important for their reputation to provide reliable payment systems and to maintain secure sights. Bad news travels fast, and if a website wasn’t taking care of their customers, it wouldn’t take long for the world to notice.Taking from personal experience I have never had a problem with booking with an online travel agent. I have been booking travel online for over ten years and I can’t say that I have had one problem! I have even found that after booking my super cheap airfare on a we site, after I received my reservation information via email, it was s easy to tweak my reservation details with the actual airline after the fact. I have never had a situation where I have paid for my booking online, and had it not be legitimate when I showed up for the reservation, either. Basically, booking online with an online travel agent website is an easy, affordable, and safe way to book your travel.Online travel agents may seem scary to some. With news about security breaches and privacy issues, I can’t blame people for being shy about booking travel plans online. I have to say though, give it a try! You are bound to have a great and educational travel planning experience. And who knows, it might even be fun!