Q: Sit with your legs stretched straight out in front of you.  Without moving legs, point your feet backward towards your body as far as they will comfortably go. Hold for 10 seconds. Then, point your toes down away from your body. Hold for 10 more seconds. Next, point toes towards the opposite foot and hold for 10 seconds. Then, point your toes away from the opposite foot and hold for 10 more seconds. Lastly, move the ankles 10 times clockwise and 10 times counterclockwise.  This exercise was developed by the Summit Medical Group, a rehabilitation center, to help increase the range of motion or flexibility of the ankles. According to Summit, increased flexibility and strength in the ankle muscles, especially the tibialis muscles, can help to greatly reduce injuries such as sprains. Use this series as a warm-up for the remaining stretching exercises. This stretch is similar to the warm up, but it is a more targeted stretch. Sit against the couch with your feet straight out in front of you, so that they are perpendicular to your legs. Flex your feet back towards you as far as they will go while keeping your legs flat on the ground. Try to keep your feet extended, so your toes and heels move in a straight line. Hold for five seconds. Relax and then push your toes away from the body as far as they will go.  Repeat 15 times, moving both feet at the same time. You can also do this exercise while you are lying down. To get a deeper stretch, you can use an elastic band. Pointing the toes away from the body helps to strengthen the muscles in the calves. Sit in a chair and flex your right foot. Loop a large towel under your foot. Pull on the ends of the towel and pull it toward you. Stretch your toes towards you as far as you can while remaining comfortable. Hold stretch for 10 seconds and repeat 3 times with each foot.  This stretches the muscles in the shins. Flexible shins, like calves, are important for full recovery from plantar fasciitis. You can also do this with a resistance band on the floor. Hook the band around a table leg. Walk away from the table and loop your foot in the band. Bring your toes toward you, pulling against the band.  This is designed to stretch out the flexors muscles in the foot, which help you move the feet in relation to the leg. Stand on a stair. Move until you are only standing on the stair with the balls of your feet. Hold onto the railings or wall on both sides for balance. Slowly lower your heel towards the step below you until you feel the stretching in the calf muscles. Hold this pose for 15-30 seconds, then relax.  Do three reps.  This exercise helps stretch out the muscles of the calf. Calf muscle stretching, according to the American Orthopedic Foot and Ankle Society, is integral to the treatment of plantar fasciitis. This is because excessively tight calf muscles make it more difficult to properly flex and stretch the heel. This is necessary to help recover from this painful condition. Stand facing the wall with hands resting on the wall for balance. Step forward with one leg and bend the knee slightly. Stretch the other leg behind you so that your heel is resting on the floor. Then, lean slowly into the wall until you feel the stretching in your calf.  Hold for 15–30 seconds and do three reps.   This exercise stretches the soleus, one of the major muscles in the calf.. You can also use a rolling pin, a can or a tennis ball, for example, but using something cold will help reduce inflammation. You can do this either standing or sitting. This dynamic stretch is great for a long day on your feet or to help relieve stiffness or swelling. This exercise will strengthen the plantar fascia and other tissues that help support it, such as the Achilles tendon and calf muscles.
A: Test your ankle range of motion. Do plantar flexion. Try dorsiflexion. Do an Achilles stretch. Perform a standing calf stretch. Using a frozen water bottle, roll it back and forth with the arch of the foot from your toes to your heels.

Q: In many parts of the world, food manufacturers are required by law to provide nutritional information on packaged food products. This information is presented in the form of a chart, which can usually be found on the back or side of the package. If you’re curious about what you’re eating, the nutrition facts label is where you should look first. A food’s nutrition facts can tell you everything you need to know about what’s in it, including a comprehensive ingredients list and an overview of each of the major macronutrients. When assessing a food’s nutritional value, you should look at 3 things: protein, carbs, and fat. These macronutrients account for all of the calories in the item (aside from calories from alcohol). As a result, the exact amount of each macronutrient indicates what proportion of the total calories they make up. Alcohol also contains a significant number of calories. Each gram of alcohol is about 7 calories. A gram of protein is estimated to contain about 4 calories. A gram of carbohydrates also has 4, and a gram of fat is worth a whopping 9 calories. If the item you’re eating contains 20g of protein, 35g of carbs, and 15g of fat, this means you would multiply 20x4, 35x4, and 15x9 to find the number of calories contributed by each macronutrient—80, 140, and 135, respectively. Nutrients are always measured in grams. Make sure you’re using the right standard when calculating food calories yourself. Now that you know how the calories are divided up, add together each individual count to get the combined calorie count for one serving of the item. Going off the previous example, 80 + 140 + 135 = 355 calories. This number should correspond with the estimate displayed on the item’s packaging.  Breaking down the calorie count by macronutrient rather than simply reading it off the box allows you to see not just how many calories are in a certain type of food, but how to make them part of a balanced diet. 355 calories might not sound like a lot, but if you’re trying to eat less fat, you might be alarmed to discover that fat grams account for nearly half of the total. Be aware that the figures for both the calories and macronutrients represented in the nutritional facts only indicate a single recommended serving. If there are multiple servings included in the package, the total number of calories will actually be much higher. This can be an important fact to keep in mind if you’re tracking calories as part of a diet or exercise plan. For example, an item containing 355 calories per serving and with 3 servings per package makes the total 1,065 calories. According to dietitians and other food experts, 46-65% of the total calories you consume on a daily basis should come from carbohydrates, 10-35% from protein, and 20-25% from fats. The recommended daily value (DV) column featured in the nutrition facts will tell you how much of those proportions you’re getting from the item.  A snack containing 35g of carbohydrates, for instance, provides roughly 12% of your recommended daily value of around 300g.  Daily values are averages based on dietary recommendations for adults who eat around 2,000 calories a day.
A:
Locate the nutrition facts on the item’s packaging. Note the amount of protein, carbohydrates, and fat contained in the item. Multiply each macronutrient by its caloric equivalent. Total the calories for each macronutrient. Take serving size into account. Compare the calories of different nutrients to their recommended daily values.