Crunches. Sit ups. Bicycles. Two more sets. Repeat. Other side. It drones on and on. We have all been there. The monotonous counting in our heads “…5,6,7,8, no, I can’t do one more set”. It is boring and monotonous. And sooner or later we get too tired and impatient and we quit our routine. We have lost all hope for the glorious, and coveted abs. And yet, we still long for those Hollywood, glorified abs. No matter who you are, whether you are desiring rock hard wash board abs, or a toned and sleek tummy you can dance your way into your preferred look. Dance is one of the freshest and most fun options to achieve the abs everyone is always looking for.

1. It is more than just the floor
   Crunches and sit ups have always been around, and while they are still very traditional and common, they are not always the most effective on their own. Your stomach and back, often referred to as the core, are composed of many different muscle groups that all work together to create the desired effect, when worked appropriately. In order to achieve what your are looking for, you must equally build each muscle group. Dance is a very favorable option, seeing as how it uses each of these groups in all of the creative and uncommon movements. Dance can be especially effective due to fact that it uses many of your core muscles that you do not use in your everyday life. Crunches may strengthen your upper stomach muscles, but they leave out your sides and obliques. Your sides and obliques are key if you want to trim your over all look. With all the twisting, rolling, and other unusual dance moves, you are able to exercise each of the separate muscle groups of your core.
2. It’s FUN!
   Another benefit of dancing to create your most desired abs is that its fresh and fun. It is not the same routine that drives us crazy most days that we submit ourselves to the cruel punishment. There are many styles of dance that anyone of any age can enjoy. It is an excellent cardio workout as well. It is also good for increasing balance and flexibility. You can burn up to 400 calories in a single hour of dance. Of course, this varies due to the intensity and style of dance that you choose. The fact that you can burn this many calories means that you can be shedding away much of the extra fat that would otherwise disguise your new hard worked for abs.

With the summer approaching faster than we realize now is the perfect time to begin working on our dream abs. This could be your year. Don’t walk around feeling like you have a kangaroo pouch and an entire posse living inside any more. You can change that faster than you may think. Start moving and grooving your way into those perfect abs, that you will always love, today! If you don’t know where to start, the Hip Hop Abs workout is a great dancing tool to help you build the abs you want. Also the P90X is another way you can lose weight, trim your abs and be ready for the summer and the great thing about the P90X is that you will see results in less than 3 months! So get started before its too late!

Got Milk? What a question. Who really cares? Does milk even matter? Besides of course the fun white mustaches you get. I always thought that the point of those commercials was to encourage kids to play with their food, not for health reasons.

Then a set of scary words came up in my doctor’s office… bone loss, bone density, calcium absorption, low bone mass, fractures, breaks, osteoporosis… I could practically hear the death bells toll. Certainly these things would bring me to my own death. My breath grew short, my head throbbed, I could feel the chest pains coming and just before I would have passed out I heard the voice of God call out to me, “Consume more calcium to avoid these issues”. Okay the voice was actually my doctor, but it couldn’t have been scarier and I couldn’t have been more relieved.

I thought that none of these things should even be an issue for me as a young adult
but they all can be! From infancy until around thirty our bones are constantly growing. Beginning in the womb, our bones, which are living tissues, increase and decrease by calcium absorption. This increase peaks and our bone mass is highest between the ages of twenty-seven and thirty-two. Bone growth is a gradual process and the stronger our bones are at this peak the less likely we are to suffer from osteoporosis and it’s effects.

The importance of calcium intake is HUGE! No matter the age, maintaining a healthy amount of calcium in your diet is very important. The United States Department of Agriculture’s Food Guide Pyramid recommends two to three servings of dairy products everyday to maintain your calcium intake. This is because the number one foods that provide calcium in the United States are milk, yogurt and cheese, all of which are available in non-fat and reduced fat products that contain the same amount of calcium as regular dairy products.

So what do lactose intolerant people do to receive their calcium? Calcium is also present in some greens and grains although many of them would require a person to consume ten to eighty times the portion amount just to receive the equivalent of one cup of milk. As adults the recommended intake for both males and females is between 1,000 and 1,300 (mg) of calcium everyday. A half-cup of a tofu product, processed with a calcium salt, is only 138mg of calcium. Where it is possible to gain your daily values this way, it is neither easy nor very practical. So what to do? I’ve found that calcium supplements can not only increase your calcium intake, but also make it easier for your body to absorb. As it seems, certain foods that contain calcium also contain other minerals that are not advantageous for your body to maximize and absorb the calcium in that food. Minerals such as phytic acid, phytate and oxalic acid all have a negative impact on your body’s calcium absorption.

Using a supplemental product avoids these minerals. Core Cal-Mag is a calcium supplement from the makers of beachbody products, which contains a full dose of daily calcium. It’s lactose intolerant, friendly made from pure milk and calcium carbonate but with no lactose or other related allergens. It’s a quick and easy way to ensure you build strong bones during your weight loss program.

A new way to enhance your life by increasing your general wellbeing and boosting your energy is to supplement your diet with an excellent multivitamin. As busy as we are it’s hard to find the time to constantly workout and eat what’s best for us each and every day. What most of us don’t know is that we are missing essential vitamins and minerals that boost our metabolism and immune systems. The problem is that we don’t really have the time to figure out what to take. I mean, who wants to take 15 different supplements every morning? Luckily ActiVit Multivitamins have more than 20 essential vitamins and minerals in them. The Metabolism formula is one of the best available.

It is designed to increase your metabolism, helping to burn fat and accelerate your body’s natural immune system at the same time. Not only do you loose weight, but you stay healthy. This unique blend increases energy and helps boost bone density. The amplified energy is a result of the heath-promoting anti oxidants such as green tea, ginko biloba and grape seed extract. Each anti oxidant fights free radicals in your system to encourage our energy. Fighting free radicals is crucial to our daily lives. Our bodies are composed of cells which are made from many molecules consisting of joined elements. When these elements are split unpaired electrons are formed (free radicals are created). These free radicals search out healthy related molecules breaking up the electrons and thus creating more free radicals. It is a chain reaction in our bodies. There are some free radicals that our bodies produce naturally to neutralize viruses and bacteria, but other kinds of free radicals are produced by environmental causes such as radiation, cigarette smoke, pollution and more. Our bodies fight these free radicals by using antioxidants which provide the necessary electrons to neutralize the free radicals.

Antioxidants are stable with or without the electrons so they help to prevent tissue damage and disease. Vitamins E and C are excellent sources of antioxidants. Keeping a healthy amount in your system can help to prevent sickness and seriously boost your energy levels. When your body is not having to fight off the free radicals on it’s own, but able to use the antioxidants that you feed it, you are essentially giving your system a major break from working so hard for you. ActiVit Metabolism Formula has a daily dose of both vitamins E and C in it as well as other natural antioxidants. As with all supplements it is not meant to be a meal replacement but rather to boost the nutrients you are feeding your body. The results from taking this supplement are maximized by coupling it with an active lifestyle.

What’s best is that it is made with 100% natural ingredients so I know that it is safe for me to take. It just enhances the weight loss workout that I have established and helps me to stay on track. Even if I miss a day or two of working out, taking the multivitamin keeps my energy up and my mind alert.

By Joe Wilkes

There have always been rumors spread about food. Remember the one about the Kentucky Fried rat or Mikey, the kid from the Life cereal commercials, who allegedly expired after washing down his Pop Rocks with a Coca-Cola? These, like so many, turned out to be apocryphal, but now in the age of the Internet, it seems like there’s always some story making the rounds about a grocery item that will poison you or a food that will miraculously cure what ails you. Here are some myths we were able to dismiss.

Eating carrots improves night vision. This rumor was apparently started by the British during World War II, after a new British radar device began greatly assisting in the shooting down of German bombers at night. Not wanting to alert the Germans of the new technology, the government spread a disinformation campaign about how the British pilots’ love of carrots was the cause of their keen night vision. It spread like wildfire, and it has become a staple in parents’ arsenals for getting kids to eat their veggies. Carrots are generally good for your eyes though—studies are beginning to show a link between increased beta-carotene (carrots are loaded with it) consumption and a decrease in macular degeneration.

Turkey makes you sleepy. It’s true that turkey contains tryptophan, the amino acid credited for the poultry’s alleged soporific effects, but beef, chicken, meat, milk, and beans also contain tryptophan, and they don’t seem to make you pass out on the couch after dinner. Turkey’s bad rap probably comes from the famous post-Thanksgiving food coma, which is likely not induced by trace amounts of an amino acid but more likely induced by consuming vast quantities of carbohydrates, like potatoes and stuffing, washed down with a couple of glasses of wine.

Caesar salad was created by or for Julius Caesar. Actually, despite what they might tell you at the Olive Garden, the Caesar salad is not Italian food. It was created by Caesar Cardini, a restaurant owner in Tijuana, Mexico, less than a hundred years ago, not in ancient Rome. The recipe includes romaine lettuce, olive oil, garlic, coddled eggs, and Parmesan cheese, among other ingredients, but the original recipe does not contain anchovies—another myth debunked!

Mentos and Coca-Cola, combined, will make your stomach explode. As any YouTube connoisseur can attest to, dropping a Mentos candy into a two-liter bottle of Diet Coke can create an effect that will give the fountains at the Bellagio a run for their money. However, despite rumors of Brazilian youths dying of burst abdomens, this myth seems to be another of the endless variations on Mikey and the Pop Rocks. There seems to be little evidence that eating any combination of anything generally considered edible will make you explode. (Although that Chinese food I had for dinner came pretty close around midnight.)

Beware of flesh-eating bananas! There was an email forwarded by many well-intentioned people not too long ago that asserted that the FDA was covering up the fact that several thousand bananas covered in germs causing necrotizing fasciitis (the flesh-eating disease) had entered the country. This turned out not to be true. A reverse rumor, that humans were killing bananas, has also circulated. This one says that due to varying explanations, such as climate change or genetic modification, bananas will be extinct in less than a decade. This is also false. So, eat your bananas. They’re full of potassium, won’t make your skin fall off, and there are plenty more where they came from.

McDonald’s uses kangaroo meat in their burgers. This is one that’s been around since I was a kid. Common sense can answer this one. While we wouldn’t put it past the Golden Arches to put anything in their food, kangaroo meat seems an unlikely beef substitute as it costs much more per pound than actual beef. Although, adventurous eaters might consider adding ‘roo meat to their diet, as it has more protein and about half the fat of beef.

Chocolate milk is tainted with cow’s blood. This is a popular playground myth that milk too contaminated with blood to sell as plain white milk is colored brown, flavored, and sold as chocolate milk. Chocolate milk and all dairy products go through the same rigorous FDA testing process that regular moo juice does. However, the added sugar isn’t doing you any favors.

Aspartame causes multiple sclerosis and lupus. Aspartame, often branded as NutraSweet, has been rumored to cause many serious diseases. While we consider the jury to be out on whether aspartame is completely safe, there have been no reputable scientific studies linking the sweetener to MS, lupus, cancer, or any other life-threatening illnesses. However, it still can’t claim to be totally healthy.

Canola oil is toxic. It’s been rumored that canola oil contains the same toxins found in mustard gas. Canola oil is made from oil pressed from the seeds of the rape plant, a member of the mustard family. There is actually no such plant as the canola, but it’s easy to see the marketing problems that would result in calling it “rape oil.” This may have been one of the reasons scurrilous rumors have circulated about this noble oil, which is perfectly safe and rich in monounsaturated fat, the best fat, also found in olive oil and avocados. As for the mustard gas claim, while it is true that canola oil is made from mustard plants, mustard gas is not. It’s called that because of its acrid smell, not its ingredient list.

Red Bull causes brain tumors. As a favorite beverage of Britney Spears and Paris Hilton, it’s easy to make a case based on anecdotal evidence, but there is actually nothing in Red Bull that has been linked to brain tumors. It has been banned in some European countries because of its high caffeine content (a can has about as much as a cup of coffee), but aside from the typical health concerns regarding any sugary, caffeinated beverage, Red Bull appears safe. Claims that it will give you wings seem unfounded, however, and when mixed with vodka, it reportedly makes underpants disappear.

If you are worried about your food intake, try a weight loss program to help you stay healthy and full of energy.

If you are like the rest of us you can probably admit that working out is usually a bore. It is tiresome and slow. It is a chore that we perform to keep from becoming a bowl of not so delicious jello. But, what if there was a way to have a fabulous time and to still be getting your workout in at the same time? Sounds like an impossible day dream? It’s not! In a recent test done on sixty different aerobic activities among the top five rated was, dance. So, if you have been looking for some fresh inspiration on how to get in shape and stay that way, I believe you have found your solution.

One of the benefits of dancing to get in shape is that dance is not new. It is an ever changing evolution since nearly the beginning of history. Thus, you are never limited by your options. Unlike an aerobics class or running on a treadmill, which are usually performed in the same monotonous routines, you have a wide selection of options to choose from. So, if swing dance is not your thing, maybe hip hop will fit you better. There is a perfect fit for almost anyone, despite taste, age or shape.
There is an array of reasons why dancing your way into great shape is so desirable, and it is not all physically visible. For example, to start it off, dancing releases large amounts of endorphins, otherwise known as “the happy hormone” into your body. It also has been shown to reduce stress levels significantly. Not only does it lower stress, but it also reduces cholesterol levels. Oxygen rich blood supply and circulation throughout your body is increased. Dancing has been said to release inner creativity. We can all use at least a little of each of the above listed. When you add it all together you have created an entirely more confident and healthy being.

Another positive aspect to adding dancing to your weight loss workout is that anyone can do it. Dancing is easy to modify and to pick a level of intensity that both fits and challenges you. You can simplify movements or even choose a different style of dance. Age and weight does not matter. You can make it very low impact if you have either knee, back, or other pain and injury. Dancing also improves posture, balance, flexibility, agility, speed, coordination and alignment. Using main core muscles you will be lessening your chances for the ever common back injuries. Many Olympic trainers have used dance to improve their levels of performance, because it is a total body workout.

Develop slender, smooth curves that every one dreams of having, but just remember that this is not a day dream. So, if you want to have a great time dancing your workout away then this is answer for you. Have a blast and get into fabulous shape at the same time! This is a fresh and fun way to explore something new and expand your horizons.