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UltimateFitnessGear Archive Page
Friday, May 30, 2008
By Carla Lord
Sure, we want our hair to look like that of our favorite celebrities, from Sarah Jessica Parker to Beyoncé to Jennifer Aniston to Rihanna. But without a Hollywood budget, it can be hard to know how best to care for our tresses. From musicals about it to controversies about its length, our hair makes a statement, and it can be an important part of who we are—whether we decide to wear it long or shave it all off. (Britney, anyone?) But what is hair, really, and how can we make the most of it? A brief introduction: a head of hair generally has 100,000 to 150,000 strands of hair, with each strand going through its own life cycle. We lose about 50 to 100 hairs per day. And while that may sound like a large amount, it's actually quite fortunate for us. Imagine if every strand had the same life cycle—they'd fall out together and grow back together! Hair is made primarily of a protein called keratin, which is also found in our nails and even in the horns and hooves of animals. Hair also contains water; fats known as lipids that come from our sebaceous glands and give our hair luster and elasticity; and melanin (the pigment that gives our hair its color—in fact, as we age, our hair tends to turn white or appear grey due to the loss of this pigmentation). Hair is only nurtured for a short time in the follicle, which is deep down in our skin (in the dermis), and by the time we see our precious locks, they're actually no longer alive! Of course, we can still treat our hair with a healthy dose of TLC to keep it strong and beautiful. Here are a few handy tips for healthy hair. Look for products that suit your hair type. Natural, organic products often do not contain man-made chemicals and products that, over time, do more damage than good. A word to the wise: If you see petrolatum (or its various forms), mineral oil, or even paraffin in the ingredients list, be aware that those are forms of petroleum! There are dozens of natural products on the market nowadays, so look for ingredients such as biotin; vitamins A and E; papaya; and oils derived from carrot, jojoba, or coconut, among many others. Rosemary and tea tree oils can be found in many natural products that fight dandruff, excessive dryness, and scalp irritations. Be gentle with your hair. Although dry hair is incredibly strong—some studies have found that a single strand can withstand up to 100 grams' worth of weight—it has its limits. When hair is wet, it's at its weakest; and therefore, more damage can be done after a shampoo, shower, or swim. Avoid stressing your hair when it's wet, such as exposing it to harsh brushing. If you're an avid swimmer, take a swimming cap along for extra protection. This will not only protect against water damage but sun and chemical damage as well. Cool down. Don't kick your hair while it's down—try to let your hair dry without added heat. Hair dryers give off excessive heat, and as we previously mentioned, wet hair is weak. Heat, in general, can be quite damaging, so it's recommended that you avoid the use of curling or flat irons. Heat and rays from the sun can be detrimental and can actually cause hair to lose its color with prolonged exposure. Also, when shampooing and rinsing, try to use cooler rather than hotter water. You might also save on your gas or electricity bill, too! Treat your body right, and your hair will follow. That means exercise (try Slim in 6®, 10-Minute Trainer®, Turbo Jam®, or Yoga Booty Ballet®), eat healthily, hydrate, take your vitamins (try ActiVit® Multivitamins), and get enough rest. All roads to good health really do lead back to these essentials. The roots of our hair get a blood supply too; therefore, what you put in your body has a direct correlation to your hair's health from the outset. We can't stress enough that a healthy and fit you means a healthy and fit entire you, including your hair, as well as your skin, nails, and outlook. Find a knowledgeable stylist. While all of the tips you're reading now will provide a good basis, a stylist can give you more specific help with your particular hair type, and can help keep you informed, from when you need a trim to what hairstyles will work best for you. And, even at home, you can give your hair "spa days." This doesn't mean you need to wash your hair in Evian as it's been reported that Demi Moore has done. It can be as simple as deep conditioning your hair and taking time to give your scalp a gentle massage. Gentle brushing (dry hair, of course) can stimulate blood circulation in the scalp, which promotes healthier, more fortified hair follicles. P90X - P90X Plus - Power 90 Workout - Tony Horton - Shaun T Rockin Body - Ab Workout - Turbo Jam - Workout DVDs Your Place For: Workout Routines - Workout DVDs - P90X 
Thursday, May 29, 2008
 Many seniors choose to be active and their mobility can be a challenge, if they are not exercising. Exercise during the senior years is very important because it helps keep the body functioning as it did when it was younger.
As a senior, there are many exercises that you can do that will concentrate on balance, strength and endurance. These areas are very important as you get older to make sure that you have a well balanced life. Many seniors walk, ride bikes or swim and these are all good ideas of endurance. They set a standard of movement for you and get you moving. If you are just starting out with any of these it is a good idea to start slow. You can get benefit from just 5 or 10 minutes of any activity when you are first starting out. Stretching before you get started in any exercise is a very good idea especially when you are a senior. This will help your muscles and joints get ready for more exercise and it is a great way to warm up if you have a home gym routine. Most doctors will tell you that a combination of resistance and strength training are very important for developing your skeletal muscles as well as keeping your respiratory, circulatory and digestive systems working properly. Resistance training is also good when you want to tone up your muscles and when you need to increase bone mass. You can do any of these exercises in the comfort of your own home. Many seniors like to use resistance bands for strength and resistance training. Others like to also incorporate the fitness ball for improving balance and core strength. Everything is a matter of preference and there are so many different ways you can do it. Always check with your physician before you start any exercise program to make sure that you know your strengths and limitations. You should not be in pain while exercising and this can be an indication that you are doing too much in your workout. Keeping fit will ensure your health for many years to come. Your Place For: Workout Routines - Workout DVDs - P90X
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
By Steve Edwards
This month, Canadian officials announced that they are going to declare a chemical as toxic. This chemical is widely used in plastics for baby bottles and food and beverage containers, and as a lining for food cans. This is the latest scare of what's becoming a long list of concerns surrounding plastic. Let's take a look at plastic, its history, usage, and concerns, and what we can do to best protect ourselves from something practically unavoidable in our everyday lives. Why plastic? In the iconic 60s film, The Graduate, the protagonist, Benjamin, is being tutored on how to best make his fortune. One of his would-be mentors offers him one simple word of advice, "plastics." The definition of plastic comes from Greek and Latin roots and means, essentially, something capable of being molded. Modern plastic was invented in 1855, when Alexander Parks mixed pyroxylin, a partially nitrated form of cellulose (cellulose is the major component of plant cell walls), with alcohol and camphor. This produced a hard but flexible transparent material, which he called "Parkesine." The first plastic based on a synthetic polymer was made from phenol and formaldehyde, with the first viable and cheap synthesis methods invented by Leo Hendrik Baekeland in 1909. This product, known as Bakelite, paved the way for the oil-derived stuff we now see almost everywhere. Subsequently, poly (vinyl chloride), polystyrene, polyethylene (polyethene), polypropylene (polypropene), polyamides (nylons), polyesters, acrylics, silicones, and polyurethanes are amongst the many varieties of plastics we come into contact with daily. Plastics were big in the 60s, but the advice young Benjamin received was sound, if making a fortune was his goal. Over the next few decades, plastic took the place of many more natural materials and wove its way into almost every aspect of our lives. Now we live under it, sleep on it, drive it, wear it, sit on it, eat off of it, drink out of it, breathe through it, etc., etc. Plus, it seems as though anything that isn't plastic these days comes wrapped in it. It's so prevalent that the chances that you are right now touching a form of plastic are approximately 100 percent. Is plastic safe? Since the word plastic covers many substances, it's hard to answer that question. Petrochemical plastic has dangers associated with it from the get-go, since the waste from manufacturing is toxic and needs to be dealt with carefully. Additionally, this type of plastic doesn't biodegrade, at least not in a time frame that is meaningful to human existence. On all fronts, plastic creates a challenge. Manufacturing and recycling plastic are both potentially hazardous because many skin and respiratory problems can result from exposure and/or inhalation of fumes released during the process. Also, burning isn't a good option because it releases a host of poisonous chemicals into the air, including dioxin, a highly toxic substance. Because it doesn't undergo chemical decomposition, it can't be safely disposed of, either. In fact, there is a growing flotilla of plastic in the Pacific Ocean, currently the size of Texas, that is wreaking havoc on an already stressed environment. From the above information alone, it would seem prudent to search for alternatives to plastic. But our point is to discuss more imminent potential health problems, such as whether or not we're going to get cancer from eating off of it, or if we should let our infants suckle it. Essentially, plastic in one kind or another has always been a moving target. Research will suggest a problem and manufacturers will alter the targeted plastic to avoid the crosshairs. Plastic proponents will cite a reasonably long track record of safety to defend their position. Detractors say that we're masking the problems it's creating and blaming these problems on other things. The bottom line is that it's hard to make any definitive conclusions. The latest news This latest scare is over a chemical called bisphenol A, or BPA. It shows up as symbol #7 on the bottom of various hard plastic items, including water bottles and baby bottles. A report from the United States Department of Health and Human Services' National Toxicology Program endorsed a scientific panel's finding that there was "some concern" about neural and behavioral changes in humans who consume BPA. Just how strong a statement is "some concern"? "If the government issues a finding of toxic, no parent in their right mind will be using products made with this chemical," said Rick Smith, the executive director of Environmental Defense, a Canadian group that has been campaigning against BPA, to the New York Times. "We will be arguing strongly for a ban on the use of this chemical in food and beverage containers." Others weren't so quick to jump on the bandwagon. "In my experience working with bisphenol A, it's a relatively benign chemical," said Professor Warren G. Foster, director of the Centre for Reproductive Care and Reproductive Biology at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, to the Times. "There's room here for a lot more research." The level of alarm here is hard to gauge. Not long ago, we were warned about the dangers of cheaper, nonreusable plastic beverage containers. This was briefly after we'd been warned about Styrofoam. And neither of these controversies has gone away; they've just been redirected. Styrofoam now has "safer" formulations and cheap plastic beverage containers now come with a "one time use" distinction. However we decide to treat the latest news, we should realize that all plastic is under suspicion. There has been no definitive evidence either way on any of it. And while common sense tells us that we should consider other options, not all of those have been proven to be 100 percent safe, either. Remember what we now know about lead pipes? Our lucky 7: the best-guess scenarios for safety Since it's all under scrutiny, there is no best piece of advice to give out. But based on the latest science, along with some anecdotal lore and a dose of common sense, here are our recommendations for avoiding potential risks. Avoid plastic when possible. Drink and eat off of glass or ceramic material, especially food and beverages that are hot. While debated, heat seems to break down plastic, allowing more of the nasty stuff to get into our consumables. Don't reuse plastic water and/or soda bottles. These container bottoms have a #1 stamped on the recycling symbol. They don't contain BPA but break down easily when washed, especially at high temperatures like those in the dishwasher. Hand wash all plastic containers. Portable beverage carriers, like bike bottles, should not be put in the dishwasher because doing so can degrade the plastic. This can be tricky because the small openings require thorough cleaning to get rid of bacteria buildup. While bleach can effectively kill this bacteria buildup, it has other health issues associated with it. It's best to make sure to wash these bottles immediately after using them. Don't put plastic in the microwave. Even "microwave safe" plastics may leach hazardous materials. Don't use plastic wraps, either. Phthalates, the last targeted elements in plastic wrap, were outlawed in 2006; but companies don't list what's in plastic wrap, so you're taking a risk by using it. Using glass containers with a paper towel covering is your safest option. Use stainless-steel water bottles. Many companies are jumping on this bandwagon. Sigg and Klean Kanteen are two popular ones. Use silicone pacifiers and nipples instead of rubber or latex. The latter may leach nitrosamines, chemicals linked with cancer. Unlucky #7. This is your magic BPA number and can be found stamped on the bottom of offending bottles—baby bottles are major offenders but also include some of the ultra-popular Nalgene-type water bottles. The #7 doesn't necessarily mean that bisphenol A is present but it may be. The Nalgene Web site will keep you abreast of the latest developments. For baby bottles, make sure you do your research. P90X - P90X Plus - Power 90 Workout - Tony Horton - Shaun T Rockin Body - Ab Workout - Turbo Jam - Workout DVDs Your Place For: Workout Routines - Workout DVDs - P90X
Monday, May 26, 2008
By Joe Wilkes
Salt: No fat. No calories. Not to mention, delicious! What's not to love? Well, as most of us know, too much salt can be a major contributor to high blood pressure, which can lead to heart disease, stroke, or kidney disorders. But our bodies also need a certain amount of salt every day as it is required by all cells to maintain fluid balance, and it is vital for proper nerve and muscle function. And as salt is excreted mainly through urine and sweat, the most intense exercisers need even more of it to maintain a proper balance. So how much salt should we be consuming? Read on to find out how much salt you should consume plus where extra salt gets hidden in food and some tips on how you can reduce your sodium consumption. How much salt do we need? While it varies with each person, depending on their age, size, activity level, etc., it is generally agreed that our bodies need about 500 mg of sodium a day for proper functioning. That's about a quarter of a teaspoon of table salt (sodium chloride, the most typical source of sodium). The federal government recommends a daily maximum of 2,400 mg of sodium. Most of us average about 5,000 mg of sodium per day—10 times as much as our bodies require and more than twice what's recommended. So unless you're working out A LOT and excreting excess sodium, you may be getting way more than you need, which can lead to the myriad health problems associated with high blood pressure. The American Medical Association has estimated that a 50 percent reduction in sodium usage in processed and restaurant food could save 150,000 lives every year. But even if you don't believe in or care about the medical repercussions of excess salt consumption, how about this little tidbit? It is estimated that most of us are carrying around an extra five pounds of water weight, retained simply because of too much salt in our bodies. Drop five pounds of water weight just by passing up the salt shaker? Sounds like a good deal to me! Where salt hides . . . But passing up the salt shaker may not be enough. Almost all processed foods contain high levels of sodium. For example, that Quarter Pounder with Cheese at McDonald's will pump you with almost 1,200 mg of sodium, more than twice what your body needs and half of the government's daily recommendation. But even if you eschew the burger for its fat and calories, there's salt in other places too. One cup of Cheerios contains 200 mg of salt, so you're kicking off your day with 8 percent of your sodium recommendation. Why so much salt? Salt has been used as a preservative for centuries to cure meats and pickle vegetables, among other uses. And while we have developed new preservatives over the years, salt has other advantages as a food additive. It can thicken soups and sauces. It can make breads, cookies, and crackers moister. It can enhance certain flavors like sweet and sour and can mask other flavors, like chemical additives in soft drinks. So even if you're steering clear of salty treats like pretzels, pickles, and popcorn, you may find you're getting a fair amount of sodium from food items that don't even taste salty, if you check labels carefully. Also, if you tend to purchase a lot of diet or light foods, you may find that they have pretty high sodium levels. By adding extra salt, manufacturers can make food taste better yet still advertise them as low-calorie, low-fat products. Extra salt can also be snuck in the ingredient list under different names, such as monosodium glutamate (MSG), sodium caseinate, trisodium phosphate, sodium ascorbate, or sodium bicarbonate (baking soda). So even if salt isn't in the ingredient list or spread out over the ingredient list under different names, it's worth checking the overall sodium content on the nutrition label to determine the total sodium content. And don't forget to take the serving size into account. Many food manufacturers will say that their product contains several tiny servings of salt instead of a couple of regular servings to minimize the less savory elements of the product's nutritional profile. How to avoid the salt traps Shake the shaker. How many times have you seen yourself or someone you know be served a plate of food and mindlessly begin salting it, before even tasting it? I know I've been guilty of it. I love salt and can think of few meals that couldn't be improved by adding salt. But at least taste your food first before you add salt—especially in restaurants, where for top chefs to fast-food flippers, salt is often the secret ingredient, and adding more of it is probably unnecessary. If you do think it needs a little salt, shake a little salt into the palm of your hand, so you can at least eyeball the amount you're going to eat (not to mention that it'll save your dish from the old unscrew-the-top-of-the-salt-shaker prank). At home, think about dumping the salt shaker and switching to a saltcellar. A saltcellar is a little covered bowl that holds salt. That way you can visually measure a little pinch and not shake out an unknown amount over your food. You might also consider switching to sea salt, or for the gourmets, one of the fancier fleur de sel products on the market. Sea salts generally contain trace amounts of minerals like iron, potassium, calcium, magnesium, and/or zinc. This doesn't boost the nutritional profile of sea salt (try nutritionals like ActiVit® or Core Cal-Mag™ for effective mineral supplementation), but it offers a more complex flavor so that less may taste like more. Take processed meats out of the process. And I'm devastated to say, this includes bacon. Just two delicious slices contain about 400 mg of sodium. One beef hot dog contains 600 mg of sodium (a quarter of the recommended allotment) and a turkey dog is only a little better at 500 mg. One slice of bologna gets you about 300 mg. Most turkey breast lunch meat is as bad as bologna. And if it's labeled smoked, oven-roasted, mesquite, etc., it's usually code for extra salty. Try looking for the low-sodium varieties or save money by roasting your own whole turkey breast, so you can control the salt content. Soup's off. Soup is a great low-calorie meal or snack. Unless it's a creamy variety, it's usually low in fat and a good vegetable delivery system. But watch out for the salt content! One cup of Campbell's Chicken Noodle Soup contains 1,780 mg of sodium. That's almost three-quarters of your daily allowance. Their Healthy Request version is better. A cup of that has 940 mg of sodium. You might think about making your own chicken broth from scratch using fresh vegetables for flavor instead of salt. Make a big batch and freeze or can it for later. Freeze out the frozen dinner. Men's Health magazine recently published a survey about some of America's saltiest foods and found that Swanson's Hungry Man XXL Roasted Carved Turkey packed in a whopping 4,480 mg of sodium. That's approaching 2 days' worth. It also has 1,360 calories and 70 grams (more than a day's worth) of fat, so there're plenty of reasons not to eat this dish. But several of the lean frozen meals on the market also contain high levels of sodium to make up for the lack of fat or sugar for flavor. And frozen pizza? Fuhgeddaboutit! Two slices of pepperoni will run you about 1,000 mg of sodium. Can the canned vegetables. Or at least the ones that aren't low-sodium. Manufacturers add as much as 1,200 mg of salt to a can of vegetables for flavor and preservation. Try buying no-salt-added varieties or frozen veggies, which usually have less salt. Or at the very least, make sure to drain the canned veggies well and rinse them in water to try to get some of the salt out. The usual suspects. I won't even bother depressing you with how much salt the fast food restaurants put in their food, even the healthier ones. I found out that a single flame-grilled chicken breast from my much-loved El Pollo Loco has 617 mg of sodium. Adding up the sodium from my sides of pinto beans, mashed potatoes, and trips to the salsa bar, and my "heart-healthy" grilled chicken meal has racked up over 3,300 mg of sodium. No wonder I have dry mouth all night when I eat there. No salt? No problem. So the most important thing to do is check the labels of everything you eat and make sure you're not getting more salt than you bargained for—or as I call it, committing to a life of bland, joyless eating. But, with a little ingenuity, you can find ways to replace salt with other flavors or at least maximize the enjoyment of the salt you do allow yourself. It's also important to remember that as you start to remove salt from your diet, your palate may miss it a lot at first, but if you stick with it, you'll be amazed how much better food starts to taste as you get the salt monkey off your back. Here are some ideas for replacing salt with flavor. Herbs. And let me say for the record, I know every article about sodium talks about Mrs. Dash, but I don't think it tastes very good. I'd much rather have fresh herbs, either from my local farmers' market or my balcony garden. With herbs like basil, rosemary, oregano, thyme, chives, etc., I chop a bunch of my favorites on Sunday and keep them in a zip-lock bag in my fridge for when I want to sprinkle a little flavor on something. Fresh herbs give foods a lot of zing, and it's fun to experiment with different flavor combinations. Some of the herbs even have their own beneficial properties. Heat. As much of a salt addict as I am, I'm even more of a hot tooth. And the good news about that is that most spicy peppers and hot sauces are actually good for you, or at the very worst not bad for you. Some hot sauces add too much salt, so it's label-reading time again, and the peck of pickled peppers are better left to Peter of the rhyme. Besides, once you start enjoying chopped fresh (not pickled) jalapeños, you'll wonder why you ever liked those salty old pickles. If you're lucky enough to live in a city with a Penzey's or a similar spice specialty store, they are a great resource for coming up with salt-free seasonings, rubs, and exotic paprikas and curries to give your dishes flavor without a side of hypertension. Another tip while you're weaning yourself off the salty stuff is to make your own seasoned salt blend. Mix a batch with a small amount of salt plus a combination of your favorite herbs and spices. Every time you make a new batch, decrease the ratio of salt to spice a little until, one fine day, you're not including any salt at all. It's like a nicotine patch for saltaholics. Citrus. While your taste buds devoted to salt may be crying foul, you can delight the sour part of your palate by adding more tart flavors to your food. I'm a big fan of those little plastic lemons and limes (Sicilia is a good brand) full of juice that you can keep in your fridge for a little squeeze of flavor when you don't feel like chopping up the whole fruit. I avoid the reconstituted juices though—they taste a little funky to me. Think about what other veggies, sauces, or dishes could benefit from a little bit of juice. I love lemon juice on rice or couscous. It makes me totally forget about high-sodium soy sauce. Other condiments. Other good options from the condiment aisle include mustard, vinegar, and no-salt-added ketchup to make your sandwiches perk up when you're using low-sodium lunch meat and bread (yep, you gotta check the bread labels too). You can get out the blender and make your own spreads by grinding up ingredients like roasted red peppers (low-sodium variety, of course), chickpeas for hummus, or whatever other foods your imagination can come up with. Who needs the salt? P90X - P90X Plus - Power 90 Workout - 10 Minute Workout - Shaun T Rockin Body - Ab Workout - Turbo Jam - Workout DVDs Your Place For: Workout Routines - Workout DVDs - P90X
Saturday, May 24, 2008
We have had a few questions asked about the P90X workout and if its still worth buying over the other workouts we sell. The answer is YES! If you don't have the P90X system, then it is still suggested over many of the other workout routines. Obviously P90X isn't for everyone and not everyone can do it. There are other workout dvds that will help those who are out of shape, or have other physical issues that would prevent them from using p90x fully.
One of the new workouts produced by Tony Horton is the 10 Minute Trainer, which most people love because if you have problems finding the time to workout, then all you need is 10 minutes. 10 minutes every day is all you need to get a great workout with Tony. Not only is the workout geared for those who have busy schedules but it also has different difficulty levels to help those who are not as strong as others. So whether you haven't tried the P90X system or are currently working out with the 10 minute trainer, one thing can be assured, that working out with Tony Horton will get you in the best shape of your life! Your Place For: Workout Routines - Workout DVDs - P90X
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Have you seen the new 10 Minute Trainer commercials on TV? This new workout is extremely popular, probably because of our very busy lives we find it hard to find time to exercise. Getting in shape is a low priority for most Americans since obesity is constantly on the rise. Fast food, coffee and video games are larger influences on gaining weight. But now with Tony Horton's 10 Minute Trainer you can find 10 minutes in your day to do 1 workout. If you have more time you can do 2 workouts, or 3 workouts to get better and faster results.
The 10 minute trainer is made for people on the go, for those who find it hard to take the time to exercise. Along with the ten minute trainer comes resistance bands to help speed up your fitness level. There are two different resistance levels depending on your strength. If you find yourself pretty weak, then the regular or medium resistance level will work for you. But if you are strong, or feel you need more of a challenge you will want the heavy resistance level. The 10 minute trainer comes with many options. You can start off with the regular 'medium' resistance level and if that doesn't cut it for you, you can upgrade to the heavy resistance level. Or if you started with the heavy resistance because you think too highly of yourself and thought you where stronger than what you actually are, you can 'downgrade' to the medium resistance level, also known as the 10-Minute Trainer® Upgrade - Medium Resistance. Whatever your fitness level or time restraints, you will find the 10 minute trainer workout perfect for you. For those who are completely excited for the 10 minute trainer, you can buy the entire package the regular 1o minute trainer and the upgrade, which comes with extra workouts for $15.00 off, get the 10 minute trainer deluxe in any resistance level you want. Your Place For: Workout Routines - Workout DVDs - P90X
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
By Denis Faye
We got such a tremendous response to "9 Ways to Eat Healthily (and Cheaply)" a couple of weeks ago that we thought we'd run a few more tips on eating on the cheap! Buy in bulk. As with most things, food is cheaper when you buy more of it. The problem is that while apples, onions, or baby carrots will last for some time when bought in small amounts, that pallet of strawberries or that 12-pack of chicken breasts doesn't have much of a shelf life. Fortunately, recent innovations in kitchen technology have produced an appliance called a "freezer"—and it works great. Give it a try! Make sure not to get tricked into eating in bulk when you buy in bulk. A good system to follow is to take out your single serving and freeze or store the rest right away before you get tempted. Brown bag it. Try making your own lunch. Most of us grab a premade, quick bite at least five times a week, but even the cheapest Subway sandwich costs twice what it would cost to make yourself. And if you take it another step, you can pack last night's leftovers and take them with you—it's practically like getting a free lunch! The best part of all is that you get to pick exactly what goes in your meal. You can know that you're eating healthily. Junk the junk food. If that pound of salmon costs three dollars more than you'd like to spend, take the potato chips out of your cart. There. You just saved enough to eat a healthy protein source. Most of the junk food people buy isn't really food to begin with. It's only filled with empty, nutritionally void calories. It's like the Weekly World News of the food world—fine every now and then, but the only people who benefit from you eating chips or Ding Dongs every day are the fat cats on Wall Street who own stock in Frito-Lay. If your cart seems a little empty without the junk, that's okay. If you have a weight problem, you were probably eating too much anyway. Go around the world around the block. Those little mom-and-pop ethnic markets are great ways to save some major dollars over what you'd spend at the supermarket. A bunch of cilantro can cost $0.99 at the supermarket but only $0.19 at the Hispanic grocery store. Chanterelle mushrooms are $50 a pound at the supermarket and $15 a pound at the local Russian market. By browsing your local ethnic specialty stores, you'll get some great cooking ideas and save a few bucks or rubles or pesos. Buy lean meat. Let's finish things off with a quick tip on meat. It may be tempting to buy fattier meat because it's cheaper but, in truth, this price savings is all smoke and mirrors. When you cook fatty meat, the fat tends to melt off, leaving you with less food. Economically, lean meat is the same as fatty meat—but it's healthier. P90X - P90X Plus - Power 90 Workout - Tony Horton 10 Minute Trainer - Shaun T Rockin Body - Ab Workout - Turbo Jam - Workout DVDs Your Place For: Workout Routines - Workout DVDs - P90X
Magnesium… isn’t that a comic book super-villain? Oh, wait that’s magna…magi…oh well, I don’t really remember but my first thought was of similar confusion when I heard that magnesium was an essential mineral. Turns out that it is the 4th most abundant mineral in the human body, essential for good health. About half of our magnesium is stored in our body tissues, organs and cells, the other almost half is in our bones and then a measly one percent (which does not sound all too important) is stored in the blood. One percent...you’d think it wouldn’t be a big deal but our bodies fight very hard to keep magnesium blood levels consistent. Apparently magnesium is necessary for over three hundred biochemical reactions in the body including healthy nerve and muscle function, steady heart rhythm, a healthy immune system and strong bones. It helps promote healthy blood pressure and to regulate blood sugar levels. Not only that but also this super charged mineral is being studied for it’s potential to help prevent and manage several disorders including hypertension, cardiovascular disease and diabetes.
Now that you know how good for you it is you want to know how and where to get it huh? Well, green vegetables are a good source of magnesium as well as some beans, peas, nuts, seeds and whole, unrefined grains. Basically birds and rabbits tend to get their daily dose but for most of us, we should consider using a supplement of some kind. The food and drug administration recommends that an adult ages eighteen to fifty and over should intake 400 mg of magnesium daily. Considering one ounce of dry roasted peanuts contains sixty-five milligrams of magnesium I got on the hunt for a great supplement. What I found was wonderful! A magnesium supplement, not only with my magnesium needs, but that also contains a daily dose of calcium for me! The core cal-mag supplement from the makers of activit metabolism formula and peak performance bars meets all of my magnesium needs and then so much more! P90X Workout - P90X Plus - Power 90 Workout - Tony Horton 10 Minute Trainer - Shaun T Rockin Body - Ab Workout - Turbo Jam - Workout DVDs Your Place For: Workout Routines - Workout DVDs - P90X
Monday, May 19, 2008
Omega 3 fatty acids are essential to the body’s health, the problem is the human body cannot manufacture them; therefore consumption through either diet or supplements is very important. Omega 3 fatty acids are most commonly found in a variety of fish, other marine life such as algae and krill, certain plants and nut oils. Omega 3 fatty acids, or polyunsaturated fatty acids (P U F A’s) are critical for normal growth and development patterns as well as healthy brain function. Having a healthy heart is also attributed to good levels of omega 3 intake as well as multiple other general good health issues. If you suffer from chronic, extreme tiredness, heart problems, poor memory, dry skin, mood swings, depression or poor circulation you may be experiencing the symptoms and side effects of Omega 3 deficiency.
Omega 3 fatty acids help to reduce inflammation and have been linked to a lower risk of an inflammatory disease such as chronic arthritis. A diet full of omega 3 rich foods would include consuming average portions of whole grains, fresh fruits and vegetables, fish, olive oil, and garlic daily. Choosing a food high in omega 3 vs. a food high in other fatty acids, such as a salmon fillet over a t-bone steak is an easy way to help increase the efficiency of your omega 3. This is one of the best ways to prevent and to treat heart disease. Clinical tests have found that ingested fatty acids, especially omega 3 fatty acids, help to reduce both high blood pressure and high cholesterol. Omega 3 fatty acids have also been shown to inhibit the development of blood clots and plaque - both of these clog arteries and can put you at risk for a stroke or heart attack. Also people who have already suffered a heart attack were found to be dramatically less at risk for a subsequent heart attack or stroke base on increasing their daily intake of Omega 3 fatty acids. The American Heart Association recommends having at least two servings of fish (or Omega 3 fatty acids) per week. This dietary adjustment, in clinical trials, lowered the risk of stroke by fifty percent. Be cautions however and so not over load your system with Omega 3 fatty acids. Where omega 3 fights inflammation, omega 6 promotes inflammation and a healthy balance of the two is necessary. A healthy diet contains two to four times the omega 6 than omega 3 consumed daily. Taking unbalanced amounts of omega 3 can result in fatal hemorrhaging or brain leaks or ruptures. Overall consuming the appropriate levels of Omega 3 fatty acids daily is so very important to both your mind and your heart’s health. For those who do not have the time or who do not like fish there is always the option of taking a fish-oil supplement. The makers of core cal-mag and activit metabolism formula have also made for us an Omega 3 fatty acid supplement without the hassle of most fish oils. Their gel capsule releases in the intestine, not in the stomach, eliminating the nausea and the after taste of most fish oils. P90X - P90X Plus - Power 90 Workout - Tony Horton 10 Minute Trainer - Shaun T Rockin Body - Ab Workout - Turbo Jam - Workout DVDs Your Place For: Workout Routines - Workout DVDs - P90X
Sunday, May 18, 2008
By Cecilia H. Lee
I would be lying if I said that there were no fat people in Korea. But being overweight in Korea is unusual and obesity is virtually unknown. You may ask, "What's the secret?" I like to think it's good genes, but the real secret is the traditional Korean diet. Traditional Korean cuisine has always been based on the natural environment. Being a peninsula, the country is surrounded on three sides by oceans, almost 70 percent of the land is mountainous, and various rivers flow down from the mountains' slopes. So, as you can figure, there is no shortage of seafood available; and several fish, mollusks, and sea creatures make their way to the dinner table. From the mountains, various wild and cultivated vegetables and fruits are available. According to Korean nutritionists (albeit a bit on the biased side), the Korean diet is well-balanced in nutrition, weight control, and cholesterol intake. But traditional cuisine was not developed with just nutrition in mind; Koreans have always considered the idea of balance, a sense of well-being, and a spiritual peace as accompaniments to their meals. According to The Cambridge World History of Food, the traditional Korean diet is composed of 70 percent carbohydrates (mostly in the form of rice and vegetables, which are present at most meals), about 14 to 17 percent protein, and 13 percent fat. When compared to the traditional European diet, you can see a stark difference—the European diet is typically composed of 40 percent carbohydrates, 15 to 20 percent protein, 30 to 40 percent fat, and 10 to 15 percent sugar. Let me break down how a Korean meal is put together. In general, a traditional meal is made up of a staple, usually short-grain rice but sometimes noodles. Each person gets his or her own bowl of rice and a bowl of simple soup on the side. The soup is sometimes made from boiled beef bones, fat skimmed of course, or seaweed, or even soybean sprouts. Accompanying the rice are various side dishes, called banchan. If there is a special guest or a celebration, there may also be a main dish, usually beef, pork, chicken, or seafood. It's ironic that most people think of barbecue when the subject of Korean cuisine comes up, because meat is not a major part of the Korean diet. The famous marinated rib-eye dish, galbi, is actually a recipe that was created in restaurants in the 1950s. Along with the main banchan, there are always various smaller side dishes that accompany the meal. Those are usually not meat, but there will always be at least one kimchi. Kimchi are any number of pickled vegetables, unique to Korean cuisine. The most popular of these is the traditional Napa cabbage variety, made with garlic, chili powder, and sometimes salted seafood. The fermentation process brings out all the lovely good bacteria that aid in digestion (like lactic acid and those bacteria found in yogurt). Kimchi is said to be high in vitamins A and C as well as good minerals, like calcium and iron. The lactic acid in the kimchi is helpful for intestinal health and in preventing diseases such as obesity, diabetes, and cancers of the gastrointestinal area. Now, if that's not good enough, the rest of the meal is rounded out by myriad little seafood and seasonal vegetables. Korean cooking has historically been linked to the four seasons of the year and the different regions found in the country. Since fruits and vegetables that are in season have the best taste and the highest nutritional value, this method of cooking makes for optimal enjoyment and health. The sad news about the Korean diet is that with the wide availability of hamburgers, pizzas, and other American fast foods, Koreans are now beginning to see the health detriments that come with such a high-fat, highly processed diet. Of course, diet isn't everything, but you can see how the introduction of Western cuisine into Korean culture has led to ill effects. Although following a strict Korean diet will be difficult for even Korean Americans like me, introducing Korean food into your staple of foods is not only a wonderful way to eat healthily but also a way to add new and exciting flavors to your palate. I leave you with a happy note and an easy noodle recipe you can try. Happy eating! Vegetable Mixed Noodles (Yachae Gooksu) (Makes 4 Servings.) About 1 lb. dried somen (4 bundles) Vegetable oil (I like canola.) 2 cloves garlic, minced 3 carrots, coarsely shredded 3 small zucchini, thinly sliced crosswise 3 green onions, coarsely chopped 2 Persian or Kirby cucumbers, coarsely shredded Toasted sesame seeds, for garnish Black pepper (optional) Sauce 1/3 cup soy sauce 2 Tbsp. Asian sesame oil 1-1/2 Tbsp. sugar In a large saucepan of boiling salted water, cook the somen until al dente, about 4 minutes. Rinse under cold water. Drain well and divide the noodles into 4 large bowls. In a large skillet, heat about 1 Tbsp. of the vegetable oil. Add the garlic and carrots and cook over high heat for about 2 to 3 minutes. Add the zucchini and cook, stirring occasionally, until just slightly browned. Turn off the heat, add the green onions, and toss. In a small bowl, combine the soy sauce with the sesame oil and sugar, and stir until the sugar, is dissolved. Pile the vegetable mixture on the noodles and drizzle the soy mixture on top. Top with the cucumbers, and garnish with sesame seeds and black pepper, if desired. Serve immediately. Variations: If you're feeling more adventurous, feel free to experiment with other vegetables. Various mushrooms, onions, peppers, and sprouts work well. P90X - P90X Plus - Power 90 Workout - Tony Horton 10 Minute Trainer - Shaun T Rockin Body - Ab Workout - Turbo Jam - Workout DVDs Your Place For: Workout Routines - Workout DVDs - P90X
Saturday, May 17, 2008
A lot of die-hard coffee drinkers who are trying to lose weight want to know, does espresso inhibit weight loss? The answer is kind of complicated but the short answer is that yes, too much espresso inhibits weight loss. In fact coffee in general can prevent you from achieving the weight loss that you want. That’s bad news for the millions of people that can’t start their day without a coffee jolt but the fact is that coffee in all its forms is not something you should be drinking when you’re trying to lose weight. Have you ever noticed that all of the major diets tell you to stop drinking coffee, even decaf coffee, when you start a new diet? The reason is that coffee and espresso inhibits weight loss. A lot of people think that because espresso is a special kind of coffee that espresso is ok but even espress will inhibit weight loss. In fact, drinking pure espresso is worse for you because of the huge caffeine jolt that you get from drinking espresso. The reason that coffee and espresso inhibit weight loss isn’t the coffee itself it’s how your body responds to the caffeine in the coffee. Drinking one cup of coffee per day can cause serious problems with your metabolism and can cause damage to your endocrine system. You could even end up developing diabetes if you drink too much coffee and have other high risk factors for diabetes.
Caffeine jolts your nervous system to go into a classic “fight or flight” response. When that happens your body dumps a lot of extra sugar into your blood. When that happens your body responds by boosting the amount of insulin it’s putting out. Insulin is a hormone that your body uses to help break down sugars and starches in your bloods, which are also sometimes called glucose. When your body produces too much insulin your blood sugar can crash which will make you have powerful cravings for sugary and starchy foods. Have you ever wondered why you feel tired after that caffeine buzz? That’s your body responding to the rapid fluctuations in your blood sugar levels that are going on. When the excess sugar that is released by the adrenal glands during the body’s “fight or flight” response doesn’t get broken down by the insulin those sugars are turned into fat, which makes you gain weight. Coffee is also a very powerful diuretic and can wash important nutrients out of your body. Normally people think that taking a diuretic when you’re trying to lose weight is good because it will flush all the water weight from your system but coffee is not a good diuretic to take. If your body is not getting the nutrients that it needs it will think that it is starving and will go into a state of holding onto fats that it can burn for fuel, making it harder to lose weight. So there are a few reasons that you shouldn’t drink coffee, even decaf, when you are trying to lose weight because coffee and espresso inhibit weight loss in most people. P90X - P90X Plus - Power 90 Workout - Tony Horton 10 Minute Trainer - Shaun T Rockin Body - Ab Workout - Turbo Jam - Workout DVDs Your Place For: Workout Routines - Workout DVDs - P90X
Friday, May 16, 2008
Magnesium deficiency is a common problem for many people who do not know that they suffer from the condition. Symptoms can range from loss of appetite, nausea and weakness or fatigue to muscle cramps, personality changes and coronary spasms. Most people may only suffer from mild symptoms and will never have a life threatening situation with a deficiency of magnesium however the most common result of having that lack is not having protection against cardiovascular disease and immunity dysfunction. The level of health that you maintain in your digestive system and kidneys directly correlates to your magnesium absorption into your system. Magnesium is absorbed into your digestive system through the small intestine and from there is taken by your blood to your other cells and tissues. Having healthy kidneys is essential to limit your body’s excretion of magnesium.
Magnesium deficiency is linked with low levels of potassium and if severe, can result in loss of calcium in your blood. Some medicines can result in such low levels including some diuretics, antibiotics and medications used to treat cancer. Some people who have diabetes may also suffer from magnesium deficiency. Alcoholics and those that suffer from any disorder or disease that does not allow your body to absorb nutrients also are at risk for low levels of magnesium. Recent studies have shown that magnesium can have many positive effects in helping to prevent and regulate specific health problems such as high blood pressure (hypertension) and diabetes. Evidence suggests that raising the intake of magnesium in a person’s diet may raise the body’s absorption of magnesium and subsequently may lower the risk of an individual developing hypertension. Also increased magnesium absorption may actually lower blood pressure and help to regulate blood pressure. Carrying healthy levels of magnesium also has been linked to regulating diabetes. Because diabetes is an incurable disease in which the pancreas does not properly regulate the body’s production of insulin (either it releases too much or not enough) not absorbing the proper amounts of magnesium can be highly detrimental to a person’s health. Magnesium is a mineral that plays an important role in breaking down your body’s carbohydrates. This, in truth, can influence the release of insulin in a person’s body. Low magnesium levels have been linked to low blood sugar levels, thus the increase of magnesium (and therefore your metabolism of sugars or carbohydrates) can positively affect your body’s blood sugar levels. A person who suffers from any of the above conditions should talk to their doctor about increasing their magnesium intake by consuming more foods containing high levels of magnesium such as green vegetables, grains, seeds and nuts. Also a supplemental material may help to increase the body’s absorption of magnesium. Core cal-mag is a supplement containing the recommended dosages of both magnesium and calcium for adults. It can be found at health food stores as well as online. From the makers of Beach Body it contains no lactose, protein or milk allergens so it’s safe for the lactose intolerant. P90X Workout - P90X Plus - Power 90 Workout - Tony Horton 10 Minute Trainer - Shaun T Rockin Body - Ab Workout - Turbo Jam Your Place For: Workout Routines - Workout DVDs - P90X
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Using green tea for weight loss is one of the biggest buzzwords in the diet products industry. But does using green tea really work? That’s what most people want to know. Using green tea for weight loss is not a magic pill that will suddenly cause you to burn fat and become thinner. Some studies have shown that drinking green tea can cause your body temperature to rise which causes your metabolism to rise because your body starts burning more fuel for energy. But no studies have shown that drinking green tea for weight loss alone has had any effect. If you start adding several cups of green tea per day to your diet or you start taking some green tea extract or a product with green tea extract in it that doesn’t mean that you can go crazy and start eating double cheeseburgers and fries everyday. Over the long term green tea may help you lose weight but green tea by itself is not the answer to losing weight. Experts have said over and over again that the only reliable way to lose weight is to change the way that you eat and exercise. Really exercise is the most important key to losing weight. Instead of drinking green tea for weight loss, drink green tea because it’s healthy and it’s packed with antioxidants that can help your body function more efficiently and can help you look and feel younger. Green tea is a common drink in other parts of the world because of the health benefits it has but it’s not usually something that people drink just when they are trying to lose weight. So you should drink green tea, it has a lot of health benefits but it is not a miracle weight loss drink that will melt away the fat. You can’t lose weight just by taking a pill or drinking a particular drink. It would be nice if all you had to do to lose weight was take a little green tea extract or drink a few cups of everyday wouldn’t it? But it took you a long time to put the weight on, it will take more than a cup of tea to take it off.
If losing weight is your goal then you should overhaul your kitchen, start eating healthier, and start exercising. Even if you’re not in great shape just a 30 minute exercise session each day will go a long way towards helping you lose weight and get more fit. There are home workouts that you can do no matter what your fitness level is. Start with a workout DVD that is made for beginners if you’re not in the greatest shape. If you get started today then you’ll be that much closer to achieving healthy, sustainable weight loss. When you start exercising regularly you will feel better and look better. Starting a fitness routine is the best way to lose weight and feel younger. Keep exercising and you will lose weight. P90X Workout - P90X Plus - Power 90 Workout - Tony Horton 10 Minute Trainer - Shaun T Rockin Body - Ab Workout - Turbo Jam Your Place For: Workout Routines - Workout DVDs - P90X
Monday, May 12, 2008
By Monica Gomez
Those eight 8-ounce glasses of water that you may or may not be drinking are not the only way to satisfy your body's need for water. In fact, there are several water-rich foods that you're likely already consuming now that can help you meet some of that highly touted eight 8-ounce glass recommendation. And the great news is that satisfying some of your H20 needs will not be the only benefit you gain after consuming these water-rich and nutritious foods. Match the water-rich food with its nutritional benefits. Cucumber – soothes skin irritations and reduces skin swelling and helps lower blood pressure. A cucumber is approximately 95 percent water—making it a naturally hydrating food. This 95-percent water composition is part of the reason that its benefits include soothing skin irritations and reducing skin swelling. Cucumber juice is recommended for its silica content to improve the skin's complexion and health. Not only can you eat cucumbers, but you can also use cucumber slices topically for treating swollen eyes, sunburn, and dermatitis. Participants of the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) Study experienced healthier blood pressure levels when they added foods high in potassium, magnesium, and fiber to their diets—cucumbers are sources of all three. A one-cup serving has approximately 150 milligrams of potassium, 11 milligrams of magnesium, and about 1 gram of dietary fiber. "Slicing cucumbers," or cucumbers that are grown to be eaten fresh, are available year round but are at their best from May through July. Need another great benefit? A one-cup serving of sliced cucumbers, with peel, only contains 13 calories, so you can use it generously in your salads! Watermelon – reduces the risk of heart disease and helps alleviate the symptoms of osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis. Watermelon is about 92 percent water—a great thirst-quenching food to enjoy in the coming summer months, when watermelon tends to be at its sweetest. Watermelon is a highly concentrated source of the carotenoid antioxidant lycopene. And lycopene has been extensively researched and studied in humans for its antioxidant and cancer-preventing properties. This powerful antioxidant can not only travel through the body neutralizing free radicals, harmful substances in the body that can do damage; it can oxidize cholesterol that sticks to blood vessel walls, where it can potentially lead to heart attack or stroke. One cup of diced watermelon contains almost 15 milligrams of vitamin C—that's 24.3 percent of the recommended daily allowance (RDA).* That one-cup also contains 11.1 percent of the RDA for vitamin A. And a high intake of vitamin C and beta-carotene has been shown in numerous scientific studies to alleviate some of the symptoms of osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis. A one-cup serving of diced watermelon will also yield you about 176 milligrams of potassium (5 percent of the RDA), almost 17 milligrams of magnesium (4.2 percent of the RDA), and only about 49 calories. Tomato – helps prevent prostate cancer and promotes bone health. This option wasn't really meant to trick you—helping prevent prostate cancer could very well have been attributed to the watermelon, too. Tomatoes are approximately 93 percent water—making them another perfect summer season food (at their best from July through September). Like the watermelon, the tomato is also a rich source of lycopene—the powerful antioxidant that has been extensively studied in humans for its cancer-preventing properties. A meta-analysis of 21 studies published in Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers and Prevention underscored the point that eating tomatoes, especially cooked ones, offers protection against prostate cancer. Men who ate the highest amounts of raw tomatoes were found to have an 11-percent reduced risk for developing prostate cancer. Men who ate the most cooked tomato products experienced a 19-percent reduced risk. Tomatoes are also good sources of vitamin K—a one-cup serving of raw tomato contains 17.8 percent of the RDA. And that vitamin K helps promote bone health. Vitamin K1 activates osteocalcin, which is the major non-collagen protein in bone, and osteocalcin anchors calcium molecules inside the bone. Grapefruit – boosts liver enzymes and helps repair DNA. At 88 percent water, grapefruits are refreshing (best from winter through early spring). One cup of grapefruit contains 18.6 grams of carbs, including 2.5 grams of dietary fiber and 16.1 grams of sugars; 27.6 milligrams of calcium; and 319.7 milligrams of potassium. You can't beat that potassium content! All those nutrients and only 74 calories per one cup. Grapefruit juice greatly increases the production and activity of liver detoxification enzymes that are responsible for preparing toxic compounds for elimination from the body. A lab study published in the Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry reported that naringenin, a flavonoid concentrated in grapefruit, helps repair damaged DNA in human prostate cancer cells. Grapefruit also shares its rich lycopene content with watermelons and tomatoes. For the most antioxidants, it is recommended that you choose fully ripened grapefruit. Broccoli – helps prevent cataracts and assists in fighting birth defects. Broccoli is 92 percent water. Broccoli, along with other leafy green vegetables, contains powerful phytonutrient antioxidants, called lutein and zeaxanthin, which belong to the carotenoid family. Both lutein and zeaxanthin are concentrated in high amounts in the lens of the eye. In a Health Professionals Follow-Up Study, 36,000 men were monitored. Study participants who ate broccoli more than two times per week experienced a 23-percent reduced risk of developing cataracts compared to participants who ate broccoli less than once a month. One cup of broccoli contains 94 micrograms of folic acid, which is a B-vitamin essential for proper cellular division because it is necessary in DNA synthesis. And without folic acid, a fetus' nervous system cells do not divide properly. Folic acid deficiency during pregnancy has been linked to neural tube defects like spina bifida. Due to its highly perishable nature, broccoli should be stored in an open plastic bag in your refrigerator crisper, where it should keep for a week. *Percent Daily Values (DV) are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs. P90X Workouts - P90X Plus - Power 90 Workout - Tony Horton 10 Minute Trainer - Shaun T Rockin Body - Ab Workout - Turbo Jam - Workout DVDs Your Place For: Workout Routines - Workout DVDs - P90X
Saturday, May 10, 2008
If you know that you need to start getting more active but aren’t in very good shape and don’t know what exercise you can do that won’t be too hard for you then you need to start walking as a weight loss program. Walking is the simplest physical activity there is, and almost everyone can walk. Even if you have medical problems you can still walk for weight loss. Just a simple walk around the block after dinner is all it takes to jump start your fitness routine. You don’t need to start walking five miles a day in order to get some benefits from walking for weight loss. As little as 30 minutes of walking per day can help you lose weight and get fit. And it’s easy to get in 30 minutes of walking each day. You can always go for a walk at night, or start your day with a brisk walk but if you really don’t have a lot of time in the morning or at night because you have a job and a family to take care of there are lots of ways that you can start walking for weight loss at various times during the day. Start walking for weight loss on your lunch hour. See if a few people at work want to start walking for weight loss too and you can all go walking together. If you don’t want to give up your lunch hour to go walking then you can just try to find ways to work in brief walks during the day. One way to start getting in more walks during the say is to store start parking your car in the farthest spot from the door when you go to the grocery store so that you have to walk a long distance to get to the door. When you get in the store you should make an extra lap around the store before you check out. Just that much extra walking during the day can be considered walking for weight loss. Or start taking the stairs instead of the elevator at work. You’ll be amazed how many times a day you can end up climbing the stairs in a day.
Making walking for weight loss a family affair can also be great motivation to get out there and get walking. After dinner get the whole family to go out for a walk. Or you can use some nightly walking for weight loss as a way to spend some quality time with one of your kids. Each night go with a different child so that each child feels like they are getting some one on one time with you while at the same time you’re both getting some great exercise. Walking with your kids will also them learn healthy exercise patterns which can be very important as they get older. Kids will repeat the patterns they learn as children into adulthood so teaching your kids good exercise habits now will help them stay fit throughout their lives. P90X Workouts - P90X Plus - Power 90 Workout - Tony Horton 10 Minute Trainer - Shaun T Rockin Body - Ab Workout - Turbo Jam - Workout DVDs Your Place For: Workout Routines - Workout DVDs - P90X
Friday, May 9, 2008
By Jude Buglewicz
It's no secret that the U.S. is one of the fattest nations in the world: 66.3 percent of Americans over 20 years old are overweight or obese (about 140 million); 32 percent are obese (67 million); and almost 5 percent (9 million) are morbidly obese. Among adolescents 12 to 19 years old, over 17 percent are overweight (over 12.5 million)—16 percent are girls and 18.2 percent are boys. But what exactly do the terms "overweight," "obese," and "morbidly obese" mean, and why should these distinctions matter to you? The standard definitions as used by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), and the World Health Organization (WHO) (and most social science and medical journals that rely on the data from those organizations) are based on body mass index (BMI) levels. This is a calculation using your height and your weight. Calculate your BMI Metric formula. Divide your weight (in kilograms) by your height (in meters) squared: weight (kg)/height squared (m2). NIH method. If you prefer good ole American pounds and inches, multiply your weight (in pounds) by 704.5. Divide that by your height (in inches). Then divide that number again by your height (in inches): weight (lbs.) x 704.5/height (inches)/height (inches). Which group are you in? Normal weight – BMI of 18.5 to 24.9. Nonsmokers in this range have the lowest risk of disease and premature death. Overweight – BMI of 25 or more. This group has an increased risk of weight-related medical problems, including diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol. Obese – BMI of 30 or more (at least 30 pounds overweight). Below are some statistics associated with this group. - 67 million Americans (32 percent of adults) - Women: 36 million (33 percent) - Men: 32 million (31 percent) - The number of obese American adults doubled in the last 20 years. - Weight-related medical problems increase sharply for this group: type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, breast and colon cancer, gall bladder disease, high blood pressure (twice as common as for people at a healthy weight), stroke, osteoarthritis, sleep apnea, respiratory problems, etc. - This group has a 50-percent to 100-percent increased risk of premature death from all causes. Morbidly obese – BMI of 40 or more (typically about 100 pounds overweight). Below are statistics associated with the morbidly obese group. - 9 million Americans (almost 5 percent) - The number of morbidly obese American adults quadrupled in the last 20 years. - People in this group have an increased risk for a shorter life expectancy (it could be up to 20 years shorter). Death from diabetes or heart attack is 5 to 7 times greater than for non-obese people, heart disease is 6 times more common, and diabetes is 10 times more common. Data from the National Center for Health Statistics, based on 2003–2004 estimates from National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (NHANES), and from the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. Problems with BMI Although body mass index is the most commonly used measurement of obesity, it doesn't distinguish between fat and fat-free mass, like muscle and bone. Bodybuilders and other athletes with lots of muscle (which weighs more than fat) may have high BMIs, and so they would be classified as "overweight" or "obese," though they're more likely to be healthy and fit—not fat. And older people who lose muscle mass through the aging process and then replace muscle weight with fat may still have the same height and weight, and so the same BMI number, though they'd actually be "fatter." Because of such concerns, some researchers are pressing for more accurate ways to assess body fat, including using body fat percentage, while others argue that it's the location of body fat that's most important, not simply how much of it you have. Excessive deep abdominal fat is far worse than fat around your hips and thighs, as it is linked to an increased risk of diabetes, heart disease, stroke, and other serious medical conditions. Your waist measurement, then, is also a gauge of your health (over 35 inches for women and over 40 inches for men are associated with higher disease risk). But because BMI is so easy to determine, and because most of the research on the medical risks stemming from obesity is based on BMI data, your body mass index is a number worth knowing. Reverse the trend! If you're reading this, chances are you've bought a Beachbody® product—perhaps P90X® or Turbo Jam® or Hip Hop Abs®—and you are on your way to a long-term healthy and fit lifestyle. Good for you! And if right now you happen to be one of the 140 million Americans who are considered overweight or obese, just keep exercising, Keep Pushing Play, and keep eating right. Below are just three benefits that you can look forward to. You'll lower your risk of heart disease or stroke by losing just 5 percent to 15 percent of your weight. You'll lower your risk of type 2 diabetes (losing 10 to 15 pounds is enough for most people, according to the American Diabetes Association). By losing 10 percent of your weight, you can have a 10-percent decrease in total cholesterol and a 40-percent decrease in obesity-related cancers. And if you're one of the 9 million morbidly obese Americans, take heart. Have a look at the 2007 Million Dollar Body Game® Grand Prize Winners, a group of dedicated individuals who prove that regular exercise and a healthy diet can dramatically alter your life for the better. As Jenn B., 2006 Success Story, says, "I'm so much happier and healthier and I have more confidence, better posture...heck, I've got my life back! My medical conditions (constant back pain, leg pain, asthma) have fixed themselves." Amazing what you can do if you're committed. P90X - P90X Plus - Power 90 Workout - Tony Horton 10 Minute Trainer - Shaun T Rockin Body - Ab Workout - Turbo Jam - Workout DVDs Your Place For: Workout Routines - Workout DVDs - P90X
Thursday, May 8, 2008
Drinking water to lose weight is one of those tips that everyone gives to their friends but no one really seems to follow. Does water really help you lose weight? Yes, drinking water does help you lose weight. Your body needs water in order to function properly so drinking water helps your body to function properly which will help you lose weight because your body will work to regulate your weight. Drinking water can also help you feel full so that you eat less. Experts recommend drinking one full glass of water before every meal. The water will help you lose weight because you feel full and then you will eat less which will decrease your daily calorie intake. When you decrease the amount of calories that you eat your body will start burning off your fat stores for energy and then you will lose weight. So the simple act of drinking a glass of water can help you to lose weight. Your body also needs water to flush out the toxins and waste from your cells. When all the toxins are washed out of your cells your body functions better and that will also help you lose weight.
A lot of people think that they already drink enough water to help them lose weight but most people aren’t getting enough water. You should be drinking at least 80 ounces of water per day. That might seem like a huge amount of water that you should be drinking everyday but think about all the different times during the day that you could sneak in a little water. Have a glass of water with your mid morning snack. Drink water instead of soda at the office. Carry a bottle of water with you all the time and sip it throughout the day. If you don’t like drinking just plain water buy some individually packaged drink mix tubes that you pour into a bottle of water. Just make sure that you choose a mix that is sugar free and calorie free. When you start exercising you should take frequent water breaks because it’s very important to keep your body hydrated when you’re exercising. Drink a little bit of water before you start exercising but not too much or you might get a cramp. Then continue to take little drinks of water throughout your workout and have a full bottle of water after the workout to replace all the water you lost to sweat while exercising. Drinking water does help you to lose weight but only if you remember to actually drink it. Start making it a priority to drink water and you’ll notice that you will start to lose weight and you’ll start to feel a lot better too. Your brain and body will be functioning much more smoothly. Using water to help you start to lose weight is an easy way to start losing weight and you can start it immediately. The next time you get up grab a tall glass of water and start drinking water to lose weight. P90X - P90X Plus - Power 90 Workout - Tony Horton 10 Minute Trainer - Shaun T Rockin Body - Ab Workout - Turbo Jam - Workout DVDs Your Place For: Workout Routines - Workout DVDs - P90X
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
By Steve Edwards
A major health headline this week was a study dispelling the notion that you can be both fit and fat. Last fall, the wires were abuzz with citations about the dangers of being thin and fat (so-called "skinny fat"). With a national obesity rate of nearly 30 percent, we know that we're overweight. But if thin isn't the indicator of fitness, and you can't be large and fit, how are we supposed to tell if we're healthy? Let's decipher what these studies indicate and sort through the murkiness about what it really means to be fit. Can you be fit and fat? The latest issue of Archives of Internal Medicine reported a study of 39,000 women that suggested that fitness isn't the only indication of one's risk for developing heart disease. The subjects were between 50 and 60 years old and were tracked for 11 years. Nearly 1,000 got sick. The study showed that overweight women had a 54-percent greater risk of developing heart disease than those with similar exercise patterns who were not considered overweight. It also concluded that women who exercised, heavy or not, were two-and-a-half times less likely to get heart disease. However, the study wasn't fastidious in its parameters. It relied on self-reporting and used the BMI (body mass index) scale, rather than actual fitness tests, to determine the subjects' fitness levels. This is where the study becomes questionable. We tend to like things that come in simple-to-understand terms. Therefore, the government decided that we'd use the BMI scale to decide how healthy we are. It simply assigns you a number based on your height and your weight, leaving out such trivialities as lean muscle mass, body fat, basal metabolic rate, and other medical parameters. You may surmise that we all come in different shapes and sizes, so something as simple as BMI could be inaccurate. Your hunch would be correct. While BMI can be a decent indicator across similar groups of people, it doesn't account for athletic body types. Using the BMI scale, almost every wrestler, bodybuilder, and NFL player would be classified as obese. And while heavier people, fit or not, induce more strain on their hearts, there are many other factors to consider prior to categorizing them as being vulnerable to health risks. Without knowing these other factors, it's difficult to make hard conclusions, especially when you consider that those with lower BMI numbers may be "skinny fat." At least it was clear that those who exercised, whether heavy or not, greatly reduced their risk. The conclusions of the study seemed to miss out on something very interesting—a comparison between thin women who didn't exercise and heavy women who did. Can you be skinny and fat? Trying to answer the above question, we'll refer to a study from London's Imperial College showing that those who appear skinny to the naked eye but are unfit are still at risk to a rash of health problems. Since 1994, Dr. Jimmy Bell and his team conducted MRIs on nearly 800 people, creating "fat maps" that show where they store fat. As it turns out, people who don't maintain their weight with a combination of exercise and diet keep huge fat deposits around their internal organs. The scientists theorized that excessive inner fat can confuse the body's communication systems, leading to heart disease, insulin resistance, or type 2 diabetes. Again, fat and active people had a much lower mortality rate than the skinny and sedentary. This means that, as far as your health is concerned, a fitness test is a much better indicator than a scale or what size dress you fit into. As Bell explained to the Associated Press, "The whole concept of being fat needs to be redefined." What does it mean to be fit? Webster's tells us that fitness is "the capacity of an organism to survive and transmit its genotype to reproductive offspring as compared to competing organisms"; Dr. Fred Hatfield, in his book Fitness: The Complete Guide, gives us a more layman's view by defining it as: "Your ability to meet the exigencies of your lifestyle with ease and room to spare for life's little emergencies." Both definitions refer to functioning in the present as the main indicator, meaning that all these studies on heart disease in aging individuals probably aren't even the best bases to use to make conclusions about an individual's state of fitness. Fitness is, in the simplest terms, your ability to perform in the world. We all have different goals and agendas and, in the end, we're all going to die. But there are a few things that we all share, no matter what kind of life we lead. If we consider the eight parameters below, and if we can perform them decently, we can consider ourselves to be fit. And, more than anything else, a fit life is probably a lot more fun than a non-fit one. Body-fat percentage. This is the percentage of your total body weight that is composed of fat. Ten percent to 14 percent is considered good for men, and 14 percent to 18 percent is considered good for women. Unless you're a weight-dependent athlete or a fitness model, you don't need to go to extremes, but all of us should strive to be within this range. Being far under it has health risks too but going above it is what most of us need to worry about—and what the obesity epidemic sweeping the world is focused on. Not only does excess weight put our bodies under extra strain, but excessive amounts of fat change our abilities to function properly. So far more than your weight, you should be focusing on keeping your body-fat percentage within this range. Aerobic endurance. This is how efficiently your body transports oxygen. It's a baseline fitness parameter that aids every more intensive fitness effort, from yard work to sex to running a marathon. Indicators of good aerobic fitness are a low resting heart rate and the ability to recover quickly after cardiovascular activity. You help increase this endurance by doing any type of activity but more efficiently when you do continuous low-level activity, like hiking or jogging. Muscle mass. Like body fat, our bodies require a certain percentage of muscle to stay healthy. This varies per individual, but we all need muscle to meet the tasks of daily living. Above the age of 30, our bodies lose muscle mass each year, so it's important to do resistance exercise to keep muscle mass. Besides aiding movement, muscle mass protects our organs and skeletal structures. To age gracefully, it's vital to keep our muscle mass percentages high. Flexibility. This isn't the ability to do pretzel-ish yoga movements but simply your ability to move your body freely through a full range of motion. It's important that we stretch our muscles because they contract during exercise and the daily rigors of living. Keeping your muscles supple gives you a buffer against being injured and is an indicator of overall fitness. It will help you age without as many complications. Strength. Strength is the ability to use your muscles to generate force. It's often defined in more specific terms, like limit, starting, or explosive strength, but they're all a variation on the same theme—your body needs to be able to move stuff around. Most importantly, it needs to move you around. As we age, we lose muscle mass and strength. Mass protects your body. Strength moves it and keeps it from falling over. Furthermore, strength training requires short bouts of high-intensity outputs. These stimulate hormonal responses that also decline as we age. In a nutshell, strength training slows the aging process. The stronger you are, the slower you age. Static balance. This is your ability to maintain control of your body's center of gravity over your base of support. The importance of this ability is obvious, since life's no fun if you're always toppling over. It requires use of all of the aforementioned factors, and the best way to get it is to practice. What's really important is that to stay in balance your body uses smaller muscles, called stabilizer muscles (the large ones you see are called prime mover muscles); and these help keep your joints tracking properly. A person with good balance has less chance of incurring an injury, especially an injury due to overuse. Dynamic balance. This is the same as the above, except you control your center of gravity while in motion or in flight. The eccentric motions created in practicing dynamic balance not only stimulate hormonal responses but fire something called high-threshold muscle cell motor units. It's important to train dynamic balance as you age and, symbiotically, training this action helps keep you young. Agility. This is your ability to move dynamically in different directions quickly and randomly. It requires that you use starting strength, explosive strength, limit strength, and dynamic balance in combination, so all of those areas must be conditioned. Plyometric training, like that incorporated into Tony Horton's P90X®, in combination with stretching, helps you stay agile as you age. P90X - P90X Plus - Power 90 Workout - Tony Horton 10 Minute Trainer - Shaun T Rockin Body - Ab Workout - Turbo Jam - Workout DVDs Your Place For: Workout Routines - Workout DVDs - P90X
Monday, May 5, 2008
By Steve Edwards
We know that exercise will help us look better in a bathing suit, but most of us aren't aware of how important it is when it comes to brain function. While common lore suggests that jocks are dumb and brainiacs rarely leave the research lab, science paints a different picture—one wherein the fitter you are, the smarter you become. Let's look at 10 ways to improve your cognitive abilities. Aerobic exercise. In the 1990s, a now-famous experiment was done on mice at The Salk Institute of Biological Science in San Diego. Two groups of mice led similar lifestyles, with one difference, an exercise wheel for some to play on. The group with the treadmills dominated the other in a series of cognitive tests. This should not be surprising, given that oxygen is vital for every human function, and by definition, aerobic exercise circulates oxygen. But, many further tests have been done, and we now know that we can train our brains the same way we train our muscles, and our brains will respond in a similar fashion. In fact, our brains continue to regenerate neurons until we die. The mice with treadmills in their cages produced two to three times the number of neurons produced by the non-treadmill group. Anaerobic exercise. Anaerobic exercise includes short bouts of intense movement that don't use oxygen. Most of us know that this is how we build muscle, but the same hormones released during this process also improve brain function. Even training our muscles improves how our brains work. "Muscle activity is a cue to keep a synapse stable, and synaptic inactivity is a cue to disassemble a synapse," stated Jeff W. Lichtman, M.D., Ph.D., at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis in Science Magazine. "So if you lose activity, you lose receptors. But if you regain activity, you get those receptors back." Try something new. New activities force an adaptation process on your brain as much as on your muscles. In P90X®, we call it "Muscle Confusion," but the brain is what's stimulated first, and it's exercised just as much as the targeted muscles. If you've ever wondered why we have so many different types of workouts, now you have your answer. New activity stimulates the mind and body alike. Visualize. When you don't have time to exercise, don't put it out of your mind. Instead, try focusing on physical tasks that you'd like to do when you have the time. A study in 2001 showed that you can increase muscle strength by just thinking about it. Over a 12-week period, a study done on visualization by the Cleveland Clinic showed that strength could be increased by concentrating on it for 5 minutes a day. Brain scans showed "greater and more focused" activity in the prefrontal cortex after 12 weeks, leading to the assumption that the strength gains were due to improvements in the brain's ability to signal muscle. Eat better. Your brain only weighs about 2 percent of your body weight but uses 20 percent of the oxygen and nutrients you take in. If your body is starving for nutrients and needs those that it's getting for survival functions, your brain activity will suffer. Relax. Finding ways to de-stress is vital for efficient brain function as anxiety and stress destroy neurons. Meditating or having fun with friends (especially if you laugh a lot) can keep your anxiety levels under control. The same goes for beginning your day with a relaxing morning ritual, like routines found in Yoga Booty Ballet®, which will stimulate your brain with positive thoughts that can proactively reduce your stress levels. Travel. The forced stimuli that travel induces have been shown to have a great benefit on your brain function. There is nothing quite like immersing yourself in a foreign culture wherein you don't understand the language to force your brain into a survival mode that leads to accelerated adaptation. Stay hydrated. Our bodies are nearly 70 percent water, but the brain is closer to 90 percent. Water composes more of the brain than any other organ, which is why you find it hard to think when you're extremely hot and/or dehydrated. Stretch. In daily life, our muscles contract and become tighter. We become less flexible. Most of us are at least somewhat aware that this hinders our physical abilities, but it also reduces our mental capacities. There are many books that advocate "brain exercises," and while certainly helpful, most of these are fairly simple stretches that we wouldn't need to do if we actually exercised properly. Stretching helps oxygen transport, helps you de-stress, and actually aids every physical process discussed above. Taking a few minutes a couple of times a day to lightly stretch and thoroughly warming up and cooling down after exercise will keep your brain feeling supple and sharp. Break routines. Doing things differently helps keep your brain from getting complacent. Small acts like getting dressed differently, closing your eyes during mundane tasks, using your computer mouse with your opposite hand, and so on are part of something called Neurobics™, a system to exercise your brain created by Lawrence C. Katz, Ph.D., a professor of neurobiology at Duke University Medical Center. P90X - P90X Plus - Power 90 Workout - Tony Horton 10 Minute Trainer - Shaun T Rockin Body - Ab Workout - Turbo Jam - Workout DVDs Your Place For: Workout Routines - Workout DVDs - P90X
Sunday, May 4, 2008
You probably already know that exercise is one of the best if not the best way to lose weight and that exercise is absolutely essential to any kind of weight loss success. Running for weight loss can be a great way to get started in a regular exercise program. Running for weight loss doesn’t mean that you have start training for marathons right away, you can start out with just a simple jog around the block and it will still help you lose weight. Any exercise is good exercise, so any type of running for weight loss that you can do will help you lose weight. When you first start running you shouldn’t try to push yourself too fast. If you are not in the greatest shape then a good way to start a running for weight loss program is to start out by walking a block, then running for a block, then walking for a block and so on until you get used to running and can run the whole distance. Running for weight loss is a great way to lose weight because running is easy and almost anyone can run. You don’t need any special equipment to go running, just a pair of good sneakers and some reflective clothing if you’re running early in the morning or at night. Aerobic exercise like running is great for your heart and can help you become healthier overall in addition to helping you lose weight. If you want to start a running for weight loss program you should check in with your doctor first to make sure that you don’t have any medical conditions that would make it unhealthy for you to start running. You should also invest in a good pair of running shoes because running can damage your feet and your joints if you’re not careful.
Running for weight loss is a popular hobby so if you want to find a running buddy it shouldn’t be too hard to find someone else to go running with. If you want a constant running companion that won’t ever stand you up or be too tired to run with you then you should think about getting a dog. Dogs are great running companions and they are also great for safety if you like to go running at night or very early in the morning. If you don’t want to get a dog just to go running with you, see if you can borrow one. Do you have a friend or a relative or maybe a neighbor that has a dog? There are a lot of people that don’t get to take their dogs for walks as often as they’d like to, maybe you can borrow a dog that otherwise wouldn’t get to go for a walk to go running with. Running is a great way to get fit and lose weight. You might even find that eventually you want to try running a marathon or two. If you’re not sure how to get started on a running program you can hire a personal trainer who can help you develop a personalized running plan. P90X - P90X Plus - Power 90 Workout - Tony Horton 10 Minute Trainer - Shaun T Rockin Body - Ab Workout - Turbo Jam - Workout DVDs Your Place For: Workout Routines - Workout DVDs - P90X
Friday, May 2, 2008
By Joe Wilkes
Which cheese has the fewest calories per ounce: cheddar, Swiss, or Brie? You might think the gooey Brie would be the most decadent cheese, but in fact, it has the fewest calories of the three cheeses with 85 calories and 7 grams of fat. Swiss cheese has 100 calories and 7 grams of fat. Cheddar has the most with 114 calories and 9.4 grams of fat per ounce. What color is cheddar cheese naturally? White to pale yellow. Cheesemakers add annatto, a vegetable-based food coloring, to make it orange. No one is sure why, but some theories are that it helped create a consistent look for various cheeses, and it also helped grocers identify the cheese by sight. Cheddar is the most widely consumed cheese in the world. What causes the holes in Swiss cheese? Swiss, or Emmental cheese, is made by adding bacteria in the production process. The reaction of the bacteria with the cheese's lactic acid causes carbon dioxide bubbles, which cause the holes. In general, the larger the holes in the cheese, the sharper the flavor. Baby Swiss was created in the U.S.; it has smaller holes, both for a milder flavor and to make it easier to slice in delicatessens. How many pounds of milk does it take to make one pound of cheese? It takes 10 pounds of milk to make one pound of cheese. Milk is exposed to bacteria, which creates the lactic acid that gives cheese its "tang," and then it is exposed to an enzyme that causes it to coagulate to create curds and whey, as Miss Muffett enjoyed (curds and whey are similar to cottage cheese). The production of cheese is thought to have begun as a way of extending the shelf life of milk. What makes blue cheese blue? Blue cheese is produced by injecting it with penicillin mold spores. It is believed that the first instances of blue cheese were produced by accident in caves wherein mold occurred naturally. Now, incorporating the mold into cheese production is quite common in many gourmet varieties of blue cheese, including the French Roquefort, the English Stilton, the Italian Gorgonzola, and the American Maytag. Unfortunately, the penicillin in blue cheeses seems to have negligible medicinal properties. If you think you have something, better to see the doctor than the salad bar. P90X - P90X Plus - Power 90 Workout - Tony Horton 10 Minute Trainer - Shaun T Rockin Body - Ab Workout - Turbo Jam - Workout DVDs Your Place For: Workout Routines - Workout DVDs - P90X
Thursday, May 1, 2008
By Steve Edwards
Milk: does it really do a body good? This advertising icon is one that most of us are familiar with. It's also one of the most maligned slogans in history. A quick headline search reveals a slew of parodies, ranging from sarcastically simple "milk: it does a body bad" to the more straightforward "milksucks.com." Whether or not we should consume dairy products is one of the most common dietary issues in the news and, yet, there still seems to be no definitive answer. Let's take a look at the pros and cons of dairy, which can hopefully shed a little light on whether or not you want it as a part of your diet. Conclusion I didn't accidentally paste the end of the article into the second paragraph. I thought it would be best to get this out of the way right up front. Whether to consume dairy or not, as you might surmise from the intro, is a volatile issue. Opinions tend to be black or white and dished with heaping scoops of passion. But passion tends to come from experience, not science; and a lot of dairy lore seemed to be based on anecdotal conjecture rather than sound knowledge. This doesn't mean that there's no science—far from it. A search of The National Library of Medicine shows 25,000 studies that have been done on dairy, apparently none of which can give us any sort of consensus on its health effects in humans. What all these studies do show is that dairy products are neither going to kill us, nor help us live forever. We can consume them and be healthy, but we also don't need to in order to be healthy. There are millions of examples on both sides, and this is pretty darn conclusive. Dairy can be a fine addition to your diet, but that does not mean that it's right for your diet. You certainly don't need as much as the dairy council tells us, but it also needn't be vilified more than any other type of food. Like all foods these days, there are issues, particularly when it comes to human tampering. But there are also individual considerations that should be assessed. This article will address these. The Bottom Line In keeping with the reordered nature of our story, let's look at the most simple aspect of dairy: its nutrient profile. Of course, this varies per product, but most are a good source of protein. Some, like yogurt and milk, have carbohydrates. And all dairy products, in their natural states, have fat and are great sources of enzymes. Most dairy products, especially those with the fat removed, would appear to be a fine source of nutrition. Dairy proteins, casein and whey, have excellent biological value profiles. There is little reputable science to dispute this. Dairy fats are generally unhealthy, have high ratios of saturated fats, and should be limited in one's diet. But some dairy fats, mainly from certain cheeses, contain enzymes that make them a potentially beneficial part of a diet, if consumed in moderation. Dairy's carbohydrate source, lactose, has been the subject of a lot of scrutiny but appears to be fine for most people, especially in its natural form. Below, we will examine the potential benefits and pitfalls of dairy consumption. The Issues Too much fat. As stated above, dairy products contain a lot of fat. Your diet needs to contain around 20 to 30 percent fat, but very little of this should come from animal sources. The anti-dairy movement champions a relation to heart disease as a reason not to consume dairy, but it makes little sense to single out dairy as opposed to, say, meat or pretty much anything you can buy at your corner 7-Eleven. All dairy products can be chosen in low- to no-fat options where the fat is simply removed. This is recommended for anyone who uses dairy as a major source of calories. There are concerns with this option, also, which will be analyzed below. Aren't most of us lactose intolerant? Some people have problems digesting dairy products that can lead to an unpleasant gastric condition usually referred to as lactose intolerance. This isn't a completely agreed-upon condition, but it appears to be the result of pasteurizing our dairy products, which kills the enzymes that aid the body's digestion process. Milk and yogurt in raw form don't seem to cause this condition. Regardless, the numbers here are skewed; anti-dairy pundits will often claim that those suffering from lactose intolerance include "most" of the population. Other studies seem to peg the number closer to 20 percent. One constant is that those from cultures who have historically consumed a lot of dairy are not affected as much as those who aren't. Lactose intolerance isn't a dangerous condition, but it is uncomfortable. If you do suffer from it, you can know that millions (if not billions) of people worldwide are perfectly healthy without dairy. Just be wary of switching your dairy products to any other one source of nutrition, like soy. Nearly all of the dairy substitutes are soy based, and too much soy in your diet can also be problematic. Does dairy cause a calcium gain or loss? This is one of the more interesting controversies. The dairy industry champions itself as a leading provider of calcium. The anti-dairy folks turn this on its head to say that it's exactly the opposite. How can this be? The pro side is simple: dairy products contain a lot of calcium and numerous studies show its importance in our diets. The con side is more complex. Some science suggests that the high protein to fat ratio—along with an abundance of vitamin A—of nonfat dairy sources somehow reduces the body's ability to utilize calcium. This isn't exactly confirmed by the said studies, which actually showed "no decrease in instances of osteoporosis." Does dairy cause osteoporosis? This is a fairly common claim across the Internet but seems to lead back to a few studies on osteoporosis, many of which used an increase in the percentages of elderly people with broken hips as proof. In a nutshell, the studies showed that cultures that drank a lot of milk (i.e., the USA) had a higher percentage of their elderly population breaking their hips than those that didn't. If it seems odd to make this assumption on one dietary staple, consider that the largest piece of this puzzle is being left out altogether: exercise. In the last couple of decades, caloric increase across the U.S. has risen only around 3 percent whereas the level of exercise we get has dropped a whopping 20 to 25 percent. When you consider that the primary reason elderly people break their hips in routine falls is due to loss of muscle that protects the bones, it doesn't take someone from MENSA to suspect that lack of exercise might be a culprit. Dairy helps you burn body fat. From the flip side of weird science came some studies out of the University of Tennessee that got a lot of publicity showing that those who consumed dairy products lost more body fat than those who supplemented with other types of calcium. But before you decide that yogurt should suffice for all of your calcium needs, consider that the study wasn't an even playing field. The subjects were on a reduced-calorie diet and the dairy group was given twice the amount of calcium than the supplement group. More suspicion may arise when you consider that Yoplait funded the study. Regardless, one conclusion that you could make is that calcium is both beneficial to your diet and that you can use the type you get from dairy products to satisfy your needs. Dairy causes cancer. Milk was singled out in an older study that suggested that lactose could have a link to ovarian cancer. Many subsequent studies have been done—and are currently being done—on dairy and its link with all cancers, with no conclusive evidence either way. In fact, nearly half the studies in the last 7 years seem to show the opposite, that dairy may help stave off cancer. This in no way means that the research is invalid. By definition, science works all angles before coming to conclusions. But it can probably help us relax about the possibility of a simple and direct link between dairy and cancer. Dairy is filled with hormones. This is a well-documented and major issue over how our dairy cows are raised. The FDA assures us that we only allow our cows to "dope" with safe drugs. Many dissent. It's a subject that transcends the dairy industry and is too broad to approach in this article. It's an issue for every food option that we make. On the subject of dairy, we do have choices. We can purchase organic options or buy our dairy products from a local farm or someone we know. Is raw or pasteurized better? Nearly all of the pro-pasteurization literature comes from the dairy council or U.S. regulatory agencies. There is a passel of independent information citing the virtues of raw dairy products. The verdict here is theoretical but hard to dispute. Dairy, in its raw form, is healthier, granted it comes from healthy cows. In fact, lactose intolerance is claimed to be a nonissue for raw dairy consumers because the enzyme lactase, which breaks down lactose, is killed during pasteurization. The flip side is that cows aren't always healthy. In unhealthy cows, it's common for deadly bacteria, such as E.coli, to show up in dairy products. Since pasteurization kills bad bacteria as well as good and preserves much of the nutrient value, it's championed as the better alternative by the powers-that-be. Is organic better? Again, nearly all of the anti-organic literature comes from the dairy council or U.S. regulatory agencies. This is, of course, because it's their job to ensure us that all dairy is healthy and safe to begin with. And, again, there are plenty of studies supporting organic as being preferable. The verdict can again come down to some common sense. Organic standards require that cows live in better conditions and eat better food. We know that when we live better and eat healthier food, we are healthier. We can suppose that this is also true about cows. The next assumption would be that eating a healthier organism would be healthier. If this makes sense, we could conclude that organic is better. But wait, there's more. Given that we're all aware that some think it's okay to lie, we must consider that some companies may not play by the rules. There are many examples of businesses getting caught in both lying about their products and attempting to manipulate the regulatory agencies into changing their criteria. Again, this is beyond this article's scope, but it's not all that difficult to do your own research. Organic standards are higher. This should mean that organic products are better. There are many healthy cultures that don't use dairy. This isn't exactly true. Yes, there are many healthy people that don't consume dairy, but dairy (when you include all animals and not just cows) has been consumed by most cultures forever. The most commonly cited cultures that don't use dairy are in the east, mainly China, but historically, much of China was heavily dependent upon dairy. In fact, the northern regions and Mongolia have used yogurt as a nutritional mainstay for centuries. An analysis of the cultures that currently use little dairy yields mainly a list of poorer and undernourished cultures. And due to the socioeconomic climate of these regions, it seems unfair to cite lack of dairy as a reason for these cultures being malnourished. There are many examples of healthy educated individuals who are perfectly healthy without dairy, and many decidedly healthy cultures, such as the Japanese, use much less dairy than those in Western Europe and the United States. P90X Workouts - P90X Plus - Power 90 Workout - Tony Horton 10 Minute Trainer - Shaun T Rockin Body - Ab Workout - Turbo Jam - Workout DVDs Your Place For: Workout Routines - Workout DVDs - P90X
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