Fat Kills You

I posted a story the other day on one of my blogs - the headline reads: “Antidepressant drugs quadruple risk of suicides, research shows”.

Sigh

I mean, c’mon. isn’t the whole reason we take anti-depressant drugs centered around NOT wanting to give up, check out, commit suicide, stop living, etc.? So, we take a drug that makes us more bummed? To the point of suicide?

When are we going to stop running to a doctor every time we (or our children) have sniffle or pang to get that ‘magic pill’ that somehow ALWAYS manages to have a side effect worse than the original symptom??

Don’t tell me about the marvels of modern medicine, I know about an awful lot of them. And, in case you’re getting the wrong idea, I have immense respect for scientists and researchers who have devoted lifetimes to try and find ways to overcome modern man’s illnesses.

I have immense respect for most medical doctors and practitioners who have devoted their lives to trying to help and heal their fellow man.

However, the insurance companies, the pharmaceutical companies, the ‘big business’ of medicine - they can go away any day now. When the almighty dollar supercedes the importance of life, it’s time to do something.

Also, why in the heck can’t we learn to stop throwing the baby out with the bathwater??? With the advent of ’science’, all of a sudden everything our ancestors did and believed in the realm of healing was all of a sudden labeled ’superstition’ and ineffective ‘folk medicine.’

Isn’t it funny that now we’re realizing how right much of that folk medicine was. Mistletoe is being researched for its effect on Cancer - with astounding results. St John’s Wort is now known to be a very effective anti-depressant (without making you want to kill yourself!), light - that’s right, light - is being used to treat ulcers, infections, carpal tunnel syndrome, and a host of other ailments - successfully.

Therapeutic touch is being used in hospitals for surgery and heart patients, successfully. The power of prayer - dubbed ineffective by the so-called scientific experts for decades upon decades - has now been proven to have a measurable positive effect on the ill.

So, is the pendulum finally swinging back to center? I sure as heck hope so. But, more than that, I hope it doesn’t completely swing in the opposite direction.

If I feel my children need medical attention, I do NOT HESITATE to get it for them. But, if I can keep my children healthy in the first place with natural therapies, herbs, vitamins, good nutrition and treat them at home in the same manner successfully, I do that.

We need that ever-elusive balance. Science, allopathic and ‘alternative’ medicine working TOGETHER for the good of the people. In my humble opinion, THAT is what ‘holistic’ should mean. Everything working together as a whole to help the whole of the person. The new buzz term for this is ‘Integrative Medicine’.

But, no matter what you call it, it makes sense. Use everything at your disposal to heal - and first, do no harm. (I wish the pharmaceutical companies and many doctors would follow that!)

Dee is a Certified Aromatherapist, Certified Reflexologist, and Reiki Master. Her site is AkobiAromas.com - a source of quality aromatherapy, herbal and reflexology information and products.

In my 3 decades of training experience I have identified 5 major bodybuilding troubles or problems. These are:-

1 Overtraining…training too much…too often and too long. Not taking a complete week off every 3 months…

2 Under eating…Not eating enough…you need 6 meals per day minimum…every day, including weekends…

3 Neglecting the window of opportunity for rapid growth by not taking Whey protein and creatine immediately after training…

4 Not stretching properly to facilitate easy growth…

5 Not focussing your mental muscle on who you want to become…

PART ONE

1 Overtraining…training too much…too often and too long. Not taking a complete weeks break or rest every 3 months.

This would have to be the most common trouble that hinders many would be successful bodybuilders from realising their full potential. And it’s a particularly insidious trouble because we have been taught that to get things in life , we have to work hard. Well that’s true to some extent both in life and weight training. In weight training we have to train hard as far as intensity goes…if you want to get big you need to push big weights. But where the problem creeps in is that we apply rules from other places that don’t apply to weight training. The rules I am talking about can be best illustrated with an example. I want to grow a big bank account…So I work a few jobs or set up a few businesses that give me multiple streams of income. Hey presto…that works…my hard work and long hours returns lots of money and a big fat bank account.

The problem is when we apply this more is better to weight training, with the underlying premise that if training 3 days per week made me gain 3 pounds of muscle in 8 weeks…then if I train 6 days a week I should be able to put on 6 pounds of muscle in the same time. Or if training 30 minutes per workout made me gain 3 pounds…then if I train an hour and a half(3 x as long) I should be able to put on 9 pounds(3x as much) BIG MISTAKE…BIG TROUBLE…The logic on the surface sounds OK…but the underlying reality is quite different. The only thing the extra training does is burn you out and frustrate you with diminished returns. When I owned and operated my two bodybuilding gyms I used to see this all the time…and you just can’t tell some people.

They are so caught up in the belief that more is better that they are too scared to cut back on their routine lest they slip back…the irony is they won’t “slip” back…they will actually burst forwards because they are unaware that they are being held back by over stressing their body. Don’t get me wrong…hard work isn’t bad…and sometimes its the persistence factor that gives (lands) us the big win. But the way to burst through sticking points is not to add exercises or volume (sets, reps)…but to add or increase intensity.( bigger weights…higher resistance…less rest between sets) Now since volume and intensity are inversely proportional, it is only logical that to increase intensity you also need to reduce volume. To overcome this block or obstacle requires you to do less…but make what you do even harder.

Another trouble related to this is the myth that as you become more advanced…you need to train more. Nothing could be further from the truth…you actually need to train less (but smarter…with more intensity) The reason for this is because although your strength and size becomes greater over time…your recovery ability does not increase to the same extent…your ability to recover improves only marginally compared to your ability to get stronger. Why does this happen? Think of it this way…when you first started and had, for example 12" arms…

If you did a set to failure of bicep curls, the amount of stress being inflicted on your total body wasn’t that great because 12" arms don’t require that much blood flow and the small muscle cell size isn’t much of a drain on your energy or nervous system. However, when your arms have grown to say 18" and you do a set to failure…the weight will be huge compared to when you were a beginner…and the subsequent drain on the bodies total energy system and the shock effect this has will be immense. Although your strength may have improved by over one hundred percent, your bodies ability to recover won’t have…your arms might be 50% greater in size…but your capacity for recovery won’t have increased by 50%(more like 30% maximum)… and this leads to the condition of overtraining that we are talking about. So as you become more advanced…keep thinking of ways to make your training harder (more intense) but shorter in duration and less in volume.

I remember years ago I was at a sticking point with my own training…and I was getting really frustrated. Nothing seemed to work for me. I thought I was doing everything optimally…eating right…getting plenty of sleep etc…but my weight hadn’t budged for months. I was at 89 kilos and I desperately wanted to break the 90 kilo barrier, but nothing seemed to work…I suppose the 90 kilo barrier to me was like Roger Bannister’s four minute mile…this was my four minute mile…which the final solution was to be a four minute instead of four hour (I’m exaggerating here, but I hope you get my drift) exercise workout!

Time to try something different I thought…what I was doing obviously wasn’t working…so I had nothing to lose. I had read Mike Mentzers Heavy Duty training book, which had just been released. His Arthur Jones based training ideas were quite revolutionary…Incredibly heavy, hard intense workouts that were very brief. So I started experimenting with this style of training. I remember everybody thinking what the hell is he doing…some were even chuckling behind my back…despite the fact that I was by this stage a successful competitive bodybuilder. I remember one exercise session vividly…the first time I did heavy negatives on the dip rack. I got my training partner to help me suspend a 100-pound dumbbell via a chain from my training belt. He would help get me to the top position of the dip by lifting me at the knees, and I would have to lower myself slowly under control to the bottom.

The weight was so heavy I couldn’t even do a single positive rep on my own. I finished my first set of 4 reps, and when I looked up I noticed the whole gym had stopped to watch what I was doing. At first people just dismissed this radical for the time style of training…but when after only 3 weeks I had busted through my sticking point and my weight soared to 92 kilos… people weren’t laughing anymore. I was stoked. I purposely had not weighed myself for three weeks because I was hoping to get a pleasant surprise…I felt and knew this new style of training was working for me based on the mirror and judging by the fact that my strength was rapidly improving (100 pound db was too light for the dip now because I was capable of doing positive reps with it).

I would have been happy to have just hit 90kg…but I overshot it by 2 kilos (4.4 pounds). I was sold on this new style of training…a 3 kg (6.6 lb) gain in only 3 weeks…after months of not putting on an ounce…and with a fraction of the amount of work I had been previously doing. At first everyone wanted to know what I was on! What I was on was an incredibly effective training routine, and soon others started copying and getting similar results. And it wasn’t before too long 90 kilos seemed like a joke as I crashed through the 100 kg barrier(220 pounds) But this never would have been possible for me if I had just followed the masses and continued with my 20 sets per body part training systems.

So my advice to avoid this problem of overtraining is to continually be searching for ways to make your workout harder, not longer. Do less, but achieve more. Bigger weights…less sets…higher intensity…less rest period between sets…less exercises…less training days…more rest days…this will ultimately make your workouts super effective…and more fun!

For parts 2-5 of this five part series?Visit http://ironpower.biz/download.htm and download yourself a FREE copy of "5 Familiar Bodybuilding Troubles?Which Do You Want To Overcome?" E-Book. Part 4 of the eBook reveals a secret stretching technique for unleashing phenomenal muscle growth.

About the author: Richard Hargreaves is a former Mr Australia, and personal trainer with 25 years experience. He has written numerous bodybuilding and fitness books, and articles for magazines such as Australian Ironman, Australian Musclemag, Taekwondo, Blitz martial Arts, Kickboxer, Natural Bodybuilder, Network Fitness, Australian Personal Trainer, Personal Training On The Net, and Women’s Fitness. Visit http://ironpower.biz/download.htm to download Bodybuilding and Fitness eBooks valued at $70, absolutely FREE.

Got milk? New research suggests you should if you want to lose weight. The weight loss study shows that calcium, three or four daily servings of low-fat dairy products, can help adjust your body’s fat-burning machinery.

Low-fat dairy may help reduce body fat
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The key is low-fat dairy sources, says lead author Hang Shi, a postdoctoral student in the Nutrition Institute at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville. “High-fat dietary calcium can establish obesity, but it’s surprising that low-fat calcium may help reduce body fat,” said Shi. “The effect is very significant, much more than we imagined it would be.”

His paper on the effects of a high-calcium diet in increasing body fat loss was presented at the Experimental Biology 2000 meeting in San Diego.

“The magnitude of the findings was shocking,” says Michael Zemel, PhD, director of the Nutrition Institute, who is Shi’s co-author and doctoral supervisor.

The more calcium there is in a fat cell, the more fat it will burn
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In their past studies, Zemel and colleagues have shown that calcium stored in fat cells plays a crucial role in regulating how fat is stored and broken down by the body. It is thought that the more calcium there is in a fat cell, the more fat it will burn.

The researchers used mice bred to be obese in their current study. The mice were fed a special high-fat, high-sugar diet for six weeks. All had a 27% increase in body fat.

Some were then switched to a calorie-restricted diet. Of those, one group was given calcium supplements (calcium carbonate similar to Tums) and others were fed “medium” and “high” amounts of low-fat dry milk.

Body fat storage was markedly reduced by all three high-calcium diets, say the authors.

Mice getting their calcium via supplements had a 42% decrease in body fat
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Those given calcium supplements had good results, when combined with the restricted-calorie diet. Mice getting their calcium via supplements had a 42% decrease in body fat, whereas mice eating without supplements had an 8% body fat loss.

Mice on the “high-dairy” diet lost 69% body fat
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However, calcium from dairy products produced the best results. Mice on the “medium-dairy” diet had a 60% decrease in body fat, while those on the “high-dairy” diet lost 69% body fat. Researchers also found very small increases in thermogenesis, the body’s core temperature, which then enhances the effects of calcium gained through diet rather than calcium in supplement form, says Zemel.

“Calcium is no magic bullet. What the study says is that … higher-calcium diets favor burning rather than storing fat. Calcium changes the efficiency of weight loss,” Zemel tells WebMD.

The human body’s metabolism makes weight loss difficult, he explains. “Many people who stick to a calorie-reduced diet don’t lose weight as fast as they think they should. That’s because they activate metabolic protection … Their bodies sense starvation and hang on to energy, fat, more voraciously.”

Substitute high-fat dairy products with low-fat dairy
——————————————-
Too many dieters tend to immediately “jettison dairy foods from their diet, because they’re just sure they’re going to make them fat. In fact, they are shooting themselves in the foot, because they subject themselves to more empty-calorie sources. They would be better off if they would substitute high-fat dairy products with low-fat dairy,” says Zemel.

Keeping in mind that the mouse study is preliminary, it is very well done and shows promise, Pamela Meyers, PhD, a clinical nutritionist and assistant professor at Kennesaw State University near Atlanta. “But the calcium amounts the study suggests are effectively equal to what the USDA already recommends as a minimum for adults,” she adds.

While nonfat dry milk was used in this study, few people buy that product, says Meyers. “Also, there are people who are lactose intolerant who can’t consume dairy products. That is why we need to look at other food sources of calcium, [such as] … dark leafy vegetables, salmon, mackerel, almonds, and oats. … They also are very high in fiber, which helps in terms of weight management.”

If using calcium supplements, it’s important to choose those with added vitamin D, zinc, and magnesium, which help the body to better absorb calcium, says Meyers.

This study was supported in part by the National Dairy Council.

You may reprint or publish this article free of charge as long as the bylines are included.

Original URL (The Web version of the article)
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Weight-Loss Tip: Add Extra Calcium to a Low-Fat Diet

About The Author
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Michael Lewis has been collecting articles and information on Weight Loss and HGH (Human Growth Hormone and related health benefits. He has created and edits numerous web sites about this subject. Michael is a staff writer for http://www.ageforce.com and several otherwebsites. If you would like to contact Michael you can e-mail him at Michael@AgeForce.com

You may feel 30, but your body keeps reminding you you’re not. You fatigue easily. Your bones and joints hurt more often. The only part of your body that’s thinning is your hair. Aging occurs due to the growth of the tissues and other elements in side the body. With increasing age, physically and mentally healthy adults gradually become less fit and more vulnerable to illness and death. However, these changes happen at different rates in different people.

What if you could reverse some of the physical effects of aging? Looking, feeling, and performing 10, even 15 years younger? What if you could burn fat without dieting or exercising; increase your muscle mass without exercise; improve your sexual stamina and performance; enhance your athletic performance and endurance; have younger, more youthful looking skin; eliminate cellulite deposits; dramatically support refreshing deep sleep; build stronger and healthier bones; improve your cholesterol and triglyceride levels; strengthen your heart while lowering blood pressure; even improve your hair growth and texture; improve mood, memory and concentration abilities; strengthen your overall immune system; and likely add years to your life? Sounds like a bit much? Not to Mark Tyler and scientific researchers alike.

A married father of three children and a partner in a law firm in Arizona, Mark seemed to have it all. “I woke up one day and I looked in the mirror and saw an old man at the ripe old age of 44,” Mark says, “I could not believe how tired and old I looked. I was not so concerned about the vanity wrinkles, but the weight gain and the overall lack of energy I felt. I knew right then and there I needed to find something to turn back the hands of time. That’s when I started getting into anti-aging supplements like natural HGH secretagogue formulas. The results have been amazing.”

What is HGH?

Located in the center of our heads there sits a rather tiny but very powerful gland called the pituitary gland. Human growth hormone (HGH) is one of 7 hormones secreted by the pituitary. Growth hormone, like thyroid hormone, has an effect on almost all our tissues and organs. As the name implies, it enhances the growth of various organs and tissues, especially muscle and bone. Basically, human growth hormone increases protein synthesis. Proteins are the major building block out of which our body is made. Normal secretion of HGH occurs in a daily cycle, like a tide. It varies with exercise, sleep, stress and nutrition.

Everyone naturally secretes HGH in their bodies from the day they are born with levels reaching their peak in the body during adolescence, which then slowly decreases with age. As we get older, HGH continues to slowly decline to the point where the body makes a small fraction of what it did at the age of 20. This deprives the body of what it needs for tissue, bone and muscle regeneration. This depletion of HGH is soon recognized by the familiar signs of aging, such as increased body fat, lack of vitality and energy, decreased muscle mass, wrinkling of the skin, poor immune health and poor general health.

Can Regenatropin? and DHEA Truly Combat Father Time?

A few years ago, an article in the New England Journal of Medicine reported the opinion that the most effective anti-aging remedy for slowing (or reversing) the aging process would be to replenish growth hormones to proper levels. As a result, anti-aging specialists turned to a variety of natural secretagogue hormone replacement therapies. Perhaps the most promising of them all is Regenatropin?. This popular “anti-aging” product combines large doses of growth hormone-releasing amino acids with the latest advances in secretagogue nutrient technology. The clinical research findings on Regenatropin? have been truly astonishing.

Another supplement that has shown great promise is DHEA. There is now strong evidence that DHEA is an "anti-aging" hormone for some people. A recent study in the Journal of the American Medical Association (2004; 292:2243?8) showed that supplementing with DHEA can partially reverse the accumulation of abdominal fat and the insulin resistance that frequently accompanies advancing age. Previous research has supported findings that DHEA can improve bone density, muscle mass, strength, skin texture, libido, and erectile function in older people.

More and more research is being conducted into the process of aging and ways in which the process can be slowed. Through extensive research, scientists continue to find many positive results from HGH replacement therapy and its promising ability to successfully combat the degenerative aging process.

About the Author

David has been a leader in the field of anti-aging medicine and longetivity study for over 20 years. He has just completed his new book tentatively titled “Reset Your Body’s Clock.”

Today’s tip is on hypoglycemia (low blood sugar).

Hypoglycemia affects both non-diabetics as well as diabetics.It has been considered an early sign of adult onset diabetes, although I am not completely convinced that this is always true. If you have ever felt weak at the knees, sweaty and somewhat disoriented about two hours after eating something sweet, you probably have had an episode or two of hypoglycemia. It is a very unpleasant feeling and if your blood sugar gets low enough you can get into serious trouble.

Brief synopsis of the biochemistry.

Most hypoglycemia is a result of eating table sugar (sucrose). Human biochemistry can handle complex carbohydrates very well like the potato and rice. But it does not do so well when the sugar is “refined” / extracted and processed into a molecule like sucrose from sources such as sugar cane. The molecule sucrose is one glucose molecule hooked up to one fructose molecule.

The other way to become hypoglycemic is to be on a low carbohydrate diet. However, these symptoms are usually not the acute hypoglycemia symptoms that one gets from eating simple sugars. They more often manifest as chronic depression from insufficient blood glucose for the brain.

Fructose short-circuits glycolysis.

When the body attempts to digest sucrose the fructose short circuits the glycolytic pathway for the glucose. Glucose is not metabolized as fast as it would be if there was no fructose in the bloodstream. Because of this, the body perceives more glucose than is really present and excretes more insulin than is necessary. Soon all the fructose is metabolized, followed rapidly by the metabolism of the glucose. Then, because of excessive insulin, the blood glucose is lowered more than it should be and you really begin to feel disoriented, clammy and weak at the knees.

What to do on the immediate basis.

Ingestion of some readily absorbable sugar such as found in orange juice, is standard therapy for hypoglycemia. This will raise your blood sugar and you will begin to feel better. Eating more sucrose will also raise your blood sugar but doing so only starts the whole cycle all over again. Best not to get low blood sugar / hypoglycemia in the first place.

What to do to keep from getting hypoglycemia.

The simple answer is to avoid sugar. I know this is easier said than done. When I quit meat and dairy it was easy and I have never missed it. When I quit Pepsi and candy such as Mike and Ikes, it was very difficult. Sugar is extremely addicting. I felt so much better without it however, that it has really been worth it. I don’t miss the extra weight from the sucrose nor the episodes of hypoglycemia. Also, it is much easier to keep my running mileage high since I quit sugar.

One more thing I don’t miss is the ongoing destruction of my vascular system caused by sugar. Adult onset diabete smellitus is a “polite and very confusing” term for “sugar toxicity.”

Today’s Health Tip:

To avoid hypoglycemia stop eating any simple sugars.

Be sure to read the labels of any processed foods carefully. While whole grain brown rice is no problem, refined products like brown rice syrup can cause hypoglycemia.

Reference:

Biochemistry Fourth Edition Lubert Styrer

Shameless Plug

The MericleDiet is the Only 100% Sugar-Free Diet that I havefound. Also, it is the only one to make the transition away from sugar as easy as it can be. To visit the MericleDiet follow the link below:

Copyright 2005 John Mericle M.D. All Rights Reserved

http://www.DrMericle.com is devoted to achieving optimal health and peak performance through diet and lifestyle change. Dr. Mericle brings together a unique blend of formal medical education, 29 marathons, 3 Hawaii Ironman competitions and a lot of practical real life experience.

For the Reflexologist, the feet are a microcosm of the human body and every organ and body part is represented in the feet. Where there are two organs in the body they will be represented on both feet, e.g. lungs and kidney and where there is only one organ, this will be represented on one foot, e.g. the liver will be on the right foot while the heart will be on the left. Where the organ or body part is reflected in the feet, this is called the “organ” reflex, e.g. the heart reflex.

The right foot represents the right side of the body as well as the past while the left foot represents the left side of the body as well as the present and future.

Each foot has over 7,000 nerve endings, 26 bones, 107 ligaments and 19 muscles. This type of drugless therapy creates a physiological change in the body by naturally improving your circulation, which reduces our body tension and enhances relaxation. It aids in the elimination of the body waste and restoring the body functions to better health.

THE PRINCIPLES OF REFLEXOLOGY

By stimulating reflexes on the feet with a type of pressure massage, the organs of the body are stimulated, thus allowing them to start unblocking and healing themselves. In addition to this, the stimulation of these reflexes allows the body to begin detoxing and eliminating poisons which have built up through bad diet, thinking and habit.

Centuries ago, man mapped out a healing energy that circulates through the body on specific pathways. This energy we call “life force” or “vital energy”. This force can be “tapped” at more than 800 points in your body.

Ancient medical philosophy teaches that to obtain and maintain health, which is the balance and maintenance of harmony within the body, there must be a free and unimpeded circulation of energy flowing through the body’s organs.

Traditional medicine, not only of the Chinese, but from the use of Acupuncture in other countries as well, we learn that traditional medicine is based on the belief that the body’s blood circulation follows the flow of energy. If this energy circulation, which follows circulates freely in an endless cycle from the main organs through the channels beneath the skin, is blocked at some point, then the circulation is impaired.

This blockage results in a deficient oxygenation of the tissues around the affected area and throws the body off balance. This imbalance produces malfunctioning not only of the tissues surrounding it, but, if not corrected, spreads to related organs nearby.

Tapping this healing current can bring prompt and natural relief from practically all of your aches and pains, chronic or acute, by the simple process of working the ‘reflex buttons’ located in your hands, feet and/or body.

Stimulating, pressing or ‘working’ a reflex point (or button) connected to a particular body organ, system or part sends a surge of healing energy for prompt relief of a condition. Working a reflex also loosens and flushes out crystals and blockages within the body’s energy channels allowing the life force or vital energy to resume its free and natural flow through the channels. This encourages the body to swing back into its normal balance, so harmony and health are again established.

This method of restoring the body to normal functioning involves no expense, no special equipment (although reflex tools can be utilized and do help save wear and tear on your finger and thumb joints!), no drugs or medication. The results are amazingly fast, bringing relief often in a matter of seconds.

Reflexology, which helps a wide range of situations, not only cures specific ailments but can be used to keep you in good health and help build resistance to attacks of disease. In addition, this method often detects health problems before they become serious by you recognizing a sore or tender reflex.

Reflexology is a simple technique that can be applied at any time and practically anywhere. It is Nature’s ‘push button’ secret for dynamic living, abundant physical energy, vibrant health, better living without pain, retaining youthful vigor and enjoying life to the fullest.

STRESS AND REFLEXOLOGY

The benefits of Reflexology and Stress can be explained physiologically. Tension can be equated with stress. There are as many definitions of stress as there are authors of books on stress. Today everyone suffers from stress but no one knows what stress is. It could be stated that stress is the difference between a persons perceived ability to deal with the stressor and the reality of the environmental demand.

This definition allows for varying degrees of stress to be felt by different people in the same situation. Irrespective of what the stressor is, the stress reaction is always the same.

Seyle, 1956, termed the reaction to stress as the fight or flight syndrome. What this means is that when we are faced with a stressful situation, we either fight it or run away. The body releases hormones into the system that allow us to physiologically cope with this. For example, you have all heard of mothers who have had the strength to lift up a car to rescue their children. This ability comes from the rush of stress hormones, e.g. adrenaline into the bloodstream.

We also perspire profusely, (to slip out of a grasp), blood pressure increases as the blood leaves the extremities (so you do not bleed badly when cut), proteins and fats convert to glucose (to give you energy) etc. Once the stress situation is over the stress hormones come back to normal levels.

Today however, it would be socially unacceptable to hit your boss if he was stressing you or to run away from home if your kids or spouse were stressing you. This means that the stress hormones are continually being secreted and do not come back to a normal level. While these stress hormones play a vital role when faced with a stressor, they have a detrimental effect on the individual if they do not come back to normal levels. Prolonged secretion and circulation of these stress hormones causes damage to the body.

The white blood cells (infection fighters) become depleted, neurotransmitters controlling mood are depleted and T-cells in the lymphatic system are broken down. Examples of the effects of this are not hard to find. Just look at how many people who have been under stress become sick. How many people do you know who have lost a “significant other” through death or divorce or who became ill or contracted cancer?

Reflexology, by inducing relaxation, reduces the stress hormones so that the body is able to produce T-cells, white cells and neurotransmitters so as to start healing itself.

For more information on Reflexology, including tools, products and free charts, please click here!

Dee is a Certified Aromatherapist, Certified Reflexologist, and Reiki Master. Her site is AkobiAromas.com - a source of quality aromatherapy, herbal and reflexology information and products.

How many meals do you eat in one day?

Close study of weight loss throughout the past decades has proven to us that eating a small number of large meals daily will lower your metabolism. This diet pattern results in extra weight in fat. However, this fat seems to be easily burnable, so there is hope!

Make it your goal to eat at least three medium-sized meals throughout the day.

Do not eat much late at night, though, as sleep slows your metabolism down. If you must have a midnight snack, make it small and balanced between protein and carbohydrate.

One of the most effective and healthy balance systems so far seems to be the Zone Diet’s 40-30-30 plan.

Even with only moderate exercise, people are losing weight when following this method of balance. Normal, fattening diets usually include a great deal of carbohydrates, along with heightened amounts of fat (especially saturated fat). Balancing your intake of protein, carbohydrate, and fat increases your body’s food-processing efficiency so that far fewer extra calories are stored.

The result of balancing food intake is a heightened energy level, along with a huge drop in cravings for the very foods that fatten you.

Add moderate cardiovascular exercise to this plan and you have a recipe for weight loss success AND long term health.

Copyright (C) Shoppe.MD and Ian Mason, 2004-2005

Learn more about health, diet and exercise at our weight loss forum.

PhenForum.com is a popular discussion forum for weight loss programs, diet advice, and tips to help you burn fat.

All the best,

Ian Mason

“Physical Fitness”

Some physical activities (exercise) are not intense enough to help you meet the FDA recommendations for being physically fit. Although you are moving, these activities do not increase your heart rate, so you should not count these towards the 30 or more minutes a day that you should strive for.

The FDA recommends light physical activities (exercise) last 60 minutes per day for weight loss and maintenance. These include walking at a casual pace, such as while grocery shopping, and doing light household chores. Light physical activities (exercise) do little or nothing to strengthen or build muscles. This can actually result in a loss of muscle in your weight loss program.

The FDA recommends moderate physical activities (exercise) 30 to 60 minutes per day, or vigorous physical activities (exercise) 20 to 30 minutes per day for weight loss and maintenance, as well as physical fitness. You should engage in physical activities (exercise) at least 3 days per week, but 5 to 6 days per week is recommended.

We should also include some weight training in our exercise schedule. Muscle burns more calories than fat. Increase your metabolic rate by increasing muscle fitness.

Weight training also increases bone density, so as we get older, we do not become more susceptible to broken bones. Weight training can stop or even reverse many of the effects of aging. Being fit makes you look and feel younger.

Physical activity (exercise) simply means movement of the body that uses energy. Walking, gardening, briskly pushing a baby stroller, climbing the stairs, playing soccer, or dancing the night away are all good examples of exercise. For health benefits, physical activity should be moderate or vigorous and add up to at least 30 minutes of exercise a day.

Moderate physical activities (exercise) include:

Walking briskly (about 3 ½ miles per hour)
Hiking
Gardening/yard work
Dancing
Golf (walking and carrying clubs)
Bicycling (less than 10 miles per hour)
Weight training (general light workout)

Vigorous physical activities (exercise) include:
Running/jogging (5 miles per hour)
Bicycling (more than 10 miles per hour)
Swimming (freestyle laps)
Aerobics
Walking very fast (4 ½ miles per hour)
Heavy yard work, such as chopping wood
Weight lifting (vigorous effort)
Basketball (competitive)

Always consult your doctor before beginning any exercise program.

Don Stuart is writing articles on his website about adopting a slender lifestyle to lose weight and become physically fit. Change your lifestyle to lose weight, be slender, sexy, and more popular

This is the second article in the series, Weight Loss Product Warnings. How to Spot Fat Burning Diets teaches you how to analyze a diet’s fat burning potential. The ultimate goal is for you to trust your own judgement and not rely on the words of a face less affiliate website promoting the latest and greatest fat burner.

Why is this important? Because burning fat is the only way to healthy weight loss. Marketers of weight loss products know about burning fat and, as a result, have flooded the net with fat burning advertisements. It is my goal to teach the five easy steps used to analyze a diet’s fat burning potential.

Fat Burning Diets…The 5 Step Analysis

1) Check the Rate of Losing Weight

How fast do dieters on this specific diet lose weight? The rate of losing weight should not exceed a maximum of 2 pounds per week. The classic fast weight loss ad is similar to, “Lose X pounds in Y time.” Calculate the amount of weight loss per week, given the information in the ad.

Here’s an example (a real ad placed in 2003)…

“Lose 10 Pounds and 4 Inches in 10 days!”

At one pound per day, the week’s weight loss is 7 pounds. This is way over the 2 pounds per week maximum and simply is not healthy.

2) Check the Reduction in Total Calories

A diet plan that reduces total calories by more than 500 calories per day is promoting unhealthy weight loss. Did you know that cutting out only 250-500 calories, without doing anything else, will lead to a pound per week of weight loss? That’s it. No fancy nutritional calendar, no weight loss pills, not even a highly guarded secret is needed. Just drop 250-500 calories from your diet and you will lose fat.

To analyze a diet program for calorie restrictions, look for any statements referring to the total calories you would eat on a typical day. To find this information, you might have to dig a little deeper and research several websites. But you’ll find it.

If the diet calls for a reduction greater than 500 calories, it’s not healthy weight loss.

3) The Diet’s Exercise Plan

Does the diet have an exercise plan? Yes, good. As long as it’s not a rapid weight loss diet or promoting extreme calorie restrictions, healthy weight loss is a good bet.

I can not stress enough the importance of a resistance training program as part of your exercise plan. Think muscle. Follow these three simple “muscle” rules when trying to lose weight…

• Don’t lose it
• Tone it
• Build it

I only make two guarantees to my dieting patients. One of them you’ll hear about soon, the other is this…follow the three simple rules for muscle, and I guarantee you’ll lose weight and keep it off! The truth is never a secret.

4) Analyze the Amount of Fat Intake

To lose fat you need to eat fat. But it needs to be the right kind of fat. When analyzing a diet for the types of fat you can eat, look to see if they list healthy fats. For a listing of healthy and harmful fats, check out How to pick a diet and make note of the good fats.

5) The Amount of Protein Intake

An adequate amount of protein must be included with any diet plan. How much protein? Depends. Make sure the diet you’re analyzing has at least the normal daily requirement of 1 gram of protein per kilogram of weight per day but no more than 1.5 grams per kilogram per day (up to 2 grams/kg if body building).

Summary of Each Analysis

Try analyzing a diet you’re familiar with and see what you conclude. The take home message…healthy weight loss is losing fat and fat only!

To Healthy Living!
Michael A. Smith, MD
Weight Loss Professional

Dr. Smith is the primary physician and consultant for the Weight Loss Professional Website. His interests include preventative medicine, the genetic etiology of obesity, and several others too numerous to list.

Please visit his Website at http://www.weight-loss-professional.com and let him know what you think.

Spring cleaning goes beyond normal everyday cleaning. It’s a major project of home revitalization: to make everything new by removing dust and dirt, to make sure everything is in good repair, and to put things in order, so that you will have everything in your household in working condition for the coming year.

Here are some tasks that are traditionally included in a major spring cleaning:

* Put away winter clothes and take out spring and summer clothing.

* Sweep and vacuum floors, walls, and corners.

* Wash floors and carpets?

* Clean window panes, sills, and frames. Replace thick winter curtains that keep heat in with light summer curtains that allow breezes through. Remove storm windows, hang up screens.

* Brush or vacuum stuffed furniture and remove spots.

* Wash every surface in every room that has accumulated dust or grime.

I like to finish a spring cleaning by bringing in loads of spring flowers and placing them in vases in every room.

USE NONTOXIC & NATURAL CLEANERS

With so much cleaning going on, I always make sure to use cleaning products that are simple, safe, and eco-friendly.

When choosing a cleaning product for a specific job, I use the least-toxic, most-effective product, in the smallest effective amount.

Cleaning products are the only household products regulated by the Consumer Product Safety Commission under the 1960 Federal Hazardous Substances Labeling Act, which requires products that contain hazardous chemicals to carry warning labels. In general, it is best to avoid using products that say “Danger,” “Poison,” or “Warning,” on the label. Many safer products carry the “Caution” label, even though they are acceptable to use. Fortunately, the least toxic products voluntarily disclose their complete ingredients on the label, so you can determine for yourself the safety of the product. There are even cleaning products now made with organically-grown ingredients.

Nontoxic cleaning actually requires very few specialized ingredients. I do all of my cleaning with a squirt bottle of fifty-fifty distilled white vinegar and water, liquid soap, and baking soda. For laundry I use a natural soap powder and chlorine-free oxygen bleach. Other substances I have on hand for occasional cleaning needs are salt, lemon juice, borax, and chlorine-free Bon Ami scouring powder.

SIMPLIFY YOUR CLEANING

While scrubbing away at your spring cleaning, there are two things you can resolve to do in the coming year that will make cleaning easier. These will also reduce the amount of cleaning products you use, saving resources and money. But the most important thing to me is that they save time and reduce the amount of cleaning needed.

First, I incorporate preventive maintenance. I put a cookie sheet on the rack under a casserole that is likely to spill over, for example, which pre-empts the need to scour baked on food from the oven. If the casserole spills, the cookie sheet can be effortlessly soaked clean in a few inches of water in the kitchen sink.

I also keep in mind the adage “A stitch in time saves nine,” which means if you take that first stitch to fix the tear before it gets bigger, you’ll save having to make nine stitches later. In cleaning, this translates to wiping up the spill when it happens, cleaning surfaces before they are caked with dust and grease, just cleaning as you go while there’s not much to clean. It’s only when we don’t clean that we may need harsh chemicals to tackle what would have been an easy job earlier.

“Clean your room well,” say the Shakers, “for good spirits will not live where there is dirt.”

Find nontoxic, natural and earthwise cleaning products at http://www.debraslist.com/cleaning.

Hailed as “The Queen of Green” by the New York Times, Debra Lynn Dadd has been a consumer advocate for products and lifestyle choices that are better for health and the environment since 1982. Visit her website for 100s of links to 1000s of nontoxic, natural and earthwise products, and to sign up for her free email newsletters. http://www.dld123.com