Archive for March, 2006
Yoga’s not only good for achieving balance, fostering calm, and making you flexible enough to put your leg behind your head, but “it can also build core strength,” says Teresa Kennedy, hatha yoga instructor and founder of Harlem’s Ta Yoga House. “And targeting those abdominal and back muscles can ease lower-back pain.” Do this series of asanas (the Sanskrit word for yoga postures), modeled by Kennedy, three times a week. In as many months you should have a tighter stomach and a more limber back.
The Cobra
Relieves minor backache and tones abs
Step 1: Lie on your stomach with legs and feet together. Plant palms on the floor beneath shoulders with fingers facing forward.
Step 2: Raise upper body by slowly lifting the head and chest, making sure to keep shoulders down. (Pelvis and thighs shouldn’t leave the yoga mat.)
3. Hold pose for 20 to 30 seconds as you take even breaths through your nose. Return to your starting position and repeat once.
Chair Pose
Strengthens abs
Step 1: Stand with legs hip width apart, holding arms straight ahead with palms facing downward.
Step 2: Bend knees and squat as if you’re about to sit in a chair. Be sure to center weight in your heels, and don’t bring hips lower than the knees.
Step 3: Reach forward, and focus eyes straight ahead while inhaling and exhaling through the nose. Hold for 20 seconds. Slowly return to standing position, then release arms.
Wind-Relieving Pose
Stretches spine and aids digestion (which explains the embarrassing name)
Step 1: Lie on your back. As you inhale, pull right knee to your chest. Keep left leg straight and on the floor.
Step 2: Press shoulders and the back of neck into the floor while tightly holding knee. Breathe for ten seconds.
Step 3: Switch sides, holding left knee to chest for ten seconds. Complete set by hugging both knees to chest and holding for ten seconds. Repeat set.
Upward Boat Pose
Strengthens abs, improves balance, and aids digestion
Step 1: Sit on the floor. Bend knees and plant feet on the floor.
Step 2: Inhale, lean back and lift heels off the floor, straightening your legs as much as possible. Extend arms with palms facing down. If this is too difficult at first, you can place your hands under your knees for support.
Step 3: As you hold the pose for 30 seconds, keep your back straight, and make sure your abs are doing the work.
Bow Pose
Strengthens spine and increases lung capacity
Step 1: Lie facedown with forehead on the floor. Part legs, bend knees, then take hold of ankles.
Step 2: Lift upper body and thighs by raising your head toward the ceiling and pressing ankles back against your hands.
Step 3: Balance on your stomach; the goal is to hold the pose without rocking. After 20 seconds, ease into starting position.
COPYRIGHT 2005 Essence Communications, Inc.
COPYRIGHT 2005 Gale Group
March 22nd, 2006
Pure ethyl alcohol has seven calories per gram (see the Alcohol Calories Factbox). Alcohol is therefore almost as high in calories as pure fat, so it will tend to slow down weight loss. Pure alcohol provides no other nutrients. This means that alcohol does not help you lose weight on a diet. But you can still drink alcohol (in moderation) while on a diet if you know what you are doing..
Alcohol Calories Factbox:
Pure alcohol has 7 Calories per gram. This compares to:
* Pure fat - 9 Calories per gram
* Pure protein - 4 Calories per gram (average) and
* Pure carbohydrate - 4 Calories per gram (average)
Most light beers have about 100 calories per 12 ounces.
Most regular beer has between 120 -150 calories (average) per 12 ounces.
Most table wine has about 100 calories per 5 ounce glass.
One ounce of typical distilled alcoholic beverages — gin, rum, vodka, whiskey — (mixers add calories) have :
100 proof:
82 Calories and
11.8 grams alcohol and
16 grams water
80 proof
64 Calories and
9.3 grams alcohol and
18.5 grams water
Source: USDA Nutrient Database
Dieters, of course, have plenty of calories stored in their fat cells — so they don’t need to get more calories from food or alcohol.
However, in order to avoid triggering hunger, dieters do still need to get all of the other nutrients that come from food; and they need to get these nutrients in normal amounts. This can be difficult to do when they are not eating much food in order to try to lose weight.
Can you drink alcoholic beverages and still lose weight when you are on a diet?
The answer is yes — but there is a technique involved.
First, make sure you are on a diet that provides at least normal (DRI) amounts of all needed nutrients. Normal amounts of nutrients are necessary to prevent hunger. Most popular weight loss diets are not very good at this. (Here is why normal amounts of nutrient are necessary and why most diets fail.)
Second, make sure that your diet does NOT give you enough calories to maintain your current weight.
(Effective diets must do both of the above or they cannot be effective for long.)
How does this technique make drinking alcoholic beverages possible?
A properly designed weight loss diet, using ordinary supermarket foods and supplements, will be able to provide all necessary nutrients in the right amounts to prevent hunger — and at the same time it will provide only about 1200 calories.
Almost anyone will lose weight steadily if they eat less than 1500 calories per day. That leaves up to about 300 calories that you can use for wine, beer, or mixed drinks without destroying your diet.
Obviously, any alcohol calories are unnecessary and will slow your rate of weight loss. But sometimes this can be an acceptable trade-off.
March 19th, 2006
Protein is an essential nutrient necessary for maintaining good health. In its basic form protein consists of amino acid chains. Of the 22 amino acids that are capable of creating protein, 8 of these can only be obtained through a protein diet. Because these amino acids are utilized by the body a low protein diet can affect a host of very important functions. The building of our skin, hair, nails and internals organs all depend on amino acids and are maintained trough a protein diet.
Muscle tissue as well as new tissue growth need protein for their activities and can receive adequate levels with a protein diet. Protein intake from a high protein diet helps to transport nutrients and oxygen to our cells. The valuable protein diet aids and maintains antibody production.
The protein sources available to us for inclusion in a high protein diet include animal and plant based proteins. Animal proteins are found in meat, fish, cheese eggs and milk. Plant protein sources include soy, spirulina and organic whey protein diet products. While it is certainly important that we include a balanced intake of protein in our diet, many people eat too much animal based protein.
This type of high protein diet could have adverse health effects, which appear as disease and obesity. Many individuals who follow an excessively high animal based protein diet are overweight and often unhealthy. People on an animal based high protein diet often have elevated bad cholesterol levels.
Heart disease, strokes and osteoporosis are often the result of an excessive animal based high protein diet. It is therefore important that a well-balanced protein diet is maintained. By replacing part or all of our animal protein diet with plant proteins we can be assured that our body requirements are being met. A plant protein diet can help us to avoid the health problems associated with an excessive animal protein diet.
Replacing saturated fats with unsaturated fats when on a plant protein diet can improve health tremendously. This plant protein diet can also aid with weight control. A plant protein diet does away with the saturated fat accumulation thus limiting unwanted weight gain. Regular exercise combined with a high protein diet including plant proteins will be beneficial to individuals wanting a healthier lifestyle.
Plant proteins have many benefits of their own when included in the high protein diet. These protein diet improvements include the ability to raise good cholesterol levels while reducing bad cholesterol. This important protein diet function aids in preventing the arterial plaque build up, which could cause artery hardening and blockages.
Protein from plant sources like soy and spirulina, when included in a protein diet, are able to reduce the risk of strokes, heart attacks and heart disease. A vegetable high protein diet improves the ability to retain calcium in the body.
Because less calcium is excreted in the urine while on a plant protein diet, problems such as kidney stones are lessened. Therefore it is important to consider exactly which type of high protein diet you are currently following. Due to the high levels of saturated fats and additives found in red meat
, a plant protein diet is superior to an animal protein diet and is the healthier alternative.
By Hamoon Arbabi.
March 18th, 2006
Monounsaturated fats are considered to be the healthiest type of fat you can eat. They are found in nuts, olives, peanuts, avocados, and olive and canola oils. Similar to Omega-3 fatty acids, monounsaturated fats aid in reducing cholesterol levels and reduce the risk of heart disease.
However, recent studies have also linked monounsaturated fats to increased weight loss. Specifically, one study has shown that the body burns more fat in 4 hours following a meal high in monos than after a meal rich in saturated fats. Also, Monounsaturates, like the fat found in olives and olive oil, can help lower (bad) LDL-cholesterol while maintaining or raising the (good) HDL-cholesterol.
Good sources of monounsaturated fats:
- Olive oil (73 per cent)
- rapeseed oil (60 per cent)
- hazelnuts (50 per cent)
- almonds (35 per cent)
- Brazil nuts (26 per cent)
- cashews (28 per cent)
- avocado (12 per cent)
- sesame seeds (20 per cent)
- pumpkin seeds (16 per cent)
March 16th, 2006
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