Health tip # 44

 Don’t eat carbohydrates for at least an hour after exercise. This will force your body to break down body fat, rather than using the food you ingest. Stick to fruit and fluids during that hour, but avoid beer. 

Tummy Exercise Myths

Our bodies are genetically conditioned on how we lose or gain weight. Interestingly enough, the first place where we gain weight is the last place where we lose it. We cannot reduce only the part we do not like. Once we lose fat from our body, we lose inches everywhere even where we do not want to lose.

The problem with tummy muscles is that we do not generally exercise this muscle in daily life. It is not greatly challenged from climbing stairs, bending, stretching or walking. We, therefore, have to make a special effort to encourage it to come back into line. The movements have to be small and controlled and depend on the effort put in by the exerciser to get really good results. Secondly during pregnancy, as the baby grows inside the muscle (transverse) is pushed forward. A huge amount of stretching is going on and tends to leave the muscle loose and hanging forward after the birth. It is essentially the lack of strength left in this muscle which allows the tummy to sit in that rather round forward position Mothers would recognise from after birth.

In all cases it is the lack of exercise for this muscle which causes it to become loose and give the ‘pot bellied’ appearance.

Myth No: 1 
By doing some midsection exercises one can reduce "love handles".

Fact 
You cannot reduce fat from a certain targeted area of your body just by using exercise alone. And the abdominal area is no exception. So if you want to get a flat stomach and to reveal your abs, losing the fat covering them is the way to go. And the only way to do this is to lose fat proportionately from your entire body by burning more calories than you consume.

Myth No: 2 
You have to do tons of crunches. 

Fact 
Overuse of crunches will only shorten your abs, pull your head forward and gives you a bad posture. To reduce fat in your bodies, you need to do cardioexercise and eat nutritious foods in reasonable amounts. In simple language "burn more calories than you consume." The cardio helps to burn that stored fat and the lower calorie diet forces the body to use the accumulated fat for energy. In addition, the crunches and a total body workout (with weight training) helps the body to increase muscle mass. Muscles burn fat; fat does not burn itself so, the more muscle we have, the more fat our body uses for energy, so we lose weigh faster. If you only do crunches, you will develop your abdominal muscles and strengthen them. This will reflect in better posture and less back problems, but you will not be able to see your abdominal muscles because they will be covered with fat.

Myth No: 3
Exercise is more important that nutrition

Fact
Diet is one of the key factors when trying to get a flat tummy. Plan your nutrition in advance, to avoid dietary downfalls. Focus on protein, green vegetables, fiber-rich fruits, and zero calorie drinks such as Green Tea and water. Avoid all sugar.

Myth No: 4
you must do train your tummy every day

Fact
You don't need to do direct tummy training every day. Instead, train them twice per week and use non-conventional exercises such as Mountain Climbers and Stability Ball Jackknives to reduce the stress on your low back. Avoid the overuse of crunches and sit-ups in your training program. Instead, beginners, should focus on abdominal endurance with planks and side planks, and work up to more advanced exercises, but still avoid doing hundreds of crunches lying on your back.

Health tip # 40


If you're diabetic and preparing to head out for the holidays, take care to carefully pack your medications and supplies.

Consumed – Hunger is the Best Seasoning

You were born knowing exactly how much to eat. Hunger is your body’s way of telling you that you need fuel. By reconnecting with your instinctive signals, you can reach and maintain a healthier weight without restrictive dieting and obsessing over every bite of food you put in your mouth.

Perhaps you’ve ignored hunger for so long that you’ve forgotten how to recognize it. Maybe you even blame hunger for your weight problem and see it as the enemy. Perhaps you confuse hunger with all the other reasons you eat, like mealtime, boredom, stress or tasty food.

At the same time, you may have learned to ignore the feeling of satisfaction so you eat until you’re stuffed and very uncomfortable. Perhaps you “clean your plate,” “never waste food,” and “eat all your dinner if you want dessert,” instead of stopping when you’ve had enough. And you’ll perpetuate this cycle if you teach your children the same things.

Hunger is your instinctive guide to effortless (well almost) weight management

Reconnecting with your hunger signals helps you reach a healthier weight. Here’s how:
• You’ll eat less food when you’re eating to satisfy physical hunger than if you eat to satisfy other needs. Think about it. If you aren’t hungry when you start eating, how do you know when to stop? When the food is gone of course!

• You’re more likely to choose foods that nourish you. If you aren’t hungry but you’re eating because you are sad, mad or glad, what kinds of foods do you want? That’s when you’re more likely to want chocolate, cookies, chips, or other snacks and comfort foods.

• Food actually tastes better when you’re physically hungry. Hunger really is the best seasoning—so you eat less but enjoy it more.

• You’ll feel more satisfied because food is great for reducing hunger but not so great for reducing boredom, stress or other triggers.

• You’ll notice you’re hungry before you get too hungry and decreases overeating!

Trust Your Gut Instincts

To break out of the pattern of eating on autopilot, get in the habit of asking yourself, “Am I hungry?” every time you feel like eating. This simple but powerful question will help you recognize the difference between an urge to eat caused by the physical need for food from an urge to eat caused by head hunger.

Look for symptoms like hunger pangs, gnawing, growling, emptiness, low energy, shakiness, or headache. Notice that hunger is physical. It’s not a craving, a thought or a temptation. By focusing on hunger as your guide, you can become your own internal expert about when, what and how much to eat.

Food for Thought

• What specific signs of hunger do you usually have?

• What other thoughts and feelings do you confuse with hunger at times?

• What else could you do besides eat when you feel like eating even though you’re not hungry?

Health tip # 38


Shin splints are a common overuse injury that causes pain and soreness in the large bone in the lower leg.

Health tip # 37


Relax For 20 Minutes a Day - Relaxing for at least 20 minutes a day will go a long way to reduce blood pressure and your reactions to stress

Health tip # 36

Quit smoking, manage stress, eat a healthy diet, avoid illegal drug use and limit alcohol use to reduce the risk of fertility problems. 

Health tip # 34


A vegetarian diet can purify your mind and body. Do you know that, when you eat meat, it remains in your intestine and colon for a longer time than a plant-based diet?

Health tip # 33


Eat More Protein - Protein stimulates the major brain chemical dopamine which keeps us alert, try chicken or tuna salads for lunch.

Health tip # 32

Every1 would hav toned body,if fitness came in a bottle but it doesnt come.Still u can SWEAT IT OUT & have a great body

Four Missing Moves that every woman should be doing for a better workout.

If you’ve been pumping iron at the gym with little to no results, it may because you are omitting some very important moves from your workout. I don’t mean dance moves, although dancing is a great form of cardio exercise, I mean THESE moves:

1. High-intensity Training: Coasting along, singing a song on the elliptical trainer isn’t going to melt the pounds away as quickly as high-intensity training. Also called, HIIT, High intensity training is typically 10 to 20 minutes of short, high-impact workouts. This is one of the best ways to burn fat and improve your overall fitness.

2. Heavier Lifting: It’s better to do 8 reps per set with a 15lb dumbbell, instead of 15 reps with an 8 pound one. Lifting heavier quantities will not only increase your strength, it will create better muscle tone, and who doesn’t want that!

3. Upper Body Focus: You can’t spot-reduce fat by JUST focusing on the areas where fat is store, which for a woman is thighs, hips and waist. By working on your upper body, not only are you converting stored fat into muscle, but you are also building strength, which is very important for women to have mainly for good posture.

4. Train with a barbell: Again, this improves posture and can also lend a hand in toning up the lower parts of your body as well.

Overall it’s important to work out the entire body -and to switch up your routine as much as possible. This way you optimize your workout time and make it count towards your fitness goals.

Health tip # 31


You can live 3 weeks without food, However you can only live for three days without fluid, one could suggest that water is fairly important.

Health tip # 30


Strength training should begin with largest muscle groups (legs,back,hips,chest) and then proceed to smaller groups (shoulders,arms,neck).

Health tip # 26

Almost as Fast as a Speeding Bullet. It takes only about 23 seconds for blood to circulate throughout your entire body. 

Health tip # 24


Exercise as a Drug. Aerobic exercise is one of the best preventative medicines available and one of the cheapest.

Health tip # 23


When u stand up,if u didn't have valves in ur veins,all the blood in your body would literally fall downward, filling up your legs and feet.

Why is Exercise Important?

Have you ever heard the expression "use it or lose it"? It's true! If you don't use your body, you will surely lose it. Your muscles will become flabby and weak. Your heart and lungs won't function efficiently. And your joints will be stiff and easily injured. Inactivity is as much of a health risk as smoking!

Helps Prevent Diseases 
Our bodies were meant to move -- they actually crave exercise. Regular exercise is necessary for physical fitness and good health. It reduces the risk of heart disease, cancer, high blood pressure, diabetes and other diseases. It can improve your appearance and delay the aging process.

Improves Stamina 
When you exercise, your body uses energy to keep going. Aerobic exercise involves continuous and rhythmic physical motion, such as walking and bicycling. It improves your stamina by training your body to become more efficient and use less energy for the same amount of work. As your conditioning level improves, your heart rate and breathing rate return to resting levels much sooner from strenuous activity.

Strengthens and Tones 
Exercising with weights and other forms of resistance training develops your muscles, bones and ligaments for increased strength and endurance. Your posture can be improved, and your muscles become more firm and toned. You not only feel better, but you look better, too!

Enhances Flexibility 
Stretching exercises are also important for good posture. They keep your body limber so that you can bend, reach and twist. Improving your flexibility through exercise reduces the chance of injury and improves balance and coordination. If you have stiff, tense areas, such as the upper back or neck, performing specific stretches can help "loosen" those muscles, helping you feel more relaxed.

Controls Weight 
Exercise is also a key to weight control because it burns calories. If you burn off more calories than you take in, you lose weight. It's as simple as that.

Improves Quality of Life 
Once you begin to exercise regularly, you will discover many more reasons why exercise is so important to improving the quality of your life. Exercise reduces stress, lifts moods, and helps you sleep better. It can keep you looking and feeling younger throughout your entire life.

How Often Should I Exercise?

The benefits of any exercise program will diminish if it's disrupted too frequently. A "stop-start" routine is not only ineffective, but can cause injuries. Being consistent with exercise, therefore, is probably the most important factor in achieving desired results.

People often assume that more is better. Wrong! Doing too much too soon or performing intense exercises on a daily basis will have deleterious effects, such as muscle/tendon strains, loss of lean tissue, and fitness-level plateaus.

If you are a beginner, start off slower than you think you should. Three days per week is realistic, safe and effective. If you are experienced, do cardiovascular (aerobic) exercises such as walking, jogging and bicycling for no more than 200 minutes per week with no more than 60 minutes per session.

Weight training should be done no more than three times per week targeting the same muscle groups. Exercise the same muscle groups on non-consecutive days because muscles need adequate time to recover and cannot be effectively trained if they are tired or sore.

Many people forget to stretch or make the excuse that they don't have the time. Flexibility is important, so make the time! Stretching can be done every day, but stick to a minimum of three times per week in order to reap the benefits. When the body is warmed up, such as after a workout session, perform five to 10 stretches that target the major muscle groups. Hold each stretch for 10-30 seconds.

Health tip # 20


Brown rice is much healthier to eat than white rice that’s because brown rice undergoes far less processing than the white variety. With brown rice, only the outer hull is removed, preserving many of the nutrients and fiber. Cooked with vegetables, this healthy rice dish will satisfy your appetite and can be enjoyed for lunch, snack of dinner.

10 Steps To Help You Avoid Losing The Thrill


What's your excuse for not making it to the gym on a consistent basis? Locker room too smelly? Music volume making your ears bleed? Feeling intimidated by buff bodies crowding the free-weight area?

Most people start off strong with an exercise program, and then within a few weeks they've got an excuse for not being there.

The majority of people will stop participating in a new workout program within the first 90 days which is why health clubs that are packed in January can seem virtually empty by March.

Which brings us to you.

If you're starting a new exercise program, you're probably very excited about it, which is great. But that excitement is going to wear off, at which point you'll begin to notice how much time and effort a workout plan really requires.

And that's the point where you may be tempted to start pulling back, or even to quit entirely. But we're not about to let that happen. Follow these steps from the very beginning, and you'll be one of those dedicated gym members who really get their money's worth.\

1. Make workouts a key part of your schedule. Many people see exercise merely as recreation, not a necessity, which means it's the first thing to go when daily schedules get crunched. YOU NEED TO DECIDE that working out is as important as ANYTHING in your life, even as important as LIFE ITSELF.

If you don't, as soon as the initial excitement of a new program is over, everything else will get in the way; business appointments, family obligations, TV, sitting on your duff. Write your workout times into your calendar and stick to them just as you would a vital business meeting.

2. Keep it mellow. You're a lot more likely to keep your program for the long term if you avoid letting going to the gym become a hassle. Choose a gym you can get to in a reasonable amount of time at the time of day you're going to train.

If you're fighting gym traffic, you'll be a lot less motivated. Find a place where you won't have to line up to use the equipment you want. And unless you'll be going at the end of the day and can wash up at home, make sure it has clean showers and a comfortable changing environment.

3. Don't bite off more than you can chew. Many people often start out too aggressively, going to a level that's higher than they're capable of. As a result, they injure their muscle fibers, so for 48 hours they're walking around like a mummy. Then they stop going to the gym because they find themselves dreading the pain.

Many people don't realize that long, drawn out workouts is NOT better. You're not giving your body enough time to recover between workouts. 60 minutes TOPS (if you're doing a strength and aerobic workout), or about 30 minutes of a strength OR aerobic workout. Make those minutes COUNT! You can still workout daily as long as you keep your workouts short.

4. Set achievable goals. It's inevitable that as you start a new program, you picture yourself looking like the models on TV or in the magazines. But if you set your sights too high, you may find yourself discounting the gains you are making. When you're starting out, go over your long-term goals with a trainer or coach, and decide what you can achieve based on your workout schedule.

Then, instead of looking far into the future, give yourself intermediate weekly and monthly goals, such as doing an extra rep or lifting 10 more pounds. If you always have new goals to shoot for, it stays interesting.

REMEMBER: You're not exercising to lose weight. You're exercising because of HOW YOU'LL FEEL as a RESULT of exercising regularly. You WILL get leaner, you WILL have more energy, you WILL have a higher self-esteem. If you don't achieve the goals in the time you first set, it's not the goal that's wrong. It's the time frame that was wrong. Keep focused on your goals.

5. Chart your progress. Gains from one workout to the next can be subtle, and the only way to know how well you're really doing is to write everything down. Keep a journal of your workouts, as well as what you eat. Even people who are diligent don't remember exactly how well things went if they keep everything in their head.

When you write it down, you can compare results, see what is and isn't working, and see that as time goes on YOU'RE REALLY MAKING PROGRESS.

6. Mix it up. Doing the same workout over and over again gets old fast, and your results won't be as good as if you try a variety of exercises. Instead of doing 40 minutes daily on the treadmill, try every darn aerobic machine in the gym and go on hiking, in-line skating and bicycling adventures whenever you get a chance.

Change your weight training routine regularly to keep things interesting and to help break through plateaus. A lack of variety leads to staleness. A good rule of thumb is to change your sets, reps, weight, and rest periods every 3-4 weeks. You'll have more fun if you learn new tools and keep doing different things.

7. Go one on one. One reason working out can seem less enjoyable than playing sports is that it lacks interplay with others. But there are lots of ways to have some spirited competition in the gym, whether it's racing on treadmills or competing with your weightlifting buddy. When two guys are on the same regimen, they can make things more fun by having "mini-contests."

Try going as many reps as you can on a certain weight. Or see who can lift the most weight for 4-5 reps. Just make sure the contest rules specify doing the exercise right, since sacrificing form to lift more weight can be dangerous.

8. Work with a trainer or coach. Workouts seem easier and are more effective with a professional prodding you on; plus, you're more likely to feel obligated to show up (especially if he's going to charge you anyway). When there's someone watching you and keeping an eye on your progress, there's incentive to keep going. If you can't afford to hire a trainer for every workout, just do it every couple of weeks or once a month and have him/her help you set goals for you to reach in between.

Also, consider getting a training partner - just make sure it's somebody who will show up every time, is dedicated as you are... in other words, a clone of you.

9. Force yourself to hang in there religiously for the first three months. Nothing sustains motivation better than results. However, whether you're a beginner or a competitive bodybuilder, your muscles must be given enough time to adapt to the growth and recovery periods that strength training requires.

Though you may see some results, like increases in strength, early on, noticeable changes in your physique can take up to three months. This doesn't mean that everyone will take this long to see results. I've had clients see results in the first couple of weeks; some waited a few months before things fell into place.

It also takes that long to establish a rhythm and discipline to your training schedule, but after three months of dedication, you'll be a lot less likely to fall off the training wagon.

10. As soon as you miss a workout, re-motivate yourself. This is the danger zone, the time when most people start giving up. You've missed one workout, so what's the big deal about skipping another, or all of them? Before you know it, your whole program could go down the tubes. If you miss a workout, you miss a workout. It's over. You can't bring it back. So it makes NO sense to beat you up about it.

Health tip # 19


It's important to be involved in some sort of fitness social support web. If you are currently in a regime with no fitness community, you may find that your workouts are lacking or not that successful. A social support can bring a greater sense of camaraderie, kinship and even healthy competition. If you normally workout alone at home, try visiting a gym for a sample workout, or joining a yoga, Pilates or sailing class. Running clubs and golf courses are other ways to keep in shape and meet new people.