As Waistlines Widen, Brains Shrink

TUESDAY, Aug. 25 (HealthDay News) -- For every excess pound piled on the body, the brain gets a little bit smaller.

That's the message from new research that found that elderly individuals who were obese or overweight had significantly less brain tissue than individuals of normal weight.

Read more HealthDay News

Chew More, Weigh Less?

Smoked almonds

Next time you grab a handful of nuts to snack on, count to 40.

A recent study revealed that when people ate a small serving of almonds, 40 chews quelled hunger better than 10 or even 25 crunches of the same amount of nuts.

Read more at RealAge.com

Put Your Thirst First!

by Denise Austin
Who doesn't love sugary drinks? I definitely do! Soft drinks, sweetened coffee drinks, and some fruit juices might not seem like much when you're drinking them, but they can add hundreds of calories to your diet — and your waistline! The diet versions are a little better, but only a little. They're still crammed with sodium and chemicals. Their sweet taste can even trigger cravings for other sweets!
Remember that you can have a can of soda or your favorite latte! Just be sure to consider these drinks as treats and not an everyday part of your eating plan. To quench your thirst, try herbal tea, seltzer flavored with lemon or lime, or the most sensible drink of all — refreshing water!

Eat Right!

by Denise Austin

Best Bets for Healthy Snacking
Snacking is not a dirty word for dieters if you're careful about what you reach for! I can think of loads of nutritious, low-calorie foods that can help you feel full and boost your energy without ruining your day. Stick to a sensible serving size and you're good to go! Here are some ideas to get you snacking healthy!

• Cut up veggies with hummus
• Sliced fruit with nonfat Greek yogurt
• A few almonds or walnuts
• Low-fat cottage cheese
• Air-popped popcorn
• Hard-boiled eggs
• String cheese
• Baked tortilla chips with salsa
• Homemade smoothies or fruit shakes

Try a few of these snacks this week, and a few more next week. Constantly switch things up so that you don't get bored — and you'll be all set to handle your next snack attack!

Try the Camera-Phone Diet

Could your camera phone help you lose weight? One study seems to suggest so.

When people in a small study snapped a picture of everything they ate for 1 week, something interesting happened. They took better stock of their meals -- and ate less or ate more healthfully because of it.

Read more at Realage.com

Cancer or fat from artificial sweeteners?

Photo by riccardobat

The good news relating to cancer:

results from subsequent carcinogenicity studies (studies that examine whether a substance can cause cancer) on these sweeteners and other approved sweeteners have not provided clear evidence of an association between artificial sweeteners and cancer in people.

Read more at Artificial Sweeteners and Cancer: Questions and Answers

The bad news: Scientists at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana, warn us that artificial sweeteners make us eat more.

The data clearly indicate that consuming a food sweetened with no-calorie saccharin can lead to greater body-weight gain and adiposity than would consuming the same food sweetened with high-calorie sugar.

Read more from Purdue researchers Susan Swithers and Terry Davidson who wrote in the journal Behavioral Neuroscience, published by the American Psychological Association. You can read their technical article A Role for Sweet Taste in PDF form.

Chris Coleson Lost 79 Pounds McDonald's Diet

Get Your Beauty Sleep!

by Denise Austin
If you have kids, you know all too well that if you disrupt their sleep routine, you'll pay for it the next day. But don't forget that a lack of sleep takes its toll on adults too. Not only is lack of sleep likely to make you irritable, sluggish, and less productive the next day, it can also have a negative impact on your health in the long term. If you don't spend enough time in the deep phase of sleep, your body doesn't get a chance to replenish cells and restore energy. Some research has even connected a lack of sleep to weight gain.

So to feel and look your best, it's crucial to make time for sleep. Get into the healthy habit of waking up and going to bed at the same time every day — that's right, on weekends too! Maintaining a regular sleep schedule will help you reap all the benefits of a good night's sleep. If you get enough sleep each night, you'll not only feel well-rested, you'll look fresh-faced and feel ready to conquer the day. Remember, bedtime isn't just for kids!

Training materials by Denise Austin

Sticking to Success!

by Denise Austin

Which diet works best? According to a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, the answer is "The one you stick with!"

Experts followed dieters on various plans — low-carb, low-fat, and low-calorie — for a year, and found that each had a dropout rate of about 50 percent. But those who stayed the course of the diet all lost weight — ranging from 4 to 7 pounds on average. When the plans were evaluated to see which one provided the greatest health benefits, the balanced low-calorie plan won out! This plan — like mine! — contains plenty of fresh vegetables and fruits, whole grains, and lean meats.

In short, the experts say that successful dieting isn't as much about eating a magic combination of foods, but more about staying the course. And remember that eating well is not just about weight loss, it's also about improving your health! So keep going! Your persistence will pay off in pounds lost and health benefits gained!

What's Your Eating Type?

by Denise Austin
Part of overcoming your struggle with weight is understanding how it began. Need some help getting started? See if you can recognize your overeating type. Keep in mind that you may be a combination of these:

• The Indulger: For indulgers, eating is used to nurture and reward. While you should be good to yourself, that doesn't have to come with calories attached. Think of some nonfood rewards instead. How about a bubble bath, pedicure, or some new flowers from your garden, for example?
• The Critic: Critics are always telling themselves that they're never going to be good enough — so why bother? "You can't, you won't, you aren't…" And on and on it goes. Remember, being fit isn't about being perfect. It's about doing your best and getting back on track when you derail.
• The Rebel: Rebels eat "bad" foods to feel good. But remember, unhealthy eating doesn't "get back" at anyone. In fact, the only one you're hurting is yourself. So dye your hair, listen to alternative music, or wear red when everyone else is wearing gray, but skip the chocolate cake!
• The Victim: The voice inside the victim's head says, "You just can't stop yourself. You're helpless." You eat and eat, then tell yourself it wasn't your fault. There's always an excuse. But the reality is, the only one who can control your eating is you. So stop feeling powerless and start taking charge!

Training materials by Denise Austin

Pedometers Help You Get Healthy

Pedometers help people count steps to get healthy
By Michelle L. Brandt

	Steve Gladfelter/VAS
	Pedometer users increased their physical activity by more than 2,000 steps per day, or more than 1 mile of walking, according to a review by Dena Bravata of studies done on the effectiveness of pedometers.

The pedometer, a small and inexpensive device that counts the number of steps walked per day, could be key to ramping up a person's physical activity.

Researchers at the School of Medicine have found that the use of a pedometer is associated with significant increases in physical activity and weight loss and improvements in blood pressure.

"Much to my surprise, these little devices were shown to increase physical activity by just over 2,000 steps, or about 1 mile of walking per day," said the study's lead author, Dena Bravata, MD, MS, a senior research scientist in medicine. "This goes a long way toward helping people meet the national guidelines for daily physical activity."

See pedometers at Amazon.com

Read more at Stanford.edu

High-intensity interval training (HIIT)

High-intensity interval training (HIIT) is an exercise strategy that is intended to improve performance with short training sessions.

A HIIT session involves a warmup period, several short, maximum-intensity efforts separated by moderate recovery intervals, and a cooldown period. The period of alternating effort and recovery intervals typically lasts a total of 15 minutes.

Studies by Tabata ^[1], Tremblay^[2], and others have shown this method to be more effective at burning fat and maintaining, or building, muscle mass than high-volume, lower intensity aerobic work-outs. According to a study by King ^[3] , HIIT increases the RMR (resting metabolic rate) for the following 24 hours due to EPOC (Excess post-exercise oxygen consumption), and may improve VO₂ max more effectively than doing only traditional, long aerobic workouts.^[4][5][6][7] Long aerobic workouts have been promoted as the best method to reduce fat, as fatty acid utilization usually occurs after at least 30 minutes of training. HIIT is somewhat counter intuitive in this regard, but has nonetheless been shown to burn fat more effectively. There may be a number of factors that contribute to this, including an increase in RMR, and possibly other physiological effects.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-intensity_interval_training

Strength Training Interval Program

Source: strength-training-woman.com

1. Chest Press
2. Bent Over Row
3. Squats
4. Lunge
5. Bicep Hammer Curl
6. Tricep Skullcrushers
7. Ball Crunches

Sequencing of Events During Your Interval Strength Training Routines

• 1 Set of 10-20 Reps of Chest Press
• 1-2 Minutes Rest
• 1 Set of 10-20 Reps of Bent Over Row
• 1-2 Minutes Rest
• 1 Set of 10-20 Reps of Squats
• 1-2 Minutes Rest
• 1 Set of 10-20 Reps of Lunges
• 1-2 Minutes Rest
• 1 Set of 10-20 Reps of Bicep Hammer Curls
• 1-2 Minutes Rest
• 1 Set of 10-20 Reps of Tricep Skullcrushers
• 1-2 Minutes Rest
• 1 Set of 10-20 Reps of Ball Crunches
• 1-2 Minutes Rest

Do this sequence a total of three times. This is just one example of how to set up interval strength training routines. Basic weight lifting rules apply. Change something in your routine every 4-6 weeks. You can change the exercise, the strength training method or the intensity level. Use interval strength training routines to jump start your program.

Kiss Your Treadmill Goodbye

Source CBN.com and The Cardio Free Diet

Author and weight-loss expert Jim Karas says you can kiss your treadmill goodbye. He says cardiovascular workouts burn a few calories, but far fewer than you think. From 1987-2000 the number of people exercising on treadmills increased by 900 percent, meanwhile obesity doubled. Using this and other research, Jim developed a new approach to weight-loss: The Cardio Free Diet.

Your body functions like an equation, Jim says, where we look at calories in and calories out. For too long we’ve focused on the first part of the equation when trying to lose weight. Instead, Jim notes that looking at dieting like that is what has led many people to fad dieting. We need to burn calories and interval strength training is the best way to do that for these reasons:

1. It provides absolute enhanced heart health. It’s our heart-rate variability that counts, how fast we respond to stimuli. If we’re walking at one pace for 30 minutes on a treadmill, our heart rate is at a steady rate. That doesn’t replicate real life. “We live our lives in spurts, not marathons,” Jim says.
2. Interval strength training provides greater flexibility.
3. Interval strength training increases lean muscle tissue and increases metabolism. Jim says that we can lose weight doing intervals of cardio exercise also, but that cardio will not build your lean muscle tissue in the same way that interval strength training does. Jim says cardio can be detrimental. “It kills your time, your energy, your joints, and your motivation.” He says the only people who should ever do cardio are those who really enjoy it. Others should cut it out completely.

Read more more from The Cardio Free Diet include first two chapters: Cardio's Reign of Terror and The Body Weight Equation.

Stealth Health: How to Sneak Age-Defying, Disease-Fighting Habits Into Your Life Without Really Trying

Stealth Health: How to Sneak Age-Defying, Disease-Fighting Habits Into Your Life Without Really Trying
By Reader's Digest

Discover The Everyday Health Plan - the simplest program available to enhance your health by promoting weight loss while increasing your energy level and strengthening you immune system. This east-to-use plan contains more than 1,200 tiny modifications to make you healthier. The ideas are fresh, unusual, simple, fast, and thoroughly researched and doctor-approved.

This book has changed my life!
I thoroughly recommend buying this book. Its simple, easy to read guide is well organized and thought out. I've been easily incorporating the changes it recommends in my life without overwhelming me. This is a must read for anyone who wishes to de-stress their lives and add health with ease. Judea Eden

Easy Ways to Lose Weight: 50+ Ideas

Look slimmer, feel trimmer! From Reader's Digest Stealth Health Simple Slimming

Spring is right around the corner and retailers have already begun stocking their floors with warm-weather goods -- including swimsuits. Besides looking great on the beach, commonsense tells us that one of the best things you can do for your overall health is to drop a few pounds. Or maybe more than a few pounds.
Being overweight significantly increases your risk of heart disease, diabetes, stroke, high blood pressure, cancer ... the list seems almost endless. Plus, if you do get sick or need surgery, being overweight can make any treatments riskier.

1. Once a week, indulge in a high-calorie-tasting, but low-calorie, treat.
2. Treat high-calorie foods as jewels in the crown.
3. After breakfast, make water your primary drink.
4. Carry a palm-size notebook everywhere you go for one week. Write down every single morsel that enters your lips -- even water.
5. Buy a pedometer, clip it to your belt, and aim for an extra 1,000 steps a day.

Books about health and diet from Reader's Digest

Read more at RD.com