Exercise to Increase Blood To Your Brain

A study was done on 299 adults for 13 years, and found that walking 6 – 9 miles per week may stop your brain from shrinking as you age. Exercise increases the blood to the brain, so more of the important nutrients get to the brain. And the more you walk, the more it helps, expect more than 9 miles per week only improves your fitness level, which is also important!

From the January 2 Parade Magazine Stay Healthy column by Emily Listford

One of the reasons we are getting to be the fattest people ever is that food in places like Walmart is extremely cheap, so how can you pass that up!

The whole article is here, in the Boston Globe:
http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/articles/2010/11/14/walmart_makes_us_fat/

Some chemicals that get into our food and beverages that mess with our hormonal system. For example, diet soda lowers your metabolism, so you don’t burn as many calories that you usually do.

Also, the average American is exposed to 10-13 pesticides every day, and 90% of these have been linked to obesity.

And, cattle are given 6 different artifical hormones to make them gain weight as fast as possible, when we eat this beef, we are getting the hormones too.

See the whole story on the CBS News from February, 11, 2010:

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=6197433n&tag=mncol;lst;1

Drew Carey, the former fat comedian has become a slim comedian. I assume the comedian is still there. He found what worked for him, and did it. For 2 weeks, he did a detox diet, and was hungry all the time. Not sure I could pull that off! He is exercising and eating good foods, occasionally he still has something sinful to eat. Now he knows he can’t survive on junk.

http://www.parade.com/health/2010/09/26-drew-carey.html

Acupuncture has been around for thousands of years, and now it is gaining momentum in the US. It is so helpful for so many health problems, but here’s something you might not know. Acupuncture can help you with weight loss. Your body has specific points to needle which cause appetite suppression and the release of endorphins, naturally occurring hormones which have a calming and relaxing effect that makes it easier to deal with stress, frustration and anxiety that can trigger overeating and bingeing on fattening foods.

Certainly some lifestyle adjustments have to occur at the same time.

An article about this: http://www.acufinder.com/Acupuncture+Information/Detail/The+Acupuncture+Weight+Loss+Solution

You say you don’t have time to exercise for hours every day? Is this your excuse for now working out at all? The solution for you is interval training, which gives you a better workout in a shorter amount of time. This is not complicated, anyone can do it. Whatever exercise you can do, walking, running, biking, exercise machines at the gym, start your regular exercise, and after 5 to 10 minutes, step up your level of exertion for one minute. If you are walking, jog for one minute. If that is too much, just walk a little faster for one minute. Doing this allows you to burn more calories in a shorter amount of time, as well as the excellent side effects of giving you more energy to get through the day and being in better health.

Of course, this is not appropriate for people with chronic health problems. You have to be the judge of what you are capable of doing. You might even consult your physician.

Great article on the Mayo Clinic website: http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/interval-training/SM00110

Haven’t we been hearing how drinking more water helps with weight loss? Scientists have now done official studies on this, and it is TRUE! Nothing is simpler to do that drink water. The study involved having people drinking 2 glasses of water before they sat down to eat. This makes your stomach feel more full, and eat a little less, 75-90 calories worth of food.

This doesn’t work with diet drinks, which trick your mind into wanting to consume more sweets!

See this segment on The Today Show: http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/26184891/vp/38829351#38829351

Didn’t we think cellulite is some horrible thing that happens to us without our permission?  Of course, it is just fat! It forms when you lose muscle mass in certain areas mostly due to lack of  using those muscles.  Your thighs have lost muscle mass and you have an overlying layer of fat that then has no foundation of muscle under it so it becomes dimpled.

If you start a regimen of strength training, you can build the muscle mass in your hips, thighs and legs so that cellulite in those areas are reduced. Of course, some cardio work out, even just getting out for walks, helps too. Strength training doesn’t require any expensive, or even inexpensive equipment!

From Yahoo Health – http://health.yahoo.net/rodale/WH/fitness-fact-or-fiction

New studies have shown that strength training actually burns MORE calories per minute than garden variety cardio training on a treadmill, elliptical trainer or bike. To burn the same number of calories as weight lifting, you would have to run at a six minute per mile pace. That’s a lot faster than I go when I power walk.

Of course weight lifting offers bonuses beyond burning more calories.  Muscle requires energy even when at rest, so the more you have, the more calories you burn. And after strength training, you continue to burn more calories for up to 36 hours!

From Yahoo Health – http://health.yahoo.net/rodale/WH/fitness-fact-or-fiction

This morning the Today Show did a segment on the latest in celebrity eating habits, because inquiring minds want to know that Gwyneth Paltrow and Anne Hathaway have gone gluten free. Celebrity endorsements extend beyond Boniva ads by Sally Fields! Has a male celebrity ever endorsed Viagra? I doubt it, but enough celebrity nonsense.

I recently went gluten free after my daughter was diagnosed with Celiac. By the way, the medical doctor, Roshini Raj,  interviewed on this segment says that Celiac is a “true allergy”, which is not true, and she must know this. It is an autoimmune disease, with much harsher implications on health and well being. Anyway, I was sure I didn’t have celiac, but I stopped eating gluten because I wanted to see how hard it is to do and let me tell you, it’s HARD to do. I noticed as time went by that the arthritis I had had for decades was lessening, and my very itchy skin stopped being so dry and itchy. I now can’t be tested unless I went back on wheat products, but I don’t want to, so I will just take it on faith that I have a problem with gluten.

Roshini Raj, the medical advisor for Health Magazine, (see her bio on this page, halfway down) seemed to poo-poo eliminating gluten as a stupid fad and not a way to lose weight. But let me tell you, I can no longer mindlessly eat the bread served to me at restaurants, or the chocolate chip cookies served at parties, and hundreds of other foods. So it does keep me on the straight and narrow to some extent!

Most flour in foods in the United States, is bleached, and no one has ever studied the effects of bleached flour on our bodies. I think it probably has some bad effects, evidenced by this trend to eliminate it. Maybe you should try it!

See the video segment here: http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/26184891/vp/38656063#38656063