Strength Training - Why Do It and How to Start

It is generally well known that we lose bone mass as we age, a phenomena that affects women more than men and that far too often results in bones that are weak and prone to break, especially in the hips, wrists and shoulders. Unfortunately, although in many cases surgical procedures now produce excellent results (we have a number of clients that have returned to running after hip replacements), too many people don´t fully recover from the stress of the operation and never regain the quality of life that they previously enjoyed. In the worst cases, this leads to a sometimes rapid decline in general health and an untimely death. It is widely accepted that weight-bearing exercise helps to slow bone loss and may even in some cases be able to reverse it, which is why "cardio" exercise such as walking and running (in moderation) can be very beneficial. However, when it comes to targeting the bones of the shoulders and arms, strength training is essential. Such exercises can also enhance the benefits of the weight-bearing cardio activity on other joints, probably because the effect of the tendons pulling on the bones stimulates bone repair or growth. Equipment such as free weights, machines, resistance bands and medicine balls can all play a part in making strength training fun (or at least more fun!). However, you don´t have to invest in equipment or join a gym to do strength training. Body weight can also provide an effective training medium. If dedicating time to strength training really doesn´t appeal, adding a few press ups (or push ups for our American readers!) to your daily routine is a great place to start. When that becomes a habit, you can look at adding more exercises and developing your programme. How do you start doing press ups when you can´t even do one?! Simple, do five! In my experience, it is best to avoid doing press ups on your knees, as very few people ever progress from there to the full exercise and therefore never reap all of the benefits of this "whole body" exercise. Instead, try this: Adopt the standard press up position - Lie with the body raised off the floor, hands slightly wider than shoulder-width apart, arms extended and body straight. Keeping the body straight, bend the elbows and lower the shoulders and hips towards the floor - only go as low as you can to be sure that you are going to be able to do five repetitions. If that means that you only flex the elbows one inch, great! Do five "1-inch press-ups" every time you get the chance. With this approach, you will find that you quickly progress to making the final press up two inches, then three, then four and so on until you can do five full press ups. After that, keep adding repetitions until you can do twenty. You will be surprised how quickly you will progress with just a little bit of effort. A few words on correct form: Before starting the exercises, "activate the core" by lifting the chest, drawing in the stomach slightly and tightening the muscles of the butt (the "glutes"). When the arms are in the fully extended position, the shoulder blades should be "open". As you lower the body towards the ground, you should feel the shoulder blades move together. Hold the head level. Fix the gaze slightly forward and actively engage the neck muscles to keep the head from dropping. Breathe in on the way down and out on the way up.

Healthy Eating: 9 Easy Tips

Easy Tips for Planning a Healthy Diet & Sticking to It
Healthy eating is not about strict nutrition philosophies, staying unrealistically thin, or depriving yourself of the foods you love. Rather, it’s about feeling great, having more energy, stabilizing your mood, and keeping yourself as healthy as possible– all of which can be achieved by learning some nutrition basics and using them in a way that works for you. You can expand your range of healthy food choices and learn how to plan ahead to create and maintain a tasty, healthy diet.


Healthy eating tip 1: Set yourself up for success
To set yourself up for success, think about planning a healthy diet as a number of small, manageable steps rather than one big drastic change. If you approach the changes gradually and with commitment, you will have a healthy diet sooner than you think.
- Simplify. Instead of being overly concerned with counting calories or measuring portion sizes, think of your diet in terms of color, variety, and freshness. This way it should be easier to make healthy choices. Focus on finding foods you love and easy recipes that incorporate a few fresh ingredients. Gradually, your diet will become healthier and more delicious.
- Start slow and make changes to your eating habits over time. Trying to make your diet healthy overnight isn’t realistic or smart. Changing everything at once usually leads to cheating or giving up on your new eating plan. Make small steps, like adding a salad (full of different color vegetables) to your diet once a day or switching from butter to olive oil when cooking. As your small changes become habit, you can continue to add more healthy choices to your diet.
- Every change you make to improve your diet matters. You don’t have to be perfect and you don’t have to completely eliminate foods you enjoy to have a healthy diet. The long term goal is to feel good, have more energy, and reduce the risk of cancer and disease. Don’t let your missteps derail you—every healthy food choice you make counts.

Think of water and exercise as food groups in your diet.
Water. Water helps flush our systems of waste products and toxins, yet many people go through life dehydrated—causing tiredness, low energy, and headaches. It’s common to mistake thirst for hunger, so staying well hydrated will also help you make healthier food choices.
Exercise. Find something active that you like to do and add it to your day, just like you would add healthy greens, blueberries, or salmon. The benefits of lifelong exercise are abundant and regular exercise may even motivate you to make healthy food choices a habit.

Healthy eating tip 2: Moderation is key
People often think of healthy eating as an all or nothing proposition, but a key foundation for any healthy diet is moderation. But what is moderation? How much is a moderate amount? That really depends on you and your overall eating habits. The goal of healthy eating is to develop a diet that you can maintain for life, not just a few weeks or months, or until you've hit your ideal weight. So try to think of moderation in terms of balance. Despite what certain fad diets would have you believe, we all need a balance of carbohydrates, protein, fat, fiber, vitamins, and minerals to sustain a healthy body.
For most of us, moderation or balance means eating less than we do now. More specifically, it means eating far less of the unhealthy stuff (unrefined sugar, saturated fat, for example) and more of the healthy (such as fresh fruit and vegetables). But it doesn't mean eliminating the foods you love. Eating bacon for breakfast once a week, for example, could be considered moderation if you follow it with a healthy lunch and dinner–but not if you follow it with a box of donuts and a sausage pizza. If you eat 100 calories of chocolate one afternoon, balance it out by deducting 100 calories from your evening meal. If you're still hungry, fill up with an extra serving of fresh vegetables.
- Try not to think of certain foods as “off-limits.” When you ban certain foods or food groups, it is natural to want those foods more, and then feel like a failure if you give in to temptation. If you are drawn towards sweet, salty, or unhealthy foods, start by reducing portion sizes and not eating them as often. Later you may find yourself craving them less or thinking of them as only occasional indulgences.
- Think smaller portions. Serving sizes have ballooned recently, particularly in restaurants. When dining out, choose a starter instead of an entree, split a dish with a friend, and don't order supersized anything. At home, use smaller plates, think about serving sizes in realistic terms, and start small. If you don't feel satisfied at the end of a meal, try adding more leafy green vegetables or rounding off the meal with fresh fruit. Visual cues can help with portion sizes–your serving of meat, fish, or chicken should be the size of a deck of cards, a slice of bread should be the size of a CD case, and half a cup of mashed potato, rice, or pasta is about the size of a traditional light bulb.

Healthy eating tip 3: It's not just what you eat, it's how you eat
Healthy eating is about more than the food on your plate—it is also about how you think about food. Healthy eating habits can be learned and it is important to slow down and think about food as nourishment rather than just something to gulp down in between meetings or on the way to pick up the kids.
- Eat with others whenever possible. Eating with other people has numerous social and emotional benefits—particularly for children—and allows you to model healthy eating habits. Eating in front of the TV or computer often leads to mindless overeating.
- Take time to chew your food and enjoy mealtimes. Chew your food slowly, savoring every bite. We tend to rush though our meals, forgetting to actually taste the flavors and feel the textures of our food. Reconnect with the joy of eating.
- Listen to your body. Ask yourself if you are really hungry, or have a glass of water to see if you are thirsty instead of hungry. During a meal, stop eating before you feel full. It actually takes a few minutes for your brain to tell your body that it has had enough food, so eat slowly.
Eat breakfast, and eat smaller meals throughout the day. A healthy breakfast can jumpstart your metabolism, and eating small, healthy meals throughout the day (rather than the standard three large meals) keeps your energy up and your metabolism going.
- Avoid eating at night. Try to eat dinner earlier in the day and then fast for 14-16 hours until breakfast the next morning. Early studies suggest that this simple dietary adjustment—eating only when you’re most active and giving your digestive system a long break each day—may help to regulate weight. After-dinner snacks tend to be high in fat and calories so are best avoided, anyway.

Healthy eating tip 4: Fill up on colorful fruits and vegetables
Fruits and vegetables are the foundation of a healthy diet. They are low in calories and nutrient dense, which means they are packed with vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and fiber.
Try to eat a rainbow of fruits and vegetables every day and with every meal—the brighter the better. Colorful, deeply colored fruits and vegetables contain higher concentrations of vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants—and different colors provide different benefits, so eat a variety. Aim for a minimum of five portions each day.

Some great choices include:
- Greens. Branch out beyond bright and dark green lettuce. Kale, mustard greens, broccoli, and Chinese cabbage are just a few of the options—all packed with calcium, magnesium, iron, potassium, zinc, and vitamins A, C, E, and K.
- Sweet vegetables. Naturally sweet vegetables—such as corn, carrots, beets, sweet potatoes, yams, onions, and squash—add healthy sweetness to your meals and reduce your cravings for other sweets.
- Fruit. Fruit is a tasty, satisfying way to fill up on fiber, vitamins, and antioxidants. Berries are cancer-fighting, apples provide fiber, oranges and mangos offer vitamin C, and so on.

The importance of getting vitamins from food—not pills
The antioxidants and other nutrients in fruits and vegetables help protect against certain types of cancer and other diseases. And while advertisements abound for supplements promising to deliver the nutritional benefits of fruits and vegetables in pill or powder form, research suggests that it’s just not the same.
A daily regimen of nutritional supplements is not going to have the same impact of eating right. That’s because the benefits of fruits and vegetables don’t come from a single vitamin or an isolated antioxidant.
The health benefits of fruits and vegetables come from numerous vitamins, minerals, and phytochemicals working together synergistically. They can’t be broken down into the sum of their parts or replicated in pill form.

Healthy eating tip 5: Eat more healthy carbs and whole grains
Choose healthy carbohydrates and fiber sources, especially whole grains, for long lasting energy. In addition to being delicious and satisfying, whole grains are rich in phytochemicals and antioxidants, which help to protect against coronary heart disease, certain cancers, and diabetes. Studies have shown people who eat more whole grains tend to have a healthier heart.
A quick definition of healthy carbs and unhealthy carbs
Healthy carbs (sometimes known as good carbs) include whole grains, beans, fruits, and vegetables. Healthy carbs are digested slowly, helping you feel full longer and keeping blood sugar and insulin levels stable.
Unhealthy carbs (or bad carbs) are foods such as white flour, refined sugar, and white rice that have been stripped of all bran, fiber, and nutrients. Unhealthy carbs digest quickly and cause spikes in blood sugar levels and energy.
Tips for eating more healthy carbs
- Include a variety of whole grains in your healthy diet, including whole wheat, brown rice, millet, quinoa, and barley. Experiment with different grains to find your favorites.
- Make sure you're really getting whole grains. Be aware that the words stone-ground, multi-grain, 100% wheat, or bran can be deceptive. Look for the words “whole grain” or “100% whole wheat” at the beginning of the ingredient list. In the U.S., Canada, and some other countries, check for the Whole Grain Stamps that distinguish between partial whole grain and 100% whole grain.
- Try mixing grains as a first step to switching to whole grains. If whole grains like brown rice and whole wheat pasta don’t sound good at first, start by mixing what you normally use with the whole grains. You can gradually increase the whole grain to 100%.
Avoid: Refined foods such as breads, pastas, and breakfast cereals that are not whole grain.

Healthy eating tip 6: Enjoy healthy fats & avoid unhealthy fats
Good sources of healthy fat are needed to nourish your brain, heart, and cells, as well as your hair, skin, and nails. Foods rich in certain omega-3 fats called EPA and DHA are particularly important and can reduce cardiovascular disease, improve your mood, and help prevent dementia.
Add to your healthy diet:
- Monounsaturated fats, from plant oils like canola oil, peanut oil, and olive oil, as well as avocados, nuts (like almonds, hazelnuts, and pecans), and seeds (such as pumpkin, sesame).
- Polyunsaturated fats, including Omega-3 and Omega-6 fatty acids, found in fatty fish such as salmon, herring, mackerel, anchovies, sardines, and some cold water fish oil supplements. Other sources of polyunsaturated fats are unheated sunflower, corn, soybean, flaxseed oils, and walnuts.
Reduce or eliminate from your diet:
- Saturated fats, found primarily in animal sources including red meat and whole milk dairy products.
- Trans fats, found in vegetable shortenings, some margarines, crackers, candies, cookies, snack foods, fried foods, baked goods, and other processed foods made with partially hydrogenated vegetable oils.

Healthy eating tip 7: Put protein in perspective
Protein gives us the energy to get up and go—and keep going. Protein in food is broken down into the 20 amino acids that are the body’s basic building blocks for growth and energy, and essential for maintaining cells, tissues, and organs. A lack of protein in our diet can slow growth, reduce muscle mass, lower immunity, and weaken the heart and respiratory system. Protein is particularly important for children, whose bodies are growing and changing daily.
Here are some guidelines for including protein in your healthy diet:
Try different types of protein. Whether or not you are a vegetarian, trying different protein sources—such as beans, nuts, seeds, peas, tofu, and soy products—will open up new options for healthy mealtimes.
- Beans: Black beans, navy beans, garbanzos, and lentils are good options.
- Nuts: Almonds, walnuts, pistachios, and pecans are great choices.
- Soy products: Try tofu, soy milk, tempeh, and veggie burgers for a change.
- Avoid salted or sugary nuts and refried beans.
Downsize your portions of protein. Many people in the West eat too much protein. Try to move away from protein being the center of your meal. Focus on equal servings of protein, whole grains, and vegetables.
Focus on quality sources of protein, like fresh fish, chicken or turkey, tofu, eggs, beans, or nuts. When you are having meat, chicken, or turkey, buy meat that is free of hormones and antibiotics.

Healthy eating tip 8: Add calcium for strong bones
Calcium is one of the key nutrients that your body needs in order to stay strong and healthy. It is an essential building block for lifelong bone health in both men and women, as well as many other important functions.
You and your bones will benefit from eating plenty of calcium-rich foods, limiting foods that deplete your body’s calcium stores, and getting your daily dose of magnesium and vitamins D and K—nutrients that help calcium do its job.
Recommended calcium levels are 1000 mg per day, 1200 mg if you are over 50 years old. Take a vitamin D and calcium supplement if you don’t get enough of these nutrients from your diet.
Good sources of calcium include:
- Dairy: Dairy products are rich in calcium in a form that is easily digested and absorbed by the body. Sources include milk, yogurt, and cheese.
- Vegetables and greens: Many vegetables, especially leafy green ones, are rich sources of calcium. Try turnip greens, mustard greens, collard greens, kale, romaine lettuce, celery, broccoli, fennel, cabbage, summer squash, green beans, -- Brussels sprouts, asparagus, and crimini mushrooms.
Beans: For another rich source of calcium, try black beans, pinto beans, kidney beans, white beans, black-eyed peas, or baked beans.

Healthy eating tip 9: Limit sugar and salt
If you succeed in planning your diet around fiber-rich fruits, vegetables, whole grains, lean protein, and good fats, you may find yourself naturally cutting back on foods that can get in the way of your healthy diet—sugar and salt.
Sugar
Sugar causes energy ups and downs and can add to health and weight problems. Unfortunately, reducing the amount of candy, cakes, and desserts we eat is only part of the solution. Often you may not even be aware of the amount of sugar you’re consuming each day. Large amounts of added sugar can be hidden in foods such as bread, canned soups and vegetables, pasta sauce, margarine, instant mashed potatoes, frozen dinners, fast food, soy sauce, and ketchup. Here are some tips:
- Avoid sugary drinks. One 12-oz soda has about 10 teaspoons of sugar in it, more than the daily recommended limit! Try sparkling water with lemon or a splash of fruit juice.
- Eat naturally sweet food such as fruit, peppers, or natural peanut butter to satisfy your sweet tooth.

Salt
Most of us consume too much salt in our diets. Eating too much salt can cause high blood pressure and lead to other health problems. Try to limit sodium intake to 1,500 to 2,300 mg per day, the equivalent of one teaspoon of salt.
- Avoid processed or pre-packaged foods. Processed foods like canned soups or frozen dinners contain hidden sodium that quickly surpasses the recommended limit.
- Be careful when eating out. Most restaurant and fast food meals are loaded with sodium.
- Opt for fresh or frozen vegetables instead of canned vegetables.
- Cut back on salty snacks such as potato chips, nuts, and pretzels.
- Choose low-salt or reduced-sodium products.
- Try slowly reducing the salt in your diet to give your taste buds time to adjust.

Pilates for Weight Loss: Slimming Down with Pilates

Slimming down with Pilates doesn't work the same way for everyone. Discover the best Pilates for weight loss and find out why these exercises work better for some.
Pilates gets a lot of praise for some as a great way to lose weight, but this exercise philosophy was not designed as a weight loss plan. Check out a few exercises that actually work and discover why Pilates for weight loss isn't an option for everybody.


Slim Down with Pilates: Myth or Reality?
A lot of people lose weight with Pilates, but since this type of exercise isn't as vigorous as cardio, it may burn less calories. If you decide to slim down with Pilates, you should first consider your lifestyle. Are you an active person that already does moderate semi-regular exercise? Pilates works best for people who are giving up a sedentary lifestyle and can provide the most weight loss for heavier people. Since Pilates' main goal is strengthening the core, it's probably not the easiest way to lose a few pounds if you're already fit.
Get a 9 inch inflated ball, an exercise mat and try these Pilates exercises for weight loss that work better than most.

Criss Cross
Start by lying down with your knees bent, your soles on the mat, your hands behind your head and the exercise ball between your knees. Lift your left elbow and shoulder off the mat, twisting your body and keep the position for 3 breaths. Repeat for the other side and make sure you're moving from the ribcage, not stretching your neck.

Half Rolldowns
Place the ball between your bent knees as you sit upright on the mat with your feet flat on it. Move your head and shoulders forward to make a C shape with your spine while squeezing the ball between your knees. Scoop your abdomen in and move your hands along your legs until you're halfway down, then return to the upright position.

Bridge Squeezes
Lying down on the mat with your knees bent and your feet and arms flat on it. Have the small exercise ball between your knees. Start by lifting your pelvis, then your lower back until your body is in a straight line from your knees to your neck. Once you're in position, squeeze the ball 5 times, then slowly return to the starting position and repeat.

Pilates-Cardio Fusion
If you're looking for the best fitness option to lose weight, you may not slim down with Pilates as fast as you'd like. Try a fusion workout that incorporates Pilates into fat-burning exercises and use the mat less.

Best Cardio Workouts

You don’t need a treadmill to control your body weight, strengthen your bones and muscles: with the best cardio workouts you will burn more calories and stay fit.
Cardiovascular exercises, simply called cardio workouts, are activities that get your heart beating faster, increasing your breathing rate. Your muscle activity and energy need increase during cardio workouts. To provide more oxygen and nutrients to your muscles, your heart rate increases the speed blood flow, making your respiratory rate rise while removing carbon dioxide. In addition, the best cardio workouts will get you all sweaty, removing excess heat produced by your muscle activity.

High-Intensity Cardio Workouts
High-intensity cardio workouts help you lose fat and burn calories at a faster pace. For example, high-impact aerobics can burn up to 511 calories an hour for a 160-lb. person. Jogging is another good choice, burning 584 calories an hour. Some of the best high-intensity cardio workouts include in-line skating and tae kwon do which burn 730 calories an hour. Discuss with your doctor about an appropriate activity level for burning midsection fat.

Interval Training
If high-intensity cardio workouts are too difficult, use an interval training workout. Select two types of activities. The first cardio workout should be moderate, such as walking or jumping rope at a slow pace. After a few minutes, switch to an intense activity, such as jogging or mountain climbers at a fast pace. Get the best cardio workouts by rotating between activities for your entire training session.

Circuit Training
Circuit training is the best cardio workout approach as it allows you to burn 30 percent more calories than regular strength-training sessions. Start out with a midsection toning exercise, such as abdominal crunches. Move to an intense cardio workout, such as jogging or jumping jacks, for a few minutes. Switch between toning exercises and high-intensity cardio activity to make the best cardio workouts.

Cardio Frequency
For best results, plan at least 30 minutes of cardio workouts daily. If you have a hard time scheduling a 30 minute cardio workout at a time, break your sessions into shorter intervals. For example, work out for 15 minutes in the morning and evening.
You can also build the best cardio workout routine to include 20 minutes per day, five days per week: jogging or running or focus on less-intense exercises such as water aerobics, light bicycling and ballroom dancing, which can also be fun with your partener or a group of friends.

The Most Important Meal of the Day: How Many Calories for Breakfast

Starting out your day with a healthy filling breakfast is important if you want to avoid hunger later on. Find out how many calories to eat for breakfast.
As the most important meal of the day, breakfast can give you the energy you need to skip snacks before lunch. Find out how many calories for breakfast make for the best meal, whether you're trying to lose weight or simply stay fit.
According to numerous studies, people who eat a big breakfast can feel fuller throughout the whole day, not just up to lunch. However, the ideal number of calories for breakfast depends on your overall calorie intake.

How Many Calories for Breakfast
For a healthy lifestyle, breakfast should account for 20-25% of your daily calorie intake. This usually means that breakfast needs to contain from 300 to 450-500 calories. Counting breakfast calories may not be pleasant, but it can be beneficial to your entire day's eating habits.

Why Eat a Big Breakfast?
A 2008 study from Virginia Commonwealth University shows that a big breakfast can actually help you lose weight in the long run. Led by Daniela Jakubowicz, M.D., the research clearly shows that a big breakfast can have excellent benefits for weight loss.

The study included two groups of people, eating breakfast of 610 and 290 calories. The group who stuck to a more traditional breakfast of 290 calories lost 4,5% of their body weight in 8 months, while the people who had the bigger breakfast lost 21%!

The Ideal Breakfast
Simply counting calories isn't enough to make sure you're getting a good meal at the start of your day. According to Columbia University, a balanced breakfast includes one or two servings of complex carbohydrates, one serving of a fruit or vegetable, one serving of protein and one serving of fat.
If you're not used to a big breakfast, you should stick to these guidelines and slowly try to increase the number of calories. Feeling too full in the morning can actually slow you down if you're just starting to eat breakfast the right way.

Should You Split Breakfast into More than One Meal?
According to recent research, more and more Americans eat their breakfast in a series of smaller meals. While this isn't necessarily bad for your body, it can increase the habit of snacking.
Eating breakfast the right way means you should eat at least part of within an hour of waking up. When you decide to split it into more parts, make sure you don't delay any of them too close to lunch to get the full benefits of a healthy breakfast.

Green Coffee Bean Extract for Weight Loss

Green coffee bean extract is a new supplement which can be used to lose weight faster. Learn more about the effects of green coffee bean extract for weight loss.
One of the latest fads in weight-loss dietary supplements, green coffee bean extract, promises great results without any other dietary changes, but does it really work without any side effects?
Produced by soaking the coffee beans instead of roasting them, green coffee bean extract has a higher content of chlorogenic acid. This compound, that's lost in roasting, is praised for its effects in blocking fat accumulation, curbing carb absorption and boosting weight loss by regulating sugar-levels.

Green Coffee Bean Extract for Weight Loss
Most studies that were not tied to green coffee bean extract manufacturers have shown only modest results. An investigation conducted by Dr. Oz, on two groups of women, showed that the powers of green coffee bean extract do seem to get the job done.
Amongst the 100 women, half received a 400mg green coffee extract pill and they lost 2 pounds in 2 weeks, while the placebo group only lost one pound per average during the study.
Since green coffee bean extract is so new, there haven't been any proper medical studies that investigate possible side-effects, so this product shouldn't be used by pregnant women or children.ư

Green Coffee Bean Extract Pros and Cons
The obvious pro of taking this dietary supplement is the fact that the diet can remain virtually unchanged. Cons tend to be more numerous based on previous studies on caffeine based dietary supplements.
High doses of caffeine can cause insomnia, anxiety, headaches and even irregular heart beat or abnormally high blood pressure. Since caffeine is addictive, green coffee bean extract might cause withdrawal symptoms when you stop taking it, symptoms that can include depression, fatigue, problems with concentration and even muscle tension.
To get the best out of these dietary supplements, Dr. Oz advises choosing a product that contains at least 45% chlorogenic acid, with a concentration of 400 mg, taken 3 times a day, 30 minutes before each meal.