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You are here: Home / Archives for Fitness

Why is the Ancient Practice of Yoga More Popular than Ever?

April 1, 2015 By Hugh Sinclair Leave a Comment

History of YogaWhile the origins of yoga date back to thousands of years ago, today the ancient practice is more popular than ever. Yoga originated in ancient India and first caught on in the United States in the 1960s. However, until recently, the activity fell short of gaining widespread popularity.

In recent years, the ancient art of yoga has skyrocketed in popularity and is more widely available. According to a National Health Interview Survey (NHIS), the number of adults who performed yoga practically doubled between 2002 and 2012. In 2013, over 24 million American adults used yoga, which makes yoga as popular as golf. This is a substantial increase from 2008 when 17 million people did yoga, a Sports & Fitness Industry Association survey reported. Yoga is also becoming more popular among children. Approximately 429,000 more American children did yoga in 2012 than in 2007.

If yoga has been around for hundreds of years, why is it just recently gaining widespread popularity in the U.S.?

One reason is yoga is more widely available and accessible than it has been in the past. While yoga used to be primarily restricted to yoga studios, now it’s offered at most gyms and fitness centers, as well as featured on all sorts of fitness videos. People can practice yoga in the comfort of their own home or attend yoga classes at their gym.

In addition to its widespread availability, yoga has gained popularity because of its versatility. Unlike with many other fitness activities, such as basketball, gymnastics or football, you don’t need to have a certain physical stamina or be a particular size to enjoy the exercise. While yoga involves flexibility and strength, participants don’t have to be extremely flexible or strong to partake in the activity. The activity is suited for people of all ages and skill sets. However, as with any physical activity, the more you practice, the better you become.

While these reasons have attributed to yoga’s rise in popularity, the most prominent reason for its growth is its health benefits. Due to modern innovations in science and technology, we know much more about the health benefits of yoga. Today, we know yoga strengthens one’s core and muscles, increases flexibility, and reduces anxiety and stress, among many other physical, spiritual and mental health benefits.

Here are some of the major health benefits of yoga:

  • Improves flexibility – One of the most notable benefits of yoga is it improves your flexibility. Many people can’t touch their toes during their first yoga class. But, if they continue to go to yoga classes, they will gradually see improvements to their flexibility. After a few weeks, they will be able to perform poses that once seemed impossible.
  • Alleviates back pain & improves posture – Tight, inflexible muscles can cause back pain and poor posture. As you loosen your muscles and improve your flexibility, you will start to see your aches and pains disappear and your posture improve.
  • Builds muscle & increases strength – Yoga doesn’t just increase your flexibility. It also helps you build muscle and become stronger. When you perform difficult yoga poses, you are strengthening your muscles in your core, upper body, lower back, hamstrings and quadriceps.
  • Reduces stress and risk for mental disorders – Along with the many physical benefits, yoga also produces various mental benefits, including reducing stress, anxiety and depression. Yoga modulates the body’s stress response systems, which reduces your heart rate, lowers your blood pressure and eases your respiration to put you in a calm, relaxed state of mind. This is beneficial to people who are over-stressed or suffer from an anxiety disorder. Yoga also helps those with depression because it improves mood and cognitive functioning.

With these health benefits and yoga’s widespread availability, the exercise will only continue to grow from here.

Filed Under: Fitness Tagged With: Yoga

10 Ways Cocktail Hour Is Destroying Your Fitness Efforts

March 20, 2015 By Joey Thurman Leave a Comment

alcohol and weight gain
Celebrity Personal Trainer and Nutrition Expert Explains
Why You Need To Pass On Cocktails

Liquid courage, my best friend, uncle Jack, and a party in a bottle are all names that we love to use when it comes to our National Pastime…drinking!  Alcohol is the main attraction at most sporting events, parties, and gatherings, but something that we aren’t aware of is how alcohol truly affects externally in our waistlines by what it’s doing us internally from that first drink.  We all have seen the commercials where we can keep our ripped abs all while enjoying that low calorie, low carb, no guilt beverage; but there’s a few sneaky little tricks happening inside of us from the first sip of our best friend that will IMMEDIATELY cause our hard earned results in our health journey to stop and possibly take a turn for the worst!

Several aspects about alcohol are beginning to become common knowledge among the masses, alcohol has “empty” calories, stay away from mixed beverages with lots of sweeteners in them, and if you do drink make sure to eat something beforehand, these are all somewhat true, but I’m here to give you the “not so ordinary’ reasons why alcohol will wreak havoc on your waist, and could possibly lead to other health problems.

  1. Contrary to what you like to tell yourself alcohol is recognized by your body as a POISON! Once you consume alcohol every single effort is made by your body to GET THE POISON OUT! Alcohol directly affects your bodies’ ability to maintain healthy blood sugar levels by messing with the hormone insulin.  Insulin is important because it’s excreted whenever you have a blood sugar spike by eating something that’s processed by your body as a sugar (carbohydrates, desserts, fruit, etc).  If your body can’t bring down these blood sugar levels due to a decreased effect of insulin you will store those extra sugars in your body in the form of body fat!  Besides the decreased insulin sensitivity alcohol can have on your body it can also lower your blood sugar when you eat on an empty stomach which could lead to hypoglycemia (low blood sugar levels).  If you have as little as 2 drinks in a day and go to work out your body will have lower blood sugar levels to begin with and working out naturally brings blood sugar levels down.  If you already have low blood sugar levels from alcohol and try to work out you will feel run down and not have enough energy to get a proper session in.  This lack of energy will be a detriment to your fitness goals and possibly cause even more life threatening health problems, besides the possibility of passing out on the treadmill….funny on YouTube, but not in person!
  2. Your body requires a certain amount of calories to maintain your weight based on your height, weight, and gender called your basal metabolic rate (bmr).  A surplus of calories will increase your weight because your body can’t utilize those calories as energy and in turn stores them as fat.  Besides the obvious excess calories and sugar alcohol adds when you drink during a meal it has been shown to increase the amount of calories you eat in that meal by 20%, when you add the calories from the alcohol with the food calories the average individual will have 33% more calories in a meal with alcohol than without.  The “hypothetical” beer belly isn’t so hypothetical at anymore, in fact a study of over 3,000 men who drank on a regular basis had excess amounts of belly fat leading to an increased risk of type 2 diabetes.  When we drink our hunger increases and with a lowered inhibition we are more likely to crave bad foods late at night and make bad food choices, a cocktail recipe for disaster!
  3. Another less than obvious risk of alcohol consumption is a decreased level of testosterone! Testosterone is responsible for muscle growth, energy, sex drive, and helps increase metabolism.  When alcohol is consumed it disrupts the release of free testosterone, think of the free testosterone as the fuel in your tank you want to use immediately.  Besides the disruption of testosterone the hops in beer are known to be extremely estrogenic, yes the female hormone!   An elevated level of estrogen in a man will decrease your overall testosterone; hops are even being studied to lower the symptoms of hot flashes in post-menopausal women.
  4. Alcohol affects our circadian rhythm, now why does this matter? When we don’t have a good night sleep our bodies can’t produce growth hormone (responsible for bone and muscle growth), we are more likely to have inflammation, less likely to have muscles repair themselves, and it also increases hunger the next day for not having enough sleep leading to consumption of more calories than our bodies need.
  5. Reason number five for the contribution of alcohol and weight gain is probably the least known, how alcohol is metabolized. We focus on calories, carbs, and sugars in alcohol but never really look at how the alcohol is metabolized by our body.  Once alcohol is consumed our bodies start to make it a priority to get it out, not such a bad thing right, wrong!  Since alcohol can’t be metabolized by our body it will put the brakes on metabolizing protein, carbohydrates, and fat.  So while you are worrying about the amount of calories you are drinking your body simply registers the foreign substance in your body and won’t let you break down any calories, making you more likely to store fat!  Once you stop drinking alcohol leaves your body at about .01% per hour, so if your blood alcohol content is .08 (legally drunk) it will take you 8 hours to get all of the alcohol out of you, then maybe you can start losing some fat!  Don’t think that coffee, a cold shower, or greasy food will help you get rid of the toxins in your body, TIME is the ONLY thing that will help!

Now that you have the reasons why alcohol can contribute to weight gain, lack of testosterone, dehydration, blood pressure issues, and even more (I can keep going)  you won’t drink anymore right?….come on, I’m a realist, we are all going to have another drink at some point, but what can we do to prevent maximal weight gain?

  1. Never drink on an empty stomach!
  2. Do NOT drink before a meal, you will eat even more calories and crap food, save the booze for after the meal!
  3. For every one drink you have drink a glass of water between to stay hydrated and limit the overall amount of alcohol you consume in an evening.
  4. Stay AWAY from sugary mixers; if you want to add something to your drink add water, soda water, lemon, lime, orange slice, or fresh grapefruit juice. Or simply have a vodka or tequila on the rocks, which will save you calories.
  5. Don’t think a bottle of red wine is good for you; yes a glass may have some “beneficial” properties, but so do grapes.
  6. No shots!!! Look, I loved shots in college, but one reason I liked them is because I got drunk faster, before I knew it I had 10-15 drinks in a night, you lose track of how many you have and it’s a detriment to your waistline, health, and your hangover!
  7. Drink slowly, see number 6 above!
  8. Stay away from peer pressure, wait we aren’t in high school anymore! Look, we are social beings, and with that social drinkers.  It’s OK to say NO thanks!  Put on your big boy or big girl pants and politely turn down that drinks your friend just brought you, it will be ok!
  9. Set a limit for yourself! If you say you are only going to have 2 drinks tonight, only have 2, you will be proud of yourself in the morning when you feel great and not like a truck hit you!
  10. Talk to yourself! What?  Next time you get ready to have that occasional drink after work go over this article in your head, is that drink really worth all of the hard work you have put in to get healthy, is it worth me feeling bad about myself when I didn’t reach my goals, is it worth increasing my risk of diabetes, is it worth the hours of fun for the hours of regret the next day?  If so drink away, I am here to give you the tools necessary for you to say yes to a drink……or NO!

Filed Under: Fitness Tagged With: Alcohol and Weight Gain

Yoga While You Do Housework? Absolutely!

March 18, 2015 By Christine Chen Leave a Comment

Yoga While You Do HouseworkTrue statement: Yoga made my house chores less of a chore.

True story: I broke a sweat, because certain yoga movements while you do housework are valid workouts, too.

Biggest truth of all: I felt more peaceful and happy as I did the chores and even better as I did something good for myself.

When I started practicing yoga 15 years ago, my work schedule kept me from getting to class as often as I wanted. So, I started threading pieces of poses I learned in class into the rest of my life – at work, on planes, waiting in line at the grocery store, and yes, even while I was doing housework!

Here are five ways you can transform ho-hum housework moments into mini, yogic bits of health.

Yoga While You Do Housework#1 Dish It (Yoga While You Do the Dishes)

While you’re scrubbing plates, incorporate an abdominal strength builder that also helps overall digestion.

  1. Stand at the kitchen sink with your belly touching the counter.
  2. Inhale through your nose and inflate your belly (feel it press against the counter).
  3. Exhale and shrink only your belly away from the sink (you should feel it move away from the counter).
  4. Still on your exhale, imagine lifting your belly button in and up, suspending your exhale for a beat or two.
  5. Inhale and repeat steps 2-5.

Yoga While You Do Housework#2 Surf It (Yoga While You Vacuum)

As you push the vacuum cleaner, build greater balance and leg strength while stretching your hamstrings and producing a clean carpet.

  1. Take a firm, wide stance with your feet.
  2. With the vacuum to one side, pull the vacuum toward you, shift backward, and bend your back knee, putting the weight on the leg furthest away from the vacuum.
  3. Push the vacuum away from you, bend your front knee, and shift your weight to the leg closest to the vacuum.
  4. Repeat steps 2-3 and find a rocking motion as you move the vacuum back and forth across the carpet.

Yoga While You Do Housework#3 Garden With The Gods (Yoga While You Garden)

Stretch your calf muscles and feet, improve your posture, and tone your arms, shoulders and upper back while bringing good vibes to your plants and flowers.

  1. Kneel on your shins in the grass or another soft surface.
  2. Keeping your shoulders dropped away from your ears, reach your arms above your head, interlace your fingers, and press your palms together.
  3. Release only your thumbs and index fingers from the interlace, and press them together. Point them up to the sky.
  4. Feel your tailbone lengthen into the earth, and reach higher with your arms and pointed fingers.
  5. Breathe deeply and hold for 10 breaths. Repeat if desired.

Yoga While You Do Housework#4 Laundry Lift  (Yoga While You Do Laundry)

No need to hit the gym for squats. Strengthen your legs and support your back at the same time, then meditate while you match socks.

  1. Widen your leg stance, bend your knees, and come into a squat position, bringing your rear closer to the ground while keeping your chest and face lifted.
  2. Inhale, and grab your laundry basket.
  3. Exhale, then, press down into the ground to stand up, keeping your chest and face lifted.
  4. Repeat and keep breathing!

Yoga While You Do Housework#5 Couch Potato  (Yoga to Restore Your Post-Chore Energy)

Look no further than your couch to “power nap” the yogi way, helping yourself let go and relieve your body of tension, which then restores your energy.

  1. Lengthwise, lie down on the couch with your rear close to the end.
  2. Toss your legs over the arm of the couch, bending your knees close to ninety degrees.
  3. Close your eyes; breathe deeply.
  4. Imagine you’re a dense potato, sinking deeper into the couch.
  5. Stay there for one to three minutes, maybe more (but try not to fall asleep right there).

Great Yoga BookBased on real yoga poses, these are just a few brief ideas of how to turn housework into bits of wellness!

More detailed versions are in my new book, Happy-Go-Yoga, simple poses to relieve pain, reduce stress, and add joy, in a chapter called “Chill Homies,” one of several chapters that bring yoga into real life situations – at home, on the job – wherever you are!

Filed Under: Fitness Tagged With: Yoga

A Prenatal Yoga Teacher’s Take on The Importance of Health and Fitness in Modern Pregnancy

February 25, 2015 By Desi Bartlett MS CPT E-RYT Leave a Comment

Prenatal Yoga AdvicePrenatal health and fitness is a relatively young field of study. In fact, the first published studies on the effect of maternal health from exercise were performed in the 1980s. This means that before then, many women were encouraged to take it really easy, or even stop exercising throughout the duration of their pregnancies. My philosophy is completely different from the days of old. As a mother of two, I know that labor and delivery can be one of the most challenging athletic events in life, and we must prepare ourselves to rise to the challenge.

During pregnancy, our blood volume increases significantly, and it is common to feel like you are huffing and puffing up event the shortest flight of stairs. The reason for this is because in addition to added weight, the cardiovascular system has more work. As a prenatal yoga teacher, I encourage the pregnant goddesses (yes, I love to call expectant moms that), to follow a few basic guidelines in order to feel strong and empowered throughout pregnancy, and beyond.

Prenatal Yoga Tips1.) Breathe slowly and deeply. The pregnant body requires more oxygen for mama and baby.

2.) Hydrate properly with clean, healthy sources of alkaline water. I like Essentia Water because it has electrolytes that can help to stave off leg cramps (Charlie horses).

3.) Get your heart rate up safely by using the perceived rate to exertion scale. On a scale of 1-10, 10 being the highest, try to keep your exercise level of intensity at or close to a 7.

4.) Use your warmup as an energy test. If after 6 minutes of movement you are feeling great, it is a clear indicator that movement is a great choice for that day. If after the first few minutes you feel sluggish or very nauseous, it is clear feedback from the body to take it a little bit easier that day.

5.) Enjoy safe core work. This is obviously not the time for crunches or any type of constriction in the core, but exercises like modified plank, and side plank are safe and very effective for increasing the strength in the muscles that help to support your beautiful baby.

6.) Endurance is important but so are short bursts of activity. Labor and delivery requires short bursts of power to push effectively, and then there is respite between the contractions. Nature’s cycle of labor and delivery parallels interval training. When preparing for labor and delivery, try a workout that has a few short burst of intensity, like speed walking combined with slower walking, or walking up stairs combined with walking on a flat surface. Your body will adapt to the new challenge and you can call on this type of endurance and power on the birth-day of your baby.

7.) Stay centered. Your baby can feel your every emotion. When you are anxious or out of sorts, your adrenals squirt out the stress hormone adrenaline, and there is a stress response. We cannot avoid all stress, but we can reframe small daily stressors as something that we can easily navigate, we might just need a few extra minutes to do so. The example that comes to mind is traffic. If you are driving in heavy traffic, and you start to get stressed, enjoy some slow steady breaths, and do a little progressive relaxation from your feet up to your head. Your body and your baby will benefit.

8.) Practice Yoga. Yoga is a wonderful gift to both mama and baby. Yoga helps with strength, flexibility, and a feeling of ease in the body. This type of mindful practice also allows a really sweet opportunity to bond with your baby. As you move into postures, imagine love and light surrounding you and your baby.


Filed Under: Fitness Tagged With: Pregnancy

Is Cortisol Affecting Your Life? Try Yoga.

November 19, 2014 By Elissa Lappostato Leave a Comment

Cortisol and Weight Loss - Reducing Cortisol Levels for Weight LossAccording to a 2012 Gallup poll, over 40 percent of Americans are stressed.  Stress can be the unseen boogey man living under the bed for many of us, affecting our sleep and our lives in general. Our own bodies release cortisol, a stress hormone, during “fight-or-flight” situations. This can increase blood sugar and aid in metabolizing nutrients, all while reducing immune system function and bone formation.  All of these are highly beneficial in a high-risk situation. However, for the average person, maintaining this level of high alert can be detrimental to our bodies and our health.

What one may not know is that cortisol can affect fat storage and weight gain in stress prone people.  This translates into the unhealthy abdominal fat, otherwise known as visceral fat.   This excess fat is thought to raise one’s risk for diabetes, heart disease and other conditions.

However, there are ways to fight the fat! For a reduction that engages the body, brings balance, emphasizes mindfulness of actions and awareness of self, consider joining the 11 million Americans who practice yoga. The benefits have been studied time and time again, and the world is in agreement—it can help to reduce your stress levels, lower your blood pressure, help aid weight loss, and even keep those cortisol levels in balance to provide you with an overall healthier lifestyle.

As exercise, yoga increases the heart rate and promotes increased oxygen use by our cells and our being. Unlike many high intensity training sessions, yoga allows us to be active and gain a quick endorphin boost without raising cortisol levels. These endorphins naturally elevate one’s mood and act as painkillers for the body, lowering stress levels and aiding in an individual’s ability to relax. Instructors encourage deep breaths to allow for more oxygen to the brain, producing a calming effect on the mind and body.

But it’s so much more than just those feel good endorphins! By using relaxation techniques, including meditation, to engage the mind, body and soul, the benefits of yoga go beyond the physical.  The ability to sit still, decompress one’s thoughts, and allow the mind to be free of worry is why participants of yoga and meditation have significantly lower stress levels compared to those who do not engage in those activities. By focusing on present tasks, rather than dwelling on all our other daily stressors, one can find his or her peace. This is the purpose of meditation- to clear our minds and bring our bodies to a calm state, evident by a slower pulse and heart rate.

The health benefits associated with yoga continue to be promoted by physicians and even employers. Many Fortune 500 companies such as Apple, Forbes and Nike offer classes to their employees as a way to combat stress and to keep their workers happy and motivated. Exercise has been linked not only to lower stress levels but also to increased cognitive functions like memory. Companies are taking the time to invest in the healthy lifestyle that yoga embodies and so should you.

Elissa Lappostato, co- founder of Prajjali and yoga teacher, suggests these five poses for those looking for some cortisol reduction.

Cat Pose (Majariasana)

As its name suggests, this pose mimics the movements of felines. Majariasana promotes movement in the spine, allowing your lower and upper back to remain flexible and free from pain, which is often caused by stress. What is great about this is that it helps eliminate tension that is already there and prevents tension from occurring in the future. This pose also opens up the chest cavity allowing for increased lung capacity and improved blood circulation. Majariasana helps reduce stress even more by gently massaging the abdominal organs. The movements used in this pose help alter and relieve pressure that is often put on internal organs.

Standing Forward Bend (Uttanasana)

Often used to transition between poses, Uttanasana, also works as a great stress reliever when used alone. This pose requires the individual to start by standing upright with hands resting on their hips. As he/she begins to bend forward, they set their focus on keeping the weight evenly distributed on their heels. One can continue by bending their elbows and holding on to each elbow with the opposite hand. Uttanasana focuses on stretching the hamstrings, calves, hips, knees, and thighs. Long hours in the office and sleepless nights are far too common in the workplace. These two stressors are responsible for tight backs. By focusing on releasing tension on the back and legs, staying in this position for just two minutes can help relieve different levels of stress ranging from fatigue to acute depression.

Corpse Pose (Savasana)

Known as the Corpse Pose, Savasana requires a person to quite literally remain in what appears to be a corpse-like state. This pose requires they lay on the floor with eyes closed and hands facing up. Stress causes muscles to tense up which can eventually lead to different aches and pains in your body. As one lies in this position, their muscles have no choice but to loosen up and release tension. Aside from helping release stress, this pose can also be used to reduce insomnia and improve sleeping patterns.

Child’s Pose (Balasana)

The Balasana pose mainly focuses on the thighs. Overall, this pose helps regulate and calm the body by helping to stabilize circulation and encourage steady breathing.  Since the body tends to hunch over during inhalation in this position, it encourages the spine to lengthen and widen, thereby relieving back and neck pain, which may be a result of stress.

Bridge Pose (Setu Bandha Sarvangasana)

This pose helps stretch the chest, neck, legs and spine. Since your chest is elevated in this position, it causes lung capacity to increase, thereby encouraging deeper more stabilized breaths. This controlled breathing is great for alleviating stress because it eliminates the increased heart rate associated with it. By encouraging a lower heart rate, this pose is especially beneficial to those who suffer from high blood pressure.

 

Do you want to know more about the different types of yoga available, and how they can help lower your cortisol levels and ultimately your stress? Prajjali.com offers an opportunity to try a variety of styles, from hot to Vinyasa yoga, with no commitment to a single style.  With participating studios in California, New York, New Jersey, Virginia, and Texas, the Prajjali Pass can offer you the flexibility you need to experience yoga for yourself.

Prajjali Partnering California Studios:

  • Be Yoga- Palo alto
  • Adhikara Yoga- San Francisco
  • Purusha Yoga Studio- San Francisco
  • Almaden Yoga- San Jose
  • Yoga Community- Sonoma

Filed Under: Fitness

A Professional Dietitian’s Take on Weight Loss

August 15, 2014 By Eamonn Gormley Leave a Comment

Dietitian Advice for Weight LossMelissa Burton, based in Pasadena, is a woman of many talents. Owner of the website thevalentineRD.com, she also is a Registered Dietitian (RD), Certified Diabetes Educator, and holds a Certificate in Adult Weight Management (CDE) from AND.

Dietitian Advice for Weight LossIn addition to her expertise in nutrition and as a diabetes educator, Melissa has a certification in weight management, but she does not consider her specialization to be weight loss.  “My objective as an RD is to educate people about food and nutrition and to help them recognize their eating patterns,” she says.  “Many people seek the counseling of an RD to lose weight, but weight loss is not only about calories in versus calories out and eating ‘healthy’ foods.  People eat not just to sustain life in the metabolic sense, they eat for many more reasons than sustenance.”  She maintains that there is always an emotional, social, financial, educational and lifestyle component to why, what, when, how and how much people eat.

To help her patients and clients lose weight without restricting calories, she tries to educate people about food and take the demonization out.  “In my mind there are no ‘good’ or ‘bad’ foods just like you are not ‘good’ or ‘bad’ if you eat certain foods,” she says.  “There is a place for every kind of food that someone likes in a healthy lifestyle.  There are some foods that are healthier than others and I encourage people to eat foods that are as close as possible to how they were when they either came out of the ground, or off a tree, or with minimal processing.”

Teaching people what carbohydrates, proteins and fats are can be very eye opening to people.  Melissa believes that that learning to read food labels, and noticing the number of ingredients listed on food labels, can allow people to make educated empowered choices about the foods they choose to eat.

In her experience, restriction of any kind such as calories and specific foods creates what she calls the ‘boomerang’ or ‘Hoover’ effect.  “The chronic sense of deprivation sends someone from being strictly adherent to what they’ve been avoiding to doing the absolute opposite,” she says. “They Hoover or vacuum up the thing they’ve been avoiding and they cannot stop.  Finding a way to include foods that are considered ‘triggers’ or ‘slippery slope’ foods is also very important in achieving a heathy eating mindset.  Helping people to gain confidence in their own abilities to choose foods or give themselves permission to eat foods formerly considered ‘bad‘ are major steps toward a lifetime of healthy eating and living versus the ‘I need to diet to lose weight’ mentality.”

We need to eat multiple times a day just in order to live.  There are people who eat to live and others who live to eat.  Melissa believes that a healthy lifestyle can be a blend of both.  “My nutrition practice speciality is women’s health,” she says.  “I find that many women become interested in nutrition beyond the vanity phase before and during pregnancy.  This is a time when women are open to learning about nutrition and when special attention to the growing of another human being, or two, is of the utmost importance.”

When asked if there are any specific foods that assist with weight loss, she says that there are not any specific foods per se, but consuming adequate fiber in the diet can certainly help with satiety and regular elimination of solid waste.  “Fiber requirements for women are 25g per day and 38g per day for men,” she says.  “The average American does not meet this with daily intake.  Many nutrient-dense plant-based foods like fruit and vegetables are high in fiber so in the effort to lose weight, I do advocate fruit, vegetables, beans, whole grains and water.  This is  because in addition to increasing nutrient intake these foods increase fiber intake and help people feel full for longer.  If people do not properly hydrate, the increased fiber can lead to constipation.  With fiber one always needs adequate hydration of at least 30 ml per kg body weight, more if exercising or depending on climate.

Melissa does not generally recommend dietary supplements for people who want to lose weight.  “However,” she says, “if one’s intake does not meet all of the daily vitamin and nutrient needs sometimes a multivitamin may be in order.  Also asking your doctor to check at blood draws for nutrient deficiencies such as Vitamin D, B12, or calcium (especially for women) may help optimize metabolism with supplements if nutrient deficiencies are detected.”  A multivitamin can often act as an appetite stimulant in those with long term poor intake history.  Once the body receives missing nutrients on a regular basis, it often begins to give signals of hunger to replete stores.

While for some people hormone imbalances may be hindering their weight loss efforts, stress, sleep and intake patterns can also have an effect on weight loss efforts.  If stress, sleep, intake changes and exercise do not have positive effects on weight loss, she recommends a blood work panel to check thyroid hormones, insulin levels, or in women to test for androgens (male hormones) that may play a part in PCOS (Polycystic Ovary Syndrome) which all may prevent expected weight loss.

The most important piece of advice she can give to someone that wants to lose weight is to find a way to make healthy eating a part of one’s lifestyle, not just go on a diet.  “As an RD, I hate that my professional title has the words ‘die’ and ‘diet’ within a helping profession,” she says.  “However, I am proud to be a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist (RDN, the newest term for RDs) because we are the nutrition experts.  Anyone in the world can call themselves a Nutritionist but Registered Dietitian Nutritionists (RD or RDN) have standardized formal and practical education requirements that need to be met before being eligible to take and pass the Registered Dietitian exam.”  Indeed, RDs and RDNs must also take 70 continuing education credits every five years to keep themselves in good professional standing.

Melissa adds, “Most people know that exercise, healthy eating, sleep, moderate stress and proper hydration are keys to losing weight but what we eat and the way we live is more than the sum of science.  It’s imperative that someone starting on weight loss journey find their own measure of support, patience and the willingness to learn.”  She maintains that it is important not to let the pills, cleanses and diets promising a new body, and a new life, play upon one’s insecurities.

“Your mind is the most important part of a weight loss effort,” she says.  “With nutrition education comes empowerment and the beginning of a healthy lifestyle on one’s own terms.”

Dietitian Advice for Weight Loss

Filed Under: Fitness

Helping Women to “Age Actively”

August 3, 2014 By Eamonn Gormley Leave a Comment

Helping Women to “Age Actively”Santa Barbara-based Alexandra Williams, along with her twin sister, Kymberly Williams-Evans, has an infectious energy that has been a feature of their active lives almost from the day they were born.  Raised by a mother who taught modern dance, they spent many childhood years acting and dancing in musical theatre. In their teens they took up soccer, and in 1982 Kymberly went to Germany to teach English and dance, only to discover a studio that taught a new type of movement called aerobics. Alexandra promptly joined her in the still-divided city.  “Aerobics was all high impact and leg warmers,” she says.  “We did a weekly exercise show on the military channel there, plus taught at the first Berlin aerobics studio.”

Alexandra wanted to study Russian language and literature, so she moved back to the States and started teaching exercise classes locally in order to support herself. “Little did I know I’d still be teaching and traveling the world with fitness thirty years later,” she says.  “I teach in the Exercise Studies department at UC Santa Barbara. Besides that, I work on our blog FunAndFit.org, which is geared toward boomer women who want to age actively, I write for print magazines, I co-host a radio show, and I mentor new instructors. I also compel my boys to walk the dogs with me.”

A frequently-asked question put to Alexandra and her sister is where to start if someone wants to lose weight. Her answer begins with a question, “What’s the least you can do?” She says that it sounds counter-intuitive, but “usually people make a grand, general plan, say, I want to lose 50 pounds, yet have no idea what the small steps are to get to the end goal.”  Her advice is to make a list of the ten steps needed to get from 1 (where you are now) to 10 (50 pounds lost). “The steps must be measurable, specific and realistic.” They have written blog postings to flesh this out in more detail.  

When asked for tips for someone who doesn’t have access to a gym, she rubs her hands together.  “But of course,” she says.  “If you can get outside, walk around the block. Having said that, I live on a mountain, so a walk around the ‘block’ would take a few days! You can do lots of movement in your house – pushups against the kitchen counter, sit-to-stand squats while watching television or sitting down to dinner. You start to sit, then stand back up, then sit. Do this every time you go to sit down and you’ll have added a lot of squats to your day.”  She adds that rudimentary weights can be made out of five pound bags of rice for bicep curls, or to perform ab crunches. Even a can of tuna can be enlisted (see video).

When asked for the best exercise for those with over 20 pounds of fat to lose, Alexandra’s answer is simple. “The one you’ll do.” Sometimes people want to know the quickest, or most effective when they say “best,” but the truth is “an exercise is only effective if you do it. So choose one you’ll enjoy, or at least do. Having said that, if someone is trying to lose 20 pounds in a hurry, they are best off with High Intensity Interval Training. But if the extra 20 pounds is hard on the joints, this type of training is contraindicated.”

Alexandra is often asked who her fitness mentors are and why, and her answer is consistent. “My mom was a modern dance teacher with five young kids, yet she found a way to teach dance and include us. So she instilled a love of movement in me. Then my twin sister Kymberly and I went from playing college soccer to teaching aerobics back when it was new. My sis was the one who convinced me to move to Berlin and start teaching over thirty years ago, so that worked out rather well.”  There are some industry professionals that she really likes because they offer “fun, safe and effective workouts,” but they did not mentor her.

A lot of people start exercising regularly, but still struggle to lose some extra pounds. In Alexandra’s experience, the key factors that prevent people from losing weight despite regular exercise are that they probably have not changed their eating or sleep habits. “If you exercise intensely for an hour and manage to burn 600 KCals, then drink a frou-frou coffee drink, you just drank back those 600 KCals in three minutes, which is very disheartening. On the bright side, people who start including strength training as part of their routine may gain weight as they build muscle, yet will find their clothes loose-fitting.”  She advises people to dump the scale “unless using it to do overhead presses!”

Hormone imbalances may hinder people’s weight loss efforts, particularly during menopause, and tests can be preformed to diagnose the imbalances. Alexandra recommends her colleague Tamara Grand, a personal trainer and fitness author who has a whole series on this.  

Any training regimen that can be offered to a client who says they strictly wants to lose weight depends on the client’s history, schedule, motivation, “and how many delicious snacks she brings me!”  In general, Alexandra recommends starting with:

  • Short duration, high intensity (not necessarily high impact) cardio
  • Strength training (higher amount of weight, fewer repetitions)
  • Cutting portions by a third
  • Getting at least 7 hours of sleep nightly (your body recovers and is not awake eating)

She says that these may seem “boring, yet are extremely effective.“

When asked about how much weights versus cardio women in their forties should do, Alexandra laughs.  “They are friends,” she says, “so there is no ‘versus.’ They need to work together. A woman in her forties needs to do both. How much, how often, how long, and what type depend on the woman, but a good place to start is 50/50. If she is a new exerciser, then three days a week, 60-90 minutes at a time is a good place to start. And ladies, go big. You are not doing bodybuilding (unless you really are), so you aren’t going for one rep maximum. You are going for health, energy and looks, right? So work up to at least 8-10 pound barbells in each hand if you are using free weights.”

When one is trying to lose weight or get in shape, goals are all important, so what should they set out to accomplish, and what would be a healthy time frame to to accomplish the goal of losing 20 pounds?

“Follow the ten-step outline I mention above,” she says. “If you don’t write down specific steps, you have no idea how to get to your end goal. And it’s best to lose 1.5 – 2 pounds per week. If you diet and lose lots of weight quickly, that’s exactly how fast you’ll gain it back. How long did it take to put on those 20 pounds? Yeah, frustrating. But healthy and realistic. And remember, the goal is to lose weight and keep it off, not lose it repeatedly.”

Good advice.

Filed Under: Fitness

Alternative Techniques for Natural Weight Loss

August 1, 2014 By Bill Farr Leave a Comment

Alternative Techniques for Natural Weight LossThere are many people that no matter what they do, they just can’t lose the weight they want, leading them to the mistaken impression that it is a due to their genetics. When people can’t lose weight despite following the typical healthy criteria, I find their issue is related to stress and poor gut flora. These are important factors in a person’s fat accumulation that most people are unaware of. I combat these using techniques in meditation and Chi Gong to improve your inner energy and the balance of hormones.

Under stress your body releases the hormone cortisol, which in studies has been shown to store fat and burn muscle. The reason it does this is because our body interprets stress as a possible famine and begins to prepare for it by creating visceral fat. This is fat around the organs, occurring in the mid-section. Cortisol is a true yin/yang or opposite to testosterone because testosterone burns fat and builds muscle. So in order to lose weight we want more testosterone and less cortisol.

Environmental Stress Can Effect Your Weight

There are many environmental factors today that cause stress such as smog, chemicals in food, radiation from computers and cell phones, as well as our jobs, relationships, etc. The solution to this is finding relaxation with specific techniques to fight stress. Many people who start meditation or chi-gong often unexpectedly lose weight without understanding why, and the reason is that it lowers cortisol and raises testosterone, as well as raises your inner energy levels, immunity, and what the Chinese call your “Chi”. Simple techniques for this can be found at www.TheArtofUnity.com/ChiGong

Here you will find short Chi Gong videos for Weight Loss and Digestion designed to bring your body (and mind) to their healthiest and most energetic states. This is perfect for new practitioners to help combat environmental stress, and transform internal stress into a source of energy and relaxation. On a more complex level it clears toxins, improves circulation to the organs and intestines, boosts metabolism, releases emotional attachments, and energizes your chakras.

Gut Flora

I also advise my clients to be aware of the health of their gut bacteria, since it is an important factor in eliminating excess weight. This determines many factors in the health of your digestion. If you have poor gut bacteria (as most people do) this can lead to “leaky gut syndrome.” Studies have found that leaky gut syndrome, often caused from a lack of good bacteria in your gut (aka gut flora) also causes visceral fat. Along with a healthy diet, taking probiotics, or better yet, eating fermented foods can help seal and protect your gut from leaky gut.

Fermented foods include Fermented Vegetables, Kefir, Natto, or Kombucha. I would always avoid commercial brands and make these yourself. Simple ways to make Kefir and Fermented Vegetables are available on my blog at (www.TheArtofUnity.com) If you are going to take a probiotic I would recommend one with at least 20 billion CFU taken with an organic Psyllium Husk Fiber.

Studies have also found that your gut bacteria most probably influences food cravings and thereby play a part in determining dietary choices. Meaning if you have mostly bad bacteria you will crave sugar and other unhealthy foods. Further, multiple studies have shown that obese people have different gut bacteria than slim people.

The good news is this can be controlled with awareness, as explained in my blogs on the importance of gut bacteria. In one recent study, obese people were able to reduce their abdominal fat by nearly 5 percent, just be drinking kefir for 12 weeks.

The living bacteria in your digestive tract form an important “inner ecosystem” that influences countless aspects of physical and mental health, including your weight and ease with which you are able to lose weight.

These two important aspects of losing weight work hand and hand with typical health practices that most people are aware of, such as:

  • Eat only organic fruits and vegetables, if you eat meat choose organic free-range chicken and grass-fed beef.
  • Eat healthy fats, such as those from olive oil, avocados, raw butter, and free-range organic animals if you choose to eat meat.
  • Avoid sugar, empty carbs, processed foods, sodas, and fruit juice.
  • Drink a lot of purified water.
  • Exercise (preferably high intensity) at least 4 days a week.
  • Get 8 hours of sleep per night.

Sources:

  • articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2010/07/06/probiotics-bacteria-gut-digestive-health-immune-system.aspx
  • articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2011/10/12/is-a-leaky-gut-causing-you-to-pack-on-the-pounds.aspx
  • www.naturalnews.com/036331_gut_flora_weight_loss_body_fat.html
  • www.lauralondonfitness.com/blog/healthy-living-articles-by-laura/meet-cortisol-the-fat-storage-hormone
  • www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=53304

Filed Under: Fitness

Exercise to Reduce Lower Back Pain

July 22, 2014 By Kurt Zettel 1 Comment

Lower back injuries are very common. In fact, according to the American Chiropractic Association, 31 million Americans experience lower back pain. The last thing that most people with back pain want to do is exercise, however, core exercises that strengthen muscles and support the spine will reduce pain and pressure on the spinal column. Core strengthening and stretching also helps the spinal cord get the nutrients and fluids it needs. It is important to see a doctor before starting an exercise program because not all lower back injuries are the same. This article contains exercises and stretches that your doctor may suggest. It is important to ease into an exercise program at your own comfort and increase or lower the suggested parameters of each exercise based on how you feel. Never exercise to the point of pain.

Stretching

Stretching the lower back will reduce pain and pressure. While stretching, go slow, do not bounce, and do not stretch beyond your limits. You will gain flexibility and be able to progress each stretch with practice.
Exercise to Reduce Lower Back Pain
Lie on your back with both legs on the mat. Slowly bend one knee to chest while the opposite leg remains straight and on the floor. Hold knee into chest for 15-30 seconds. Do 2-3 repetitions per leg.

Modification: If you are having difficulty keeping bottom leg straight, bend bottom leg with foot on the mat.

Exercises to Reduce Back Pain

The reclined hamstring stretch is good for relieving sciatica. Lie on a mat and raise one leg as high as you can while keeping your butt and bottom leg on mat. Grab the back of your raised leg at the hamstring or back of the knee and gradually pull knee towards your chest. Hold stretch for 15-30 seconds and do 2-3 repetitions per leg.

Exercises to Reduce Lower Back PainLie on back with knees bent and feet on the mat. Have your arms spread out. Slowly rotate knees to the ground using your feet as a pivot point. Concentrate on keeping your shoulder blades on the ground. Turn your head in the opposite direction of where your knees are pointing. Do 2-3 repetitions and hold stretch for 10-15 seconds.
Exercise to Reduce Lower Back Pain
Exercise to Reduce Lower Back PainLie on your stomach and prop yourself onto your elbows, raising your chest off the mat and keep your hips on the mat. If you do not feel discomfort, straighten your elbows to further extend the back and keep your hips on the mat. Do 2-3 repetitions and hold stretch for 15-30 seconds.

Exercise to Reduce Lower Back Pain

This stretch is good for elongating and taking tension off the spine and decompressing nerves between vertebras. With a physio ball, lie on your back letting the curvature of the ball stretch and extend your back. Hold for 20-45 seconds and do 2-3 repetitions.

Strengthening Core Muscles

Exercise to Reduce Lower Back Pain

Kneel on a mat with both hands placed shoulders width apart. Clinch your abdomen. Lift alternative leg and arm. Hold extended arm and leg for 10-20 seconds and then repeat on the other side. Do 2-3 reps per side

Exercises to Reduce Lower Back Pain

Stand two feet from wall and lean into wall. Bend knees at a 90 degree angle. Hold for 30-45 seconds and do 2-3 repetitions.
Exercise to Reduce Lower Back PainLie on back with knees bent and feet on the floor. With arms supporting back of neck raise shoulders off ground. Hold crunch for 1 second and return to mat. Do 3 sets of 20.
Exercise to Reduce Lower Back Pain

Lie on your back with your feet flat on the mat and your knees bent. Keep your back flat against the mat. Clinch your abdominal muscles and slightly bend your pelvis upwards. Hold pelvis upwards for 10 seconds. Do 2-3 repetitions.
Exercise to reduce lower back painLie on your back with your knees bent and your feet flat on the mat and arms at your sides, and breathe in. Exhale as you press your feet into the mat and squeeze your butt and raise your hips off the ground one vertebrae at a time.  Inhale at the top and then exhale as you lower your back to the floor. Do 2-3 repetitions and hold for 10-15 seconds.

 

Aerobic (cardiovascular exercise)

In addition to strengthening your core, low impact aerobic exercises like swimming, biking, and walking will reduce body fat that is additional weight which strains your vertebra. Exercises like yoga and Pilates are also useful for reducing lower back pain.

Filed Under: Fitness

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