10 Ways To Be A Gentleman At The Gym

Perhaps it is the rush of testosterone and the feeling of primal power that accompanies working out, but many men seem to check their manners at the door to the gym. But just because you’re getting in touch with your inner man beast, doesn’t mean you should turn into an inconsiderate boob. Gyms should give new members a course on etiquette, but they don’t, leaving many men wholly ignorant of how to act civilly while pumping iron. Here are the rules of etiquette every man should know and keep. Feel free to tape them up in your gym’s locker room.

1. Rack your weights. Would you whip up a meal in the kitchen and then leave the dirty dishes from someone else to do? Well maybe you would, but then your roommates are currently plotting how to get you kicked out of the house. Show some respect to your fellow gym patrons and rack your weights. And rack them correctly. Nothing pisses me off more then when there’s a 25 lb plate racked behind three 45 lbs plates. Take those few extra steps to put the same weight with the same weight.

2. Don’t hog the machines. Get in, get your work done, and leave. A gym is a community, so sharing is required. And no, you can’t lay claim to a machine by simply laying your towel on it. Not being a hog on a machine can get difficult when you’re doing super circuits. Before you move to the next machine, tell the person who’s using the machine after you that you’ll be coming back shortly to finish up your circuit.

3. Use a spotter. If you’re throwing around heavy weight, make sure you have someone spotting you. First, it’s a safety concern. Second, you’ll look like an idiot struggling with a bar over your chest.

4. Don’t hover. While hogging machines at the gym is a faux pas, what irks me more is when people start hovering over a machine that you’re in the middle of using. These hoverers passive-aggressively lurk by the machine to give you the signal that they want you to leave. If you want to use the machine, wait until the person has finished their set to approach them. Then politely ask if you can get a set in.

5. Wipe down the equipment. I am convinced that many men feel that their gyms’ “please wipe down your equipment” sign applies to everyone but themselves. How else to explain why a man who has soaked his shirt through with sweat would walk away from a machine he’s coated with perspiration? Nobody wants to sit in a pool of a guy’s sweat, much less a layer of it composed of an afternoon of inconsiderate gym goers. If you moisten a piece of equipment, wipe it down with your towel. If you are sweating profusely, also use the disinfectant spray that the gym provides.

6. Don’t drop the weights. When you’re finished cranking out a set of dumbbell presses, lay them down like a normal person. Don’t just drop them off your shoulders. First, it’s dangerous to do so. You don’t know if there are any feet or hands that the weight can land on. Second, it’s bad for the weights and the floor. Even if your gym has those rubber floors, dropping the weights from great heights will eventually cause some wear and tear. Finally, it’s distracting. Dropping weights creates a bunch of ruckus that can distract other gym patrons.

7. Don’t hit on women. The gym is not a bar. You’re there to work, and so are the women. Don’t bother them. Most women feel sweaty and messy when they’re working out, and are not in the mood for love. If the woman is not sweaty and messy, and instead has perfectly coiffed hair and a full face of make-up, you should still steer clear; you don’t want to date the kind of woman who gets guzzied up for the gym.

8. Don’t give unsolicited advice. So what if you got your college degree in sports nutrition and exercise? No one cares what you have to say about how to get chiseled abs. Only if someone asks for some advice, or is in serious danger of hurting themselves, should you step in and let loose a river of all the workout knowledge that’s stored in that big cranium of yours.

9. Leave the cell phone in the car. One of the most obnoxious things to see at a gym is a person yapping away on their cell phone while walking on the treadmill. Usually the culprits of this gym crime are snooty soccer moms, but I’ve seen men do this as well. Nothing is unmanlier than a man whose focus is somewhere else and not on developing and strengthening his body.

10. Don’t use the girly machines. No man should ever be caught on that machine that works your inner and outer thighs.

from: www.artofmanliness.com

What the Motherhood Mafia Never Told You

The miracle of giving birth has endured a lot of superstition over time. Its important to sift constructive advise from the fallacies. Learn what's true and what's not as some of the most common pregnancy myths are put under scrutiny.
Pregnancy Myth 1 - Eating for two

This erroneous belief has to top the list for its global prevalence! One of the first things a pregnant woman gets to hear is now she will have to start eating for two – which is of course not the truth. You do need extra intake of nutrients when you are expecting a child, but this does not translate into doubling your food intake! What is required is that you pay attention to what you eat.

In the normal course Indian women require 1800 calories daily. During pregnancy this increases by another 300 calories. The nutrient needs are increased in view of the development of maternal organs such as the uterus, placenta, and breast tissue and to build up body reserves that would be utilised at the time of delivery and later on also during lactation. The requirement for calcium, proteins and iron is much more. All vitamins and supplements are also needed in greater quantity. On the other hand carbohydrates and fats do not need to be increased.

The meals need not be large meals but their frequency should increase. Instead of having three large meals you can try having three light meals with 2-3 snacks in between. The last meal you eat at night should be light and be preferably eaten early. About two hours before you go to bed.

Remember eating for two will only make it tougher to lose all the weight that you will gain. During pregnancy your increasing metabolic rate will lead to your having a larger appetite than normal. However, there's no need to over-eat thinking that it will make your baby healthier or bigger. Remember, it is the quality of the food you eat that is important, not the quantity! While it is satisfactory to indulge in food cravings, bear in mind to eat as much as you want without overdoing it. Invest your appetite in healthy foods rather than the fattening ones, which is of course easier said than done!!
Pregnancy Myth 2 - It's dangerous to exert any effort, let alone exercise while pregnant

Doctors recommend and it has been proven that regular, moderate exercise during pregnancy improves your blood circulation, which increases the blood flow through the placenta. It is also known that exercise helps keep your mood elevated.

However, it is not advisable to start a sport routine that you have not tried before. Remember also to always exercise at a pace that is comfortable for you, decreasing the intensity as and when you feel the necessity.

If you decide to exercise, it's important to start a pregnancy exercise program carefully and seek the advice of your doctor. Pregnancy and labor represent some of the most difficult and rewarding work a woman will ever do. It makes sense to prepare oneself physically. If you haven't been participating in a regular program of exercise, walking is a good place to start. Start from day one! Begin with a five-minute warm up with slow gradual stretching of all muscles. Find a nice path and some walking buddies or some good music and walk at a brisk pace for 30 to 40 minutes every day. Finish with five minutes of a slower pace or stretching, which should help you "cool down."

Or, consider joining a prenatal exercise or yoga class and build it into a support group and even future playgroup for your child. Very few women should not exercise in pregnancy, what is important to remember is that it should be always under the guidance of your doctor.
Pregnancy Myth 3 - Swimming is Dangerous

Swimming, walking and prenatal yoga are rated as being on top of the list as far as pregnancy exercises are concerned. Swimming is a great overall body workout and is considered safe as the water makes you feel weightless and you are less likely to sustain an injury or a fall.

As long as the pool is disinfected using the recommended concentrations of chlorine, then swimming in a pool poses no threat to a pregnant woman or her fetus. Care should be taken to avoid swimming in a crowded pool. Congested areas increase the possibility of being accidentally hit in the abdomen by another swimmer. Being hit on the abdomen is not a big concern for the fetus because it is in a comfortable cushion of amniotic fluid. But it is painful for the mother and dangerous in instances of low-lying placentas, in which case there isn't enough uterine wall to protect it and there could be fatal/non-fatal bleeding. For those who are sea aficionados, avoid swimming in rough waters.
Pregnancy Myth 4 - Drinking too much water will cause increased water retention

Au contraire, drink plenty of water! Not only does drinking increased amount of water reduce the possibility of water retention in the body, it also lessens the occurrence of constipation and lowers the load on the kidney by regularly washing it out.

Many women do complain of water retention and swelling of feet, during pregnancy and the blame is ignorantly put on the water they drink. Truth be known that is totally incorrect, because our kidneys can flush out even a bucket of water if the need arises! The edema is actually due to:

* Progesterone - the hormone of pregnancy has water retaining properties
* Veins getting blocked by the pregnant uterus temporarily

So ladies don’t be frugal with the H2O, it’s a good idea to drink more and more of it. On the flip side, rushing to the loo every half hour is not exactly the prenatal exercise you had in mind, is it?
Pregnancy Myth 5 - You can tell your baby's gender by the way you are carrying, or by the fetal heartbeat.

Other than an ultrasound or an amniocentesis or by chorionic villi sampling (side effects of this procedure still not established enough, so not recommended), there is no way to determine the gender of the baby you are carrying.

Pregnant women carry babies differently based on the following features:

* Their presentation (breech, vertex, transverse)
* Their position (anterior, posterior)
* Their gestational age and weight
* The maternal weight and stature
* The mother’s parity (whether or not this is her first or eighth baby)

Judging fetal heartbeat is really no help either. Some say that a fast heart rate indicates a girl, based on the fact that women’s heart rates are faster than men’s. But we have to remember that until about 20 weeks, it is not unusual to have a fetal heartbeat in the 150 to 160 range. As the baby’s heart develops and the neurological system matures, the count may fall to between 130 to 140 (the normal range is 120 to 160). So if we try to guess the gender of the unborn baby, we would all start out as girls and turn into boys!
Pregnancy Myth 6 - Sleeping on your back can hurt the baby

During a normal pregnancy, a woman may assume any position to sleep, which she finds comfortable. It will not harm the baby in any way.

But it is beneficial for the mother to lie on a side and change from one side to the other frequently. How so? Lying on the side when you are pregnant and getting up sideways will prevent strain on the back. This will in turn prevent lower back-pains, which may be mistaken for false labour pains.

Remember if the pregnancy is high risk and there is hypertension, maternal kidney malfunction, severe water retention or fetal compromise is suspected, rest in the manner advised by the doctor.
Pregnancy Myth 7 - You can tangle the umbilical cord by raising your arms above your head

The common person is generally ignorant about the fact that about 20 to 25 percent of all babies are born with the cord around the neck, and many are born with cords around the legs. Some cords are even tied into knots! Therefore, very important to remember that - There is nothing that a mother can do to cause this.

Entanglements occur due to fetal activity during early gestation. Long umbilical cords, defined as longer than about 100 cm (most cords are 32 to 80 cm long), seem to contribute to entanglements. Excessively long cords are actually caused by excessive fetal movement.

This myth is one of the few, which benefit a pregnant mother. Going by this fallacy if pregnant women were advised not to lift their arms above their bodies, they may have been given less strenuous jobs. This in turn would have resulted in a more rested mom, and possibly a healthier baby!

So ladies, lift your arms, turn them around and do the boogie-woogie! Or balle balle as the case might be!
Pregnancy Myth 8 - Having sex during pregnancy can hurt the baby.

In a normal pregnancy, sex is not harmful to the baby. Sex is safe, because as mentioned already, the fetus is in a well-buffered medium. On a lighter vein, the man will have to be unnaturally well endowed for him to disturb the baby!

In fact the sexual experience will reach new heights for the woman in the enhanced ability to orgasm, due to an increase in blood flow to the pelvic floor. Its nirvana ten out ten!
Pregnancy Myth 9 - You lose a tooth for every baby.

Today, with the availability of supplements and fortified foods, no woman should lose a tooth for every baby!

Preconception nutrition is critical for preserving maternal health. It is during the critical pre-adolescent and adolescent years that women build stores of iron and calcium that prepare them for childbearing. If a woman’s diet is deficient in these key minerals, the demands of the growing baby often take precedence. Calcium may be lost from the maternal bones and teeth. Women should take in 1500 mg of calcium each day, either from food sources or supplement. Teeth can be lost if stores are deficient or depleted due to malnutrition or close inter-conceptional periods.

It’s a good idea therefore to prepare a year before you think of conceiving. You can make a start by taking the special nutrients and supplements under the guidelines of your personal doctor.
Pregnancy Myth 10 - Mother and the newborn should go through a 40 days confinement period

In the olden days the benefits of a medical team were still out of reach during birthing time. An age when antibiotics and other such cures were not available, the confinement period was the only way to combat possible infection. The mother also got a much needed rest period, instead of being back on her feet and working as usual.

Now most births take place in the hospital under hygienic conditions and the instances of the mother and child contracting an infection are very rare. There are enough facilities to take care of infections or deal with any medical emergency if need be.

The thought behind this myth might again have been to give some resuscitating period for the woman to recover from the rigors of giving birth. Traditionally, confinement did not mean complete bed rest. The woman would be active as during her pregnancy, and also get all sorts of traditional treatments like oil massages to get her body in shape.
Conclusion

In many cases, hearing predictions about the baby's sex or how much hair the baby will have is fun and harmless. In most cases however, caution is advised. Here's when you should beware:

* When the myth suggests that you contradict your doctor's advise
* Medical treatment (such as discontinuing prenatal vitamins)
* When you have to ingest or inhale something that isn't recommended by your doctor (such as herbs or drugs)
* When the myth makes you extremely fearful for your baby's health (stress on the mother can adversely affect the baby)

Pregnancy myths may vary from generation to generation and from region to region. Myths your grandmother in south claims are true might be different from what your uncle in north swears by. There is no surefire way of dealing with them, when in doubt check with the doctor!

from www.purpleparka.com

Tips To Keep Your Energy

Fall is here. This change is season makes it harder and harder to stay energized throughout the day, and nearly impossible to leave the warm cocoon of down comforters to get up and start your day. Try these tips to get on track this Fall and keep your energy up.

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Stretch!

Don’t just jump out of bed and hit the snooze, or even scramble for that first cup of coffee. Give your body time to stretch before moving. Stretching sends messages to all your moving parts that you are ready to begin the day. It not only helps your muscles wake up, it brings blood to the muscle tissues before demanding them to perform, think of it as a balanced breakfast of sorts for your muscles. A warmed up muscle will not only have more energy, it will be less likely to experience injury. Stretching is also a good way to revitalize your body, after sitting in front of a computer or desk for long periods of time.

Cold shower

Cold hip bath or deep plunge. Good Morning World! Nothing like a cold shower to get you going. This remedy as old as yoga and can be just as effective to boost your system. Some macrobiotics claim it helps create an alkaline reaction for over acidic conditions. If this seems about as appealing as wearing your bikini in a snowstorm, take your normal hot shower and at the end turn the water to a mildly cold temperature. This change will pleasantly wake you up.

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Break up your day with an exercise break

If you are one of the lucky ones who work close enough to an elements for women™ club, using your lunch break as an exercise break can boost your energy for the rest of the day. Ask your personal lifestyle coach about which exercises would be best tailored for your midday exercise break. If your lunch hour is more of a quick lunch break, take a walk. Even a 15 min walk will rejuvenate your body and keep the energizing blood flowing through your body.

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Taurine

The secret ingredient in those energy drinks is in there for a reason. Considered a non-essential amino acid because your body can produce it, at times of extreme exertion your body can no longer produce the required amounts of it. A metabolic transmitter it has a known detoxifying effect, can be found in skeletal muscle tissues, but is mostly used by the body in processing fats.

Sleep!

Get enough sleep. It seems obvious, but it is always harder than we realize. Try setting a "bedtime" for yourself and try to stick to it. This way you can wake up refreshed and watch Conan with your morning toast.

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Ginkgo tea

Drink a cup of Ginkgo tea- think well, and move well. Gingko Biloba is a herb that can imrpove brain function by increasing blood flow to the brain by imrpoving circulation. Ginko treats depression, headaches, and can prevent memory loss.

Eat Smart

The food we eat has a huge impact on how we perform. The right combination of nutrients, vitamins and minerals is essential for energy output, as is eating breakfast regularly, eating frequently during the day (mini-meals containing 250-300 calories) and getting enough fluids. Thought: Work with a certified and licensed nutritionist to determine how well you eat and where you can improve. It is really worth the investment.

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Relax

Unmanaged stress does more to rob us of energy than anything else. Stress generates negative emotions, disrupts sleep, fosters poor eating habits and interferes with exercise routines. In addition, stress hormones can wreak havoc on our cardiovascular and immune systems. The results can be disastrous for outsmarting the status quo. Learning proper ways to respond to stress is an essential life skill. Yoga, deep breathing and meditation are all great options and should be incorporated into a daily routine.

And take care of your health! Remember that “He who has health, has hope; He who has hope, has everything.”

from amolife.com

How to Safely Lose Weight in a Short Amount of Time

It’s common to want to lose a certain amount of weight so we look our best at an event or while out on the beach. While it’s only natural to want to look amazing in whatever outfit or swimsuit you put on, the problem lies in how to lose the extra weight in a short amount of time. Instead of turning to dangerous methods, there are safe options that allow you to look great while enjoying the food you eat.



When it comes to losing weight for a specific reason, often we wait until the last minute, giving us only days or maybe a few weeks to reinvent ourselves. One of the most common - and most dangerous - solutions people turn to is starvation. This should never be an option. Not only is starvation bad for your body, it only provides a temporary solution. As soon as you begin eating regularly, you are guaranteed to gain back the weight you’ve lost.



Instead of going down this route, make small changes in your everyday lifestyle that will allow you to lose weight safely without negative side effects. Once you set your timetable, following these tips will help you meet your goal. Some changes may be easier than others but if you’re willing to commit, you’ll be happy with the end result and happier with yourself physically and mentally.



What you do to your body on the inside always reflects itself on the outside. What good is it to be a few pounds lighter when your complexion looks like a mess? Start incorporating more water into your life. Six to eight glasses a day is more than enough to help prevent dehydration and flush out all those bad toxins. Toss aside soda and other caffeinated drinks and keep a bottle of water at your desk at work, in your house or in your car when you’re running errands.



Limit yourself to one glass of fruit juice a day. Drinking more than that will add too much unnecessary sugar to your diet. Natural juices from a health food store are best.



Avoid eating any food in a box or can. Substitute canned and boxed food for fresh, organic and natural foods. This will prevent unhealthy fats, calories and other ingredients from entering your body. Replace all your luncheon meat with chicken and beef and stay away from frying or other cooking methods that tend to be more fattening than healthy. For example, eating a hearty salad tossed with chicken is an excellent meal for any time of day or night. Also include plenty of vegetables, especially leafy greens. Toss out any sugary foods, snacks and sugar substitutes to avoid temptation.



Eating plenty of blueberries, cherries and blackberries will give you health and your skin a huge increase in antioxidants. For a good skin care treatment, eat a small portion of fish everyday as a meal. Salmon is an especially good choice because of the vitamin A and essential fatty acids it contains.



Finally, exercise, exercise, exercise! Nothing helps a special diet and weight loss than a few minutes of daily exercise to burn off calories and to keep your body in tip-top shape. Whether it’s running, taking a brisk walk or doing a few sets of sit-ups, including exercise in your daily routine will add the finishing touch to your new look.

from carefair.com

Why You Should Avoid Crash Diets

Why You Should Avoid Crash DietsWe all know that crash diets are bad but do you know the details behind the “why?” From teens to adult women, many have tried a crash diet at one time or another. Even the strongest of us can fall prone to crash dieting in an effort to lose pounds quickly, but once educated about the harm they can do to the body, you’ll think twice about pursuing this method.



Crash diets are used when someone wants to quickly lose pounds. This diet alternative often comes into play around summertime, when everyone is trying to look their best in a swimsuit. But what you may think is a quick fix can quickly become harmful to your body and your health if you get caught up. By definition, a crash diet is a diet that involves extreme methods to achieve instant weight loss - usually in a few days to a week. Such methods vary but the common goal is to deprive the body of food in order to drastically reduce one’s calorie intake. Some actually starve themselves down to their ideal weight, while others limit themselves to how much and how often they eat.



Crash diets are intended for short-term use, but can quickly become habit forming. The scariest part about doing a crash diet is that you actually aren’t losing weight. Even though the scale may say you are a few pounds lighter, in reality your body is suffering. Instead of losing fat - which is the common goal for crash dieters - your body has exhausted its supply of glycogen, which is a type of carbohydrate. When this happens, water loss also occurs. The end result is a change in your weight when you step on the scale.



There are a number of health risks you can make yourself prone to if you do a crash diet. Once your body’s glycogen levels are completely used up, you’ll start losing weight from your body’s tissues. The longer the crash diet is, the more areas your body will target and destroy in the process of searching for energy. Denying your body the proper daily amounts of vitamins and minerals, even if only a few times, puts your health in jeopardy and can cause you to become susceptible to illness and disease.



While most people use crash diets for only a few days or a week, once the weight comes back, the urge to do another crash diet comes into play. Pretty soon this develops into a behavior known as the “yo-yo” effect. This type of dieting is terrible for the human body because the metabolism gets thrown off whack and is not able to recover long enough to become stable and healthy. Yo-yo dieting also makes you more at risk for harmful levels of cholesterol in the blood, increasing your odds for developing heart problems and arterial disease. Crash diets leave your body with more fat and less protein so when you start to see the pounds add back up, going back on the crash diet will only feed into the yo-yo diet behavior.



Not only is crash dieting bad for your body and your health, it can eventually affect you mentally as well. It is not uncommon for those doing a crash diet to be extremely moody, irritable, tired, lethargic and prone to extreme food cravings.

from carefair.com

Teen Trend: Pregnancy Pact?

Teens made pact to get pregnant.

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At Gloucester High School in Massachusetts, teens are getting pregnant at an alarmingly high rate. In fact, 17 girls in the school of 1,200 got pregnant this year alone. An article in Time magazine says that nearly half of the girls who are pregnant, none older than 16, confessed to making a pact to get pregnant and raise their babies together.

School officials first noticed an unusual number of girls visiting the school nurse for pregnancy tests. Principal Joseph Sullivan says that many reacted to news of their pregnancies with high-fives and baby shower plans. Girls whose tests were negative seemed disappointed by the news. And it was recently discovered that one of the fathers is a 24-year-old homeless man.

We called Bill Albert, spokesman and chief program officer of the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, to find out just how common this is.

"Although almost nine out of 10 teen pregnancies are still unplanned, there is a significant minority of teens who seek to get pregnant," he says. "However, the pregnancy pact--where girls agree to get pregnant and raise their children together--is a quite new and distressing trend. Just the fact that such a pact exists underscores how ill-prepared these girls really are for motherhood. Any mother in America can tell you how difficult being a mom really is and how it's not something to be entered into lightly. The fact these teens think they will 'raise the babies together' shows you how out of touch with the realities of parenthood they really are."

Albert says news of this 'pregnancy pact' should be a wake-up call to parents...and that it's just the tip of the iceberg. "Two weeks ago, the CDC said that the decline of teen sexual activity and the increase of teen contraceptive use we've seen in the past few years has come to a complete standstill now," he says. "And it was recently announced that the teen birth rate had increased for the first time in 15 years. These statistics may indicate we're moving backwards, and that's what parents should be really alarmed about."

He says all this emphasizes how important it is to discuss relationships, love, sex, pregnancy, and family formation with your kids sooner than later. "This should be the 18-year discussion that never ends," Albert stresses.

Rather than sitting kids down at 14 or 15 and explaining the "birds and the bees" in one long, awkward conversation (which Albert feels isn't effective, anyway), he says parents should start these conversations earlier than they think. "I'm not saying you need to discuss contraceptives with an 8-year-old," he adds, "but that is a good time to start discussing what a good relationship is, and how to respect a boy or a girl."

When it comes to communicating about love and sex with your kids, Albert says it's important to take baby steps and to send small signals over a long period of time. "You would never ignore how a kid does in school from kindergarten to seventh grade, but suddenly come up to him in eighth grade and say, 'You have to take school seriously.' That's a message you send kids over years and years," he says. "Discussions about love, sex, pregnancy, and family formation are really the same way. It's critical to send age-appropriate signals at different times."

When moms do discuss love and sex, are kids even listening? Yes, says Albert. "All the polls and studies that have been done indicate that the people who most influence teens' decisions about love and sex are not their friends, or their boyfriends or girlfriends...it's their parents," he explains. "Teens are yearning for your guidance from you, even if it doesn't seem like they are."

But for the 17 teen moms-to-be at Gloucester High School, it's too late for discussion. And now the school, which even has an on-site daycare center for students' offspring, is at odds over what to do next. The school committee plans to vote later this summer on whether or not to provide contraceptives to students. However, many parents oppose that notion.

Do you think Gloucester High School should give birth control to students?

From momlogic.com

Decade-by-decade guide to exercise

Source: Oprah Magazine

Oprah.com -- If there's a magic pill for staying youthful, it may be one that's hard to swallow: exercise. Daily doses have been proven to thwart a number of aging factors -- stress, obesity, heart disease, diabetes -- and the longer you're physically active, the less you'll notice getting older.

Weight training is good at any age.

The catch is that a 50-year-old's body is not the same as a 20-year-old's; you can't push it the same way you once did, nor should you if you want to keep it in working-out order.
So listen to these coaches -- they're talking not just professionally but also firsthand -- on how to remain fit, and proud of it, through the decades.

Find the perfect fit for any age!

There's a big difference between how we should work out in our 20s and how we should work out when ... we're no longer 20. Find your perfect fit.

The 20s

Rx: 30 minutes of weight training followed by 30 minutes of cardio 3x a week, plus 45 to 60 minutes of straight cardio 3x a week. One day of rest.

The great thing about being in your 20s is that your body is so strong, you can get away with abusing it. The bad thing is that you often do, punishing it with late nights and bad eating habits. And you routinely fail to appreciate what you've got.

This is the decade of anxiety -- frantic exercise, fad diets, the mad pursuit of pinup perfection and self-hatred when you fail to meet it. The fitness challenge of these years: Get over it.

"I tell my young clients, 'Forget looking like Jessica Simpson or Halle Berry, and forget weight; think health,'" says Jeanette Jenkins, 32, a Los Angeles based private trainer who has worked with rapper Queen Latifah and actress Taryn Manning.

The mistake many 20-somethings make is simply opting for "endless cardio and crunches," adds Vanessa Carver, 25, a personal trainer at Fitness Quest 10 in San Diego, whose clients include professional ice skaters and dancers.

Lots of cardio is great, she says, especially if you mix it up so you're really pushing the body. But it's weight training that builds muscle definition, not to mention bone density, which will be crucial for staying active later on and preventing osteoporosis.

"You've got to lift more than just three or five pounds," she says. "If you can do 10 to 15 repetitions of a weight with no real effort, it's too light. The last four or five reps should be challenging enough that you feel your muscles getting fatigued." And put your mind into it, she says. "Lifting weights while chatting on the cell phone is a joke."

The 30s

Rx: One hour of circuit training (cardio and resistance) 4x a week, plus at least one day of cardio for 45 to 60 minutes at a high intensity. Take one day off.

With the 30s, you start noticing that weight doesn't come off quite as easily as it used to. This is because after age 20, your basal metabolism drops by 1 to 2 percent every decade, and as lean muscle decreases and body fat increases, you don't need as many calories to sustain yourself.

"Exercise is the number one form of preventive medicine," says Jillian Michaels, 32, who was a trainer on the first three seasons of NBC's "The Biggest Loser" and is the author of "Winning by Losing: Drop the Weight, Change Your Life."

"You won't see that big a difference between 31 and 39 if you've been living a healthy lifestyle, but if not, you'll see a huge difference in muscle tone, weight, and shape."

In this decade, experts agree, keeping fit means working harder. Jenkins favors circuit training -- a series of resistance and cardio exercises done swiftly and back-to-back. But however you do it, Michaels advises strength training each muscle group twice a week with two days of rest between sessions. Don't stick with heavy weights/low reps or low weight/many reps, she says; switch it around to keep your body from getting used to the routine. One day of rest a week is crucial.

After pregnancy a program like Pilates can be invaluable in "pulling everything back in and up," says Brooke Siler, 38, whose re:AB studio in New York City has attracted famous figures like Amber Valletta, Madonna, and Liv Tyler. "I especially like exercises that involve standing, because they teach you to fight what nature wants you to do, which is slump," says Siler, the author of "The Pilates Body."

Now is the time to make good fitness habits a part of everyday life. "You always want to be standing instead of sitting, taking stairs instead of elevators," says Siler. "I'm constantly aware of how I sit and stand and walk down the street. I'm forever pulling in and up. These invisible workouts are really important for a woman in her 30s. It's how you start preparing your body for what's to come."

The 40s

Rx: One hour of weight training 3 days a week if you do your whole body at once (4 days for half an hour if you split it up), plus 45 minutes of cardio 5 days a week (it's more than in the 20s and 30s but with less impact and intensity). Take one day off.

This is the decade of the triple whammy: gravity, hormones, and yet more slowing of metabolism as lean muscle mass continues to decrease and body fat increases. Even women who don't put on a pound may expand, according to Pamela Peeke, M.D., author of "Body for Life for Women."

"After 40 and certainly after 50, virtually all women find that they gain fat more easily in the torso -- below the bra, through the triceps area, on the back, and in the belly," she says. "You're not doing anything wrong; your body composition is changing."

Cardio work at least three days a week is still important for keeping weight under control, but resistance training is crucial now. "Women should be doing more weight training -- and really going for it," says New York City based celebrity trainer Kacy Duke, who is in her 40s. "You have to find the time to do it consistently and train hard." If you're just starting, says Peeke, "you must learn proper form -- take a class, get a trainer, make sure someone is there to correct you so you don't get hurt. And add intensity."

Certain body parts may call out for extra attention. "Pilates can help some with the midsection," says fitness veteran Karen Voight, who teaches and writes a workout column for the "Los Angeles Times."

To tone the back of the upper arm, she instructs, "get on all fours in a bent-knee push-up position, with fingers facing forward and hands directly under your shoulders. Make sure your elbows point backward when they bend, and lower only halfway, which works the muscle but avoids strain on the joints."

Then there's the butt. "For that," says Voight, who is in her 40s, "I'd try squats with weights or stair-climbing."

It's also about enjoyment. "I find exercise that's satisfying on a deeper level," says Donna Richardson Joyner, 43, creator of the video "Sweating in the Spirit" and a recent appointee to the President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports. "It's not just about moving my body -- it's about strengthening my mind and my spirit."

The 50s

Rx: 4 to 6 cardio sessions a week, 20 to 40 minutes each, with an intensity that lets you answer a simple question but not chat, plus half an hour of weight training twice a week, 8 to 12 repetitions of each exercise, or 15 to 20 using lighter weights. Always stretch afterward.

If your metabolism feels like it's slowing to a crawl, it's not in your mind. Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh studying 541 midlife women found an average gain of 12 pounds eight years after menopause. We also tend to gain a little potbelly, what Peeke calls the menopot. And other places begin to droop noticeably. "At this point, loss of muscle mass and tone really shows," says longtime fitness expert Kathy Smith, 54. "It can actually start to change your posture."

The classic shoulder slump from years of hunching over a desk or computer "will really age you," says Smith, who suggests this stretch: Clasp your hands behind your back at the level of your butt and squeeze your shoulder blades together, pinching your spine. Try, with straight arms, to stretch your fingertips toward the floor until you notice a tug between your ears and shoulders, then lift your hands as high as you can, feeling the stretch in your chest.

"If you haven't started weight training, you must," says Smith, "although if you're a beginner, I really recommend guidance. Women in their 70s have doubled their strength in nine weeks. If you feel intimidated going to a gym, you can rent videos to do at home. You want to hit all the major muscle groups, and you can do the whole cycle in 15 minutes if you keep some dumbbells around."

Yoga -- along with tai chi, dance, and the Bosu ball (a soft half-dome used for standing and sitting exercises) -- is great for balance, which will become an increasingly important issue. While the physical changes this decade brings may be hard to take at first, ultimately, says Smith, "you shift into an acceptance mode. You change what you can, and live with what you can't. It's a gentler way."

The 60s

Rx: 3 days a week of challenging but not exhausting cardio, such as a slow jog, plus 3 days of weight training, using lighter weights and slower, more controlled movements combined with slow, sustained stretching. Walk whenever possible, and do daily balance exercises.

In the 60s, problems like arthritis, bad knees, and spinal stenosis (a narrowing of the spaces between bones that can put painful pressure on the spinal cord) become common.
"But aches and pains shouldn't be an excuse for giving up on exercise," says Marilyn Moffat, Ph.D., a professor of physical therapy at New York University and co-author of "Age-Defying Fitness." "We now know that a decline in strength and fitness isn't entirely a natural consequence of the aging process but is also due to lack of use. We need to push ourselves physically no matter how old we are -- we just may need to alter the activity."

Adapting a workout routine for the 60s sometimes means giving up aerobic exercise that jars and stresses the joints -- for example, replacing long runs with jogging one or two miles, jogging in a pool, swimming, or riding a stationary bicycle. (Women with bad backs may need to use a recumbent bicycle.) Moffat, who is 65, says that, on average, she walks three to five miles a day because it offers both cardio and bone-strengthening benefits.

Resistance training is still important, "but I would not advise anyone to lift heavy weights if it aggravates your joints," Moffat says. And stretching and balance are absolute musts. If you don't stretch now, "by the time you're in your 80s, your joints will have lost their flexibility."

One of Moffat's favorite stretches is holding the head tilted earlobe to shoulder for 60 seconds; another (if you don't have osteoporosis) is sitting on the floor with legs straight out in front of you, feet flexed, and lowering your head toward your knees. For balance, she suggests "rising up on the toes of one foot and trying to hold the position for a minute. You can do this while brushing your teeth."

In fact, that's a good image for any age -- the sooner exercise becomes like brushing your teeth, the longer you'll feel younger than your years.

By Carol Mithers from "O, The Oprah Magazine," October 2006 E-mail to a friend

10 Most Popular Cancer Fighting Foods

As many as 15 million new cases of cancer are thought to be discovered by 2020. With many types of medication and alternative therapies on the market, people are forgetting the most important medicine of all - a healthy diet. A particular group of foods that contain phytochemicals, antioxidants and omega 3 may help reduce the risk of cancer.

1. Avocados

These are an antioxidant that is not only helpful for reducing the risk of cancer but is beneficial for cataracts and glaucoma due to its ability to block certain fats in the body. It can also regulate high blood pressure.

2. Broccoli

Including cabbage, and cauliflower have phytochemicals which combat some types of cancer. They are also low in calories and high in fibre.

3. Carrots

A powerful antioxidant that is also high in beta carotene. It can help reduce the risk of cancer with its secret ingredient falcarinol.

4. Figs

These can kill bacteria and assist in weight loss programs. They contain an important ingredient called benzaldehyde which studies have shown can decrease the size of tumors.

5. Garlic

Boosts the immune system and can reduce development of some tumors. Eaten in its raw state it is said to reduce the risk of many types of stomach cancers.

6. Grapes

The red grapes contain natural antioxidants that may slow down the development of cancer cells and tumor growth. If eaten as part of the 5 a day regime, a portion of grapes can be effective.

7. Mushrooms

Shitake mushrooms help boost the immune system as it acts as an antibacterial agent. It is good for influenza, diabetes, headaches and reducing the risk of cancer. Maitake and Reishi are also known for their anti-cancer abilities.

8. Red wine

Contains polyphenols which are powerful antioxidants. Red wine should be drunk in moderation although alcohol free red wine and grape juices are found to be just as rich in polyphenols as the key ingredient lies in the grape skin.

9. Green tea

Polyphenols are found in green tea which can slow down the development of cancer cells. Black tea can also provide some benefit although herbal teas have yet to be proven effective.

10. Tomatoes

These contain lycopene which can decrease the amount of free radicals from entering our body. The level of lycopene is found to be higher when the tomatoes are concentrated such as in a puree or in ketchup. Studies have also shown that lycopene is absorbed into the body at a greater rate if it is accompanied by oil.

Flavoring Food May Promote Weight Loss

- MONDAY, June 16 (HealthDay News) -- Boosting the flavor of your food with calorie-free seasonings and sweeteners may help you feel fuller faster and decrease the amount you eat, according to a U.S. study that suggests this may be a new way to help people lose weight.

The study of "tastants" -- substances that can stimulate the sense of taste -- included 2,436 overweight or obese people who were asked to sprinkle a variety of savory or sweet crystals on their food before eating their meals. They used the salt-free savory crystals on salty foods and used the sugar-free sweet crystals on sweet or neutral-tasting foods. The participants didn't know what the flavors of the crystals were, other than salty or sweet. The hidden flavors of the savory tastants were cheddar cheese, onion, horseradish, ranch dressing, taco, and parmesan. The flavors of the sweet tastants were cocoa, spearmint, banana, strawberry, raspberry and malt.

A control group of 100 people didn't use tastants. Both groups continued their normal diet and exercise habits during the study.

At the start of the study, the treatment group had an average weight of 208 pounds and an average body mass index (BMI) of 34, which is considered obese. After six months of using the tastants, the 1,436 people in the treatment group who completed the study lost an average of 30.5 pounds, and their BMI decreased by an average of five points.

In the control group, the average weight loss was two pounds, and the average BMI decrease was 0.3.

The findings were to be presented at the Endocrine Society's annual meeting in San Francisco.

The people in the treatment group may have lost more weight than those in the control group, because the tastants made them feel full faster, and they ate less, suggested study author Dr. Alan Hirsh, founder and neurologic director of the Smell & Taste Treatment and Research Foundation in Chicago.

Another possibility is that the tastants improved the flavor of bland but healthy foods such as tofu and some vegetables, resulting in healthier eating habits.

Tastants aren't commercially available, but people can use techniques of enhancing their senses of smell and taste to help them lose weight, Hirsch said.

"Sniff your food before you eat it. Chew it a lot. Choose low-calorie foods and season them," he said.

In another study to be presented at the Endocrine Society meeting, researchers found that three months of aerobic exercise decreased body fat and calorie intake in overweight and obese people. These changes were linked to increased levels of a protein called brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), said the team from the University of Chile Clinical Hospital in Santiago.

BDNF's main role is to promote the growth and survival of nerve cells, but recent research has shown that BDNF also is related to obesity and metabolism.

This study included 15 overweight or obese men and women, ages 26 to 51, who did a three-month program of aerobic exercise on a treadmill and bicycle. They were told they could continue to eat their usual number of calories.

At the end of the study, the participants had decreased BMI, waist circumference, and blood pressure, and reported consuming fewer calories than at the start of the study. They also had increased levels of BDNF. The higher the concentration of BDNF, the fewer calories participants consumed and the greater the weight loss.

This suggests that BDNF acts as an appetite suppressant, the researchers said. They noted that identifying markers such as BDNF may help health care providers determine which patients will benefit from exercise.

From Yahoo health

How to Get Six Pack Abs

Busting the 6 Biggest Skincare Myths

We have become fairly successful skincare addicts with more products in our bathrooms that fight wrinkles and blemishes and spots and uneven skin than some stores carry. How did we get this way? We buy into the myths and legends and lore of skincare hoping each will be the fountain of youth. When it’s not – surprise! – we put the cap back on and go in search of the next miracle in a bottle. Let’s bust the 6 biggest skincare myths and pinpoint our search for the products that will work best for us. Myth #1: If our anti-aging cream doesn’t show results in a few weeks, it isn’t working. False. While you should see a difference in the firmness and plumpness of your skin within the first three to four weeks, fine lines take up to three months to change and wrinkles and discoloration can take up to six months. Stay committed to your cream! Myth #2: Anti-aging creams work better at night. This one is both true and false depending on the ingredients in your product. Retinoids, peptides, AHA, or BHA work best while you sleep because your blood flow increases and you pH decreases. This lowers your skin’s defenses and allows the cream to soak in. However, antioxidants and SPF work best when the sun is up. Check your labels to achieve maximum results. Myth #3: The tingle, or burn, or redness lets me know it`s working. False. This is old school. While some products that contain alpha and beta hydroxy acids and yesterday’s retinoids can cause tingling, you don’t want to continue using a product that causes a burning or redness or scaling of the skin. This one calls for an upgrade to a newer, gentler product that works better with no side effects. Myth #4: SPF 15 is all I need to prevent wrinkles. Way false. SPF 15 provides 93.5% protection from the sun’s UVB rays. Which may seem like a lot until you realize that SPF 45 provides 98% protection. To really keep skin safe from collagen and elastin damaging rays, add zinc oxide to your arsenal. Myth #5: Anti-aging cleansers don’t work because I rinse the ingredients off immediately. If you take your time cleansing, about 1 – 2 minutes, your cleanser with glycolic acid will absorb into your skin as you patiently massage. Keep scrubbing! Myth #6: I can’t increase the collagen in my skin by using over-the-counter creams. False. Although it takes longer to build collagen with over-the-counter creams than with prescription strength creams, scientists have found a way to attach the larger peptide particles that promote collagen to smaller lipids and liposomes that readily absorb beneath the skin’s surface. Hold on to that over-the-counter collagen booster and be patient – results are on their way. source: www.carefair.com

Makeup Tips: Beautiful Lashes Without Mascara

This may surprise you girls, but even though I adore getting all dolled up and spending forever getting my makeup just perfect, there are some days where I just want to skip it all and go natural. Maybe it’s just me, but I find a Zen-like quality in facing the world purely, wearing only sunscreen and lip balm.

If you’re the same way, you’ll enjoy this tip: skip your mascara for a day and wear Vaseline on your eyelashes. Yes, I do mean petroleum jelly. It makes your lashes look thick and shiny, plus it adds moisture to an area of your body I bet you never moisturize. It’s not only good looking, but good for you! What could be better?

source:thebeautybunny.com

100 Painless Ways to Cut 100 or More Calories

"Losing weight can be as simple as cutting out a meatball here and an egg roll there." ~~Elizabeth Somer, M.A., R.D.

REACHING YOUR FAT-LOSS GOALS may be easier than you think. To lose a pound of fat a month, all you need to do is cut 100 calories a day from your diet, assuming the intake and expenditure of all other calories remains the same. That's because a pound of body fat is equivalent to about 3,500 calories. So if you cut 100 calories a day for 31 days, you're cutting 3,100 calories--or about a pound.

Wait...a pound a month? Isn't that a little slow? Well, mounds of research indicate that you're more likely to keep weight off if you lose it slowly. Besides, losing a pound a month doesn't require drastic changes in your eating habits. It can be as simple as eating two egg rolls with your Chinese stir-fry instead of three. Here are 100 painless ways to cut 100 or more calories a day. As a bonus, they all reduce fat or sugar, which means, calorie for calorie, you're getting more vitamins and minerals.

1. Spread 1 tablespoon of all-fruit jam on your toast rather than 1 1/2 tablespoons of butter.

2. Replace 1 cup of whole milk with 1/2 cup of nonfat milk.

3. Eat 2 poached eggs instead of 2 fried eggs.

4. Replace 1/2 cup of granola with 2 cups of Cheerios.

5. Instead of using whole milk and eggs to prepare 2 slices of French toast, use nonfat milk and egg whites.

6. Snack on an orange and a banana instead of a Snickers candy bar.

7. Munch on 35 pretzel sticks instead of 1 ounce of dry-roasted peanuts.

8. Replace 1 cup of sweetened applesauce with 1 cup of unsweetened applesauce.

9. On your lamb-and-vegetable kabob, replace 2 of the 4 chunks of meat with fresh whole mushrooms.

10. Dip an artichoke in 1 tablespoon of low-fat mayonnaise instead of 1 1/2 tablespoons of regular mayonnaise.

11. Steam your asparagus rather than sauté it in 1 tablespoon of butter or oil.

12. Instead of a 5-ounce glass of wine, opt for cherry-flavored sparkling water.

13. For a chewy snack, have 1/2 cup of dried fruit rather than 9 caramels.

14. Replace 3 slices of bacon with 3 slices of Light & Lean Canadian bacon.

15. Eat a Lender's egg bagel instead of a Sara Lee egg bagel.

16. Select 1 cup of home-style baked beans instead of an equal serving of baked beans with franks.

17. Replace 2 biscuits with 2 dinner rolls.

18. When making a sandwich, use 2 slices of Roman Light 7-grain bread instead of Pepperidge Farm wheat bread.

19. Eat 1/2 cup of steamed fresh broccoli instead of 1/2 cup of frozen broccoli in cheese sauce.

20. Make a burrito with 1/2 cup of fat-free refried beans and 1 ounce of nonfat cheese instead of the same amount of traditional refried beans and cheese.

21. Replace an apple muffin with a high-fiber English muffin.

22. Reduce a typical serving of chocolate cake (1/8 of a two-layer cake) by one-third.

23. Switch from 1 cup of whole-milk hot chocolate to 1 cup of steamed 1% milk flavored with a dash of almond extract.

24. Replace 1 cup of caramel-coated popcorn with 2 1/2 cups of air-popped popcorn.

25. Switch from 1/2 cup of yogurt-covered raisins to 1/2 cup of plain raisins.

26. Snack on 1 cup of nonfat plain yogurt instead of 1 cup of custard-style yogurt.

27. Top your celery sticks with 2 tablespoons of fat-free cream cheese instead of 3 tablespoons of regular cream cheese.

28. Replace 2 fried-chicken drumsticks with 2 roasted drumsticks and a cup of peas and carrots.

29. Instead of eating 5 chocolate-chip cookies, savor the taste of 2.

30. Lighten your 2 cups of coffee with 2 tablespoons of evaporated nonfat milk instead of 2 tablespoons of half-and-half.

31. Replace a 12-ounce can of cola with a 12-ounce can of diet cola.

32. Thicken your cream sauce with 1 percent milk and corn starch instead of a roux of butter and flour.

33. At the appetizer tray, choose 4 fresh raw mushrooms instead of 4 batter-fried mushrooms.

34. Use 2 tablespoons of fat-free sour cream instead of regular sour cream (on baked potatoes or in stroganoff). If done twice in the day, 100 calories will be cut.

35. Reduce the size of your steak from 4 1/2 ounces to 3 ounces.

36. Grill a cheese sandwich with nonstick cooking spray instead of margarine.

37. Replace 1 cup of chocolate ice cream with 2/3 cup of nonfat chocolate frozen yogurt.

38. Snack on 2 ounces of oven-baked potato chips instead of regular potato chips.

39. Instead of topping your salad with an ounce of croutons, get your crunch from 1/4 cup of chopped celery.

40. Instead of 1 cup of macaroni salad, eat 3 1/2 cups of spinach salad with 2 tablespoons of low-calorie dressing.

41. Cut the peanut butter on your sandwich from 2 tablespoons to 1 tablespoon.

42. Serve your turkey with 1/4 cup of cranberry sauce instead of 1/2 cup.

43. Order a sandwich on cracked wheat bread instead of a croissant.

44. Complement your hamburger with 1 1/4 ounces of oven-baked tortilla chips instead of a side of fries.

45. Split an apple Danish with a friend rather than eat the entire thing.

46. Order 2 slices of cheese pizza instead of 2 slices of pepperoni pizza.

47. Grab a Dole Fresh Lites Cherry frozen fruit bar instead of a Sunkist Coconut frozen fruit bar.

48. Snack on 1/2 cup of fruit cocktail canned in water instead of 1 cup of fruit cocktail canned in heavy syrup.

49. Switch from 1 cup of fruit punch to 1 cup of sparkling water flavored with 2 teaspoons of concentrated orange juice.

50. Instead of eating garlic bread made with butter, spread baked garlic cloves on French bread.

51. Rather than snack on 1 cup of grapefruit canned in syrup, peel and section 1 small grapefruit.

52. Dip your chips in 1/2 cup of salsa instead of 1/2 cup of guacamole.

53. Switch from 1/2 cup of Frusen Gladje butter pecan ice cream to Breyers butter pecan ice cream.

54. Use 1 tablespoon of mayonnaise in your tuna salad instead of 2 tablespoons.

55. Hold the tartar sauce on your fish sandwich, and squeeze lemon on it instead.

56. Replace 3 fish sticks with 3 ounces of grilled halibut.

57. In sandwich spreads or salads, use 3 teaspoons of dijonnaise instead of 4 teaspoons of mayonnaise.

58. Use 2 tablespoons of light pancake syrup instead of 2 tablespoons of regular syrup.

59. Top your pasta with 1 cup of marinara sauce instead of 1/2 cup of alfredo sauce.

60. For each serving of pasta salad you make, reduce the oil or mayonnaise by 1 tablespoon.

61. Replace 1/2 cup of peaches canned in extra-heavy syrup with 1/2 cup of peaches canned in water.

62. Prepare 1/2 cup of steamed peas and cauliflower instead of frozen peas and cauliflower in cream sauce.

63. Cut back on sampling during cooking. The following "tastes" have 100 calories: 4 tablespoons of beef stroganoff, 3 tablespoons of homemade chocolate pudding, 2 tablespoons of chocolate-chip cookie dough.

64. At an Italian restaurant, snack on a large breadstick instead of a slice of garlic bread.

65. Eat a 3/4-cup serving of pudding made with skim milk rather than a 1-cup serving of pudding made with whole milk.

66. Choose 1/2 cup of brown rice instead of 1 serving of frozen rice pilaf with green beans or 1 serving of frozen Oriental rice and vegetables.

67. Compliment your sandwich with 3/4 cup of split-pea soup instead of 1 cup of chunky bean and ham soup.

68. Replace 3 tablespoons of strawberry topping on your ice cream with 3/4 pint of fresh strawberries.

69. Pass on the second helping of mashed potatoes.

70. Eat 3 grilled prawns with cocktail sauce instead of 3 breaded and fried prawns.

71. Make a pie crust with 1 cup of Grape-Nuts cereal, 1/4 cup of concentrated apple juice and 1 tablespoon of cinnamon, instead of using a traditional graham-cracker crust. You'll save 100 calories per slice.

72. Replace 8 sticks of regular chewing gum with sugar-free chewing gum.

73. Snack on a papaya instead of a bag of M&Ms.

74. Substitute 3 ounces of scallops for 3 ounce of lean beef in your stir-fry.

75. Rather than spread 4 tablespoons of cream cheese on two slices of raisin bread, dip the bread in 1/2 cup nonfat apple-cinnamon yogurt.

76. Munch on 1 cup of frozen grapes instead of an ice cream sandwich.

77. Rather than drink a strawberry milkshake, make a smoothie of 2/3 cup of low-fat milk, 1/2 cup of strawberries and 1/2 a banana.

78. Replace 2 brownies with 2 fig bars.

79. Eat 2 meatballs instead of 4 with your spaghetti.

80. On a hot day, quench your thirst with a glass of ice water with lemon or mint instead of a can of light beer.

81. Eat 1/2 cup of black beans instead of 3 ounces of roast beef.

82. Replace 1 1/2 tablespoons of I Can't Believe It's Not Butter spread with 1 1/2 tablespoons of Nucoa Smart Beat margarine.

83. Choose 1 serving of vegetarian lasagna instead of lasagna with meat.

84. Eat 2 Kellogg's Nutri-Grain bars instead of 2 Kellogg's Pop-Tarts.

85. Drizzle 3 tablespoons of low-calorie French dressing on your salad instead of 2 tablespoons of blue cheese dressing.

86. Replace 1 large flour tortilla with 1 six-inch corn tortilla.

87. Eat a turkey sandwich instead of a chicken salad sandwich.

88. Choose 4 1/2 ounces of tuna packed in water instead of 4 1/2 ounces of tuna packed in oil.

89. At Burger King, have a Whopper Jr. Sandwich with regular fries instead of a Whopper With Cheese Sandwich.

90. Order your Quarter Pounder without cheese.

91. At Jack in the Box, eat a regular taco instead of a super taco.

92. Fix 1 cup of turkey chili with beans rather than regular chili with no beans.

93. Use 1 cup of fat-free cottage cheese instead of regular cottage cheese.

94. Order a sandwich with barbecued chicken instead of barbecued pork.

95. Replace 1 cup of corn with 1 cup of carrots.

96. Reduce your helping of turkey stuffing from 1 cup to 2/3 cup.

97. Have a single scoop of ice cream instead of a double scoop.

98. Replace 2 ounces of corn chips with 2 ounces of SnackWell's wheat crackers.

99. Eat 1 hot dog at the baseball game instead of 2.

100. Shred 2 ounces of fat-free cheddar cheese on nachos instead of regular cheddar.

Elizabeth Somer, M.A., R.D., is a nutritionist in private practice and editor of the Nutrition Report. Her latest book is Nutrition for Women: The Complete Guide (New York: Henry Holt & Co., 1993).

How to Gain Muscle - Diet Tips

Adding weight that is all or mostly muscle can be a tricky thing if you aren’t too sure how to approach it. We’ll just assume that most people know that to add weight to your frame you are going to need to consume more calories and to lose weight you need to consume less calories, but the process of adding muscle weight is just a tiny bit more complex than that simple equation.

When people are trying to drop pounds, they often look to eliminate empty calorie foods that are high in fats – desserts, cookies, whole milk, fried foods, etc., so a simple assumption would be to gain weight by adding these things to your diet. Well you could gain all of the weight that you wanted by wolfing down bags of cookies and buckets of fried chicken, but it’s not going to be the type of weight gain that you are looking for.

It isn’t really as difficult as it sounds, but too many people stop listening after they hear “eat more food,” and end up eating too much of the wrong things.

So what do you do when you are attempting to add muscle mass?

If you’ve been on the standard diet consisting of three meals, it’s time to start stepping up your numbers. You want to consume anywhere from four to six moderately sized meals a day. Don’t get too excited, I’m not saying that you sit down to six steak dinners a day, there are some very simple ways to get the extra calories and protein that you’ll need to help your muscles grow.

Restructure your three normal meals so that each one contains a good lean source of protein if it hadn’t already – your breakfast could be built around eggs, lunch could be chicken breast and dinner could focus on fish – that will most likely add some of the necessary protein without having to do any extra work at all. For the three additional meals you can keep it simple: a meal could consist of cottage cheese and some fruit, your favorite yogurt and a couple handfuls of trail mix or if you could even have a couple peanut butter sandwiches, it’s really that simple.

Protein drinks and meal replacement shakes are also excellent ways to tack on extra high quality calories. Many people don’t like to eat right before bed because it can disrupt their sleep pattern, which can also affect the rate of recovery – a great way to combat this is by drinking a protein shake shortly before you turn in. The shake shouldn’t overload your stomach or make you feel like you’ve just eaten a full meal before laying down, but it will provide just as many calories and, chances are, even more protein than a small meal. There are even some people that drink a shake before bed, then set their alarm clocks for about half way through the night to get up and have another shake before going back to sleep.

And just because you’ve upped your meal anti to five or six a day, that doesn’t mean that you should necessarily cut out the snacks. A glass of milk and a handful of mixed nuts will add even more protein, vitamins and essential fats as will carrot or celery sticks with peanut butter or a few hard boiled eggs.

The simple fact is, no matter what your body type, even if you see yourself as a so called “hard gainer” – If you approach your training intelligently, always using proper form and high intensity; allow your body plenty of time for recovery, and increase your calorie intake with good lean sources of protein while maintaining a well balanced diet, your muscles will grow.

source: www.musclemecca.co.uk

Myths about Female Bodybuilding

Many women believe in fallacies about gym workouts, such as the following one: once a woman starts doing some weight lifting, she immediately turns into a competition standard bodybuilder. Such image scares the females away from the gyms long before they get a chance to experience the beauty of those trainings. Before you decide to go into bodybuilding, you need to know the true story about this sport. Let’s explode the common myths about the female bodybuilding.

Female Bodybuilder Is Manly

It is impossible from the physiological point of view; female body produces ten or even hundred times less hormone responsible for the muscle mass gain, testosterone, than a male body does. Thus to become extremely masculine, you would have to be born with the male chromosomes dominating in your body or completely change your hormonal state and work out like crazy at the same time. “Natural”, or non-stimulant, bodybuilding can not give such results simply since it is physically impossible to build such a mass of muscles.

Weightlifting Makes the Woman Massive

Such belief is simply a misunderstood conception of conditioned bodybuilding. Surely, serious correction of the body structure is impossible without building up some muscle mass in the under-built areas; but we are talking here about correction that is not intended to exceed natural proportions. Competent training will never harm your figure’s grace. Muscles can be sculpted to be well-formed and in-tone, rather than blankly massive.

Aerobic Trainings, Rather than Weightlifting, Improve the Figure

Aerobic workouts are great for you, there is no doubt about that; those trainings improve the effectiveness of the cardiovascular and the respiratory systems, boost the metabolism, help shed the excessive fat. Those workouts, however, are not capable of building up the muscles, so that if you need to add mass in some areas, aerobics is of no help here. Moreover, overdoing it with the aerobics can sometimes make the muscles flabby; muscles get in tone due to the development of the fibers responsible for speed-strength qualities, not endurance. Hence, aerobic exercises can help you only at getting rid of the excess fat, once you are done with that, start doing some weightlifting.

Muscles Will Turn into Fat Once You Stop Practicing the Weightlifting

Let’s start with the fact that muscles can not turn into fat, as much as an apple can not become an orange, or the heart can not suddenly transform into the liver. Those tissues of the human body have completely different structure and functions. Fat is passive and stores unnecessary, extra energy received by the organism due to unhealthy nutrition style. Muscles are active in terms of metabolism, they consume part of the energy, which would otherwise be stored as fat in case of physical inactivity Moreover, once you stop the trainings the muscles will simply shrink in size as they receive no extra stimulus then; fat, on the other hand, results from a wrong approach to the daily nutrition.

To Get Fit Do a Little of Repetitions with Light Weights

Once you go over 10-12 repetitions, you start working with the muscle fibers responsible for the muscle durability rather than the tone, strength, let alone the mass. Hence, you no longer train the muscles which are cut out to build beautiful complexion. Undoubtedly, light weights and few repetitions do have their own part in female conditioned bodybuilding, but this approach must be properly introduced at a certain stage of a half-a-year or a year-long training. What makes you slim is not the training with light weights, but a correct diet and carefully chosen aerobic exercises scheme.

Train a Lot and Often in Order to Improve the Complexion

Three-four trainings a week are enough to obtain a slender figure, elastic muscles, and reasonable level of body fat. Overly frequent and intensive training overtrain the body, its hormones are used up to their limit and the female gets easily tired from doing the weightlifting rather than from aerobics; hence, no muscle mass is gained and the hopes for a well-built complexion are ruined.

Equipment-based Training Can Add Volume to the Breasts

Quite the opposite, intensive training, especially the one directed to shed the extra fat, will down-size the breasts, which consist of the glandular and fatty tissues. Weight training can not enlarge the fatty tissues; hence it is of no help at boosting the bosom. Weightlifting, however, can shape the muscles lying under the mammal glands – the pectoral muscles. Well-planned trainings can lift up the breasts, visually improve their shape, and straighten the posture. Namely those changes should be your ultimate training goal.