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The Simple Truth About How Your Body Burns Fat

November 28, 2010 By

How Your Body Burns Fat – You Must Understand

It, Before You Can Start Losing Weight!

Understanding how your body burns fat, will help you in achieving your goals of  losing those excess pounds.  If you look at today’s society, you will notice a growing amount of overweight people.  These overweight people are willing to try almost any type of fad diets from cabbage soup  to the Atkins Diet.  All these fad diets usually do is lead to failure, frustration and the person giving up on the diet.

So by getting a better understanding of how your body burns fat, you will be more likely to have a healthy and safe diet, while sticking with it.  In this article I will give you three sources of calories and in simple terms show how your body will use each source of calories.  We will have a look at the type of that best burn body fat effectively and in a healthy and safe way.

Secondly, we will have a look at how exercise helps your body to burn fat.  Also a few other factors such as rest periods and stress reduction and how they help your body to burn fat.  So let’s first look at  and examine the three primary sources of calories and how they can affect your body in burning fat.

So for us to answer the question, “How Your Body Burns Fat” it is very important to look at the three primary sources of calories.  These three sources are carbohydrates, fats and protein.  With the exception of water, protein is the most plentiful source in your body, it is the main ingredient in the building blocks of your muscles.  Secondly, protein is one of the most important substances in building and repairing your body.  Protein is not used for energy when your body has enough carbohydrates and fats present.

Carbohydrates are a major source of energy for your body, particularly during high-intensity exercises.

Fats are the second energy source most concentrated, having over two times as many calories as carbohydrates and proteins.  However, our body needs to have a proper diet to burn fat and burn it effectively.

Most low carbohydrate diets are based on restricting carbohydrate intake that allows your body to burn its fat stores.  When your body doesn’t have  any carbohydrates to burn, it turns from the carbohydrates to fat.

If you include a high protein diet with a low carbohydrate diet , you can greatly increase your body’s ability to burn fat, secondly if this is done for a long period of time it may do irreversible harm.  When you go on a diet, make sure that you are not overly restricting your bodies intake, you need to make sure that you are still getting the proper balance of minerals and nutrients .

When you look at how your body burns fat, you must also look at the effects that exercise has.  When your body starts breaking down fat for an energy source, you will need exercise to burn off energy created.  Any type of increase in your physical exercise will help to burn of that additional energy.  The more fat you want to burn the more frequently you should exercise.

Two other factors that play a huge part in burning fat is proper rest and reducing your stress level.  If you want to create a routine or regiment to reduce body fat, you must stay healthy.  If you have two much stress and a lack of sleep in your lifestyle, this combination will do the exact opposite of burn fat, but cause you to put on weight.

As you can see, when carbohydrates are not readily available your body starts to burn fat for energy.  When you incorporate exercise into your lifestyle, it promotes your body to burn body fat at a higher rate as you expend more energy.  Following exercise with proper rest, nutrition and stress management will allow you to maximize your body’s ability to burn fat.

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Filed Under: Featured, Weight Loss Tagged With: , , , , ,

10 Healthy Snacks for Weight Loss!

November 28, 2010 By

[Nuts are just one form of healthy snacks for weight loss.]

It breaks down to one simple fact, fat burning foods are foods, that require more calories to burn the food than calories that are actually contained in the food.  These foods are sometimes referred to as calorie negative foods.

Below is a list of healthy snacks for weight loss:

  1. Apples: The pectin in apples blocks the cells ability to absorb fat.  Secondly, the fibre helps to make your feel full, thus eating less.  Thirdly, it encourages water absorption from the food which helps in releasing built up fat deposits from your body.
  2. Vitamin C rich fruits: Citrus fruits such as limes, lemons, oranges, guava, grapefruit, papaya, sweet limes, tangerines and tomatoes are loaded with Vitamin C and fibre.  They also have fat burning properties that allow them to be categorized as fat burning foods.  Vitamin C is essential for the body’s ability to process fat, and at a faster rate.  Secondly,  it stimulates the body’s ability to create carnitine amino acid, which speeds the body’s fat-burning capacity.  Vitamin C has the ability to dilute your body’s fat reserves and make it less effective.  Thus helping your body in releasing the fat reserves.
  3. Calcium Rich Dairy Products: Foods like milk, cheese and yogurt will boost your body’s ability to burn fat.  Try something different and make yogurt pops, simply freeze yogurt in a popsicle tray.
  4. Nuts: A very and easy snack food, that helps to keep you feeling full, while increasing your body’s ability to burn fat.  Make sure you aren’t getting any flavoured are salt added varieties.  Organic almonds are the best.
  5. Frozen Juice Bars: Unwrap a frozen juice bar and you can practically hear the ice cream truck rounding the corner of your cul-de-sac. “They’re sweet and tangy, and anything frozen takes longer to eat,” Gidus says. “They’re just a few calories, and they’ve even got some vitamins.”
  6. Gum: Before you reach for a snack — even one on this list — ask yourself if you’re really hungry. If you’re not or you’re not sure, reach for a stick of gum.  Chewing a stick of gum can burn up to 11 calories per hour.
  7. Beef Jerky: Is actually a very healthy snack contrary to popular belief. On average one ounce of jerky contains about 70-80 calories, 12 grams of protein and around 1 gram of fat.
  8. Avocadoes: Are loaded with fibre, to keep you feeling full longer.
  9. Proteins: Protein rich foods such as low calorie dairy products, beans, whole grains, oatmeal and eggs require more energy to digest than fat
  10. Green Tea: A lot of studies have shown that drinking green tea, revs up your body’s metabolism, so try to drink a few cups a day.
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Filed Under: Featured, Nutrition Tagged With: , ,

Core Exercises For Men & Women – For Firm and Sexy Abs!

November 28, 2010 By

Specific core exercises for women,  is what will give you flat and firm abs.  You abdominal muscles form what is called the “core group of muscle” or “trunk“.  this group of muscles are mandatory for your daily activates. By gaining a strong core you will not only look sexy, but you will realize the true benefits.

[A firm ans sexy midsection, obtained my using core exercises for women.]

When you walk, run, carry a bag, hold your child, you are doing activities that are in large part supported by your abdominal muscles and spine.  These two combined form the core strength of your body, the stronger you are the more you will be able to do and do it with ease.

Secondly, by increasing your core strength, you reduce back pain, your risk injury, have more flexibility which will, help with daily life activities and dramatically help those of you who are involved in any type of sport activities.

These core exercises for women can be performed in your home, gym, Yoga studio, grassy yard and even the park.  A large majority of the exercise can be done by yourself without any equipment, although a mat is always a good idea.

Doing the following core exercises for women is very important; but, making sure that you are using proper form is even more important.  If you are not doing these exercises correctly you will not reap the rewards.  You can actually cause yourself harm, and we don’t want to be doing that.

When performing the below list core exercises for women, you will want to keep the following in mind:

  • Squeeze your abdominal muscles as tight as possible.
  • Take at least a minute break between sets, some people say 30 seconds, but I like a minute.
  • Make sure that you breath normally.  Don’t hold your breath.  Breath out as you contract your ab muscles.
  • After you workout routine, stretch your legs, arms and hips.
  • Try to increase your repetitions and sets as you get more comfortable with each exercise.
  • Change up each workout, this will help prevent you from hitting a plateau.

Below is a list of the best core exercises for women who want to get a firm and sexy abs.

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Do Energy Drinks Make You Fat?

November 28, 2010 By

Energy Drinks have swarmed the market, and are the epitome of what non-coffee drinkers need for their caffeine boost. However, by all means the market has doubled, tripled, and quadrupled since they were introduced to fast paced societies everywhere.With this vast notoriety comes skepticism that there are ramification and adverse health reactions from consuming these drinks. There are so many brands of energy drinks and so many various ingredients including that of sugar that you could and should be very concerned that energy drinks will make you fat. Here is the lowdown on energy drinks:

What Exactly Are Energy Drinks?

Energy drinks are beverages that contain high amounts of sugar and caffeine that are sold to consumers for the sole purpose of providing them energy through drinking the beverage. Think of them like coffee, however many energy drinks contain other ingredients such as vitamins, minerals, herbs, and stimulants that can contribute to their memory, focus, mood, and other behaviors in health. There are many types of energy drinks such as sparks, red bull, rock star, amp, monster, and full throttle.

The Energy Drink Controversy:

Through their rising popularity energy drinks have had great controversy as to whether they are actually detrimental to an individual’s health. Studies have shown that the amount of caffeine that is present in most energy drinks is out of control not to mention the amount of sugars that they contain. What is worse is that people are using these as a crutch to gain energy in their daily activities much so as “speed” was once used. Although ephedrine and things of that nature have been banned, energy drinks are holding their own as the billion dollar market does not stand to lose a dime with the demand.

Problems With Energy Drinks:

  1. High Amounts Of Caffeine: Any amount of caffeine can be bad for a person, however unlike coffee, energy drinks are consumed rapidly and not sipped. In addition, like coffee energy drinks can be addicting. Some people consume them in very large doses or consistently. Some energy drinks have mixtures of vitamins and ingredients that are not meant to be consumed out of moderation.
  2. Hidden And Unlabeled Ingredients: Many types of energy drinks contain ingredients and components that are not labeled appropriately. It is very hard to decipher how much caffeine, sugar, vitamins, and substances that a person is consuming. This remains to be proven, however it is one more reason one should use caution when drinking the carbonated beverage.
  3. Combination Of Ingredients Could Pose Health Risks: The combination of ingredients possessed in energy drinks could pose health risks with how they interact with the body and together. Sometimes the potency of one ingredient enhances the potency of another increasing the effects in an adverse and overstimulating manner.
  4. High Amounts Of Sugar And Calories: Okay, are you ready for this one? One of the main problems with energy drinks is the very fact that most contain shocking amounts of sugar, worse than that of a can of soda pop. Sugar is known to be the main culprit of many diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, low blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, and obesity. It also causes horrible tooth decay.
  5. Should Not Be Combined With Alcohol Or Exercise: Although not warranted on the label or publicly energy drinks are more dangerous when combined with exercise and with alcohol. One reason being because they may cause dehydration in the body due to their diuretic effect. Secondly, they can intensify the effects of the alcohol as they can interfere with how intoxicated an individual really is and how they feel. For this reason, when energy drinks and alcohol are combined, people actually drink more.

Why Do Energy Drinks Make You Fat?

The big issue at hand here is that if all these adverse attributes to energy drinks exist, why wouldn’t they make you fat? To validate the fact that energy drinks can indeed cause weight gain and make you fat here are some points:

  1. Sugar = Fat: Sugar transpires through the body and is mainly transformed to fat stores in the body, especially if a person has hereditary problems, hormone issues, is inactive in their lifestyle, and has blood glucose problems. Sugar=fat, so with the high content of sugar contained in energy drinks an individual who drinks them religiously could easily find themselves carrying extra weight in the form of fat stores, the most dangerous kind of weight gain there is. Sugar is also a carbohydrate which is burned by the body differently, and sugar contains calories which when not expended cause an individual to become fat or hinders weight loss.
  2. Never In Moderation: Most things are normally okay in moderation, however people find themselves almost addicted to the high that an energy drink provides them with. The sad fact here is that after the pure sugar and caffeine wears off, an individual is left with a crash where they crave more and more. This craving is rarely satiated as the cycle expands. The more an individual drinks the more they will eat and the more energy drinks they will crave which leads to over-consumption and later, weight gain.
  3. Hidden Calories And Sugar: The main thing about energy drinks that can make you fat is when you think that you are getting a health supplement, and that you may have the energy to work-out and then..boom you still don’t. You become dependent on energy drinks for many reasons, and you may think you are drinking something that is low calorie, but not all labels tell you what you are consuming.
  4. Drink More, Eat More: When a crash from energy drinks is experienced a person may feel the urge either to drink another energy drink to get them by, or to eat to cure the hunger and surrender to the feelings that the body needs sustenance to get it by, give it more energy, and feel whole again. This alone can make a person fat, because as they are drinking energy drinks they are enhancing their hunger and their body is holding on to everything it gets as FAT.

The Bottom Line:

Energy drinks have been the rave for sometime and there is no sign that their momentum is slowing down, however with the facts, studies, and known effects a person should really practice caution when consuming them. The bottom line with energy drinks is that well they really are not worth the hype, I would like to consider them a drug of sort. They provide a person with a high, and then a crash. They initiate cravings for more, and its an endless cycle. They have been studied for years, numerous warnings have been issued, and still they continue to be in demand. It is solely up to you what you choose, however why not eat healthy foods that provide natural energy, and attempt to become healthy by avoiding them entirely and perhaps you won’t have to wonder or care of energy drinks make you fat.

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Filed Under: Featured, Nutrition Tagged With:

Weight loss tips to lose weight

November 28, 2010 By

We often get the question: Are there any weight loss tips to lose weight fast and safe? The answer is definetely YES. There are many ways to lose weight without danger and side effects. Weight loss has 2 major routes. The first route is the fast route by taking one of those miraculous weight loss products or diets and the second route is to approach the whole process with a clear and sensible mind.

By taking the first route at the beginning you may see some good results but in the long term you will end up in a worse situation that you were before starting your weight loss efforts. This is mainly because:

1. Weight loss products that promise quick and dramatic results do not work as advertised. This is a fact. There are many reasons of why they fail but we are going to explain those in a separate post.

2. Weight loss should be specific and tailored to the needs of each individual. This is especially true for weight loss diets. You cannot just follow a diet given to your friend and expect to see the same results. What works well for one person may not work for another and vice versa.

3. If anything is too good to be true then it is a fake. If you are overweight for some years do you really believe that there is a magic way to lose the extra pounds in just a few weeks? If it was so simple and magic then the majority of the population would not suffer from obesity and people would not care about finding ways to lose weight. It is true that there are some cases that people managed to lose a lot of weight in a short time. It happens but this is only the exception to the rule.

The general rule is that in order to lose weight you may need a lot of time and you have to put a lot of effort and hard work.

Having said the above, the alternative way to lose weight is the healthy way. By adopting this method to lose weight you are guarantee 2 things. First that the whole process will do more good than bad to your overall health and second that you will not get the weight you lost back after a few months. The good think about healthy weight loss is that you know in advance that the method will work. It may take more time than adopting a chemical diet but the results will be solid and permanent.

Some ways to adopt for a healthy lifestyle are:

1. Forget about the rule of 3 main meals per day (breakfast, lunch, dinner). Your diet schedule should include a good breakfast, 3 small size meals (including snacks) with 3 hours interval between them and one lunch meal taken at least 3 hours before going to bed.

2. Do not exclude any nutrient or vitamin from your daily intake. This means that you should eat all kind of foods from the food pyramid.

3. Make fruits and vegetables your friend and sweets and fatty food your enemy. Trust your friends better than your enemy.

4. Eat a lot of water daily and do not rush to the fridge as soon as you think that you are hungry. Eat a class of water first and your hunger may go away.

5. Start moving. Find every excuse you can to move your body and be more active. Walk around the house, dig your garden, paint your house, do anything that makes your body move and spend calories. If you do like join a gym or buy a bicycle and take regular rides.

The above are just a sample of the things you can do to enjoy a healthy lifestyle. Stay tuned for more healthy weight loss tips to lose weight.

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Filed Under: Featured, Weight Loss

How much should you exercise?

November 27, 2010 By

(CNN) — The headlines sounded promising — 20 minutes of interval exercise can provide the same benefits as many hours of conventional workouts. But soon after came another study, this one suggesting that women should work out an hour every day just to maintain their weight.

“It does get confusing,” Janice Bissex, mother of two and regular exerciser, said after the studies were released in the past two weeks.

The contradictory information can be disconcerting, said Stephen Ball, associate professor of nutrition and exercise physiology at the University of Missouri. “It makes it look bad – like physical activity scientists, we’re changing what we’re saying all the time. We’re really not.”

Exercise experts say the most important message is to be active, regardless of the latest studies. How much one should exercise depends on personal fitness goals, they said.

But experts recommend that an average person stick to existing public health guidelines, which recommend that children and teenagers exercise one hour every day and adults get a weekly minimum of two hours and 30 minutes of moderate intensity physical activity (such as brisk walking, dancing, gardening) or one hour and 15 minutes of vigorous activity (jogging, aerobic dancing and jumping rope).

The key to exercise is that “some is better than none. More is better than some. Too much is difficult to get,” Ball said.

The two seemingly conflicting studies (20 minutes versus an hour of exercise) examined different populations: young men versus middle-aged women.

A study published in the March edition of the Journal of Physiology found that short periods of high-interval training was just as effective as long durations of endurance training, based on the results from seven young, healthy men.

Researchers from McMaster University in Ontario, Canada, had the seven subjects pedal for one minute on a stationary bike at the highest intensity they could muster.

This one-minute burst was followed by about a minute of rest, another minute of intense exercise, and so on, until participants reached 20 minutes total — 10 exercising, 10 resting.

Working out harder for less time effective

The study suggested that quick, high-interval training “may represent an alternative to endurance training to improve metabolic health and reduce the risk for chronic diseases.”

But, interval training isn’t easy. It cuts down on time, but many people find the intense bursts of vigorous exercise difficult.

“It’s uncomfortable exercise. It’s high intensity, so it hurts,” said Martin Gibala, lead author of the study.

While interval training might be attractive for athletes or time-crunched, twentysomethings who already work out, it may be daunting for others.

“It’s tough to get people [in their 50s] to do moderate exercises,” Ball said. “For intense exercises, it hurts. People don’t like to do it.”

Gibala, chair of the kinesiology department at McMaster, said the results of his research are not intended to replace existing guidelines.

“We’re certainly not suggesting this is the optimal approach to fitness,” he said. “Public health guidelines are based on very good science, so the recommendations are very sound. But we also know the number one barrier for exercise is the lack of time. It’s incumbent on scientists to look at other potential ways that we can get many of the same benefits in a time-efficient manner.”

Another research getting attention was a March article in the Journal of the American Medical Association that found that women who exercised an hour every day were better able to stave off weight gain.

Researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School studied 34,000 women, with the average age of 54.

Keeping weight down means more than a few minutes of activity a day

Over a 13-year period, the women gained an average of 5.7 pounds. The women who successfully maintained their weight (13 percent) exercised an hour a day at moderate intensity.

Hearing that left some women feeling discouraged.

“To say that most women need an hour a day, it puts it into the category of an unattainable goal,” said Bissex, a working mother and a dietitian in Melrose, Massachusetts. “That’s frustrating. Getting that hour of exercise, while being a successful career woman, while taking care of kids, a partner or spouse, and parents, we’re going to all end up getting two hours of sleep.”

That reaction is fairly common.

“When I see studies that say one hour of exercise a day, people freak out and say, ‘I don’t have that kind of time,’ ” Pete McCall, an exercise physiologist at the American Council on Exercise.

“We can argue about vigorous, moderate intensity and time. The fact is if you don’t do anything, you’re going to significantly increase risks for disease and other things that can take years off your life.”

How much should a person exercise?

When looking for basic guidelines, exercise specialists recommend the 2008 Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans, issued by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. A committee of doctors and scientists reviewed the scientific literature to develop the recommendations.

The amount of time a person should exercise depends on his or her fitness goals, whether it’s for weight loss, health maintenance or performance training. And that person also needs to fit diet and nutrition into the equation.

“If you take in lots of calories, it doesn’t matter how much you exercise,” Ball said. “It takes a lot of exercise if you don’t watch what you eat.”

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Filed Under: Exercise & Workouts, Featured, Women's Fitness & Health Tagged With: , ,

Weights plus walking equals more fit in less time

November 27, 2010 By

(Health.com) — Walkers who squeeze a bit of light weight training into their workout get more bang for their buck in terms of being fit and trim without increasing their total workout time, according to a new study of sedentary people with type 2 diabetes.

What’s more, those who mixed up their workouts showed the greatest improvement in blood sugar control after nine months, says Timothy S. Church, MD, Ph.D., of the Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, who led the study.

“Our findings really support the 2008 federal physical activity guidelines, and our findings support those guidelines for everybody,” Church says.

These guidelines recommend people get at least 150 minutes of walking or 75 minutes of running a week, along with two or more days a week of resistance training.

Health.com: Could you have Type 2? 10 diabetes symptoms

And that two days a week means a couple of 15- to 20-minute sessions on weight-training machines in the gym.

“It’s actually a pretty quick undertaking,” Church says.

Although exercise has long been recommended for people with diabetes because it can lower blood sugar almost as much as some medications, the best “prescription” for physical activity hasn’t been determined, Church and his colleagues write in the November 24 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

How are you managing your diabetes? Take a test

To find out, the researchers randomly assigned 262 sedentary men and women with type 2 diabetes to a control group that remained sedentary; an aerobic group that walked on a treadmill each week (equivalent to a brisk, 4 mph walk for 50 minutes 3 times a week); a resistance group that did three weight-training sessions per week (2 to 3 sets of 10 to 12 repetitions of 9 exercises); and a combo group that walked on the treadmill (42 minutes 3 times a week at 4 mph) and did two weight lifting sessions each week (1 set each of 9 exercises per session).

Health.com: How to estimate carbs in 10 common foods

The workouts were designed so that each would take about the same amount of time.

After nine months, the researchers estimated that the aerobic group worked out for an average of 140 minutes a week, the resistance group for 141 minutes, and the combination group for 140 to 150 minutes (110 minutes on the treadmill and 30 to 40 minutes lifting weights).

The key measurement Church and his team were looking at was hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c), a blood test that looks at the percentage of red blood cells that have glucose “stuck” to them and is a good measure of how well a person’s blood sugar has been controlled over the past two or three months.

The average HbA1c for the group was 7.7 percent at the beginning of the study. (Most guidelines recommend people with type 2 diabetes shoot for an HbA1c level of 7 percent or less.)

Health.com: 15 exercise tips for people with Type 2 Diabetes

Although HbA1c didn’t change significantly for people who did aerobic training only or resistance training only, it fell by 0.34 percent in the combination exercise group.

People in this group were also the only ones who showed a significant increase in their maximum oxygen consumption (which measures the capacity for aerobic exercise) compared to the non-exercising control group.

Men and women in all the exercise groups trimmed their waists by 2 to 3 centimeters (0.8 to 1.2 inches). The weight lifters lost an average of 1.4 kilograms (3.1 pounds) of fat compared to the control group, while the combination exercisers lost 1.7 kilograms (3.7 pounds) of fat compared to their sedentary peers.

The reduction in HbA1c seen in the combination exercisers would translate to a 5 percent to 7 percent reduction in heart disease risk, according to Church and his colleagues.

It would also slash the risk of so-called microvascular complications, such as damage to the eyes, nerves, and kidneys, by 12 percent, the researchers say.

Although several studies have looked at exercise for diabetes, the current investigation is unique for its long duration, as well as the fact that it included an ethnically diverse group of patients, says Ronald J. Sigal, M.D., of the University of Calgary in Alberta, Canada. African Americans made up 44 percent of study participants; nearly two-thirds were female.

Health.com: 8 tips for controlling portion sizes

Sigal co-authored an editorial accompanying the new study, but wasn’t involved in the current research. In 2007, he and his colleagues published the DARE trial, which showed that resistance training plus aerobics was the most beneficial approach for people with diabetes.

“Unlike the DARE trial, they made a real effort to keep the total time involved the same” in the new study, Sigal says.

Resistance exercise likely increases the size of muscle fibers, while aerobic exercise boosts muscle’s efficiency in using glucose, which explains why combining the two has the strongest effect on blood sugar control, Sigal says.

“What’s the biggest consumer of blood sugar in the human body? Well, it’s muscle,” Church says. “If your body chews up more sugar, you’ve got less sugar in the blood and your diabetes is better. You’re kind of stimulating two different systems in the muscle.”

Sigal says the kind of resistance training people did in his study and Church’s study isn’t something you can accomplish at home with a few sets of dumbbells. (The study participants did their exercises under a trainer’s supervision at a gym.)

“It’s not realistic for most people to have the quality and variety of equipment at home that they could get at a gym,” he says.

Another benefit of going to the gym, he added, is that you can get help from trainers, who will push you to do more.

Health.com: How exercise lowers blood sugar in Type 2 Diabetes

Although trainers are great for some people, Church says, other people want nothing to do with them.

“If there’s one thing I’ve learned about exercise, it is such a personal thing,” he adds. “What’s the best type of aerobic exercise? The one that you’ll do.”

About 24 million people in the U.S. have diabetes, and 90 percent of those cases are type 2 diabetes, which is more likely to occur with aging, excess weight and a sedentary lifestyle.

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Filed Under: Featured, Women's Fitness & Health Tagged With: ,

Four steps to reduce diabetes risk

November 27, 2010 By

(CNN) — Half of all Americans may be diabetic or prediabetic by 2020, a report from an insurance company warned Tuesday. That’s an even bleaker projection than the Centers for Disease Control’s recent estimate that one in three Americans would have diabetes by 2050.

Current rates show that about one in 10 Americans has diabetes, and the risks increase with age. Even children and teenagers are developing type 2 diabetes.

A report released this week by UnitedHealth Group showed that treating diabetes will also take up almost 10 percent of all health care spending. That 10-year price tag: $3.35 trillion.

Despite such gloomy projections, diabetes is not inevitable. Practical health changes can lower risk of type 2 diabetes, which occurs more commonly with aging and sedentary lifestyles. Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease unrelated to aging or lifestyle.

While diabetes projections sound scary, “the numbers are getting people aware about the risk factors and thinking about them,” said Beth Mayer-Davis, the president-elect of health care and education at the American Diabetes Association.

4 keys to managing diabetes: How do you rate?

Genetics, race and family history affect a person’s chances of developing diabetes, but you can take steps to lower your risk of type 2 diabetes.

The most important thing: Lose weight

“The heavier we are, the tougher it is for our body,” said Dr. Armand Krikorian, who specializes in endocrinology and diabetes at University Hospitals Case Medical Center in Ohio. “It has to make more insulin to keep the blood sugar under control.”

Insulin, a substance created in the pancreas, moves glucose from the bloodstream into muscles, fat and liver cells. But in type 2 diabetes, the body doesn’t respond to insulin, and glucose builds up in the blood.

Overweight people are more likely to develop diabetes because the fat interferes with the body’s ability to use insulin.

Krikorian used this analogy: “You have a horse; you’re asking it to run all the time. You’re whipping it to run faster all the time, and it can’t do it any more. The heavier I am, the more I’m asking my pancreas to make more insulin to keep sugars under control. Over the long term, it’s exhausting the pancreas, and that’s when diabetes sets in.”

About half of overweight or obese people have prediabetes or diabetes, said Mayer-Davis, a epidemiologist specializing in diabetes.

Exercise burns energy and helps the body manage the glucose.

“It doesn’t have to be running a marathon,” Krikorian said. “Any amount of regular scheduled activity, the more, the better. A half an hour of daily activity is a good start.”

Studies have found that 7 to 10 percent body weight loss can greatly help with diabetes prevention.

“We’re not saying you have to become fashion magazine models,” Mayer-Davis said. “If you’re 300 pounds, a 10 percent weight loss, that’s 30 pounds.”

Watch your food’s quality and quantity

It’s the mantra of public health: Eat your fruits and veggies.

Toby Smithson, a registered dietitian and a spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association, also suggests eating nutrient-dense foods such as lean protein, whole grains and low-fat dairy.

“All foods can fit into a healthy diet,” she said. “The key is the portion and to make sure it is balanced throughout the day.”

Although everyone has different dietary needs, a general guideline is two servings of low-fat or non-fat milk or yogurt, two to five servings of fruit; four to 12 servings of grains, beans or starchy vegetables; three to five servings of non-starchy vegetables; and two to three servings of lean protein (5 to 9 ounces) each day.

Studies show that a diet with lower fat reduces diabetes risk. But it doesn’t matter which weight-loss plan a person chooses, as long as it reduces calories, Mayer-Davis said.

Find support

People know that they should eat right and exercise but struggle to execute.

Studies show that people in a group lifestyle intervention could reduce their diabetes risks. One of the best-known programs came from the CDC, the YMCA and United Health Group. The Diabetes Prevention Program assigns a lifestyle coach to participants who are at high risk of developing diabetes. The group learns about ways to eat healthier, exercise and make lifestyle improvements. They meet monthly.

“The group dynamic can share the things that worked for them, their successes and struggles, that can be helpful to people,” Mayer-Davis said.

If support groups aren’t available, find supportive friends, partners or people who will encourage you, she said.

Act now, before you’re diabetic

“If you don’t want to have diabetes and end up monitoring blood sugar, taking pills and insulin, this is the time to act,” Krikorian said. “Stay active, lose weight and prevent getting the diabetes. It is preventable.”

In general, about a third of the people who are in the category of prediabetes develop diabetes after three to five years.

“Having prediabetes doesn’t mean you’re going to have diabetes,” Krikorian said. “Unfortunately, a lot of time, we don’t act till it’s too late. We procrastinate. When we don’t feel imminent danger, we tend to be lax.”

Prediabetes means you’ve tested higher than the normal levels on one of the three tests: A1C, fasting plasma glucose or oral glucose tolerance.

That means levels above 5.7 percent on an A1C test, 100 milligrams per deciliter on the fasting plasma glucose test and 140 milligrams per deciliter on the oral glucose tolerance test. The American Diabetes Association has more on prediabetes.

Diabetes can be controlled

Diabetes doesn’t necessarily mean amputations, blindness or dialysis. Those are worst-case complications.

Many people control their diabetes through proper diet and exercise, and thrive without medication.

Although they’re not “cured,” they’re able to control the disease.

“The positive message is that the complications are preventable,” Krikorian said. “It doesn’t mean they’re doomed.”

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Elastic Band Weight Training Causes Large Strenght Gains

November 27, 2010 By

Many elastic band weight training is a new technique that maximizes muscle tension during resistance exercise.  Tension and time under tensions are the most important factors increasing muscle strength.  Elastic band weight training increases muscle tension during the pushing and recovery phases of weight training exercises and is a good way to increase strength rapidly.  It involves connecting one end of a bungee cord or thick rubber bands to a bar (or weight machine) and the other end to a hook on the floor or bench.  A Cornell University study by Corey Anderson and colleagues showed that strength increases were 3 times greater in the squat, 2 times greater in the bench press, and nearly 3 times greater in average power following elastic band weight training compared to traditional weight training.  Elastic band training began as an exotic overload method for weighlifters but is now a mainstream training technique for women who want to increase strength rapidly.  (Journal Strength Conditioning Research, 22: 567-574, 2008)

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Filed Under: Featured, Men's Fitness & Health Tagged With: , , , ,

Elastic Bands Increase Muscle Endurance, Build Muscle and Cut Fat in Middle-Aged Women

November 27, 2010 By

Many middle-age women lose muscle and gain fat as they age. Work and family responsibilities make it difficult for them to get back that smoking hot body they had in high school or college, before they had kids. Many are self-conscious and intimidated by training on machines in sophisticated health clubs dominated by 20-something year old kids. Elastic band training provides a simple, inexpensive way for women to get back into shape and restore old exercise habits. A study from Appalachian State University, by Juan Colado and Travis Triplett, showed that middle-aged women who trained with elastic bands or weight machines for 10 weeks made similar improvements in body composition and muscle endurance. Elastic band training increased muscle endurance by nearly 25 percent (knee push-ups, free squats), decreased fat by nearly 3 percent, and increased lean mass (mainly muscle) by nearly 2 percent. Elastic band training is wellsuited for sedentary middle-aged women because it’s cheap, safe, effective and they can do it at home. (Journal Strength Conditioning Research, 22: 1441-1448, 2008)

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Filed Under: Featured, Women's Fitness & Health Tagged With: , , ,
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