Back Pain: Must Do Moves for Lower Back Pain

by | Mar 20, 2014 | Exercise | 0 comments

Exercise With office workers sitting on the average of six hours a day, it’s no wonder that back pain is the most common cause of disability. Simple strengthening and stretching exercises can help reduce back pain occurrences and prevent future incidents.

IT Band Stretch

The IT Band starts just below the knee on the outside of the leg and warps up around the hips toward the lower back. This connective tissue can get tight and put pressure on the lower back. A simple stretch held for 10-15 seconds then repeated on the other side can help prevent lower back pain.

Thigh Release

This simple hip opening stretch helps release the “hip flexor” or Psoas muscles which connect the front of the thigh to the lower back. It’s important to turn the back foot slightly inward and squeeze the glutes or hips forward to deepen the stretch. Hold for 10-30 seconds and repeat on the other side.

Standing Quad Stretch

This stretch helps open up the front of the thigh to release pressure on the lower back. Hold onto a chair or wall for balance and squeeze the thigh slightly inward to increase the stretch. Hold for 10-30 seconds on each side.

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Low Carb Mag March Edition

by | Mar 10, 2014 | Exercise, General Health, Low carb diet, Nutrition | 0 comments

2014-03-10_1215Hello and welcome to our march edition.

Lots has happened over the last 12 months and they seem to have buzzed by so fast – I really have a hard time believing that a year has passed since we published our first issue.

So what’s new for this edition?

Actually a lot is happening.

Firstly, You might have noticed our cover mentions a Free Lunch.

Well, that’s on account of the fact that the magazine is now going to be free for those of you who want to get it every month. I go into the whys and wherefores of that in the ‘Why Free’ article so I won’t repeat them here.

The second thing is that the magazine is now available for all platforms…

As usual from ITunes Newsstand for the iPad and iPhone, but now for also for every other platform – Android tablets, desktops and in fact
anywhere you can access the internet. You’ll see the link for it on the masthead of the website within the next few days.

So that’s the big news.

On top of that we have got a great interview with chef and author Alain Braux who takes us into his world and tells us why he got involved in paleo and what it has done for him and of course what it can do for you.

You’ll be seeing more of Chef Alain over the next few months – so watch this space…

You have asked – so we’ve answered – literally in this case as our experts answer more of your most burning questions about low carb and paleo in
the Q & A article.

You might have noticed that travel season is starting for some – especially those in the northern hemisphere wanting a bit of winter sunshine. It’s those travels that have been the inspiration for our article on unusual meats. OK, so you might have tried wild boar; but what about ostrich or crocodile or even live food that bites back?

See unusual meats for more on that

On top of that we look at the lighter side and revisit some of the old diet and weight-loss adverts of yesteryear.

Plus all the regulars such as our great step by step recipes and this month’s exercises too.

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Get Moving: Heart Healthy Exercises

by | Mar 4, 2014 | Exercise | 0 comments

Heart As you may have heard, February was American Heart Month, an entire 28 days dedicated to raising national awareness of heart disease and educating the public in ways to prevent it. Although there are many contributing factors to overall heart health, one of the most effective ways to prevent heart disease is exercise. Movement in general is great for your heart: It gets the blood flowing, expanding the veins and arteries in your circulatory system, bringing wave after wave of fresh oxygen into your brain. But specifically focused exercise is even better, and making it part of your weekly routine will lower your chances of heart disease like few other things can. To help you on your journey to heart health, we’ve compiled a list of physical activities sure to keep you (and your doctor) happy.

High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT)
High Intensity Interval Training is an exercise method that is currently taking the world by storm. The concept is simple: Instead of following the typical exercise pattern of short bursts of intensity followed by long periods of rest, the equation is flipped. HIIT instructors teach shorter classes, adding much longer periods of intense energy expenditure followed by carefully calculated periods of rest. The goal is to maintain a high (but stable) heart rate throughout the exercise session, and the results can be dramatic. HIIT newbies experience high rates of concentrated fat loss and consistent gains in strength, agility, and overall muscle vitality. This great news for anyone looking for a boost in heart health, keeping a safely elevated heart rate for extended periods of time ensures that your heart will be working effectively when you need it most.

Swimming
If you prefer your exercise in a pool, there’s good news. Swimming is an excellent way to maintain heart health. Although any method of swimming can provide decent levels of physical activity, distance swimming (or laps in a pool) will provide the most consistent health benefits. Not only is swimming a great way to work your muscles and get your blood pumping, the repeated act of controlling your breath during a long swim does wonders for your cardiovascular system. Every time you take a deep breath, your lungs expand and push oxygenated blood into your arteries. Now, repeat that over a few laps, in conjunction with the calorie burning power of continual movement, and you’ve got yourself a winning equation. Distance swimming will help your heart move blood more efficiently and allow your body to help remove some of the blood based toxins known to induce heart disease.

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5 Good Reasons To Go For A Less Intense Workout

by | Feb 27, 2014 | Exercise | 0 comments

Jog With all of the recent and much-deserved hype over high-intensity interval training (HIIT), a true and loyal friend has been left behind: good, old-fashioned steady-state training. Gone are the days of 30-minute jogs, in favor of jump squats and 30-second sprints.

In contrast to high-intensity interval training, which alternates short, strenuous bouts of activity with slightly longer low-intensity rest periods, steady-state training refers to cardiorespiratory exercise in which your heart rate is kept relatively constant for an extended period — at least 20 minutes in duration and often in the 30- to 60-minute range. The intensity may be low, moderate or moderately high, but you must be able to sustain the activity for at least 20 minutes.

You can use a “talk test” to estimate your intensity: You can carry on a conversation with ease (low intensity), you can comfortably carry on a conversation but with slightly heavier and more frequent breaths (moderate intensity), or you have to pause every few words for a breath, and you’d rather not engage in lengthy conversation (moderately-high intensity).

While HIIT delivers benefits that steady-state training does not, including dramatic increases in speed and power and comparable if not greater cardiovascular benefits in less time, moderate-intensity cardio workouts with a longer duration still have a place in most exercise regimens. In other words, don’t delete them from your friend list.

Here are five reasons to include longer, less intense workouts in your exercise regimen:

1. You’re a beginner. If you’ve been relatively sedentary or haven’t done much formal exercise for a few months or more, start with a low- to moderate-intensity workout, and gradually increase duration and intensity. Once you can sustain a minimum of 20 minutes of continual exercise, do that three to five times a week for at least one month before adding high-intensity interval training.

2. You’re training for an endurance event or sport. Your body adapts to the specific stimuli you throw at it. This specificity principle means that you will be best at the activity you practice most. If you want to run a marathon, you need to do some long, continuous runs to prepare not only the cardiorespiratory system, but also the connective tissues and the psyche as well. For most sports and recreational activities, including one to two bouts of steady-state training per week will give you the stamina to play well for longer.

3. You enjoy moderate intensity more than high. Not everyone loves the feeling of pushing their bodies to the limit, and that is what high-intensity training requires — repeated, near-maximal effort for short periods of time. If you prefer an easier-going workout, by all means stick with less intense, longer duration workouts. You will still burn calories and fat, you will still feel more energetic, and you will still get the health benefits associated with high-intensity training. High-intensity training is most important if you need certain performance benefits such as power and speed.

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How to Motivate Yourself to Work Out

by | Feb 24, 2014 | Exercise | 0 comments

Have you ever sat on the couch convincing yourself to get up and go to the gym. It can go on for hours on end, and then by the time you’re almost motivated enough, you’ve probably frittered away enough time that you’ve got things to do. Then the guilt sets in. Then the cycle continues. But clicking on this article already means that you’re willing to work out! You can do it.

Method 1 of 3: Motivating Your Thoughts

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Find your reason. Find your why. Everybody has one. What’s yours? Do you want to be sexy (or healthy) as hell? Do you want to see your grandkids through their 20s? Do you want to fit into those jeans you wore 5 years ago? Do you have a crush on that babe at work? What is it? Isolate it. Focus on it.

  • You know how it goes — “out of sight, out of mind.” So if you keep this reason on the forefront of your conscious (that is, you’re thinking about it all the time) you won’t be able to ignore the logic behind working out. It’ll be the simplest solution to getting what you want. Humans are pretty good at doing what they want — so lining these two things up (the motivation and the action) will become easy as pie.
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Talk yourself into it. You’re probably telling yourself something like “I should exercise right now. If I don’t work out, I’m never going to get fit.” This statement has many hidden obstacles. For one thing, feeling like you should do something makes it seem like work, or an obligation. That’s no fun! You’re also thinking about what will happen if you don’t exercise — in other words, you’re threatening yourself with punishment (the image of being unfit). Subconsciously, you’re flooding your mind with negativity. Instead of thinking about how you’ll look if you don’t work out, think about how great you’d look if you did!

  • It’s very important to think in the positive. Instead of, “God, I feel terrible for not working out,” think “I’d feel better if I worked out — so tomorrow I will.” If you think in “nots” and “nevers” and “didn’ts,” you’re just bogging yourself down, making it even harder to get motivated!
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Set a goal for yourself. This can be at any point — it doesn’t have to be your end goal! If you want to work out twice a week, have a goal of two times a week — simple. Then you can reward yourself after! If you want to run 10 miles a week, have that be your goal. Smaller goals (rather than losing 50 pounds, say) bring the light at the end of the tunnel a bit nearer, making it more achievable.

  • Sign up for a charity walk or run that will encourage you to train. Once you have a set date to work towards, you’ll have a goal in mind while you’re working out. The feeling of accomplishment after you’re done will encourage you to sign up for another or to just continue being fit.
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Set up rewards. What’s the point in having goals if nothing is going to come from it? You gotta reward yourself! And again — the rewards don’t have to be dangled in front of you until the very end (that’s just cruel); give yourself teeny rewards from time to time for sticking with it.

  • Make a reward for every session, every week, every pound, or every task you do/exercise/lose/complete — whichever speaks to you. This is all about training your brain. When you see the good stuff behind all the work, it’ll give you the strength to keep going and to stick with it.
  • The other side of the coin is to make the alternatives worse. Tell yourself if you don’t work out, you have to organize the attic, donate $50 to the KKK, or call that cousin you haven’t spoken to since that awkward family reunion. Now that’s one threatening motivation.
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Don’t be so hard on yourself. You’re not lazy — this stuff is just hard. A person that runs 5 miles a day doesn’t get that the energy they exert is a lot less than the energy someone uses that hasn’t worked out in years. So don’t label yourself — you’re just starting out, that’s all.

  • When you stumble and fall, you have to understand that that’s normal. It happens to everyone. It’s unimportant that you have a setback — it’s only important that you get back up. These tiny failures will happen (you’ll miss a day, you’ll get sick, whatever), so when they do, relax. You’ll get back at it. Keep your chin up.
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Hypnotize yourself. Hypnosis is a state of intense concentration, when your mind is extremely receptive. The “Best Me Technique” is a form of hyperempiria, or suggestion-enhanced experience, which encourages you to pre-experience the accomplishment of a goal. See the video below for more insights as to how self-hypnosis can help you get motivated to exercise.

  • This will only really be effective if you believe it’ll be effective. If you’re a skeptic, don’t waste your time. Stick to more concrete endeavors.

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How Exercise Boosts Memory

by | Feb 21, 2014 | Exercise, General Health | 0 comments

Fit Kids The scientific evidence is now clear. If you want to keep your mind sharp as you age, you need to keep physically active. The explanation has to do with the broad-reaching effects of exercise on the chemistry, physiology and structure of the brain.

As a teenager, I was on the swim team in high school, and I remember being able to run for hours at a time at a very fast pace. But as I got older, had children and got really busy with work, I became more and more sedentary, spending more and more time in front of my computer rather than at the gym. Ironically, my most inactive time was when I was conducting research trying to figure out how exercise boosts memory.

After collecting lots of original data, attending numerous conferences, and presenting my work in front of other experts in the field and discussing their findings, I have recently faced the fact that my sedentary lifestyle was damaging. In a major shift of priorities in my life, I now swim every day for 45 minutes at the university pool, mostly because I want to avoid the cognitive decline that comes with aging and offset my chances of getting the dreaded Alzheimer’s disease. The immediate benefit is feeling much more awake and focused during the day that I am exercising, and I find I am much more efficient and productive at work as well. Those of you who exercise regularly: Do you find this to be true for you?

You might think it is strange. How could exercise, which engages your muscles and your heart, have a major impact on your brain? Well, if you think of the body as a highly integrated and coordinated machine, then when you exercise, the machine has to switch into major overdrive, expending much more energy than typical and producing much more force. Since it is your brain telling your muscles what to do, the cells in your brain start firing in unison and with higher frequency, producing strong electrical signals that are detectable even outside the brain.

All this effort in the brain and in the muscles requires energy. And to keep your brain alert and energized, the brain tells your adrenal gland in your body to release a chemical known as adrenalin into the blood. Your brain also tells many organs in your body to release energy into the blood for your muscles and brain cells to use to keep up all their activity. Well, guess what? Adrenalin and energy delivered to the brain enhances memory. Give humans or animals adrenalin and they do better on memory tasks. Give them energy on top of adrenalin and they do even better.

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