Potent Honey Used as Antibiotic

Plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose. After all the supposed progress science made in the twentieth century by developing antibiotics, it turns out that a 4,000-year-old remedy may be just as effective.

Amid growing concern over drug-resistant superbugs and nonhealing wounds that endanger diabetes patients, nature's original antibiotic — honey — is making a comeback.

More than 4,000 years after Egyptians began applying honey to wounds, Derma Sciences Inc., a New Jersey company that makes medicated and other advanced wound care products, began selling the first honey-based dressing this fall after it was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Read more

High Intensity Interval Training for Cardio and Fat Loss

Is it possible that low-intensity aerobics for "fat-burning" is finally going the way of the dodo bird? More and more trainers are recommending intensity over volume as the key to fitness and fat loss. One of the best ways to up the intensity of your workout is with interval training. Nick Nilsson explains what interval training is and how to do it.

Without question, High Intensity Interval Training is one of the most effective means available for rapidly losing bodyfat and improving your cardiovascular conditioning. Not only do you burn many more calories while you're performing the training, you also stimulate your metabolism to a far greater degree than with lower intensity training, which is traditionally hailed for fat loss. Read more

Medical Myths Exposed as Untrue

"What gets us into trouble is not what we don't know. It's what we know for sure that just ain't so."--Mark Twain

Unfortunately, for those who worship at the feet of "experts," experts can be wrong. For example, medical professionals are not that less likely to believe medical myths than ordinary people are.

Some claim drinking eight glasses of water a day leads to good health, while reading in dim light damages eyesight.

Others believe we only use 10% of our brains or that shaving legs causes hair to grow back thicker.

But a review of evidence by US researchers surrounding seven commonly-hold beliefs suggests they are actually "medical myths". Read more

Don't accept the opinion of experts as the last word on a subject. Do your own research and make your own judgments.

Burning Calories through Exercise Harder Than You Think

Many people hope to burn enough calories through exercise so that they don't have to change their eating habits. However, burning calories through exercise is harder than you think.

THE Spinning class at our local gym was winding down. People were wiping off their bikes, gathering their towels and water bottles, and walking out the door when a woman shouted to the instructor, “How many calories did we burn?”

“About 900,” the instructor replied.

My husband and I rolled our eyes. We looked around the room. Most people had hardly broken a sweat. I did a quick calculation in my head.

We were cycling for 45 minutes. Suppose someone was running and that the rule of thumb, 100 calories a mile, was correct.

To burn 900 calories, we would have had to work as hard as someone who ran a five-minute mile for the entire distance of nine miles. Read more

The only people who could burn significant calories through exercise are people who are already lean and fit. Otherwise, to lose weight, you're going to have to modify your diet.

The 20 Worst Foods in America

Men's Health reveals its list of the worst foods in America. How many do you eat?

Sure, a turkey burger sounds healthy. But is it, really? Not if you order the Bella from Ruby Tuesday, which packs a whopping 1,145 calories. (And yes, that's before a side of fries.)

To further enlighten you on the prevalence of preposterous portions, we spent months analyzing menus, nutrition labels, and ingredient lists to identify the food industry's worst offenders. Our primary criterion? Sheer caloric impact. After all, it's the top cause of weight gain and the health problems that accompany it. (As you read, keep in mind that 2,500 calories a day is a reasonable intake for the average guy.) We also factored in other key nutritional data, such as excessive carbohydrates and fat, added sugars, trans fats, and sodium. The result is our first annual list of the worst foods in America.

Eat at your own risk. Read more

20 Minute Dumbbell Workout

This video presents a full-body dumbbell workout that you can follow along with.

Did the Smallpox Vaccine Actually Eradicate Smallpox?

With governments herding children like cattle to be vaccinated at gunpoint, you would think that the effectiveness of mandatory vaccination was an indisputable fact, but is it?

The first vaccine mandated by governments was the small pox vaccine. Today, you’ll hear any number of medical professionals refer to the vaccine as proof of Western military medicine’s superiority over any other discipline. The World Health Organization proclaims proudly to anyone who will listen that the vaccine has eradicated smallpox (yet for a disease "indistinguishable from smallpox," apply the same vaccine used to protect against smallpox).

However, the record of mandatory vaccination is mixed at best.

For instance, one of the most stunning antidotes to the idea that smallpox was eradicated due to mandatory vaccination is the Japanese example. The practice of "revaccination" was prevalent there (and in the British Navy) until their vaccination rate exceeded 100%! In spite of this, Japan faced huge smallpox epidemics. All told, the Japanese lost 48,000 people to smallpox, most of them vaccinated at least once. When the government stopped the mandatory vaccinations, the epidemics were finally arrested. Were the smallpox vaccination truly effective as a prophylactic, such an example could not exist. Unfortunately, there are dozens just like it all over the world.

In 1904, the U.S. Army decided to forcibly vaccinate the Philippine population ostensibly to improve health conditions but more likely intended to protect military personnel. They touted its success when in the following two years smallpox appeared to be under control. However, from 1917 to 1919, in a population of 11 million that had a reported 100% vaccination rate, smallpox epidemics claimed over 70,000 lives out of 163,000 reported infections.

By contrast, Australia, from 1900 to 1915, which never instituted a mandatory vaccine program, reported 3 deaths due to smallpox over the entire period. Read more

Real World Fitness Cuts Stroke Risk

If you can perform ordinary daily activities, such as climbing stairs, carrying groceries, and kneeling and bending, your stroke risk may be 50% of those who can't perform those activities.

... New research shows that men and women over 40 who can climb stairs, carry groceries, kneel, bend, and lift may be 50% less likely to suffer a stroke than those who can't do those things.

That news, published in Neurology, comes from a study of some 13,600 adults in the U.K.

The study started in 1993. Back then, participants were 40-79 years old; none had a history of stroke, heart attack, or cancer.

Participants got their height, weight, and blood pressure checked. They also reported their history of smoking and later rated their ability to climb stairs, carry groceries, bend, kneel, and lift. Read more

What the study doesn't prove is if that there is a cause and effect relationship between strength and lower risk of stroke, but why wait for the study results to come in? The correlation between functional fitness and lower stroke risk has been demonstrated. That ought to motivate you to keep up your strength training, however much or little you do.

Why and How to Measure Your Bodyfat Percentage

The body mass index (BMI) seems to be the preferred method for determining obesity for health professionals, but in my opinion, the BMI is probably the worst way possible to decide whether someone is overweight. For one thing, it makes no distinction between being muscular or overfat for one thing. Most collegiate and professional football players would be considered obese according to their BMI. Nor does it does it distinguish between someone who is lean and muscular and someone who is skinny because of little muscle mass but who still carries too much fat. There is a much better method than the BMI.

Your body fat percentage is one of the best indicators of your fitness and nutrition program. Many people weigh themselves and judge their results on the bathroom scale. However there is one major problem with using the scale to determine your progress.

The best way to illustrate this is by using an example. Let's say you have been working out for a month now. You initially weighed 160 pounds. You weigh yourself this morning and you are 157 pounds. Your cannot believe that you've only lost three pounds! You become frustrated and want to give up.

The scale shows that you lost three pounds, but it does not tell you if you lost fat or muscle. Testing your body fat percentage will tell you how much fat you lost and how much muscle you've gained. You see even though the scale says you lost three pounds, you could have lost 8 pounds of fat and gained 5 pounds of muscle. That would equal a net loss of 3 pounds.

As a trainer, I always test my clients body fat percentage. There are three main ways to measure body fat. They are calipers, bio-impedance devices and hydrostatic testing. Hydrostatic testing can be done at universities or hospitals, but tend to be more expensive than most people are willing to pay for a body fat test. Read more

Chocolate, Sex, and Cold Meat Good for the Brain

Good news on the anti-aging front: dark chocolate, sex, and cold meat for breakfast are good for the brain.

Forget crosswords. If you really want to boost your brain power, eat dark chocolate, consume cold meat and have plenty of sex, if possible everyday.

A team of international researchers has carried out a study and found that while dark chocolate and plenty of cold meat for breakfast boost grey matter, sex keeps the brain fit in later life, the Daily Mail reported here on Monday.

According to the study, those wishing to improve their mental ability should also avoid smoking cannabis, watching soap operas and hanging out with those who moan. Instead, cuddling a baby, cheating at homework, reading out loud and doing a business degree can boost their mind power. Read more

Natural Homemade Hair Loss Tips

Rogaine, Procerin, and other pharmaceuticals are advertised as treatments for hair loss. Even if these treatments do work for you (and there is no guarantee that they will), you're going to be spending $500 a year at least for the rest of your life for these drugs. Wouldn't it be worthwhile to give natural hair loss treatments a trial before spending a lot of money on medications that may or may not work?

Natural homemade hairloss tips explained here includes herbal remedies and herbal treatments. It is a natural way to stop hairloss. Naturals are safe. As it is homemade it is profitable also.

The reasons for hairloss may varry from physical to mendal. Hair loss causes and natural home-made tips to remedies. Read more

How to Make Your Bodyweight Workout More Challenging

Most trainers know how to make a weight training workout more challenging: add more weight or reps. Since you can't or don't want to add more bodyweight, is adding more reps the only way to make a bodyweight workout more challenging? Not at all. There are several variables that you can adjust to keep progressing.

We recently received a note from a few folks looking to make their bodyweight workouts more challenging. It seems that what they are currently doing just isn't getting it done so today I will go into a few techniques on how to do so.

You see, the nature of progressive resistance training is just that -- progression -- you must keep progressing for it to work and if it isnt "challenging enough" simply pick a variable and build from there. Read more

Milk Thistle Herb Has Anti-Cancer Benefits

The milk thistle herb has long been used to protect the liver from the effects of alcohol. A recent study demonstrated that milk thistle also has anti-cancer benefits.

Recently, scientists demonstrated the anti-cancer effects of silibinin, a major biologically active compound of milk thistle. Being widely used as a folk remedy for liver diseases, milk thistle is safe and well-tolerated, and it protects the liver from drug or alcohol-related injury. Silibinin is highly purified from milk thistle, with a defined chemical structure and molecular weight (C₂₅H₂₂O₁₀, MW: 482.44).

The study was carried out by Dr. Ke-Qin Hu and his research team at the University of California, Irvine. Dr. Hu is a well-experienced research scientist and physician in the field of hepatology. He has published over 70 scientific articles in various medical professional journals. Many of his scientific research publications are focused on viral hepatitis B and C, cirrhosis, and liver cancer, all of which have significantly contributed to our better understanding of common liver diseases.

Dr. Hu and his colleagues' discovery of silibilin's anti-liver cancer effects was recently published.*

The researchers found that silibilin can significantly reduce the growth of several human hepatoma cell lines. In addition, they demonstrated that silibinin mediates anti-liver cancer effects by: Read more

Beating Colds and Flu the Natural Way

The best time to treat a cold or the flu is before you have it. Prevention is always easier than cure. It is possible to effectively ease the pain and discomfort of colds and flu naturally.

The purpose of my ten-page article, Beating Colds & Flu: The Natural Way is to educate about effective natural offenses and defenses that can be implemented before and during cold and flu season.

When implementing the preventative measures that I outline, chances of contracting cold and flu become minimal. I have found through clinical practice that the faster a person implements preventative measures, the better the chance of escaping an episode with the flu and/or cold.

By following the suggestions in Beating Colds & Flu: The Natural Way, you will be educating yourself on how to prepare, prevent and treat colds and flu, in a safe, natural manner--all from the comfort of your own home. Read more

Aging: Walking Faster and Outpacing Death

Researchers report that people who walk faster can outpace death, and faster walking appears to not only be a predictor, but also a prescription.

Researchers who followed the health of nearly 500 older people for almost a decade found that those who walked more quickly were less likely to die over the course of the study.

The findings, the researchers said, suggest that gait speed may be a good predictor of long-term survival, even in people who otherwise appear basically healthy. The study was presented at a conference of the Gerontological Society of America.

In a related study, appearing in the November issue of The Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, the researchers also found that people whose walking speed improved reduced their risk of death. Read more

Cannabis Compound Halts Cancer

A compound found in cannabis may stop brain cancer and breast cancer from spreading throughout the body.

The California Pacific Medical Center Research Institute team are hopeful that cannabidiol or CBD could be a non-toxic alternative to chemotherapy.

[...]

Maria Leadbeater of Breast Cancer Care said: "Many people experience side-effects while having chemotherapy, such as nausea and an increased risk of infection, which can take both a physical and emotional toll.

"Any drug that has fewer side-effects will, of course, be of great interest." Read more

Cannabis is turning out to be the aspirin of the 21st century--a wonder drug capable of alleviating a wide variety of ailments.

Herbs and Diet Treat Hair Loss

Hair loss is a problem that afflicts a majority of men eventually. If you decide to do something about it, are pharmaceuticals, surgery, or hairpieces the only solutions? Not necessarily.

Did you know that some instances of hair loss are triggered and further aggravated by unhealthy dietary habits? Why, treating hair loss, do we habitually choose to use expensive medications, such as Rogaine or Minoxidil, or turn to surgical procedures like hair transplants, without considering natural solutions? Read more

Marijuana Is GOOD for Children

MSNBC's Keith Olbermann interviews a pediatrician from the University of Southern California who explains how medical cannabis can be used to treat ADD in children.

300 Training Method at Home

This 300 Workout is a full body circuit for people who want to keep it simple. All that is required is an inexpensive pull-up bar.

6-Year-Old Olga Does 15 Pull-ups

Olga does 10 pull-ups a day at the age of 6. This video shows shows her trying her best for the camera. If her performance shames you, check out my article Double Your Pull-ups in Six Weeks or Less.

Forget Gyms: Do Dumbbell Workouts at Home

For people who claim they have no time to exercise, having to go to a gym for their workout just adds another excuse for not exercising regularly. Having a set of dumbbells at home, on the other hand, makes strength training quick and convenient.

If you are really looking for a way to get fit without having to fork out large sums of cash for a gym membership or fancy exercise equipment then why not get yourself a good set of dumbbells instead. There are lots of different exercises that you can incorporate in to your dumbbell workouts that will help to tone up every part of your body and not just your arms as so many people think they do. Read more

Why Diet Sodas Are Fattening: The Cephalic Fat Spiral

Leading fitness experts, such as Matt Furey and Art De Vany, have long claimed that diet sodas were fattening even though they have no calories. Now science shows why they were right:

For as long as humans have lived on Earth, they have been eating foods that taste sweet, such as sugar cane and honey.

So, the brain has a conditioned response in reaction to eating something sweet.

It is called the Cephalic Phase Insulin Response (CPIR), and it’s responsible for the fat-storing effects of diet beverages, including diet sodas, diet tea, coffee, energy drinks, sports drinks, and flavored waters. Read more

Overtraining and Sudden Death

The recent death of top distance runner Ryan Shay during the U.S. men's Olympic marathon trials thrust the issue of sudden death in fit, highly trained athletes back into the news. Art De Vany attempts to find what the causes are, and how common it actually is.

I have searched for a good source on sudden death in athletes for some time now. Finally, I found an excellent one put up by the Minneapolis Heart Institute Foundation Sudden Death in Athletes.

The most common cause is Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy (HCM). That large, slow-beating "athletic" heart may kill you. So can alcohol, energy drinks, and steroids. Which activity is most dangerous? You may see why I play tennis now. Weight lifting didn't make the grade, but competitive lifting is such a small sport. In part, the sports with the most participation rank highest. Read more

Should You Be Concerned about H5N1 Bird Flu?

"The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace in a continual state of alarm (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing them with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary."
--H.L. Mencken

Since President Bush issued a directive allowing authorities to detain or isolate any passenger suspected of having avian flu when arriving in the United States aboard an international flight, does that mean you should add H5N1 bird flu to your list of concerns, or is it just more hype to justify increasing government power?

With all the hype surrounding the supposed detection of H5N1 bird flu in East Anglia (UK), you'd be forgiven for wondering how this affects you and what you should do about it.

Perhaps a little history would help.

First of all, where do you think H5N1 was first discovered?

Secondly, when do you think that was?

Did you answer "Asia", "China", "Korea", "Vietnam" or something similar?

And did you think it was first identified in 2004? How about 2005? or even 2006?

If you did, you'd be amongst the majority of the World's population, whose sole source of "information" is the box in the corner and whatever BBC / CNN / NBC / Whoever else decides is the news today. All (with the exception of BBC) owned by major conglomerates and multinationals who have corporate agendas to follow (have you seen the move "The Corporation"? If not, you should (the link will take you directly to where you can download it - it is FREE!) these organisations work hard to protect their owners from exposure. When you understand that the major food poducers are owned by virtually the same people, you might start to get a bit of the picture. Factor in the ownership of the major pharmaceutical companies that are racing each other to produce the first commercial "vaccine" or "treatment" for H5N1 and you are getting closer still. Read more

Natural Cures for Acid Reflux

Acid relux is either a very common or very profitable disease, judging by the plethora of TV commercials touting pharmaceuticals to treat it. Is there any alternative to turning over your hard-earned cash to Big Pharma?

There are quite a few natural cures for acid reflux but the best way to mitigate its affects is to eat a balanced diet that helps restrict the over production of gastric acids. If you suffer from acid reflux then you will come to know which foods tend to aggravate the condition so you can avoid those. Other things to avoid include fatty food, certain spices, caffeine and citrus fruits as these can cause episodes of acid reflux. Smoking has also been shown to increase the chances of acid reflux.

The known natural cures for acid reflux all have one thing in common. They calm the stomach and its production of gastric acids. Read more

Is Creatine For You?

Why is creatine such a big deal? Because creatine works. Lifters know this, professors know this, and the marketers who sell the stuff know this.But what are the side effects? Risks? Here's what you need to know about this muscle-building supplement before you put it into your body.

read more | digg story

Criminalizing Natural Health, Vitamins, and Herbs

(Part 1 of 4) Dr. Rima Laibow, M.D., speaks about a movement to place nutritional supplements under the control of the FDA and pharmaceutical industry. If this outrages you, contact your congressional representative and tell them you don't like "Docket: 2006D-0480" or ANY plans to have the FDA and drug companies controlling your nutritional supplements.

Top 10 Ways to Sleep Smarter and Better

There are lots of ways out there to beat insomnia, increase the quality of your sleep, and master the power nap. Lifehacker gives its top 10 favorite sleep techniques, tips and facts.

read more | digg story

Protecting the Aging Brain

The most effective technique for slowing the decline of the aging brain seems to be physical exercise. Exercise is known both to boost mood and maintain the blood supply network to the brain, both of which are known to be crucial to mental functioning.

Physical exercise is the best-proven prescription so far, the scientists agreed. Memory improved when 72-year-olds started a walking program three days a week, and sophisticated scans showed their brains' activity patterns started resembling those of younger people. Read more

Exercise is not just good for your muscles and your heart, but also for your brain.

My New Squidoo Lens: Bodyweight Exercise Workouts

Check out my new Squidoo lens Bodyweight Exercise Workouts. It has YouTube videos, articles, and links to bodyweight exercise information. Go to http://squidoo.com/bodyweightexercise.

The War on Drugs Is Over; Drugs Won: The Failure of Drug Prohibition

"Prohibition will work great injury to the cause of temperance. It is a species of intemperance within itself, for it attempts to control a man's appetite by legislation and makes a crime out of things that are not crimes. A prohibition law strikes at the very principles upon which our government was founded."- Abraham Lincoln

As Abraham Lincoln predicted, alcohol prohibition in the 1920s turned the cause of temperance into a national joke. Although consumption of alcohol fell at the beginning of Prohibition, it subsequently increased. Alcohol became more dangerous to consume. Crime increased and became "organized." The court and prison systems were stretched to the breaking point, and corruption of public officials was rampant. The only thing that Prohibition reduced was respect for the law.

Drug prohibition has not stopped the making, selling, buying, or using of recreational substances any more than alcohol prohibition in the 1920s reduced the consumption of alcoholic beverages. Federal, state, and local governments have spent hundreds of billions of dollars trying to make America “drug-free" and incarcerated nearly half a million people on drug charges--more than all of western Europe (with a bigger population) incarcerates for all offenses. Yet heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine, and other illegal drugs are as widely available as ever, particularly to young people.

The side effects of the moralistic War on Drugs have been a disaster. Many of the problems that drug prohibition purports to resolve are, in fact, caused by prohibition itself. Drug prohibition helps drug dealers and drug lords make higher profits in the illegal drug black market because prohibition enforcement drives prices up. Illegal drugs are much more expensive than they would be if they were legal since the products themselves are either common plants-- cannabis (marijuana), poppies (heroin), coca (cocaine)--or the cheap pharmaceuticals and "precursors" used, for example, in the manufacture of methamphetamine.

Drug prohibition itself also causes most so-called “drug-related” crime. Drug violence is seldom caused by the drugs themselves, but rather by the criminal way in which drugs are sold. Nearly all drug-related murders involve one drug dealer shooting another. Just as Al Capone’s gang killed other bootleggers, drug dealers are violent because they have to be. How else can you run an illegal cash business with no police protection or recourse to the courts?

Leaving aside the failure of drug prohibition to accomplish its purported purpose, the worst aspect of the War on Drugs is its responsibility for a dramatic erosion of our basic freedoms and rights. Nearly every medium to large city now operates a paramilitary-style police unit that specializes in drug raids on homes. The standard of evidence necessary to obtain a warrant for such a raid is often nothing more than the word of an informant compelled to cooperate for his or her self-interest. Most of the techniques now used in the "War on Terror" were first developed for use in the Drug War. Warrantless searches, seizure of property upon arrest, wide-ranging wiretaps, and the general erosion of the assumption of innocence are all the result of the War on Drugs.

America was founded upon the ideals of freedom and individual liberty. The founding fathers envisioned a government that stayed out of the private lives of its citizens unless a citizen's action posed a danger to the welfare of his neighbor. Though government has a right and duty to protect us from harm by others, it should not interfere in bad decision making that puts no one else at risk. The very notion of protecting citizens from themselves is nothing more that the imposition of a religious moral code on everyone, regardless of his or her own beliefs. In this country, adults should be free to make choices that others disapprove of so long as the consequences of those decisions do not pose a direct or potential risk to the welfare of others.

Prohibition only creates crime and related social harms. This was the case with alcohol prohibition in the 1920s, and it is the case now with drug prohibition. The War on Drugs has become a war on families, a war on public health, and a war on our constitutional rights. It only took our ancestors about 15 years to realize that alcohol prohibition was a failure and end it. After more than 30 years, the time has now come for contemporary Americans to end drug prohibition and regulate drugs just as we do alcohol and tobacco.

Stretching before Exercise May Be a Waste of Time

If you're trying to prevent muscle aches and stiffness, stretching before exercise may be a waste of time (and so is stretching afterwards), according to to a new study.

The elaborate limbering up routines favored by many athletes and gym-goers do little to prevent muscle aches and stiffness, researchers found.

Stretching muscles after exercise may be equally pointless, they say.

[...]

Dr Polly McGuigan, an expert in exercise and sport at Bath University, agreed there was no evidence that stretching muscles did any good before exercising 'In fact there is some evidence 'It could even do harm'

'There is no really good explanation out there for why stretching could reduce post-exercise aches and injuries, or improve performance. Read more

I couldn't agree more, especially on stretching before exercise, which reduces muscle power.

Merck HPV Vaccine Push Shot Down

Good news for freedom of choice and parental rights.

In the face of a growing parental backlash and amid new reports of adverse reactions to the new HPV vaccine, in a dramatic turnaround, the drug giant Merck has announced it will halt a coordinated multi-state lobbying push to have the HPV vaccine mandated for 11-12 year old girls. The vaccine requires three doses and is very expensive at a cost of about $400. The HPV vaccine campaign has been dubbed “Help Pay for Vioxx” by critics alarmed at the heavy hand of Merck in the push to mandate the vaccine across the country.

The quiet lobbying campaign hit the headlines when Texas Gov. Rick Perry issued an unprecedented executive order requiring all Texas girls entering the sixth grade the vaccine Gardasil by 2008. The order has resulted in a backlash from parents and legislators.

About 20 states are considering measures to mandate that girls have the vaccine to attend school, but none has passed so far.

The change by Merck comes as a new report of dangerous reactions to the vaccine was released by the National Vaccine Information Center. The report details several types of reported reactions. According to the report, adverse reactions are growing with 385 adverse event reports made for the vaccine with two-thirds of those having a reaction requiring additional medical care. The reports are most likely the tip of the ice berg because reporting adverse vaccine reactions is voluntary. Studies have estimated that as few as 1-in-10 adverse vaccine reactions are actually reported.
Read more

Like so much government regulation, this was corporate welfare, disguised, in this case, as disease prevention. Apparently though, mandating an unproven vaccine for a disease which can't be spread by casual contact was a little too much for even the normally docile, gullible American public.

By the way, authoritarian Texas Governor Rick Perry, who is also pushing the NAFTA Superhighway which will run through his state, is announcing is support today for, who else, Rudy Giuliani.

10 Embarrassingly Obvious Health Studies

Some health studies discover new information that we can use to stay healthy. These 10 studies do not. In fact, when you read the conclusions of these studies, you just have to say to yourself, "Duh! No kidding?"

Scientists are rational. They’re logical. They’re smart. That’s what makes all that science so readily believable, right? These folks are experts, and so we listen. But sometimes we run across a study that makes us wonder, “Why did anyone study that? It’s obvious.”

Among the earthshaking revelations we learn from these studies are that cigarettes cost money, cocaine and alcohol aren't good for your brain, and people are easier to recognize when they're close than when they're far away. To read more results of health studies which discovered what you already knew, click here.

Diet and Fat: A Scientific Consensus Gone Wrong

Everybody "knows" that fat is bad for you, just as they "know" that global warming is caused by human activity. The problem is that fat isn't bad for you, despite the fact that in the 1970s 92 percent of the world's leading doctors claimed it was. In 1988 Surgeon General C. Everett Koop even claimed that, “The depth of the science base underlying its [his report's] findings is even more impressive than that for tobacco and health in 1964.”

It may seem bizarre that a surgeon general could go so wrong. After all, wasn’t it his job to express the scientific consensus? But that was the problem. Dr. Koop was expressing the consensus. He, like the architects of the federal “food pyramid” telling Americans what to eat, went wrong by listening to everyone else. He was caught in what social scientists call a cascade.We like to think that people improve their judgment by putting their minds together, and sometimes they do. The studio audience at “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” usually votes for the right answer. But suppose, instead of the audience members voting silently in unison, they voted out loud one after another. And suppose the first person gets it wrong.

If the second person isn’t sure of the answer, he’s liable to go along with the first person’s guess. By then, even if the third person suspects another answer is right, she’s more liable to go along just because she assumes the first two together know more than she does. Thus begins an “informational cascade” as one person after another assumes that the rest can’t all be wrong.

Because of this effect, groups are surprisingly prone to reach mistaken conclusions even when most of the people started out knowing better, according to the economists Sushil Bikhchandani, David Hirshleifer and Ivo Welch. If, say, 60 percent of a group’s members have been given information pointing them to the right answer (while the rest have information pointing to the wrong answer), there is still about a one-in-three chance that the group will cascade to a mistaken consensus. Read more

When the global warmers try to stampede the public with threats, intimidation, and claims that the science is "settled" into give them to power to control society, we need to remember that consensus can be wrong, particularly when it's arrived at publicly.

Is There an Anti-Acne Diet After All?

For years, teenagers were told that eating certain foods would make their acne worse. More recently they've been told that was wrong. Diet doesn't affect acne; it's all hormones. Now it turns out that diet can alleviate the condition.

A research team, led by Associate Professor Neil Mann from RMIT University’s School of Applied Sciences, has discovered a solid link between acne and diet.
"We think we've come across a way to alter your diet in a very healthy way that will alleviate the symptoms of acne and at the same time will make you a lot healthier," Associate Professor Mann said.

The study recruited 50 boys and divided them into two groups. One group consumed a typical teen diet of sugary snacks and processed foods, while the other group followed a more natural diet higher in protein and with low-glycemic index foods such as whole grain bread, pasta, and legumes. The study showed impressive results in just 12 weeks.

"The acne of the boys on the higher protein-low GI diet improved dramatically, by more than 50 per cent, which is more than what you see with topical acne solutions," said Associate Professor Mann. Read more

The traditional advice to avoid certain foods was partly right. Sweets, which have a high-glycemic index, were one category of foods that acne sufferers were told to avoid. Greasy foods, another prohibited category, apparently don't have any effect on the severity of acne though.

Folk medicine usually has generations of anecdotal evidence behind it. Though it may not be completely right, and the explanation of why it works may be partly or completely wrong, researchers would be wise to consider and test folk remedies rather than dismissing them out-of-hand as "old wives' tales."

300 Spartan Workout Training. Superset Style 8

Here are the rules for 300 Spartan Workout version 8: Perform one set from A1 and then one set of A2, rest for 45 sec, then repeat until you did 2 sets of each. Don't rest between these sets. For example, perform Staggered Push followed by Decline Press without any break in between this set.


300 Spartan Workout Training. Superset Style 8 - The funniest home videos are here

Vaginal Strengthening Exercises for More Powerful Orgasms

At her Sex Secrets blog, Svetlana Ivanova has written the female version of my post on PC muscle exercises for men.

If you have weak sexual muscles, you may have a hard time having an orgasm, or, at the very least, you will not have the powerful orgasms that you could be having. To have powerful, intense, and, especially, female-ejaculatory orgasms, you must have strong sexual muscles. The good news is that there are several exercises that can strengthen them. Read more

Double Your Pull-ups in Six Weeks or Less

The pull-up is the king of upper body exercises. Being able to pull up one's own body weight is one of the most useful tests of functional strength. Elite military units, such as Navy SEALs and Air Force Special Tactics, want their members to be able to do at least 20 pull-ups. As a freshman in high school, I watched a classmate (a heavily muscled swimmer) do 47 during lunch recess. However, the overwhelming majority of men and women (Yes, women can do pull-ups.) can't even do 10. If you would like to dramatically improve your upper body strength, here is the program I used to double my pull-up totals in only five weeks.

Major Charles Lewis Armstrong, USMC, used this routine to prepare himself for an attempt to set a world record for pull-ups. The Armstrong pull-up program consists of two workouts per day, five days a week. Before you faint at the thought of violating the "laws" of fitness that restrict exercise to 3 days a week every other day, remember that the amount of recovery time needed from exercise varies with the type, volume, and intensity. The military typically uses a Monday through Friday training schedule for calisthenics.

Monday: Do five maximum effort sets. Rest 90 seconds between each set. Make sure that each set is a maximum effort set, but don't concern yourself with numbers. You will probably increase the numbers in the last two sets before you see much improvement in the first three.

Tuesday: Pyramid Day. Start the pyramid with one repetition, the next set has two repetitions, the next has three. Rest 10 seconds for each repetition in the previous set. Continue adding reps to each set until you miss a set. That means, if your last set was five, and your next set should be six, but you could only do four, you missed a set. Then finish your workout with one more set at a maximum effort.

Wednesday: Do three “training sets” of overhand pull-ups, three sets of underhand pull-ups, and three sets of overhand pull-ups where the back of your neck touches the bar. Rest 60 seconds between sets. A training set is determined by your current level of strength. If you are advanced, it might be 5 or 6. The goal of the workout is to do the same number of repetitions per set, so start off conservatively. If you can only do one, use one. You must complete nine training sets for this workout.

Thursday: Do the maximum number of training sets that you can. Use the same number of repetitions that you used in your Wednesday sets. Rest 60 seconds between each set. Do training sets until you miss a set.

Friday: Repeat the day that you found to be the hardest in the previous four days. This may vary from week to week.

Most people who stick with this program are able to double their pull-ups in 4-6 weeks. In addition to pull-ups, Major Armstrong did three maximum effort sets of push-ups every morning, and then did his pull-up routine 3-4 hours later. That workout schedule is probably not convenient for most people, but it doesn't have to be followed exactly. Just be sure to do the pull-up routine separately from the push-ups. Though I don't recommend it, you could also skip the push-ups unless you're training for a fitness test which includes push-ups.

Unless you are facing a make-or-break fitness test, I personally wouldn't follow this program longer than 6-8 weeks even if you haven't reached your ultimate goal number. Change to a different exercise routine, while maintaining your pull-up gains by doing 5 sets of 50% of your max, five days a week, or doing your max reps at least twice a week. In other words, if you want to maintain the ability to do 20 pull-ups, do 5 sets of 10, five days a week, or do a set of 20 at least twice a week. After 1-2 months, you should be able to go back to the Armstrong pull-up program at about the same place you left off and push on to the next level.

For a free mini course on how to simultaneously improve strength and conditioning while burning fat, click here. Read my review of the two best bodyweight exercise courses you can choose.

The Strongest 60-Year-Old Woman in the World

The Russian city of Ulyanovsk lies on the Volga River, but recently is better known as the home of the strongest 60-year-old woman in the world. For those women afraid that weight training will give them bulky muscles, notice how normal-looking she is.

Today's Anti-Smoking Purge Is Borrowed from the Nazis

Is today's anti-smoking purge really about health or is something else afoot?

A wealth of overlooked yet frightening literature concerning the Nazi crusade against smoking provides a clear parallel to contemporary developments and an alarming warning that state restriction of personal habits is the pre-cursor to dictatorship.

[...]

As I [Joseph Watson] wrote earlier this year, "The regulation of the personal habit of smoking, including new legislative moves in San Francisco to ban cigarettes in private homes, and its enforcement by an eager cadre of state snoops and snitches, represents nothing more than a move on behalf of big brother towards the complete subjugation and shackling of the individual."

Read these shocking parallels and compare them to the endless lecturing we are forced to endure today about our personal lifestyle choices by the state and their propaganda arm, the mass media.--Prison Planet

The Nazi campaign against smoking that Watson outlines does almost exactly parallel how the anti-smoking zealots have operated in the United States. After smoking, what will the control nazis take on next? It looks like their next step is to control what we eat, starting with trans fats and sodas. Once they finish, we'll be just like livestock--only able to eat and drink what our masters allow us.

The Ultimate Burpee Ladder Workout

If you think you're in pretty good physical condition, then try this workout, which I call the "Ultimate Burpee Ladder." This workout will separate the contenders from the pretenders, and leave the pretenders puking their guts out.

The Ultimate Burpee Ladder consists of one classic exercise, the "burpee." This exercise works your chest, arms, front deltoids, thighs and abs. The burpee is a six-count exercise:

1) Stand with your feet shoulder width apart and your hands raised over your head. Then squat down and place your palms on the floor by your feet.

2) Kick both of your legs back so that you're in push-up position.

3) Bend your elbows and lower your body until your chest touches the floor.

4) Push yourself back up.

5) At the end of the push-up, quickly pull both knees into your chest while keeping your hands on the floor. You're jumping back into the squat position of step one.

6) Stand straight up by straightening your legs and throwing your hands in the air over your head. You're now in the position that you started in. You can make the burpee more advanced and increase the explosive power in your legs by jumping into the air as you stand up.

To do the Ultimate Burpee Ladder workout, go to a football or soccer field, a track, or some other place where there is a clear area at least a 100 meters long. If you thought the Ultimate Burpee Ladder workout was only going to be burpees, you were so, so wrong. In between sets of burpees, you will be doing 100 yard sprints.

Take 5-10 minutes to do a light warm-up. If you're going to be doing the workout on a football or soccer field, position yourself at the goal line. Sprint the length of the field to the other goal line and then immediately do 10 burpees. Then sprint back to where you started and do 12 burpees. Continue sprinting and increasing the number of burpees in each set by two until you reach 24. By the way, notice that I did not say jog or even run; I said sprint. Sprint means "to race or move at full speed." The workout ends when you can't complete a set of burpees without stopping to rest, or you can't sprint.

The Ultimate Burpee Ladder workout consists of 136 burpees and eight 100 yard sprints--not huge numbers. It's doing each set and sprint one after the other with no rest that makes this the Ultimate Burpee Ladder.

If you couldn't complete the workout on your first try, join the club. To improve, you need to do the workout once a week. If that's too scary to contemplate, try this modification to lessen the pain a little while you improve your conditioning. Do your sets of burpees and your sprints separately--even on separate days if you need to at first. Allow 15 seconds of rest between sets of burpees, and 30 seconds of rest between 100 yard sprints. The same rules apply: when you have to stop in the middle of a set of burpees, or you can't maintain a sprint, the workout is over.

Many of you will be afraid to even try this workout. Others will be afraid to try it a second time. But for those of you who believe that "pain is just weakness leaving the body," completing the Ultimate Burpee Ladder workout will be a challenge that you just can't walk away from. Oo-Rah!

For a free mini course on how to simultaneously improve strength and conditioning while burning fat, click here. Read my review of the two best bodyweight exercise courses you can choose.

High Fructose Corn Syrup Linked to Diabetes

It's hard to know which manufactured sweetener is worse: aspartame or high fructose corn syrup.

Researchers have found new evidence that soda pop sweetened with high-fructose corn syrup may contribute to the development of diabetes, particularly in children.

In a laboratory study of commonly consumed carbonated beverages, the scientists found that drinks containing the syrup had high levels of reactive compounds that have been shown by others to have the potential to trigger cell and tissue damage that could cause the disease, which is at epidemic levels.

[...]

In the current study, Chi-Tang Ho, Ph.D., conducted chemical tests among 11 different carbonated soft drinks containing HFCS. He found "astonishingly high" levels of reactive carbonyls in those beverages.--ConsumerAffairs.com

A good rule to follow is to not use any manufactured sweetener. Sugar and honey may add calories, but at least they're not poisonous.

Circuit Training: Time Efficient Fitness

Matt Pitcher has a great article on circuit training at Deep Fitness. The main benefit of circuit training is time efficiency. Matt talks about the three types of circuits and how to tweak your circuit training to keep it varied and focused on your goals. Click here to read the article.

The Many Benefits of Exercise for Arthritis

If you have arthritis, you may think that exercise would be the worst thing you could do for it. Not true.

Arthritis and exercise? I’m sure that when your [sic] feeling stiff and sore the last thing you feel like doing is exercise! However, apart from diet, exercise for arthritis is probably the most important thing you can do to help yourself feel better.--Health and Fittness

Nicotine: The Wonder Drug

Are we about to discover, as the Woody Allen character did in Sleeper, that cigarettes are good for us? Not quite, but the nicotine in them might be.

Nicotine acts on the acetylcholine receptors in the brain, stimulating and regulating the release of a slew of brain chemicals, including seratonin, dopamine and norepinephrine. Not surprisingly, the first scientific work that identified these chemicals and how they affect the body came out of nicotine research -- much of it performed by tobacco companies.

Now drugs derived from nicotine and the research on nicotine receptors are in clinical trials for everything from helping to heal wounds, to depression, schizophrenia, Alzheimer's, Tourette Syndrome, ADHD, anger management and anxiety.

"Nicotine is highly stigmatized -- and for good reason, because the delivery systemis so deadly," says Don deBethizy, CEO of Targacept. "But the drug itself and the research generated by studying its effects on the brain both show great promise for helping us improve our physical and mental health."--Wired

More proof that science is never "settled."

Health and Fitness

Being active makes a person healthy and strong. It is not just for people who have a weight problem but for everyone who likes to stay fit.

There is a lot a person can do such jog or walk every morning, play basketball or any other sport with friends but if a person wants to have muscles and look lean, then one can sign up and workout in a gym.

People workout for three reasons;

The first is that the person is overweight and the only way to lose those extra pounds will be to reduce ones calorie intake and at the same time workout in the gym.

The second is that the person is underweight and the only way to add extra pounds is to have more calories in one's diet and workout.

The third is just for fun and to keep that person in shape.

The best exercise plan should have cardiovascular and weight training exercises. This helps burn calories and increase the muscle to fat ratio that will increase ones metabolism and gain or lose weight.

Just like taking any medicine, one should first consult the doctor before undergoing any form of exercise.

Here are some benefits of exercising;

1) It is the easiest way to maintain and improve ones health from a variety of diseases and premature death.

2) Studies have shown that it makes a person feels happier and increases ones self esteem preventing one from falling into depression or anxiety.

3. An active lifestyle makes a person live longer than a person who doesn’t.

Working out for someone who has not done it before should be done gradually. Endurance will not be built in a day and doing it repeatedly will surely be beneficial to the person.

It is advisable to workout regularly with a reasonable diet.

A person can consult with a dietitian or a health professional to really help plan a good diet program. It starts by evaluating the lifestyle and the health of the patient before any program can be made.

Afterwards, this is thoroughly discussed and recommended to the person which usually consists of an eating plan and an exercise program that does not require the use of supplements or one to purchase any expensive fitness equipment.

A good diet should have food from all the food groups.

This is made up by two things. The first is carbohydrates. The food that a person consumes should have vitamins, minerals and fiber. Some of this can come from oats, rice, potatoes and cereals. The best still come from vegetables and fruits since these have phytochemicals, enzymes and micronutrients that are essential for a healthy diet.

The second is fat, which can come from mono and poly saturated food sources rather than animal fats. Since fat contains more than double the number of calories in food, this should be taken in small quantities to gain or lose weight.

Another way to stay healthy is to give up some vices. Most people smoke and drink. Smoking has been proven to cause lung cancer and other diseases as well complications for women giving birth. Excessive drinking has also shown to do the same.

For people who don’t smoke, it is best to stay away from people who do since studies have shown that nonsmokers are also at risk of developing cancer due to secondary smoke inhalation.

Be A Man of Fitness

Fitness is the essence of a man. Fitness is the ability of a person to do his normal everyday tasks with full alertness and vigor without worrying about fatigue afterward and with extra energy in reserve which can be useful when emergencies arise or during leisure and recreation. Overall fitness must be the primary goal every man must try to achieve. In fitness, no one is ever too young or too old for improvement.

One's fitness can be improved by engaging in aerobic exercises and through strength training. There are three components of overall fitness that every man must focus on working out in order to be in healthy, tip-top shape. These are cardiovascular work, strength training and of course, a healthful diet.

Staying strong by building muscles. Man's fitness regimen should include a work out routine which aims to build the muscles. Aging causes a decrease in muscle mass of five to seven pounds (2-3.2 kgs) of muscle for every ten years in one's adult life given that he lives an inactive lifestyle. Truly, the saying "use it or lose it" is very applicable to the muscles. Fortunately, there is a good solution to this. Loss of muscle mass can be replaced by engaiging in strength training.

Improvement of man's fitness by cardiovascular work out. Flexibility exercises, strength training and cardiovascular work out surely help boost a man's fitness and all these should be part of a man's work out scheme. But of all these, cardiovascular work is the most necessary. Exercises under cardiovascular work conditions and develops the cardiovascular system and also works out large muscle groups.

So if a man does not have much time for working out, devoting whatever free time he might have to aerobic exercises would do him fine. He might have to pass out on developing those biceps but so long as cardiovascular work out exercises are done, then the blood pressure, heart and cholesterol levels will be fine to keep you staying happy and healthy.

The essence of nutrition to man's fitness. It is best as well as well recommended to eat whole and natural foods frequently than do it on large amounts in one to three sittings. Always keep variety in mind when doing the shopping. This will ensure that one is getting most if not all of the nutrients and minerals needed by the body to keep fit and healthy. Always keep the three important macronutreints in the diet; these are fats, carbohydrates and proteins. Prioritize proteins though over carbohydrates but never exclude any one of the three on some fad diet.

Some tips in keeping a man's fitness level high, efficient and safe:

1) Drink plenty of water all through out the day, especially when working out.

2) Do exercises properly using the correct techniques, whether it's weight lifting or aerobic exercises. Always read and understand, and follow of course, the instructions outlined by the personal trainer.

3) Make sure the is always a spotter when lifting weights.

4) Challenge the muscles, but make sure that it's kept safe.

5) Stretch, warm up prior to working out and cool down gradually after sessions.

6) Check the equipment for safety before using it.

7) It is better to do less than overdo the whole thing. Overtraining will exhaust enthusiasm and kill performance.

Working Out for Extreme Fitness

Many people think about building muscles as abandoning life outside the gym and devoting hours in the gym like a monk in a monastery. Perhaps the only way to chisel the body into a hot muscular physique is by toiling hour by hour over the rusty iron day in, day out and year in, year out.

This need not be so. Although hard work is truly required, extreme fitness doesn't demand one to be a slave of the iron weights. Full-body workouts can make one progress, and they easily fit in one's schedule. This is very convenient if one is looking forward to achieving extreme fitness but finds it hard to hold on to a single workout routine.

Genuine full-body workouts done by athletes with an aim in mind makes for maximum muscle contraction using heavy weights, makes room for full recovery so one can actually grow and continue to train hard plus it also prevents burnout which is inevitable due to excess training.

So if one is ready for extreme fitness, here is all there is to know about full body workout:

Full-body work out is a time saver. The biggest plus about having the whole body trained all at once is probably having to go to the gym less frequently; perhaps around two to three times for every seven days would be enough.

Another advantage of working out the entire body all at once is that one need not spend two or more hours of strenuous exercise in the gym for every session; one only spends one hour in the gym for every session. So that's just three to four hours per week in the gym right? With full-body workouts, it is all about the quality of exercise one does for session and not the quantity, nor even the amount of time you allot per session.

A full-body workout boosts the cardiovascular system for extreme fitness. One must allot two to four sets for every body part into the one hour session. Jam packed with exercising, each one hour session then gets the heart and the rest of the cardiovasular system pumping and up to speed in a flash.

Now feeling pumped up, next find out what rules does one have to follow when engaging in full-body work outs:

Training commences only once every two to three days. This is so easy isn't it? What is great about this is that there is time spared during rest days so that one can indulge in a few cardio exercise sessions instead of depending on cardio execises one normally does at the end of each workout session which are ineffective due to fatigue.

Heavy lifting is strongly advised. Contrary to popular belief, especially among athletes, t is not true that it is good to train lighter than one actually could so as to conserve energy for the other body parts that will come later in the routine. What is true is that one cannot achieve optimal progress if one is not training heavy, no matter which program that person is doing.

Do one exercise only per muscle group. This is very easy to follow and is also important. Doing basic exercises which are also intense means you do not have to do another different exercise for that body part.

Keep your workout short. Resistance training affects the natural hormones of the body connected to muscle building. Intense exercising boosts the testosterone levels and long workouts increase those of catabolic cortisol. Sixty minutes of work out allows you to get the best of both worlds.

Now with this convenient and powerful work out regimen, one can now truly experience extreme fitness.

Moderate Exercises for Fitness

Have you ever felt tired and stressed out from work and by the time you get home you see your three children running towards you asking you to play basketball with them? You refused and promised them that you will after you take you rest.

Instead of disappointing your children, why not say, "yes" after all? You will be surprised by the amount of energy you will have after that 30-minute activity.

Did you know that by exercising at a moderate pace for only 30 minutes, you would feel a lot better, mentally? It has been proven that this improves the appetite and sharpens your style in problem solving. Not only that. You will also feel that it is easier to sleep at night if you do moderate exercises even for only 30 minutes every day.

What are the benefits of regular exercise? It promotes self-discipline and has a positive impact how you perceive life. Exercise helps in lifting your spirits and getting you out of any depression. For first timers, it can be done for 15 minutes for 2 to 3 days a week. You can increase the time you spend once your body gets tuned up for it.

DON'T you ever force your body! If you get hurt, then stop. You can take a break from exercising for a few days and then you can start again but you need to start from day one.

Here are some moderate exercises you can do and enjoy:

1) Do the Walking. Make use of your surroundings. You can walk your dog, with your partner or child. Encourage your family to do the walking exercise daily and you will find yourself burning calories while enjoying the surroundings and getting enough sunlight that is also good for your body.

2) Discover the wonders of Yoga. Yoga is one effective exercise that energizes not only your body but also your soul. You may want to learn even the basic yoga positions that are not too complicated but proven effective. A five-minute yoga exercise can perk you up and recharge your body with the energy you lost for the whole day. You relax and at the same time you stretch!

3) Engage yourself into sports. Play basketball, football, baseball, tennis or badminton. Many doctors have recommended sports as an effective way to stay fit and healthy. Sports can also be done in moderation. Do not take it seriously. Shooting basketball with a friend is one moderate exercise that is also considered a sport.

4) Join exercise programs at work. If you still do not have exercises programs at work, then why not start it? You can talk to your boss about it and start with your colleagues. You do not only lose calories but it is also one good way to bond with them. This can be done 30 minutes, 3 times a week.

5) Exercise while doing household chores. Gardening, raking leaves, lawn mowing, doing the laundry, vacuuming and car washing are effective moderate exercises at home. Make use of these chores to sweat and burn calories. Instead of using machines and gadgets to perform these chores, why not do it with your hands and lose some fats?

Making exercises as part of your daily routines will surprise you of how much calories you will lose. Doing these moderate exercises of the same amount every day can burn 150 calories up to 1,000 calories a day!

Lifetime Fitness: On Your Way to a Healthier You

Many people end up abandoning perfectly good fitness programs and weight-loss regimens before they even lace up their sneakers.

Why? Because in a world filled with fast food, instant messaging, and a five-second disease-tracking device, anything without a quick payoff goes against the grain of the typical American instant gratification ethic. While it would be nice to actually drop inches in just a few days like what most miracle ads proclaim, managing weight and losing weight through physical fitness is a slow and steady process that takes time and commitment.

Setting weight management goals for yourself can be a good motivator. Gradual weight loss, for those people who wish to shed off some extra pounds, is usually the safest.

That is why health and fitness experts had come up with the idea of lifetime fitness in order to teach people set realistic goals. These lifetime fitness programs generates dietary regimens that cut your normal calorie consumption for your weight by 500 to 1,000 per day, so will burning the same amount with exercise. In turn, this will definitely encourage healthier weight loss.

Lifetime fitness teaches you how to maintain a physically fit body at the same time enjoy and live a happy, contented life. It gives you the chance to strike a balance between the two (exercise and diet), and make exercise, be it team sports, cycling, or walking, something you will truly enjoy.

That is why lifetime fitness embodies the concept that making a long-term healthy lifestyle change is essential to keeping the pounds off once they are gone.

To know more of the advantages and benefits that lifetime fitness can bring, here are some facts that you need to know:

1) Lifetime fitness programs offers you the most comprehensive and wide-ranging fitness and health encounter with quality services, in which the customers will feel gratified.

These fitness programs provide you the right method in maintaining health, build up and encourage your competence, and take care of your family’s physical fitness as well.

2) Because the goal of lifetime fitness is to provide you with long-term achievements as far as physical fitness is concerned, these programs utilizes numerous fitness equipments that will tone and manage your health and the different parts of your body.

There are fitness equipments that will give your cardiovascular system a lift. You can also opt for some sports facilities that will provide you with an alternative way of being physically fit.

3) Lifetime fitness programs and centers also provides nutritional products such as food supplements that will aid in the formation of good blood cells and tissues thereby making your body at its pink of health.

Lifetime fitness centers and programs also provide you with up-to-date fitness magazines that do not only give substantial information about fitness and health but inspirational stories as well. These articles will give you an insight on how to make you life balance and how to live a life that is healthy and fit.

Indeed, staying fit and healthy can be a long and winding road and there are instances wherein you may find your enthusiasm fading occasionally. Nevertheless, with the comprehensive programs provided by lifetime fitness plans, you can start heading back to the right track of a healthier you.

20 Tricks to Boost IQ and Build a Mental Exercise Routine

Doctors are beginning to believe that maintaining mental fitness can prevent mental decline and Alzheimer's in older people. Scott H. Young gives 20 tricks to boost IQ and build a mental exercise routine.

I’d like to suggest that our daily life doesn’t challenge us enough mentally. Through setting aside time to visit the mental “gym” and organizing my life to work various mental muscles I’ve found it much easier to think logically, create new ideas and focus myself.

read more | digg story

Aspasrtame Chewing Gum Poisons NZ Woman

If regulatory agencies allow a food additive to be added to foods, it's "safe," right? Not necessarily.

Abigail Cormack thought she was dying from a mystery illness. She never realised her daily chewing gum habit was probably poisoning her.

[...]

When Ms Cormack, 25, of Wellington, began suffering crippling muscle cramps and tingling in her hands and feet about five months ago, she feared she was having a heart attack.

She started suffering heart palpitations, anxiety attacks, depression and skin rashes, was unable to sleep and had to take sick leave.

But, despite a battery of tests, doctors could not pinpoint the cause.

[...]

Her GP, Penny Rowley, was at the point of referring her to a neurologist when she heard about the gum habit.

She confirmed aspartame poisoning as the likely culprit, and within 24 hours of giving up gum, Ms Cormack's symptoms disappeared.--Stuff.co.nz

For more about reported aspartame side effects, click here. If you have any of the symptoms listed in the article, try eliminating aspartame for at least 30 days. It may be the culprit.

The Sunscreen Myth

One of the most pervasive myths peddled my the media is that sunscreens protect against skin cancer. Common sense tells you this can't be true. What about all the billions of people who lived prior to the invention of sunscreen who didn't get skin cancer? The source of this myth can be traced back to the two industries that benefit the most from it: the cancer industry and the sunscreen manufacturers.

Sunscreens perpetuate the rise in cancers by delivering a potentially deadly double-whammy:

• They contain cancer-causing chemicals, and
• They promote vitamin D deficiency, as they block sun rays.

Recent studies have shown that vitamin D prevents up to 77 percent of all cancers. For more information about the vital importance of vitamin D from sunlight, please review my article Reduce Your Risk of Cancer With Sunlight Exposure, if you haven't already seen it.--Mercola.com

Whenever you hear of some new product that is supposedly absolutely essential, always ask why previous generations didn't need the product if it's so necessary.

Can't Do a Pull-up? Here Are Some Great Alternatives to Pull-ups

Pull-ups are one of the best bodyweight exercises for your back. However, a lot of people cannot do a single pull-up because they are either too heavy or too weak. This video shows exercises you can substitute for pull-ups to build your upper back. Warning: loud music.

read more | digg story

Seven Surefire Ways to Increase Your Brain Power

Take advantage of 21st century technology by using these simple and inexpensive steps to improving your brain power. Dr. Mercola is a medical doctor who advocates for natural health and alternative medicine.

Don't Just Run: Sprint!

If you've been doing long, slow cardio, such as jogging, cycling, or swimming, for awhile without losing much weight or becoming much leaner even though you keep increasing your workouts, there is a simple explanation: too much cardio actually makes you fat. Excessive cardio increases stress hormones and down regulates the hormones, such as growth hormone and testosterone, that preserve muscle. In additon, elevated stress hormones make you insulin resistant, which leads to overeating as well as to eating foods that contribute to insulin resistance, such as sugars and starches.

Despite their appearance, many joggers and cyclists are not really lean. They may be slender because they have little muscle mass, but their body fat percentages are often surprisingly high.. In contrast, sprinters are lean and muscular with low body fat percentages. They have high human growth hormone (HGH) and testosterone levels--good for both females and males. Think back to the last track meet you saw. Who would you rather look like: the sprinters or the distance runners?

Benefits of Sprinting

1) Sprinting will reduce body fat and strengthen you far more than long, slow cardio because sprinting requires maximal recruitment of muscle. After about 8 seconds, sprinting sends acid signals to the muscles, which activates the fast twitch fibers. Fast-twitch fibers are thicker than slow twitch fibers, and it is fast twitch fibers that grow in size when activated by the right training.

2) Sprinting naturally increases human growth hormone. Human growth hormone increases muscle mass, thickens and adds flexibility to the skin, enhances the immune system, promotes weight loss through fat redistribution and loss, and increases stamina.

3) Sprinting strengthens your cardiovascular system with brief bursts of high intensity followed by long periods of recovery. You strengthen your skeletal muscles by doing heavy, low-repetition sets with long recoveries. You should strengthen your heart the same way. Sprinting doesn't cause the continuous stress on the heart that long, slow cardio does.

4) Sprint workouts are short and a lot more fun than long, boring cardio workouts.

The Definition of Sprinting

Based on the misleading articles and workouts I've seen posted all over the web, I'd better define what sprinting is. Sprinting is not just running faster than a jog. You cannot "sprint" for 30-60 second or even more with an equal recovery for 6-10 repetitions as some fitness "experts" advise. This is an anaerobic or interval workout. It's far better for you than plodding along the road or on a treadmill, but it's not sprinting and won't give you the benefits mentioned above. Sprint means "to race or move at full speed." Think playing tag or running to first base after a hit. Sprint workouts feature short, high-intensity repetitions and long, easy recoveries.

Where to Do a Sprint Workout

A track is the best place to do sprints because it's marked (in meters), and its surface is ideal for sprinting. A grass or dirt surface is next best; however, check your course for gopher holes and such before starting your sprints. Twisting an ankle will end your sprint workouts for awhile. The one place not to do your sprint workout is on concrete. Your back will thank you.

How to Do a Sprint Workout

Start your workout by warming up for about 5 minutes. Measure out a course from 50-100 yards (or meters) long. Remember that you need to sprint at least 8 seconds before your body sends the signals that produce human growth homone. Do 5-10 repetitions. The total distance of your sprints should not exceed 400-800 yards or meters. Between repetitions, walk slowly at least twice the distance that you ran. This should take from 1-2 minutes. Don't jog to "keep your heart rate up." You need to recover so that each repetition can be run at close to full speed. No matter what workout you planned, if you reach a point where you can't sprint because of fatigue, quit. Jogging to "finish" the workout won't do you any good since intensity is the objective, not volume.

If you're out of your teens and haven't been sprinting for a year or more, you will probably not be able to sprint at full speed right away. You should allow yourself at least a week for every decade you've lived to build up to full speed sprinting. In other words, if you're 40 and haven't been doing any sprinting in the past year, allow at least 4 weeks of gradually increasing the speed of your sprints before trying to go full speed in your workout. Even then, it doesn't hurt to hold back a little on the first repetition or two of each session.

How Often to Do a Sprint Workout

If you're running, cycling, swimming, etc. in addition to sprinting, limit your sprint workouts to twice a week with at least 48-72 hours between. If you're not doing anything else but strength training, you can go to 3 times a week if you want.

Sprinting is a natural and valuable human activity. If you think back to when you were a kid, how many times did you jog for miles? Almost never, right? On the other hand, you probably sprinted nearly every day on the playground, the athletic field, or just down the street. If you want to maintain a youthful body, you have to continue to do the things that youthful bodies naturally do. Sprinting is one of those things.

There is a common misconception that people are born with speed, but speed is like intelligence; it is invisible until developed. An amazing new book called Developing Killer Speed reveals how you can decrease your forty yard dash By .4 seconds in 2 weeks! To discover the simple formula that can increase your speed and decrease your times, click here.

Regular Fitness and Exercise

Fitness and exercise are very popular and important phrases of today’s world. However, how much attention we pay to our fitness and how much hours we do exercise in a week. NOT MUCH. For us our life is job, money and home, but if forgets only fitness allow us to live happily without any disease. Still we don’t care about it and do what we like.

Those who are suffering from obesity and type two diabetes, Fitness and exercise is the best option for them. If you are overweight, and especially if you are obese, or if you’ve been diagnosed with diabetes, then listen to your doctor and begin a regular fitness and exercise program. You’ll be glad you did. Many people have marveled at the way being over weight has become an American way of life, and wondered what caused it. Many point to sedentary lifestyles, working in front of computers, and watching too much television. In addition, many Americans eat diets high in fat and carbohydrates. Whatever the root causes fitness and exercise can be a major part of the cure for this problem.


Fitness word is use for everyone whether it is a man, a woman, or a child. Everyone has to be fit and for good fitness, you may have to do exercise regularly. If your child is lacking in fitness and exercise think about enrolling your child in an after school sports program of some sort. Soccer is a popular fitness and exercise method, and in the proper season so is hockey, softball, baseball, lacrosse, football, tennis, and even golf. Many parents find that their children enjoy swimming and as one of the best methods of fitness and exercise in the world, swimming should be encouraged. This can be simple playing or exercising in the water, or formal swimming laps in an Olympic sized pool. Both methods of fitness and exercise are great.

One of the benefits of fitness and exercise, as any physician will tell you, it that fitness and exercise help control blood sugar. A diabetic who takes medication daily may find that less medication is needed with a regular fitness and exercise program. Many diabetics who stay with fitness and exercise programs find that they are able to quit the medication and get their diabetes under control in a totally natural way.

Exercise and Fitness: 5 Outdoor Tips on Walking to Slimness

Feeling like that you need to loose a few pounds, and you never want to find them again? But you don’t like an exercise regime of push ups and abdominal crunches. Well take into consideration a fitness exercise routine of walking. In the past it was man kinds only form of transportation. So take a peek at 5 tips on how to walk, and what physical benefits you’ll get with an exercise fitness plan.

You’ll need to prepare to train your mind to stick with a new fitness and exercise program. If you’re looking to loose weight then you’ll need a good surface to travel on. You’ll also need to have some reliable shoes, and a reasonable distance of walking area. By taking on an exercise program for fitness, the pounds will melt away. Remember though people loose weight in different amounts, and at different places on their body. Check out these tips on how to walk for your exercise fitness routine.

1. Burn calories by slow walking. Walking slow for an exercise fitness plan causes your body to drag because of gravity. The dragging affect helps you loose weight.
2. After you loose, the desired weight that you want you can maintain it, or graduate to a fast high intensity walk. Muscle mass will take the place of the saggy skin through toning. You’ll begin to see the affects of what fitness through exercise can do.
3. By making yourself participate in an exercise fitness course daily, and drinking lots of water your kidneys will flush out any bacteria. Also the heart will pump at a more efficient rate.
4. Circulation to the lower leg extremities and feet with an exercise plan for fitness will improve. Whether you do a slow calorie burn walk, or one that has a quick upbeat walk. This benefit is really crucial especially for those with any disease that affects the feet.
5. Skin tone will benefit with weight loss through your fitness exercise course of attack for a healthy lifestyle.


Learning to stick with a routine is probably the hardest part. It takes a lot of commitment to learn a new lifestyle of fitness. Exercise has a lot of benefits and with patience and a go get them attitude – you’ll loose those pounds and never find them again. And won't that be nice.

The Prison Workout: A Total Body Exercise Routine

Some prison inmates have nothing but a sink, a toilet, their bed, and a few square feet of space at their disposal. They need an exercise routine that can be done in a confined space without equipment. The "Prison Workout," which was nicknamed by some people who saw prisoners without access to weights doing it, is designed to develop strength, endurance, speed, agility, and balance. It also produces gains in muscle, losses in body fat, and plenty of stamina. It is a total body and cardio workout.

The Prison Workout consists of one classic exercise, the "burpee." This exercise works your chest, arms, front deltoids, thighs and abs. The burpee is a six-count exercise:

1) Stand with your feet shoulder width apart and your hands raised over your head. Then squat down and place your palms on the floor by your feet.

2) Kick both of your legs back so that you're in push-up position.

3) Bend your elbows and lower your body until your chest touches the floor.

4) Push yourself back up.

5) At the end of the push-up, quickly pull both knees into your chest while keeping your hands on the floor. You're jumping back into the squat position of step one.

6) Stand straight up by straightening your legs and throwing your hands in the air over your head. You're now in the position that you started in. You can make the burpee more advanced and increase the explosive power in your legs by jumping into the air as you stand up.

The Prison Workout is done in descending sets. For example, begin by doing 20 burpees without stopping. Rest 30 seconds, and then do 19 burpees without stopping. Rest 30 seconds and do 18 burpees. Continue doing descending sets until you get down to a final set of 1 burpee. That makes a total of 210 burpees.

For most people, 20 sets will be too much to start with. In that case, pick a lower number of sets like 15 or 10 or even fewer for your first workout. Then add a set every 1-2 weeks until you reach your goal. In prison, doing 20 descending sets without stopping is the minimum to be considered a "man." If you can do 25 sets, you're considered to be pretty tough, and, if you can do 30 sets, you're considered a "stud." If you're doing other exercises in addition to this workout, do your burpee workout 3 times per week on cardio days.

If some of you who've read this far are thinking to yourselves, "This Prison Workout is too easy. I'm looking for a man's workout," try one of these advanced variations of the basic burpee.

1) If you have access to pull-up bars, at step 6, jump up and do a pull-up. That will add 210 or more pull-ups to the workout.

2) Place dumbbells on the floor. Use the dumbbells as push-up bars for steps 1-5. At step 6, clean the dumbbells to your shoulders, press them overhead, and then set them back down for the next repetition. In other words, add an overhead press to each burpee. Be sure to use the solid, hexagonal dumbbells rather than the adjustable kind.

By itself, the Prison Workout will strip fat from your body, add muscle, and build stamina. Alternate it with a weight training routine, and you may be mistaken for a Greek god, or, at least, for an ex-convict.

For a free mini course on how to simultaneously improve strength and conditioning while burning fat, click here. Read my review of the two best bodyweight exercise courses you can choose.

The Top 5 Ways Exercise Will Get You Laid

When it comes to getting laid, it pays to be fit. The more fit you are the better your sex life will be. With the physical similarities between working out and getting laid, you will see why.

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Fitness and Exercise : 3 Reasons to Sweat It

If you wonder, what the benefits are to a regular exercise fitness routine then think a total body fitness that includes mental too. Exercising is what most people dread to do. It seems a chore, or at the least an aggravation. However, read about some of the real benefits of doing the chore of having an exercise fitness program that you can follow to enjoy a healthier, happier and a more productive life. In the long run you won’t regret following a healthy exercise fitness routine.

The following list is only a few of the health benefits that you’ll gain by using an exercise program for your fitness needs. Remember though if you’ve got special health needs or concerns talk with your doctor before starting any exercise schedule. Fitness is the goal, not complicating or making worse any preexisting conditions.

1. Heart Performance. The heart is a muscle and if it isn’t properly maintained through exercise, it’ll become sluggish and useless. The heart pumps needed oxygenated blood cells for the circulatory system. This aids the liver, spleen, and kidneys to easily clean the blood and prevent infection. Exercise for the heart will keep its arteries and veins clean, and reduce the risk of heart attack or stroke.

2. Muscle Tone. Suppleness of the major and minor muscles is improved when an exercise fitness plan is used daily. By strengthening the legs and stomach, the back receives support to do the heavy lifting, bending and turning. Greater flexibility is gained too in all three areas. A good exercise program of fitness only gets getting muscle tone.

3. Mental Stimulation. The brain is mentally stimulated when exercising. Because the body is made up of chemical components, exercise invigorates the brain by making it produce more. There are feel good endorphins that give you a natural emotional state of happiness and well-being. Mental depression is helped when with combined with medication. In fact at times a fitness exercise routine is all that is needed to combat depression.

As you can read these three reasons to sweat it is enough reason begin and follow a fitness exercise program. Other benefits are numerous too such as joint flexibility, and improvement for any eye conditions that you have. Consider too that you can ward off by slowing down the affects of any future problems that may develop with your eyes. You never know when diabetes can hit, and because the eyes contain tiny blood vessels, diseases like diabetes affect your eyesight.

Your Fitness Factor

A healthy body is what most people are striving for. We are inundated constantly with images of slender, toned people. Be it on television or on a billboard as we’re driving down the street. Fitness isn’t all about the weight that the scale says or the dress or trouser size you wear. Fitness is about how healthy you are.

Exercise is vital in the quest for body fitness. Many people join a gym for the convenience of having all the equipment they feel they need to work out. There are machines there to strengthen and tone every muscle in your body. With the onset of personal trainers, the process can be almost effortless. In that case, the exerciser is given a prescribed routine of exercise that will help them achieve the fitness level and body weight that they desire.

Fitness and exercise aren’t restricted to the confines of a gym. Any type of movement can be considered exercise. By taking those movements, a step further a person can work towards their own personal fitness goal. For a person who lives in an apartment building, the decision of whether to take the stairs or the elevator might seem inconsequential, but those steps up to their floor everyday equal a leg workout. Choosing to hike it up the flight of steps gives not only the legs a chance to stretch, but it also gives the heart a chance to beat faster. By choosing this every day, the body would begin to respond in a positive way.

The same can be said for walking as opposed to driving. Often when a destination is close people feel inclined to get in their car and drive there and then drive the route back. Lacing up a pair of walking shoes and heading out the door on foot is considered exercise and the benefits aren’t only restricted to the gasoline that will be saved. The entire body will feel the results and if that walk is taken several times a week, perhaps even daily, the fitness level of that person increases.

Exercise can occur in almost every environment. It’s up to the health-conscious person to grab those moments and seize them. By mowing the lawn, the legs and arms are being worked out. Carrying the laundry is akin to lifting lightweights and chasing a toddler eventually equals a few laps around the running track. Paying attention to these same details and using them to their fitness advantage will result in so many health benefits.