Smart Way to Lose Weight

Modern men and women need a slim body. They want a better appearance for many reasons. Yes, if you have an ideal weight you will healthier and happier. So, how to get a good body?

Dr. Kenneth Cooper in the late 1960s published Aerobics as the “perfect” way to “train” your heart. He thought that medium intensity aerobic exercise practiced three or four times a week was all you needed for heart health. Do you still follow this method? But, today the reality is different. A recent study by Harvard researchers shows that those who do short-duration, high-intensity workouts, reduce their risk of heart disease by 100 percent more than those who practice aerobic exercise.

A study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine showed that men and women who exercised at a higher intensity had lower blood pressure, lower triglycerides (blood fat), higher HDL (good cholesterol) and less body fat. What’s more, medium intensity does not train your “high-energy output system” – your ability to get extra power fast. And that’s exactly what we’re missing in our modern world. You are overweight for the most simple of reasons -- because you're eating the wrong foods, the wrong types of calories per meal, and you're also eating meals in the wrong patterns each day.Food is more powerful than any prescription weight loss pills, because the FOOD that you eat cans either make you THIN or FAT. You don't get fat because of a lack of exercising, that's a myth. You get fat because you don't eat the right foods at the right intervals each day.

Also, the pattern that you choose to eat your meals each day is more powerful than any prescription weight loss pills. This is true because your body is like an "engine" and it only needs certain foods at certain intervals each day, and if you don't eat the right foods at the right times then it won't burn those calories -- and you'll wind up storing those calories as fat tissue.
You have gotten overweight by eating the wrong foods, that much is a fact. And guess what? You can get SLIM by eating the RIGHT FOODS at the RIGHT INTERVALS each day. Remember that the reason you cannot lose weight by starving yourself (using a low calorie diet) is because your metabolism will detect any major drop in calories and it will then ADJUST ITSELF by burning fewer calories each day.

It's not really any more complicated than that, and the way to start losing weight has nothing to do with starving yourself or jogging, but if you can combine a dynamic aerobics and eat right foods, you can achieve a better result to lose weight.

In a matter of weeks, you can: Lose pounds of belly fat, Build functional new muscle, Reverse heart disease, Build energy reserves available on demand, strengthen your immune system, and Reverse many of the changes of aging.

*) Source: from many sources.

How to Do a Fall Detox

By Katherine Huether

There a few schools of thought when it comes to performing detoxes. Some people simply don't do them. Others prefer to follow an extreme fast at least once a year. And there are the types of cleanses that fall somewhere in the middle. The following tea blend is ideal for any of these stages. I personally don't follow strict cleansing fasts. I prefer to prepare cleansing blends and follow a healthy diet. I like to use this blend in the fall because it contains ingredients such as rosehips which can help strengthen the immune system and are a good source of Vitamin C.

* Note: all the herbs listed in this blend are dried.

Instructions

Step1
Shop for the ingredients. I like to either purchase my herbs from a reputable supplier (I like Mountain Rose Herbs) or pick or grow my own. If you pick your own, make sure you give the herbs a chance to dry.

Step 2
When it comes time to make the blend, add all of the ingredients to the bowl. Stir with the wooden spoon until well combined.

Step3
Your best bet is to pour the blend into an airtight amber glass jar. However, if you can't find an amber glass jar, any airtight container will do. Just make sure to store the tea away from heat and light.

Step4
When it comes time to make the tea, use 1.5 tsp. of the dried blend with each cup of hot water.

Things You’ll Need:
• 1/2 cup stinging nettle leaves
• 1/2 cup dandelion leaves
• 1/4 cup burdock root
• 1/4 cup spearmint leaves
• 1/4 cup rosehips
• Medium mixing bowl
• Wooden spoon
• Airtight container

Source: eHow.com

Healthy and Beautiful Skin

All women in the world are worried with their skin. If you understand how to treat your skin, so you can earn better advantages and look young. Metro sexual men are also visits beauty salon to consult skin treatment from beautician. Wow…

Healthy and beautiful skin. Image: carenstyle.com

Skin begins to lose its luster with the loss of collagen, the material that creates the smooth, elastic feel of youthful skin. As we age, collagen is replaced by amorphous bundles of cells. Skin becomes thin and stretched, and outward signs can include slight inflammation. Outer layers of skin become depleted of blood vessels that supply life-giving nutrients. But this is only part of the story. The loss of collagen and youthful skin is not just a result of simply aging. In fact, the main culprit for the vast majority of these unwanted changes is sunlight exposure. The sun’s ultraviolet (UV) light can damage your skin in many ways:

* Removes natural antioxidants in your skin, such as vitamins A, C, E, and coenzyme Q

* Decreases or even stops altogether your skin’s ability to make collagen

* Eliminates immune cells that protect against infections and cancers

* Causes several kinds of skin cancers, including melanoma.

Do you love to enjoy outdoor activities? Without excessive exposure to the sun’s ultraviolet rays, skin remains young well past middle age. Science News demonstrated this assertion with contrasting photos in a recent issue. A ninety-year-old Asian monk who never went outdoors appeared to be a much younger man in his thirties. Also shown was a Navajo woman who spent most waking moments in the sun. While only fifty, she appeared twice her age.

Prevention and Treatment

Remember, you can’t change your past. You can, however, take control of what happens to your skin in the future. And you can go a long way toward undoing the damage of past years.
The first step is a commitment to keeping out of the sun. While some sun exposure is necessary to produce vitamin D, reduce that exposure to your face with broad-brimmed hats and wrap-around sunglasses that screen out UV. Also use appropriate sunscreen for your face and body. A broad-spectrum sunscreen that explicitly says it protects against UVA is the best. The spectrum of ultraviolet light causes most of the damage to your skin by creating oxidative free radicals. Traditional sunscreens protect only against UVB. Next, eat a healthy diet that will replenish from within the vitamins and antioxidants your skin needs to neutralize UV damage.
Please beware of cosmetic promotions that can solve your entire skin problem. Consult with your skin expertise.

The most practical route to reversing the ravages of photo aging is to use high-quality skin products formulated according to the latest scientific research. Simply purchasing products at the supermarket or drug store that make wild promises won’t achieve the effect you desire. With a range of scientifically-designed products to attack multiple areas, it is possible to make your skin look younger, to get rid of wrinkles, and to make your skin fuller and more elastic in short, to reverse a great deal of the damage your skin has suffered.

Note: Full article you read in anekainc.com

How To Reduce Stress That Causes Hair Loss and Bad Hair

Happy and stress free. Image: healthyceleb.com

Life is not always comfortable and enjoyable. You can be exposed to the stress of work, life issues, and many other pressures. Get the right tips so that you can reduce or overcome it, you can even prevent it. You can enjoy this interesting article below is written by the experts.

By: Alex Fir       

Your hair will be radiant and shining if you are healthy physically as well as emotionally. 
Your hair becomes dull and lifeless if you are upset emotionally. Your hair will begin to fall out, and it will become waxy with the overproduction of sebaceous glands.

Stress can affect your hair the same way that affects your other major organs such as your heart. Stress can cause hair loss and many times cause hair problems 3-6 months after some trauma event occurred.

As soon as your body finds its equilibrium and you have recovered from stress, the hair loss should cease. Reducing stress can stop stress hair loss so consider the following stress management techniques.

Deep Breathing

Deep breathing is a simple but effective stress management technique. It is actually the core component of many stress management techniques, which are comparatively complex in nature.

Imagery 

Imagery is a method of relaxation through use of pleasant or relaxing images. Such images help to calm the body and mind. One can get a sense of relaxation by simply controlling the breathing and viewing some soothing image.

Meditation Techniques 

Meditation has long been one of the most popular stress management techniques. It is the process of focusing upon the core of one's being. It soothes the mind, body and the emotions. One can do meditation by daily practice of a routine or simply while being alone outdoors.

Progressive Muscle Relaxation

One can use Progressive Muscle Relaxation to achieve mental relaxation through physical relaxation. It involves tightening and relaxing the muscle groups in succession. In this technique, you first need to tense up a group of muscles to contract them as much as possible. Then relax the muscles normally after a few seconds. You should relax the muscles as much as possible.
Autogenic Training 
This stress management technique uses passive concentration and awareness of the body sensations for relaxation. Physicians use Autogenic training as a part of therapy for many ailments. In this technique, one focuses upon different sensations in different organs of the body through repetition of the autogenic "formulas". Those sensations include warmth, heaviness etc.
Biofeedback

Biofeedback is an advanced technique for achieving relaxation, controlling stress responses and for modifying the body's reactions. It uses certain monitoring equipment to extract information from the body. Such equipment can measure heart rate, blood pressure, brain activity, muscle tension, stomach acidity and other biological functions inside the body.

Martial arts 

Practicing martial arts can be a great stress management technique. It keeps one physically fit and mentally alert. There are several martial arts that one can take up. Tai chi is a Chinese martial art that is popularly known as "meditation in motion". It stresses precision and force. The body movements are soft and flowing.

Qigong
This ancient Chinese health care system combines Eastern philosophy and relaxation techniques with physical training. The physical training includes aerobic conditioning, isometrics, isotonics etc. This stress management technique has several forms. They are effective in treatment of various medical conditions.

Yoga 
This ancient Indian form of exercise is highly effective as a stress management technique. Yoga has many forms but all forms work on the principle that the mind has a connection with the body and breathing. Yoga restores the balance and harmony in the body and emotions through different breathing exercises and postures. It increases the body’s flexibility and capability for relaxation. 

Composition of the Hunter-Gatherer Diet

I bumped into a fascinating paper today by Dr. Loren Cordain titled "Plant-Animal Subsistence Ratios and Macronutrient Estimations in Worldwide Hunter-Gatherer Diets." Published in 2000 in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, the paper estimates the food sources and macronutrient intakes of historical hunter-gatherers based on data from 229 different groups. Based on the available data, these groups did not suffer from the diseases of civilization. This is typical of hunter-gatherers.

Initial data came from the massive Ethnographic Atlas by Dr. George P. Murdock, and was analyzed further by Cordain and his collaborators. Cordain is a professor at Colorado State University, and a longtime proponent of paleolithic diets for health. He has written extensively about the detrimental effects of grains and other modern foods. Here's his website.

The researchers broke food down into three categories: hunted animal foods, fished animal foods and gathered foods. "Gathered foods" are primarily plants, but include some animal foods as well:

Although in the present analysis we assumed that gathering would only include plant foods, Murdock indicated that gathering activities could also include the collection of small land fauna (insects, invertebrates, small mammals, amphibians, and reptiles); therefore, the compiled data may overestimate the relative contribution of gathered plant foods in the average hunter-gatherer diet.

There are a number of striking things about the data once you sum them up. First of all, diet composition varied widely. Many groups were almost totally carnivorous, with 46 getting over 85% of their calories from hunted foods. However, not a single group out of 229 was vegetarian or vegan. No group got less than 15% of their calories from hunted foods, and only 2 of 229 groups ate 76-85% of their calories from gathered foods (don't forget, "gathered foods" also includes small animals). On average, the hunter-gatherer groups analyzed got about 70% of their calories from hunted foods. This makes the case that meat-heavy omnivory is our preferred ecological niche. However, it also shows that we can thrive on a plant-rich diet containing modest amounts of quality animal foods.

The paper also discusses the nature of the plant foods hunter-gatherers ate. Although they ate a wide variety of plants occasionally, more typically they relied on a small number of staple foods with a high energy density. There's a table in the paper that lists the most commonly eaten plant foods. "Vegetables" are notably underrepresented. The most commonly eaten plant foods are fruit, underground storage organs (tubers, roots, corms, bulbs), nuts and other seeds. Leaves and other low-calorie plant parts were used much less frequently.

The paper also gets into the macronutrient composition of hunter-gatherer diets.  He writes that

...the most plausible... percentages of total energy from the macronutrients would be 19-35% for protein, 22-40% for carbohydrate, and 28-58% for fat.

He derives these numbers from projections based on the average composition of plant foods, and the whole-body composition of representative animal foods (includes organs, marrow, blood etc., which they typically ate). 

However, some groups may have eaten more fat than this.  Natives on the North American Pacific coast rendered fat from fish, seals, bears and whales, using it liberally in their food. Here's an excerpt from The Northwest Coast by James Swan, who spent three years living among the natives of the Washington coast in the 1850s:

About a month after my return from the treaty, a whale was washed ashore on the beach between Toke's Point and Gray's Harbor and all the Indians about the Bay went to get their share... The Indians were camped near by out of the reach of the tide, and were all very busy on my arrival securing the blubber either to carry home to their lodges or boiling it out on the spot, provided they happened to have bladders or barrels to put the oil in. Those who were trying out [rendering] the blubber cut it into strips about two inches wide, one and a half inches thick, and a foot long. These strips were then thrown into a kettle of boiling water, and as the grease tried out it was skimmed off with clam shells and thrown into a tub to cool and settle. It was then carefully skimmed off again and put into the barrels or bladders for use. After the strips of blubber have been boiled, they are hung up in the smoke to dry and are then eaten. I have tried this sort of food but must confess that, like crow meat, "I didn't hanker arter it".

I was very impressed by the paper overall. I think it presents a good, simple model for eating well: eat whole foods that are similar to those that hunter-gatherers would have eaten, including at least 20% of calories from high-quality animal sources. Organs are mandatory, vegetables may not be. Sorry, Grandma.

The Inuit: Lessons from the Arctic

The Inuit (also called Eskimo) are a group of hunter-gatherer cultures who inhabit the arctic regions of Alaska, Canada and Greenland. They are a true testament to the toughness, adaptability and ingenuity of the human species. Their unique lifestyle has a lot of information to offer us about the boundaries of the human ecological niche. Weston Price was fascinated by their excellent teeth, good nature and overall robust health. Here's an excerpt from Nutrition and Physical Degeneration:

"In his primitive state he has provided an example of physical excellence and dental perfection such as has seldom been excelled by any race in the past or present...we are also deeply concerned to know the formula of his nutrition in order that we may learn from it the secrets that will not only aid in the unfortunate modern or so-called civilized races, but will also, if possible, provide means for assisting in their preservation."

The Inuit are cold-hardy hunters whose traditional diet consists of a variety of sea mammals, fish, land mammals and birds. They invented some very sophisticated tools, including the kayak, whose basic design has remained essentially unchanged to this day. Most groups ate virtually no plant food. Their calories came primarily from fat, up to 75%, with almost no calories coming from carbohydrate. Children were breast-fed for about three years, and had solid food in their diet almost from birth. As with most hunter-gatherer groups, they were free from chronic disease while living a traditional lifestyle, even in old age. Here's a quote from Observations on the Western Eskimo and the Country they Inhabit; from Notes taken During two Years [1852-54] at Point Barrow, by Dr. John Simpson:

These people [the Inuit] are robust, muscular and active, inclining rather to spareness [leanness] than corpulence [overweight], presenting a markedly healthy appearance. The expression of the countenance is one of habitual good humor. The physical constitution of both sexes is strong. Extreme longevity is probably not unknown among them; but as they take no heed to number the years as they pass they can form no guess of their own ages.

One of the common counterpoints I hear to the idea that high-fat hunter-gatherer diets are healthy, is that exercise protects them from the ravages of fat. The Inuit can help us get to the bottom of this debate. Here's a quote from Cancer, Disease of Civilization (1960, Vilhjalmur Stefansson):

"They are large eaters, some of them, especially the women, eating all the time..." ...during the winter the Barrow women stirred around very little, did little heavy work, and yet "inclined more to be sparse than corpulent" [quotes are the anthropologist Dr. John Murdoch, reproduced by Stefansson].

Another argument I sometimes hear is that the Inuit are genetically adapted to their high-fat diet, and the same food would kill a European. This appears not to be the case. The anthropologist and arctic explorer Vilhjalmur Stefansson spent several years living with the Inuit in the early 20th century. He and his fellow Europeans and Americans thrived on the Inuit diet. American doctors were so incredulous that they defied him and a fellow explorer to live on a diet of fatty meat only for one year, under the supervision of the American Medical Association. To the doctors' dismay, they remained healthy, showing no signs of scurvy or any other deficiency (JAMA 1929;93:20–2).

Yet another amazing thing about the Inuit was their social structure. Here's Dr. John Murdoch again (quoted from Cancer, Disease of Civilization):

The women appear to stand on a footing of perfect equality with the men, both in the family and the community. The wife is the constant and trusted companion of the man in everything except the hunt, and her opinion is sought in every bargain or other important undertaking... The affection of parents for their children is extreme, and the children seem to be thoroughly worthy of it. They show hardly a trace of fretfulness or petulance so common among civilized children, and though indulged to an extreme extent are remarkably obedient. Corporal punishment appears to be absolutely unknown, and children are rarely chided or punished in any way.

Unfortunately, those days are long gone. Since adopting a modern processed-food diet, the health and social structure of the Inuit has deteriorated dramatically. This had already happened to most groups by Weston Price's time, and is virtually complete today. Here's Price:

In the various groups in the lower Kuskokwim seventy-two individuals who were living exclusively on native foods had in their 2,138 teeth only two teeth or 0.09 per cent that had ever been attacked by tooth decay. In this district eighty-one individuals were studied who had been living in part or in considerable part on modern foods, and of their 2, 254 teeth 394 or 13 per cent had been attacked by dental caries. This represents an increase in dental caries of 144 fold.... When these adult Eskimos exchange their foods for our modern foods..., they often have very extensive tooth decay and suffer severely.... Their plight often becomes tragic since there are no dentists in these districts.

Modern Inuit also suffer from very high rates of diabetes and overweight. This has been linked to changes in diet, particularly the use of white flour, sugar and processed oils.

Overall, the unique lifestyle and diet of the Inuit have a lot to teach us. First, that some humans are capable of being healthy eating mostly animal foods. Second, that some humans are able to thrive on a high-fat diet. Third, that humans are capable of living well in extremely harsh and diverse environments. Fourth, that the shift from natural foods to processed foods, rather than changes in macronutrient composition, is the true cause of the diseases of civilization.

Book Review: "The Human Diet: Its Origins and Evolution"

I recently read this book after discovering it on another health site. It's a compilation of chapters written by several researchers in the fields of comparative biology, paleontology, archaeology and zoology. It's sometimes used as a textbook.

I've learned some interesting things, but overall it was pretty disappointing. The format is disjointed, with no logical flow between chapters. I also would not call it comprehensive, which is one of the things I look for in a textbook. Here are some of the interesting points:

• Humans in industrial societies are the only mammals to commonly develop hypertension, and are the only free-living primates to become overweight.
  
• The adoption of grains as a primary source of calories correlated with a major decrease in stature, decrease in oral health, decrease in bone density, and other problems. This is true for wheat, rice, corn and other grains.
• Cranial capacity has also declined 11% since the late paleolithic, correlating with a decrease in the consumption of animal foods and an increase in grains.
• According to carbon isotope ratios of teeth, corn did not play a major role in the diet of native Americans until 800 AD. Over 15% of the teeth of post-corn South American cultures showed tooth decay, compared with less than 5% for pre-corn cultures (many of which were already agricultural, just not eating corn).
  
• Childhood mortality seems to be similar among hunter-gatherers and non-industrial agriculturists and pastoralists.
  
• Women may have played a key role in food procurement through foraging. This is illustrated by a group of modern hunter-gatherers called the Hadza. While men most often hunt, which supplies important nutrients intermittently, women provide a steady stream of calories by foraging for tubers.
• We have probably been eating starchy tubers for between 1.5 and 2 million years, which precedes our species. Around that time, digging tools, (controversial) evidence of controlled fire and changes in digestive anatomy all point to use of tubers and cooked food in general. Tubers make sense because they are a source of calories that is much more easily exploited than wild grains in most places.
• Our trajectory as a species has been to consume a diet with more calories per unit fiber. As compared to chimps, who eat leaves and fruit all day and thus eat a lot of fiber to get enough calories, our species and its recent ancestors ate a diet much lower in fiber.
  
• Homo sapiens has always eaten meat.
  

The downside is that some chapters have a distinct low-fat slant. One chapter attempted to determine the optimal diet for humans by comparing ours to the diets of wild chimps and other primates. Of course, we eat more fat than a chimp, but I don't think that gets us anywhere. Especially since one of our closest relatives, the neanderthal, was practically a carnivore.
They consider the diet composition of modern hunter-gatherers that eat low-fat diets, but don't include data on others with high-fat diets like the Inuit.

There's some good information in the book, if you're willing to dig through a lot of esoteric data on the isotope ratios of extinct hominids and that sort of thing.