How To Lose Weight

If you're on an aerobic regime you may need to add in strength training for a optimum workout.

Aerobic exercise was considered the optimal method for women attempting to lose weight, using equipment like treadmills, bikes, stair climbers and others.

Although aerobic exercise provides benefits and is excellent for your heart and lungs, too much of it could hinder yur efforts at losing body fat.

Women do not have enough of the hormone called testosterone, which is dominant in males and is responsible for muscle growth. Therefore, it is very difficult for women to bulk up.

Strength is a product of muscles. Muscle is important for fat burning. When you starve yourself, most of the weight you lose is lean muscle tissue; yur muscles produce enzymes that burn fat.

So, it follows that when you have less muscle, you are producing fewer enzymes and burning less fat. When you finally get around to eating again, your body converts the food into fat to protect you from further starvation.

Strength training is a form of exercise which is both physically and psychologically advantageious. The increase in the amount of lean muscle mass greatly improves the ability of weight loss. Besides, strength also creates an associated increase in confidence and a feeling of accomplishment, and overall well-being of women.

Advantages of weight training for women:

• Losing more fat - The average woman who strength-trains two to three times a week for eight-week gains 1.75 pounds lean weight for muscle and lose 3.5 pounds of fat;
  
  
• New muscle helps fight obesity - As you add more muscle from strength training, your resting metabolism will increase, so you burn more calories all day long. Muscle tissue burns 25% more calories than fat tissue;
  
  
• Benefits for bone - Research has found that weight training can increase spinal bone mineral density by 13% in six month. So, strength training is a powerful tool against osteoporosis and certain types of arthritis;
  
  
• Reduce risks from diabetes - Research indicates that weight-training can increase glucose utilisation in the body by 23% in four months;
  
  
• Maintaining a healthy mental - A study by Harvard University found that 10 weeks of strength training reduced clinical depression symptoms mor successfully than standard counselling did. Women who strength trains commonly report feeling more confident and capable as a result of their programme; and
  
  
• Elimination of discomfort - Advantages of weight training also assists in the elimination of some of the discomforts associated with menstrual cycle including bloatedness, sluggishness, and a reduction of cramping.
  

Source: StarSpecial, October 16, 2007 (Tuesday)

Take The Load Off Your Joints

Consume time-tested Cod Liver Oil to alleviate stiffness and pain.

Our joints are more than just meeting points for our bones. They are highly important mechanisms that must carry us through the daily rigors of pounding, thrusting, twisting, turning, among others. Alas, they are also one of the most neglected parts of our body for the very reason that they are "unseen".

There are four main causes of joint pain:

• Arthritis;
• Joint sprains and strains;
• Joint injury; and
• Inflammatory conditions such as tendonitis and bursitis.

As a person ages, it is normal for the joints to undergo wear and tear. Years of repetitive usage have taken their toll. Your may feel a sour pain in the joints every now and then, and hear funny "creaking" noises coming from them as you go about tasks.

If your joint pains are frequent and affecting your mobility, seek professional advice. Your physician will carefully diagnose the problem, before prescribing you a variety of treatments in the usual order: from lifestyle changes to medications to surgery.

Remember, it takes two to tango. So, on your part, you have to start making the necessary changes to ease the pain. Here are some simple suggestions, lumped together with natural herbal remedies you can easily apply in the home:

• Take a warm bath - Luxuriate in your little steaming pool of calm and let the water soothe your tired joints;
  
  
• Shed those excess pounds - Excess weight is a definite no-no for they increase the pressure on your joints;
  
  
• Capsicums help - They look like bell-shaped chilies and have been well researched for their favourable effect on sprains. In the form of ointment or plasters, capsicums are applied externally to relieve joint pains and have anti-inflammatory effect;
  
  
• Oil rubdown - To ease the pain, mix camphor, methyl salicylate, eucalyptus oil and menthol as a rubbing mixture and massage the affected areas. You can also try making a Camphor Rub, which is a mixture of one teaspoon of camphor oil and one teaspoonful of sunflower oil. Another cheap and effective oil rub is warm olive oil. Gently massage the oil in for effective relief.
  

The oil of eucalyptus is traditionally known to be a natural relaxant and analgesic. In a Brazilian study, the essential oils exhibited anti-inflammatory effects and helped reduce joint swelling. In another study conducted in Germany, a blend of eucalyptus and mint oil produced muscle relaxing and analgesic effects;

• Swim away the pain - Don't try to be a hero and do ten laps of butterfly stroke though. The buoyancy of water prevents jerky movements as well as supports the weight of your body. By taking the stress of stiff, painful joints, you can exercise freely without worrying about putting a load of pressure on them;
  
  
• Low-impact exercises - Again, start out simple. Biking, walking and other low-impact exercises don't pound on your joints too much, and are highly recommended for those with mild arthritic pains. Don't let the pain stop you from workign out as lack of physical activity can cause the joints and muscles to weaken. It's a vicius cycle that will only end in more joint deterioration;
  
  
• See a physical therapist - A professional on matters of the joints will know what kind of exercises best suits you, and how frequently you should do them. If you don't know where to begin, seek a physical therapist that will recommend specific joint exercises for you. These usually involve strength, endurance, and range of motion exercises, to help relieve the pain, and
  
  
• Increase your intake of cod liver oil - Scientists today have confirmed what many people for generations have believed about cod liver oil for alleviating joint and arthritic pains.
  

According to a groundbreaking clinical study, it is revealed that by exposing human osteoarthritic cartilage to cod liver oil for only 24 hours, the action of the degradative enzymes and swelling affecting the joint's tissue would be reversed. Cod liver oil slows, even reverses the destruction of joint cartilage.

Cod liver oil also contains vitamin D that aids bone resorption and formation; aids in prevention of rickets (aches, pains and bones enlargements at joints), and aids in prevention of osteomalacia (widespread joint pains and muscle weakness).

The potent combination of vitamins A, D, E and omega-3 fatty acids, makes cod liver oil a truly unique 4-in-1 supplementation to keep your joints healthy naturally and effectively.

In fact, Cod Liver Oil has been consumed for generations to alleviate joint stiffness and pain even before any scientific discoveries were made. If you want healthy, limber joints, it certainly wouldn't hurt to give the time-tested oil a try.


By Merck
Source: StarSpecial, October 16, 2007 (Tuesday)

Testosterone's Link To Earlier Death

A new study suggests that elderly men with low levels of the male hormone may have shorter life span.

Older men with low levels of the hormone testosterone may die sooner than other men their age with normal testosterone levels, a study suggests.

Researchers found that amount 794 generally healthy older men, those with the lowest testosterone levels were 40% more likely to die within the 1985 - 2004 study period.

The findings do not mean, however, that older men should start taking testosterone supplements to achieve a longer life. The study shows only an association between low testerone and earlier death - not a cause-and-effect relationship, lead author Dr Gail A. Laughlin said.

What's more, there was no evidence that having above-average testerone levels gave men any longevity advantage. "We cannot recommend that any man take testosterone based on these results," Laughlin stressed.

She had her colleagues at the University of California, San Diego, reported their findings in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.

In theory, low testosterone could affect older men's longevity through metabolic effects. Some past studies have found that low testosterone can precede the development of abdominal obesity and the metabolic syndrome - a collection of risk factors for diabetes and heart disease that includes obesity, high blood pressure and unhealthy cholesterol levels.

In their study, Laughlin and her colleagues found that low testosterone was associated with abdominal obesity and aspects of the metabolic syndrome, but when these factors were excluded, low testosterone remained independently linked to earlier death.

The study included 794 men between 50 and 91 years old who were followed for an average of 11.6 years. Overall, the one-quarter with the lowest testosterone levels at study entry were 40% more likely to die over the course of the study than men with higher levels of the hormone.

There is some disagreement among experts on how to define overtestosterone deficiency, with some saying it should be diagnosed when levels fall below 300 nanograms per decilitre (ng/dL) and others advocating lower cutoffs.

There was no evidence in this study that raising older men's testosterone above 300ng/dL might boost survival, according to Laughlin's team.

This finding offers "no support for widespread testosterone therapy for ageing men", the researchers write.

Indeed, it's unclear whether raising testosterone in men with a clear deficiency can safely prolong life. Only clinical trials that test hormonal supplementation against a placebo can answer this question, Laughlin said. - Reuters

by Amy Norton

Panic Attacks Big Trouble For The Heart

People who experience the anxiety, racing heartbeat and rapid breathing of a panic attack have a higher risk of a heart attack or stroke, researchers said recently.

"Our study adds panic attacks to the list of emotional states and psychiatric symptoms that have been linked to excess risk of cardiovascular disease and death." wrote study author Dr Jordan Smoller of Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.

Previous research found people with persistent feelings of depression, anger and hostility are at a higher risk of heart attack, according to the study, published in the Archives of General Psychiatry.

The study identified more than three-fold increased risk of a heart attack or stroke within five years in 330 women who had originally reported a panic attack in the prior six months. They were amount 3,369 women aged 51 to 83 to participate in the study.

Smoller said several factors may be at work, including that the symptoms of panic attacks inflict damage on the heart and the cardiovascular system.

Feelings of panic could induce blood platelet production that increases the risk of a blood clot, which can trigger a heart attack or stroke.

Panic attacks also may lead to a spasm of an artery feeding the heart, which can reduce or cut off blood flow, he added - Reuters

Are All Weight Loss Plans Good For Our Health?

Not all weight loss plans are good for our heart health, a new study reports

There's no shortage of weigth-loss plans to choose from, but some of the most popular ones fall short in dietary quality, according to a new study.

In an analysis of eight popular diets in the US, researchers found that the Ornish plan, the Weight Watchers High-Carbohydrate diet, and the New Glucose Revolution plan came out on top in terms of nutritional quality and potential effects on heart health.

What the plans all had in common were high amounts of fruits, vegetables and fibre, and low amounts of artery-clogging types of fat, researchers found.

At the bottom of the list came the high-protein, low-carbohydrate Atkins plan, for its more liberal view towards red meat, saturated fat and trans fats, and low amounts of fruit and fibre.

The findings are published in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association.

For overweight and obese adults, it's important not only to shed pounds, but to do it by eating heart-healthy foods, explained Dr Yunsheng Ma, the study's lead author and an assistant professor of medicine at the University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester.

"Obese people already have a higher risk of heart disease," Ma told Reuters Health. So it's particularly important that they make heart-healthy diet changes that can be kept up for the long haul, the researcher noted.

For their study, Ma and colleagues used a measure called the Alternate Healthy Eating Index (AHEI) to judge the quality of eight widely-used diet plans. They picked six of the diets from the New York Times bestseller list; they also included the Weight Watchers plan, as it is the largest commercial plan in the US, as well as the federal government's 2005 Food Guide Pyramid, since it offers public diet guidelines.

The AHEI evaluates a diet's potential heart benefits based on factors such as the amount of fruits, vegetables and fibre, and the ratio of heart-healthy polyunsaturated fats to cholesterol-raising saturated fat.

The top score went to the Ornish diet, a low-fat, largely vegetarian plan that allows some non-fat dairy and egg whites. The diet, developed by Dr Dean Ornish, is intended to prevent and treat heart disease, so its high score - 64.6 out of 70 points - is not unexpected.

Also scoring well, at just over 57 points, were the Weight Watchers High-Carbohydrate and the New Glucose Revolution diets - which, like Ornish, contain high amounts of fruits, vegetables and fibre-rich grains.

The Glucose diet is based on the concept of the glycemic index; it limits simple carbohydrates that cause quick blood-sugar spikes - like potatoes and white bread - but allows complex carbohydrates higher in fibre and other nutrients.

The Atkins plan and some other low-carb, high-protein diets, including the Weight Watchers High-Protein option, were deemed less heart-healthy.

Surprisingly, Ma said, the government's Food yramid landed in the middle.

Though the Pyramid was revamped in 2005, it still falls short of the top-ranked diets as far as fruits, vegetables, fibre and limits on "bad" fats.

The researchers are not advocating any one brand of weight-loss plan. But, Ma said, people who are trying to lose weight can look to the components of the top-scoring diets to help fashion a heart-healthy eating plan. - Reuters

By Amy Norton