Category Archives: exercise

Taking Advantage Of Detoxification

Taking supplements, drinking cayenne water and juicing. These are all a part of the wonderful world of detoxification 2015. Lets talk about Taking advantage of detoxification. The holidays are over, and your body is feeling really bloated right now. But, before you resort to detoxification, take the following things into consideration:

Your body automatically goes through the detox process on its own. Technically, a detox is what happens when addicts are trying to rid their bodies of addictive substances. The doctors use prescribed drugs to remove bad drugs. People who are healthy really don’t have to go through the detoxification process. Right?

Detoxification

Detoxification

During the 1400’s, Paracelsus was quoted as saying that the dose made the poison. Basically, a drug is only toxic if it is taken in large doses. The body can get rid of the drugs that it does not need. The kidneys, liver, skin and immune system function well together to make this happen.

Don’t go by scale numbers. There’s really not that much research to prove that detoxification is really effective. There may be a few detox diets that work. But the sample sizes for these studies aren’t large enough to provide reliable results. Also, the methodologies aren’t reliable either. Many times the only way that a detox is considered effective is if someone loses weight while trying it. If these detoxification diets really worked, then the creators should provide proof that they work. Basically, most people don’t think that they work. So, remember this if you plan on being a part of the detoxification 2015 craze.

Detox commercials are misleading. They spit out vague words such as cleansing and toxin, but they don’t identify specific toxins. Your body probably is getting rid of these toxins automatically. In all actuality, the toxins probably weren’t bad.

Sure, you probably will lose weight if you use these cleanses. This is because a lot of detox products require you to fast. The body isn’t burning away calories, so it has to burn fat and lean muscle instead. Decrease your calories and you will lose muscle mass. Lose weight when on a 2 or 3 day cleanse, and you will probably gain it all back very soon. This is especially the case if you start eating again.

Sure, you might feel lighter after a cleanse. But this could be because you are suffering from low blood sugar. If you drink a lot of fluids, this will have a laxative impact on your body. You won’t feel as bloated and won’t have as many abdominal pains. But the pains will resume once you start eating again. Get rid of bloating by consuming a prebiotic or by eating foods that have plenty of fiber, such as veggies and oatmeal.

Detoxification 2015 might not be healthy for you. Whether or not these detox products are healthy is very debatable. Many people go on these diets without consulting their physicians first. They end up suffering from things such as the lack of concentration and nausea. If you want to be a part of the detoxification 2015 craze, then speak with your doctor beforehand. However, a good doctor will probably say that it isn’t a good idea.

It has been proven that it’s damaging to the body when you eliminate certain nutrients and electrolytes from your diet. If you have medical conditions such as low blood sugar or heart problems then a detox could be fatal. Since many detox products are laxatives, which is another added risk.

Also, the FDA has warned that manufacturers sometimes like to put additional ingredients in detox products that could be harmful to your health.

It is possible to eat real food and lose weight. This is actually the way that you are supposed to lose weight. Try eating healthy on a regular basis so that you don’t have to resort to cleanses. Drink plenty of water and eat foods rich in fiber. Also make sure that your diet has a lot of protein. In addition to eating healthy, you should exercise. A healthy lifestyle is much better than one that needs commercial cleanses.

Developing A Weight Loss Management Plan

Cellulite Solution

Weight Loss Management

One of the hardest parts about losing weight is staying on track. Many programs designed to help you lose weight do work, but they will only continue to work if you keep following the plan. A good weight loss management plan will take this into account along with finding the right diet and exercise routine.

In order to lose weight, change your diet to a managed amount of healthy foods. Find out your basal metabolic rate and eat 500 calories per day less to lose 1 pound per week. Increase the amount of fruit, vegetables, lean protein, and healthy fats you eat. Eat a moderate amount of whole grains instead of white starches. A treat once a week is a great way to ensure that you don’t deprive yourself on your weight loss management program.

Exercise at least 6 days every week. Start by walking every morning or evening. Burning 500 calories a day will allow you to lose approximately 1 pound a week for a total of 2 pounds a week. Work in strength training exercises 3 times a week to build and maintain muscle that will burn more fat.

In order to stay on your weight loss management plan, keep a food journal. This will show you exactly what you eat everyday and calculate your calories to ensure that you’re on track. Look for ways to motivate yourself, and never give up after having a bad day. Just get back on track, and you will keep losing weight long-term.

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Lose Weight Faster Today

If you are trying to lose weight faster than normal, you are not alone. Many people want a quick and easy guide to losing weight. Losing weight too fast though can be dangerous. Diet pills, fasting, and fad diets can cause major health complications. If you are healthy though, there are some tips you can do to reach your short term goals.

Lose Weight Faster

A fad diet can help you lose weight quickly. The diet is a short term solution and should only be done for no more than a few days. An example of a fad diet is, ‘The Water Diet’. This diet has you drinking about 8 cups of cold water at regular intervals. You will drink a glass of water before each meal and snack to make you feel fuller. You will also take a multivitamin daily to replenish any nutrients you may have lost from frequent urination.

Another way to lose weight is by getting spa treatments done. The mineral body wrap claims to help slim you down by making you ‘lose’ inches off of your arms, waist, and thighs. It uses a mineral based cleanse that is supposed to reduce cellulite, detoxify your body, and tone and firm your skin.

So if you are interested in a quick fix to losing weight, maybe trying a fad diet or getting a spa treatment done may help you. As always, consult your doctor before trying any new weight loss program.

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The Benefits of Aromatherapy Massage

Western-based therapies tend to treat the symptoms of ailments and not the cause. Alternative therapies, such as aromatherapy, take a more holistic, whole-body approach. These therapies work on the assumption that when you have an illness, it affects your entire being physically, mentally and emotionally. Conversely, an emotional or mental problem could cause a physical ailment, as everything is interlinked. Aromatherapy uses essential oils to aid relaxation and healing. Massage is also used for relaxation, and to rid the body of toxins by increasing blood flow. The combination of the two modalities results in a powerful healing treatment. Here are some reasons why aromatherapy massage is so effective.

1. It boosts the immune system

According to a 2005 study, entitled The Immunological/Psychological benefits of Aromatherapy Massage (Kyoto University), aromatherapy massage was shown to increase immunity. Several healthy subjects were each given the same massage by the same practioner with and without essential oils. They found that after giving massages with essential oils, there was a significant increase in peripheral blood lymphocytes, which indicate immune response.

2. It helps diabetes

According to EssentialOils.co.za, massage improves circulation, which assists in managing diabetes. One of the side effects of diabetes is poor circulation, which badly affects the extremities, such as feet and legs. Massage can ease this side effect, as it increases oxygen to the muscular tissues. In addition, certain essential oils are known to increase blood flow, such as black pepper, juniper, geranium and eucalyptus (EssentialOils.co.za). However, it’s recommended that diabetics don’t use angelica essential oils, as these tend to over-stimulate the nervous system.

3. It detoxifies and encourages healing

Massage is known to promote lymphatic drainage (AllegraLearning.com). The lymph nodes collect toxins from your body and a massage is an excellent way to rid your body of them. Massage also induces a relaxed state, as it just feels so good! When you’re relaxed, you feel less stressed, and you release less cortisol. Cortisol is a stress hormone that is released when you feel anxious. It’s the body’s natural response to danger. However, if you’re stressed your body perceives everything as a potential threat and excess amounts of cortisol can cause health problems. A decrease in cortisol means an increase in healing. Essential oils can further amplify your body’s natural ability to heal, as certain oils induce relaxation, such as lavender and bergamot (AllegraLearning.com).

The combination of massage and aromatherapy results in deep relaxation and an increased ability to heal. An aromatherapy massage is the perfect antidote for any stress or tension and it even increases immunity and relieves side effects. Try an aromatherapy massage and see how effective it is!

Ang Lloyd writes on behalf of Now Learning, which encourages Australian students to further their education by promoting learning opportunities such as project management and aromatherapy courses in Australia.

Playing the Balancing Game

Balance is an import aspect for everyone. Nobody wants to be a klutz or uncoordinated. Yet many people overlook including balance work in their regular training routine. The reason seems to be that people don’t realize that you can easily improve your balance and coordination via exercise.

Activities that involve balancing or things that take coordination are basically neurological issues. Growing up you learned how to do activities based on your body learning how to coordinate impulses sent from the brain through the nervous system to the body. As you learned how to throw a ball, for example, you created new pathways in your neural network. The stronger those connections are, or even making new ones, directly relates to how your body reacts and compensates during certain situations.

Want proof?

Pick up a small ball like a tennis ball or baseball. Use your off hand to throw it at your couch from ten feet away. Try aiming at something like a specific pillow. More than likely the motion feels weird and you can’t easily aim. Do it again. Then do it ten more times. While the motion feels awkward at first, after ten throws it should feel less so and your aim should start to improve. What is happening is new neural connections are actively being created during these exercises and the brain is learning how to coordinate this movement.

This type of training can be brought into the gym as well to help work on coordination and balance which then translates over into everything else you do from sports to daily life.

Balance Training Exercises

Essentially for balance training you will be incorporating movements that put you in an off-balance position and force your body to adapt and compensate. If you want to practice your balance then try incorporating these various exercises into your existing program.

  • One-Legged Squats – Stand on one leg. Your other leg should be bent at the knee with your calf parallel to the ground. Squat down as low as you can and then come back up. At first use no weight. You should aim for 12 to 20 reps. If it becomes too easy then grab a dumbbell or two for added resistance.
  • Box Jumps – Basically you start in standing position, crouch down, and then jump sideways over an object like a box. People jump over cones or benches as well. To start use something simple like a sweatshirt folded on the ground. Jump over then jump back for 1 rep. Aim for 12 to 20 reps total.
  • Balance Ball Crunches – Using a big balance ball for abdominal work adds a degree of difficulty. You can do normal crunches as well as twists for the oblique muscles. The size of the ball creates a stability issue which helps with balance training.
  • Uneven Push-ups – Place a block or medicine ball under one hand creating an uneven stance and perform pushups to exhaustion. Switch positions (object under opposite hand) for a second set to exhaustion.
  • Use a Barbell – On some exercises that you normally use a dumbbell (like bicep curls, deltoid raises, or overhead presses) switch to a barbell with slightly less weight. The extra length will cause a balance issue that your body has to overcome.
  • Use One Leg or Hand – Certain exercises can be done standing on one leg. By the same token some exercises can be done with just one hand or one leg instead of both. The uneven weight distribution will help to train your body to compensate. Make sure to start with less weight than you would normally use.
  • Jumping Rope – This helps with hand-eye and foot coordination. As you get better you can hop on one foot at a time versus two.

Ben Sanderson is an author for Nutribomb Bodybuilding Supplements. Nutribomb’s goal to provide you with information and advice on the best supplements on the internet.

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Five Tips For A Positive Mental Attitude This Winter

The weather might be picking up a little bit but we’ve still got a long wait until summer gets here, it’s going to be a while before the daylight hours stretch out into the evening and the sun is up before us in the morning. With the excitement of the holidays over it can seem like a lacklustre time of year and it’s easy to start feeling down or just a bit low but there’s plenty of simple and easy changes you can make to your life to pull that mood back around and rediscover that spring in your step.

Regulate Sleep Patterns

Sleep patterns can be a good indication of your mental state, too much sleep or not enough sleep or even erratic sleep patterns can be one of the major signs of depression. It’s natural for our brain to want a little more sleep in the autumn when the days start getting shorter but by the New Year our body has adjusted and you should be getting seven to eight hours sleep every night. If you’re finding it hard to drift off at night try writing down the things that are on your mind and doing a relaxing activity like reading or a word search to help your brain wind down. Try not to spend too much time lying in bed at the weekends, if you can make sure you’re going to bed and waking up at the same time every day to help your mind and your body get into a routine.

Exercise

We all know the health benefits of regular exercise, it’s good for the heart and it helps with weight management. It’s also very good for people with any type of depression. When we exercise our brains release serotonin and endorphins which create a natural high. This high can also be found by eating too much sugar too quickly but the buzz you get from exercise will last longer and won’t have the sharp come down you experience from a sugar low. If you are feeling down this time of year try getting at least a few hours of regular exercise every week, whether it’s getting off the bus a couple of stops early and walking a bit more or getting down the swimming baths one evening a week and your overall mood will soon start to improve as well as your overall health.

Healthy Eating

Healthy eating goes hand in hand with regular exercise, we know we’re meant to eat healthy and we know the difference between food that’s good for us and food that isn’t. Junk food, ready meals and anything that’s process and full of additives and E numbers can leave us feeling lethargic and sluggish. You’re also going to get a sugar crash if you eat too much junk food so try swapping any snack foods for healthier alternatives and make as many of your meals as possible from scratch so you know what’s going into them. If time can be an issue or your simple don’t feel like preparing a meal when you come home at night try cooking at the weekend and storing your dinner for the week in the freezer or investing in a slow cooker so everything cooks while you’re out each day.

Light Therapy

The science behind SAD suggests it’s the lack of light that brings our mood down. There’s very little natural light this time of year and for those of us that spend most our day in an artificially lit office we don’t see much day light at all. Research indicates that being exposed to short bursts of intense light can improve our mood. Unfortunately standing under the florescent lights in the office don’t have quite the same effect but you can buy a light box that emits almost three times the intensity of natural light on a dull day, obviously you wouldn’t look right into the light but facing it with your eyes closed two to three times a day will increase your overall mood and well being.

Try Something New

It’s often the thought of monotony that gets us down this time of year, everything we were looking forward to has passed and we’ve got a few months until the weather really starts to pick up. If you’re feeling like you’re stuck in a rut find a new hobby or activity, take an evening course, learn a new language, start going to a workout class, find something that appeals to you and make that change. Before long this new hobby will come with its own goals and points to look forward to and this will be enough to outweigh any lacklustre feelings you have related to the time of year.

To help bring a healthy attitude into your home JTX Fitness have a selection of great value home gym equipment including cross trainers, vibration plates and cheap motorised treadmills

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