How To Boost Your Metabolism

Tongkat Ali : Eurycoma longifolia

2009-03-26T11:00:00.000-07:00

What is Tongkat Ali

TOther Names: Eurycoma longifolia, Longjack

Tongkat Ali is a tree native to Malaysia, Thailand, and Indonesia. The part of the tree used medicinally is the root.

Why Do People Use Tongkat Ali?

Tongkat Ali was dubbed the "Asian Viagra" in a May 1999 report in the New Sunday Times.

It has been used in Malaysia for many years by men to increase sexual desire, libido, sexual performance and to treat erectile dysfunction.

Tongkat ali appears to work by increasing levels of the hormone testosterone. Testosterone is primarily responsible for the growth and development of male reproductive organs, including the penis, testicles, scrotum, prostate, and seminal vesicles. Normal testosterone levels maintain energy level, mood, fertility, and sexual desire.

Because of its testosterone-enhancing properties, tongkat ali is also used by bodybuilders to increase muscle mass and strength.

Safety

Reported side effects include insomnia, anxiety, and restlessness.

Tongkat ali should not be used by pregnant or nursing women or children.

Because tongkat ali increases testosterone levels it should not be used by men with breast cancer or prostate cancer, diabetes mellitus, heart disease, kidney disease, liver disease, or sleep apnea.

Tongkat ali should not be used by people with weakened immune systems as some evidence suggests it may further weaken immune function.

Drug Interactions

Tongkat ali should not be used by people taking immunosuppressant drugs.

It is especially important to tell your doctor or pharmacist if you are taking insulin. Tongkat ali may decrease blood sugar levels.

Source : http://altmedicine.about.com

Herbs : What is Mas Cotek (Ficus Deltoidea)?

2009-02-14T10:33:00.000-08:00

WHAT IS MAS COTEK?

Mas Cotek or its botanical name as ‘Ficus Deltoidea’, is a wild plant and lodging in on other trees. This name of the plant also varies to some district, state or other countries. For examples, Sempit-sempit, is known in Sabah and Sarawak for its name and Tabat Barito for Indonesian and Kangkaliban for African.

Through the opinion and society's view reputed that Mas Cotek comprises of the male and female trees which could be identified through leaf-shaped and the seed. While, from its scientific side Mas Cotek is divided into hundreds of species.

NUTRIENTS AND ITS USAGES

The leaf looks golden in colour and it has black moles behind the leaf in every meeting to the veins where it provides nutrition to mankind. It also contains flavonoid and triterpenoid components which act as anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory. In addition to that, it is believed that the Mas Cotek leaf can break fat and remove excessive cholesterol in blood channels and thus avoid practitioner from headache, migraine and stroke.

Water boiled for the leaf, stem, root and fruit of Mas Cotek is traditionally used to relieve waist ache, to reduce fatigue and most importantly it is to increase sexual desire for pair couple. It is also believed that it can react for male hormone stimulation to improve body endurance. The Mas Cotek Leaf can be cited and chewed when it is fresh.

Traditionally used to treat ailments such as:

• Eliminate toxin inside the body
• Improve blood circulation
• Nerve/joint illness
• Reduce in blood sugar content
• Reduce high-blood-pressure
• Remove cholesterol and fat
• Relieve consequence of piles pain
• Migraine
• Energy restorative for inner self
• Dysmenorrheal
• Shrink baby delivery channel/Tighten vagina
• Delay the menopause process

Source : http://www.sriain.com.my

Losing Weight the Hard Way - Succesfull Story of Losing Weight

2009-02-14T10:13:00.000-08:00

I found this successfull story of Losing Weight video.

This video uploaded 8 months ago.

At present day - February 2009.

2008 - Jan: 218.3
2008 - May: 200.0
2009 - NOW: 172.8

**TOTAL LOSS: 45.5 lbs**

Goal Weight: 160 (Dream Goal: 145-150)

Cancer Survivor Stories

2009-02-14T09:15:00.000-08:00

Hear the stories of three cancer survivors who turned to the American Cancer Society for information, day-to-day help, and emotional support. Having cancer is hard. Finding help shouldn't be.

Candis Whitney Cancer Survivor

Laura Brokaw, a breast cancer survivor, tells her story of how she discovered she had cancer, what happened next, and how she found a hospital that gave her a second chance.

Tom, a colon cancer survivor, tells his story of how he discovered he had cancer, what happended next, and how he had found a hospital that him a second chance

Herbs For Men : Smilax Myosotiflora & Piper Cubeba (Java Pepper)

2009-01-31T12:42:00.000-08:00

Smilax Myosotiflora

Smilax myosotiflora or 'Ubi Jaga' (UJ) is a native herb traditionally used by indigenous folk for its aphrodisiac effects.

Ubi Jaga is a creeper plant that is grown wild in the tropical forest in South East Asia. It improves blood circulation. It is traditionally used as herbal medicine to strengthen male energy, as a general tonic and to increase body metabolism.

It will help intensify sexual desire, increase sensitivity, strengthens erections and enables men of all ages to enjoy more frequent and longer lasting sex.

The benefit also includes the effects of mood stabilization, promotion of healthy blood pressure levels and increase in energy level.

This will definitely contribute in a major way to great performance in bed.

The mainstream medical sciences are now beginning to realize the benefit of this herb.

PIPER CUBEBA (Java Pepper)

The Book of One Thousand and One Nights, mentions Piper Cubeba as a main ingredient in making an aphrodisiac remedy for infertility.

The mixture, of Piper Cubeba is given to Shams-al-Din, a wealthy merchant who had no child, with the instruction that he must eat the paste two hours before having intercourse with his wife. According to the story, the merchant did get the child he desired after following these instructions. Other Arab authors wrote that cubeb rendered the breath fragrant, cured affections of the bladder, and that eating it "enhances the delight of coitus".

The Book of One Thousand and One Nights, compiled in the 9th century, mentions piper cubeba as a remedy for infertility, showing it was already used by Arabs for medicinal purpose.

In India, Sanskrit texts included piper cubeba in various remedies. Charaka and Sushruta prescribed a cubeb paste as a mouthwash, and the use of dried cubebs internally for oral and dental diseases, loss of voice, halitosis, fevers, and cough. Unani physicians use a paste of the cubeb berries externally on male and female genitals to intensify sexual pleasure during coitus. Due to this attributed property, cubeb was called "Habb-ul-Uruus".

Free Cancer eBook : Cure Your Cancer

2008-12-30T05:16:00.000-08:00

I found useful ebook about cancer written by Bill Henderson.

Read the introduction of his ebook:

Hi. My name is Bill Henderson. About 10 years ago, in November 1990, my former wife, Marjorie began her four-year bout with cancer. She died on November 1, 1994. Her many operations, chemotherapy treatments and intense pain made her wish often in her last two years for a quick death, or “transition,” as she called it.

After watching that, it was hard for me to believe that millions of people each year had to endure that same torture. I have read widely in these ten years, searching for an alternative. I have found many.

This e-book is the result of my search. Not only have I found more humane and effective treatments for cancer, I have discovered that our medical system is dominated by big drug company money. Instead of pursuing the research into natural substances and therapies that seem to have great promise and which have, in fact, cured cancer for thousands of grateful patients, our system suppresses them.

With better information, I know cancer patients and their caregivers can work more effectively with their physicians to cure their diseases permanently. Also, those of us who don’t have cancer yet can avoid it and other degenerative diseases.

With the deluge of information available today on the Internet, you need a guide to help you sift through it. My goal is to help you co-doctor effectively so you and your loved ones don’t become victims of the “system,” as my wife, Marjorie, was.

My background is in computer software and marketing. After retiring from the U. S. Air Force in 1977, I founded a software company that sold specialized software to architects and engineers. It was the first of its kind in the world. We had clients in 42 states and 4 Canadian provinces. I sold that company in 1995.

In addition to my medical research, I have tried several Internet ventures, with some success, in the last three years. I have a Masters in Business Administration from George Washington University. I am an entrepreneur at heart. This book, however, is a true labor of love. I know how much it can help you, if you will trust me and keep an open mind. I was 69 in January 2001. My family and I have probably dealt with over 200 doctors and at least 10 of them have been close friends. In the last 10 years, I have had several encounters with the medical system.

In 1992, I met Joe Davis, M.D. He started me on a workout plan that I have continued ever since. He also convinced me of the importance of proper nutrition. He founded several “fitness centers” called Ultra-Fit here in San Antonio.

In 1996, I had radial keratotomy done on one eye and laser correction on the other. In 1997, I had torn retinas repaired in both eyes. My vision is better now than ever before in my life. I had a hernia in my groin repaired very professionally in 1998. I had my sinuses cleaned out in 1999, which completely cured my chronic sinusitis.

The doctor said she stopped counting when she got to 104 polyps removed. Like most men my age, I have an enlarged prostate gland. Two wonderful urologists have treated me for the last 17 years. In the last ten years, they have done four biopsies on my prostate, all of which were negative.

I feel much better physically now in every way than I did forty years ago. The picture above was taken during a visit to Ibiza, Spain in 1998. I mention my recent medical experience only to emphasize to you that I am anything but anti-doctor.

Download to read more...

Download eBook

Excellent article on cancer. Pass it on.

2008-09-11T16:26:00.000-07:00

Excellent article on cancer. Pass it on.

AFTER YEARS OF TELLING PEOPLE CHEMOTHERAPY IS THE ONLY WAY TO TRY AND ELIMINATE CANCER, JOHNS HOPKINS IS FINALLY STARTING TO TELL YOU THERE IS AN ALTERNATIVE WAY .

Cancer Update from Johns Hopkins :

1. Every person has cancer cells in the body. These cancer cells do not show up in the standard tests until they have multiplied to a few billion. When doctors tell cancer patients that there are no more cancer cells in their bodies after treatment, it just means the tests are unable to detect the cancer cells because they have not reached the detectable size.

2. Cancer cells occur between 6 to more than 10 times in a person's lifetime.

3. When the person's immune system is strong the cancer cells will be destroyed and prevented from multiplying and forming tumours.

4. When a person has cancer it indicates the person has multiple nutritional deficiencies. These could be due to genetic, environmental, food and lifestyle factors.

5. To overcome the multiple nutritional deficiencies, changing diet and including supplements will strengthen the immune system.

6. Chemotherapy involves poisoning the rapidly-growing cancer cells and also destroys rapidly-growing healthy cells in the bone marrow, gastro-intestinal tract etc, and can cause organ damage, like liver, kidneys, heart, lungs etc.

7. Radiation while destroying cancer cells also burns, scars and damages healthy cells, tissues and organs.

8. Initial treatment with chemotherapy and radiation will often reduce tumor size. However prolonged use of chemotherapy and radiation do not result in more tumor destruction.

9. When the body has too much toxic burden from chemotherapy and radiation the immune system is either compromised or destroyed, hence the person can succumb to various kinds of infections and complications.

10. Chemotherapy and radiation can cause cancer cells to mutate and become resistant and difficult to destroy. Surgery can also cause cancer cells to spread to other sites.

11. An effective way to battle cancer is to starve the cancer cells by not feeding it with the foods it needs to multiply.

WHAT CANCER CELLS FEED ON:

a. Sugar is a cancer-feeder. By cutting off sugar it cuts off one important food supply to the cancer cells. Sugar substitutes like NutraSweet, Equal,Spoonful, etc are made with Aspartame and it is harmful. A better natural substitute would be Manuka honey or molasses but only in very sma ll amounts. Table salt has a chemical added to make it w h i te in colour. Better alternative is Bragg's aminos or sea salt.

b. Milk causes the body to produce mucus, especially in the gastro-intestinal tract. Cancer feeds on mucus. By cutting off milk and substituting with unsweetened soy milk, cancer cells are being starved.

c. Cancer cells thrive in an acid environment. A meat-based diet is acidic and it is best to eat fish, and a little chicken rather than beef or pork. Meat also contains livestock antibiotics, growth hormones and parasites, which are all harmful, especially to people with cancer.

d. A diet made of 80% fresh vegetables and juice, whole grains, seeds, nuts and a little fruits help put the body into an alkaline environment. About 20% can be from cooked food including beans. Fresh vegetable juices provide live enzymes that are easily absorbed and reach down to cellular levels within 15 minutes t o no urish and enhance growth of healthy cells. To obtain live enzymes for building healthy cells try and drink fresh vegetable juice (most vegetables including bean sprouts) and eat some raw vegetables 2 or 3 times a day. Enzymes are destroyed at temperatures of 104 degrees F (40 degrees C).

e. Avoid coffee, tea, and chocolate, which have high caffeine. Green tea is a better alternative and has cancer-fighting properties. Water-best to drink purified water, or filtered, to avoid known toxins and heavy metals in tap water. Distilled water is acidic, avoid it.

12. Meat protein is difficult to digest and requires a lot of digestive enzymes. Undigested meat remaining in the intestines become putrified and leads to more toxic buildup.

13. Cancer cell walls have a tough protein covering. By refraining from or eating less meat it frees more e nzymes to attack the protein walls of cancer cells and allows the body's killer ce lls to destroy the cancer cells.

14. Some supplements build up the immune system (IP6, Flor-ssence, Essiac, anti-oxidants, vitamins, minerals, EFAs etc.) to enable the body's own killer cells to destroy cancer cells. Other supplements like vitamin E are known to cause apoptosis, or programmed cell death, the body's normal method of disposing of damaged, unwanted, or unneeded cells.

15. Cancer is a disease of the mind, body, and spirit. A proactive and positive spirit will help the cancer warrior be a survivor. Anger, unforgiveness and bitterness put the body into a stressful and acidic environment. Learn to have a loving and forgiving spirit. Learn to relax and enjoy life.

16. Cancer cells cannot thrive in an oxygenated environment. Exercising daily, and deep breathing help to get more oxygen down to the cellular level. Oxygen therapy is another means employed to destroy cancer cells.

(PLEASE FORWARD IT TO PEOPLE YOU CARE ABOUT)

This is an article that should be sent to anyone important in your life.

Daily Health Task Lists

2008-08-28T11:30:00.000-07:00

Just like brushing your teeth, healthy habits should be cultivated on a daily basis. The following is a guide to daily tasks:

1. Activity should be a daily occurrence. Walk, run or jump for a minimum total of 20 minutes a day.

2. Protect your skin. Sun block should be applied on face, neck, arms and hands even in the dead of winter. It protects against climatic toxins too. Moisturize skin daily.

3. Eat fruits, vegetables, grains, low-fat dairy products and small amounts of protein. Avoid sweets and other processed foods.

4. Meditate or spend a minimum of five minutes daily in quiet time.

5. Find your spiritual self. Discover what inspires you, raises your level of consciousness, motivates you, and satisfies your soul.

6. Exercise your brain. Read, study, solve problems, and learn new skills. As does the body, the brain atrophies with lack of use.

7. Hug somebody.

Read more at http://www.health-fitness-tips.com

10 Essential Health Tips ( (The Basics to Practice Every Day)

2008-08-28T11:25:00.000-07:00

1. Move More

Make it a daily challenge to find ways to move your body. Climb stairs if given a choice between that and escalators or elevators. Walk your dog; chase your kids; toss balls with friends, mow the lawn. Anything that moves your limbs is not only a fitness tool, it's a stress buster. Think 'move' in small increments of time. It doesn't have to be an hour in the gym or a 45-minute aerobic dance class or tai chi or kickboxing. But that's great when you're up to it. Meanwhile, move more. Thought for the day: Cha, Cha, Cha…. Then do it!

2. Cut Fat

Avoid the obvious such as fried foods, burgers and other fatty meats (i.e. pork, bacon, ham, salami, ribs and sausage). Dairy products such as cheese, cottage cheese, milk and cream should be eaten in low fat versions. Nuts and sandwich meats, mayonnaise, margarine, butter and sauces should be eaten in limited amounts. Most are available in lower fat versions such as substitute butter, fat free cheeses and mayonnaise. Thought for the day: Lean, mean, fat-burning machine…. Then be one!

3. Quit Smoking

The jury is definitely in on this verdict. Ever since 1960 when the Surgeon General announced that smoking was harmful to your health, Americans have been reducing their use of tobacco products that kill. Just recently, we've seen a surge in smoking in adolescents and teens. Could it be the Hollywood influence? It seems the stars in every movie of late smoke cigarettes. Beware. Warn your children of the false romance or 'tough guy' stance of Hollywood smokers. Thought for the day: Give up just one cigarette…. the next one.

4. Reduce Stress

Easier said than done, stress busters come in many forms. Some techniques recommended by experts are to think positive thoughts. Spend 30 minutes a day doing something you like. (i.e.,Soak in a hot tub; walk on the beach or in a park; read a good book; visit a friend; play with your dog; listen to soothing music; watch a funny movie. Get a massage, a facial or a haircut. Meditate. Count to ten before losing your temper or getting aggravated. Avoid difficult people when possible. Thought for the day: When seeing red, think pink clouds….then float on them.

5. Protect Yourself from Pollution

If you can't live in a smog-free environment, at least avoid smoke-filled rooms, high traffic areas, breathing in highway fumes and exercising near busy thoroughfares. Exercise outside when the smog rating is low. Exercise indoors in air conditioning when air quality is good. Plant lots of shrubbery in your yard. It's a good pollution and dirt from the street deterrent. Thought for the day: 'Smoke gets in your eyes'…and your mouth, and your nose and your lungs as do pollutants….hum the tune daily.

6. Wear Your Seat Belt

Statistics show that seat belts add to longevity and help alleviate potential injuries in car crashes. Thought for the day: Buckle down and buckle up.

7. Floss Your Teeth

Recent studies make a direct connection between longevity and teeth flossing. Nobody knows exactly why. Perhaps it's because people who floss tend to be more health conscious than people who don't? Thought for the day: Floss and be your body's boss.

8. Avoid Excessive Drinking

While recent studies show a glass of wine or one drink a day (two for men) can help protect against heart disease, more than that can cause other health problems such as liver and kidney disease and cancer. Thought for the day: A jug of wine should last a long time.

9. Keep a Positive Mental Outlook

There's a definitive connection between living well and healthfully and having a cheerful outlook on life. Thought for the day: You can't be unhappy when you're smiling or singing.

10. Choose Your Parents Well

The link between genetics and health is a powerful one. But just because one or both of your parents died young in ill health doesn't mean you cannot counteract the genetic pool handed you. Thought for the day: Follow these basic tips for healthy living and you can better control your own destiny.

Read more at http://www.health-fitness-tips.com

Best Ways To Lose Weight

2008-08-10T17:08:00.000-07:00

Keeping is simple is the best way to not only lose weight, but keep it off, too. There are some clear-cut certainties, rules, unchanging facts and formulas regarding weight loss that really never vary. If followed, you will lose weight.

So, for just a moment let’s look only at the facts - take emotion, psychology, and personal history out of the equation, and let’s look at the simple rules of weight loss.

Just the Facts:
1. If you spend more calories than you take in, you will lose weight. Just like your bank account, if you spend more than you put in, your bank account or, in this case your body, will shrink.

2. Adding (more) exercise, and not changing your diet at all, will cause weight loss only if you are burning more calories than you are taking in (as it states in rule 1). So if you are exercising enough to push the equation over to the deficit column (where you are basically in the red with calories - spending more than you are taking in), then you will begin to lose weight.

3. Reducing your food/caloric intake and not adding exercise will result in weight loss only if you have reduced food intake enough to tip the energy balance to the negative, whereby you are taking in less than you are expending.

4. Obviously, adding exercise, and reducing your caloric intake, will make it more likely that your equation will swing over to the negative – the weight loss side. And of course, the greater the difference between intake and expenditure, the faster the weight loss (or gain, depending on which way the equation swings).

As read from http://www.health-body2u.blogspot.com

100 Healthy Tips!

2008-08-10T08:58:00.000-07:00

Healthy Tip #1 Set a goal of trying one new fruit or vegetable every week
Healthy Tip #2 Keep a bowl of fruit on your desk at work
Healthy Tip #3 Switch from ice cream to frozen yogurt
Healthy Tip #4 Substitute sweet potatoes for regular baked potatoes or fries. You'll get more Vitamin A.
Healthy Tip #5 Get more fiber. Add canned beans or a handful of nuts to your salad.
Healthy Tip #6 Take the stairs, not the elevator.
Healthy Tip #7 Don't e-mail your office mate. Walk down the hall and deliver the message personally.
Healthy Tip #8 Get a dog. Commit to walking 10 minutes in the morning and 20 minutes at night.
Healthy Tip #9 Buy a soccer ball. Kick it with your kids or a neighbor.
Healthy Tip #10 Buy shoes at the end of the day when your feet are more swollen from use.
Healthy Tip #11 Every six months check expiration dates and clean out your medicine cabinet.
Healthy Tip #12 Mark your calendar and change your toothbrush every three months.
Healthy Tip #13 When the time changes, change the batteries on your smoke alarms.
Healthy Tip #14 Buy a thermometer for your refrigerator to make sure your food is kept at the right temperature.
Healthy Tip #15 Put sunscreen on your hands as well as your face and neck every single day.
Healthy Tip #16 Play.
Healthy Tip #17 Read.
Healthy Tip #18 Be optimistic.
Healthy Tip #19 Volunteer in your community.
Healthy Tip #20 Mentor someone.
Healthy Tip #21 Keep a stock of low calorie snacks on hand: cut up carrots, cucumber, pretzels, nonfat popcorn.
Healthy Tip #22 Don't eat in front of the TV.
Healthy Tip #23 Try spices and seasonings instead of salt.
Healthy Tip #24 Add spinach to your salad, sandwich tacos or burger and get a boost of Vitamin C and iron.
Healthy Tip #25 Choose tuna packed in water, not oil.
Healthy Tip #26 Grab the cell phone and go for a walk.
Healthy Tip #27 Park your car on the far side of the lot and get in a little extra exercise.
Healthy Tip #28 Take your family on regular walks.
Healthy Tip #29 Dance with your children.
Healthy Tip #30 Try a yoga class.
Healthy Tip #31 Put moisturizer on your hands and feet before you go to bed every night.
Healthy Tip #32 Quit smoking.
Healthy Tip #33 Fasten your seatbelt.
Healthy Tip #34 Wear a helmet when biking or rollerskating.
Healthy Tip #35 When traveling, flex your leg muscles or move your feet every 15 minutes.
Healthy Tip #36 Adopt a pet from your local humane society.
Healthy Tip #37 When you're feeling stressed, smile and take a few deep breaths.
Healthy Tip #38 Don't gossip.
Healthy Tip #39 Practice forgiveness.
Healthy Tip #40 Learn to say no.
Healthy Tip #41 Use fat-free yogurt and mustard or horseradish instead of mayo in your tuna salad.
Healthy Tip #42 Try your baked potato with salsa instead of sour cream.
Healthy Tip #43 Be wary of white foods-- bagels, potatoes, breads, pasta and rice.
Healthy Tip #44 Watch your portion sizes.
Healthy Tip #45 Eat fish high in Omega-3 fatty acids like mackerel, salmon, sardines and herring.
Healthy Tip #46 Do a slow burn workout in strength training and see if less is more.
Healthy Tip #47 Take a hike.
Healthy Tip #48 Try interval training- short bursts of intense activity with periods of rest.
Healthy Tip #49 Get 8 hours of sleep regularly.
Healthy Tip #50 Wake up at the same time every day.
Healthy Tip #51 Take a multivitamin.
Healthy Tip #52 Read nutrition labels.
Healthy Tip #53 Brush your teeth after every meal.
Healthy Tip #54 Floss every day.
Healthy Tip #55 Cook two meals at once. You'll have one meal ready on those nights you just don't have time.
Healthy Tip #56 Take a nap.
Healthy Tip #57 Find a hobby.
Healthy Tip #58 Call a friend.
Healthy Tip #59 Take the time to get organized.
Healthy Tip #60 Eat the skin on your baked potato. Don't eat the skin on your chicken.
Healthy Tip #61 Dilute juice with water.
Healthy Tip #62 For every cup of coffee you drink, drink a glass of water.
Healthy Tip #63 Add a handful of berries to your morning cereal.
Healthy Tip #64 Eat produce at every meal.
Healthy Tip #65 Try plant-based protein such as soy milk, soy yogurt, tempeh, hummus or beans.
Healthy Tip #66 Join an online diet program. Log on when cravings strike.
Healthy Tip #67 Keep an exercise journal to track your progress and focus on your goals.
Healthy Tip #68 Walk on a beach.
Healthy Tip #69 Schedule a fitness break at the same time each day.
Healthy Tip #70 Cut your lunch hour in half and use those extra 30-minutes for a walk.
Healthy Tip #71 Use a meat thermometer every time your prepare a meal.
Healthy Tip #72 To reduce your risk of Alzheimer's, keep reading, going to museums and engaging in hobbies.
Healthy Tip #73 Keep your blood pressure down by losing weight, exercising and limiting sodium and alcohol.
Healthy Tip #74 Get fluoride supplements for your child if you live in a non-fluoridated area.
Healthy Tip #75 Wash your hands frequently to avoid germs that cause cold and flu.
Healthy Tip #76 Carry an emergency medical card that indicates you are taking lifesaving medication.
Healthy Tip #77 Get a facial.
Healthy Tip #78 Get a pedicure.
Healthy Tip #79 Take a relaxing bath rather than a quick shower.
Healthy Tip #80 Plant flowers.
Healthy Tip #81 Light candles.
Healthy Tip #82 Buy organic foods.
Healthy Tip #83 Don't eat after 8:00 pm.
Healthy Tip #84 Make your own healthy lunch to control portion sizes and ingredients.
Healthy Tip #85 Eat breakfast.
Healthy Tip #86 Don't eat unless you are sitting at a table.
Healthy Tip #87 Eat slowly and savor what you are eating.
Healthy Tip #88 Have an apple before dinner.
Healthy Tip #89 Try nonfat milk instead of whole. It has 100 less calories in every 2 cups.
Healthy Tip #90 Find an exercise buddy.
Healthy Tip #91 Look for walks, runs, health screenings and other healthy events in your community.
Healthy Tip #92 Use skin cream with SPF15 on your hands to prevent wrinkles and spots.
Healthy Tip #93 Keep a six pack of bottled water in the car for yourself and the kids.
Healthy Tip #94 Get help for chronic pain.
Healthy Tip #95 Enjoy music.
Healthy Tip #96 Arrange a regular time together with friends.
Healthy Tip #97 Plan regular date nights with your significant other.
Healthy Tip #98 Meditate.
Healthy Tip #99 Do less.
Healthy Tip #100 Be a good listener.

Source from www.accenthealth.com

15 Simple Tips to Help You Live to 100

2008-08-10T08:51:00.000-07:00

by Susan Jacobs

A study conducted by Boston University shows that the fastest growing area of the American population is the centenarian community (i.e., those who are 100 years of age or older). The second largest growing area is people who are 85 years or older. In other words, you have a great chance to live a very long time in this modern society.

Even more interesting is the sheer magnitude of older citizens. There are approximately 40,000 centenarians living in the United States. Incidentally, 85% of them are women.

How does one make it to the ripe old age of 100? Each centenarian who is asked that question has a different answer. Some say they had a glass of brandy every night, others say they never drank a drop in their life. Some swear by the bacon they eat for breakfast, others are strict vegetarians.

No, there isn’t a magic formula for living forever (though avoiding bull riding and base jumping certainly helps). However, there are proven methods to greatly increase our chances of longevity. Below, I have compiled 15 simple tips to help you make it to 100 years of age:

1. Drink no less than 8 glasses of water a day, though you should preferably have even more than that.

2. Take a multivitamin that is appropriate to your age and gender.

3. Don’t smoke. If you do smoke, it’s never too late to quit and increase your odds of living a long time.

4. Avoid drinking alcohol to excess.

5. If you have no regular exercise regiment, start one. If you hate to exercise, take up a fun activity like swimming.

6. Settle down in a low-crime neighborhood, perhaps in the countryside.

7. Avoid processed foods as much as possible.

8. Eat a balanced diet that is high in fiber.

9. Change careers if you have a very stressful job.

10. If you are a thrill seeker, live vicariously through books or films, rather than participating in dangerous activities.

11. Always practice safe sex.

12. Wear your seatbelt and drive defensively.

13. Surround yourself with only supportive friends and family.

14. Make time for the hobbies you love the most, particularly if they reduce your stress level.

15. Don’t short-change yourself in the sleep department, as sleep deprivation can lead to a host of problems.

Will the tips above guarantee a long life? Barring an unfortunate accident, they can certainly help. No one can predict how one’s body will age. However, being healthy in body, mind and spirit will not only increase a person’s chances of living a long time, it will make the life they do have a very good one.

About the author:

Susan Jacobs is a part-time teacher, as well as a regular contributor for NOEDb, a site for learning about and selecting an online nursing degree program. Susan invites your comments and freelancing job inquiries at her email address susan.jacobs45@gmail.com

Source of Article : www.metabolism.com

Befriend Protein and Good Carbs

2008-07-11T12:16:00.000-07:00

There is a dizzying array of things that you can eat these days. Truly, a trip to the grocery store can be an adventure. Everywhere you turn, there’s yet another food promising you healthy this or weight loss that.

Added to this confusion is that there are some foods that are beneficial for metabolic boosting, and some that aren’t; and the differences aren’t always well-known. Fortunately, we’re going to tackle this problem right now and describe the three basic food groups/types that are indeed good for a speedy metabolism.

In terms of protein, studies have shown that having enough protein in your system can actually increase the speed of your metabolism. This is because protein is difficult to break down. Or rather, it requires more energy to break down. It’s like feeding the body a knot; it needs a bit of time to unravel it.

And, as you know, when your body spends time on something, it spends energy (calories). And so the more time it can spend breaking down protein, the more calories that it uses.

Different people will require different amounts of protein on a daily basis. Those who exercise and build muscle will typically need more than the average amount, too.

The USFDA Food Guide suggests around 50 grams of protein a day for a reasonably active adult.

Keep in mind (not that you don’t already have enough to remember, but…) that there are different sources of protein: some lean, and some high in fat. Fast food burgers may deliver up to 20 grams of protein (sometimes more), but they also deliver a great deal of fat; which makes them almost nutritionally worthless.

The benefits you enjoy from the protein are far outweighed by the immense fat intake; which, for some fast food burgers, can exceed 40 grams! And that’s not including the fries (we won’t even go there!).

So the thing to do is ensure that your source of protein derives from lean protein. Typically, protein from some fish and chicken is lean; though not all of it.

If you’re a vegetarian, or simply looking for non-meat lean protein alternatives, low-fat cheese, legumes (lentils), and yogurt are all good sources. Simply check the food labels to determine if the source of protein is lean (doesn’t deliver high fat content), or fatty.

In terms of carbohydrates, there probably isn’t a more battered around micronutrient than this. It’s gone from being the greatest thing in weight loss history, to one of the most reviled.
And really, it’s not the fault of the innocent carbohydrate! It’s really just a matter of information and knowledge, instead of speculation.

The thing to remember is that when carbohydrates are refined, such as white bread and potatoes, they are what the diabetic world refers to as high glycemic index (GI) foods, because they require spikes in insulin in order to be digested.

As you may know, when insulin is released into the system, it promotes the storage of fat; and some experts believe that it also pushes down metabolic speed (which makes sense).

Therefore, the good kinds of carbohydrate to consume are those that are high in fiber, and those from fruit and vegetable sources.

Why? Because these sources of carbohydrates don’t score high on the glycemic index. In other words, they don’t cause a spike in insulin levels, and therefore, they don’t promote fat storage.

Don’t Hate Calories
Befriend Protein and Good Carbs
Eat Early
Eat More?

Eat Early

2008-07-11T12:15:00.000-07:00

We’ve all heard that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. And in terms of boosting your metabolism, this is indeed the case! There are a couple of reasons why eating a hearty and healthy breakfast can boost metabolism and lead to weight loss goals.

The first reason is that people who eat breakfast are much less inclined to snack throughout the morning. For example, if you had a good breakfast of fruit and low-sugar cereal in the morning, your chances of visiting the vending machine at work around 10:30am diminish significantly.

Of course, as you recall from our previous discussion on eating more frequently, this doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t eat something between breakfast and lunch.

It simply means that, since you won’t be extremely hungry at 10:30am (because you skipped breakfast), you’ll be less inclined to eat anything that you get your hands on; such as a nice donut that your co-worker was kind enough to offer you.

In other words, by starting your day in a nutritious way, you’ll have more control over what you eat throughout the day.

The second reason is more aligned with metabolism-boosting. Studies have shown that metabolism slows during sleep, and doesn’t typically get going again until you eat.

Therefore, starting the day with breakfast is like kickstarting your metabolism. You’ll actually burn more calories throughout the day, simply by eating breakfast (hey, who knew?!).

Remember: as you eat your breakfast, control both the portion and the contents. You don’t want to eat to the point of complete fullness; because, remember, you want to eat throughout the day and you won’t be able to do that if you’re stuffed.

At the same time, beware of high-fat breakfasts. Studies have shown that high-fat breakfasts, such as those that include bacon and sausage, not only deliver lots of calories (there are 9 calories for every gram of fat, as compared to 4 for every gram of carbohydrates and proteins, respectively).

But they also can make you very hungry again, very soon! So in addition to having ingested a lot of fat (and hence a lot of calories), you’ll typically find yourself rather ravenous again in a few hours.

Alternatively, breakfasts that are high in fiber take longer to digest, and thus, the body won’t be hungry again for a while.

This is something to bear in mind; and it may explain why many people who eat breakfast find themselves painfully hungry by lunchtime; it’s not their “overactive metabolism” at work; it’s the high fat content, which has been swiftly digested.

Don’t Hate Calories
Befriend Protein and Good Carbs
Eat Early
Eat More?

Eat More?

2008-07-11T12:14:00.000-07:00

Fresh on the heels of the discussion on calories, it’s also helpful to note that eating frequently throughout the day can be very good for boosting metabolism. There are a couple of reasons for this.

The first reason is that people who tend to eat throughout the day do considerably less snacking. As a result, they tend to avoid the potato chips or candy bars that they might otherwise consume if they suddenly felt hungry.

People who eat throughout the day don’t tend to experience severe hunger pangs, because they don’t reach that stage.

The second reason, and the one that you can probably guess based on your understanding of metabolism, is that by eating throughout the day, you are constantly keeping your metabolism in motion.

It’s kind of like having a generator run all the time; it will simply use more electricity than if you powered it on 3 times a day.

Now, it goes without saying (but we should say it anyway just in case!) that just because it’s good for metabolism-boosting to eat frequently, this doesn’t mean that you can eat junk all day long!
Rather, if you choose to eat more frequently, then you’ll certainly need to be very aware of what you eat; because you can easily exceed your required amount of daily calories if you don’t keep an eye on this.

That’s why, if your plan is to follow the eat-more-to-burn-more approach, then you should keep a food journal that notes what you eat (and drink of course) throughout the day.

You should not merely know the calorie levels of what you eat, but you should know the overall nutritional values, too.

For example, if you’re on target to eat 50 grams of protein per day, then you want to make sure you reach this target and not exceed it (or come in below it).

In other words, merely focusing on calories is only half of the job. You will need to ensure that you’re eating enough protein, carbohydrates, fats (the good unsaturated kind!), and the other vitamins and minerals that your body needs in order to function at optimal levels.

Don’t Hate Calories
Befriend Protein and Good Carbs
Eat Early
Eat More?

Don’t Hate Calories

2008-07-11T12:13:00.002-07:00

The word calorie has a bad rap. We constantly come across calorie reduced or low calorie foods. And it’s not uncommon to overhear someone gasp about the immense calorie content of certain foods, such as a rich and creamy desert, or a giant fast food burger.

All of this anti-calorie rhetoric therefore has made a lot of us pretty calorie-phobic; as soon as we see something that has lots of them, we run away. But is this wise?

Yes and no. Yes, it’s wise in the sense that avoiding that double-layer chocolate fudge cake for desert is probably a good idea (actually, scratch that; it is a good idea).

The calories that come from the cake are really going to be the so-called empty calorie kind; which means that there’s no real nutritional value that your body can squeeze out and make use of.

But in the bigger picture, it’s unwise for your metabolism to become calorie-avoidant.

Why? Because your body is a marvelous machine that tries, at all times, to do what it can to make your life easier.

Indeed, while it may not always function at optimal levels (for a variety of reasons, including genetics), it still tries to do its very best. The body, for all of its limitations and so forth, is not a lazy thing!

With this in mind, the body is always trying to keep is alive and functioning in the manner that it deems to be healthiest.

And that’s why if you suddenly decrease the amount of calories that you need, your body won’t try to do more with less. In other words, your body won’t respond in the way that you want it to: it won’t necessarily provoke catabolism and thus reduce weight and fat cells.

Instead, your smart and wise body will try to keep you alive by slowing down its metabolism. It will simply believe that something is wrong – maybe you’re trapped somewhere without food – and it will just begin to become very stingy with energy.

So what’s the end result? If your body needs 2000 calories a day to survive, and you suddenly give it only 1000, it won’t begin to burn off 1000 calories worth of cells that you have lying around on your love handles.

Instead, your body will slow down its metabolism. It will really try and get as much energy out of those 1000 calories, because it doesn’t want to waste anything.

Physically, you’ll naturally feel more tired because your body is being very miserly with energy, and will devote its 1000-calorie ration to essential systems, like blood and oxygen supply (and others).

Metabolically, you won’t be burning off extra calories. In fact, you can actually gain weight by dramatically reducing your calorie intake!

The flipside of this, of course, is that you should consume a daily caloric intake that is proportionate to your body size, type, and weight loss goals.

And then, once you determine the amount of calories that you need (probably with the aid of a qualified nutritionist or fitness expert); you can provide that to your body via healthy, efficient calories.

For example, if your body needs 1500 calories per day, and one slice of double-fudge chocolate cake delivers a whopping 500 of those, then you can see that eating just one of these slices will take up a full 1/3rd of your daily caloric needs; and that’s not good!

On the other hand, you can see that drinking a tasty fruit smoothy made with yogurt and nuts can deliver half as many calories, but provide you with essential nutrients, vitamins, and other elements that your body needs to healthily do its work.

Don’t Hate Calories
Befriend Protein and Good Carbs
Eat Early
Eat More?

Diet

2008-07-11T12:13:00.001-07:00

Ah yes, diet. For most of us, our information concerning metabolism has related in one way or another to eating. Most of us have been told of metabolism-friendly foods, or metabolism unfriendly foods.

But really, while we may be basically aware that, all else being equal, a stalk of celery is better for your metabolism than fries with gravy, our understanding of diet and metabolism is pretty low.

To fix this, the following section looks at some powerful and scientific diet-related tips that will boost your metabolism. Indeed, as you’ll soon learn, it’s not merely what you eat that matters; it’s when, and how, too.

Don’t Hate Calories
Befriend Protein and Good Carbs
Eat Early
Eat More?

How to Sleep Well??

2008-07-11T11:57:00.002-07:00

Zzzzzzzz…..Zzzzzzzzz

This is a toughy. Most of us don’t have as much control over the amount that we sleep as we should. Work, family, education, housekeeping, and so many other tasks can literally prevent us from getting the amount of sleep that we need.

However, as the experts tell us, getting enough sleep actually improves metabolism. On the other hand, people who are constantly sleep deprived typically find that they have less energy to do regular, daily activities; including digestion.

As a result, sleep-starved people often lower their own metabolism. They simply don’t have the strength to break down food efficiently, particularly carbohydrates.

This is a very difficult issue, because many people can only find time to exercise by borrowing from their rest time.

For example, after a long day of work and dealing with family and home commitments, a person may find that the only time they have to exercise (and thus boost their metabolism) is late at night; say around 9:00 pm, or even later. So what should one do?

Ultimately, it’s a question of balance. Naturally, if you’re willing to exercise, and your doctor agrees that it’s healthy for you to do that, then you’re not going to get fit by sleeping instead of exercising.

Yet with that being said, if you steal time away from your sleep/rest in order to exercise, over time, you can actually do more harm than good; because the following day, you won’t have enough energy to digest what you eat. The answer to this catch-22 lies in balance.

You don’t have to work out every night. Or perhaps you can integrate a workout into your life during the day; maybe at lunchtime or right after work.

Most fitness clubs are open very early (some are even open 24 hours), and if you choose to workout at home, you can do so in a generally affordable way (while some machines can cost thousands, basic machines that get the job done only cost a few hundred, even cheaper if they’re used).

If you find that you have trouble sleeping, then this can also negatively affect the speed of your metabolism (because you won’t have enough energy the following day). Insomnia and other sleep disorders are very common problems, and there exists a variety of support systems in place to help people get the rest that they require. Some non-medical tips to help you fall asleep include:

o Don’t eat late at night
o Try drinking warm milk before bedtime
o Don’t turn on the TV at night
o Try yoga or other stress-relieving practices
o Try having a warm bath before bedtime
o Don’t exercise close to bedtime; your body can become so energized that it doesn’t want to sleep!

Get on the Wagon

2008-07-11T11:57:00.001-07:00

Do you know people who carefully choose low-fat, low-calorie meal choices, are very disciplined when it comes to not ordering the Chef’s Special pecan pie for desert, yet order a glass or two of wine with their meal?

Well, unfortunately, these people are really undermining their efforts to boost metabolism.

Studies show that drinking alcohol with meals actually encourages over eating; which means more calories that need to be burned away (or transformed into fat!).

Furthermore, many people are simply unaware that many alcoholic drinks are laden with calories; almost as much as sugary-rich soft drinks.

A bottle of beer can deliver a few hundred calories, and most cocktails are in the same range. Wine is generally considered to deliver the least amount of calories; but even this is a bit of a slippery slope.

Three glasses of wine can be worth 300 calories that the body simply has to deal with in one form or another.

The tip here isn’t to stop drinking alcohol altogether (despite the title of this section). If you enjoy alcohol then there’s no particular reason why you have to quit cold turkey, but you will save a bit of money and not consume as many calories.

Simply, the call here is that you become aware that it influences your metabolism. If you consume excess alcohol (even without becoming inebriated), you force your system to deal with more calories.

And unless you’re compensating for these added calories through exercise or muscle building, catabolism cannot occur. Instead, anabolism will inevitably occur, and new cells will be created from those calories (mostly fat cells).

Lifestyle

2008-07-11T11:56:00.001-07:00

When we come across the term lifestyle, we tend to think of the basic day-to-day habits that we rely on; sometimes without giving them much of a second thought. And this is indeed the case when we talk about how lifestyle influences the speed of your metabolism.

Now, quite honestly, most of us live busy lives in one form or another, and therefore it’s challenging to really keep an eye on all of our habits.

Balancing work, family, hobbies, and other commitments often means that our lifestyle isn’t so much of a choice, as it is a necessity.

Yet with respect to the fact that many of us face sincere limitations in our lifestyle choices, there are many things that we can do – little things, but important things – that can help speed up our metabolism.

So if you’re a bit put-off by the term lifestyle, please don’t skim over this section. The little things that you change in your regular, day-to-day lifestyle can indeed have the most profound influence on the speed of your metabolism, and the achievement of your short and long-term weight loss goals.

Variety

2008-07-11T11:55:00.000-07:00

They say that variety is the spice of life, and this is indeed quite true. But despite this awareness, many people don’t spice up their exercise program; which is surprising, since doing so often leads to valuable metabolism-boosting benefits.

There are a few easy ways to add variety to your exercise program. We’ve already talked about interval training, and that is indeed one way to shift your body’s metabolic engine into higher gear.

Other effective ways are to break up a longer routine into smaller parts.

For example, instead of committing to 1x1 hour workout a day, it can be metabolism-boosting to split this up into 2x30 minute workouts; or even, on some occasions, 3x20 minute workouts.

Furthermore, you can add variety into your daily exercise routine without formally exercising.

For example, you can take the stairs instead of the elevator. Or you can start your day with a brisk walk instead of a coffee and the newspaper.

Or, instead of parking close to the grocery store entrance, you can walk the distance between a far away parking spot and the entrance.

All of these tips provide two metabolism-boosting benefits.

Firstly, as you can easily see, they can make exercising more fun. While, indeed, it’s important to have an exercise routine, you don’t want to have a boring exercise routine (because then your chances of stopping are that much greater!).

So adding these new elements to your overall exercise commitment simply helps encourage you to stick with the program. And since exercising is a core part of boosting your metabolism, any technique or tip that helps you continue exercising over the long term is a wise piece of advice.

The second important benefit of variety in your exercise program leads us back to the interval training concept, discussed above.

When you add variety to your workout, your body cannot get into a groove. Remember: the body is a remarkable piece of work, and will always strive to do things efficiently.

Naturally, the overall state of your health (which can be influenced by genetics and other factors outside of your control) will play a role in how efficiently your body runs.

But regardless of how your body is put together, who what genetic influences you have to deal with, your body really likes you, and wants to do things as efficiently as it possibly can.

Therefore, when you start exercising, you body can start to develop a kind of expectation of energy output. It’s not doing this to be lazy; it’s doing this because, quite sincerely, it wants to help!

If your body starts to predict that you need a certain amount of energy to complete a certain task (such as jog for 20 minutes), then it will start to achieve that energy output more efficiently.

For example, when you first start jogging for, say, 2 minutes a time followed by 5 minutes of walking, your body may require a great deal of energy to help you achieve this.

And as a result, you may find yourself very out of breath or tired as your body strives to meet this increased demand. Naturally, of course, catabolism will be involved, and your body metabolism will increase.

But over time, say a month or so, your body will simply become more efficient. It will have become stronger, and will be able to supply your energy needs much more efficiently; you may not even break a sweat!

What’s happened here is that your health has improved; your body has to work less hard to provide you with your energy needs.

Ironically, this can actually obscure your metabolism-boosting efforts; because, as you know, you want to tell your body to start the catabolism process. But if your body is efficiently working, it won’t really dig into its reserves (e.g. fat cells) in order to provide you with the energy that you need.

So the trick is to keep variety in your workouts. Many people choose to cross-train for this very reason. It not only targets different muscle groups, but it keeps your body from finding a groove whereby it tried to help you by slowing down metabolism.

Remember: your body doesn’t read books like this; it doesn’t need to, and it doesn’t care.

It has no clue that a speedier metabolism is “good” or “bad”. Now, as far as you and I are concerned, we know that a speedy metabolism is a good thing in our weight loss efforts.

But your body doesn’t make this evaluation. And so it won’t turn on its metabolism jets because you want it to.

You can’t (unfortunately) send a memo to your body and ask it to please speed up metabolism.

If you could, then that would be amazing! But that’s not reality at all. What we have to do is force the body to say to itself: hey, I need to speed up metabolism because this person needs more energy!

And one of the best ways for you to force the body to have this kind of thinking is to add variety to your workouts.

Build Muscle
Interval Training
Variety

Interval Training

2008-07-11T11:54:00.002-07:00

The basic weight loss nuts and bolts behind cardiovascular exercise (or any kind of exercise, really) is, as you know, a matter of catabolism.

Essentially, if you can engineer your body to require more energy, your body will comply by breaking cells down to deliver it; and that process (metabolism) burns calories. Simple, right?

So based on that logic, something called interval training neatly fits in with the overall plan. Interval training is simply a adding high-energy burning component to your exercise plan on an infrequent, or interval, basis.

For example, you may be at a stage where you can jog for 20 minutes every other day, and thus put your heart into a cardiovascular zone during this time.

This, obviously, is going to help you boost your metabolism and thus burn calories/energy. Yet you can actually burn disproportionately more calories if, during that 20 minute jog, you add a 30 second or 1 minute sprint.

Why? Because during this 30 seconds or 1 minute, you give your body a bit of a jolt.

Not an unhealthy jolt; remember, we’re talking about quick bursts here, not suddenly racing around the track or through the park! By giving your body an interval jolt, it automatically – and somewhat unexpectedly – has to turn things up a notch.

And to compensate for your extra energy requirements, the body will burn more calories.

It’s essential for you to always keep in mind that interval training only works when it’s at intervals. This may seem like a strange thing to say (and even difficult to understand), but it’s actually very straightforward.

The metabolism-boosting benefits that you enjoy as a result of interval training are primarily due to the fact that your body, suddenly, needs to find more energy.
While it was chugging along and supplying your energy needs during your cardiovascular exercising, it all of a sudden needs to go grab some more for 30 seconds or a minute; and in that period, it will boost your metabolism as if it were given a nice, healthy jolt.

As you can see, if you suddenly decided to extend your 30 second or 1 minute sprint into a 20 minute sprint, you simply wouldn’t experience all of the benefits.

Yes, your body would use more energy if you extend yourself to the higher range of your aerobic training zone. But your body won’t necessarily get that jolt that only comes from interval training.

So remember: your goal with interval training is to give your body a healthy jolt where it suddenly says to itself:

“Whoa! We need more energy here FAST, this person has increased their heart rate from 180 beats per minute to 190 beats per minute! Let’s go to any available cell, like those fat cells down at the waist, and break them down via catabolism so that this person can get the energy that they need!”

Remember (sorry to be repetitive, but this is very important): the whole point of interval training in this way is to give your body a sudden, limited, healthy jolt where it needs more energy – quick!

If you simply increase your speed and stay there, while your body may, overall burn some more calories, it won’t get that jolt.

Also bear in mind that interval training can indeed last longer than 30 seconds or a minute.

Some experts suggest that you can use interval training for 30-40 minutes, depending on your state of health and what your overall exercise regimen looks like.

The reason we’re focusing on 30 seconds to 1 minute is simply to give you a clear understanding that interval training is a kind of mini training within a training program.

And, as always, don’t overdo it with your interval training. Your goal here is to become healthier and stronger, and lose weight in that process.

You gain nothing if you run so fast or bike so hard during interval training that you hurt yourself. You will actually undermine your own health, and possibly have to stop exercising while torn muscles or other ailments heal.

Build Muscle
Interval Training
Variety

Build Muscle

2008-07-11T11:54:00.001-07:00

Many people – particularly some women – are very leery about undertaking any exercise regimen that can lead to muscle building.

The old perception was that muscle building leads to muscle bulking, and before long, gorging forearm veins and other unwanted results. This is, frankly, not the case.

Provided that women aren’t supporting their workouts with specific muscle-building supplements, there is no need to be concerned; because building lean muscle won’t make them bulk up.

Still, however, the question remains: why would women (and, of course, men) who want to boost their metabolism focus on muscle building? Isn’t cardiovascular exercising the only thing that matters?

Again, the answer is: No! In addition to a healthy and responsible cardiovascular program, muscle building is an exceptionally powerful way to boost metabolism.

How? Because a pound of muscle burns more calories than a pound of fat.

And what does this mean? It means (and get ready to stare in awe) that if you have more muscle on your body – anywhere on your body – you will simply burn more calories as a result.

You don’t even have to do anything. You’ll simply burn more calories, because muscle simply requires more of an energy investment.

Of course, as you can infer, if you build muscle and then leave it alone, over time, the muscle fibers will weaken and you’ll lose that wonderful calorie-burning factory. But that’s no problem, because all you need to do is build and maintain healthy muscle.

It may sound daunting; especially if at the moment you perceive yourself to have much more fat than muscle.

Yet the important thing for you to remember is that once you start building muscle – through any kind of strength training – your body will itself start burning more calories.

It has to; even while you sleep, or go to a movie, or read a book. It’s like putting your calorie-burning (catabolism) program on auto-pilot.

So don’t let a little (or even a lot) of extra flab, at the moment, deter you from believing that muscle building is important.

Yes, you should enjoy cardiovascular exercise too, because that’s ultimately how your body is going to burn existing fat. But muscle building plays a profoundly supportive role in that pursuit.

And it’s an exponential one, too: the more fat you transform into muscle, the more calories you’ll burn simply to maintain that new muscle (and the wonderful cycle goes on and on!).

Build Muscle
Interval Training
Variety

Exercise

2008-07-11T11:52:00.002-07:00

It’s going to be old news for you to be reminded that exercising is a bit part of boosting your metabolism and burning up calories.

Unless you’re born with one of those unusually active metabolisms which allows you to, almost freakishly, eat thousands of calories a day without weight-gain consequences, you’re like the vast majority of us who need to give your metabolisms a bit of a kick through exercising.

Now, you might think that cardiovascular (aerobic) exercise is an important part of boosting your metabolism; and you’d be right!

Provided that, of course, your qualified doctor confirms that you’re able to start a program of cardiovascular exercise, this is indeed the place to start. Increasing heart rate, blood circulation, body temperature, and oxygen intake/carbon dioxide exchange all send messages to the system to initiative catabolism (breaking down cells and using them for energy).

Yet if cardiovascular exercising is the place to start, does that mean that it’s the place to end? No!

Many people, who aren’t as educated as you’ll be when you’ve finished this book, responsibly start a dedicated program of cardiovascular health, but they don’t go any further. Not because they’re lazy; but because, frankly, they don’t know that there is significantly more that they can do in their home gym, or at the fitness club, that will boost their metabolism even more potently.

Build Muscle
Interval Training
Variety

So what’s the problem?

2008-07-11T11:52:00.001-07:00

The problem is that many of us have no real scientific understanding of what, how, or why these methods boost metabolism.

Some of us, in fact, don’t really even know if they work; we just think that they do.

For example, a person may start a vigorous exercise program that includes significant aerobic cardiovascular movement, such as jogging or cycling.

And indeed, after a week, that person may notice a drop in weight.

Yet is this due to a boosted metabolism? Maybe; maybe not. Could it be due to water loss through perspiration that hasn’t been adequately replenished? Maybe or maybe not.

The point here is that many people – at risk to their health and wellness – don’t quite understand the tips, strategies, and techniques of boosting their metabolism. And that’s what we’re going to rectify in this chapter.

In this book, you won’t come across any casual information that a friend of a friend heard on TV. Nor will you be subjected to off-the-cuff information of how to boost your metabolism.

Rather, we’re going to look at the popular, easy, fun (yes, believe it or not), and successful ways to boost your metabolism.

The popular and widely respected Internet publication i-Village highlights 11 key ways to speed up metabolism. To most easily introduce and discuss them here, we’ve taken these 11 key ideas and broken them down into 3 broad categories:

1. Exercise
2. Lifestyle
3. Diet

As you go through each of the 11 key points, you’ll certainly note that there is some overlap between them. For example, it’s hard to imagine that introducing exercise into your life isn’t, in many ways, a lifestyle choice.

Similarly, integrating all kinds of metabolism-boosting foods into your diet is surely going to influence how you spend your time (probably less time in fast food line-ups, for one!).

So with this being said, please don’t get bogged down in the categories; they are merely provided here to help organize these points, and to help you easily refer to them in the future. The important thing for you to do is understand each of the 14 points, and evaluate how you can responsibly integrate them into your life.

Part 2: Tips, Techniques, and Strategies for Boosting Your Metabolism

2008-07-11T11:50:00.000-07:00

If you’re reading this book, chances are that you’ve tried – at least once in your life – to boost your metabolism.

Perhaps (like most of us) you weren’t quite certain what a metabolism was, and perhaps (again, like most of us) you probably didn’t quite know all that you needed to know in order to accomplish your goals.

Maybe you started a rigorous exercise program of jogging and muscle toning.

Or maybe you started eating several small portions a day, rather than three large traditional meal-sized portions.

Or maybe you started taking all kinds of supplements that promised to boost your metabolism.

The thing is, is that all of these methods can indeed work.

Really: exercise, eating strategically, and ensuring that your body has catabolism-friendly supplements are but three of many generally good ideas.

So what’s the problem?

Recap

2008-07-11T11:30:00.001-07:00

So while we haven’t gone into any medical detail – because we don’t need to or want to – we have covered some key basics about metabolism. In fact, you probably know as much about metabolism now as many so-called experts.

The bottom line is simply that metabolism represents a process – countless processes, in fact – that convert food into energy. When this process creates cells, it’s called anabolism. When this process breaks cells down, it’s called catabolism.

For people trying to lose weight, it’s important to experience catabolism. That is, it’s important convert food into energy that is used to break cells down.

Catabolism is also important because it prevents excess energy (calories) from being stored by the body.

Remember: when the body has too many calories – regardless of what food source those calories came from – it can only do two things. It can desperately try and see if you have any energy needs (like maybe you’re running a marathon at the time).

Or, more often, it will have to store those calories. It has no choice. And unless you have lean muscle that is gobbling up those excess calories, you’ll be adding fat.

The remainder of this book, however, is going to point you in the opposite direction. You’ll learn various techniques, tips, and strategies to boost your metabolism.

And then, in the latter part of this book, you’ll be introduced to some metabolism-boosting foods that you’ll surely want to add to your regular eating regimen.

The Medical Mumbo Jumbo
What is Anabolism and Catabolism?
What Metabolism and Weight Loss?
What is Calories?
A Final Word About Fat
Recap

A Final Word About Fat

2008-07-11T11:29:00.000-07:00

There’s a nasty rumor floating around out there that fat cells are permanent. And the nastiest thing about this rumor is that it’s true.

Yes, most experts conceded that fat cells – once created – are there for life. Yet this doesn’t spell doom and gloom to those of us who could stand to drop a few pounds. Because even though experts believe that fat cells are permanent, they also agree that fat cells can be shrunk. So even if the absolute number of fat cells in your body remains the same, their size – and hence their appearance and percentage of your overall weight – can be reduced.

The Medical Mumbo Jumbo
What is Anabolism and Catabolism?
What Metabolism and Weight Loss?
What is Calories?
A Final Word About Fat
Recap

What is Calories?

2008-07-11T11:28:00.001-07:00

Calories

Calories are simply units of measure. They aren’t actually things in and of themselves; they are labels for other things, just like how an inch really isn’t anything, but it measures the distance between two points.

So what do calories measure?

Easy: they measure energy.

Yup, the evil calorie – the bane of the dieter’s existence – is really just a 3-syllable label for energy.

And it’s important to highlight this, because the body itself, despite its vast intelligence (much of which medical science cannot yet understand, only appreciate in awe) does not really do a very intelligent job of distinguishing good energy from bad.

Actually, to be blunt, the body doesn’t care about where the energy comes from. Let’s explore this a little more, because it’s very important to the overall understanding of how to boost your metabolism, particularly when we look at food choices.

In our choice-laden grocery stores, with dozens of varieties of foods – hundreds, perhaps – there seems to be a fairly clear awareness of what’s good food, and what’s bad or junk food.

For example, we don’t need a book to remind us that, all else being equal, a plum is a good food, whereas a tub of thick and creamy double-fudge ice cream is a bad food.

Not bad tasting, of course; but, really, you won’t find many fit people eating a vat of ice cream a day, for obvious reasons. So what does this have to do with calories and energy?

It’s this: while you and I can evaluate our food choices and say that something (like a plum) is a healthy source of energy, and something else (like a tub of ice cream) is an unhealthy source of energy, the body doesn’t evaluate. Really.

It sounds strange and amazing, but the body really doesn’t care. To the body, energy is energy. It takes whatever it gets, and doesn’t really know that some foods are healthier than others. It’s kind of like a garbage disposal: it takes what you put down it, whether it should go down or not.

So let’s apply this to the body, and to weight gain. When the body receives a calorie – which, as we know, is merely a label for energy – it must do something with that energy.

In other words, putting all other nutrients and minerals aside, if a plum delivers 100 calories to the body, it has to accept those 100 calories. The same goes for 500 calories from a (small) tub of ice cream: those 500 calories have to be dealt with.

Now, the body does two things to that energy: it either metabolizes it via anabolism, or it metabolizes it via catabolism. That is, it will either convert the energy (calories) into cells/tissue, or it will use that energy (calories) to break down cells.

Now the link between calories/energy, metabolism, and weight loss becomes rather clear and direct.

When there is an excess of energy, and the body can’t use this energy to deal with any needs at the time, it will be forced to create cells with that extra energy. It has to.

It doesn’t necessarily want to, but after figuring out that the energy can’t be used to do anything (such as help you exercise or digest some food), it has to turn it into cells through anabolism.

And those extra cells? Yup, you guessed it: added weight!

In a nutshell (and nuts have lots of calories by the way, so watch out and eat them in small portions…), the whole calorie/metabolism/weight gain thing is really just about excess energy.
When there are too many calories in the body – that is, when there’s too much energy from food – then the body transforms those calories into stuff.

And that stuff, most of the time, is fat. Sometimes, of course, those extra calories are transformed into muscle; and this is usually a good thing for those watching their weight or trying to maintain an optimal body fat ratio.

In fact, because muscles require calories to maintain, people with strong muscle tone burn calories without actually doing anything; their metabolism burns it for them.

This is the primary reason why exercising and building lean muscle is part of an overall program to boost your metabolism; because the more lean muscle you have, the more places excess calories can go before they’re turned into fat.

The Medical Mumbo Jumbo
What is Anabolism and Catabolism?
What Metabolism and Weight Loss?
What is Calories?
A Final Word About Fat
Recap

Metabolism and Weight Loss

2008-07-11T11:25:00.000-07:00

By now, you already have a sense of how metabolism relates to weight loss (catabolic metabolism, or breaking cells down and transforming them into energy).

To understand this process even more clearly, we can introduce a very important player in the weight loss game: the calorie.

The Medical Mumbo Jumbo
What is Anabolism and Catabolism?
What Metabolism and Weight Loss?
What is Calories?
A Final Word About Fat
Recap

Anabolism and Catabolism

2008-07-11T11:23:00.002-07:00

The first function is creating tissue and cells. Each moment, our bodies are creating more cells to replace dead or dysfunctional cells.

For example, if you cut your finger, your body (if it’s functioning properly) will begin – without even wasting a moment or asking your permission –the process of creating skin cells to clot the blood and start the healing process. This creation process is indeed a metabolic response, and is called anabolism.

On the other hand, there is the exact opposite activity taking place in other parts of the body. Instead of building cells and tissue through metabolism, the body is breaking down energy so that the body can do what it’s supposed to do.

For example, as you aerobically exercise, your body temperature rises as your heart beat increases and remains with a certain range.

As this happens, your body requires more oxygen; and as such, your breathing increases as you intake more H2O. All of this, as you can imagine, requires additional energy.

After all, if your body couldn’t adjust to this enhanced requirement for oxygen (both taking it in and getting rid of it in the form of carbon dioxide), you would collapse!

Presuming, of course, that you aren’t overdoing it, your body will instead begin converting food (e.g. calories) into energy. And this process, as you know, is a metabolic process, and is called catabolism.

So as you can see, the metabolism is a constant process that takes care of two seemingly opposite function: anabolism that uses energy to create cells, and catabolism that breaks down cells to create energy.

Indeed, it’s in this way that the metabolism earns its reputation as a harmonizer. It brings together these apparently conflicting functions, and does so in an optimal way that enables the body to create cells as needed, and break them down, again as needed.

The Medical Mumbo Jumbo
What is Anabolism and Catabolism?
What Metabolism and Weight Loss?
What is Calories?
A Final Word About Fat
Recap

The Medical Mumbo Jumbo

2008-07-11T11:23:00.001-07:00

This isn’t a complicated medical text (which should be great news to most of you!), and so we don’t need to spend an unnecessary amount of time and space focusing on the layered complexity of the human body and its extraordinary intelligence.

Yet without drilling deeply into medical details -- which are not relevant for our general understanding purposes -- it’s helpful to briefly look at the biological mechanisms behind metabolism.

Metabolism, as mentioned above, is the process of transforming food (e.g. nutrients) into fuel (e.g. energy). The body uses this energy to conduct a vast array of essential functions.

In fact, your ability to read this page – literally – is driven by your metabolism.

If you had no metabolism – that is, if you had no metabolic process that was converting food into energy – then you wouldn’t be able to move.

In fact, long before you realized that you couldn’t move a finger or lift your foot, your internal processes would have stopped; because the basic building blocks of life – circulating blood, transforming oxygen into carbon dioxide, expelling potentially lethal wastes through the kidneys and so on – all of these depend on metabolism.

Keep this in mind the next time you hear someone say that they have a slow metabolism.

While they may struggle with unwanted weight gain due to metabolic factors, they certainly have a functioning metabolism.

If they didn’t, they wouldn’t even be able to speak (because that, too, requires energy that comes from, you guessed it: metabolism!).

It’s also interesting to note that, while we conveniently refer to the metabolic process as if it were a single function, it’s really a catch-all term for countless functions that are taking place inside the body. Every second of every minute of every day of your life – even, of course, when you sleep – numerous chemical conversions are taking place through metabolism, or metabolic functioning.

In a certain light, the metabolism has been referred to as a harmonizing process that manages to achieve two critical bodily functions that, in a sense, seem to be at odds with each other.

The Medical Mumbo Jumbo
What is Anabolism and Catabolism?
What Metabolism and Weight Loss?
What is Calories?
A Final Word About Fat
Recap

Part 1: What is Metabolism?

2008-07-11T11:20:00.001-07:00

Some people think that the metabolism is a kind of organ, or a body part, that influences digestion.

Actually, the metabolism isn’t any particular body part.

It’s the process by which the body converts food into energy.

Hence, you’ve likely heard of the phrase metabolic process used synonymously with the term metabolism, because they both mean the same thing.

The Medical Mumbo Jumbo
What is Anabolism and Catabolism?
What Metabolism and Weight Loss?
What is Calories?
A Final Word About Fat
Recap

What’s Inside…

2008-07-11T11:15:00.000-07:00

And that’s why this book exists. It’s been created for the millions of everyday people like us who simply want to know how to speed up metabolism, and how to lose weight the right, healthy, and responsible way. We want to know:

What the heck a metabolism is, and what role it really plays on weight loss and gain
The proven, scientific ways to speed up metabolism – not myths and fitness club “speculation”; but the real deal.
Specific diet and food items and promote a faster metabolism, so that once unwanted weight has been lost, it can be kept off through a responsible eating plan.

And in the pages ahead, that’s precisely what we cover!

Towards Understanding Metabolism
Low Fat Labels
What’s Inside?

Low Fat Labels

2008-07-11T11:14:00.000-07:00

Another big reason that people don’t have clear, consistent information on this topic is because, unfortunately, there are a lot of food and supplement companies on the market who don’t want you to know fact from fiction.

They want you to believe that constantly buying “low fat” foods is going to somehow speed up your metabolism.

While, yes, some low fat foods can play a role in an overall eating program that is designed to speed up metabolism, merely eating foods that come from packaging that screams “LOW FAT!” won’t do anything.

In fact, believe it or not, but many people actually gain weight when they eat too many “low fat” products. Many of these products are laden with calories from carbohydrates or proteins (which are still calories and still must be burned off or they turn into body fat).

As you can see, and probably feel from years of trying to unravel this whole metabolic mystery, this is a confusing, stressful, and indeed, potentially depressing situation.

Each year, tens of millions of people attempt to retake control over their health and the shape of their body; and each year, tens of millions of people feel that they’ve “failed” because, try as they might, they just can’t speed up their metabolism.

This book is the antidote to that way of thinking and feeling because the perceived failure is not a failure in any of these hard working dieters and exercisers (of which you may be one).

The failure is with the medical and nutritional sector as a whole, which has simply not provided people with the information that they need to know in order to speed up their metabolism.

And given the size of the nutritional field and the fact that so much of it is influenced by money-making enterprises (not all of the field, of course, but enough of it to make a difference), there’s really no sense in playing a “wait and see” game for when clear, consistent, and helpful information starts to flow out to people like us.

Towards Understanding Metabolism
Low Fat Labels
What’s Inside?

Towards Understanding Metabolism

2008-07-11T11:13:00.001-07:00

Regrettably, many people simply don’t understand the concept of metabolism and metabolic change. This, equally as regrettably, is hardly their fault.

There is so much information floating around out there, much of it over the ‘net or through a “friend of a friend who has a personal trainer”, that there’s bound to be some confusion and conflicting messages.

Furthermore, many people (quite understandably) mistake their own weight gain and loss episodes as a matter of metabolic change. Sometimes this is true, and sometimes it isn’t.

For example, as we will discuss in this book, there are scientific ways to increase the rate of metabolic change, and thus enable the body to burn more calories.

Eating certain foods more frequently is one way to do this (again, we look closer at these in this book). Yet another way to visibly lose weight – at least on a perceived, temporary level – is to sit in a steam room for a few hours.

Whereas the former method (eating the right foods) is a real, proven weight loss method through increased metabolic change, the latter method (the steam room) is just temporary because the lost weight is merely water, and will return as swiftly as it “melted away”.

The point to remember here is that some people mistake their own weight loss attempts as being related to metabolic change; and, as you can see with the steam room example, that isn’t always the case.

Towards Understanding Metabolism
Low Fat Labels
What’s Inside?

Introduction

2008-07-11T11:11:00.000-07:00

Metabolism. There isn’t perhaps a more frequently used word in the weight loss (and weight gain) vocabulary than this.

Indeed, it’s not uncommon to overhear people talking about their struggles – or triumphs – over the holiday bulge or love handles in terms of whether their metabolism is working, or not.

Doctors, too, often refer to metabolism when they try and explain why starvation and water-loss diets aren’t scientifically of medically responsible; since, alas, they do not influence or take into account metabolism (there’s that word again!).

So, for all of the usage that this rather daunting and biologically-charged word enjoys in our world, you’d comfortably assume that people understand it, right?

Or, at least, they have some fundamental information when it comes to how to speed up their metabolism, right?

Wrong!

Towards Understanding Metabolism
Low Fat Labels
What’s Inside?

Conclusion

2008-07-02T16:32:00.001-07:00

We’ve come a long way! We now actually know more about the metabolism, and how to increase metabolic speed, than most people; and we’re therefore in a position to put that information to good use.

We’ve learned that the metabolism is a process and not an actual body part.

It harmonizes two essential bodily functions: converting food into cells/tissues, and breaking cells down to provide energy. We learned that the former process is known as anabolism, and the latter is catabolism.

Indeed, it’s this latter process that influences our ability to lose weight, and to keep it from coming back!

Yet going beyond the biological basics, we also learned of 3 integrated aspects of speeding up metabolism and losing weight.

These aspects were categorized in terms of: exercise, lifestyle, and diet. And within each of these 3 categories were a total of 11 important, practical, and quite easy ways to boost metabolism.

Now, indeed, it’s the time for action; for as they say, wisdom is the result of experience, not study! Obviously, of course, it was essential for us to understand this subject and how it relates to boosting metabolism. So in that light, study is invaluable. But now you’re equipped with the knowledge that you need.

The next step – boosting your metabolism – is all up to you. Good luck, have fun, and enjoy your better, leaner healthier life!

A Final Word: Common Metabolism-Boosting Myths

2008-07-02T16:24:00.000-07:00

The SparkDiet resource center has consulted fitness experts to find the 4 most prevalent myths concerning metabolism and metabolism-boosting.

Since this book has been about reality and not myths, we didn’t cover any of them in the actual book. Yet, considering how common these myths are, it can indeed be useful for you to know them; and to know that they’re myths.

That way, if you come across them in a magazine, at a fitness club, or just from the well-intentioned but misguided advice of a friend, you can confidently say (or at least just think): sorry, but that’s a myth; I’m not going to fall for that one!

Myth #1: Diet Pills
Myth #2: Drop Caloric Intake
Myth #3: Low Intensity Workouts
Myth #4: Too Much Focus

Myth #1: Diet Pills

2008-07-02T16:23:00.001-07:00

The general consensus on diet pills are contained in two powerful words: BUYER BEWARE.

The problem here is that many makers of diet pills offer claims that simply aren’t realistic; and if you read the fine-print of most of these advertisements, you’ll see that they’re really too good to be true. Little notes like the claims made in this advertisement are not typical should be enough of a wake-up call to realize that there’s more to the story.

In some cases, diet pills can help boost metabolism temporarily. This, however, can be risky and generally shouldn’t be done without a doctor’s say-so. Unfortunately, people can become somewhat addicted to diet pills, and this can lead to disaster.

And before we go onto myth #2, remember that some diet pills are water loss pills. That is, they are diuretics that promote water loss, usually through excess urination. The jury on water-loss diet pills is somewhat less open-minded than diet pills in general: THEY DON’T WORK!

Seriously: water loss diet pills are built on the premise that you’ll lose weight through water. And, yes, that’s true: if you urinate 15 times a day, you’re physically going to weigh less.

But this is not actual weight loss! This is merely unhealthy temporary weight loss, and it will come roaring back the minute that water stores are replenished through diet.

Or, even harder to comprehend, if a person taking these water pills fails to restore their body’s fluid needs, they can actually suffer dehydration; which can, and has, led to coma and death.

Myth #1: Diet Pills
Myth #2: Drop Caloric Intake
Myth #3: Low Intensity Workouts
Myth #4: Too Much Focus

Myth #2: Drop Caloric Intake

2008-07-02T16:18:00.001-07:00

As we discussed earlier in this book (but it’s so important that it deserves an encore here at the end), trying to lose weight by drastically cutting down calories doesn’t work; in fact, it’s unhealthy.

The thing to remember is that the body’s ability to lose weight is not controlled by calories. Calories are the input. The real control mechanism is that famous concept that you’ve become very familiar with: metabolism.

Calories are merely units of energy. It’s how your body deals with that energy that determines whether weight is gained or lost.

So with that being said, cutting down your caloric intake to, say, 1000 calories a day isn’t necessarily going to help you lose weight; because it doesn’t necessarily change your metabolism.

Indeed, as you know, if you slow down your caloric intake, your body – which is always trying to help you in the best way that it knows how – will slow down its metabolism.

Really, it makes sense: the body says that something has gone wrong; instead of the 2000 calories that it needs, it’s only getting 1000. The body doesn’t know why this is happening; it doesn’t know that you want to lose weight.

It just senses that something is wrong; perhaps you’re trapped in a cave or something, or stuck in a snowstorm. So the body, trying to help you, will slow down its metabolism; it will do its best to slow down the conversion rate, so that you have as much energy on hand as possible.

Now, if your body was able to read this book and you could say: look, please just do what you normally do, but do it with 1000 fewer calories a day for a while, then we might actually get somewhere.

But the body doesn’t work that way. It won’t help you lose weight if you dramatically cut down on calories.

It will slow down metabolism, and (here’s the worst part), if and when you ever increase calories again, your body will have to deal with that via a slower metabolic engine. So you can actually gain weight if, after cutting down your calories for a period of time, you find that you consume extra calories (say while on vacation or something).

Myth #1: Diet Pills
Myth #2: Drop Caloric Intake
Myth #3: Low Intensity Workouts
Myth #4: Too Much Focus

Myth #3: Low Intensity Workouts

2008-07-02T16:16:00.001-07:00

It’s fair to say that any exercise is better than no exercise. So if you lead a sedentary lifestyle, then even walking around your block for 10 minutes a day is going to something positive for your body and its metabolism.

True, that difference may be imperceptible to the naked eye (or it may not?), the bottom line is that exercise is good.

Yet with this being said, some people believe that they should perform low-intensity workouts even when they could be performing more high-intensity workouts.

That is, instead of jogging for 20 minutes with their heart at the top end of their aerobic zone, they opt for low-intensity jogs that barely break a sweat.

Low intensity workouts simply don’t lead to a faster metabolism; they can’t. Remember, as we discussed very early in this book, metabolism is a process.

And that process is really one of two types: taking energy and making cells (anabolism), or breaking cells down to make energy (catabolism).

If you don’t achieve a high-intensity workout, your body can’t tap achieve catabolism; it won’t need to. And the only way your body is going to go and break down existing cells is if it needs to.

So keep this in mind as you exercise, either at home or at a gym. Low intensity workouts are better than nothing at all; and they may be necessary if you’re recovering from injury, or just starting out on the exercise journey.

But once you reach a level of basic fitness, only high intensity (aerobic) workouts will make a difference in terms of your metabolism. High intensity workouts force your body to find energy to help you maintain that level of exercise; and it does so through catabolism.

Myth #1: Diet Pills
Myth #2: Drop Caloric Intake
Myth #3: Low Intensity Workouts
Myth #4: Too Much Focus

Myth #4: Too Much Focus

2008-07-02T16:15:00.001-07:00

Speeding up your metabolism and achieving your weight loss goals involved a certain degree of focus; after all, there’s a lot of things competing for your attention (including that delicious Chef’s Special pecan pie!), and you certainly need to be able to keep your eye on the goal in order to maintain your program.

Yet sometimes too much focus can be a bad thing; and some dieters understand this all too well.

Remember: speeding up your metabolism is a holistic effort that includes exercise, lifestyle, and diet changes.

Focusing on only one of these at the expense of the others (either one or both) can be detrimental. In fact, in some cases, it can be counter-productive.

So the myth here is that you shouldn’t go all out and focus on becoming an exercise guru, and then move onto lifestyle, and then to diet.

You have to integrate all 3 aspects into your life at the same time. True, based on your unique situation, you will likely emphasize one more than the others. That’s fine and normal. But it’s a myth – and a mistake – to ignore any one of these.

It takes all three to speed up your metabolism, and to get you to your weight loss goals for the long-term.

Sources

2008-07-02T16:12:00.000-07:00

Lavine, Hallie. “14 Ways to Boost your Metabolism”.
iVillage.com.http://magazines.ivillage.com/redbook/dh/diet/articles/0,,284479_577038,00.html
SparkDiet. http://sparkpeople.com/resource/nutrition_articles.asp?id=476