San Diego Personal Trainers

When is the best time of day to do your aerobic exercise? The answer is any time! The most important thing is that you just do it. Continuous cardiovascular exercise, such as powerwalking, jogging, stairclimbing, or outdoor bicycling, If you keep it up for at least 30 minutes,this will burn body fat no matter what time of the day you do decide to do it. However, if you want to get the biggest bang for you buck, from every minute you put in your workouts, then getting out of bed early and doing your cardio before you eat your first meal is preferred - even if you're not a "morning person." Early morning aerobic exercise on an empty stomach has three major advantages over exercising later in the day: Early in the morning before you eat, your levels of muscle and liver glycogen (stored carbohydrate) are very low. If you eat dinner at 7 p.m and you eat breakfast at 7 a.m., that's 12 hours without food. During this 12-hour overnight fast, your levels of glycogen slowly decline to provide glucose for various bodily functions that go on even while you sleep. As a result, you wake up in the morning muscle glycogen levels are super low resulting in a lower blood sugar - the best scenario for burning stored fat instead of precious carbohydrate. How much more fat you'll burn nobody really knows, but research has shown that up to 300% more fat is used during exercise when cardio is done in a fasted, glycogen-depleted state.

So how exactly does this work? It's quite simple, really. Carbohydrate (glycogen) is your body's primary and preferred energy source. When your primary fuel source is in short supply, this forces your body to tap into its secondary or reserve energy source; body fat. If you do cardio immediately after eating a meal, you'll still burn fat, but you'll burn less of it because you'll be burning off the carbohydrates you ate first. You always burn a combination of fat and carbohydrate for fuel, but depending on when you exercise, you can burn a greater proportion of fat relative to carbohydrate. If doing cardio first thing in the morning is not an option for you, then the second best time to do it would be immediately after weight training. Lifting weights is anaerobic (carbohydrate-burning) by nature, and therefore depletes muscle glycogen. That's why a post lifting cardio session has a similar effect as morning cardio on an empty stomach.

The second benefit you'll get from early morning cardio sessions is what I call the "afterburn" effect. When you do a cardio session in the morning, you not only burn fat during the session, but you also continue to burn fat at an accelerated rate after the workout. Why? Because an intense session of cardiovascular exercise can keep your metabolism elevated for hours after the session is over. If you do cardio at night, you will still burn fat during the session, so you definitely benefit from it. However, nighttime cardio fails to take advantage of the "afterburn" effect because your metabolism drops like a ton of bricks as soon as you go to sleep. While you sleep, your metabolic rate is slower than any other time of the day.

Burning more fat isn't the only reason you should do your cardio early. The third benefit of morning workouts is the "rush" and feeling of accomplishment that stays with you all day long after an invigorating workout. Exercise can become a pleasant and enjoyable experience, but the more difficult or challenging it is for you, the more important it is to get it out of the way early. When you put off any task you consider unpleasant, it hangs over you all day long, leaving you with a feeling of guilt, stress and incompleteness (not to mention that you are more likely to "blow off" an evening workout if you are tired from a long day at work or if your pals try to persuade you to join them at the pub for happy hour.)

You might find it hard to wake up early in the morning and get motivated to workout. But think back for a moment to a time in your life when you tackled a difficult task and you finished it. Didn't you feel great afterwards? Completing any task, especially a physically challenging one, gives you a "buzz." When the task is exercise, the buzz is physiological and psychological. Physiologically, exercise releases endorphins in your body. Endorphins are opiate-like hormones hundreds of times more powerful than the strongest morphine. Endorphins create a natural "high" that makes you feel positively euphoric! Endorphins reduce stress, improve your mood, increase circulation and relieve pain. The "high" is partly psychological too. Getting up early and successfully achieving a small goal kick starts your day and gives you feelings of completion, satisfaction and accomplishment. For the rest of the day you feel happy and you feel less stress knowing that the most difficult part of the day is behind you.

So, you say you're not a morning person? Take heart; neither am I. I can sleep in like you wouldn't believe! But I get up anyway because I know the effort is worth the results. When I have a bodybuilding goal that I am clearly focused on, such as reaching 4% or 5% body fat for a competition, I'm on my Stairmaster for 45 minutes every morning at the crack of dawn without fail. Sure it's a challenge at first, but you know what? After a few short weeks, It's no longer a chore and I'm "in the groove" - and you will be too. Just try it. Make a commitment to yourself to do it for just 21 days. Once those 21 days have gone by, you'll already be leaner and you'll be on your way to making morning workouts a habit that's as natural as brushing your teeth or taking a shower. Once you start getting used to feeling that buzz, you'll become "positively addicted" to it. The more you do it, the more you'll want to do it. Before you know it, early morning cardio will your new habit; you'll be leaner, your metabolism will be faster and you'll feel fantastic all day long.

"Research has consistently shown that muscle strengthening exercises are both safe and beneficial for women and men of all ages, including those who are not in the best of health. In fact, people who have health concerns—including cardiovascular disease or osteoarthritis—often benefit the most from an exercise program that includes resistance training with weights only a few times each week" Strength training, done particularly in concert with regular doses of aerobic exercise, can also have a huge impact on a person's psychloogical and emotional state.

Benefits of Strength Training:
There are many benefits to regulae resistance training with weights, particularly as you age. It can be very powerful in reducing the negative side effects of many diseases and chronic health conditions, among them:

• rheumatoid and osteoarthritis
• diabetes mellitus
• osteoporosis
• obesity
• Lumbar and cervical spine pain
• depression

Arthritis Relief
Tufts University recently completed a strength-training program with older men and women with moderate to severe knee osteoarthritis. The results of this sixteen-week program showed that strength training decreased pain by 43%, increased muscle strength and general physical performance, improved the clinical signs and symptoms of the disease, and decreased disability. The effectiveness of strength training to ease the pain of osteoarthritis was just as potent, if not more potent, as medications. Similar effects of strength training have been seen in patients with rheumatoid arthritis

Restoration of Balance and Reduction of Falls
As people age, poor balance and flexibility contribute to falls and broken bones. These fractures can result in significant disability and, in some cases, fatal complications. Strengthening exercises, when done properly and through the full range of motion, increase a person's flexibility and balance, which decrease the likelihood and severity of falls. One study in New Zealand in women 80 years of age and older showed a 40% reduction in falls with simple strength and balance training.

Strengthening of Bone
Post-menopausal women can lose 1-2% of their bone mass annually. Results from a study conducted at Tufts University, which were published in the Journal of the American Medical Association in 1994, showed that strength training increases bone density and reduces the risk for fractures among women aged 50-70.

Proper Weight Maintenance
Strength training is crucial to weight control, because individuals who have more muscle mass have a higher metabolic rate. Muscle is active tissue that consumes calories while stored fat uses very little energy. Strength training can provide up to a 15% increase in metabolic rate, which is enormously helpful for weight loss and long-term weight control.

Improved Glucose Control
More than 14 million Americans have type II diabetes—a staggering three-hundred percent increase over the past forty years—and the numbers are steadily climbing. In addition to being at greater risk for heart and renal disease, diabetes is also the leading cause of blindness in older adults. Fortunately, studies now show that lifestyle changes such as strength training have a profound impact on helping older adults manage their diabetes. In a recent study of Hispanic men and women, 16 weeks of strength training produced dramatic improvements in glucose control that are comparable to taking diabetes medication. Additionally, the study volunteers were stronger, gained muscle, lost body fat, had less depression, and felt much more self-confident.

Healthy State of Mind
Strength training provides similar improvements in depression as anti-depressant medications. Currently, it is not known if this is because people feel better when they are stronger or if strength training produces a helpful biochemical change in the brain. It is most likely a combination of the two. When older adults participate in strength training programs, their self-confidence and self-esteem improve, which has a strong impact on their overall quality of life.

Sleep Improvement
People who exercise regularly enjoy improved sleep quality. They fall asleep more quickly, sleep more deeply, awaken less often, and sleep longer. As with depression, the sleep benefits obtained as a result of strength training are comparable to treatment with medication but without the side effects or the expense.

Healthy Heart Tissue
Strength training is important for cardiac health because heart disease risk is lower when the body is leaner. One study found that cardiac patients gained not only strength and flexibility but also aerobic capacity when they did strength training three times a week as part of their rehabilitation program. This and other studies have prompted the American Heart Association to recommend strength training as a way to reduce risk of heart disease and as a therapy for patients in cardiac rehabilitation programs.

We all want to stay young and look good, but how can we do it? Here are my anti-aging tips:

1. Do Cardio for 30 minutes a day. Ride your bike, run, swim, or hike. It will make your heart stronger and keep your blood pressure under control. Cardio improves the blood circulation.
   
2. Reduce calories. Eat low fat foods, veggies, fruits, and fish.
   
3. Supplement with multivitamins. Vitamin C, E, Coenzym Q 10. Zinc for the immune system, copper for the metabolism, calcium for the bones, and magnesium for muscles and nerves make the prefect "Anti Aging-Cocktail"
   
4. If you cannot sleep supplement with melatonin. At night, melatonin is produced to help our bodies regulate our sleep-wake cycles. The amount of it produced by our body seems to decrease as we get older. Scientists believe this may be why young people have less problem sleeping than older people.
   
5. Check your DHEA levels with your MD. DHEA increases drive and Libido, fights stress, and promotes the brain functions.
   
6. Sleep. During sleep your body regenerates yourself. So make sure you have a good night’s sleep.
   
7. Get into shape and stay slim. Slim people live longer.
   
8. Avoid animal fats. I do not need to explain this one.
   
9. Stop smoking!
   
10. Train your brain. Always learn something NEW! Learn new languages, dance, try some new sport that you never played in your life, learn how to cook...
    
11. Have friends. Be social. That will keep your spirit young.
    
12. Be in love. Love will keep you young and fresh.
    
13. Drink green tea.
    
14. Exercise with weights. The first way of stimulating growth hormone release naturally is training. Growth hormone is released by the pituitary gland in the brain. GH is responsible for enhancing muscle growth, burning fat, and maintaining the immune system. Many scientists have linked the changes seen with aging - loss of lean body mass, thinning of the skin and an increase in adipose (fat) tissue - to the decline in growth hormone that begins in the human body by the age of 30.

As you begin your program for weight loss and fitness, it is critical that you look at your body composition and ensure that the weight you lose is from fat, not muscle. Body composition refers to what your body is made of - how much of your body is fat (essential and non-essential) and how much is lean body mass (muscle, bone, organs)?

To determine body composition, you need to look at more than just a person's height and weight. Stepping on a scale doesn't tell you anything more than the amount of mass you have in the earth's gravitational pull. You could travel to the moon today and cut your weight in half (less gravitational pull), but you still won't be able to zip up those jeans that are too small. The important question is this: what is your ratio of lean body mass (muscle, bone, organs) to fat (essential and non-essential). This ratio refers to your body composition and is usually referred to as percent fat.

There are several different methods to measure body fat including: skin fold calipers, hydrostatic weighing, the Bod Pod, bioelectrical impedance, or a DEXA scan. Talk to your doctor, nutritionist, personal trainer or other health professional about having your body composition measured. A healthy range of body fat for women is 18 to 25 percent fat. A healthy range for men it is 10 to 16 percent.

To help you understand the concept of body composition, and not just weight, imagine for a moment two identical 16-ounce jars filled with liquid. Now imagine that one jar contains half water and half oil and the other jar contains three-quarters water and one-quarter oil. Are the jars the same? Well, yes and no. They are still identical 16-ounce jars, but what's inside them is completely different. One is 50 percent fat and the other is 25 percent fat.

Let's take another example. Imagine two 125-pound females who are both 5 feet 5 inches tall. Are they the same size? One might be 30 percent fat, the other 18 percent fat, but they are the same height and weight. The woman with 30 percent fat is at greater risk for many chronic diseases, but the woman with 18 percent fat has a healthy body composition and probably has more energy and vitality than the one with 30 percent fat. The woman with the 18 percent body fat will also fit in a smaller dress size and probably doesn't have arms that jiggle when she waves.

The reason the woman with 18 percent fat can wear a smaller size even though they're the same weight is that muscle weighs more than fat, but takes up less space than fat. If you're having a hard time visualizing this, visit your butcher. Ask the butcher to weigh out one pound of fat and one pound of meat. You'll see that you need a bigger bag for the pound of fat than the pound of meat.

Because the woman with the 18 percent fat has more lean mass, she will also have a higher metabolism. Lean muscle is what helps maintain metabolism at a high rate. It also gives your body the shape you want and allows you to move and enjoy life.

As you lose weight this year, be sure you are losing the stubborn fat and not your precious lean muscle mass. Pay attention to how your clothes are fitting and not just what the scale says. If you dropped a dress or pant size, but the scale says you're weight is the same, it means you lost fat and increased your lean mass. Losing fat and gaining muscle is something to be excited about. You want to keep your lean mass because your lean muscle is what helps maintain your metabolism. When you lose your lean muscle you reduce your metabolism, have less energy, and routine activities become more difficult because you don't have the strength to do the things you want. Increasing your lean mass means you increase your metabolism, energy, vitality, and strength.

In what resembles the opening set of a David Letterman comedy routine, the International Journal of Obesity recently published a list of 10 novel factors for Americans’ expanding waistlines. After conducting an in-depth review of the literature, the team of 20 international researchers identified several potential contributors to the obesity epidemic beyond what they call the “Big Two” (think diet and exercise).

What are the other big 10?

1. Sleep deprivation:
   There’s no doubt that Americans are getting less than the recommended eight hours each night. Now researchers claim that too few hours of slumber cause hormonal changes that lead to weight gain.
   
2. Endocrine disruptors:
   These synthetic chemicals in the environment disrupt the action of weight-related hormones in the body (think estrogen). And more of these harmful chemicals lurk in the air today compared with a few decades back.
   
3. Comfortable temperatures:
   When you’re too hot or cold, your body uses energy to warm you up or chill you out. Make the temperature controlled and comfortable and you lose the calorie-burning bonus. (Since 1978, the number of homes with central air conditioning has increased more than 30 percent.)
   
4. Fewer smokers:
   It’s no secret that smoking increases metabolism. The question is: What can you do that also revs up your metabolism that doesn’t kill you?
   
5. More medications:
   “Many medications, including antidepressants, anticonvulsants and steroid hormones cause weight gain, either by water retention or increased appetite,” explains Ruth DeBusk, Ph.D., R.D., geneticist and registered dietitian in Tallahassee, Fla., and author of 'It’s Not Just Your Genes.'
   
6. Population changes:
   America is growing older and becoming more ethnically diverse, particularly among the Hispanic-American population. Both of these groups, people over the age of 35 and those of Hispanic descent, have above average rates of obesity.
   
7. Older birth moms:
   Women are waiting longer to have children. Studies show that an adolescent girl’s risk of becoming obese increases by 14 percent for every five-year increment in maternal age.
   
8. Prenatal influences:
   Overweight moms, and those with gestational diabetes, have been linked with bigger babies. In fact, one study found that over-fed pups produced heavier pups than a control group, and the heft persisted for two subsequent generations.
   
9. Natural selection:
   According to scientific theory, overweight people out survive their leaner counterparts because they can draw more energy from fat stores. “This might have been true in earlier times, when feast-or-famine was the norm and our hunter-gatherer ancestors physically worked hard to get food,” says DeBusk, “but not today in a time of plenty.”
   
10. Overweight people procreating:
    No rocket science here. When two overweight people have kids, their children are more likely to experience weight challenges than a child conceived by skinny people.

Amy Paturel is a freelance writer for several publications, including Cooking Light and Health, and holds a Master of Science in Nutrition and a Master of Public Health.

You are what you eat! I have achieved great results with this diet with some of my celebrity clients. Although, I have to say that I did a carb rotation a lot with this diet and customization for weight training. I am a European guy, born and raised in Mediterranean Europe. Our diet is different from the diet of the USA and northern Europe. In many European countries, few people are overweight. Europeans have access to a variety of healthy foods. In the Mediterranean, we eat an abundance of fruits, vegetables, fresh fish, lean meats, and olive oil. Studies have shown this diet can result in a long, healthy life.

Here are some tips on how to eat healthy – the Mediterranean way:

Take some time for breakfast. Do not eat breakfast while you are running to get to your job. Relax and enjoy a 30 min breakfast. You deserve it. Eat cereal, fruit salad, and yogurt for breakfast. Stay away from fast food and foods high in fat (example: breakfast bagels with cream cheese). The perfect breakfast would be a blend of mixed fruits (strawberries, apples, banana etc.) with yogurt or kefir. Drink it like a shake. Please, please, people, stay away from breakfast bars and protein bars that you can buy in every shop. Those bars are processed foods or in other words, the biggest BS that you can get for breakfast. Do you want processed foods already? For breakfast? Read the ingredients on those bars and you will be amazed with what you will find.

Lunch should be your biggest meal of the day, not dinner. Americans make a big mistake by having a big dinner when they come home (usually around 7 PM). No my friend, your metabolism is slow at 7pm. Your dinner should be very light in calories and low in carbs. The perfect dinner would be a grilled chicken salad with Italian dressing and 1 glass of red wine.

Researchers are honing in on how a glass of red wine can offer more than just holiday cheer, but also protection against heart disease. Scientists have always wondered why the French have had a relatively low rate of heart disease, despite a diet that often includes rich foods laden with artery-clogging fat. Other studies have shown that drinking red wine may boost the blood levels of HDL cholesterol, the good cholesterol. Try Italian red wines; not French. They are best out there. I will confirm that :)

Do not to eat dinner after 7 PM. If you get hungry before you go to the bed, snack on fruits and nuts.

Avoid fast food restaurants. We, Europeans celebrate summer. Dear God gave us many fruits and vegetables. Take advantage of it! Summer is here! Enjoy the many fruits and vegetables that are available in the summer. Avoid vegetables from labs and glass houses! Go to your local farmer’s market and buy fresh, organic vegetables. If you live in NYC, go to Bay Ridge and Bensonhurst in Brooklyn, where many Italian-Americans are living. There you can find great shops with fresh, organic vegetables imported from Europe. Stay away from potatoes, yams, and starchy vegetables. Europeans eat starchy vegetables mainly in winter. Why should we eat them in summer again? We had starchy vegetables all winter long, right? Boring!

Grill your vegetables. Peppers, Mushrooms, Eggplant, Tomato, Onion, Zucchini, Cauliflower.

Eat tons of salad. Avoid heavy dressings. Use virgin olive oil and apple cider vinegar as your dressing.

Cook all foods with virgin olive oil. Hippocrates, the father of medicine, first mentioned the health and therapeutic benefits of olive oil. Never fry food. NEVER! The traditional Mediterranean diet delivers as much as 40% of total daily calories from fat, yet the associated incidence of cardiovascular diseases is significantly decreased. As a monosaturated fatty acid, olive oil does not have the same cholesterol-raising effect of saturated fats. Olive oil is also a good source of antioxidants. Read more about olive oil benefits.

Grill your meats. Always buy organic meats. You do not want to buy beef injected with steroids! It is forbidden in Europe to inject animals with steroids. Unfortunately many farmers make a quick buck with it! About half the beef in the U.S. have received a small implant at the base of the ear. This implant simulates the natural endocrine system allowing the animal to grow more muscle (protein) and less fat. The process only increases the estrogen content of steer beef from 1.3 nanograms to 1.9 nanograms. Compare this to a vegetable such as a potato that has 245 nanograms of estrogen per 3.5 oz. serving. This is insignificant when we consider a pregnant woman produces 20,000,000 nanograms of estrogen per day. An adult male produces 68,000 nanograms of estrogen daily.

Eat fish. Mediterraneans love fish. Oh my God, there’s nothing better than grilled fish with a good Italian wine. My favorite food is grilled calamari. You have to try it! Follow my advice and try to have grilled fish at least 3 times per week. Fish oil will assist you with weight loss, depression, arthritis, fibromyalgia, heart disease, and neurological problems including poor concentration and memory loss. The memory will benefit from increased blood flow and decreased inflammation.

Do not snack on sweets while you are watching TV. Instead snack on nuts, fruits and vegetables.

Chew your food. Take your time while you eat. Nobody is going to kill you if you are 5 minutes late - except your boss :) Take some time for yourself. Chew your food really well.

Avoid stress. Stress will slow down your metabolism and will make you eat more! More stress=more stored fat on your body.

Drink yogurt and kefir daily. Researchers suggest that the live bacterial cultures of yogurt may have contributed to the regions good health.

The benefits of consuming kefir regularly in the diet are numerous. Easily digested, it cleanses the intestines, provides beneficial bacteria and yeast, vitamins and minerals, and complete proteins. Because kefir is such a balanced and nourishing food, it contributes to a healthy immune system and has been used to help patients suffering from AIDS, chronic fatigue syndrome, herpes, and cancer. Its tranquilizing effect on the nervous system has benefited many who suffer from sleep disorders, depression, and ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder).

The regular use of kefir can help relieve all intestinal disorders, promote bowel movement, reduce flatulence, and create a healthier digestive system. In addition, its cleansing effect on the whole body helps to establish a balanced inner ecosystem for optimum health and longevity. Kefir can also help eliminate unhealthy food cravings by nourishing and balancing the body. Its excellent nutritional content offers healing and health-maintenance benefits to people in every type of condition. Read more about Kefir benefits.

Eat low or moderate amount of cheese daily.

Exercise. The people of the Mediterranean incorporate physical activity into their everyday lifestyle - walking, swimming, soccer, basketball, exercising. Remember to exercise.

Eat processed foods minimally.

The Mediterranean diet is high in whole grains, fruits, vegetables, legumes, and olive oil. Olive oil is rich in monounsaturated fat, which may, in part, explain why countries that consume olive oil have lower rates of disease. Olive oil (especially extra virgin olive oil) contains substances called polyphenols, which may have beneficial effects on health as well.

In a recent study in France, heart attack patients given a Med-diet had 70% fewer recurrent heart attacks than those following a low fat, low cholesterol diet. This research has stimulated a great deal of interest in the benefits of olive oil in the diet, particularly for heart attack patients.

The Mediterranean diet, with its emphasis on fresh fruits and vegetables, crusty breads, whole grains, and reliance on olive oil, is really a composite of the cuisines of several countries - including Spain, southern France, Italy, Greece, Crete, and parts of the Middle East. Now you know why people in this part of world have a lower incidence of obesity, cardiovascular disease, and cancer than we see in other parts of Europe and the Americas.
It's not just the olive oil my friend.

By Karen Collins, R.D. Special to MSNBC

Two new studies bring positive attention back to the Mediterranean Diet. One study tracked more than 2,300 healthy elderly men and women from eleven different European countries for ten years. Those people with eating habits that met at least half the criteria of a Mediterranean diet suffered at least 25 percent fewer deaths during that period.

In fact, people who ate a mostly Mediterranean diet, exercised moderately, drank little to moderate amounts of alcohol, and didn’t smoke had 65 percent fewer deaths than those who followed none or only one of these healthy habits. Avoidance of these healthy habits was strongly linked to death from cancer or heart disease. The other new study involved people with metabolic syndrome, a disorder linked with heart risk. The warning signs for this disorder are waistline obesity, low HDL (good) cholesterol, high blood triglycerides and insulin resistance. Half of the participants in this study were told to follow a Mediterranean-style diet and the other half a traditional low-fat diet. Both groups were asked to increase their exercise. In time, the Mediterranean group showed reduced markers for inflammation, which is linked to a risk of heart disease and cancer. Markers for blood vessel health also improved for this group. After two years, less than half of the group on the Mediterranean diet still had metabolic syndrome, while almost everyone on the traditional low-fat diet still had it.

Studies back earlier findings.
The associations seen in these two studies between a Mediterranean-style of eating with a lower risk of heart disease repeat the findings of past studies. A recent review of many studies on the Mediterranean diet found that the risk of heart disease can drop from 8 percent to 45 percent if people follow this diet. More surprisingly, a recent study found that those who met most of the criteria for a Mediterranean diet lowered their risk of heart attack by more than 80 percent compared to those who met only one or two criteria.

In addition to heart disease and cancer, the Mediterranean diet may help control weight as well. In the new study with people afflicted by metabolic syndrome, those on a Mediterranean diet lost more weight than those on a low-fat diet — a total difference of nine pounds in two years. In an earlier study, a group with a Mediterranean-style diet of moderate fat content lost the same amount of weight at first as another group on a low-fat diet, but the Mediterranean group kept the weight off better. In fact, only one-fifth of the low-fat group could stick to their diet.

Not all foods get a green light.
Not all so-called Mediterranean foods should form a frequent part of a health-oriented Mediterranean diet, however. Many high-fat dishes and rich desserts, like lasagna and tiramisu, have become even less healthy in America. Originally, these dishes were special occasion treats. And although this diet does feature olive oil as the main source of fat, the large amounts traditionally used were appropriate for extremely active farming people. Olive oil can still be the primary source of fat for us, but it should be used in moderation to suit our lower calorie needs.

Furthermore, alcohol in a Mediterranean diet means one or two glasses of wine daily. For example, in the recent study of older Europeans, the healthy women averaged about three glasses per week.

To create a healthy Mediterranean-style diet for yourself, focus primarily on eating vegetables, fruits, and whole grains with daily servings of dried beans, nuts, or seeds. If you eat red meat, consume only small amounts. Serve fish regularly. Olive oil should be your main source of fat, instead of butter or margarine. And instead of high-fat, high-sugar desserts and bakery products, choose fruits, except for special occasions.

Burger joints are making healthy profits by catering to Americans' appetite for beefed-up menus at bargain prices. (Burp!) Two years ago, just as all sorts of fast-food restaurants were adding salads and healthier items to their menus, Andrew F. Puzder went in the opposite direction. The chief executive of CKE Restaurants (CKR), which owns the Hardee's and Carl's Jr. restaurant chains, bet that what his customers really wanted were even bigger, juicier, and better-tasting burgers. Super size? Try monster size. He introduced a 1,400-calorie burger called the 1-lb Double Six Dollar Burger for $5.49 and followed that up with a series of artery-clogging sandwiches.

Customers have been gobbling them up. On June 27, CKE announced that same-store sales for the Hardee's and Carl's Jr. chains were up an average of 4.7% for the four weeks that ended June 19. The company's sales are expected to rise about 5%, to $1.6 billion, for the fiscal year ending this January. Puzder boasted at the company's annual shareholder meeting on June 27: “Our premium, innovative products are second to none and copied by most.” Investors love the attitude, sending CKE's shares up more than 20% so far this year.

Hardee's gift to consumers fed up with “healthier” and “low-fat” menu items is a line of sandwiches called Thickburgers, introduced in 2004. The Monster Thickburger, which debuted in November, 2004, is made of two one-third-pound slabs of Angus beef, four strips of bacon, three slices of cheese, and mayonnaise on a buttered sesame seed bun and is trumpeted as “a monument to decadence.” Even today, the tribute to indulgence at Hardee's marches on. Its latest addition? A burger with “meat as a condiment.” The Philly Cheesesteak Thickburger features a one-third-pound Thickburger patty topped with sliced steak, cheese, green peppers, and onions.

U.S. BARGAIN SHOPPERS. Stomach churning? Perhaps. But the Hardee's experience is a reflection of America today. Americans thrive on value and bargains. Good health be damned, if there's a good bargain to be found. If people can drive the extra 30 miles in their quest for everyday values to shop at discounter Wal-Mart (WMT) or hunt for treasures at warehouse club Costco (COST) or at the dollar store, why should they settle for less when they stop at a restaurant? “Value is a big lure,” says Brian Wansink, professor of food marketing at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y. “Compared to a basic burger, if you get something really huge for just 45 cents, more is worth trading up to, especially for young men who like to leave a restaurant feeling really full.”

Even McDonald's (MCD), which has been at the forefront of adding healthy items to its menu, like premium salads and sliced apples for children, recently launched the World Cup Burger during the six weeks of the World Cup soccer games. The burger, 40% larger than a Big Mac, is a whopping 1,227 calories, or more than half of the 2,000 daily recommended calorie intake.

As research already shows, Americans are eating more hamburgers, french fries, and fried chicken than before (see BusinessWeek.com, 11/9/05, “Fat Times for Fast Food”). And fast-food restaurants are giving it to customers in ever-more appealing forms. This year, in a nod to the increasing influence of new immigrants and globalization, almost all the nation's fast-food restaurants adopted new, spicy foods. McDonald's launched its spicy chicken sandwich, and Hardee's introduced a jalapeño sandwich, which became a permanent item after its limited-time introduction. Sonic (SONC) also introduced its own jalapeño cheeseburger. “Burgers are the No. 1 entrée ordered in America,” says Harry Balzer, vice-president at researcher NPD Food World. “It's good to experiment with different ways of consuming such a popular food and give people reasons to come back one more time.”

CHEESECAKE, TOO. The advertising isn't shy either. For instance, Hardee's has thrived on luring young men into its restaurants by using suggestive ads, the most famous of which showed the socialite Paris Hilton in a swimsuit soaping down a Bentley and taking a bite out of a hamburger. “You can see young men say, that's the brand for me,” says Jeffrey Davis, president of restaurant researcher Sandelman & Associates. “These young men have big appetites and are certainly not dieters.”

Puzder may infuriate health advocates who bemoan the fact that obesity levels in the U.S. are at record highs and who feel that chains like McDonald's and Hardee's are contributing to the problem. But the chief executive says the issue is simply about choice, the long-held American value of letting people make their own decisions. Hardee's, he says, is giving people what they want, not what some Washington bureaucrat says they should want. “People know they can go to a fast-food restaurant and get burgers of quality that they could get at a sit-down restaurant, for a better price and faster,” says Brad Haley, executive vice-president for marketing at Hardee's and Carl's Jr.

Break out the jumbo mug! Turns out that caffeine may actually be good for us. Anything this good must be bad.

That's the prevailing attitude when it comes to caffeine, isn't it? We crave it. We guzzle it. It makes us feel good — better able to handle an overbearing boss or an unruly pack of toddlers. But then... we feel guilty about it, suspecting that sooner or later, it's going to do us in.

In reality, it's not the guilty pleasure everyone makes it out to be — in fact, a little caffeine can do you good. So feel free to grab a tall breakfast blend while we set the record straight.

Long-term caffeine consumption is just plain bad for me.
False. That myth exists in part because smokers, who metabolize caffeine twice as fast as nonsmokers, drink more coffee. And smokers have more health problems. But nicotine, not caffeine, is the culprit. As long as you don't have high blood pressure, heart arrhythmia, or anxiety, drinking caffeinated beverages for years is no problem, says Harris Lieberman, Ph.D., a research psychologist for the U.S. Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine.

Caffeine alters my body chemistry.
True. Caffeine is a natural stimulant, and 250 milligrams of it — about the amount in two cups of strong coffee — will triple the amount of adrenaline in your bloodstream, increasing your respiratory rate. In your brain, caffeine intercepts adenosine, the chemical that slows down our nerves and signals the need to sleep. It also increases dopamine levels, stimulating pleasure centers. Caffeine, therefore, has the magical ability to make you feel both alert and relaxed, says Ernesto Illy, Ph.D., an Italian biochemist and founder of high-end coffee producer Illy Caffe.

Caffeine makes me smarter.
True. A cup of coffee before you write your performance review isn't a bad idea. "It improves cognitive functions" by blocking that brain-slowing adenosine, says Joe Vinson, Ph.D., a food chemist at the University of Scranton. When given caffeine equal to two cups of coffee, severely sleep-deprived Navy Seal trainees improved their alertness, vigilance, learning, and memory by as much as 60 percent, according to Dr. Lieberman, who administered the test.

Caffeine improves my game.
True. In terms of athletic performance, caffeine "might be the difference between first place and last," Dr. Vinson says. Without caffeine, not only are you a little slower mentally, you're lagging physically. "Caffeine stimulates you to exercise 10 to 15 percent longer" because it keeps you from getting as tired, explains Terry Graham, Ph.D., a nutritionist who specializes in caffeine at Ontario's University of Guelph. It's also a mild analgesic, so you can work out longer before you start to feel sore. However, a troubling new study published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology shows that caffeine may decrease blood flow to the heart during exercise. More research is needed.

Caffeine causes high blood pressure.
False. The Journal of the American Medical Association recently reported that caffeine doesn't put you at risk for hypertension, although something else, unknown to scientists, in sugared and diet colas does. In people with normal blood pressure, any change in heart rate is not only "too small to measure," Dr. Graham says, but it disappears within minutes of your first cup. If you already have high blood pressure, however, avoid excessive intake, says Lynne Shuster, M.D., director of the Mayo Clinic's Women's Health Clinic, because caffeine can exacerbate a pre-existing condition. The same goes for those who suffer from heart arrhythmia or anxiety — caffeine can trigger arrhythmia in those who are prone to it and can worsen anxiety.

Caffeine leads to bone loss.
False. There's evidence that calcium is lost through urine, and by increasing the amount of urine you produce, you decrease your body's calcium stores. The effect, however, is negligible. "A coffee drinker may lose a few milligrams of calcium, but put one drop of milk in your coffee and you've made up for the loss," says Jim Coughlin, Ph.D., a California-based food toxicologist.

I can overdose on caffeine.
True. But most of the documented cases are of people who have intentionally overdosed on high-powered caffeine pills (the lethal dose of pills is about 50). To OD on caffeinated beverages, you would have to down dozens of cups of coffee, hundreds of six-packs of soda, and thousands of mugs of tea at the same time. The excess water would kill you before the caffeine would, Dr. Illy says.

Caffeine is addictive.
True. You develop a tolerance to caffeine over time, and when you no longer take any in, your body, expecting that daily dose, reacts with headaches and irritability. The more caffeine you consume, the more severe the withdrawal symptoms, but some people can get hooked on just a cup a day. (Others can quit cold turkey, those lucky gals.)

If I have tea after dinner, I'll never fall asleep.
False. Tea has so little caffeine (25 milligrams per cup of weakly brewed tea) that for most, it soothes rather than agitates. But beware of more highly caffeinated drinks, especially if you're pregnant or on the Pill: It takes 4 to 6 hours for an average adult to metabolize caffeine, no matter how much you drink, and almost twice that long for a woman taking oral contraceptives. (For a pregnant woman, this half-life shoots up to 18 hours.) If you have trouble sleeping, stop drinking caffeinated beverages at least 6 hours before bedtime.

So, I can drink all the caffeine I want, with no consequences.
False. A Greek study suggested that moderate to heavy coffee intake is associated with a higher level of inflammation. An immune system response, inflammation can be harmful because too much of it can produce chemicals in the body that have been linked to heart disease and diabetes. But just because coffee was associated with inflammation doesn't necessarily mean it caused it.

Another recent study from the Harvard School of Public Health and the University of Toronto finds that certain people, referred to as "slow metabolizers," are genetically programmed to break down caffeine at a slower rate. In the study, caffeine placed these people at increased risk for heart attacks, while "rapid metabolizers" were protected against heart attacks. Scientists believe that excess caffeine may lead to heart disease but that other heart-healthy benefits from coffee, such as antioxidants, outweigh the risk — as long as the caffeine doesn't linger in your system. However, without a genetic test, it's impossible for the average Diet Cokedrinking girl to determine which camp she falls into.

These researchers don't discourage caffeine consumption, but do warn against caffeine in excess. A safe limit, according to the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, is around 400 milligrams — or four cups of coffee — a day.

Food Labels Purchasing food for you and your family seems simple enough. The packaging for the product should tell you everything you need to know - right? For example, the packaging for a popular breakfast cereal states, "cereal made with the goodness of corn" right on the front of the box. Most people assume that because corn is healthy and the box says 'made with the goodness of corn' that this cereal must be healthy. Unfortunately, although corn may very well be one of the ingredients in the cereal (Corn Pops), the 'goodness of corn' in this particular cereal has been combined with a lot of sugar that may not be so good for you.

Many people don't really know what they're eating or how much they're eating, because they don't know how to read a food label and are fooled by the claims on the front of the package. The majority of people are surprised once they learn how to read the food label and realize that they are consuming more calories, fat, and added sugar than originally thought.

The biggest mistake people make is not looking at the serving size. You might say, "Oh wow, this only has 100 calories!" and eat the whole thing. But be careful, the package may serve four, which means you'd be eating 400 calories, not 100.

You can find the serving size listed directly under the "Nutrition Facts" on the food label. When reading your food labels, this is the first place to look because it lists all of the nutrient amounts. The serving size is supposed to be based on the amount of food people typically eat, but this is not always the case. Breakfast cereals are a great example. A serving size is typically listed as one half cup to one cup, but most cereal bowls hold two cups. In the case of Corn Pops, as used in the beginning of the article, a typical cereal bowl would actually provide 2 servings.

Another place consumers get confused is the fat content. Less than 30 percent of your total calories should come from fat. Unfortunately, we can't always rely on the advertised percentages to paint a true picture. Labels that boast "98% fat free" or "50 percent less fat" are misleading. The fat percentages on these labels are based on volume only. For example, if you were to take a bottle of water and put one drop of oil in it, you could say that by volume, that water is 99 percent fat free. Yet 100% of the calories come from fat.

The next time you're at the store look at the milk labels. One serving of 1% milk typically contains 100 calories and 25 of those calories are from fat. That's 25% fat, not 1%. To determine whether the food you buy is less than 30% fat, follow this simple procedure: Look at the label on a particular food. It will show the number of calories per serving and the number of calories from fat. Next, divide the calories from fat by the total calories to see if it is less than 30%.

Even if you find a food that has less than 30% of calories from fat or one that has no fat, be careful not to fall into the fat-free trap. It's a proven fact that people eat more than they should if it's labeled fat-free. Just because it's fat free, doesn't mean it's calorie free.

Another potential problem with fat-free and low-fat foods is the sugar content. A lot of fat-free foods have a lot of added sugar. Read the ingredient list. The ingredient section of the label provides a list of all ingredients in descending order by weight. If sugar is one of the first things on the list, then that is what is used to replace fat, and if you're concerned about your health you don't want added sugar in your diet either.

Where sugar is concerned, you'll also want to watch for the 'hidden' sugars in your foods and avoid food products that contain several sugary ingredients. Occasionally, food manufacturers will use several different sugar sources so that they don't have to list sugar as the number one ingredient.

For example, if a product contains 9 grams of whole wheat, 8 grams of sugar, 7 grams of safflower oil, 6 grams of high fructose corn syrup and 5 grams of honey, the ingredient list would read: "Whole wheat, sugar, safflower oil, high fructose corn syrup, honey".

Listing whole wheat as the first ingredient may make you think that this is a healthy product. However, 3 of the five ingredients are basically sugar and the reality is that there are 19 grams of sugar sources (8+6+5) - more than double the amount of whole wheat! Make sure you look at both the ingredient list and at the amount of sugar per serving. And don't forget to account for the serving size by multiplying the sugar content per serving by the number of servings you'll be eating.

Watch for the following 'hidden' sugars in your foods.

• High fructose corn syrup
• Corn Syrup (derived from maize (corn) starch)
• Molasses
• Honey
• Dextrose (derived from sucrose)
• Fructose (found in fruits, but can also be made industrially from corn starch)
• Glucose
• Lactose
• Maltose (derived from barley)
• Galactose
• Levulose
• Sucrose (the chemical term for sugar)
• Beet Sugar
• Brown sugar
• Cane Sugar
• Confectioner's Sugar
• Corn Sugar
• Corn Sweetener
• Corn Syrup
• Granulated Sugar
•  Invert Sugar
•  Isomalt
• Maltodextrins
• Maple Sugar
• Maple Syrup
• Molasses
• Raw Sugar
• Sorghum
• Turbinado Sugar
• Fruit syrups/concentrates
• Glucose derived syrup
• Golden syrup
• Treacle

It is important to note that fructose is NOT the same as high fructose corn syrup. The former (fructose) is pure fructose with a low glycemic index, whereas high fructose corn syrup is a mixture of 50% fructose and 50% glucose. The glycemic response of high fructose corn syrup is high - about the same as sucrose (table sugar).

Let's go back to our Corn Pops example. One serving of Corn Pops is 1 cup and provides 120 calories per serving, 0 grams of fat, just 1 gram of protein and 28 grams of carbohydrates (of which 14 grams come from sugar, 0 from fiber and the rest from refined starches). The first four items on the ingredient list are: "Milled corn, sugar, corn syrup, molasses". Knowing that there are 14 grams of sugar and that 3 of the top 4 ingredients are sugar tells you that this cereal is almost 50% sugar. If you fill an entire cereal bowl (2 cups), you are consuming 240 calories and 28 grams of sugar. Even if you don't sprinkle any additional sugar on your cereal, you are still getting about 7 or 8 teaspoons of sugar in your bowl.

You may be one of the consumers who realize that Corn Pops is a sweetened cereal and therefore high in sugar, but were you aware that many cereals marketed as a healthy choice, like Kellogg's Smart Start contain as much sugar as Corn Pops? Although Kellogg's Smart Start will give you more complex carbohydrates and a few grams of fiber that you don't get in Corn Pops, that fiber is packaged with a whopping 30 grams of sugar if you fill your cereal bowl (the typical 2 cups). In both cases - Corn Pops and Smart Start - you are getting about 7 or 8 teaspoons of sugar in your two cups of cereal.

One final note of caution in reading food labels - Don't be fooled by the label claims on the package, such as 'Light', 'Reduced Fat', etc.!

Below is a list of some of the common claims seen on food packaging and what these claims mean according to the FDA regulations.

• Fat free = less than 1 gram of fat per serving
• Low fat = 3 grams of fat or less per serving
• Reduced fat = 25% less of the nutrient or calories than the usual product has.
• Light = one third fewer calories or fat of the usual food.
• Calorie free = fewer than 5 calories per serving
• Low sodium = less than 140 mg of salt per serving
• Low calorie = less than 40 calories per serving
• Low cholesterol = less than 20 mg of cholesterol and 2 grams of fat per serving
• Reduced = 25 percent less of the specified nutrient or calories than the usual product
• Good source of = provides at least 10% of the daily value of a particular vitamin or nutrient per serving
• High fiber = 5 or more grams of fiber per serving
• Lean (meat, poultry, seafood) = 10 grams of fat or less, 4 grams of saturated fat, and less than 95 mg of cholesterol per 3 ounce serving.

Fat cells are killing us because they cause diseases. Did you know that fat cells send signals that promote blood vessel and cell growth, which could help explain why fat gain increases the risk of cancer. Obesity is linked to diabetes and cancer. We’ve heard it in the news so many times. But why is that? How are fat cells damaging our bodies? An adult has between 40 and 120 billion fat cells, depending on their body structure. In every fat cell we find one drop of oil that is used as energy storage for hunger times. What else can we find in fat cells? Anything else? There are hormones, inflammation substances, and much more. Scientists identified about 100 different substances in fat cells. Many of them play a role with inflammations (example: Zytokine) or with the regulatation of the blood pressure (Angiotensin II).

Why is this important?
Fat is the biggest endocrine organ in the body. Many overweight people have large numbers of fat cells and those cells hold many substances. And many of those substances are harmful in higher concentration. They can cause inflammation in your body.

Fat cells are also an important control unit for many organs. Example: Fat cells are signaling muscles when they can burn fat. Beyond that fat cells are important control units for many metabolic procedures in your body, they affect the function of the brain, the liver, the pancreas and the immune system. The fatty tissue plays a very important role as a hormone producer and controls long term fertility and energy balance. Fat cells produce powerful substances called tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-a), and interleukin-6 (IL-6), which help regulate the immune system.

An important hormone, which is formed in fat cells, is Leptin (discovered 10 years ago). If leptin levels are high in your blood, it signals a saturation feeling to the brain. If the levels of leptin sink, it signals hunger.

Many of the substances discovered in fat cells seem to play the role of messenger in your body, with whose assistance fat cells and other organs communicate. When you are in a good shape and you have normal weight, it seems everything works perfectly within your body, so the fat cells can communicate with other organs.

But what happens when we are overweight?
Giant fat cells produce too many messenger substances and can overflow other body signals. An example of what can happen is that insulin does not work correctly any longer.

What happens with excessively increased fat cells?
It begins mass production of inflammation materials.

Obesity leads to chronic inflammation.
What else happens within the body? Fat cells cause insulin resistance. Many of the inflammation materials from the fat cells are causing the insulin resistance too. As you can see fat cells are a whole complex system. They are not just a passive organ! Not just that they look ugly and make us look ugly, but they have ugly consequences for our health. It’s especially bad for your health to have a lot of fat around waist area. Those fat cells around your abs are very active. They produce free fatty acids, inflammation materials, and blood pressure increasing materials. So if you have a lot of fat around your belly, it is time to lose it.

You can see what fat can do to your health. It can ruin it. I hope that I did not scare you. There is some good news: the production of the substances in fat cells can be reversed with the right diet and exercise. If fat cells become smaller and you lose them, than the production of the health dangerous substances is reduced.

In conclusion, I would like to add an opinion from a professor of genetics and metabolism at the Harvard School of Public Health:

"Many people think your brain controls your fat. We promote the idea that your fat controls your brain."

Syndrome X is not some illness taken from Star Trek, or the X Files, or even a virus from an experiment gone wrong. In fact, you may already have the disease and not even know it. Consider that one in three adults have succumbed to it in countries with a well-fed population, and it’s estimated that 60 million Americans– one in four adults over the age of 35– are afflicted as well. The worst part is that you figure it can’t be you; you watch what you eat, you’re not over weight, and you don’t smoke. Nevertheless, you might still be a victim of the dreaded Metabolic Syndrome X.

Behind The Mystery
The name “Syndrome X” was first coined by Gerry Reaven of Stanford University, author of Syndrome X: Overcoming the Silent Killer That can Give You a Heart Attack. It was first used to designate a patient group that, while not actually having diabetes, were developing the metabolic illness that could lead to diabetes or heart disease. Also known as “borderline diabetes,” “creeping diabetes,” “pre-diabetes,” or “impaired glucose tolerance,” it’s still further referred to as “insulin resistance syndrome,” “the deadly quartet,” and “central obesity syndrome.” It was formerly recognized by the medical community only a few short years ago, but still remains relatively controversial. The distinguishing factor between Metabolic Syndrome X and diabetes is this: With diabetes, insufficient insulin or virtually no insulin at all is produced in the pancreas, whereas with Syndrome X, insulin is being produced but not used properly by the body.

While the dangers of the disease are serious in adults, the prevalence is increasing in children as the trend in child obesity rises. Research reported in the International Journal of Pediatric Obesity states that nearly half of the children in North and South America will be overweight by 2010, up from what recent studies originally projected to be about one-third. In addition, the same article predicts that more than a million children will show signs of high blood pressure, raised cholesterol levels and/or other early indicators of cardiovascular disease – the very conditions that define Syndrome X.

A Deeper Layer
Think of Syndrome X as a cluster of abnormal conditions rather than a single disease. Included are insulin resistance, “dyslipedemia” (blood fat abnormalities like high triglycerides, high levels of LDL, or the “bad” cholesterol and low levels of HDL, the “good” cholesterol), as well as high blood pressure (hypertension).

What happens when we eat a meal is that carbohydrates and complex sugars are broken down into basic sugar molecules (glucose) that then enter the blood stream. The body reacts to the increase in blood glucose levels by stimulating the production of a pancreatic hormone called insulin. Insulin’s job is to promote cells into the body – particularly muscle cells – to take up the glucose and use it for cellular energy. At the same time, insulin signals the liver to stop releasing fats, a secondary source of energy, into the blood.

So far so good. Now here is where the problem comes in. With our usual high sugar and high carbohydrate diets (touted just a few years back as the best way to lose weight and have a healthy heart), overwhelming high amounts of glucose are dumped into the blood stream. While it’s still not known exactly why, over time the cells in the body begin to respond less and less to the insulin. As a result, glucose is not transported out of the bloodstream as efficiently and cells have less of it to use for energy, leading to a vicious cycle whereby the body attempts to compensate by releasing even more insulin–the hallmark of Syndrome X.

What’s more, the increased insulin levels begin to have an opposite effect on the liver, causing a flood of triglycerides into the bloodstream. These are the very fats that settle onto the arteries and cause atherosclerotic “plaques” — narrowing the artery walls — which is the beginning of cardiovascular disease (CVD). If the arteries get too narrow, say in the heart, for example, the result is a heart attack. If they narrow in the brain, it can lead to a stroke. In fact, it is thought by many that Syndrome X may account for as much as 50 percent of all heart attacks.

But that’s not all. Left to go its course, all the excess insulin and lipids in the bloodstream create certain biochemical changes that lead to the destruction of pancreas cells. The net result is full-blown diabetes.

Part of the reason the cells become insulin resistant may be due not only to what we eat but the way in which we eat. Victor Zammit, of the Hannah Research Institute in Ayr, Scotland, has proposed that high-energy snacks and drinks, and continually eating small amounts of food throughout the day, may actually contribute to high levels of glucose in the blood. Our cells, particularly muscle cells, become accustomed to the higher levels and fail to respond to insulin over time. Add to that eating pattern the craze for “low-fat” foods loaded with sugar instead, and you’ve set the stage for Syndrome X.

There is even research suggesting that Syndrome X can increase the risk of prostate, colon and breast cancers, and women with Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS) are at greater risk of developing Metabolic Syndrome X.

Of course, this all doesn’t happen overnight. It takes time, but without dietary and lifestyle changes, it’s virtually inevitable and can lead to many diseases and a shortened lifespan.

Syndrome X Diagnosed
While there are no carved-in-stone criteria for the diagnosis of metabolic Syndrome X, it’s generally held that the presence of three or more of the following confirms its diagnosis:

Male obesity — 40 inches plus (waist circumference)

Female obesity — 35 inches plus (waist circumference) Blood pressure of 130/85 mmHg or above Fasting glucose of 110 mg /dL or greater Fasting blood triglycerides of 150 mg/dL or greater

Male HDL cholesterol — less than 40 mg/dL
Female HDL cholesterol — less than 50 mg/dL

Who’s Most at Risk?
Most sufferers of Syndrome X lead sedentary lifestyles, with little, if any exercise, and eat a poor diet often high in sugar and carbohydrates. As a result, they’re typically also overweight. Believe it or not, there’s a genetic predisposition too, as it will often be seen running in families. Therefore, a strong knowledge of your family medical history is important. Syndrome X generally starts out with insulin resistance, the result of excessive insulin secreted by the pancreas (hyperinsulinemia) in an attempt to deal with increased amounts of sugar (hyperglycemia) from our diets. After a period of time, body tissues do not respond normally to insulin and as the body tries to compensate, insulin levels rise. Also known as “insulin overload,” this can lead to other metabolic abnormalities like elevated blood fats, blood pressure and obesity, all of which herald cardiovascular disease and type 2 “adult onset” diabetes. Increased glucose, as well as high levels of insulin, is also a major source of free radicals, which have been shown to be a major factor in the development of cardiovascular disease.

What Can You Do?
The conventional method of treatment is to address each metabolic disorder separately, with the underlying insulin resistance as the primary target. However, there’s currently no drug that directly reverses insulin resistance. After the onset of insulin resistance, elevated lipids (high LDL and high triglycerides) commonly seen in Syndrome X are treated with statins and/or fibrate drugs. Premature clotting problems (due to an increase in fibrinogen production) are often treated with aspirin or blood-thinning agents like Warfarin. And, of course, antihypertensive medications are deployed for high blood pressure (being careful to use only those that don’t negatively affect glucose levels).

While all of this is great for the pharmaceutical companies, there’s really a better approach. The safest, most effective way to reduce insulin resistance and high triglyceride levels, particularly in the overweight and obese, is through weight-loss and increased physical activity. Believe it or not, most of the metabolic abnormalities associated with Syndrome X will significantly improve with changes in diet and exercise. Syndrome X is completely reversible by just losing weight, watching out for what you eat (and how often) and engaging in regular aerobic exercise. In fact, a 2001 study by the American Diabetes Association, showed that a weight-loss of as little as 5 percent can reduce the incidence of type 2 diabetes by more than 50 percent.

So how can we treat Metabolic Syndrome X without drugs? Well, start with your diet:

• Reduce carbohydrate intake, particularly processed carbs
• Eliminate foods high in fructose (a complex sugar)
• Avoid the plague of trans-fatty acids (margarine and foods containing partially hydrogenated oils)
• Increase your intake of low-glycemic index carbohydrates — non-starch vegetables, leafy greens, broccoli, asparagus, cauliflower, cabbage and tomatoes — while reducing intake of the starchy ones (potatoes, yams, beans).

Also, note that fiber is an important regulator of insulin. Furthermore, watch out for high protein diets, like Atkins, since high-protein meats can often be a source of saturated fat, which will have a negative effect on Syndrome X sufferers. Look more toward fish, eggs, cheese, poultry and game meats as protein selections. Beware of too much soy and legumes, especially for vegetarians who rely on them solely as meat/protein substitutes. Soy can affect the thyroid, slowing down the body’s metabolic rate and making it harder to lose weight, while many legumes (beans) are high in starch. Omega-3 fatty acids have been shown to be very effective in controlling insulin resistance. They’re found in many seeds (flax, pumpkin, hemp) and nuts — particularly walnuts, eggs, wheat germ, fish, and fish oil.

Finally, a 2005 British study suggested a link between drinking milk and developing Syndrome X, but results are too preliminary to make any final conclusions. Also, successfully treating hypertension can significantly reduce the risk of death and heart disease in diabetes and Syndrome X according to recent studies. Other steps for managing potential Metabolic Syndrome X include: routinely monitoring body weight (particularly the index for central obesity), blood glucose, lipoproteins and blood pressure. And if you’re a smoker, quit (or at the very least cut back significantly). The worst thing you can do is nothing at all. Since you don’t “feel sick” the prevailing symptoms of increased blood sugar levels, increased blood fats, and hypertension continue and ultimately lead to severe disease and illness.

Metabolic Syndrome X — a common, poorly recognized, potentially deadly, yet highly treatable disease — is most effectively prevented by weight-loss, diet, and exercise. It’s been said so many times before, but in the case of Syndrome X, it’s especially true — your health really is in your own hands.

Low carbs? Moderate diet? Atkins? Zone diet? Slow burn workouts? 30-minute speed workouts? 5-second ab workouts? I’m sure you are CONFUSED and you do not know what works for you.

You probably already tried one of the most "popular diets" and hated the results. Monkey see, monkey do diet. When I was a kid I remember my grandmother buying a so-called "AB FAT ELIMINATOR" - it was some junk ab equipment from TV that promised that you would get a 6 pack if you did it for only 5 minutes per day!

Never worked!

People are confused. People are buying fat burning pills and exercise equipment seen on cheese TV commercials, and following all "Hollywood diets."

Here is my idea: stop wasting money on fat burning pills, unhealthy diets, and all other fat burning gimmicks and hire a good, professional trainer.

A good, professional trainer is not cheap and it does cost money. Do you think you should hire a cheap one who never helped anybody lose body fat? With a bad record? Without education? Without any competitive experience?

Would you hire the cheapest surgeon in NYC to operate your body? Someone who injured 4 people and already has a bad record?

Would you hire a cheap lawyer to protect you in a big lawsuit?

I think you get my point. Usually, you get what you pay for. Investment in your body is one of the greatest investments you can make. Not just that you will be healthier, improve strength, and gain energy, you will start looking good. And there are so many studies out there that show that people who are in shape are better paid and promoted. My point is that you will get your investment back.

If you have a job where you see new people often, this could be important (example: sales, marketing etc). Better-looking people have a better chance of getting the best jobs, promotions, making the sale, and being respected. This may not be morally right, but it is true. We naturally trust good-looking people. Many people also assume that fat and out of shape people are lazy, dumb, rude, and untrustworthy. This has been proven by many studies. Think of how a good personal appearance can benefit you in your current job.

A good, professional trainer will motivate you to make the change; to enter a new world of health, fitness, and wellness - and to stay there.

Here are 5 reasons you should drink more water:

1. If you are dehydrated you will lose concentration because your brain cannot work properly. Dehydration will make you tired, too. The reason is in decreased blood volume and poor supply of oxygen in the brain. Water constitutes over 70 percent of the brain.
   
2. Beauty. You want to look young and have beautiful skin? Then drink more water. Lack of water causes the depots of the skin cells to empty. Skin starts to age. Maintaining well-hydrated cells is what forms the foundation of a comprehensive anti-aging program.
   
3. It makes you thin and fit. 500 milliliters of cold water directly before a meal increases the saturation feeling and the energy consumption. If you drink 1/2 gallon of water daily, you will burn approximately 36,500 calories per year. That means: 3 lbs! If you drink 1 gallon of water per day, you can burn 6 extra lbs per year.
   
4. Did you know that our body needs 0.42 gallon of water after one hour of jogging on 70 degrees? Dehydration can cause your body to collapse.
   
5. Without water, no health. Water reduces risk of kidney stones and bladder cancer.

By the time you feel the symptom of a dry mouth, your body is already in an advanced stage of dehydration from an optimum health perspective.

• Set Rules
  Utilize both diet & exercise
  - Diet to lose weight
  - Exercise to keep weight off
  - Shift stress relief from eating to exercise
  - Learn what and how to eat
  
• Weight management is a skill
  - Do not rely on will power
  - Create new habits that will last a life time
  - Do not eat just what is convenient
  - Eat at least 5 servings of fruits and vegetables daily
  - Eat a variety (7 different colors)
  
• Don't lose control
  - Eat small meals and snacks throughout the day
  - Have healthy food always available
  - Maintain a shopping list
  - Don't have processed snack foods available
  - Eat before being around processed snack foods (eg. party, shopping, etc.)
  
• Find time for yourself

• With a typical exercise program, it is common to maintain weight yet lose fat and gain muscle
  - Girth can decrease since muscle is denser than fat
  - A sheer gain in muscle results in a lower percent of body fat
  - More exercise and improvements in diet may be needed for substantial loss of fat
  
• Regular body composition tests can assess the effectiveness of a program
  - Absolute weight of fat and lean body weight should be tracked and analyzed
  - Caloric intake/expenditure goals can be adjusted accordingly
  
• A review of the literature suggests in order to achieve significant fat loss with aerobic activity
  - Exercise or activity must be performed most days of the week
  - Progress to at least 45 minutes, 60-90 minutes recommended
  - Aerobic exercise should be between 60% to 80% maximum heart rate for progressively longer durations
  - Lower intensities must be continued for very long durations
  - Intense exercise (eg. weight training, HIIT, plyometrics, sprints) can increase metabolic rate for hours after the vigorous workout
  - The combination of anaerobic and aerobic activity results in faster fat loss than anaerobic or aerobic activity alone
  - Intense anaerobic exercise increases the metabolism hours after exercise
  - Aerobic exercise burns fat during exercise, but has little effect afterwards
  
• Exercise (particularly weight training) develops muscle
  - Restores muscle that has been lost over the years of a sedentary modern lifestyle.
  - One pound of muscle can burn 30 to 50 Calories a day
  - One pound of fat burns only 3 Calories a day

Neutral energy balance is when the calories you take in are equal to the calories expended.
- Weight is maintained

Positive energy balance is when the calories you take in are greater than the calories expended.
- Weight is gained and fat stores are increased.
- One pound of fat contains approximately 3500 Calories.

Negative energy balance is when the calories you take in are less than the calories expended.
- Fat stores are used for energy to make up the caloric deficiency.
- Weight is lost and fat stores are reduced.

• If calories are increased
• Thermo-genesis
• Body heat is produced
• Metabolism increases
• Muscle mass may increase
• If calories are restricted
• Thyroid hormones decrease
• Metabolism decreases
• Muscle mass may decrease
• Anaerobic exercise can increase metabolism for hours after exercise is finished
• 3-14 hours: dependent upon intensity
• HIIT study: for every calorie expended during anaerobic's, 9 times as much fat (per calorie expended) was metabolized as compared to aerobic activity.

• Exercise burns relatively few calories and therefore makes an insignificant contribution to changing the energy balance.
  - Even though total calories expended during exercise seem to be low, a negative energy balance of as little as 200 calories a day can result in weight loss over time.
  - For example: A 170 lb person decides to add one hour of tennis, three days a week to their schedule. Adding this will replace 1 hour of watching television.
  - Calories burned playing tennis = .045 calories a minute per pound of weight
  - So: 170 lbs X .045 X 60 minutes = 459 calories
  - Calories burned watching television = .008 calories a minutes per pound of weight.
  - So: 170 lbs X .008 X 60 minutes = 81 calories
  - 459 calories - 81 calories = 378 more calories burned for each hour of tennis
  - Intense activity (anaerobic exercise) can burn fat hours afterward; 3 to 14 hours
  
• An increase in physical activity will automatically result in an increase of the amount of food eaten.
  - In lab tests, when moderate exercise is performed, food intake either remains the same or decreases. At the same time, weight will decrease. With longer periods of sustained activity, food intake will increase in response to increase caloric expenditure. In this case, weight will remain the same if the diet is ad lib.
  
• Exercise can be used to reduce fat from a specific area of the body.
  - Fat loss will occur in a preprogrammed proportion dependent upon genetics, sex, and hormonal levels.
  - Areas with the largest amount of fat lose more fat although these areas will seem to be totally reduced last.
  - With adequate fat loss muscular definition will be achieved in the peripheral and gradually toward the waist, hips, or thighs.
  - Exercise will help burn calories and maintain lean body weight, which can result in fat loss. Increases in muscle in specific areas can change the appearance of those areas but will not result in specific loss of body fat.
  - If the muscle mass improvements out pace fat loss in a specific area, girth can be greater.
  
• Sauna and steam baths are effective for losing weight.
  - Any weight loss occurring in saunas or steam baths is fluid loss. These fluids will be replaced and the weight will come back.
  
• Passive exercise machines can be used to reduce body weight.
  - Many machines exist that are electronically powered, which do the work for you. These types of machines won't assist in weight loss or fat reduction.

1. Most diets restrict your caloric intake so much that your metabolism slows down.
   - Drastically reducing calories can slow your metabolism and hinder the weight loss process
   - Very subtle decreases in calories may result in more permanent weight loss
   - If too few of calories are being consumed, simultaneous adjustments should be made
   - Increase calories throughout day by eating 3 balance meals and 2-3 snacks
   - Increase anaerobic activity and aerobic activity
   
2. Dieting may result in depression, which is counter-productive to losing weight.
   -Depriving yourself of food can lead to depriving yourself of social events. You may give up eating meals out or eating with friends because you don't want to eat something off your diet. This can lead to depression and possible overeating to compensate for what you’re missing.
   
3. Most diets don't encourage lifestyle changes.
   -Making temporary changes in eating habits or eating prepackaged foods from weight loss programs will facilitate weight loss. However, when you reach your goals or go off the weight loss program, you maybe more likely to return to old eating habits and gain the weight back (and possibly more). To have permanent weight loss, you must make permanent changes in food choices and eating habits.
   
4. With very low calorie diets, weight loss is usually lean body weight.
   -Diets that severely restrict caloric intake, facilitates loss of lean body weight as opposed to fat weight. This can result in a person who isn't overweight, but has a high body fat composition.

The biggest mistake people make is not looking at the serving size. You might say, “Oh wow, this only has 100 calories!” and eat the whole thing. But be careful, the package may serve four, which means you'd be eating 400 calories, not 100.

You can find the serving size listed directly under the Nutrition Facts on the food label. When reading your food labels, this is the first place to look because it influences all the nutrient amounts listed below it. The serving size is supposed to be based on the amount of food people typically eat, but this is not always the case. Breakfast cereals are a great example. A serving size is typically listed as one half cup or three-quarters cup, but most cereal bowls hold two cups.

Another place consumers get confused is the fat content. Less than 30 percent of your total calories should come from fat. Unfortunately, we can't always rely on the advertised percentages to paint a true picture. Labels that boast “98% fat free” or “50% less fat” are misleading. The fat percentages on these labels are based on volume only. For example, if you were to take a bottle of water and put one drop of oil in it, you could say that by volume, that water is 99 percent fat free. Yet 100% of the calories come from fat.

The next time you're at the store look at the milk labels. One serving of 1% milk typically contains 100 calories and 25 of those calories are from fat. That's 25% fat, not 1%. To determine whether the food you buy is less than 30% fat, follow this simple procedure. Look at the label on a particular food. It will show the number of calories per serving and the number of calories from fat. Next, divide the calories from fat by the total calories to see if it is less than 30%.

Even if you find a food that has less than 30% of calories from fat or one that has no fat, be careful not to fall into the fat-free trap. It's a proven fact that people eat more than they should if it's labeled fat-free. Just because it's fat free, doesn't mean it's calorie free. Another potential problem with fat-free foods is the sugar content. A lot of fat-free foods have a lot of added sugar. Read the ingredient list. If sugar is one of the first things on the list, then that is what was used to replace fat. If you're concerned about your health, you don't want added sugar in your diet either.

So what do the label claims mean?
Below is a list of some of the common claims seen on food packaging and what these claims mean, according to the FDA regulations.

• Fat free = less than 1 gram of fat per serving
• Low fat = 3 grams of fat or less per serving
• Reduced fat = 25% less of the nutrient or calories than the usual product has.
• Light = one third fewer calories or the fat of the usual food.
• Calorie free = fewer than 5 calories per serving.
• Low sodium = less than 140 mg of salt per serving.
• Low calorie = less than 40 calories per serving.
• Low cholesterol = less than 20 mg of cholesterol and 2 grams of fat per serving.
• Reduced = 25 percent less of the specified nutrient or calories than the usual product.
• Good source of = provides at least 10% of the daily value of a particular vitamin or nutrient per serving.
• High fiber = 5 or more grams of fiber per serving.
• Lean (meat, poultry, seafood) = 10 grams of fat or less, 4 grams of saturated fat, and less than 95 mg of cholesterol per 3 ounce serving.

If you are following the U.S. Dietary Guidelines and include at least 5 servings of fruits and vegetables each day, you will be more likely to get enough of the nutrients your body needs and limit the fat and sugar that you don't need. Fruits and vegetables are always low fat and a good source of fiber, vitamins and minerals.

When Heather Chapman, 34, was two months pregnant, she suffered excruciating back pain caused by a herniated disk. Her doctor prescribed anti-inflammatory drugs and muscle relaxants. She was concerned that the drugs might harm her baby, so she reduced the amount of medication she was taking.

Heather's pain continued, so she began to search for natural alternatives and found a book about acupressure, a needle-free form of acupuncture. Using the book as her guide, Heather pressed her thumb onto a point just above her anklebone, which the book said would relieve her pain.

"I was amazed," says Heather. "I felt better within minutes."

Sound miraculous? It's not. In fact, the next time your back goes SPROING!—even if you're so debilitated you can't get up from your bed—try some of these easy, natural techniques. Not only can they provide instant temporary relief, but done regularly, some can even help keep your back from ever getting out of whack again.

When Backs Go Bad
Back pain—which affects an estimated 80 percent of all Americans at some time or another—can have many causes. Since your pain can be triggered by anything from muscle strain after lifting something heavy to a spinal fracture caused by osteoporosis, it's always wise to see your doctor. Fortunately, most back pain isn't serious, despite how it feels.

Most often, it's due to strained muscles, which could result from performing any number of activities when your muscles are tight—such as lifting, bending, or twisting—or inactivity, which allows your back muscles to weaken and become stiff. Stress can also contribute to back pain.

As long as yours falls into the nonserious category, you can safely try these techniques the next time your back is killing you.

That's Why It Hurts So Much
Back pain can be serious torture because most of the pain receptors in your back are found in the muscle tissues. And back muscles are approximately 20 times more painful than any other muscles in the body because they're complex and located so close to the spinal cord, says Art Brownstein, MD, author of Healing Back Pain Naturally (Harbor Press, 1998). "If you were a champion basket weaver, you couldn't weave a basket so sophisticated with all the different angles and fibers as your back muscles, which orchestrate the many joints in your back."

Stretch Those Strained Muscles
Stretching—that thing you may do involuntarily when you wake up every morning—can directly relieve the back pain that emanates from strained or sore muscles, says Art Brownstein, MD, author of Healing Back Pain Naturally (Harbor Press, 1998) and assistant clinical professor of medicine at the University of Hawaii in Manoa.

Stretching elongates muscle tissues, improves blood flow, and speeds delivery of oxygen and nutrients to the back. It also helps decompress the vertebrae (the 24 movable bones that make up your spine), which press on the disks, the cushionlike pads between them.

Here is a simple stretch you might want to try: Lie on your back. Slowly bring your right leg, bent, in toward your chest, only as far as comfortable. With your hands on your shin, hold this position for 10 to 20 seconds, then slowly release and repeat with your other leg. Repeat five or six times in the morning before you rise and in the evening before you go to sleep.

This can help even if your pain is so severe that you can't get out of bed—or off the floor. Start slowly and gently, gradually increasing the stretch as your back begins to loosen up and heal.

Remember to breathe deeply and fully, adds Dr. Brownstein. "Your breath is the link between your mind and body," he says. "When you're mentally agitated and upset, you can hyperventilate and not get enough oxygen. When you breathe slowly and deeply, your mind calms down, your nerves calm down, and your muscles stop contracting and start to lengthen. With this, blood flow is restored, and healing can occur."

Relax Spasms With Yoga
During acute lower back strain, the muscles on either side of your spine at your waist, known as the paraspinal muscles, will go into spasm and feel tender and tight. As the muscles contract continuously, they squeeze off their own blood supply and deprive themselves of oxygen, explains Mary Pullig Schatz, MD, author of Back Care Basics: A Doctor's Gentle Yoga Program for Back and Neck Pain Relief (Rodmell Press, 1992).

"You can get into a vicious circle, where the reaction of the muscles to continuous spasm and oxygen deprivation causes more spasm and thereby more pain," says Dr. Schatz. To relieve back spasms, Dr. Schatz recommends the following yoga pose:

Lie on your back on the floor. Place a rolled-up towel under your neck and towels under your head. Place the back of your calves on a chair so that your thighs and calves form a 90-degree angle. For extra relief, place a 2-pound bag of dried beans on your belly. Your arms should be outstretched at your sides, palms facing up, at a slight distance from your body. Remain in this pose for 5 to 10 minutes. As you're doing this pose, use what Dr. Schatz calls the "relaxation breath."
Inhale through your nose, then exhale, also through your nose.
Near the end of the exhalation, count silently to yourself—1,001...1,002...1,003—allowing the air to gently escape and the exhalation to come to a natural pause. Then begin the next breath. Continue breathing this way for 2 to 3 minutes. Then return to normal, relaxed breathing for the remainder of your time in the pose. When you're ready to get back on your feet, roll onto one side and rest there for 1 minute before you push up into a sitting position. If you get up too quickly, you could prompt the spasms to return.

Acupressure: Fast Relief
It sounds too good to be true: You can make your back pain subside, or even disappear, by applying pressure to a particular point on your body. That's a simplified description of acupressure, a traditional Chinese technique that brings almost instant relief to back-pain sufferers.

By placing pressure on certain points on your body-points used in acupuncture—the Chinese believe that you unblock the flow of vital energy, or qi (pronounced chee). Those blockages, they say, create an imbalance of qi in the body, which can make you more susceptible to pain and illness. (Western scientists who have studied acupuncture, however, believe it may work by increasing the production of endorphins, hormonelike pain relievers your body makes in response to injury. The same may be true of acupressure.)

However, if it works—and it apparently does—acupressure brings only partial relief from back pain, says Christina Stemmler, MD, a Houston-based physician who uses both acupuncture and acupressure in her practice. Depending on the source of the problem, acupressure could lower pain by 50 to 75 percent, although acupuncture tends to bring instant and complete relief for acute back pain, she says.But if back pain strikes suddenly, you're probably not going to be anywhere near an acupuncturist, so acupressure is best for a quick fix. Dr. Stemmler recommends the following acupressure points for back pain. Press these points with the tip of a mechanical pencil with the lead retracted or with the fingernail on your index finger:

Center the pencil tip between your nose and upper lip. Apply deep pressure, hold for several seconds, and release. Repeat 5 to 10 times until the pain begins to release. Place the pencil tip between your inner anklebone and Achilles tendon, the large tendon running from your heel bone to the calf muscle. Apply deep pressure, hold for several seconds, and release. Repeat 5 to 10 times. Make a fist. On the outside of your hand, next to the pinky finger, locate the spot where the skin folds and bulges. That's your acupressure point. Place the pencil tip there, apply deep pressure, hold for several seconds, and release. Repeat 5 to 10 times.

Quick Fix for "Sitting Strain"
You think of it as resting, but your back regards sitting as a real strain. Too much time on your duff for any reason can lead to back pain, says Jerome McAndrews, DC, national spokesperson for the American Chiropractic Association in Arlington, VA.

Here's why: When you sit for long periods of time, the muscles in the back of your legs shorten and contract abnormally from lack of activity. When you stand up, these muscles resist returning to their normal length and "yank" on the back of the pelvis. In turn, the muscles in your lower back, which are attached to the top of the pelvis, also get pulled. This pulling and tugging can lead to back pain, says Dr. McAndrews.

Here's how to loosen the muscles in the back of your legs:

Lie on the floor with your knees bent, feet flat on the floor. Grasping your hands around your right thigh, gently pull one leg in toward your chest, keeping your other leg slightly bent. Only go as far as is comfortable. Hold for 10 to 20 seconds and release. Repeat with the other leg. If your pain becomes worse, stop doing the exercise.

When you can easily do this exercise, try doing it with your inactive leg straight, but not locked. Hold a towel or rope around your leg to gently pull it toward you. Only go as far as is comfortable.

As a variation, stand on the balls of your feet on the bottom stair. To keep your balance, hold the railing with one hand. Now, let your weight carry your heels down below the level of the step to stretch out the calf muscles in the back of your legs. Hold for 1 minute. Repeat several times until you feel the calf muscles relax or "let go," says Dr. McAndrews.

Get Herbal Relief
When back pain strikes, you can reach for a nonprescription pain reliever such as acetaminophen, ibuprofen, or even aspirin. And why not? They work. But some people can't tolerate their side effects, including stomach upset.

Herbs provide a natural alternative to over-the-counter pain relievers without the undesirable side effects, says Douglas Schar, DipPhyt, MCPP, a medically trained herbalist in London and editor of the British Journal of Phytotherapy.

"Back pain is an ongoing problem for many people. They often have to use medicine off and on for long periods of time. That's where herbal medicines make a big contribution. They're milder, and they don't have the same side effects as some of the over-the-counter preparations," Schar says.

If you know what's causing your back pain, try one of the following herbal remedies:

Cramp Bark
For back pain caused by strain and overuse of muscles, Schar recommends cramp bark, a muscle relaxant that soothes spasms. Cramp bark is available as bark or as a tincture.

Tea: Add 1 teaspoon of the bark to 1 cup of boiling water. Steep for 10 minutes. Strain and drink the tea three times daily.
Tincture: 1 teaspoon three times daily. You should feel some relief immediately. Continue to use cramp bark for up to two weeks, until the pain completely disappears.

Valerian Root
Back pain caused by tension and stress can be eased with valerian root, which blocks the transmission of stress from the brain to the body. Valerian root is especially helpful when used preventively because it calms you in stressful situations, Schar says. "Some people get a backache during stressful periods. The smartest plan is to start using valerian root at the onset of the difficult time—before the backache sets in," he says.

Look for valerian root capsules or tablets. Follow the instructions on the product label, and use it for the duration of the stressful period.

Rivak E. Hoffman
President Somagenesis Health Inc.

It’s the year 2006 and American people have never been more pressed for time. Many people feel they must accomplish multiple goals at once. A multi-tasker in corporate America might negotiate a multi-million dollar deal via their cell phone, submit an order of materials on behalf of their vice president over the Internet, and watch the final quarter of a Monday night football game. Although multi-tasking is a challenging and tiring method of managing workload, it builds stamina and resilience to environmental pressures. Multi-tasking does not have to be limited to the office or family room, though. One can actually multi-task during an exercise routine at the gym. For the purposes of this article, this phenomenon will be called “anatomical multi-tasking,” but it is commonly known as balance and stability training.

A modern-day gym no longer consists of oversized, gender-discriminating Nautilus machines, and a few bikes and treadmills. It is now a fitness amusement park with multi-colored stability balls, Bosu balls, snake-like tubes, foam rolls, Dyna Discs, Reebok stability boards, and other tools that can be utilized to challenge the core musculature during a standard weight bearing exercise.

Each of these tools is different in size, shape, weight, and form, but they can be positioned in a way that will not only enable a person to independently train a muscle, but also independently train the core musculature. For example, a standard weight bearing exercise for the chest is a two-armed dumbbell press on a bench. The primary muscle group being exercised is the pectoralis major and the secondary muscle group being exercised is the deltoid region. Ten repetitions with 70% of a one-repetition max can yield a sustainable burn. Let’s say the flat bench is replaced with a stability ball. Now, the primary muscle group being exercised is the upper portion of the core, as one has to achieve stability in an unstable position to complete the second set. The secondary and tertiary muscle groups being exercised are the pectoralis major and deltoid region. What is the difference between the first and second set? First, the workout environment changed from a flat bench to a round ball. Second, the second set exercised three major muscle groups and the first set exercised two major muscle groups. Finally, the caloric loss and metabolic rate is higher when one anatomically “multi-tasks” with different fitness equipment as opposed to one with less fitness equipment.

However, a flat bench is not as “boring” as it sounds. For example, one can set up on the bench and come back down. This is a simple leg workout. However, one can hold on two dumbbell curls, come up to do a bicep curl, lift one leg up in a knee position, and both arms to perform a shoulder press. Once they are on top, the person brings down the weights into an isometric bicep curl position and comes down from the bench in the original starting position. This exercise can be done in the front, sagittal, and transverse planes, depending on which side of the person is the most weak. What gets accomplished in this exercise? First, the hamstrings and calves get stronger, leading to increased functionality with movement patterns. Second, the biceps, shoulder, and tricep muscles are all activated. Finally, the core musculature is exercised through simply balancing on top of the bench with one leg in the air. SIX muscle groups are being exercised in ONE movement pattern– If this isn’t anatomical multi-tasking, what is?

As one walks through the modern-day gym, they will see some doing acrobatic exercises with many different pieces of equipment and others without any equipment. People will invariably fall off their stability balls or roll of the foam. There are a few who just avoid them like the plague itself. As frustrating as the acrobatics are, stability and balance training are absolutely necessary for strengthening the core musculature, needed to not only maintain the extensibility of the lower and mid back (one of the most overused muscles in the human body), but also to employ energy reserves from the core- to engage in more advanced power exercises that could lead to a greater increase in fitness benefits. So, here’s a note for the American multi-tasker at the gym: If you think that talking on a cell phone, typing on a laptop, and watching television will make you feel accomplished, wait until you do lower abdominals raises with a weight between your ankles as you do chest flies on a long foam roll for one, straight minute…and then do it three more times.

In the meantime, there are ways to avoid January overcrowding and make it past the 90-day hump. When selecting a new gym, visit the facility during the time of day you're most likely to attend. If it's crowded, check to see whether waiting lists and time limits on machines are enforced or whether it's a free-for-all.

2. "Don't touch anything -- this place is crawling with bacteria." About 80% of all infectious disease is transmitted by both direct and indirect contact, says Philip Tierno, director of clinical microbiology at New York University Medical Center and the author of "The Secret Life of Germs." That makes the gym, with its sweaty bodies in close proximity, a highly conducive environment for catching everything from athlete's foot to the flu.
In swabs of medicine balls, for example, Tierno found samples of community-acquired MRSA -- a strain of staph resistant to some antibiotics. "You take your chances," Tierno says. "Any time you touch a medicine ball or machine, you have to know that your hands are contaminated and should be washed."

What about those spray bottles some gyms provide for wiping down equipment? They may help, Tierno says, but he recommends additional measures, such as wearing long sleeves and pants while working out. Also, bring your own towels, since there's no guarantee that your gym's linens have been bleached or rinsed in clean water. While in the locker room, make sure you wear flip-flops, and avoid sitting nude on any exposed surface.

3. "We're not equipped to handle health emergencies." Almost one-third of sudden cardiac arrests outside of homes and hospitals occur in fitness clubs or sports facilities, says Mary Fran Hazinski, a registered nurse and senior science editor at the American Heart Association. Yet most health clubs aren't fully prepared for such crises. That was the case at a 24 Hour Fitness in California, where Nick Pombra, 43, collapsed after running on a treadmill in July 2004. Gym staff tried CPR, but by the time paramedics arrived, it was too late, says Mike Danko, a lawyer for Pombra's family. 24 Hour declined to comment.

While effective CPR can buy time, it won't reset a heart after cardiac arrest. That's where automated external defibrillators, or AEDs, come in. Chances for revival drop as much as 10% each minute that passes without proper CPR and defibrillation. But even in states like New York that require gyms to have CPR equipment, as well as AEDs and trained personnel in clubs with over 500 members, two-thirds surveyed by the attorney general's office in 2005 weren't in compliance. Find out if your club has the right equipment and, equally important, staff trained to use it.

4. "Our trainers don't know what they're doing." If you work out at a gym, chances are an on-site personal trainer will try to sell you his or her expertise. And with their Colgate smiles and buff bodies, they must be able to teach you a thing or two about getting into shape, right? Not necessarily. Trainers need no standard certification, and the credentials some flash require only a quick online course or a fee, says Neal Pire, a fitness-industry consultant and former trainer.

Jonathan Jacobson, a marketing exec with a degenerative disk disease in his lower back, sought out a trainer to design a routine appropriate for his condition. But after following a boxing regimen the trainer recommended, he was left in pain. When his doctor told Jacobson, 35, to stop, the trainer suggested Pilates -- which only further aggravated the problem, ending in a slew of medical procedures. "He had certificates and tons of plaques on the wall," Jacobson says. "It's taken about a year to not be in pain every day."

Seek trainers with credentials from respected institutions like the American College of Sports Medicine, National Strength Conditioning Association or the Coopers Institute-- preferably with some training in sports medicine or phys ed.

5. "We won't let you quit." If you think giving up the Ben & Jerry's is tough, try quitting your gym. Trouble canceling membership is one of the top complaints against fitness clubs logged with the Better Business Bureau and states' attorneys general offices. Before Chris Hinkle and his wife moved to North Carolina, they met with the manager at their Gold's Gym in Austin to cancel their prepaid membership. They were told a refund check would be in the mail. That was March. After months of unreturned calls, Hinkle contacted the BBB, which also got no answer from Gold's and gave it an unsatisfactory rating. "I was an ecstatic booster of Gold's," Hinkle says. "Now I tell people to never go there." A Gold's spokesperson says the club sends a refund in such cases once it receives proof of a move -- documentation Hinkle says the Austin manager didn't ask for in March.

For those paying monthly, calls from collectors or a battered credit score may be the first clue membership was never terminated, says Todd Mark of the Consumer Credit Counseling Service of Greater Atlanta. Follow contract terms to the letter, providing proof of a move or a doctor's note. Create a paper trail, and alert credit agencies about the dispute.

6. "Be sure to read the fine print on our contract." The devil is in the details, and it's never truer than when it comes to fitness club contracts. Fast-talking reps may offer you a deal you can't refuse, but often that's exactly what you should do. "Sometimes you end up with salespeople trying to make quotas that engage in pressure," says Helen Durkin, head of public policy at IHRSA. Occasionally, this can lead to a glossing over of details. One Bally offer that has elicited complaints on Consumer Affairs' Web site is a 30-day trial membership with a catch: You must visit the club a minimum of 12 times during the first month to cancel without penalty; otherwise, you're locked into a multiyear membership. Some consumers complain they did attend the required number of times but that when they decided to cancel, the club had no record of the visits. A Bally spokesperson says the company's policy is to check all members entering the club and record their usage.

Your best defense: Read every word of the contract. Never rely on a suave salesperson's "word" no matter what authority they profess, and don't let anyone pressure you into signing before you're ready -- take the contract home and read it overnight.

7. "Our equipment can be downright dangerous." Unlike many businesses, fitness clubs do not need a license to operate. Furthermore, although the American College of Sports Medicine and other groups publish guidelines for the industry, they don't have the teeth of the law. "In most cases [the gym] is not a safe place to go because there is little standardization," says Marc Rabinoff, forensic expert and professor of human performance and sport at the Metropolitan State College of Denver.

Take equipment maintenance, for example. Although manufacturers must include instructions with exercise machines, nothing forces gyms to follow them, Rabinoff says. Injuries can result from poorly or improperly maintained equipment, says Cedric Bryant, chief science officer for the American Council on Exercise. Harold Leon Bostick knows that all too well. Due to a design defect in a machine he was using, a stack of weights came crashing down while the law student was doing squats at a California gym in 2001, severing his spinal cord.

Bryant recommends asking to see maintenance and cleaning logs-- hallmarks of a good club. Gold's Gym, for one, says it follows manufacturers' maintenance guidance to the letter and replaces equipment every five to seven years. And avoid machines that stick or don't move smoothly.

8. "Everything is negotiable." Balloons and freebies often signal promotion time at your local gym -- most frequently before the holidays and at the start of summer.

Already a member? Jot down these specials, and ask for one of them when it comes time to renew your membership. Some gyms will honor the rate months after the posters come down, says Mark, of the Consumer Credit Counseling Service of Greater Atlanta. If you're looking into a new membership, remember that the cheapest deals will likely be those that lock you in for a long time. For example, Bally's flexible plans, including month-to-month memberships, typically cost $5 to $10 a month more than its popular long-term "Value Plan." As for trainers, you might be able to get a break if you decide to share sessions with a friend or two, says Carol Espel, Equinox's national group fitness director.

9. "If your wallet gets lifted, it's not our problem." In 2003, the FBI put out a bulletin about a group of burglars stealing credit cards from lockers of health club members on the East Coast. Since then, there's been no similar FBI bulletin -- but that doesn't mean your valuables are safe at the gym. You never know who's lurking around the locker room while you're sweating away on the elliptical machine. "For so many people, the health club is like a community," says IHRSA spokesperson Brooke Correia. "You feel very comfortable, but there are situations where potential thieves will break into the club and take advantage of that safe atmosphere."

Ben Osbun tried to end 2004 on a healthy note by working out at his local YMCA on New Year's Eve. But the day quickly soured. When the Chicago real estate agent returned to his locker, he found that the padlock had been cut and his cell phone, keys and wallet were all missing. Only his jacket was left behind; the thieves showed him some mercy since it was December, Osbun says. He adds that the gym staff wasn't particularly surprised by the incident, since petty theft is common in health clubs. Osbun learned his lesson; he now brings very little with him to the gym.

If you do intend to store items in a locker while you're working out, IHRSA recommends using a padlock with a key, which is harder to pick than a combination lock. Good to know -- not that it would have helped Osbun any.

10. "Go ahead and sue; you'll never win." Fitness clubs sure do know how to watch their backs, legally speaking. It's nearly impossible to visit a fitness center without signing a waiver that absolves the club of liability -- involving everything from malfunctioning machines that cause injury to improper instruction by staff members.

In Michael Stokes' case, it was a defect in the basketball court's floor at his Kent, Wash., gym that caused ruptured tendons in his knee and shoulder. While a judge found that Stokes may not have known what he was signing, a subsequent Court of Appeals ruling upheld the waiver and dismissed the case, says Mark Davis, a lawyer at Curran Mendoza who represented Stokes.

And that's how it usually goes, since the majority of states' courts tend to side with the gyms on the matter of liability waivers, while only a handful, including those in New York and Virginia, are likely to rule against them. Occasionally, a judge will rule on behalf of plaintiffs in instances of gross negligence, but that bar is set pretty high in some states, such as Washington, Davis says.

Bottom line: Understand that you're taking your health in your own hands when you go to the gym, so you need to watch your own back -- literally.

A drum-tight, sculpted midsection: You probably kissed that goodbye after high school, the babies, or since you took a desk job. But get ready for a reunion.

We won't lie: You do have to eat right and exercise. But we're here to maximize your efforts. Here are the very best moves, products, foods, clothes, and more for flattening your tummy fast. Some even give instant results!

Bad Back
Best Exercise: Lying chest raise. This ab-and back-strengthener is great for preventing lower back pain and for rehabilitation after an injury—as long as you have no pain and your doctor has given you the go-ahead.

How it's done: Lie on your stomach, keeping your hips and pelvis flat. With your hands under your chin (or in a pushup position to assist in lifting, if necessary), contract your lower back muscles and lift your chest about 30 to 35 degrees off the floor. Hold, then slowly lower.

Worst Exercise: Crunches with your knees dropped to one side. This twists your spine, and when you lift up, it compresses the vertebrae—a sure recipe for aggravating or creating back pain.

At-Your-Desk
Best Exercise: Seated knee lift. This exercise not only tones your abs, but you can do it in a skirt and heels—without getting on the floor, says Willibald Nagler, MD, physiatrist-in-chief at New York Hospital's Weill Medical College of Cornell University in New York City.

How it's done: Sit up straight in a firm, armless chair. Grab the chair's edges just in front of your hips. While supporting yourself with your hands, slowly draw your knees up toward your chest while breathing out, keeping your lower back pressed against the chair. Hold, then slowly lower.

Worst Exercise: Reaching for the candy bars in the bottom drawer.

Number of Reps
Best: Take this test to find out. Do as many perfect crunches as you can: feet flat, knees bent, elbows out, slow movement (3 seconds up, hold for 1 second, 3 seconds down), your upper back about 3 inches off the ground. If you can do between 1 and 5 perfect crunches, subtract 1 from that number; between 6 and 10, subtract 2; between 11 and 15, subtract 3; and for 16 or more crunches, subtract 4.

This is the number of reps that you should do for each set. (For example, if you can do 10 perfect crunches, you should be doing sets of 8 reps each.) Do three sets, with 60-second breaks in between. Retest yourself regularly to update your workout. Crunches with your legs up or on a decline bench are more difficult, so you may not be able to do as many in the beginning, but that's okay. Do as many as you comfortably can. As your abs get stronger, you'll be able to do more.

Worst: More than 50. And if you're not seeing results from 50 reps, 100 or 200 won't help either! Quality, not quantity, firms your midsection. Ten well-executed crunches are better than 50 sloppy ones. To stay challenged without adding reps, you should switch to a different kind of ab exercise every 6 weeks.

Abs
Best Exercise: Legs-up crunch. Keeping your legs on a chair or bed or in the air helps to make a basic crunch more difficult—and more effective. It makes your abs, particularly the upper portion, do all the work because your hip and leg muscles are unable to provide assistance.

How it's done: Lie on your back with your knees bent and your lower legs placed horizontally on top of a chair. Your thighs should be vertical, your hips close to the chair. Curl up slowly, with your upper back about 30 degrees off the floor, and hold. Slowly return to the floor. For a more challenging workout, hold your legs straight up in the air.

Worst Exercise: Fast, old-fashioned situps. These work your hip muscles; your abs do very little. It also doesn't help that you're more likely to use momentum, especially if your arms are straight overhead or pulling on your head, explains Prevention advisor Wayne Westcott, PhD, fitness research director for the South Shore YMCA in Quincy, MA. This move also places lots of stress on the lower back.

Waistline
Best Exercise: Crossover crunch. This exercise hits the obliques, which wrap around your sides and are key to creating a wispy waistline.

How it's done: Lie on your back, knees bent and feet flat on the floor, and place your left ankle on your right knee. Put your hands behind your head, with your elbows pointing out. Slowly raise your right shoulder toward your left knee, lifting your upper back and twisting slightly. Keep your elbow in line with your ear, not in front of you. Don't pull on your head or neck. Hold, then slowly lower. Repeat to the other side.

Worst Exercise: Twists with a broomstick. There's no resistance, so your abs won't get stronger or firmer. The only thing this will do is stretch and warm up your trunk muscles.

Lower Belly
Best Exercise: Reverse curl. This move works the lower portion of the abs, targeting that bulge below your belt.

How it's done: Lie on your back and place your hands, palms down, alongside your thighs. Bend your hips and knees to form a 90-degree angle: thighs vertical, lower legs horizontal. Now slowly contract your abdominal muscles, lifting your hips about 2 to 4 inches off the floor. Keep your upper body and arms relaxed. Hold, then slowly lower.

Worst Exercise: Straight leg lift. Your legs and back are doing most of the work, so you'll see few results in your midriff. And this move puts tremendous stress on the lower back, increasing your chances of injury.

Sleeping Position
Best: On your back. Sleeping this way, with a pillow under your knees, prevents your back from arching. Sleeping on your back regularly can prevent back pain, so that you can keep building those abs.

Worst: On your stomach. This position causes your back to arch. Do it for 8 hours every night and you may end up with workout-inhibiting back pain.

Foods
Best: Beans and berries. White beans, blackberries, dried apricots, and winter squash are high-fiber winners, says John Allred, PhD, professor of nutrition in the department of food science and technology at Ohio State University in Columbus. Not only is fiber great for weight loss because it makes you feel full, but it also prevents constipation, which can make your belly look larger. Aim for 25 to 35 grams (g) a day. Note: If you're not used to eating high-fiber foods, increase your intake slowly and spread it throughout the day. Too much, too fast can cause bloating and discomfort.

Worst: Anything eaten in excess. Eating too many calories—whether they're fats, carbohydrates, or proteins—can expand your waistline.

Drinks
Best: Ice-cold water. It's calorie-free and fills you up, so you eat less. It can also help flush away premenstrual bloating. Drink it ice chilled, and you'll even burn a few extra calories as your body warms it up.

Worst: Alcohol. Beer and liquor tend to raise levels of cortisol, a hormone that appears to steer fat toward the tummy. You're also more likely to get the munchies when you've been drinking.

Supplement
Best: Calcium. This mineral is essential to keep your bones strong and prevent osteoporosis, which can lead to fractures in your spine. Those fractures produce a slumping posture and a protruding belly. (When vertebrae fracture, the spine and abdominal cavity shorten, pushing the stomach outward.)

If you're a woman age 50 or older, shoot for 1,500 milligrams (mg) of calcium a day. For women under 50 and men, the target is 1,000 mg.

Worst: "Fat-burning" pills. These so-called wonder drugs promise a trimmer tummy without any mention of the words "exercise" and "nutrition." Your money would be better spent on a good pair of walking shoes!

Sports
Best: Kickboxing, racquetball, swimming (crawl stroke), and tennis (singles). Any type of aerobic exercise will burn off belly fat. But these are rated best because they involve movements—rotating, pulling, and swinging—that use the waist muscles too. And they all burn more than 475 calories an hour.

Worst: Bicycling. For abs, that is! Those muscles are not engaged at all. But you do have calorie burn: Biking at a moderate 12 mph pace burns 544 calories. So if you like it, stick with it—just focus on keeping your abs tight as you ride.

At-Home Devices
Best: Exercise ball. Crunches performed on these soft, bouncy balls (about 53 inches in circumference, inflated) improve upon the basic floor version in two ways. First, your abs work nonstop in order to stabilize you—even between crunches—and the closer together that your feet are, the harder you work. The balancing also helps improve coordination. Second, an exercise ball allows a greater range of movement so you can extend your body beyond horizontal along the ball's curve, making the crunches more challenging.

You can purchase exercise balls for about $20 to $30 at many major sporting goods stores.

Caution: Avoid using an exercise ball if you suffer from lower back problems.

Gym Equipment
Best: Decline bench. This padded bench makes crunches more challenging because, with your upper body lower than your hips, you're working against gravity.

How to use it: Set the decline for no more than 30 degrees or you'll get too much hip flexor involvement. Lie with your knees bent to prevent your legs from helping out. Slowly curl up about 30 degrees off the bench. Hold, then slowly lower.

Habits
Best: Standing and sitting up straight. Slouching forward accentuates your belly. But good posture is an instant belly flattener—and over time, it will become second nature.

Worst: Smoking. Those who puff tend to have larger waistlines than nonsmokers and former smokers. The culprit here seems to be cortisol, the hormone of stress (which may itself be fueling the habit).

If want to hide your tummy fast, these debloating and camouflaging tricks can take an inch or more off your waistline in 12 hours.

Tummy Tips
Drink water. Carbonated drinks and those with lots of sugar can blow your belly up like a balloon, says Peter McNally, DO, spokesperson for the American College of Gastroenterology.

Skip the chips. Salt makes you retain water, especially before your period. Processed and canned foods also tend to be high in sodium.

Give your jaw a break. Chewing gum can cause you to swallow excess air.

Get some java "to go." If you're feeling overdue for a bathroom session, studies show that a cup or two of coffee can get things moving.

Shape up underneath. Body shapers, or high-waisted spandex waist nippers and panties, can take off an inch or more. The more spandex (Lycra) they contain, the more control you'll get. Note: Excess bulge can squeeze up and over, so avoid clingy tops, says Jan Larkey, a Pittsburgh-based image consultant and author of Flatter Your Figure (Simon & Schuster, 1992).

Buy the dress that fits now. Forget sizes! No one will see the tag, but if it's too snug around your middle, you might as well yell, "Hey, check out my belly!" Show off your strongest feature to draw attention away from your tummy. Great arms? Go sleeveless. Tina Turner legs? Wear a shorter hemline. Sexy shoulders? Choose thin—or no—straps. If you prefer a dressy suit, choose a long jacket worn over a straight, slim skirt.

Rivak E. Hoffman
President Somagenesis Health Inc.

Have you ever had low back problems, ankle or neck pain, cramps in your muscles, or felt tightness in your body? If yes, here’s an explanation of it...

As you grow older, muscle tissue in your body become shorter and tighter due to inactivity, poor posture, muscle imbalance, muscle overuse and etc. All of these can bring you lots of pain, and increase risk of injuries.

You can easily prevent these problems by stretching before and after your cardio or weight lifting workouts, just spending a few minutes during the day. Believe me, stretching is the best thing to do for your body any time during a day. You will get lots of benefits and your body will thank you.

The benefits of muscle stretching:

• Reduce risk of low back problems such as sciatica and pyriformes syndrome
• Improve circulation into your muscle fiber
• Help in breaking down cellulite cells
• Decrease risk of muscle tension, sprain, and injury
• Decrease tightness in shoulders, neck, and, upper back muscles
• Reduce neck pain and headaches
• Improve good posture
• Improve joint of motion
• Decrease soreness after exercises or prolonged sitting
• Reduce anxiety, stress, and fatigue 

The correct way to stretch is to breathe easily, never hold your breath, relax, and focus only on the muscles being stretched. You should feel a mild stretch and then hold 10-15 seconds. Never stretch to the point of pain. If the tension increases or becomes painful, you are overstretching the muscle and should back off into a more comfortable stretch.

Stress is so bad for our health that it can actually KILL US. It kills us and makes us FAT. When we are under stress our body releases a higher level of adrenalin to help our body cope with stressful situation. Another substance that is released into our body when we are under stress is Cortisone.

Cortisone is a hormone made by the adrenal gland, which definitely causes FAT gain. If made in excess or used in excess as a drug, cortisone also causes muscle, bone, skin, and other protein loss. Pretty flattering results, eh? So it slows our metabolism. You gain fat and lose muscle.

Cortisone also causes abnormalities in sugar metabolism.

Talk about a vicious cycle:

• Weight gain causes increased insulin.
• Increased insulin causes increased cortisone.
• Increased cortisone causes increased weight and abnormal sugar metabolism!
• And on and on and on.

Finally, cortisone causes pre-fat cells to mature to become fat cells, making storage of fat easier. Cortisone makes the brain less sensitive to the fat-cell-produced hormone leptin, which controls hunger, appetite, satiety, and cravings—so they become even more difficult to control.

Now you know that STRESS MAKES YOU FAT. But there is good news: If cortisone levels increase, diet and exercise also cause normalization of insulin and cortisone within days to weeks of starting a diet program. And now what happens is that your body starts to produce Endorphins Hormone.

ENDORPHINS IMPROVE OUR MOOD and your cortisol levels will be back to normal. It is very important for us to understand how hormones in our bodies work, if we want to achieve results in the gym. Please don't let anxiety and stress ruin your day.

Find healthy ways to fight stress:

• A poor diet can also contribute to stress or anxiety -- for example, low levels of vitamin B12.
• Eat a well-balanced, healthy diet. Don't overeat.
• Get enough sleep.
• Exercise regularly.
• Cardio training helps with stress. Go jogging.
• Limit caffeine and alcohol.
• Learn and practice relaxation techniques like yoga, tai chi, or meditation.
• Spend time with friends and family.
• Have fun: movies, sports, traveling, etc.
  

Lower Abdominal Myth
It is widely believed that the lower abs are exercised during leg raises or other hipflexor exercises. It can be misleading to judge the mechanics of an exercise based upon localized muscular fatigue. The primary muscle used in hip flexion is actually the Iliopsoas, one of many hip flexors. The Iliopsoas, indeed, does happen to originate deep below the lower portion of the Rectus Abdominis. During the leg raise, the entire abdominal musculature isometrically contracts (contracts with no significant movement) to:

Posture the spine and pelvis

• Supports the weight of the lower body so the lumbar spine does not hyperextend excessively
• Maintains optimal bio mechanics of the Iliopsoas
• Hips are kept from prematurely flexing if the lumbar spine and pelvis does not hyperextend excessively
• Iliopsoas can contract more forcefully in a relatively slight stretched position
• Bent knee (and hip) sit-ups actually place Iliopsoas in a mechanical disadvantage - Counteracts Iliopsoas's pull on spine
• Many people with weak abdominal muscles are not able to perform hip flexor exercises without acute lower back pain or discomfort
• The combination of the local muscular fatigue, or a burning sensation from the isometrically contracted abdominal muscles, and from the working hip flexors produces fatigue in the pelvis area which we mistakenly interpret as the lower portion of the Rectus Abdominis being exercised. In movements where the Rectus Abdominis does Isotonically contract (contracts with movement), it flexes the spine by contracting the entire muscle from origin to insertion. The spine is not significantly flexed during the leg raise. Incidentally, both the spine and hip flexes during the Sit-Up and Hip Raise. (See Spot Reduction Myth above.)

High Repetitions Burn More Fat Myth
Performing lighter weight with more repetitions (15-20 reps, 20-30 reps, or 20-50 reps) does not burn more fat or tone (simultaneous decrease of fat and increase muscle) better than a heaver weight with moderate repetitions (8-12 reps). Weight training utilizes carbohydrates after the initial ATP and CP stores have been exhausted after the first few seconds of intense muscular contraction. Typically a set's duration is 20 to 30 seconds. For the average fit person, it requires 20 to 30 minutes of continuous aerobic activity with large muscle groups (eg. Gluteus Maximus and Quadriceps) to burn even 50% fat; fat requires oxygen to burn. Performing a few extra repetitions on a weight training exercise is not significant enough to burn extra fat and may in effect burn less fat. If intensity is compromised, less fat may be burned when light weight is used with high repetitions. The burning sensation associated with high repetition training seems to be the primary deterrent for achieving higher intensities.

For individuals attempting to achieve fat loss for aesthetics, the intensity of weight training can be a double edge sword. When beginning an exercise program, muscle mass increase may out pace fat losses, resulting in a small initial weight gain. Significant fat loss requires a certain intensity, duration, and frequency that novice exercisers may not be able to achieve until they develop greater tolerance to exercise. If an exercise and nutrition program is not adequate for significant fat loss, a lighter weight with higher repetitions may be recommended to minimize any bulking effects, although less fat may be utilized hours later. If an aerobic exercise and nutrition program is sufficient enough to lose fat, a moderate repetition range with a progressively heavier weight will accelerate fat loss with a toning effect. If a muscle group ever out paces fat loss, the bulking effect is only temporary. For a toning effect, fat can be lost later when aerobic exercise can be significantly increased or the weight training exercise(s) for that particular muscle can be ceased altogether. The muscle will atrophy to a pre-exercise girth within months. Higher repetition training may be later implemented and assessed.

Higher volume weight training (i.e. 3 sets versus 1 set of each exercise) with short rest periods of approximately 1 minute can stimulate a greater acute growth hormone release (Kraemer 1991, 1993; Mulligan 1996). Growth hormone is lipolytic in adults. It is hypothesized that maximal effort is necessary for optimizing exercise-induced secretion of growth hormone. Growth hormone release is related to the magnitude of exertion (Pyka 1992) and is attenuated with greater lactic acidosis (Gordon 1994).

Intense weight training, utilizing multiple large muscles with longer rest between sets, may also accentuate body lipid deficit by increasing post training epinephrine. Intra muscular tricylgycerol is thought to be an important energy substrate following repeated 30-second maximal exercise with 4-minute recovery intervals (McCartney 1996, Tremblay 1994). Rest periods lasting approximately 4 minutes between maximal exercise of very short duration is required for almost complete creatine phosphate recovery required for repeated maximal bouts (McCartney 1986).

It still may be recommended to perform high repetitions (eg 20-30) for abdominal and oblique training. It has been theorized, muscular endurance may be more beneficial for low back health than muscular strength. Furthermore, moderate repetitions with a greater resistance can increase muscular girth under the subcutaneous fat, particularly in men, who have greater potential for muscular hypertrophy. Increasing the thickness around the waist with existing abdominal fat may further increase bulk, particularly in men who typically have greater intra-abdominal and subcutaneous fat in this area. The abdominal musculature is composed of relatively small muscle mass as compared to the glutes, quadriceps, hamstrings, chest, and upper back. Performing high reps with a lighter resistance should not compromise metabolism or muscle increase, as would high reps with light resistance on larger muscle groups. See Spot Reduction Myth above.

It is plausible that the high repetition myth was originated and later propagated by bodybuilders that used calorie restrictive diets to shed fat before a contest. Because of their weakened state from dieting, they were unable to use their usual heavier weights. When inquired about their use of lighter weights, they explained they were "cutting up" for a contest. This is merely a theory, but it is easy to see how it may have been misunderstood that the lighter weight was used to reduce fat instead of actually being a result of their dietary regime.

Typically with weight training alone, fat loss is similar to muscle gain, give or take a few pounds. Certain dietary modification can have much greater impact on fat loss than weight training alone. The ideal program for fat loss would include the combination of proper diet, weight training, and cardio exercise