Halloween Health

Nutrition and Halloween aren’t two words that are normally seen together, but it is possible to promote healthy eating habits during the Halloween season.

Here are some tips:

Fill kids’ bellies with a nutritious meal before they head out for trick-or-treating. This way, they are less likely to fill up on empty calorie foods. Giving kids healthy foods first will reduce the chances of overindulgence.
Pass out non-food treats such as those found at children’s birthday parties: pencils, note pads, bubbles, noisemakers, etc. If you have leftovers, these treats can easily be stored for use the following year. Just be sure not to pass out choking hazards to young children (coins, rings, etc).
Granola bars, pretzels, cheese and cracker packs, sugar free gum, packets of instant hot chocolate, raisins, and nuts are some healthy alternatives. (Note that raisins and nuts are choking hazard for young children).
If you must pass out candy bars, get the smaller fun sized ones. And only give one or two — not a handful — to your trick-or-treaters. Some candy bars have less fat and calories than others- read the labels before you buy.
Ration the loot: Total restriction of candy isn’t healthy- anything that is restricted or denied tends to take on greater appeal. On the other hand, allowing your child to devour an entire bag of candy is a sure bet for a stomachache. Stick to small servings by only allowing your child one or two pieces of candy per sitting as a dessert after a healthy meal. A few days after Halloween, put the candy out of sight and out of mind You can ration out the treats later.
Buy your Halloween candy at the last minute to avoid tempting yourself and other family members. Buy less than you think you will need.
Beware of cavities: Halloween candy, as well as any sticky, sugary food, can easily promote tooth decay. Make sure children brush their teeth well after a candy snack and before going to bed.
Keeping in mind common sense, a little forethought and moderation, Halloween can remain good, scary, delicious fun for children and adults alike!

http://www.palmettohealth.org/body.cfm?id=777


From Jared to You! Have a great Halloween everyone.

Dairy Foods Help Burn Fat, Speed Weight Loss

Dairy Products Beat Calcium for Weight Loss

In the study, researchers compared the effects of three different calorie-restricted diets on weight loss in 32 obese adults. Each of the participants reduced their daily calorie intake by about 500 calories per day for 24 weeks and were divided into three groups:

• High-dairy. Total calcium intake of 1,200-1,300 milligrams per day from three to four servings of dairy foods, specifically milk, hard cheese, and yogurt.
• High-calcium supplemented/low-dairy. Total calcium intake of 1,200-1,300 milligrams per day made up of no more than one serving of dairy per day plus an 800-milligram calcium supplement.
• Low-calcium/low-dairy. Total calcium intake of 400-500 milligrams per day with no more than one serving of dairy per day and a placebo supplement.

Researchers say participants were free to choose from fat-free, low-fat, and regular milk, cheese, and yogurt. They typically picked fat-free and low-fat milk and yogurt and regular cheeses, while keeping their overall fat intake the same.

Serving sizes were 8 ounces or a cup for milk and yogurt and 1.5 ounces of hard cheese (about the size of six dice) or 2 ounces of processed cheese, such as two slices of American cheese.

The study showed that all of the groups lost weight, but those who ate the dairy-rich diet lost the most with an average of 24 pounds compared with 19 pounds in the calcium supplement group and 15 pounds in the low-calcium/low-dairy group.

Dairy Products Beat Calcium for Weight Loss continued...

That translates to a loss of an average of 11% of total body weight for those in the high-dairy group versus 6% in the low-calcium/low-dairy group.

"What that means is that if you're including three to four servings of dairy in your diet, you can make a modest degree of calorie restriction as effective as a severe degree of calorie restriction," Zemel tells WebMD.

In addition, researchers found the high-dairy group lost significantly more body fat than those in the other groups, particularly from the midsection. Excess fat in the abdominal area has been linked to a higher risk of heart attack and other health problems.

Dairy's Role in Weight Loss

Previous studies have shown that calcium can boost weight loss by increasing fat breakdown in fat cells. But experts say this study suggests that taking in calcium from dairy products may actually improve on those effects.

"Dairy for some reason, yet unexplained, has a greater effect on fat loss and specifically trunk fat loss than does calcium alone," says Rachel Novotny, PhD, RD, professor and chair of the department of human nutrition, food, and animal sciences at the University of Hawaii in Manoa.

Although the bulk of dairy's weight-loss enhancing effects is caused by its calcium content, researchers say there are a variety of potential mechanisms that may explain those additional benefits and merit further research.

For example, Novotny says that some of the minerals in dairy products, such as phosphorous and magnesium, may enhance calcium's beneficial effects on fat breakdown within the cells. In addition, the proteins in dairy products may help preserve muscle and increase metabolism.

But Novotny and Zemel are careful to point out that the results shouldn't be interpreted as license to indulge in dairy products in hopes of spurring weight loss. They caution that the bottom line of successful weight loss is still burning more calories than you take in.

"The question is whether within those calories are there choices you can make that will enhance the results," says Novotny. "I think the findings suggest that dairy products and calcium can be helpful in preserving muscle, losing fat from the upper body, and actually enhancing the weight loss process."

http://www.webmd.com/diet/news/20040416/dairy-foods-fat-weight-loss

Top 6 Benefits of Glutamine to Build Muscle and Burn Fat

Glutamine (also called l-glutamine) is one of the most abundant non-essential amino acids found in the human body. It is found circulating in the bloodstream and stored in the skeletal muscles. In fact, more than 55% of the free-form amino acids in skeletal muscle is l-glutamine.

However, there is evidence that l-glutamine becomes a conditionally essential amino acid with strenuous exercise, such as intense weight training or aerobic/cardio exercises. Up to 50% of your body's glutamine can be depleted during intense weight training for muscle building or burning fat. As a result, the benefits of glutamine are numerous for people who want to build muscle and burn fat.

In its supplement form, l-glutamine generally comes in a flavorless, odorless white powder, in capsules, or mixed into your protein powders and shakes. In addition to glutamine supplements, this amino acid can be found from many dietary sources such as beef, chicken, dairy products, eggs, and several vegetable sources such as beets, beans and spinach.

Benefits of L-Glutamine

1. One of the most important benefits of L-Glutamine, particularly for those who want to build muscle, is its ability to slow the rate of muscle breakdown.

   This results in increased strength and endurance during intense exercise, meaning that you can lift heavier weights, longer, and train more often. This anti-catabolic effect is one of the most important glutamine benefits.

2. By preserving muscle tissue, glutamine also enhances your ability to burn fat. Your metabolism is directly related to the amount lean body mass. The more lean body mass (muscle, skeleton, etc.) that you carry, the faster your metabolism burns, and the easier it becomes to burn fat.

   However, when losing weight, we often lose muscle as well. The ability to slow this muscle loss is another of the glutamine benefits.

3. Another fat burning benefit of l-glutamine is that it may act to suppress appetite. There is some evidence in animal studies that glutamine supplementation may help control appetite.
4. Another of the benefits of l-glutamine is its effects on the immune system. Intense training puts stress not only on your muscles, but also on your immune system as well. Glutamine helps your body to recover more efficiently after a workout, which benefits your immune system as well as your muscles.
5. Also on the list of glutamine benefits is its ability to enhance growth hormone levels. This obviously has implications to those wanting to build muscle. There have been studies suggesting that 2 grams of L-Glutamine supplementation may increase growth hormone levels by up to 400%.
6. L-glutamine is made up of approximately 20% nitrogen. This makes it one of the best suppliers of nitrogen to your muscles. As a result, a popular muscle building/preserving supplement stack is l-glutamine with l-arginine.

Not only is this amino acid important for people looking to build muscle, but its muscle building and preserving effects are exactly the reasons that it is important for people who want to burn fat as well.

If you want to build muscle and burn fat, then you cannot overlook the many benefits of glutamine.

http://www.build-muscle-and-burn-fat.com/benefits-of-glutamine.html

Awesome Results

Megan finished up her program several weeks ago. What is cool is that she lives in Idaho. We did her whole program over the phone and online. Great job!!! Megan Lost 14.4 lbs on the scale and 4.3% body fat. You motivate us all.

AMAZING Salmon Recipe

Here is an amazing recipe you have to try. Even if you are not a fish fan, this will knock your socks off.

All you need is 5 ingredients. The salmon, of course. Fennel seeds, corriander, and grey sea salt. All of these can be found in the spices section of the grocery store. The last one is some fresh salsa, like pico de galo or home made. Grind the spices into a powder and use it as a breading. You can bake it or grill it on a piece of tin foil. Put the salsa on top and enjoy. Its AWESOME.

What's with Caffiene?

In humans, caffeine is a central nervous system (CNS) stimulant, having the effect of temporarily warding off drowsiness and restoring alertness. Beverages containing caffeine, such as coffee, tea, soft drinks and energy drinks enjoy great popularity. Caffeine is the world's most widely consumed psychoactive substance, but unlike most others, it is legal and unregulated in nearly all jurisdictions. In North America, 90% of adults consume caffeine daily.[5] The U.S. Food and Drug Administration lists caffeine as a "Multiple Purpose Generally Recognized as Safe Food Substance".[6] One 2008 study suggested that women consuming 200 milligrams or more of caffeine per day had about twice the miscarriage risk as women who had none, while another 2008 study found no link between miscarriage and caffeine consumption.[7] Caffeine is also a common ingredient of soft drinks such as cola, originally prepared from kola nuts. Soft drinks typically contain about 10 to 50 milligrams of caffeine per serving. By contrast, energy drinks such as Red Bull contain as much as 80 milligrams of caffeine per serving. The caffeine in these drinks either originates from the ingredients used or is an additive derived from the product of decaffeination or from chemical synthesis. Guarana, a prime ingredient of energy drinks, contains large amounts of caffeine with small amounts of theobromine and theophylline in a naturally occurring slow-release excipient.[20]
Chocolate derived from cocoa contains a small amount of caffeine. The weak stimulant effect of chocolate may be due to a combination of theobromine and theophylline as well as caffeine.[21] Chocolate contains too little of these compounds for a reasonable serving to create effects in humans that are on par with coffee. A typical 28-gram serving of a milk chocolate bar has about as much caffeine as a cup of decaffeinated coffee.
In recent years various manufacturers have begun putting caffeine into tablets, claiming that using caffeine of pharmaceutical quality improves mental alertness and is used by students that are studying for their exams. It is also used by people who work or drive for long hours. [24]
Effects when taken in moderation
The precise amount of caffeine necessary to produce effects varies from person to person depending on body size and degree of tolerance to caffeine. It takes less than an hour for caffeine to begin affecting the body and a mild dose wears off in three to four hours.[34] Consumption of caffeine does not eliminate the need for sleep: it only temporarily reduces the sensation of being tired.
With these effects, caffeine is an ergogenic: increasing the capacity for mental or physical labor. A study conducted in 1979 showed a 7% increase in distance cycled over a period of two hours in subjects who consumed caffeine compared to control subjects.[55] Other studies attained much more dramatic results; one particular study of trained runners showed a 44% increase in "race-pace" endurance, as well as a 51% increase in cycling endurance, after a dosage of 9 milligrams of caffeine per kilogram of body weight.[56] The extensive boost shown in the runners is not an isolated case; additional studies have reported similar effects. Another study found 5.5 milligrams of caffeine per kilogram of body mass resulted in subjects cycling 29% longer during high intensity circuits.[57]
Caffeine tolerance develops very quickly, especially among heavy coffee and energy drink consumers. Complete tolerance to sleep disruption effects of caffeine develops after consuming 400 mg of caffeine 3 times a day for 7 days. Complete tolerance to subjective effects of caffeine was observed to develop after consuming 300 mg 3 times per day for 18 days, and possibly even earlier.[68] In another experiment, complete tolerance of caffeine was observed when the subject consumed 750–1200 mg per day while incomplete tolerance to caffeine has been observed in those that consume more average doses of caffeine.[69]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caffeine

Dangerous Chemicals in our Bottled Liquids?

My brother sent me this article. Its long, but very interesting. I know I buy a lot of bottled water and we all have it in our homes. Not something I think I will stress about too much, but still....take it for what its worth :)



By Will Dunham

ROCKVILLE, Maryland (Reuters) - A major study links a chemical widely used in plastic products, including baby bottles, to health problems in humans like heart disease and diabetes, but U.S. regulators said on Tuesday they still believe it is safe.

The chemical bisphenol A, or BPA, is commonly used in plastic food and beverage containers and in the coating of food cans.

Until now, environmental and consumer activists who have questioned the safety of BPA have relied on animal studies.

But the study by British researchers in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that among 1,455 U.S. adults, those with the highest levels of BPA were more likely to have heart disease, diabetes and liver-enzyme abnormalities than those with the lowest levels.

U.S. Food and Drug Administration officials said they would review the new findings, which were not yet published when the agency issued a draft conclusion in August that BPA is safe at current exposure levels.

"We have confidence in the data that we've looked at and the data that we're relying on to say that the margin of safety is adequate," FDA official Laura Tarantino said at a meeting of experts advising the agency on whether it made the right call.

"There are things you can do if you choose to reduce your level of bisphenol A," Tarantino said. "But we have not recommended that anyone change their habits or change their use of any of these products because right now we don't have the evidence in front of us to suggest that people need to."

Panel chairman Martin Philbert declined to say what the committee's next move would be.

BPA is used to make polycarbonate plastic, a clear shatter-resistant material in products ranging from baby bottles to medical devices.

BPA can mimic the hormone estrogen in the body.

LEACHING INTO LIQUIDS

People can consume BPA when it leaches out of the plastic into baby formula, water or food inside a container. Some retailers and manufacturers are moving away from products with BPA. Canadian officials have concluded BPA was harmful.

Steven Hentges of the American Chemistry Council, an industry group, said the study's design did not allow for anyone to conclude BPA causes heart disease and diabetes.

"On the other hand, though, bisphenol A has been very intensively studied in a very large number of laboratory animal studies. And the weight of evidence from those studies ... continues to support the safe use of products containing bisphenol A," he said in a telephone interview.

The British researchers, who acknowledged their findings are not proof that the chemical is causing the harm, analyzed urine samples from a U.S. government health survey of adults ages 18-74 representative of the U.S. population.

The 25 percent of people with the highest levels of bisphenol A in their bodies were more than twice as likely to have heart disease, including heart attacks or type 2 diabetes, compared to the 25 percent with the lowest levels.

At the FDA panel meeting, several scientists and activists said the FDA ignored animal studies finding health concerns and some called for the chemical to be banned in food containers.

Democratic U.S. Rep. John Dingell of Michigan, who heads the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, said the FDA has "focused myopically on industry-funded research."

Iowa Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley, ranking member of the Committee on Finance, released a letter he wrote to FDA Commissioner Dr. Andrew von Eschenbach asking why the agency has not appointed a safety panel to review BPA.

Tarantino said nothing was ignored but industry-funded studies finding no harm were important in the conclusions. The panel is expected to present its advice to the FDA next month.

Tarantino, head of the FDA's office of food additive safety, said there is talk of government scientists doing their own BPA safety studies, but that could take years to conduct.
http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSN1644774820080916?pageNumber=1&virtualBrandChannel=0&sp=true

Sacrifice Brings Reward

Often times I tell my clients that I want you to be able to live your life and still enjoy the foods you love. This is true, but you also need to understand that the greatest reward doesn't come without some sort of sacrifice. True sacrifice will bring you loads more joy in the results. PLUS you will get there faster. Helen Keller once said, "Many persons have the wrong idea of what constitutes true happiness. It is not attained through self-gratification but through fidelity to a worthy purpose." I want everyone to succeed. And if you ask me, your healthy if definitely a worthy purpose. So today and everyday, I want you to ask yourself this; What am I sacrificing to reach my goal today?

The Key to True Success

Most people admire and respect strong individuals who have won great success by manifesting will power and self discipline. People in all walks of life, who with sheer will power, self discipline and ambition have improved their life, learned new skills, overcame difficulties and hardships, reduced their weight, rose high in their chosen field or advanced on the spiritual path.
The truth is that everyone can reach high levels of will power and self-discipline through a practical method of training. These inner power are not reserved for a few special people.
Will power and self discipline are two of the most important and useful inner powers in everyone's life, and have always been considered as essential tools for success in all areas of life. They can be learned and developed like any other skill, yet, in spite of this, only few take any steps to develop and strengthen them in a systematic way.
What is self discipline? It is the rejection of instant gratification in favor of something better. It is the giving up of instant pleasure and satisfaction for a higher and better goal.
It manifests as the ability to stick to actions, thoughts and behavior, which lead to improvement and success. Self-discipline is self-control, and it manifests in spiritual, mental, emotional and physical discipline. http://www.enotalone.com/article/2873.html
The benefits of self control are unlimited. You can honestly attain anything you want if you can learn to be the captain of your own ship.

The Importance of Resistance Training

Most of the literature incorporates both strength and endurance training into one category called “Resistance Training”. Regardless of whether training is done to improve strength or to improve endurance, it is important to include as part of a regular exercise program.
Most adults lose about ½ pound of muscle each year after the age of 20. Muscle mass is associated with metabolism. Muscle burns calories at a higher rate than fat, so the more muscle you have, the more efficient you are (and the more you need to eat). Resistance training builds muscle to prevent or reduce muscle loss and help improve metabolism – a key to maintaining your weight.

Benefits of Resistance Training
In addition to the physical appearance benefits, here are some of the other benefits shown in the literature:
Improved blood pressure
Increased bone density
Improved metabolic function
Improved balance and shock absorbency
Improved body composition
Increased strength of muscles and connective tissue which decreases the risk of injury.

http://www.nwhealth.edu/healthyU/getMoving/resistance.html