Monday, October 5, 2009

List of Super Foods That Prevent Disease

I present to you a list of super foods you may want to add to your diet. Diet is a key factor in maintaining your health and preventing disease. To further reduce the risk of disease, many people are adding super foods to their diets. Super foods have the property that they provide health benefits that surpass just providing nutrition for your body.

What makes these foods different? They contain high amounts of phytonutrients that provide additional protection against disease. The foods that can be classified as super foods is open for debate, but there is no question, certain foods stand above the rest in protecting against chronic disease.

Broccoli-Broccolli contains a high concentration of vitamin C as well as fiber and isothiocyanates(a potential cancer preventative).

Spinach-Spinach contains a diverse range of flavonoids as well as vitamins K, A and C. It is known to help prevent a host of chronic disease. Low in calories and high in nutrition.

Watercress-This super food contains nasturtin which gets changed into an isothyocyanate called PEITC. In recent studies, the growth of certain types of cancer have been shown to be slowed by this chemical. Watercress has also been though to reduce the potential for macular degeneration. It is best to eat this raw, as heat can cause the breakdown of PEITC.

Blueberries-Blueberries are known to have high amounts of antioxidants, including anthocyanins. They help with memory, learning, motor skills and the nervous system.

Raspberries-An excellent alternate for a dessert, raspberries contain anthocyanins
similarly to blueberries.

Apples-Rich in flavonoids, which have antioxidant properties. There is a correlation between apple consumption and reduced risk of stroke and diabetes. They also have vitamin C.

Yogurt-Yogurt contains probiotics, or friendly bacteria. Yogurt supplies bacteria to the intestines to help digest food. This helps the entire perform better, by removing wastes and toxins more effectively. Not to mention the calcium and protein yogurt contains.

Wild salmon-Salmon has a high content of omega 3's, similarly to walnuts. Wild salmon is much better since farm raised can contain pesticides that cause cancer.

Kale-Kale has similar benefits as the other green vegetables, broccoli and watercress. It contains isothiocyanates and other vitamins and minerals such as A, C and E.

Tomatoes-Many people don't think tomatoes should be considered a super food, but it is a great source of lycopene, which is an antioxidant that may prevent prostate cancer. Lycopene is best absorbed when cooked(tomato sauce is a good source).

Green tea-A source of catechins such as EGCG, which help prevent certain cancers and heart disease.

Flaxseed-Another source of omega 3 fatty acids, flaxseed is known to help protect heart health and reduce inflammation. It also has lignans, which may slow breast tumor growth. The seeds must be ground, as whole seeds pass through undigested.

Avocados-Avocados contain oleic acid, a compound known to lower the risk of heart disease and lower cholesterol. They also contain fiber, potassium and folate.

Walnuts-Omega 3 fatty acids are the main beneficial ingredient in walnuts. Omega 3's lower cholesterol and triglycerides. They also contain fiber, vitamin E and B's and other vitamins. Should be eaten in moderation as they are high in calories. Recommended amount: handful a day.

If you want to add an additional nutrition punch to your diet, try these foods!

Sunday, October 4, 2009

20 Minute Workouts To Burn Fat

I cannot burn fat for you and reading this article, or others like it, without actually exercising won't help. It's time to start making baby steps towards better health. Quit with the excuses about how long exercising takes every day. In this article, I give several 20 minute workouts that are sure to burn fat in no time. Are you ready for the first step?

Quick 2 minute sets(supersets)

You don't think it is possible for you do exercise everday? Well we have the perfect workout for you. Supersets are for those of you in hurry. They should last around 2 minutes. There's no excuse for you not to take 2 minutes out of the day to try this.

Eventually, you want to work up to 20 minutes workout every day, but we will start small at first. You're going to do 10 sets of pushups or crunches. Alternate, but do not stop! When you do pushups, you rest your midsection, and while doing crunches, you rest your upper body.

When you are ready to start, begin with ten regular pushups, then 10 crunches. Follow this with 10 wide arm pushups and back to 10 crunches. End with 10 tricep pushups(hands close together) and finally 10 more crunches. This will get you sore, but that is what you want on the road to a toned body!

Alternate Leg and Ab supersets each day

Letting your muscles rest is important for toning them. Do pushups/crunches Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and a leg and ab superset on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. Do 20 squats, lunges an calf raises between crunching sets of 10. Now that you've mastered the super sets, lets start something else.

Walking/Running

Walk or run, depending on your current physical condition. If you can do both, alternating, this is also great. How far do you think you can walk/run in 20 minutes? I know you can do at least 1 mile, no problem, but challenge yourself. Time yourself and try to beat that time everyday, write it down if you must. Also if you have someone to run with, that will help to push each other.

More 20 Minute Workouts

The above methods will get you started, but you should diversify so you do not get bored. One of the best exercises is swimming. It tones every part of the body. Try doing a set of situps or pushups between laps. Other workout ideas are hiking, biking, band/resistance training, lifting weights, and any other physical sport you like to do.

Block out the negative thoughts that are stopping you from exercising. You just have to start small and work your way up or you will never get started.

Lose Fat with Exercise

Exercises that help you lose fat, when coupled with certain foods, will get you the results you desire.

Belly fat is one of the most difficult places to lose fat for many people. The body likes to store fat here, particularly in men, and also in the hips and thighs in women. Think crunches will help lose that ab fat? Well, you are right and wrong.

Crunches and other stomach exercises build muscles in and around your stomach. This helps burn fat at a faster rate in that area. However, if crunches are the only thing you do to lose weight, you will not see any appreciable results.

You may think running is the best way to burn that extra fat on your stomach. Once again, this is not the most effective way. Yes, you should run for cardio health, but you won't get ripped in your stomach from running. You must change your diet.

I am sure you have seen the fat people at the gym running long miles on the treadmill, but they never lose any weight. This is due to poor diet! They eat some bad food, then go to the gym to burn extra calories they shouldnt have eaten in the first place. Reducing the junk food intake reduces the amount you have to exercise(duh?). So eat less, run less!!

Saturday, October 3, 2009

Weight Loss Strategies for Women

Are you trying to lose a few points and begin living a healthier life? This article has tips for quick effective weight loss that works.

Taking the first step is the biggest challenge.

These 3 effective weight loss strategies have been show to help lose weight and promote a healthier life.

1. Changing eating habits is one of the first steps. You must prepare mentally. Conquering your mind is difficult, and if you do not succeed, you may find it hard to lose any weight you have accumulated. Look into the future and what you want to see yourself as and imagine how that would be accomplished. Once you change your mind, weight loss is much easier

2. I cannot stress this enough! You must eat 5-7 smaller meals rather than 2-3 large ones. This helps stabilize the metabolism so that it is active throughout the day. Instead of snacking on junk food, snack with healthy foods like carrots, or protein shakes/bars. Stop eating fruit. It has high sugar content and should only be eaten occasionally. Supplement with vitamins.

3. Cardio workout is important. Try an exercise that rapidly increases heart rate then falls(run on treadmill for a minute, then walk for 2-3 minutes). This alternative cardiovascular exercise helps dig deep into the fat tissues and removes them. This is a great type of workout because it is not too strenuous.

These short term changes will have lifelong results. You will be more healthy, have more energy and live longer.

Tips for the Dieting Sweet-tooth

Trying to lose weight, but have a nasty sweet tooth? I'm sure you have tried the low carb desserts, but find them rather not so satisfying.

There are a few things you can do to reduce the impact of sweets without changing the taste.

Baked Goods
Some folks just have a weakness for those tasty baked goods. When you make brownies for example, replace half the oil with apple sauce(1/4 cup per 1 Tbs oil you did not add). This reduces the fat and adds some fiber to the brownies.

Candy Snacks
Some people need a continuous flow of sweets throughout the day. Rather than packing the usual soft sweets such as chocolate, try hard candies. They last longer in your mouth so you won't eat as much overall.

Creamy Substitutes
When making desserts, try subsittute foods such as fat free/half fat cool whip. Also try using sugar substitute such as splenda(1 to 1 substitute for sugar).


Frozen Fruit
Keep frozen fruits in you freezer instead of those pre-made pies and desserts. Eat them as is or blend with yogurt, add to cereal or any other combination you enjoy. Natural fruit is much healthier than any other calories you could intake from sugary sweets.

Should I Drink Coffee and Caffeinated Drinks While on A Diet

A large percentage of Americans drink coffee or tea daily. It is estimated that as many as 50 percent of Americans drink 2+ cups of coffee or tea every day. This is a stunning amount of caffeine intake in this country alone.

People don't think of their daily dose of coffee as a drug, but it is still very addictive. It causes similar symptoms as drugs such as withdrawal. There is also a physical and psychological dependence on it. Caffeine is a stimulant that affects the central nervous and has been linked to health problems such as increased heart rate, change in blood flow/blood vessels, ulcers, kidney problems, birth defects and more.

What about decaffeinated drinks? The decaffeination process puts toxic chemicals that remove the caffeine. These chemicals are no better than the caffeine they remove.

A single cup of coffee can take over 24 hours to completely path through you stomach and kidneys. This is very stressful on these filtration systems. If you drink over 5 cups of coffee a day, I'd start putting some money away towards dialysis machine.

Consuming food with coffee causes the food to leave the stomach earlier than it should. The food will not be digested well enough and will move very slowly through the intestines, causing constipation. This results in waste buildup and toxins, which contribute to weight gain and other medical problems.

I don't want to scare you away from coffee, but I want you to be aware of the effects and that you should drink it moderately.

Coffee is also a diuretic. It removes water from the body's cells. This causes dehydration. This doesn't help with effective waste removal, since as you know, water is important for the digestive system.

If you have a strong dependence on coffee, then start small. Slowly remove it from your diet. If you do drink it, drink an equal amount of water to counter its effects.

For an effective weight loss plan, caffeinated beverages are not in your best interest.