Posts Tagged ‘wellness’

The Psychology Of Arm Toning

Monday, January 25th, 2010

Achieving arm tone doesn’t have to be an uphill battle for you. Unfortunately for me, It was an uphill battle.

And the most difficult part of the whole arm tone war was an unstable level of motivation. Despite all my efforts, I could not stick with a program for a very long time.

Sometimes the disappointment would be so great that I would jump ship all-together. And a jar of cookies would become my consolation.

But I had a wake-up call and came to the conclusion that this type of mental lifestyle was not going to get me the sexy arms I so desperately wanted.

So I searched high and low for a method that would allow me to stay motivated indefinitely. And I’m happy to say that I found said method. It was created by David Burns M.D. and in my opinion is the best thought modification system out there. Central to his method is the elimination of cognitive (thought) distortions.

So without further ado, here are three distortions you should avoid so that your arm tone motivation never fades:

1. Perfectionism distortions. If you see things as black or white then you have this distortion. For example, if you have to have a perfect workout or no workout at all then you suffer from perfectionism. Don’t sweat the small stuff and always keep moving forward despite minute setbacks. In other words, focus on general patterns of improvement.

2. Over-generalizing distortions. Just because you haven’t been successful today doesn’t mean you can’t be successful tomorrow. You simply haven’t found the right approach. Yet with this distortion, you assume that your past failures will keep on being your future failures. The key here is to keep on trying new things with a fresh outlook.

3. Mental filtering distortions. Make sure to always give yourself credit for the smallest of achievements. With this distortion you hardly focus on the positive and prefer to focus on the negative. If you have a test, for instance, and get 99 questions right and 1 wrong, you focus on the one you got wrong!

If you do not avoid the above cognitive distortions, arm tone will keep on eluding you. You have to achieve constant and lasting motivation in order to stick with an arm toning program.

And remember that the fastest path to sexy arm success if through rapid action. So don’t let this information sit in your head for too long, take action now!

Katherine Crawford M.S., a Harvard exercise expert and recent arm fat sufferer, is an expert on exercises for flabby arms for women. Discover how to get toned arms right now by exploring her blog on arm flab.

categories: weight loss program,weight loss programs,fitness,weight loss,health,women,beauty,wellness,exercise,metabolism,nutrition,psychology,motivation,eating disorder

How To Reduce The Size Of Your Arms By Burning Fat

Monday, January 4th, 2010

Too many women break their backs losing weight only to see no reduction in arm fat. Some women don’t break their backs at all and see a substantial reduction in arm fat. What makes the latter more successful?

There are various things that need to be manipulated in order for the arm flab to come off at an accelerated rate. This article will focus on exercise, nutrition, supplementation and advanced techniques.

If you follow my tips, there is no doubt in my mind that your results will be greatly enhanced. The key is to take action quickly. Don’t wait around for something to happen because it never does!

I’ve advised countless clients on how to lose arm fat with accelerated techniques. So without further ado, here are 4 rules to follow for rapid arm fat reduction:

1. Mix and match from 4 food groups. All your meals should have a vegetable, protein, fat and carbohydrate source in them. This is the best way to handle your nutrition. And make sure to keep saturated fat intake low as it messes up carbohydrate metabolism. If you want the fastest results possible only eat legumes (i.e., beans) as your carbohydrate source.

2. Practice carbohydrate depletion and repletion on a regular basis. The concept is simple: on the days you workout, maintain carbohydrate intake levels. On the days you don’t workout, decrease carbohydrate intake. This cyclical carbohydrate consumption will melt the arm fat away like nothing you’ve experienced before.

3. Exercise all the muscle fibers in your arm. High repetition, light weight workouts are a thing of the past. You absolutely have to use heavy weights to get toned arms. Fall short here, and you will not be able to target the whole spectrum of muscle fibers in your arms.

4. Drink a meal in liquid form immediately after your workout. You only have 20 minutes before the opportunity disappears. You see, immediately after your workout little transporters migrate towards the surface of your muscle cells. This provides a transient opportunity to get a “controlled” amount of nutrients into your arms to accelerate the arm-toning process.

With the above rules in mind, I’m sure you can accelerate your arm toning results. The key is to act on this information NOW instead of letting sit in your brain. Those women with the highest speeds of implementation are the most successful. It’s time for you to get sexy arms!

Having said that, one of the above pointers may not work out for you. And that’s fine because each metabolism is different. Just make sure to keep on experimenting!

Writer Katherine Crawford, a Harvard exercise expert and former flabby arms sufferer, instructs women on how to get skinny arms quickly. Learn how to get sexy and toned arms by visiting her blog about bingo wings exercises right now!

categories: toned arms,arm toning,flabby arms,flabby arm,weight loss program,weight loss programs,fitness,weight loss,health,women,beauty,wellness,exercise,exercises

Arm Flab And Energy Drinks

Friday, November 13th, 2009

Getting rid of arm flab is not easy. And in an attempt to get a slight edge, many women turn to energy drinks. Unfortunately, energy drinks come with many side effects that add up over time.

Unfortunately, energy drinks are extremely seductive. They can curb hunger when you’re trying to lose weight, they can help you overcome a massive sleep debt and they can put you in a good mood.

Nonetheless, here is the downside of energy drinks for getting toned arms:

1. Worsened digestion. Caffeine, the main ingredient in energy drinks, can wreak havoc on your digestive system. When taking in excess, it can compromise your digestive lining.

2. Artificial masking of sleep debts. Just because you no longer feel the need to sleep, doesn’t mean that your body isn’t suffering the consequences. One consequence, is a reduction in the production of arm flab burning hormones.

3. Disturbed sleep. Everybody wakes up while they’re sleeping. The awakenings are so short, however, that you don’t remember them. Caffeine increases the amount of awakenings without you being aware of it. You’ll wake up, be super tired and not know what happened.

4. Adrenal fatigue. If you were to continually consume energy drinks with abandon, you would reach a point where the energy burst would simply disappear. This happens because of adrenal fatigue. And chronic abuse of your adrenal system can lead to faster aging!

5. Cellular dehydration. Caffeine does two things: it increases dehydration and it masks the effects of said dehydration. This is not a good combo for arm flab. After all, cellular hydration has a direct impact on recovery, fatigue, mental state and metabolism.

Energy drinks aren’t all evil. They can do a great job at getting you out of a bind. The main issue is taking them on a regular basis to compensate for something else that is lacking in your daily routine. So use them in moderation when trying to get rid of arm flab.

Obtain free and valuable advice on the top exercises for upper arms immediately by going to Katherine Crawford’s M.S. website Sleeveless in 7. And figure out how to get sexy and thin arms ASAP by visiting her blog about arm exercises immediately!

categories: weight loss program,weight loss programs,fitness,weight loss,health,women,beauty,wellness,exercise,dietary supplements,nutrition,food,fat,metabolism

Liquid Diets Are Not Good For Weight Loss

Monday, November 9th, 2009

Liquid diets are popular means of losing weight fast and easy. Do you know the truth about them?

Taking liquid diets for many days continuously is not a good practice. You might lose a few pounds this way, but more importantly you will lose muscles of your body.

Your body will not get all the required energy for its functioning from the liquid diet. So what will it do?

At first, the body will try to get energy by burning fat then later on will burn muscles to gain more energy. So you will lose muscles with continued use of liquid diets.

Once you start eating solid food, the weight that you lost might come back again. But the muscles are unlikely to be back so easily.

In order to gain back the lost muscles, you have to do regular exercises. When you lose muscles, your body becomes weak.

As muscle loss makes your body weak, it is not a good practice to embark on liquid diets for fast weight loss.

Most people are not accustomed to low calorie intake that you get from liquid diets. Most liquid diets will consist of calories in the range of 400-800 per day.

You may get other side effects by suddenly reducing calories so much. It is far better to take a slow and steady approach instead of attempting to lose weight overnight.

Lets recap the major problems with liquid diets – muscle loss, sudden reduction in calories, weakness of body and problem in keeping the weight off.

Remember that you cannot continue liquid diets forever. Once you start solid foods, it can get pretty difficult to maintain the weight loss. The weight is likely to come back. As such, liquid dieting is a temporary solution.

Once you start eating solid foods again, it can get pretty difficult to keep the weight from coming back again. Sometimes, you may gain back more weight than your original weight.

These temporary solutions will cause muscle loss more than real fat loss. They can also cause metabolic rate to drop.

One thing you have to be careful about is that you should not continue liquid diets for may days. Otherwise you may face serious health problems.

Being on liquid diets for many days might cause damage to kidneys and lungs. Your immune system may also become weak with liquid dieting. These are important organs of the body and one should be careful regarding them.

Would you like to cause damage to them because of your haste to lose a few pounds? It is far better to approach weight loss through healthy means.

Final verdict is that liquid dieting is not a good option for long term weight loss. It is best not to try it out as a means of rapid weight loss.

Follow a proven program for rapid weight loss. Read more about quick weight loss plan now.

categories: weight loss, obesity, health, fitness, diet, dieting, beauty, health and fitness, family, exercise, food, wellness

Theories Of Excess Weight Gain

Monday, October 12th, 2009
by Katherine Crawford M.S.

The rising obesity epidemic is claimed to be a result of many factors-no single villain is to blame. Likewise, excess fat in your body can be the result of a wide variety of variables.

And in an attempt to figure out the fat factors, many academicians have tried to come up with solid hypothesis. Now these ideas aren’t the end all be all, yet they can shed some light on how to begin the battle against fatness.

So without further delay, here are potential explanations for why you’re carrying extra weight:

1. LPL. Also known as lipoprotein lipase, LPL is responsible for storing fat in your fat cells. Proponents of this theory postulate that people with excess body fat have a higher amount of LPL. And that those with lower levels of body fat have lower levels of LPL.

2. The quantity of fat cells. It’s not just size that matters here, it’s also about quantity. The more fat cells you have, the more likely you are to gain weight quickly. When do fat cells replicate the most? When you are young?

3. The regulated point. According to this one, your body has a certain weight or set point that it tries very hard to stay at. Any effort on your part to change will be immediately thwarted by metabolic slow down.

4. Brown fat. Not all body fat is created equal. White fat, the one responsible for fat storage, is sluggish and wants to hoard nutrients. Brown fat, on the other hand, makes fat cells release their energy as heat. This theory believes that lean people have a higher proportion of brown fat.

5. Reduced thermic effect. Proponents of this theory believe that overweight people get less of a thermic effect from food right after eating. They believe that over time this adds up and can lead to excess weight gain.

Now please don’t get too caught up with these multiple explanations of weight gain. After all, you do have a lot of control on how your body looks. Consistent research has shown that lifestyle factors account for a very large portion of weight gain regardless of genetics.

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Explore The Wholesome Dietary Advantages Of Acai

Thursday, October 8th, 2009
by Amanda P Carter

The acai berry is a little purple berry that hails from the rain forest in Brazil. Recently it has had a great deal of exposure and it has been marketed as useful for such things as losing weight, prevention of illness, reversing the troubles of aging and the continuance of excellent health.

But even with all of these claims as of March 2009 there have not been any controlled human studies that back up these claims. However, even without the scientific studies to prove it, after you become attentive of the particulars about this little berry your common sense will tell you that this tiny little dietary powerhouse of a fruit is an exceedingly nourishing extra to your diet.

Promotion claims on the acai berry reach from amplified energy levels and improved digestion to detoxification and superior sexual functioning. There are claims that it can improve your heart health, improve the look of your skin, shrink your cholesterol levels and it has frequently been marketed as a weight loss product.

While many of these claims may seem overstated the fact is that the acai berry is one of the most wholesome foods ever found on earth. It has one of the uppermost ORAC or Oxygen Radical Absorbency Capacity of any singular food. It has a healthy mixture of the healthy monounsaturated fats along with Omega 3, Omega 6 and Omega 9 fatty acids. It also boasts an very nearly perfect amino acid complex and it has a beneficial dose of fiber.

All of these healthy nutritious components can be a aspect in the claims that are being made. Fiber, essential healthy fats and antioxidants can all play a role to weight loss. Antioxidants have been proven to be a factor in the deterrence of illness and anti-aging. And superior nourishment has long been implicated in our all around good health by providing the components our own bodies need to generate excellent physical condition.

But the acai berry is not some newly revealed wonder food but rather it is just another food in a long line of nourishing and healthy foods that all add to our excellent wellbeing.

Nature is profuse in healthful and healthy foods. The acai berry is part of the berry group, which includes the very nutritious blueberries, raspberries, cranberries, and blackberries along with many others. There are also such wholesome foods as spinach, broccoli, cabbage and cauliflower. And there are many, many more healthy foods such as pumpkin, tomatoes, oranges, grapefruit, sweet potatoes and so many more. All of the healthy foods are useful to our physical condition and they can all be a factor to many of the same health benefits that the acai berry is commended for.

The acai berry is a highly nutritious food; in fact it is one of the healthiest of all. It has up to 10 times the antioxidant power of red grapes, twice the antioxidant power of blueberries. A healthy diet is advantageous to our health so even without the controlled studies it makes sense that this naturally nutritious fruit can be advantageous to our health. Try the acai berry and see how it can benefit you.

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6 Reasons Why Fasting Will Thwart Your Fat Loss

Thursday, October 8th, 2009
by Katherine Crawford M.S.

In order to survive, the health and wellness industry has to constantly come up with new gimmicks. One category of gimmicks are fad diets. And fasting has proven to be a somewhat popular fad.

The big problem with fasting, however, is that it can cause some very serious issues especially if you do it for a prolonged period of time. Don’t believe me? Here are 6 reasons why you shouldn’t be fasting:

1. Liver drainage. What drains out of your liver? Glycogen. And this can happen in less than a days time. Without glycogen your body doesn’t have a mechanism to control blood sugar. Thus, you’ll end up with extremely low levels of energy.

2. The transformation of muscle to sugar. Without sugar, the brain shuts down. This is one of the reasons diabetes is so scary. When you fast, sugar becomes depleted in your body. In order to prevent death, your body begins to transform muscle tissue into sugar.

3. The cannibalism of other tissues. Muscle tissue isn’t the only victim here. Other vital tissues like organs will also be cannibalized and transformed into sugar. This is definitely not a healthy state to be in.

4. Ketone bodies. Your body can only cannibalize so much tissue before you enter the danger zone. And once you’re in the danger zone, your body will do everything it can to get you out. How does it do it? With the production of ketones which are basically an inferior substitute for blood sugar.

5. No proven benefits. Many people undertake a fast under the impression that there’s some type of health benefit. Yet there hasn’t been any solid scientific evidence proving this. On the contrary, fasts tend to be extremely unhealthy.

6. Acid/base mayhem. Fasting is most likely going to disrupt the acid-base balance in your body. In addition to loses in minerals and the degradation of your intestinal lining. And the worst part of all of this is that exercise becomes extremely painful.

What effect do all these factors have on your body? A decreased metabolism. And studies have shown that most people end up bingeing after a fast above and beyond what’s needed for weight maintenance. The end result here is a massive rebound in weight and fat gain!

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3 Bad Diet Mistakes You Should Avoid At All Costs

Thursday, October 8th, 2009
by Peter H Torkington

No matter how much information you read about weight loss – and you could read all day and every day if you wished to – many people tend to make the same mistakes time after time. Whilst some of the mistakes are small mistakes some are often very basic and fundamental to you ability to be successful in shedding the pounds. You need to understand these basics if you are to achieve the change of attitude necessary to lose weight that remains a permanent loss of weight.

1. The All Or Nothing Attitude

All or nothing dieters will often pick out a complicated diet that is almost impossible for them to maintain. Before beginning, they will search the kitchen for anything that does not fit the plan and throw it in the garbage. They are planning to be the perfect dieter, and so they will be, for one day, three days, seven days or even a couple of weeks. Then, inevitably, something happens that means they cannot keep to the diet one time. Immediately the whole thing is ruined in their eyes and the diet is over. They go to the store and buy all the things that went into the garbage last week and proceed to gain back all the weight that they lost, as fast as possible.

If you are this kind of dieter you need to ask yourself some tough questions. Do you really want to lose weight permanently, or just lose a few pounds so that you can enjoy putting them back on again? The way forward is to make small changes to what you eat so that you have a slow but steady weight loss.

2. A statement of sacrifice.

Sacrificing or cutting out too many of your favorite items of food and drink may enable you to achieve your short term weight loss target but odds are that it will be too much to sustain. If you can make some adjustments and consume less of the more damaging or higher calorie items then you will gradually educate your body to the new regime. Once you have achieved your required weight loss then you’ll find it much easier to maintain your new weight because you have not sacrificed some of your favorites. Even the odd beer won’t ruin your entire dieting process.

3. Failing to meet your set goals or objectives.

If the goals you set yourself are un-realistic then failure occurs only too quickly. You own goals should be written down and shared with your partner, family or friends where appropriate. If you and people understand what you are trying to achieve and how you are going to achieve your weight loss goals then you are more likely to have support around you. It is lot easier to set a goal of 1 or 2 pounds a week for say 10 weeks than simply stating that you are going to loose 20 pounds. Inevitably some weeks you will exceed your targets and occasionally (I hope) you may not quite achieve your targeted loss (you may even have a small increase). In addition to writing down your targets also document your progress

If any of the above sound familiar to you then don’t worry too much – just regard the whole process as part of the learning process. Move on from your mistakes and implement what you have learnt. If you understand the mistakes you have made then you stand a chance of correcting them and make your own weight loss program work for you. I may be making a too general statement here but being determined to be healthier by eating and drinking with more awareness should lead to a healthier life and a more sustainable target weight.

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How To Get Sexy Arms With Proper Nutrition If You Workout In The Morning

Friday, September 25th, 2009
by Katherine Crawford M.S.

Nutrition for getting sexy arms isn’t too complex. Especially if you ignore all the fads.

Unfortunately, there are specific scenarios when advanced nutrition is needed. You can’t stick to the basics or else you may set back your sexy arm mission.

One tricky area is when you exercise very early in the morning. Since your body is coming out of a fasted state, you have to be very precise with your nutrition.

So here are some guidelines for early morning workout nutrition:

1. First priority is to drink. Water, not booze! You are severely dehydrated when you wake up whether you feel it or not. So drink at least 2 cups of water immediately-do this before anything else. You also need to rehydrate or else you won’t be able to digest breakfast.

2. When the workout is 3 hours upon waking. Eat a complete and balanced breakfast. Don’t skimp here! Have a source of protein, carbs and fat. And if you want to take it to the next level, add in some vegetables.

3. When the workout is 1 hour upon waking. You need some carbs and some fat to slow down the digestion of the carbs. A good choice here would be a peanut butter sandwich. And make sure the bread is whole grain, no high fructose corn syrup allowed!

4. When the workout is 10 minutes upon waking. You could make your own shake with an easily digestible carb like maltodextrin or dextrose, and add in some casein protein. Alternatively, you could have a supplement like power gel.

Exercising right after waking up is not good for you. It’s simply too hard for the female body to digest food so quickly. If you do this, you’re most likely going to start exercising while still in the fasted state-not a good thing if you’re trying to get sexy arms! So try to give yourself at LEAST 30 minutes between eating and exercising in the morning.

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A Massage Chair With Shiatsu Massage

Sunday, September 20th, 2009

Many massage chairs now have shiatsu massage treatments. Shiatsu is an ancient form of therapy. It is designed to relieve stress and to promote healing of many body ailments. Shiatsu can trace its roots back over 2000 years to ancient China. It is actually a derivative of acupuncture, but without the needles. Many massage chair manufacturers have incorporated shiatsu massage treatments into their massage chairs.

Did you know that shiatsu is a form of acupuncture? Yes, this is true. Acupuncture and its sister technique acupressure are two forms of stimulating trigger points in the body. Shiatsu uses a form of acupressure to trigger different point in the body.

There is one key difference between shiatsu and acupressure massage. Acupressure generally uses increasing pressure just over the trigger point. Shiatsu performs a similar technique but also will massage the area around the acupoint as well.

Just like any other massage technique, shiatsu continues to evolve in its definition. Other techniques and movements have been used as part of the overall shiatsu framework. It is common to find movements that include chopping, gripping and even vibration. These are effective for loosening and stimulating the body.

One of the main characteristics of massage is using increasing pressure over the trigger points. This is accomplished by using circular and rhythmic motions with sustained pressure. Shiatsu also massages the areas around the trigger points to relieve and stretch the soft tissue areas surrounding the trigger points.

Technologies have made available the number of different methods to duplicate the shiatsu massage. These technologies are controlled by software programs that coordinate the movements in a massage chair. This enables massage chairs to deliver consistent and effective shiatsu massage treatments.

Massage chairs use advanced roller designs which can move in three dimensions. This helps to replicate the increasing pressure which is a key characteristic of shiatsu massage. Manipulation of the soft tissue areas is done with a variety of movements to stretch and elongate the muscle tissue.

One of the first technologies used in massage chairs is vibration. Vibration is still used because it is effective in deeply penetrating muscle tissue. However, other technologies are used in addition to vibration motors in providing a relieving shiatsu massage therapy.

Another common technology used in massage chairs is that of air compression. Air compression helps by the squeezing and grasping action which is a typical trait of shiatsu massage. This squeezing anxious and helps to relieve tension in the muscles and reduces soreness, aches and pains.

Massage chairs contained computers which are programmed with sophisticated software programs. These programs initiate and run the various systems and a massage chair. The coordination of these different technologies provides for an effective and invigorating shiatsu massage.

Shiatsu massage is now practice throughout the world. There are many different massage therapy schools which teach different versions of shiatsu massage. Massage chair manufacturers also very in the different techniques and interpretation of shiatsu massage.

Massage schools throughout the world offer to train and shiatsu massage. However, they differ in their interpretation of the exact technique. They are common in the general set of movements and coordination of them in order to provide an effective therapy.

Although interpretations of the exact shiatsu massage techniques may vary, most are still very effective in delivering a massage treatment. Massage chair manufacturers will also vary somewhat in their interpretation of the shiatsu massage technique. You may want to try a couple of different massage chair plans in order to find the one that is most effective for you.

It is certainly amazing how advanced technology imitates many massage techniques. You can find a Shiatsu Massage Chair that performs many soothing and relieving movements. Shiatsu is one of the oldest massage techniques. Now, there are many Shiatsu Massage Chairs that can provide you an excellent massage.