Cobra Cue: Stretch Your Lower Back
YOUR DAILY FIT TIP
By Jennifer Gruenemay, ACE-Certified, Special to Lifescript
Published August 16, 2011
http://www.lifescript.com/Body/Shape/Fit-tips/Cobra_Cue_Stretch_Your_Lower_Back.aspx?utm_campaign=2011-08-16-87986&utm_source=diet-fitness&utm_medium=email&utm_content=diet-fitness_Cobra_Cue_Stretch_Your_Lowe&VID=87986&FromNL=1&sc_date=20110816T000000
Back injuries are common in exercisers and manual laborers. Why? Because lifting, moving and being physical in general can be tough on your back. This is especially true if you don’t take time out to strengthen and stretch your lumbar spine. Instead of setting yourself up for injury, take a few minutes each day to lightly stretch out your lower back.
The cobra is a great stretch that can be modified for beginners or tailored for advanced fitness buffs. Lie on your stomach (face down) and place your hands, palms down, next to your shoulders as if you were going to do a pushup. Keeping your hips and legs on the floor, slowly push your upper body off of the floor, using your arms to lift you (you’ll feel it in your triceps). Push up until you feel the stretch in your lower back and hold for 20 seconds. Stretches should only be done to the point of mild discomfort, never to pain. Lower yourself back to the floor, and repeat once more for a deeper stretch. Never force yourself into a deep stretch if your body can’t handle it. If you can’t push up very far or if your hips start to lift off the floor before you can stretch completely, your lower back is too tight.
Perform this stretch once or twice daily for a week, and then continue it at least once every two to four days.
MY THOUGHTS
I think I'd opt for a massage to ease lower back pain. In any case, losing weight will lessen back pain considerably.
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
Sunday, August 14, 2011
Taste Bud and Weight Loss
Taste bud training is new weight loss tool
From: AAP
August 13, 2011 12:52AM
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/breaking-news/taste-bud-training-is-new-weight-loss-tool/story-e6frf7jx-1226114134473
SCIENTISTS have come up with a novel way of helping overweight people drop some kilos - retraining their taste buds.
Australian researchers have found that overweight and obese people who regularly tuck into fatty foods are less able to taste fat.
As fat promotes fullness, if a person is insensitive to fat their body will not send out signals telling them they are full and need to stop eating.
However the researchers found that switching to a low fat diet made people more sensitive to tasting fat, increasing their ability to feel full faster and stop overeating.
The findings by scientists at Deakin University's Centre for Physical Activity and Nutrition Research builds on their discovery in 2010 of a taste bud that detects fat.
For the latest study, 19 people of a healthy weight and another 12 who were overweight or obese were put on a low-fat diet for four weeks and a high-fat diet for another month.
The participants were all given samples of custard after following the low-fat diet and each could taste which ones had lower amounts of fat.
However when they switched to a high-fat diet it was only the people of a healthy weight who showed any change in their ability to recognise different fat levels.
While the healthy weight people were less able to taste different fat levels in custard, those who were overweight or obese showed no change in their sensitivity to fat.
The centre's Associate Professor Russell Keast said the study showed being on a low-fat diet makes overweight and obese people more sensitive to fatty tastes.
"It was interesting that we could improve fat sensitivity of overweight/obese people with low fat diets - in a sense train their tastebuds to be more sensitive to fat," he said.
"This provides hope that their body may be able to adapt over a period of time, thereby responding to dietary fat in a similar way as a healthy weight person."
But Assoc Prof Keast said simply switching to a low fat diet was not necessarily the only way to help obese people lose weight.
Scientists still did not have a complete understanding of the role genetics played in obesity and more studies were needed to determine if different types of fat could affect how sensitive people become to detecting fatty foods, he said.
Another possible key to weight loss could be linked to whether specific foods or different types of fat can make people less or more sensitive to tasting fat.
Assoc Prof Keast said the centre's study had revealed that the participants who were less sensitive to fatty tastes tended to eat more meat and high-fat dairy foods.
He said if scientists could work out whether eating certain fats helped people feel fuller, the concentrations of those specific fats could be increased in foods which could possibly then be marketed as weight-loss products.
"Everything comes down to the response to what you are eating," he said.
"It's certainly not as easy as saying this is the only solution.
"Overweight and obesity is a result of multiple factors and excess consumption of fat is only one of them."
The study was published in the International Journal of Obesity and Clinical Nutrition.
MY THOUGHTS
I guess we acquire the taste for something when we eat it often. Which means that the moe we eat healthy food the more we will crave for it? I don't know. It remains to be seen.
From: AAP
August 13, 2011 12:52AM
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/breaking-news/taste-bud-training-is-new-weight-loss-tool/story-e6frf7jx-1226114134473
SCIENTISTS have come up with a novel way of helping overweight people drop some kilos - retraining their taste buds.
Australian researchers have found that overweight and obese people who regularly tuck into fatty foods are less able to taste fat.
As fat promotes fullness, if a person is insensitive to fat their body will not send out signals telling them they are full and need to stop eating.
However the researchers found that switching to a low fat diet made people more sensitive to tasting fat, increasing their ability to feel full faster and stop overeating.
The findings by scientists at Deakin University's Centre for Physical Activity and Nutrition Research builds on their discovery in 2010 of a taste bud that detects fat.
For the latest study, 19 people of a healthy weight and another 12 who were overweight or obese were put on a low-fat diet for four weeks and a high-fat diet for another month.
The participants were all given samples of custard after following the low-fat diet and each could taste which ones had lower amounts of fat.
However when they switched to a high-fat diet it was only the people of a healthy weight who showed any change in their ability to recognise different fat levels.
While the healthy weight people were less able to taste different fat levels in custard, those who were overweight or obese showed no change in their sensitivity to fat.
The centre's Associate Professor Russell Keast said the study showed being on a low-fat diet makes overweight and obese people more sensitive to fatty tastes.
"It was interesting that we could improve fat sensitivity of overweight/obese people with low fat diets - in a sense train their tastebuds to be more sensitive to fat," he said.
"This provides hope that their body may be able to adapt over a period of time, thereby responding to dietary fat in a similar way as a healthy weight person."
But Assoc Prof Keast said simply switching to a low fat diet was not necessarily the only way to help obese people lose weight.
Scientists still did not have a complete understanding of the role genetics played in obesity and more studies were needed to determine if different types of fat could affect how sensitive people become to detecting fatty foods, he said.
Another possible key to weight loss could be linked to whether specific foods or different types of fat can make people less or more sensitive to tasting fat.
Assoc Prof Keast said the centre's study had revealed that the participants who were less sensitive to fatty tastes tended to eat more meat and high-fat dairy foods.
He said if scientists could work out whether eating certain fats helped people feel fuller, the concentrations of those specific fats could be increased in foods which could possibly then be marketed as weight-loss products.
"Everything comes down to the response to what you are eating," he said.
"It's certainly not as easy as saying this is the only solution.
"Overweight and obesity is a result of multiple factors and excess consumption of fat is only one of them."
The study was published in the International Journal of Obesity and Clinical Nutrition.
MY THOUGHTS
I guess we acquire the taste for something when we eat it often. Which means that the moe we eat healthy food the more we will crave for it? I don't know. It remains to be seen.
Thursday, August 11, 2011
LOSING WEIGHT WHILE WATCHING TV
The Couch Potato Workout
YOUR DAILY FIT TIP
By Jennifer Gruenemay, ACE-Certified, Special to Lifescript
Published August 09, 2011
From www.lifescript.com
Is watching too much television one of your major weight-loss hurdles? It’s easy to get into a routine of scheduling your life around your favorite TV shows each week, which can also easily get in the way of your weight-loss goals. You didn’t go for a run Sunday night because Desperate Housewives was on, or you missed out on the hike your friends took this weekend because the big game was on.
If watching TV has become an addiction for you, it’s time to exercise some self-discipline and cut down on how much time you spend in front of the tube. How much is too much? A healthy adult should watch no more than one or two hours of television a day. So if your TV habit is way over that mark, it’s time to take a break.
But for those shows that you just can’t miss, make TV time work for you. Take a cue from the authors of “The Commercial Break Workout Book” and use TV downtime to your advantage. Make it a goal to complete 10 pushups and 20 sit-ups during every commercial break, or try jump roping for the entire break. There are easily five, 5-minute breaks during a 1-hour TV show, which means you can get a 25 minute workout in without having to drive to the gym. Watch two 1-hour shows and you almost have a full hour of exercise in for the day! Turn your guilty pleasure into a healthy pasttime, and you can take the guilt out of watching TV.
MY THOUGHTS
A TV addict? You can't make that en excuse for not losing weight. This is good advice. Better start taking it.
YOUR DAILY FIT TIP
By Jennifer Gruenemay, ACE-Certified, Special to Lifescript
Published August 09, 2011
From www.lifescript.com
Is watching too much television one of your major weight-loss hurdles? It’s easy to get into a routine of scheduling your life around your favorite TV shows each week, which can also easily get in the way of your weight-loss goals. You didn’t go for a run Sunday night because Desperate Housewives was on, or you missed out on the hike your friends took this weekend because the big game was on.
If watching TV has become an addiction for you, it’s time to exercise some self-discipline and cut down on how much time you spend in front of the tube. How much is too much? A healthy adult should watch no more than one or two hours of television a day. So if your TV habit is way over that mark, it’s time to take a break.
But for those shows that you just can’t miss, make TV time work for you. Take a cue from the authors of “The Commercial Break Workout Book” and use TV downtime to your advantage. Make it a goal to complete 10 pushups and 20 sit-ups during every commercial break, or try jump roping for the entire break. There are easily five, 5-minute breaks during a 1-hour TV show, which means you can get a 25 minute workout in without having to drive to the gym. Watch two 1-hour shows and you almost have a full hour of exercise in for the day! Turn your guilty pleasure into a healthy pasttime, and you can take the guilt out of watching TV.
MY THOUGHTS
A TV addict? You can't make that en excuse for not losing weight. This is good advice. Better start taking it.
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