Health and Fitness Care - Weblog

By: Keith Crovatt

Bodybuilding takes hard work and the discipline is enormous. Building your body will require you to work around very heavy weights and irons. To guarantee that these items do not have a detrimental effect on your body’s muscles, you must take a few safety precautions or injury can set you back for months. Begin by reading lots of material on the best bodybuilding practices. Careful instruction in the appropriate lifting methods will pay off in the long term. Do not forget some of the most important and most overlooked methods of protection. These are the warm up period and the cool down period including stretches. Here are 5 essential techniques from the gym to protect your body.

1) Always start with proper warm ups. The warm up and cool down periods should last for at least 15 minutes. I like to start with a stationary bicycle or elliptical to get the blood flowing. 10 minutes of this exercise will make a huge difference in your performance. 5 minutes of stretching will follow to get the muscles use to what will come along.

2) Start by going from low to high. What we mean by this is start with lighter weights first. After one set of this size, move up to the heavier weights. This lets your muscles get the idea of heavier lifting and prepares them for the increase of your body’s strength.

3) Determine exactly what your limits are and how far you can go. Only you can determine what the limits of each muscle group will withstand during bodybuilding. It is good to always challenge the limits of your muscles but be careful not to strain them beyond their capacity. Even expert bodybuilders can cause terrible damage to their muscles by going beyond their limits in pursuit of bigger muscles.

4) Bodybuilding training is not a competition every time you set foot in the gym. It is a process for gradually building muscle mass and toning your body over time. You are not proving anything to yourself by hurting your muscles. Take your time as you increase the weights. When you feel you may be over exerting yourself, back off of the weight amount and increase the reps. Muscle definition and building muscle mass is a result of calculated restraint. Aggressive risks will only set you back from the goals you have designed.

5) Always have a spotter when training with free weights. We can not over emphasize this point enough. The spotter should be closely matched to your size so each of you can assist in the other person’s muscle building workout. If you find yourself in a troublesome position, the spotter can quickly jump in and help out. You can then act as their spotter and this serves to increase your motivation and accountability. Each partner will not let the other off of their goals easily. No one wants a visit to the hospital. Your spotter will prevent this at all costs.

Bonus - an often overlooked method to stay safe in the bodybuilding sport is the use of mirrors. Why do most gyms have mirrors surrounding the weight areas? The form and method of lifting weights is very important. Lifting weights off center or lifting weights improperly are a major contributor to pulled muscles and injury. Start using lighter weights in the proper form with mirrors and watch your bodybuilding efforts explode.

How Omega-3s affect Weight Loss

by Craig Weatherby
Courtesy of Vital Choice Seafood

Scientists have known for some time that diets rich in seafood were associated with better weight control. For example, a study published in October of 2004 showed that a diet high in fish reduced both body weight and blood levels of leptin: a hormone that promotes storage of calories as body fat.

The finding that fish-rich diets suppress weight-gain-promoting leptin is important. But, as it turns out, the leptin-suppressing effect of fish may not fully explain its role in controlling weight.

The exciting results of a new study in mice show that EPA and DHA—the long-chain omega-3s abundant in salmon, sablefish, tuna, and sardines—likely account for a substantial part of the weight control benefits of fish.

In fact, people in search of “fat-burners” may need look no further than the fish in their refrigerators, or their bottle of omega-3 supplements.

How omega-3s affect weight gain

Czech researchers tested the effects of EPA and DHA from fish oil on mice and recorded these results:

• Weight gain resulting from a high-fat diet was reduced when EPA and DHA intake was increased from one percent to 12 percent of total dietary fats.
• Accumulation of adipose (fat-cell) tissue was reduced, especially in the abdominal region, where weight gain in humans is associated with higher risk of heart disease.
• Diets high in EPA and DHA improved metabolism of fat and glucose (sugar).

The scientists concluded that EPA and DHA reduce accumulation of body fat in the animals by limiting the increase in size and numbers of their bodies’ fat cells: increases that would otherwise result from diets lower in omega-3s relative to other dietary fats.

Lead researcher Morten Bryhn offered this explanation of the benefits of diets high in omega-3s: “A diet rich in red meat and vegetable oils [as in the standard American diet] increases accumulation of fat in fat tissue because of a chronic disarray of genes responsible for handling fatty acids and carbohydrates. The number of fat cells increases, and turnover of carbohydrates into fat is facilitated. Genes are constantly programmed to a situation of starvation and they need to be reprogrammed. Omega-3 fatty acids from seafood seem to do exactly that.”

Patient, holistic approach pays off

Dr. Bryhn noted that the process of reprogramming genes is slow, and that the weight-reducing results of increasing one’s intake of omega-3s (from fish or supplements) are not immediate.

He also offered these words of wisdom: “Weight control should be a combination of reduced intake of red meat, saturated fat and foods containing vegetable oils and carbohydrates; regular exercise; and increased intake of omega-3 fatty acids high in DHA.” Well said!

Sources:

• Bhryn M et al. Omega-3 PUFA of Marine Origin Limit Diet-Induced Obesity in Mice by Reducing Cellularity of Adipose Tissue. Lipids 2004 Dec;39:1177-1185.
• Mori TA, Burke V, Puddey IB, Shaw JE, Beilin LJ. Effect of fish diets and weight loss on serum leptin concentration in overweight, treated-hypertensive subjects. J Hypertens. 2004 Oct;22(10):1983-90.
• Ikemoto S, Takahashi M, Tsunoda N, Maruyama K, Itakura H, Ezaki O. High-fat diet-induced hyperglycemia and obesity in mice: differential effects of dietary oils. Metabolism. 1996 Dec;45(12):1539-46.

The body needs to be provided with apposite quantity of food which will help in ensuring that the entire body system functions healthily and properly and in effect, requires that your body and hair are given six different nutrient types to keep you and your hair in good health. Thus, a diet consisting of carbohydrates, proteins, fat, vitamins, and minerals as well as trace elements will do you a lot of good, which benefit can be enhanced by also taking in a lot fiber as well as water.

Helps Combat Hair Loss Problems

In effect, a properly balanced diet which contains the required nutrients will help you stay and live healthier, and vitamin C hair care is also something that you will need to consider if you are concerned about the health of your hair. In fact vitamin C hair care helps through its anti-oxidizing benefits and is most effective for those suffering from hair loss problems.

Also, vitamin C hair care will keep your hair as well as skin in good health and for obtaining enough vitamin C to ensure such good health you can take a number of natural foods that contain plenty of vitamin C. Therefore, by eating a lot of citrus fruits, strawberries, kiwi, pineapples as well as green pepper and tomatoes and even red peppers you can be sure that vitamin C hair care will prove to be effective and beneficial for the health of your hair.

However, you will also need to take further steps that will help in buttressing vitamin C hair care such as ensuring shampooing your hair which is vital to proper hair care, though of course you must not use shampoos that contain harmful chemicals and instead opt for natural based shampoos such as Laut hair shampoo that is gentle on the hair and also the scalp, and thus will enhance the benefits of your vitamin C hair care.

You will also need to brush your hair which will improve the health of your scalp and hair through helping to spread oils from the scalp in an even manner throughout your hair, and it also makes for proper and better blood circulation on the scalp. On the other hand, you need to take care that you don’t use blow dryers incorrectly as that will undo all the benefits of your vitamin C hair care because the hot air from a blow dryer can actually damage the hair.

Finally, you need to ensure that you eat a diet that is balanced because it will provide your hair with the proper nutrients and thus eating plenty of fruits (citrus fruits, especially) as well as vegetables and protein as well as fiber will also improve the condition of your hair and by acting in conjunction with any vitamin C hair care steps that you are taking, will result in overall healthy and strong hair.

With every goal you have in life, people will always be a critical part of it. How fast you reach your goals depends on how well you deal with people and the level of influence you have on them. In order to really influence people you must become a person who is likable. How do you become likable? You must have a sincere interest in other people. Every person on this earth wants to feel important, so you need to treat everyone with the up most importance, because they deserve it. Remember no one is better than you and you are not better than anyone, we are all human beings who deserve the same amount of respect.

Becoming Likable:

Setting the Stage

Your goal in meeting people should be to consciously be the first to initiate and set the stage for conversation. Most people are hesitant to be the first, don’t be like most people step out of your comfort zone. I know that if you are a shy person that this can be one of the hardest things for you to do, but the more you do it, the more you condition your self for it to become second nature. As a small kid I used to be really shy but I noticed that the kids that where outgoing tended to be the happier kids so I began to step out of my comfort zone and now I feel I can walk up to almost anyone. This is going to take time; things don’t happen over night but don’t let this discourage you. Many people feel that for you to become proficient in something takes around five years. Don’t waste anytime, start today and each day after that will get easier. Each different experience will later serve as a reference to remind you, that you can approach almost anyone. By being the first to initiate conversation you also automatically have a certain degree of control, you are able to draw people into your own rhythms. Have you ever noticed how persuasive people are able to seduce you to their ways, dictating your body language and basically synchronizing it to theirs? This is because people naturally imitate other people as a way of communicating with the other person. So if you are the first you get to decide what angle to approach. So if the person you are approaching appears sad, approach them with a big confident smile. Odds are they will slowly begin to smile; you will automatically change their mood. Now you will have a better chance of having a better conversation.

In setting the stage you will need to train your self to pick up any subtle signals that the person you are approaching is giving off. With time you will be able to sum up a person in a blink of an eye and from what your subconscious catches use it help you set the stage. This will require you to have an open mind and immerse your self in as many different worlds/cultures as possible. That’s why I never limit my self to one particular set of friends. I have friends from all sorts of backgrounds. I have friends who are skaters, basketball players, artists, musicians, writers, etc. By having so many friends with diverse interests I quickly learn about their worlds. By knowing what kind of stage to set up you will know how to get the other person to think very highly of you. For example by being observant you will catch the subtleties in the way a person appears to be (The way he is dressed, body language, tone of voice, language, etc.) which will help you to imagine placing your self in there shoes. By really imagining what being that person is like it will give you a good idea of how he/she is feeling. This in turn helps you get a better idea of what appproach to use when trying to communicate effectively with them. When I am able to pick up persons subtleties I will know what topics, questions, and general things that appeal to them which gives me information to work with in the process of winning that person as a friend. Like if know this person is really passionate about cars, I will ask a question with the minimum knowledge I have about something that he knows or thinks he knows a lot about.

Now you set the stage for Mike who will love to tell me exactly why the Mitsubishi EVO is better. When someone is knowledgeable about something it’s in their nature to tell you because it is one more opportunity for them to show how great or smart they are. You have to cater to their ego and never test or contradict their ideas, because their ego will not accept someone who is supposed to know less tell them they are possibly wrong. If I would have told him that I heard that the Subaru WRX is better, we would have just gotten in an argument that he would not have backed out of. But I didn’t and now they will love me for it, because I was taking interest into what he enjoys.

Body Language

Whenever you approach someone for the very first time your body language will do most of the talking and the other person will immediately have a first impression of you. So you must always be aware that whatever you say your body is also in agreement. If you say one thing and your body says the opposite you will come out as someone fake. We have all seen the girl that walks up to another girl and says “I’m so happy to see you…how you been?….you look so good…” but their body language is saying “what are you doing here….I’m not really listening to what your saying” this is easily seen and can be one of the rudest things you can do in trying to make new friends. Always approach someone with open gestures and a smile. If you approach someone with crossed arms, this will automatically make the other person defensive and question your motives. Approach them with open arms and a gentle smile, smiling is infectious if the other person has a stern look on their face the moment youapproach them with a smile you will gradually notice that they will smile too. This usually sets it up for a good conversation because both people are in good moods. Try this - if you’re in a neutral mood right now, put a big smile on your face for no reason if you pay attention you can feel your body changing and your mood immediately start to change. People who are in good moods will place a lot more importance to what you have to say.

Questions and Listening

Your next goal is to sincerely try to find out as much as you can about the person. Ask quality questions; find out what is important to the person, goals, beliefs, interests, etc. The key is to be sincere so the person feels comfortable and is more likely to open up. Try to have a calm demeanor refrain from being overly eager as this might scare the person. You must be able to match the mood of the person. If the person is excited to tell you a story you must become excited as well. If the person is telling you a sad story you must show sincere empathy. Be open minded and really listen to the person.

Listening: Try to listen at least twice as much as you talk. Listening requires more than just pretending to listen or simply hearing a person talk. Listening and hearing are two completely different things and the person can tell if you’re really listening to them, or simply hearing them speak. Being a good listener is a skill, you must become an active listener. Remember this is all about the other person, who cares if you don’t get to talk about your self. In the end the other person will love you for it. They will tell their friends

“Man I really enjoyed talking to that person”….why is that? Was he a very interesting person? “You know what…I really don’t know why…I really don’t know much about him”

This shouldn’t bother you because in the end you greatly benefited from the situation as well. If you’re an effective listener you will gain a better understanding of that person’s thoughts, perspectives, feelings and actions. You have to remember that most people would rather talk than listen, but most of the time this person is not very influential. Take this as an opportunity to become more persuasive and influential.

Sometimes the problem with most people is that listening to them doesn’t have much value. They feel that in order to get people to like them they must do a great deal of the talking. Think about that for a minute, how do you like it when another person is talking so much that when you try and say something they still keep talking. You eventually quit listening to that person because you got to annoyed. Now sometimes you don’t need to do most of the listening, you constantly need to evaluate the situation. Sometimes people really want to hear what you have to say. In this situation still try and get the other person involved and flip around the question that they just asked you.

People who talk too much

1. People always talk about them behind their backs

2. In group settings they feel they always need to say something just to feel like they are contributing.

3. Usually have very big egos

4. They ask questions that they already have the answers too

5. Because they are so focused on having something to say aren’t even listening to what someone is saying.

People Who Listen Effectively

1.Get the whole picture, than they can act accordingly.

2.Everyone loves a good listener so you will make tons of friends.

3.No one talks bad about you, who ever said “man that kid just loves to listen too much”

Good listening is going to really take effort. The reason is that people can think a lot faster than people can speak. What ends up happening is that you begin to think of other things as that person is speaking. Than you become consumed with those thoughts. Next thing you know the other person asks you “So than do you think I did the right thing”. You weren’t listening so you have no idea what to say. This is one of biggest turn offs in trying to become friends with that person.

Things to avoid when Listening

Don’t Interrupt

Because you have the upper hand by thinking faster than someone who is speaking, you will become tempted to interrupt. Don’t because the other person will get the feeling that you don’t care what they are saying and want to bring back the topic of conversation to you. The other person might also have great momentum going in telling you a story, but when you interrupt them their story doesn’t carry as much feeling when they go back to speaking. You also show that you are one of those people who enjoy speaking more than being a good listener. When you interrupt you are also making assumptions of what you think the other person is about to say. This might cause you to miss out completely different information. Because you interrupted them the other person might not even want to continue telling you about it.

Don’t Finish Other Peoples Sentences

Don’t Offer Advice too Soon

Compliments + Appreciation

The way to make people feel important is through sincere compliments and appreciation. Most people go out their way to do something, to get other people to notice them, yet most people don’t. Get in the habit of noticing the little things about people. In the end the little things are what matter and what end up making a person unique so pay attention. Next time you see them, be the first to give them a sincere compliment on something even as simple as their hair cut. By making other people feel good about them selves you should also feel good for doing it, it’s a win win situation.

Many times people walk around with the mentality that other people owe them something, nobody owes you anything. Whenever anybody does anything for you show your appreciation and let them know you don’t take anything for granted. Be spontaneous get the person a small gift when they don’t expect it.

Encouragement

Once you find out what is truly important to someone you must provide encouragement. Everyone has dreams and aspirations. Be the one who encourages them to pursue their goals. Any insight or information that’s empowering will provide a boost to their confidence. Most people are so afraid of failure that they will not pursue their goals. They will give you all the reasons why their goals are out of reach. Your goal should be to switch their focus on the negative reasons to the ways how they can make it happen. You have to remember that whatever we focus on becomes our reality, so when you focus only on the negative aspects that’s all you will see. When they give you a reason why they can’t do it, ask them if that’s really a reason or a mere excuse. If they are excuses show them how destructive it is to be in this mental state. Make them realize that all their hopes and dreams are in danger all because of petty excuses. One of the best feelings you will get in dealing with people, is when you get another person excited about his goals or ideas. Now that the person is excited you need to point them in the right direction. Help them research the world they want to be in; find out as much relevant information. Help them create a plan and deadlines that will help them reach their goals. Start with small attainable goals, this will help them gain momentum and than move onto more challenging goals. By being active in the whole process you will build a deeper and more influential relationship with that person. He will not see you as a mere friend but as an ally in their journey to success.

Plan and Organize Social Events

One of the best ways to develop a meaningful experience with someone is through a social event. Whenever you participate in an event or trip your relationship with those people will become even greater. When I studied abroad in Prague I have never developed such strong relationships in such a short amount of time. I met people from all over the world and on the weekends we would take trips to other countries. On these trips I made incredible bonds, because everyone was on an adventure of experiencing new things together. Experiences are always magnified with more people involved. Just think about when you are watching a funny movie all by yourself you begin to laugh but than realize no one is there to enjoy the moment with you and your experience is quickly diminished .

I hope all these pointers will help everyone become more influential, take care and much success to everyone!

by: Ivan Campuzano

We feed our hunger, our appetite and most of us feed our cravings, at least once in awhile. But how often do we feed ourselves to nourish and protect? Okay, in other words, how many times during this week, did we consider how our food choices are connected to the function, appearance and health of our body?

There’s a saying that “Our Eyes are Our Windows to the World” (Okay, this is my version of the saying), and I think most of us would agree that our eyes are very important. Unfortunately, even those of us who were lucky enough to be born with 20/20 vision need to protect ourselves from the two most common age related eye diseases, Cataracts, and Macular Degeneration. Macular Degeneration in particular, is a disease that we can help to prevent by eating those wonderful, colorful phytochemicals known as the Carotenoids!

Why? Well, the retina in our eyes contains the highest concentration of pigments in our body, which absorb the sun’s rays (acting as antioxidants) and which overtime (I’m referring to the aging process unfortunately) start to lose the pigmentation. Studies have found that those of us with the lowest amount of the phyto’s Leutein and Zeaxanthin circulating in our blood, have the highest rate of age-related macular degeneration. But let’s not fret, we can replenish these pigments with food. Studies have also shown that people with macular degeneration have been found to have lower levels of zeaxanthin and lutein in the macula itself than people without—which supports the premise that these antioxidants provide some protection. Since this is January,eye care month, we can think about replenishing the pigments in our eyes with nature’s chemicals found in foods.

So, what can we eat to help keep our eyesight?

Eggs. Yes, whole eggs contain a high bioavailable form of Leutein (meaning very useable by our body). One study used designer eggs with the highest amount found in the yolks, but regular supermarket eggs still contain high amounts.

Spinach. Popeye was misinformed about spinach’s high iron content, (it may contain a high amount of iron, but it’s not a good source of bioavailable iron) but it does contains high bioavailable amounts of these colorful carotenoids.

Vitamin C, Vitamin E. These important vitamins act as antioxidants and they are also found in our eyes in high concentrations. So, citrus fruits as well as all fresh fruits and veggies all contain Vitamin C, including once again spinach! Vitamin E is found in Spinach (Popeye was on the right track here), Broccoli, Sweet Potatoes, Avocado, Chick Peas, and the highest bioavailable forms of E (with the most calories unfortunately) are found in Soybean oil, Corn oil, Canola oil and Cashews. So, with these last few foods, let’s think moderation as in 1 tablespoon?

Studies also suggest that taking supplements containing the above nutrients and carotenoids positively correlate with a lower incidence of these eye diseases as well (I like to eat my nutrients personally!). So, now that we will begin to feed our eyes, here is a reliable website to go to for more information www.ars.usda.gov/is/AR/archive/aug03/eye0803.htm and another The American Academy of Ophthalmology’s eye health topics: http://www.aao.org/public/eyehealthtopics.cfm