Tag: exercise (Page 4 of 8)

Common Weight Loss Mistakes That Are Keeping You Fat

January 20, 2012 / Staff

The most common weight loss mistakes go against everything we’ve learned about losing weight.

Calories in-calories out, exercise and restriction seem like perfectly reasonable ways to shed unwanted pounds; but that is not the whole story.

Running for hours on the treadmill and eating too few calories could be sabotaging your efforts.

A prolonged calorie deficit causes your metabolism to slow.

This is a survival instinct to prevent you from losing weight in times of famine.

When you do lose weight, you’ll be losing both fat and muscle.

This further slows your metabolism.

Nutrition, Quality Control, Research, Wellness

diet exercise metabolism slow metabolism weight loss

A New Way To Think About Exercise

January 17, 2012 / Staff

Encouraging people to exercise by offering up long term benefits to health may not be the best way to get people moving.

Highlighting the immediate perks, however, is a much more effective strategy .

A few tips to get more out of exercise.

Become a more pleasant member of your family by feeling better.
Improve your productivity at work because working out makes your mind more focused.
Relieve day-to-day stress.
Improve your mood.
Enjoy higher levels of energy and vitality.
Spend more social time with others.
Take time to enjoy the outdoors.

Research, Wellness

benefits of exercise exercise motivation

Hard Wired to Be Fat?

January 3, 2012 / Staff

Lasting brain injuries in a specific part of the hypothalamus may be responsible for making it difficult to lose weight and keep it off.

“To explain a biologically elevated body weight ‘set-point’, investigators in the field have speculated about the existence of fundamental changes to brain neurocircuits that control energy balance. Our findings are the first to offer direct evidence of such a structural change, and they include evidence in humans as well as in mice and rats.”

It may make the struggle to keep off the pounds more difficult, however, any effort to lead a more healthy lifestyle is beneficial.

Nutrition, Research

brain and weight loss diet exercise hard wired hypothalamus

How to Stave off Holiday Weight Gain

December 4, 2011 / Staff

This is the time of year when excess rules the day.

Holiday entertaining, meals out and time spent with friends all add up to more calories.

And not just more food but rich, sugary , creamy treats and cocktails that only come around this time of year

The Cleveland Clinic suggests how to ward off those holiday pounds:

Despite the busy season, don’t skip exercise.

Eat seven servings of fruits and veggies per day, both for nutrients and to help you stay full without all of the calories.

Keep candy, cookies and other treats out of sight.

Indulge in just one small treat per day.

Make wise choices at the holiday party buffet. Politely decline if hosts keep pushing more food.

Make holiday gatherings more about conversation and socializing than food.

Nutrition, Quality Control, Wellness

diets exercise gaining weight at the holidays holiday diets Holiday food Holiday weight gain

The Brain Benefits of Exercise

December 2, 2011 / Staff

Recent studies show the ways in which exercise benefits the brain.

Levels of a protein known as brain-derived neurotrophic factor, or BDNF, which is known to promote the health of nerve cells is the measure of the effect exercise on the brain.

For some time, scientists have believed that BDNF helps explain why mental functioning appears to improve with exercise. However, they haven’t fully understood which parts of the brain are affected or how those effects influence thinking. The Irish study suggests that the increases in BDNF prompted by exercise may play a particular role in improving memory and recall.

So, it is not just vanity that will get you into the gym but the benefits to mind and body that will carry you into old age on your own two feet.