How long should a workout last?

As gyms around the country gets ready for this "Easter Sunday" like influx  what I like like to call "newbies" hitting the gym, it is wise know know a few facts.  Sometimes taking on exercise is a lot more complicated than it seems. Making that decision to start and making the commitment to continue is hard enough on its own let along the rest. Even if you do get there, then it is all the questions about what type of exercise you should follow, how intense, what time and for how long. Going to the gym and getting good fitness or weight loss results is usually connected with the ‘no pain no gain’ belief. So I am not surprised that people can actually go and spend hours sweating and fighting with weights and machines. Do you really need to do all that or could you have got away with and even get better results with shorter workouts?

Working out for weight loss

Exercise 60-90 minutes per day and lose weight
Some studies recommend that in order to lose weight workouts should be around 60-90mi per day. According to the ACSM if you want to sustain the weight then your exercise time should be at around 200-300min (3.3-5 h) per week. Not impossible as it could be as little as 30 – 45 min workouts per day.
Physiological factors do matter
A 2003 study compared exercise in different intensities and duration and the effect they had in weight loss. Their results indicate that all workouts had no significant difference in their results in terms of weight loss in a 12month period. They also found that physiological components such as cardio-respiratory fitness, showed similar improvements. Now this is a point which is argued by a number of other studies.
High Intensity Workouts burn more calories
On a different note some studies suggest that actually split short sessions at high intensity are better for weight loss. In simple words if you do 2 sessions of 30min a day rather than 1 of 60min will help in burning more calories. The same is argued for high intensity workouts. A lot of these arguments are based on the theory that this kind of exercise will result in burning more calories during rest. Again there is a lot of controversy around all that and there isn’t one clear and certain answer whether that is actually working.

Long workouts vs. short bursts

Short workouts are better for muscle building
Independent of weight loss some studies and ‘experts’ argue that short bursts of exercise may be better for muscle building and general health. The argument is that during long duration aerobic exercise for example running for hours, the body releases stress hormones and more specifically high amounts of cortisol. The argument with cortisol is that it leads to breaking down muscle and so have the opposite from the desired result.
Long workouts can be stressful
As with everything else it doesn’t come without disagreements. Some people argue that the effects of cortisol can be blunted by making sure there is enough glucose (sugar) in the body, others are adamant that you are doomed with the long aerobic workouts. It is generally accepted that long workouts can be quite stressful for the body and also that they can affect the immune system and in return can lead to over-training.

How long is too much?
However, one thing to keep in mind is how long is too much for the body. If you are a marathon runner and you train for 3 hours every day then that can be too long and too stressful for your body. If you spend 30min running 2-3 times a week well that may not be the end of the world and you will not necessarily see your muscles eaten away by cortisol.
Challenge your body for better results
Finally, when you follow exercise you have to remember that your body will need to have the adequate challenge in order to keep its fitness. If you go on the bike and you do exactly the same thing for months after a while you will actually see your muscles disappear. Changing the workout, mixing exercises and intensities and challenging your body are all necessary.

How long should a workout be? 10 Tips to help you decide

So still none the wiser of how long should a workout be. To summarize all of the above in terms of the everyday person we have gathered a few points.

1. If you never exercised before in your life it may be better to start with short bursts of workouts so that your body gets used to exercise. The national guidelines suggest 150min a week as a minimum for health reasons. These could easily be broken to 25min workouts 6 days a week and one day of rest.
2. In terms of weight loss most studies suggest that you can get the same benefits with short workouts as well as with long ones. If you can get the same result in half the time it does make sense to go with short 45-60min workouts than spend hours in the gym. It makes even more sense if exercise is not your favorite activity or your time is limited. *When you are thinking of any workout do make sure you include warming up and cooling down time. For example if you follow a 60min class it would have 5-10min warm and cool down time so your main workout is about 45-50min.
3. Running marathons may not be a wise idea as you could be placing quite a lot of stress in your body.
4. The intensity of exercise and the type of exercise could affect the result so it is not all about how long. The general norm is to aim for high intensity short workouts. Well high intensity long workouts can be hard to sustain and could be a recipe for injuries.
5. Continuing from point number 4. If you spend 2 hours in the gym watching the news on the treadmill while walking, hardly pushing the pedals of the bike while chatting on the phone and taking more breaks than exercise, it does not qualify as a long duration workout. So what do you actually do during the time you exercise can be as important as how long you exercise for.
6. Adequate nutrition, rest, etc will also play a role in whether you should opt for long or short workouts. If you do decide to opt for long duration aerobic exercise then make sure you are have the adequate carbohydrate fueling.
7. The best exercise is the one that suits your lifestyle and you are likely to stick with. If you only have 1 hr 2times a week and you know you will stick to it then go for it. If you have 30min a day then go for that.
8. It is always good to mix intensities and types of workouts. Interval training is considered to be quite good as it provides high intensity and low intensity workout mixed with aerobic and resistance type of exercises. However, exercise can be anything you like and suits you be it playing football with friends in the park, going to the gym, going for zumba or pole dancing or cycling to work. Doing something is a lot more important than fussing about which work out is the best.
9. Always ask your doctor before taking on any exercise especially if you have pre-existing health conditions and/or complains. It is also recommended that you advise a fitness professional to make sure you are working on your own level and ability and to avoid any injuries.
10. Still not sure? The following diagram will help you decide 

 

What does research say?

Scientists and governments have actually sat down and looked through the different studies and then have drawn what they call official guidelines about exercise. What these mean is the minimum combinations of elements of exercise such as intensity and duration by which you will get a result. Now to make something very clear; even if all you can do is walk around the block once a week is better that not moving at all. So don’t give it up thinking that you are not doing anything. No you will not get fit or lose weight really but you will benefit in other ways.
More or less the same guidelines are provided by the American College of Sport Medicine (ACSM) and the National Health System (NHS) in Britain. The ACSM updated the guidelines in 2011 with hardly any changes.
A few points to keep in mind:
1. They are guidelines; which means they are not a setting stone of what you should do.
2. They are drawn after a number of people have looked at studies and research and made these conclusions based on what the studies and research say.
3. They are flexible in how long each workout should be. They actually do say that, if you can exercise for 10min x 2 times per day, is as good as doing 30min in one go.
4. They are based on promoting health.
5. The actual amount of time they recommend (300⁺ min per week) may be too much for some people especially if you are novice in exercising.The Bottom Line

Get with a trainer, we can start you off with a program that best fits you.  Some of us will even tell you the truth about being realistic about your commitments (see the past newsletters). 

Thanks for reading..........

How to Stay Fit During the Holidays When Our Lives Don't Slow Down

The holidays are a time to celebrate, and boy, do we make the most of it. We eat, we drink, we indulge and then we end up feeling like bloated whales by the time it's all over. It's almost an unspoken rule that, with the holidays, comes unlimited eating and skipped workouts, but this year, you have a choice.
You don't have to let every party become your own personal eating contest, and you don't have to let shopping take the place of your usual exercise routine.

All it takes is flexibility, creativity and a new way of defining exercise.

Keep Moving
It's tempting to ditch your workouts as your days fill up with holiday preparations, parties and errands, but now more than ever, you need to stay active. Exercise will help you deal with added stress and give you energy for everything you need to accomplish.

It will also help you manage your weight through the maze of parties and gatherings you'll be attending. If you have trouble sticking with your usual routine this time of year, come up with a new one. Forget the rules, lower your standards and do whatever you need to do to keep moving:

• Shorten Your Cardio. Pare down your cardio routine to whatever time you have, even if it's only 5 or 10 minutes. Choose activities that are easy to do at a moment's notice: walking, running, jump roping or cycling. Get the most out of the time you have by working at a high intensity. This sample 10-minute workout is a great place to start:0:00 to 1:00 - Warm up with a brisk walk (outside or around the house)
  1:00 to 2:00 - Jumping jacks
  2:00 to 3:00 - Jump rope (pretend if you don't have a rope)
  3:00 to 4:00 - Run as fast as you can for 1 minute (in place or outside)
  4:00 to 5:00 - Speed skaters (Side to side skips)
  5:00 to 6:00 - Jumping jacks
  6:00 to 7:00 - Walk as fast as you can
  7:00 to 8:00 - Jump rope
  8:00 to 9:00 - Jumping jacks
  9:00 to 10:00 - Cool down and catch your breath
  Remember to work hard. Keep your perceived exertion at 8 or 9 for the entire workout.

• Exercise wherever and whenever you can. You already know to take the stairs, park far away and so on to get more exercise. This holiday season, wear a pedometer as you're running around, and see how many steps you can accumulate. Use every opportunity to get in more movement, whether it's parking on the opposite side of where you need to be or chopping down your own Christmas tree.
• Make it a family affair. As you gather together with your family, plan active things to do. Walk around the neighborhood to look at holiday decorations. Play football before the big meal at Thanksgiving or Christmas. Plan contests with the kids to see who can run the farthest or who can do the most push-ups. Challenge everyone to a snow-shoveling contest, and then build a snow person out of the remains.
• Don't forget strength training. Maintain your muscle mass by paring down your routine to the basics. Choose compound, multi-joint movements to make sure you're getting the most out of your time. And, don't worry, you don't need any equipment to get a great workout. 
• Control Your Eating  Eating yourself into a coma seems inevitable during the holidays, what with all the yummy delights available. Treating every party as if it's an invitation to indulge, however, is a sure way to add pounds. Below are a few reminders for keeping the calories in check:

• Eat Before You Go. Rules to live by: never go grocery shopping while hungry, and similarly, never hit a holiday party on an empty stomach. You'll be less tempted to overindulge if your belly's full of something healthy.
• Choose One Treat. Once at the party, choose one thing to indulge in and make it good. No chips -- you can have those any old time. Pick something you only get during the holidays.
• Control Your Drinking. Alcohol is an easy way to consume more calories than you need, so avoid mixed or fruity drinks, and have a glass of water for every drink you consume. Also, definitely avoid the egg nog; it has up to 350 calories a cup.
• Don't Skip Meals. It's tempting to skip meals to make up for whatever nightmare food you'll eat later, but just like the empty-stomach rule, if you're starving, your rational mind will be unavailable for healthy food choices. Eat small meals all day to avoid going nuts at the buffet table.

However you deal with the holidays, make this the year that you don't gain extra weight. Make a decision to do everything you can to stay active and eat healthy while not depriving yourself of all the fun. Like everything else in life, it's all about moderation.

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6 Things You Did Today That Ruined Your Metabolism

Metabolism. It’s the set of life-sustaining chemical transformations within the cells of living organisms. It’s such a big concept that you might believe you’re at the mercy of it. Well, you are! It’s thermodynamics at work, after all. But there are a bunch of simple — even easy — things you can do to boost your metabolism and make your body run more efficiently. Make tomorrow a great day by learning from the common metabolism mistakes you probably made today.

1. You didn’t get a good night’s sleep

If you're chronically sleep deprived, don’t be surprised if you gain a few pounds without eating a morsel of extra food. “A lack of sleep can cause several metabolic problems,” says nutritionist Seth Santoro. “It can cause you to burn fewer calories, lack appetite control and experience an increase in cortisol levels, which stores fat.” Lack of sufficient sleep — which experts say is 7 to 9 hours a night for most people — also leads to impaired glucose tolerance, a.k.a. your body's ability to utilize sugar for fuel. “We all have those less-than-adequate nights of sleep,” says nutritionist Lisa Jubilee. “But if it's a regular thing, you're better off lengthening your night's sleep than working out, if fat loss or weight maintenance is your goal.”

2. You started your day dehydrated

For Jubilee, one of the best and cheapest ways to give your metabolism a jolt is to drink water (she suggests 20 to 32 ounces) shortly after waking. Why? During sleep, your body’s metabolic function slowed, and unless you woke up in the middle of the night to swig some water, it didn’t receive any fluids. Jubilee suggests completely rehydrating before stressing your body with any other food or drink. “My clients who have implemented this report less bloating, more energy and a smaller appetite,” she says. Her motto for getting your inner furnace stoked and ready for the day: “Rehydrate, then caffeinate!”

3. You drank too much caffeine

Plenty of studies indicate that caffeine can boost your metabolism in the AM. But nutritionist Amy Shapiro says that guzzling coffee and other caffeinated drinks all day could actually work against you. Caffeine is a natural appetite suppressant. If you’re constantly consuming it, you may not eat much — or realize how hungry you really are — until you get home for dinner. “Not eating enough throughout the day can make your metabolism sluggish,” she says. “By the time you eat dinner, instead of immediately using that food for energy, your body is aggressively storing it as fat, just in case it will be deprived again.”

4. You sit too much

Ideally, we sleep about eight hours for every 24. Most people spend another seven to ten hours sitting at their desk. That means most of us spend the overwhelming majority of our time sedentary. Our bodies weren't designed for this level of inactivity — most of humans’ evolutionary history involved being active, searching for food and fuel. Jubilee says that one way to burn more calories daily is to stand more and sit less. She cites a British study which found that standing at work burned 50 more calories per hour than sitting. If that doesn’t sound like a lot, consider this: If you stand for just three hours of your day, in one year you’d expend more than 30,000 extra calories — which amounts to about 8 lbs of fat! Another good office habit: Set a phone timer to remind you get up every hour and walk around, even for a few minutes, says Jubilee.

5. You didn’t eat organic

“Hormones dictate how our body utilizes the energy we give it,” says Jubilee. “Between our reproductive, thyroid and growth hormones, appetite, insulin and hunger hormones — leptin and ghrelin — our bodies have to perform a tricky balancing act to keep us lean, energized and viable reproductive beings.” Those tasks have become much more difficult because of the hormone residues we consume via cage-raised foods. If you want to give your metabolism a leg up, Jubilee says, switch to organic, grass-fed, pasture-raised beef, eggs and dairy products, thereby avoiding those nasty hormones at mealtime.

6. You ate too many calories too late in the day

“Not eating enough calories in a day is an easy way to slow your metabolism,” says Santoro. “It’s a common mistake people make.” When you don’t consume enough calories, your body switches into starvation mode, and your brain tells your body to store fat. This can increase cortisol levels, leading to belly-fat storage, which comes with health risks.
“Eating a large dinner, especially too close to bedtime, can be detrimental to your metabolism,” says Shapiro. “It’s likely to throw off your inner clock and make you not hungry in the morning, which can ultimately lead to weight gain.” It’s at this point in the day that people are more likely to have an alcoholic beverage, which can bedevil your metabolism even more. “When a person drinks, acetate is formed,” says Santoro. “The body spends time trying to detoxify itself rather than burn calories.” He adds that drinking alcohol can impair protein synthesis and anabolic (muscle-building) hormones. Shapiro suggests that you prepare for busy or unpredictable days by packing healthy snacks to keep you from overeating or making unhealthful food choices.
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Lets Look At Some Ways Muscle Can Change How You View Yourself

To be committed to your fitness, you have to strength train. Cardio is great, but you need muscles for your metabolism to be fired up and to get a strong body. The more muscle you have, the more equipped your body is for your workouts, athletic events, and everyday movements (functional fitness). So, if you aren’t strength training, it’s never too late to start. If you are currently weight training, did you know building muscle can actually change how you view yourself?

Here are four ways strength training does more for you than you might think:

1) Muscle makes you feel mentally strong. When you use your bodyweight, hand weights, circuit machines, and muscle-building tools like resistance bands, kettlebells or exercise balls, you are building your physical strength. But something else is happening too. As you work on getting a stronger body, it immediately translates into feeling more mentally strong. You are respecting your body and taking care of it well. As you see your progress with endurance or lifting heavier weights, you start to see yourself as a strong person. When your thoughts are: “I am strong,” you feel more mentally tough too. You are establishing resilience and grit. You become better equipped for the challenges that pop up in your life outside of the gym.
2) Muscle gives you proof of your workouts. We all gravitate toward immediate gratification. We want to do a workout and see proof in the mirror the next day, but we all know it takes more than one workout to see results.

When you weight train regularly, you will begin to see differences in your body. Muscle takes up less volume than fat, so strength training regularly can really sculpt and tone your body. If you consistently workout with weights, you develop muscles you couldn’t see before and you see more definition. What you do it the kitchen matters, but strength training also plays a significant role in how you look in the mirror.  Seeing a muscular and sculpted body that you built is an incredibly powerful feeling.

3) Muscle helps you look and feel young. Call it the science of telomeres, those caps at the end of chromosomes that control aging. Recent studies have found a link between regular exercise and the lengthening of the telomeres, essentially slowing down the aging process. But there are so many other things muscle-building activities do to keep you young. You build and preserve your muscle to keep you strong with full mobility. Your skin glows. You have a better chance to stave off chronic illness. You reduce stress, increase flexibility and gain energy. And when you do a heart-pumping muscle-building workout, you get those same runner’s high endorphins that make you feel on top of the world. When you are fit with muscle, you radiate health and that keeps you looking (and feeling) young.
4) Muscle gives you confidence. When you feel strong physically, you know there is a lot you can do. You believe in yourself and that fuels your confidence. A strong body can perform better at sports and with every day activities where you need to lift, bend and stretch. A strong, muscular body is less prone to injuries. Knowing how strong you are and liking how you look gives you a positive attitude and makes you feel good. Keeping your commitments to work out regularly helps raise your belief in yourself too. Bonus: Good muscle tone helps with your posture and standing tall just exudes confidence.
Next time you work your muscles, keep in mind that you are doing more than achieving a strong body, you are empowering your mind too.
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Staying Fit During Back-to-School Transition

Move over summer…it’s back to school again. Getting back to the daily grind of homework, schedules and less free time for all can be an adjustment for all. Staying active and exercising can be even more challenging.
You may be tempted to hold out and wait for the perfect time to exercise but, believe it or not, it'll be a lot easier if you start right now.
Plan Ahead
Any parent knows that planning and preparation can make the difference between semi-control and utter disaster. Giving exercise that same kind of effort can help you make it happen:

• Make a weekly calendar of work, family and other responsibilities so you know what's on your plate.
• Look for times you can squeeze in exercise. Doing shorter workouts throughout the day can be as effective as continuous exercise. Even if you only find 10 minutes here or there, that's 10 minutes you'll be moving instead of sitting.
• Plan what you'll do and gather what you need the night before. Pack your gym bag or put your exercise clothes next to the bed so you can put them on as soon as you get up.
• Integrate exercise with other activities. If your child is at soccer or football practice, use the time to jog or walk around the field. If you're at the mall, add a few laps of walking to burn extra calories.
• Set up a home gym. Even if you prefer a health club, having some basic equipment available (think resistance bands, an exercise ball and some dumbbells) as well as a few quality workout videos means you're always ready for a workout.

These exercises stop fat burning! See which exercises burn fat best

• Keep extra gear at work or in the car. If you can find a few minutes at lunch or on the way home from work, squeeze in a quick walk at a nearby park or around the parking lot.

Get Motivated
Planning and preparation means nothing if you aren't motivated to exercise. Finding motivation is simpler than you think, especially if you realize that there are many good reasons to exercise. Plus, there are some other ways you can encourage yourself to stick with your workout:
Get a Pedometer
If you haven't tried a pedometer, you'll be amazed at how motivating it can be. You probably already know that experts recommend walking 10,000 steps a day and you wouldn't believe how hard that is if you have a sedentary job. Clip a pedometer to your belt, and you'll instantly walk more just to meet your goal for the day.
Consider Partner Training
A personal trainer can be a huge motivator, but many people are put off by the cost. One option is partner training, which costs less than one-on-one training. By enlisting a friend to do it with you, you'll have added accountability to exercise.
Use Your Imagination
Too often, people have narrow definitions of what exercise is, as though only certain things "count." For many people, that means if it doesn't last an hour or leave you breathless and sweaty, it isn't good enough. It's that kind of thinking that can limit your options so, open your mind and look for new ways to be active. I once had a neighbor who did walking lunges when she went out to get the paper. Another friend did push-ups while waiting for dinner to cook. A client of mine made it a rule that the whole family had to take a walk every night after dinner. Anything can be a workout if you work hard enough at it.
Create Efficient Workouts
Another way to motivate yourself is to create a workout schedule that fits in your life. If you plan long workouts that never seem to materialize, it's time to create workouts that make sense. If you're short on time, stick with strength training moves that give you more bang for your buck. Compound movements that work multiple muscle groups will help you save time as well as add functionality to your workouts.
The following exercises target multiple muscle groups to help you save time. To make a quick workout, do each exercise, one after the other, for 1 set of 16 reps, using enough weight that you can ONLY complete 16 reps. If you have time at the end, repeat the circuit.

• Squats
• Lunges
• Deadlifts
• Pushups
• Dumbbell Rows
• Tricep Dips

For cardio, increase the intensity for shorter workouts. Think of it this way: The shorter the workout, the harder you can exercise. If you only have 20 minutes, exercise at a higher intensity than usual or try interval training.
Whatever you do, don't wait until later to get back to your exercise routine. The longer you wait, the harder it gets and the more you get used to life without it. Make a commitment and do something today. It's never too late to get started.
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How Getting and Staying Fit Changes in Your 20s, 30s, and 40s

Your body—and fitness—changes a lot sooner than you thought. Read on to learn when you burn the most calories, if your muscle is already waning, and how you can become fitter, stronger, and faster with every decade.
In Your 20s...
Your Body's Built for Exercise
The 20s are prime time for fitness. (Okay, maybe you’ve gained a few pounds since you ran high school track, but some of that weight is probably from muscle.) That’s because, during your 20s, estrogen, progesterone, testosterone, human growth hormone, and thyroid hormone are all working together to keep you in tip-top baby-making shape. As an added bonus, they improve your body’s muscle-building power, she says.Meanwhile, during your 20s, you are at your peak cardiorespiratory capability, says board-certified internist Sue Decotiis, M.D., a medical weight-loss and bioidenticial hormone-replacement therapy expert in New York City. Bring on the endurance races.
But Your Metabolism Is Already Slowing
Womp, womp. After 20, the average basal metabolic rate (BMR), the number of calories you’d burn if you stayed in bed all day, drops by one to two percent per decade, according to the American Council on Exercise. Most of that dip may be due to the unfortunate fact that when most women and men enter the “real world,” they sit at a desk more and walk around less. At any age, increasing your activity levels and muscle mass can help keep your BMR high. Muscle makes up a large part of your body’s “engine,” so the more muscle you have, the more fuel you’ll burn, whether you are hanging out with friends or powering through a workout.
In Your 30s...
DHEA Declines
Levels of this guy, which is a precursor to both estrogen and testosterone, peak in your 20s and start tapering off once you hit the big 3-0. While it’s not clear if DHEA supplementation can have any effect on anti-aging, according to the National Institute on Aging, the loss of DHEA as you age may slow your exercise recovery time and increase your body’s muscle-to-fat ratio, says Decottis. To help combat fat gain, focus on strength training. In a new study from Harvard University, men who lifted weights each day for 20 minutes put on less belly fat as they aged compared to guys who spent the same amount of time doing cardio.
Babies Block Your Workout
With your doctor’s permission, you can keep up your workout routine with a bun in the oven. But pregnancy is not the time to start a high-intensity training program. Your body is going through enough changes as it is. During pregnancy, your hormones shift, and your body focuses the bulk of its energy on the pregnancy, not your muscles, says Kaehler. After the baby comes, breastfeeding can burn crazy calories, which helps some women lose the pregnancy weight. But still, it’s not the right time to push your workout to the max, says Hamilton. “Trying to train at a high level immediately after giving birth is risky because hormones are not balanced back to ‘normal’ as long as you’re breastfeeding," she says. "I’ve seen an increased incidence of stress fractures in women who push to train at a high level during the postpartum period. I recommend training be moderated until after breastfeeding has ceased and normal menstruation has returned, which to me signals that the woman’s hormonal balance is back.” Once your baby has permanently detached from your nipples, though, you can crank up your workout’s intensity.
In Your 40s...
Sarcopenia Sets In
A fancy word for muscle loss, sarcopenia is a natural part of the aging process—but it still sucks. While it doesn’t hit full force until around 75, The Journal of Nutrition, Health & Aging suggests that it can start as early as 40. Researchers believe most muscle loss comes from your fast-twitch muscle fibers, the ones that are responsible for powering high-intensity, largely anaerobic exercise. “In order to minimize the effects of sarcopenia, it is helpful to do strength training, which recruits different muscle fibers [your fast-twitch ones], compared to endurance training activities like biking, swimming, and running," as those train your slow-twitch, endurance-focused ones, says Hamilton. Increasing your protein intake may also help. Eating twice the current RDA of protein (1.5 grams instead of 0.8 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight) increases the rates of muscle growth and lessens muscle breakdown due to aging, according to research from the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences.
You Enter Perimenopause
Menopause isn’t an on-off phenomenon. It happens gradually, typically in the 40s (or sometimes even earlier) with perimenopause. Common symptoms, like irregular periods, are due to fluctuations in estrogen and progesterone, which can also cause weight gain and a lower metabolism, says Decottis. What’s more, during perimenopause, insomnia and night sweats can make finding the energy to work out more challenging, says Hamilton. Still, continuing to exercise will not only help you feel younger—after all, exercise can ease your hot flashes and sleep troubles—it may help you look and perform even better than you did at 20. “Some women don’t even start training until later in life,” says Hamilton. “Whatever your age, you can improve your fitness.”

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7 Healthiest Foods on the Planet

Some foods are so healthy they earn the title of “super foods.”
They’re edible ammo, the Power Rangers of the produce aisle—color-coded, disease-fighting ninjas with superior strength and unique weaponry to enhance immune function, combat an army of health antagonists and help you lose weight. They are, in fact, the healthiest foods on the planet. What are these foods? And how can you get your fill? Here’s the ultimate Eat This, Not That! list of the super-charged produce and the tips you need to maximize the benefits. Read em, eat em, and reap the bennies.
1. Apples with the skin on
An apple a day keeps the doctor away—at least if you keep the peel on. While traditional advice for saving the skin was based mainly on its fiber content (an average apple provides 4.5 grams, or nearly two servings of Metamucil), there’s a growing body of research to suggests its actually polyphenols in the peel—non-digestible compounds capable of doing everything from increasing sexual pleasure to reducing cholesterol—that are responsible for the apple’s doctor defense. In fact, one study showed 75 grams of apple reduced “bad” cholesterol levels by 23 percent compared to an equivalent serving of notoriously fiber-rich prunes. The health a-peel doesn’t stop there. New research suggests polyphenols can fight cancer, and promote the growth of friendly bacteria in the gut that aids weight loss. Get the Benefits: Tart Granny Smith apples reign supreme when it comes to healthy fiber and polyphenol content, research suggests.

2. Lentils

Lentils are like the Chuck Taylors of nutritional all-stars—old-school, somewhat pedestrian in style, yet hugely popular the world over. The edible pulse has been a part of the human diet for some 13,000 years—an inexpensive form of vegetarian protein and fiber touted by health experts for its ability to reduce inflammation, lower cholesterol, promote fat metabolism and dampen appetites. Lentils are a resistant starch, a slow-digesting fiber that triggers the release of acetate—a molecule in the gut that tells the brain when to stop eating. In fact, a systematic review of clinical trials on dietary pulses found that people who ate a daily serving of lentils (about 3/4 cup) felt an average 31 percent fuller compared to a control diet. And a second study found a diet rich in blood-sugar stabilizing foods like lentils could reduce disease-related inflammation by 22 percent! Get the benefits: Replacing meat with lentils can increase a recipe’s fiber content while lowering saturated-fat. Swap four ounces of ground beef (280 calories) for a cup of cooked lentils (230 calories) in your chili, and you’ll boost fiber by 16 grams while slashing 22 grams of fat from your meal.
3. Walnuts
The genus name for walnuts comes from the Roman phrase Jupiter glans, or “Jupiter’s acorn,” which shows you just how godly the Romans believed the nut to be. And still today, the meaty walnut is highly regarded for its nutritional awesomeness. In fact, a new scientific study suggests a handful of walnuts contains almost two times as many disease-fighting antioxidants as an equivalent amount of any other nut! As one of the best dietary sources of anti-inflammatory omega-3 fatty acids, walnuts have proven particularly good for the heart. One study showed a 2-ounce daily snack was enough to significantly improve blood-flow to and from the heart. And a second, five-year study found a 1-ounce portion of walnuts, three or more times per week could slash risk of heart disease by more than half! Get the Benefits: High temperatures can destroy walnuts’ volatile oils, while prolonged exposure to air can cause the nuts to become rancid. Buy walnuts raw and store them in an airtight container in the fridge for a heart-healthy snack that loves you back.
4. Oats
Adults crave it, kids will eat it, even horses love it. What’s the heart-healthy whole grain seventy-five percent of U.S. households have in their pantry? You guessed it: oatmeal. Oats are rich in a type of soluble fiber called beta-glucan and the anti-inflammatory compound avenanthramide—which, together, help prevent against obesity-related health problems including heart disease and diabetes. One 10-year study in the American Journal of Public Health found that eating one serving of oatmeal (1 cup cooked) two to four times a week resulted in a 16 percent reduction in risk of type 2 diabetes. A daily bowl showed an even greater risk reduction of 39 percent. And a second study showed that three servings of whole grains per day, including oats, was as effective as medication in lowering blood pressure, reducing risk of heart disease by 15 percent in just 12 weeks. Need one more reason to trade in your Wheaties? A Colorado State University study showed that oats lower “bad” LDL cholesterol levels more effectively than wheat. And research in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition suggests oatmeal may be the most filling breakfast in the cereal aisle—resulting in greater and longer-lasting feelings of satiety than ready-to-eat breakfast cereal. Get the Benefits: Steel-cut or rolled oats are the least processed, and will get you the most bennies for your buck; the nutrition stats are almost identical, with steel-cut oats sitting just a tad lower on the glycemic index. And think beyond the breakfast bowl: use rolled oats as a swap for breadcrumbs, or pulse into flour for baked goods!
5. Watercress
Recently crowned superfood numero uno, watercress may be king of the produce aisle as a nutrient powerhouse. A study report published by the Centers for Disease Control that ranked 47 fruits and vegetables by amounts of 17 disease-fighting nutrients positioned watercress at number one. Kale didn’t even make the top 10! Gram for gram this mild-tasting and flowery-looking green contains four times more beta carotene than an apple, and a whopping 238 percent of your daily recommended dose of vitamin K per 100 grams—two compounds that keep skin dewy and youthful. The beauty food is also the richest dietary source of PEITC (phenylethyl isothiocyanate), which research suggests can fight cancer. Results from a trial published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition suggest a daily dose of 85 grams of raw watercress (that’s about two cups) could reduce DNA damage linked to cancer by 17 percent. Get the Benefits: A cup of watercress provides 4 calories. Yes, FOUR. So go ahead and eat the whole bag. Exposure to heat may inactivate PEITC, so it’s best to enjoy watercress raw in salads, cold-pressed juices and sandwiches.
6. Olive Oil
The world’s first Olympians circa 776 BC were rewarded jugs of olive oil for their athletic feats. And today’s health experts consider regular intake of the “liquid gold” equally valuable. Regular intake of virgin olive oil—a monounsaturated fat characteristic of the Mediterranean diet—is associated with low incidences of cancer, heart disease and other obesity-related problems as well as a lower risk of stroke. A recent study in the journal PLOS ONE showed that firefighters, a group known to have a high prevalence of obesity, who adhered to a Mediterranean-style diet rich in olive oil showed a 35 percent decreased risk of metabolic syndrome, as well as a 43 percent lower risk of weight gain. Research suggests oleic acid in olive oil can even spot reduce belly fat! The health benefits have a genetic basis. Studies show phenols in virgin olive oil can effectively “turn off” genes associated with inflammation seen in metabolic syndrome. Get the Benefits: "Extra virgin” refers to olive oil that’s been cold-pressed from olives, and is considered the freshest and fruitiest. Additionally, look for a dark tin or bottle, an estate name, the USDA organic seal and a date (don’t buy anything pressed more than 2 years ago). Then drizzle and dress (and don’t be afraid to cook) with your EVOO; researchers found it to be more stable for pan-frying at high heat than corn, soybean and sunflower oils.

7. Tomatoes

Of all the non-starchy “vegetables," Americans eat more tomatoes and tomato products than any others. And that’s good news, researchers say, because tomatoes are particularly rich in lycopene, an antioxidant that, unlike most nutrients in fresh produce, increases after cooking and processing. Dozens of studies suggest a relationship between regular intake of lycopene-rich tomatoes and a lower risk of cardiovascular disease, skin damage and certain cancers. One recently published study showed men who eat over 10 portions a week of tomatoes have an 18 percent lower risk of developing prostate cancer. And a second study showed a tomato-rich diet may help protect postmenopausal women from breast cancer by increasing levels of adiponectin—a hormone involved in regulating blood sugar and fat levels. Need one more reason to love lycopene? Researchers found a concentrated “tomato pill” improved the widening of the blood vessels in patients with cardiovascular disease by over 53 percent compared to a placebo. Get the Benefits: In addition to cooking your tomatoes, consider splurging on organic. Research suggests organic tomatoes may have higher levels of disease-fighting polyphenols and vitamin C than conventionally-grown varieties.
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The Maximum Amount of Weight You Could Realistically Gain in One Day

Of course you try your very best to stick to a relatively healthy diet and exercise plan. But some days, you're bound to go overboard—after all, you're only human. Perhaps it’s that time of the month and you just can’t stop munching; perhaps you had one too many margs at happy hour and find yourself housing enough tacos at dinner to win an eating contest; or perhaps you’re so overtired that you double up on breakfast because your stomach feels like a bottomless pit. Point is, everyone overindulges on occasion. But while it’s easy to freak out and think you "blew your diet," don’t—because you didn’t. We asked Samantha Cassetty, R.D., M.S., nutrition director at Luvo, just how much weight you can realistically gain in one terrible, horrible, no good, very bad (eating) day. And it turns out, you’d have to take in a ridiculous amount of food to gain even just a pound in one day.
It’s virtually impossible to gain weight overnight, even if you really blew it on bar food. “The reason comes down to calorie math. Though it’s not 100 percent precise, the basic principle stands true: In order to gain weight, you’d have to eat 3,500 more calories than you typically eat and burn off to maintain your figure." So let’s say you eat 2,000 calories per day on a normal day. You’d have to eat 3,500 additional calories, totaling 5,500 calories, to gain a single pound. And that's not even taking any physical activity into account
What does 3,500 calories look like, exactly? “To get 3,500 more calories, you could eat your regular diet and then also have three glasses of wine (370 calories), two chicken wings (110 calories), some onion rings (340 calories), a portion of chips and queso (290 calories), one burger with the works (860 calories), and a slice of chocolate cake (795 calories). That’s a lot of food—and you haven’t even hit the mark yet!”
There’s even more scientific evidence that it’s pretty hard to gain real weight after one day of overeating: Although people typically say they gain five to 10 pounds over the six-week holiday period, the best study to date, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, found that, on average, most people gained just one. "Fewer than 10 percent of the study participants actually gained more than five pounds between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day."
Of course, a bad diet day could leave you feeling incredibly bloated and just “ugh” the next day. But as long as you course correct the next day—i.e., you eat responsibly and get back to your fitness routine—you’ll keep the real pounds from piling on. So as you go into the holiday season, remember: It’s okay if you love your mom’s cooking so much that you eat a lot of it. Just don’t make a habit of it, and be sure to stay consistent with your gym routine.

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7 Unhealthiest Foods On the Planet

Some danger zones are pretty obvious. Iran, for example. Or North Korea. Or Panem. If you decide to go there, and something weird happens, nobody can say you weren’t warned.
But some danger zones aren’t so self-evident. Take, for example, the aisles of your local supermarket. You know the candy bars aren’t doing you any favors, and you can’t eat butter by the spoonful. But there are plenty of other products that seem entirely harmless—in fact, most are marketed as healthy, or at least as less-bad-for-you alternatives to other foods.
That means they must be okay—after all, the good folks in the federal government wouldn’t let stores sell this stuff if it wasn’t proven safe, right? But the truth is more unfortunate: federal guidelines leave it up to the food manufacturers to decide if a food is safe—and “safe” doesn’t mean “good for you.” It just means, “Won’t make your head instantly explode.”
The team at Eat This, Not That! magazine identified some seemingly innocent foods that should be placed on our personal No-Fly zone. Here’s the essential list:

Unhealthiest Food #7: Microwave Popcorn

Because it: Might Mess with Your Mind

If you thought the movie you were watching was terrifying, you probably haven’t taken a very close look at your popcorn. Yes, popcorn can be healthy: When air-popped, this snack has filling fiber and whole-grains we love, but the microwaveable varieties are an entirely different beast. Many major brands line their bags with perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), the same stuff found in teflon pots and pans; some studies have linked it to infertility, weight gain, and impaired learning. Speaking of learning trouble, butter-flavored popcorns are almost always laced with diacetyl (DA), a chemical that has been found to break down the layer of cells that protects one of our most vital organs: the brain. Now that’s some scary stuff!
Eat This Instead: Air pop kernels or make your own microwavable popcorn. Here’s how: Add your favorite popping kernels to a small paper lunch bag, fold the top down a few times. Then, zap it in the microwave until you hear only a few pops every five seconds. Challenged in the kitchen? We’re also big fans of Quinn Popcorn. It’s one of the only microwavable popcorns that’s free of chemicals and won’t wreak havoc on your waistline.

Unhealthiest Food #6: Colorful Candy

Because It: Puts Your Child at Risk of ADD

Yes, all sugar can turn your charming little toddler into a home destructo unit. But not all candies are created equal. While chocolate bars may be doing your child no favors, some candies may be causing real harm. A few years ago, researchers discovered that the artificial colors Yellow No. 5 and Yellow No. 6 promote Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) in children. In fact, Norway and Sweden have already banned the use of these artificial colors, and in the rest of the EU, foods containing these additives must be labeled with the phrase: “May have an adverse effect on activity and attention in children.”
Eat This Instead: Amy’s Natural Creamy Candy Bar. While this bar has about the same amount of calories, fat and sugar as a regular candy bar, it’s free of all artificial colorings. Or check out Unreal’s Candy-Coated Milk Chocolates, which are similar to M&Ms but free of artificial colors. And here’s some good news for fans of SweetTarts and Butterfingers: parent company Nestlế recently stepped up to the plate and announced that by the end of 2015, the company will have phased out the use of all artificial dyes.

Unhealthiest Food #5: Jelly and Jam with Added Sugars

Because It: Deprives Your Body of Nutrients

Oh, come on! The nice lady at the farmer’s market swore these were all-natural, and made from raspberries grown right in her own garden! Yep, but the nice farmer lady then took her raspberries and added in a heaping helping of sugar and another significant ingredient, pectin, a natural fruit fiber that makes the spread nice and sticky. What’s so bad about a natural fiber? Well, just as it causes jelly to stick to your fingers, pectin also sticks to health-boosting antioxidants like beta-carotene, lycopene and lutein, carrying them out of your system before your body can benefit from them.
Eat This Instead: Mash up a handful of blackberries and smear the mess onto your peanut butter sandwich. It tastes exactly like jam, but without the added sugar or pectin. Sliced bananas can serve the same purpose. Not willing to ditch your spread? Try Polaner All Fruit Spreadable Fruit Apricot. Apricots are naturally low in pectin and the spread is free of added sugars.

Unhealthiest Food #4: Diet Soda

Because It: Is Linked to Obesity

What do synthetic estrogen, flame retardants and rocket fuel all have in common? As we learned in the book Zero Belly Diet, they can all be found in a can of your favorite diet soda. BPA, the synthetic estrogen, is used to soften the plastic that lines the can; colas contain caramel coloring shown to cause cancer in humans; and citrus-flavored sodas contain BVO, a flame retardant used in rocket fuel that may reduce fertility and negatively affect thyroid hormones. Nearly all popular diet sodas contain aspartame, an artificial sweetener that raises glucose levels, overloading the liver and causing the excess to convert into fat.
Drink This Instead: While Coca-Cola and PepsiCo have agreed to phase BVO out of their sodas, it’s still actively used in sodas from Dr. Pepper/Seven Up Inc. Even so, all these drinks contain aspartame, and that’s just not something we can get behind. If you’re sick of plain ol’ H20, opt for unsweetened tea or coffee instead.

Unhealthiest Food #3: Fortified Kids’ Cereal

Because: The Vitamins Are Fake, but the Sugar Is Real

What could be wrong here? A beloved cartoon character touting a wholesome breakfast treat fortified with essential vitamins and minerals! Why, it’s just good, clean fun!
Except that most kids’ cereals are fortified primarily with sugar. The vitamins and minerals touted on the box? They’re sprayed on at the end, and most of them wash off in the milk (drink the milk, kids!). And all those bright colors? They come from such wholesome, natural ingredients as Butylated Hydroxytoluene (BHT) or BHA (Butylated Hydroxyanisole), ingredients that are banned in the UK, Australia, New Zealand, Japan and much of Europe because they are thought to be carcinogenic. Check the label, and ban anything with these chemicals from your child’s breakfast.
Eat This Instead: Cascadian Farms Chocolate O's and Nature's Path Peanut Butter Panda Puffs are both flavor-packed, low-sugar picks that don’t contain any scary chemicals. To treat the occasional stubborn craving,

Unhealthiest Food #2: Coffee Creamer

Because It: Can Raise Your Cholesterol

Coffee creamer and sunblock have more in common that you would think. As it turns out, they both contain titanium dioxide, an ultraviolet radiation blocker that doubles as a whitening agent. The additive has been proven to cause liver and tissue damage in mice, and may also have health implications in humans, according to a recent review of the chemical. Coffee creamer is also typically packed with trans-fats, often hiding under the guise of its lesser-known name: hydrogenated oil, which not only raises cholesterol but has been shown to diminish memory in adults under 45 years old. If you’re working hard to build your career or don’t want to forget where you parked your car, this is one ingredient you should steer clear of.
Eat This Instead: Plain ol’ cow’s milk or unsweetened, organic soy milk both make for healthy additions to your morning cup. If you’re looking for a hint of flavor, stick with a tablespoon of one of Coffee Mate's Natural Bliss creamers. They are all made from nonfat milk, heavy cream, sugar and natural flavors—that’s it!

Unhealthiest Food #1: Processed Meats

Because It: Bloats Your Belly—and Your Diabetes Risk

Many brands of bacon, sausage, hot dogs and deli meats contain nitrates, a preservative that interferes with the body’s natural ability to process sugar, which increases the risk for diabetes. It can also increase up your odds of thyroid and colon cancer. If that wasn’t bad enough, most processed meats are also loaded with sodium, a known contributor to hypertension that can make you bloat and set you up to develop heart disease.
Eat This Instead: Read the ingredients and look for meats that are free of nitrates. At the deli counter ask for Boar's Head All Natural Roasted Turkey Breast. It’s free of nitrates and relatively low in sodium. Applegate Natural's Natural Slow-Cooked Ham and Organic Bacon are also good picks that can be found in the meats and cheese section of your grocery store.

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10 Ways to End Overeating Forever

Your stomach, like your car's gas tank, shouldn't just be entirely full or empty.
Between I need this now work deadlines and standstill traffic, our culture encourages you to think about speed in extremes. But food is about enjoyment and nourishing your body. Here's how to find the middle ground between zero and stuffed so you can get back on track toward your weight loss goals and learn to enjoy an occasional scoop of ice cream without polishing off the whole pint.

1

Slow
down!

With a jam-packed schedule, it’s easy to rush through meals. But slowing your pace gives your body time to register its fullness. In a study published in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association, researchers measured how many times they chewed while snacking on pizza rolls. When participants chewed twice as many times as normal, they ate 15 percent less. “Take frequent pauses during your meals,” suggests Sharon Richter, R.D., a dietitian in New York City. “Put down your fork or have a sip of water between bites.”

2

Scale down
your dishes

When it comes to reining in your appetite, bigger isn't better. Research shows that people polish off about 92 percent of what’s on their plates, and you’re more likely to load up a large dinner plate than a smaller salad one. Case in point: Research published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine showed that people served themselves at least 34 percent more when given a 34-ounce bowl than one half the size.

3

Grab a
smart snack

“Having something between meals can keep you from getting too hungry, which can cause you to binge at your next meal,” explains Richter. She recommends eating a 250-300 calorie snack about two hours before heading to dinner or that holiday party. A few smart options: turkey slices rolled up with avocado, low-fat Greek yogurt with almonds and fruit, or a hard-boiled egg with whole-wheat toast.

4

Drink
more H20

Signs of dehydration—think zapped energy—can mimic hunger, which can dupe your brain into craving food. Avoid the mixed signals by sipping H20 throughout the day. “Have a glass of water or two before your snacks and meals,” suggests Richter. The liquid will fill you up, which can keep you from overeating. In fact, Virginia Tech scientists found that people who drank two glasses of water right before a meal ate 75 to 90 fewer calories than those who didn’t.

5

Limit your
options

Variety may be the spice of life, but it can also be a dietary downfall. “People tend to eat more when they have a number of different options in front of them,” says Richter. Headed to a holiday buffet? Limit yourself to just a few of your favorite dishes. “Fill half of your plate with veggies, and the rest with lean protein and a starch,” she says.

6

Go to
bed

Yes, Jimmy Kimmel is hilarious. But staying up to watch his show can rev up your hunger the next day, according to a study from the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN. Researchers found that people ate 549 more calories on the days after they slept 80 fewer minutes than usual. Other research shows that sleep deprivation increases the body’s production of the hunger-stimulating hormone gherlin while decreasing its amount of leptin, an appetite-suppressing hormone—delivering a double-whammy to your self-control.

7

Pump up
the protein

Stave off overeating by adding a small amount of protein to every meal and snack. When researchers from the University of Washington had volunteers get either 15 or 30 percent of the daily calories from protein for two weeks, they found that the latter group reported feeling more satisfied throughout the day—and dropped more pounds. “It takes your body longer to digest protein, which can keep you satisfied for longer,” explains Richter.

8

Fill up
on fiber

Choosing whole-wheat over white bread may help slow down your fork during dinner. In a study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, people who started their day with high-fiber cereal ate 31 percent fewer calories’ worth of pizza at a following meal than those who dined on white bread. Your body takes longer to process a fiber-rich meal, prolonging that sense of fullness, explain the researchers. Experts recommend getting at least 25 grams of the rough stuff each day from fruits, vegetables, and whole grains.

9

Get a handle
on stress

Between work projects and social obligations, your stress-meter may be at an all-time high. This spurs your body’s production of cortisol, triggering cravings for sugary foods. And a study published in the journal Nature Neuroscience found that it may also heighten levels of gherlin. To keep your stress level in check, remember to schedule in some downtime into your busy day. Feeling like you’re about to blow your lid? Take a few deep breaths. Julie Chen, M.D., a San Jose, CA-based integrative medicine physician, recommends this technique: Breathe in for a count of four, then breathe out for a count of eight. Repeat for a few minutes.

10

Ditch
distractions

If you’ve ever polished off a bag of chips during that Sons of Anarchy marathon, you know that food goes down all too easily when you’re preoccupied. In fact, eating while distracted can up your intake by 39 percent, according to a review of 24 studies published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. So step away from your computer or television, and take the time to savor every bite.

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10 Lazy Ways to Burn More Calories

You might think losing weight is all about hard work at the gym and having a strict eating regimen, but sometimes, even just the smallest amount of effort can deliver major pay-offs. Check out these incredibly simple ways to burn more calories.

Slurp some java

Caffeine can help boost calorie burn for up to three hours. Not into joe? Try tea.

Sit on a Stability ball

Using a stability ball can kill 260 more daily cals than parking your butt in a chair.

Go Carb free for a day

Cut carbs two days a week. Odds are, you'll lose more than full-time devotees.

Grab some gum

Chew to thwart snacking. Translation: You'll likely eat up to 10 percent less.

Dial the temparature down

The room temperature sweet spot for melting fat: a cool 64 degrees.

Order Thai food

Spices in this tasty grub can spike your metabolism by 23 percent.

Stay sane/Meditate

Stressed women work off about 104 fewer calories than those who are calm.

Skip the second brew

Knocking back two beers may slow down fat blasting by 73 percent.

Get fidgety

Tapping your feet or pacing can burn hundreds more cals than being still.

Sweat for 10 minutes

Just 10 minutes of moderate exercise helps rev metabolism for an hour.

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7 Ways Your TV Is Making You Fat

Your TV is making you fat. In fact, it’s killing you. And your children too.
While watching television is not inherently hazardous—unless you accidentally roll off the couch onto a hard floor—TV viewing time is associated with weight gain, an increased risk for weight-related disease and a shorter life. An Australian study published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine found that every single hour of television watched after the age of 25 reduces the viewer’s life expectancy by 22 minutes. By comparison, smoking a single cigarette reduces life expectancy by about 11 minutes. Long term, that means an adult who spends an average of six hours a day watching TV over the course of a lifetime can expect their, ehem, season finale to come 4.8 years sooner than a person who does not watch TV.
But wait. It gets worse: The results hold true, study authors say, even for people who exercise regularly. There are a number of reasons why the boob tube is not only hindering your weight loss, it's making you and your family fat. Here are 7 of them:

It Frees Up Your Hands for Munching

Computers, TVs, smartphones, tablets, game systems: all can be blamed for keeping us sedentary and mesmerized by a screen, but only the television, researchers say, is responsible for weight gain. A study in the journal Pediatrics showed teenage boys who reported paying the most attention to what was playing on television weighed 14.2 pounds more than teens who reported paying the least attention. For girls, the difference was 13.5 pounds. On the other hand, focusing on video games or computers was not linked with a higher body weight. Why? Researchers note that unlike typing or texting, watching TV frees up our hands to grab at snacks, which are often promoted during commercials. While it may not be practical to shun screen-use entirely, just being aware that the risk of being overweight increases with television use can help shape media use. You can wean yourself–and your kids–away from the TV with more interactive devices and content.

It Makes You a Sitting Duck

Most of us–unless we’re half-arsing a cardio workout at the gym–watch TV while sitting down. Or lying down. Or otherwise engaging in “sedentary” activity that researchers say poses a significant risk for weight-related diseases like diabetes. One study in the journal JAMA, for example, followed more than 50,000 middle-age women for six years. For every two hours spent watching TV each day, women had a 23 percent higher risk of becoming obese and a 14 percent higher risk of developing diabetes. A more recent analysis of similar studies found that for every two hours spent watching TV, the risk of developing diabetes, developing heart disease, and early death increased by 20, 15 and 13 percent, respectively. Scientists are still figuring out exactly why sitting is so detrimental to health, but one obvious and partial explanation is that the less we move, the less fuel we require; the surplus blood sugar floods the bloodstream and contributes to diabetes and other weight-related risks. In addition to generally cutting down on TV time, make a concerted effort to get up off the couch while you watch. For instance, challenge yourself to non-stop jumping jacks during the TV commercials (and pushups for every food-related ad!).

It Makes You Choose the Wrong Snacks

It’s a fact: The more hours we spend watching TV, the more unhealthy foods we eat. But why the correlation? According to a study in The International Journal of Communication and Health that investigated the psychological reasons for strong association, people who watch more TV have both a poorer understanding of proper nutrition and a more “fatalistic" view toward eating well. In other words, TV-fanatics are more likely to hold the belief that nutrition is too difficult to understand, compared to those who watch less. The study author suggests that because consumers are inundated food ads and conflicting messages as to what they should and shouldn’t eat, they develop these poor attitudes toward and knowledge about eating well. The good news is understanding nutrition has never been easier with the Eat This, Not That! newsletter. Sign up today and get the straight-forward, practical advice you need to keep you and your family healthy, straight in your inbox.

It's a Total Food Pusher

You weren’t even hungry. But then Paula Deen pulled something deep-fried and chocolate-dipped out of the oven and now you’re driving to the (next) nearest bakery for (another) slice of something sweet. That’s the devilish genius of food TV and commercials: they give us the munchies while suggesting foods that, more often than not, are particularly unhealthy. One study in the journal Appetite found people who watched a cooking program while snacking (on M&Ms) ate 34 percent more than a group that watched a nature program. And a study by the University of Liverpool found people who watched commercials for junk food on TV were more likely to then order high-fat and high-sugar foods from a menu–even when given the option to eat something healthier–compared to those who watched commercials for non-edible products. And, unfortunately, the food porn is hard to tune out. In fact, researchers say children and teens are exposed to at least one food ad per day, and nearly all (98 percent) of them are for products that are high in fat, sugar or sodium. So turn off Food Network and be mindful of the strong subliminal messages that are sent via food commercials. If you’re truly hungry, pregame your viewing session with a protein- and fiber-rich snack—away from the television.

It's a Mealtime Menace

Parents who let their teens watch TV during family meals tend to serve less nutritious food and have poorer family communication, according to a study in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association. Researchers say reinforcing healthy media habits, especially around mealtimes, can’t happen soon enough. In fact, a recent study presented at the Pediatric Academic Societies annual meeting found watching-while-snacking during pregnancy can set the stage for childhood obesity, as expectant mothers who regularly watch TV while eating are more likely to continue the habit during their baby’s feedings and miss the subtle cues that indicate their child is full. Enforce a no-electronics policy at the dinner table, and encourage conversation instead. Study authors say given the opportunity, most children will talk about themselves and their lives at mealtime, leading to better family communication.

It Distracts You While You're Snacking

It’s right up there with drunk driving: distracted dining. OK, hardly as deadly, but eating in front of the TV is dangerous to your waistline. Research published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition shows that people who eat while watching television often miss satiety signals and consume 10 percent more in one sitting than they would otherwise. Not only that, distracted diners go on to consume an average 25 percent more total calories over the course of the day than those who dine unplugged. High-action television is particularly fattening. A study published in JAMA Internal Medicine found people consumed 65 percent more calories from snacks while watching a high-action, high-volume Hollywood flick than viewers who munched while watching an interview. Researchers say the more distracting a TV show, the less attention people pay to eating, and the more they eat. So turn off the tube and savor a meal in silence. It’s one of the pleasures of mindful eating—a form of food meditation that’s associated with weight loss.

It Interrupts Sleep

About 71 percent of adolescents have TVs in their bedrooms, and that poses a health risk, researchers say, because basking in the nighttime glow of a TV screen can seriously disrupt sleep, throwing off hunger signals and natural biorhythms that can cause weight gain—especially among children. One study in the journal Pediatric Obesity found that kids with access to a TV in the bedroom were 1.47 times as likely to be overweight as kids with no TV. That increased to 2.57 times for kids with three electronic devices. A second study found that children who slept in bedrooms with TVs gained about one extra pound of weight each year over the course of four years than kids without TVs in their rooms. Simply moving the TV out of the bedroom is one way to limit kids’ TV time, especially around bedtime. It’ll burn some calories too!

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Confidence-Boosting Strategy to Help You Lose Weight

Many factors can impact the success or failure of a new diet or exercise program. We often spend a lot of time researching and choosing the best weight loss program, finding the most effective workout, buying trendy weight loss supplements and researching the right foods.
But there are also psychological factors that can affect whether or not you lose weight. One of these factors is self-efficacy, and it’s easy to change. Learn how to train your inner voice to make your weight loss process faster and more effective.

What is Self-Efficacy?

Self-efficacy is your belief that you can successfully carry out a specific task. If you start your weight loss journal with the words, “I can lose weight!”, your self-efficacy with regards to weight loss is probably high.
Self-efficacy generally relates to a specific goal. For example, you may have strong beliefs that you are capable of skipping a high-calorie late-night snack. That means your self-efficacy regarding late-night snacking is high, but you might have doubts about whether you’re going to get up early the next morning to work out. Your self-efficacy regarding the morning workout is low.

Self-Efficacy vs. Self Confidence.

It might seem as if self-efficacy is just another version of self-confidence, but that’s not true. Let’s use an example: say Carol is a graphic designer who has worked her way up the corporate ladder to become the head of her department. She's proud of her accomplishments, comfortable in social settings, strong but respectful in dealing with her boss, and positive about her personal relationships. Carol has a strong sense of self-confidence.
But let’s say that Carol is overweight. She's tried dieting repeatedly, has worked with personal trainers to stick to an exercise program, and has even gone to weight-loss camps to shed her excess pounds. Nothing has worked. Carol now believes that she just can’t lose weight. So even though Carol is self-confident, her self-efficacy about her ability to lose weight is low.

Why Does Self-Efficacy Matter?

Researchers have found a strong link between one’s beliefs in her ability to successfully perform a task, and her completion of that task. Quite a bit of research has been done with regards to self-efficacy and weight loss — most confirming a relationship between strong beliefs (either negative or positive) and actual success.
To see why it matters, let’s go back to our example of Carol. Let’s say that Carol’s new diet coach has identified a weak link in Carol’s diet: she's good for most of the day, but she tends to eat too many of the cookies and cakes that are left in the lunchroom at work. Let’s say that Carol has never been able to pass up those treats in the past, so her belief that she can do it now is minimal. When she's faced with a tray of brownies, she's not likely to muster the willpower to walk away, because she knows that she always fails anyway. Her attitude is, “why bother to make the effort?”, and she eats a brownie. Carol’s beliefs about her abilities have become a self-fulfilling prophecy.
But let’s say that her diet coach was able to build her self-efficacy. The coach was able to remind Carol of the many other situations where she has successfully passed up treats in order to stick to her diet. He tells her that he believes she can do it. Now, when Carol is equipped with the belief that she can, in fact, walk away successfully, she's more likely to do so when she's faced with the tray of brownies.

How Do I Build Self-Efficacy?

So how do you turn a negative belief system into positive thoughts? Researchers have identified four things that impact self-efficacy: mastery of experiences, social modeling, social persuasion, and emotional responses.  But if weight loss is your goal, here's how you can improve each self-efficacy factor to lose weight.

4 Ways to Improve Self-Efficacy to Lose Weight

1. Set and reach small goals. To improve your mastery of experiences, you want to successfully complete small goals that will act as stepping stones to larger accomplishments. Break each long-term goal into smaller achievable goals, and as you complete each one, acknowledge it in your journal and remind yourself of your success. The completion of each small task will build your level of self-efficacy for completing larger tasks in the future.


2. Surround yourself with positive messages. If the people that surround you are successfully completing the goal that you want to achieve, you're more likely to believe that you can do it, too. Find friends that have some habits you admire. Skip the lunchroom snacks and spend your break with a crowd that eats a healthy meal. Instead of going to happy hour with your buddies, find a few friends that want to hit the gym and exercise. You can also surround yourself with positive messages electronically. Sign up for newsletters that provide healthy messages, fill your Facebook feed with posts from weight loss coaches and successful dieters, and follow health-oriented Twitter feeds.
3. Social Persuasion. Talk to your family and friends. Let them know that their encouragement and positive messages make a difference. Then, make it a habit to acknowledge the compliments when you get them. If your friends and family are not supportive, this is another area where social media can help. Several recent studies have found that positive messages sent electronically can help people lose weight.
   
4. Learn to Relax. If you have intense emotional reactions to situations, your self-efficacy with regards to your ability to handle that situation will probably be low. Take some time to identify the situations that cause you to react strongly. Then, learn relaxation techniques that will help you to manage them with a calm demeanor.

If the concept of self-efficacy is new to you, don’t worry. Simply your awareness of your positive and negative beliefs may help you change the things you need to adjust in order to lose weight. Remember to start small, make changes gradually, acknowledge your successes and move forward from there.

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Ways to Lose Weight When You’re Crazy Busy

We understand in the DC metropolitan area, your schedule is totally insane. Between a full-time job, getting the kids to soccer practice and squeezing in time to see friends, it may seem like there’s not enough hours in the day to hit the gym or cook a healthy meal–let alone lose weight. But if you want to trim down, there’s absolutely no reason your jam-packed life should stand in the way. No matter what the roadblocks may be, we’ve got ways for you to work around them and meet your weight loss goals.

Try Snaxercise

Between unexpected late-night meetings, happy hours with colleagues and a laundry list of errands, making time for weeknight workout sessions may seem nearly impossible.  According to research, multiple, brief, snack-sized portions of exercise may be more effective than a single, continuous workout. Why? Breaking up a workout can help control blood sugar, keeping ravenous hunger at bay. Even super busy people can spare 12 minutes in the morning and 12 minutes in the evening to break a sweat, and with snaxercise, that’s all the time you’ll need to set aside.

Break Up With The Vending Machine

Instead of hitting up the vending machine or office candy bowl when your tummy starts to rumble, keep your desk stocked with healthy snacks. We suggest Emerald 100 Calorie Packs, apples, pears and Larabars because they don’t spoil easily and are loaded with nutrients like fiber and protein that will help crush your 3 pm munchies. Bring in a new batch of eats every Monday to ensure you always have a fresh stash on hand.

Change Your Commute

If a formal exercise program doesn’t sound appealing to you, that’s not a problem! Instead, burn extra calories each day by making some tiny tweaks to your commute. If you take the bus or subway to and from your office, get off one stop early and walk the rest of the way. Travel by car? Park at the far end of the parking lot to get in some extra steps before settling in at your desk. If you work in a highrise, take the elevator half the way up to your office and then switch to the stairs. Working in bouts of activity throughout the day takes up very little time and can help you slowly–but surely–reach your weight loss goal.

Give Your Kitchen a Makeover

Toss bad foods out of your kitchen for good and restock your pantry and fridge with  weight loss staples. Swapping bad-for-you fare like sugary cereals and juices for healthier picks will ensure you always have food on hand that will help you reach your goals. Set aside time this weekend to dive into this makeover project. The effort will be well worth your while and won’t require much time to maintain moving forward.

Rethink Your Drink

Switching up your beverage is one of the easiest, least time-consuming ways to lose weight. If you drink a 12-ounce, 140-calorie cola each day, you could easily shed a pound in just 25 days by replacing your daily beverage with a no-calorie option like unsweetened iced tea, water or seltzer. Besides soda, calories also lurk in juices, sports drinks fancy coffees. Avoiding drinks like these will help you slim down in the time it used to take you to order that two-pump, half-caf white-chocolate mocha with extra whip.

Plan Workout Dates

Instead of getting together with friends for dinner or drinks after work, meet up for a sweat session. If you all like to run, hit the track; if you prefer group fitness, sign up for a strength training, spin or yoga class. Not only will you be less apt to back out of a workout when a buddy is counting on you, working out with friends ensures you won’t sacrifice quality time with them in the name of fitness. You’re much more likely to stick to your new routine if you’re not giving up something in the process. Feel bad leaving your significant other at home while you workout? Take them with you! A recent JAMA Internal Medicine study of nearly 4,000 couples found that people are more likely to stick to healthy habits like exercise when they team up with their partner.

Always Keep Food With You

While storing food in your glove box, purse or brief case may sound like a weight-loss no-no, it may actually be the key to reaching your goals. When you’re trying to lose weight, you need to be prepared with healthy foods whenever hunger strikes. If you aren’t, you’re more apt to scarf down the first thing in sight—despite its terrible nutritional profile. Mixed nuts, Three Jerks Jerky and KIND Fruit & Nut Delight Bars are all low-cal, portable protein-packed options that will chase hunger away.

Prepare Make-Ahead Meals

If you can set aside just two hours over the weekend to cook, you can easily prepare enough healthy food to mix, match and eat throughout the week. Start by prepping an overnight oat recipes for breakfast. Then make a big pot of brown rice, roast a tray of your favorite veggies, grill up some chicken and chop some fresh produce. Store everything in the refrigerator and mix and match the prepared components throughout the week to quickly pull together healthy lunches and dinners without suffering through the same recipe all week long.

Don't Try to Change Everything

Eat This, Not That! is all about making healthier choices at fast-food joints and restaurants you’re already frequenting. While it may not always be obvious, there are tons of delicious ways to cut hundreds–even thousands–of calories from your daily diet without going hungry or giving up your favorite foods. Armed with tips, you won’t have to change your current routine; ordering a healthier menu item will be quick, easy and before long, second nature.
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How Much Should You Exercise to Lose Weight?

The contestants on The Biggest Loser spend hours a day in the gym with one goal in mind—to lose the most weight. But how frequently should you exercise to drop pounds in the real world? For Michelle Bridges, a trainer on the Australian version of the show and author of Total Body Transformation, the amount of time you work out every week can unlock a key to weight-loss success that is about more than just caloric burn.
Bridge's magic number for her weight-loss clients: six days a week, ideally for 50 to 60 minutes at a time. But while hours of exercise a week will surely help you create a calorie deficit, that's not the only reason the trainer wants her clients to find time for a work out almost every day. "We're setting up habits and rituals," says Bridge. "Think about the last time you had to psych yourself up to brush your teeth," she says. In other words, when your workout becomes just another part of your day, you're more likely to do it without a second thought.
If the idea of almost-daily hour-long workouts sounds exhausting, Michelle assures you that it won't feel like that. She recommends you break up your workouts into three "hard" days of exercise, such as interval training, along with two moderate days and one "passive" or light-exercise day. "You don't have to train like an Olympian all the time, but it's [about] building in those habits," says Bridge. "I guarantee that someone who has the habit of training six days a week, even if they miss a couple, is going to be more consistent than someone who only trains three days a week." Just like how regular brushing maintains your bright, healthy smile, a habitual workout routine will produce real weight-loss results.

The Surprising Reason Most People Get Cancer

Load up on plant food. Use your gym membership. Apply sunscreen religiously. Steer clear of cigarettes. Taking on healthy behaviors like these is supposed to lower your lifetime cancer risk. Now, along comes a bombshell study that seems to suggest many of these odds-lowering efforts are less impactful than you may have previously thought: The study, from Johns Hopkins University, determined that two-thirds of all adult cancer incidences can be attributed to random gene mutations that drive tumor growth. In other words, most incidences of cancer are caused by plain-old bad luck, according to study authors.
The study came about because researchers wanted to understand why some body tissues, such as those in the small intestine and pancreas, have higher cancer risk rates than others. So they tracked the number of stem cell divisions that happen across 31 tissue types, comparing these figures with the lifetime risks of cancer in these same tissues among American adults. The conclusion: The higher the number of cell divisions the tissue endures, the higher the cancer risk rate was. “Our study shows, in general, that a change in the number of stem cell divisions in a tissue type is highly correlated with a change in the incidence of cancer in that same tissue,” said study investigator Bert Vogelstein, M.D., the Clayton Professor of Oncology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, in a news release. The more cell divisions that happen, the greater the chance that a random mutation occurs—and malignancy develops.
So should you throw in the towel when it comes to healthy living since the study results imply that cancer is mostly out of your hands? That would be a resounding no. Though the researchers identified 22 cancer types with risk rates largely driven by random mutations, nine others—such as one type of skin cancer as well as head and neck, colorectal, and lung cancer—were tied to environmental factors you can at least partially control, in this case exposure to UV rays and smoking. These nine were also influenced by hereditary factors, which means that regular screenings can help you ID a tumor before it becomes life-threatening. Also, if you’re worried about breast cancer, this study offers no answers, as researchers didn’t look at breast tissue at all.
The other thing is, “random” mutations aren’t necessarily random at all, says David Katz, M.D., M.P.H, director of the Yale University Prevention Research Center. Instead, they may arise as a result of lifestyle factors. “Mutation rates are higher in those exposed to toxins and lower in those exposed to health-promoting conditions,” says Katz. “Studies have already shown that cancer-promoter genes are turned off and cancer-suppressor genes turned on by healthy living; this doesn't change that."
Bottom line: Cancer is a collection of diseases caused in varying degrees by genetics, environmental factors, and the random gene mutations cited in the Johns Hopkins study. Since some cancers offer more leeway than others for you to reduce your odds, it’s smart to adopt healthy behaviors that could do just that: Stick to a diet low in animal fat and high in fruits and veggies, get regular physical activity, and minimize your exposure to UV rays and cigarettes, suggests the American Cancer Society.
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16 Cancer Causing Foods You Probably Eat Every Day

It’s probably not something you think about every day, whether or not the foods you are eating could contain carcinogens, but with almost 1.5 million people diagnosed with some type of cancer just last year, perhaps it’s time to look at what is in our foods that could be causing such a huge number of new cancer patients. Here is a list of the top 10 foods that you most likely consume every day that may contain carcinogens or be suspected of causing cancer.

1. Microwave Popcorn

Those little bags of popcorn are so convenient to just stick in the microwave, you wouldn’t think for a minute that they could be dangerous to your health, but they are.
First, let’s talk about the bag itself. Proved by Wikipedia, conventional microwave popcorn bags are lined with a chemical called perfluorooctanoic acid ( PFOA). This is a toxin you can find in Teflon also. According to a recent study at the University of California, PFOA is linked to infertility in women. Numerous studies in lab animals and humans show that exposure to PFOA significantly increases the risk of kidney, bladder, liver, pancreas and testicular cancers. You can read more about this substance and the above mentioned studies at cancer.org.
Now, let’s talk about the contents. Although every manufacturer uses slightly different ingredients, most of them use soybean oil (a GMO product) as well as various preservatives such as propyl gallate, a chemical that is causes stomach problems and skin rashes. Now they don’t actually say they are using GMO corn kernels, but that’s because the government says they don’t have to. Even if they don’t use GMO corn, you can bet they aren’t using organic corn!
Also, applied to the popcorn itself, is a chemical called diacetyl. Use of this chemical caused Conagra Foods to remove it from their brand of popcorn, ACT, because it was causing lung diseases in the workers at their factory.

2. Non-organic fruits

Fruits that are non-organic are contaminated with some very dangerous pesticides such as atrazine, thiodicarb, and organophosphates, as well as high nitrogen fertilizers.
Atrazine is banned in European countries but still used here. This is a weed killer that causes severe problems in humans, especially in our reproductive capabilities.
A 2009 study found that when pregnant women drank water contaminated with atrazine, their babies had reduced body weights. Were you aware that the sewage from cities in the USA (nicely called bio solids) is used in the fields of farms in the USA as a form of fertilizer? You will never find organic food being cultivated in composted human sewage waste!
Conventional foods are also subjected to an enormous amount of these types’ chemicals as well as hormones, to make the fruit and veggies grow bigger. Apples are probably the worst offenders with pesticides showing on more than 98 per cent of all apples tested. Fruits with a 90 per cent positive rate of pesticide residue included oranges, strawberries, and grapes.
Washing fruit does not remove 100 per cent of the residue. Pesticides are toxic chemicals to insects as well as human beings.

3. Canned Tomatoes

Actually, most canned foods are a concern because of what the can is lined with. The lining of almost all canned foods are made with a chemical called bisphenol-A, or BPA.
A study published in May of 2013 by the Proceeding of the National Academy of Sciences showed that BPA actually affects the way genes work inside the brain of rats. Even the FDA agrees that there is a problem with BPA as it is supporting efforts to either replace or at the very least, to minimize the amounts found in canned foods. You know it must be bad when even the very lax FDA is concerned!
Tomatoes are exceptionally dangerous due to their high acidity, which seems to cause BPA to leech from the lining of the can into the tomatoes themselves. The level of BPA can be so high in fact; you should seriously consider not feeding them to children. Due to FDA laws, there are no standards for labeling BPA so simply because a can does not say it has it does not mean that it does not contain BPA. Be safe and avoid cans. Cook fresh or buy glass bottles.

4. Processed Meats

What exactly are processed meats? This is a long list that includes, but is not limited to, sausages, hot dogs, bacon, most lunch meats like bologna or pimento loaf.Researchers who wrote in the journal of BMC Medicine said that the excessive salts and chemicals that are used when making processed meats are damaging to your health. The study showed that 1 in every 17 people who were involved in the study died and those who ate 160 grams or more of processed meats increased their risk of early death as much as 44 percent within 12 years as opposed to those who ate 20 grams or less. This study involved people from 10 European countries and went on for almost 13 years.
All these processed meats contain numerous chemicals and preservatives, including sodium nitrates, which make them, look appealing and fresh but are well known carcinogens. Smoking meats seem to be particularly bad as the meat picks up tar from the smoking process. Yes, tar, the same deadly ingredient that cigarette smoke contains.

5. Farmed Salmon

Although fish sounds like one of the healthiest foods possible, farmed salmon is one you should avoid. Unfortunately, more than 60 percent of the salmon consumed in the USA is farm raised.
These fish are fed unnatural diets and are contaminated with chemicals, antibiotics, pesticides, and other known carcinogens. They live in very crowded conditions which results in these fish having 30 times the number of sea lice than wild salmon. (Doesn’t that sound appetizing?) Farmed salmon are fed chemicals to make their meat that reddish pink color that should occur naturally but doesn’t because of the diet of chicken litter that they are fed.
Also, due to their diet, they have less of the healthy omega-3 that we think we are getting when we consume fish. Studies have also shown that farmed salmon contain high levels of PCB’s, mercury, and cancer causing dioxins. Avoid farmed salmon and buy it canned or look for labels in your market that state the fish you are buying is wild sockeye salmon.

6. Potato Chips

Yes, we know, potato chips are cheap, great tasting, quick snack, however, the negative effects they have on your body may not be worth the little bit of pleasure you derive from these crispy snacks.Potato chips are high in both fat and calories, which are sure to bring on weight gain. A study done in the New England Journal of medicine found that eating just 1 once of potato chips per day caused an average 2 pound weight gain in one year. Besides being full of trans-fats which can cause high cholesterol in most people, they have excessive sodium levels which, for many people, cause high blood pressure.
Potato chips have artificial flavors, numerous preservatives, and colors as well, which is something else your body doesn’t need. Potato chips are fried in high temperatures to make them crispy but this also causes them to make a material called acrylamide, a known carcinogen that is also found in cigarettes.
It’s hard to say no to your kids demands for chips sometimes, therefore, as a sneaky alternative, buy them baked potato chips or tortilla chips which are at least lower in both fat and calories. Air popped popcorn and whole wheat pretzels are another healthier option. Or try baked apple chips or banana chips which are dehydrated. Both are crispy and are far healthier than regular potato chips.

7. Hydrogenated oils

Let’s start from the point that all hydrogenated oils are vegetable oils. Vegetable oils cannot be extracted naturally like butter is, vegetable oils must be chemically removed from their source, and then they are changed to be more acceptable to consumers. They are frequently deodorized and colored to look appealing.
All vegetable oils contain high levels of Omega–6 fatty acids. An excess of Omega- 6 fatty acids cause health problems, such as heart disease and in increase in various cancers, especially skin cancer. You need a good balance of both Omega 3 and Omega 6. Try to get plenty of Omega 3 every day. You can do this in the form of supplements and grass fed meats, also fatty fish such as salmon and mackerel are a very good source of Omega 3.
Hydrogenated oils are used to preserve processed foods and keep them looking appealing for a long as possible. Hydrogenated oils influence our cell membranes’ structure and flexibility, which is linked to cancer.

8. Foods that are highly salted, pickled, or smoked

Foods that are cured by use of nitrates or nitrites act as preservatives as well as adding color to the meat. Although nitrates do not cause cancer in and of themselves, under certain conditions these chemicals change once they are inside the body into N-nitroso composites. It’s this N-nitroso that is associated with a greater increase the risk of developing cancers.
Smoking foods such as meat or nuts causes these food items to absorb considerable amounts of the tar that smoke produces. Tar is a known carcinogen. Meats such as bacon, sausage, bologna, and salami are high in fat and salt. Pickled foods are also very high in salts.
There is overwhelming evidence that eating these types of foods greatly increases the risk of colorectal cancer and higher rates of stomach cancer. The rates of stomach cancer are much greater in places such as Japan where a traditional diet contains many foods that are highly salted, and/or smoked.

9. Highly processed white flours

Most of you have already heard by now that white flour is not a good thing, but you most likely have no idea just how bad it really is for your health. Refining grains destroys its natural nutrients. Mills are no longer content with waiting for their flour to whiten with time; mills now bleach flour with a chemical called chlorine gas.
The EPA states that chlorine gas is a dangerous irritant that is not safe to inhale and in large quantities can be lethal. White flour lurks in many processed foods. White processed flour has a very high glycemic rate which quickly raises the blood sugar level and insulin levels, which can be a direct cause of diabetes, not to mention it is believed that it spreads cancer cells by feeding the cells directly.
Cancerous tumors feed mostly on the sugars in your bloodstream. By avoiding refined grains such as white flour, you can avoid, or at the very least, starve tumors.

10. GMO’s

Genetically modified organisms, more commonly called GMO’s, are foods that have been modified by chemicals and grown with chemicals.
In a study done by Dr. Pusztai at the Rowett Institute in Scotland, rats were fed GMO foods, especially potatoes. ALL rats showed damaged immune systems, pre-cancerous cell growths, along with smaller brains and livers, in just the first 10 days of the project. American consumers believe that the FDA has approved these GMO foods and this is simply not the case.
The FDA has NO testing procedures for GMO foods, NONE. The only human study ever published showed that those foreign genes that are present in GM food transfer to the DNA in the bacteria in our digestive systems. We, the American consumer, are the guinea pig (or rat) in this case. Unfortunately, almost all grains, including soybeans, wheat, and corn, have been grown via GMO’s.
GMO’s do not have to be listed on food labels, so read carefully and look for labels that state the food is GMO free.

11. Refined Sugars

Refined sugars are not only known to spike insulin levels, but also to be the most preferable food for cancer cells, thus promoting their growth.
Cancers seem to have a sweet tooth. This is a known fact that has been around for many years. The Nobel laureate in medicine, German Otto Warburg, back in 1931, first discovered that tumors and cancers both use sugars to “feed” themselves and/or to increase in size. In order to proliferate, cancer cells seem to prefer feeding on fructose-rich sweeteners like high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS); the reason is that HFCS is being metabolized by cancer cells most quickly and easily.
Now it is clear why high-fructose corn syrup is considered the worst offender. And since cakes, pies, cookies, sodas, juices, sauces, cereals, and many other extremely popular, mostly processed, food items are loaded with refined sugars and HFCS in particular, this helps explain why cancer rates are on the rise these days.

12. Artificial Sweeteners

Most people use artificial sweeteners to either lose weight or because they are diabetic and must avoid sugar. The main problem in all this is that there are numerous studies that show people who consume artificial sweeteners on a regular basis, such as in sodas, or coffee sweeteners, actually gain weight. It also does little or nothing to help those with diabetes.
In fact, artificial sweeteners actually make it even more difficult to control their blood sugar levels and worsen conditions that are related to diabetes such as cataracts and gastro paresis. Sometimes aspartame has been found to cause convulsions, which some people will mistake for an insulin reaction.
Not to mention that artificial sweeteners inhibit your body’s ability to monitor its daily calorie consumption and make the body crave even more sweets. Well, we’ve already discussed how refined sugars can cause cancer.
There is mounting evidence that the chemicals that make up these sweeteners, especially aspartame, break down in the body into a deadly toxin called DKP. When your stomach processes this chemical, it in turn produces chemicals that can cause cancer, especially brain tumors.

13. Diet Anything

Diet foods, including frozen foods, or prepackaged foods labeled as “diet” or “low fat”, including diet sodas, generally contain aspartame, which is a chemical, artificial sweetener that we talk about in detail above. There are numerous studies showing that aspartame causes many diseases and sicknesses such as cancers, birth defects, and heart problems.
All “diet” food is chemically processed and made from super refined ingredients, excessive sodium levels, as well as artificial colors and flavors to make it taste good. Don’t ever forget, artificial anything is NOT real food! Although the FDA says that all these added chemicals are safe to eat, you might want to take their advice with a grain of salt. After all, don’t they also tell you that sugar and vegetable oils are safe to eat? (Not to mention GMO’s and fast food!)
There have been many studies that show that these additives, for some people, can actually be addicting. They feed that “feel good” part in your brain, similar to cocaine! Well, that actually makes sense because if you become addicted to these foods, the companies making them are certain to score a lot of money, aren’t they?
Be smart and eat nature’s own, natural “diet” food; fruits and vegetables! (Organic, of course!)

14. Alcohol

An American study that followed the diet and lifestyles of more than 200,000 women for almost 14 years found that postmenopausal women who drank one drink per day or less had an almost 30 percent increase in breast cancer rates compared to women who did not drink at all.
Alcohol use is the second leading cause of cancer, right behind tobacco use. While a moderate or low consumption of alcohol can be healthy and lead to a reduced risk of heart disease, excessive drinking is known to cause heart failure, stroke, and sudden death. In 2007, experts working for the World Health Organizations International Agency for Research on Cancer looked at the scientific evidence regarding cancer and alcohol use from 27 different studies. They found sufficient evidence to state that excessive alcohol use is the main cause of mouth, esophagus, liver, colon, mouth, rectum, and female breast cancers.
Don’t fret! You can still enjoy that glass of wine with dinner, but, for your health’s sake, no more than one!

15. Red Meat

For those of you, who love your T-bone steak, calm down. There is evidence that shows that red meat is actually a good thing in your diet, in small, infrequent amounts, Grass fed beef contains conjugated linoleic acid that actually fights against certain cancers.
However, in a study done over a 10 year period, eating red meat every day, even a small amount, such as that quarter pound hamburger you like to enjoy at lunch, increased a man’s risk of dying from cancer by 22 percent and a woman’s chance by 20 percent. A separate research study has shown that eating a lot of red meat increased the risk of breast, prostate, and colon cancer.
Red meat seems particularly dangerous when talking about colon cancer. A study done in the US followed almost 150,000 people between the ages of 50 and 74. This study showed that the long term consumption of red meat significantly increased the amount of colon cancer found in the subjects studied. On the other hand, the long term consumption of fish and poultry appeared to be protective in nature.
Enjoy that T-bone, but not every night, perhaps not even every week. Save those steaks for a once in while treat and be sure you are consuming grass fed, organic beef for your best health.

16. Soda Pop

Perhaps you heard about the recent study that was published in May in the American Journal of Nutrition? It found that people who consumed more than one soda per day had a higher risk of stroke than people who did not drink sodas.
Loaded with sugar, sodas are an empty source of calories that cause weight gain and contribute to the nationwide epidemic of obesity. Drinking large amounts of this rapidly digested sugar causes your blood sugar to spike which can lead to both inflammation and insulin resistance. Soda is often the root cause of gastro-esophageal reflux disease, which is when the contents of the stomach leak into the esophagus causing not only pain but an actual burning of the esophagus from stomach acid.
Although sodas are not a direct cause of ulcers, they are known to irritate and make those with ulcers have more pain. Sodas also contain artificial colorings and food chemicals like derivative 4-methylimidazole (4-MI); no wonder soda pop has been shown to cause cancer.
I know this was a rough one to grasp but I had to share this with you all.
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