Junk Food Alters Intestinal Bacteria in Just One Day

After just one day of switching from a plant-based diet to a high-fat-and-sugar diet, mice with human intestinal bacteria developed bacteria associated with obesity in humans, and soon became grossly obese (Science Translational Medicine, November 11, 2009).Dr. Jeffrey Gordon of Washington University in St Louis first showed that certain types of bacteria in the human intestinal tract can break down food more efficiently and help you absorb a greater percentage of calories from the food that you eat. He also showed that humans whose intestinal tracts are dominated by these bacteria tend to be overweight.In this new study, Dr. Gordon created germ-free mice and fed them a low-fat, plant-rich diet. Then he fed them bacteria extracted from human...

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Jumping Exercises Burn More Fat

Jumping exercise workouts will burn more fat because they are very intense! And, one-legged jumping exercises are more intense than two-legged jumping exercises. Shorten and intensify your workouts with jump training (plyometrics)! Plyometric workouts also burn more fat and calories during and after your workout!If you're having trouble sculpting your butt, hips and thighs then you need to do more jump exercises. Jump exercise workouts are advanced workouts. You need to perfect jumping and landing techniques or you will injure yourself. And, if you have knee and low back problems, high-speed...

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Thanksgiving Day-After Fat Loss Workout

I really did workout the day after Thanksgiving! I had to workout and burn those extra calories! Hopefully, you did your workout too. It's best to get right back into the exercise groove.Here's my workout:1. Sprint interval cardio, 20 minutes1. Bodyweight squats, 12 repetitions2. Pushups on medicine ball, 15 repetitions3. Bentover dumbbell rows, 10 repetitions4. Plank, 10 repetitions, 20 second hold5. Standing dumbbell shoulder press, 10 repetitions6. Medicine ball diagonal chop, 10 repetitions each side, full speed7. Dumbbell calf raises, 25 repetitions, full speedDo this circuit 2 more times. Rest 2 minutes between circuits.Burn those Thanksgiving calories! Learn how to lose weight the right way and get My Fitness Hut's 7-Day Weight...

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New Vitamin D Recommendations

At the University of Toronto School of Medicine's "Diagnosis and Treatment of Vitamin D Deficiency" conference on November 3, 2009, thirty of the world's leading researchers on vitamin D recommended 2,000 IU of vitamin D daily (the current recommendation is 600 IU). Vitamin D3 blood levels should be 100-150 nmol/L (40-60 ng/ml); the existing recommendation is 30-50 nmol/L.Vitamin D pioneer Dr. Cedric Garland presented data showing that raising vitamin D levels to 200 nmol/L decreased breast cancer risk more than 77 percent. He said: "Breast cancer is a disease so directly related to vitamin D deficiency that a woman's risk of contracting the disease can be virtually eradicated by elevating her vitamin D status to near that level." Recent work...

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Healthy Snacks For Thanksgiving

Eating healthy snacks during the long Thanksgiving weekend is important! Why? Because you will enjoy your regular Thanksgiving meal(s). The snacks and side food items can really skyrocket your calorie count if you're not careful! What you eat between main meals can make the difference in gaining excess pounds or maintaining your weight during the long 4 day fest! First, a few common sense Thankgiving holiday eating rules:1. Use no more than a pat of butter on whole wheat bread or rolls.2. Use natural sweeteners like cinnamon instead of sugar.3. Use condiments like mustard instead of ketchup or mayonnaise.4. Drink only water or unsweetened drinks, like tea. Cranberry juice and pomegranite juice are not that healthy if they are loaded with...

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Get A Lean And Toned Body!

The way to get a lean and toned body is not very complicated! Be consistent with your fitness program and you will get and stay lean and toned! Here are some tips to get your body lean and toned: 1. If you want fat loss, weight loss and a lean and toned body then you MUST eat for fat loss! Everyone needs a meal plan! You need to have some sort of idea of what you are going to eat for the day. If you don't have a meal plan, you might eat anything at any time! If you have a plan, you are more likely to follow it or at least eat similar foods. And, record what you eat in a food journal to hold yourself accountable.2. Burn more fat by working large muscle groups, not by working out longer! Maximize your time in the gym and get the results...

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Farmer's Walk Exercise Builds Core Strength

Ever heard of the farmer's walk exercise (think farmer walking with heavy milk containers)!? Do the farmer's walk exercise to primarily improve core strength (especially back strength), grip strength and burn fat. The exercise can be done to improve maximal strength or to improve endurance strength (at a distance, timed or untimed).Do the farmer's walk exercise by picking up a dumbbell in each hand. Pick up the dumbbells by deadlifting them (to protect your back) or lifting them from the weight rack. Hold each dumbbell with your arms extended by your sides and walk! If you are doing the farmer's...

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Will avoiding dietary sugar prolong life?

Nobody has yet shown any way to extend the life span of humans. However, both exercise and calorie restriction (with adequate nutrients) have been shown to extend the life span of animals. Both of these measures apparently extend life by increasing the number and size of mitochondria in cells and making them turn food into energy more efficiently. Each cell in your body contains up to several hundred mitochondria which provide the most efficient chemical reactions in your body for converting food into energy.An exciting new study on worms offers a potential method for you to prolong life and good health. When blood sugar levels rise too high, sugar enters cells in large amounts. An earlier study showed that adding sugar to the diet of the worm,...

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Quick Weight Loss vs. Optimal Health, Part 2

Quick weight loss implies that it's something that probably won't last! Health should be stressed before weight loss and beauty! It does you no good to look great if your body is a total wreck and unhealthy!Optimal health involves making lifestyle changes to improve your:1. health2. fitness3. energy levels4. quality of lifeWe are living longer on this earth so quality of life is important! The "quick weight loss lifestyle" is narrow minded when you compare it to the "optimal health lifestyle!" Quick weight loss leads to slowed metabolism, a weaker immune system, hormonal imbalances, loss of lean mass, increased body fat, decreased energy levels, disrupted sleep patterns, short-term results and yo-yo dieting! I'll take the optimal health...

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Just Getting Old Does Not Cause Diabetes

A study from the University of Pittsburgh shows that the marked increase in diabetes in older people is caused by obesity and lack of exercise, not by aging alone (Diabetes Care, August 2009). Most cases of diabetes are caused by cells not being able to respond to insulin, rather than by lack of insulin. Inability to respond adequately to insulin is caused by being overweight, not exercising, lacking vitamin D and/or eating too many refined carbohydrates.In this study, the same insulin responses were found in young and old endurance-trained athletes, young and old normal-weight subjects, and young and old obese subjects. Regardless of age, athletes had better insulin responses than normal-weight sedentary subjects, who had better insulin responses...

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Quick Weight Loss vs. Optimal Health, Part 1

The hazzards of the quick weight loss lifestyle and the benefits of the optimal health lifestyle were on full display this past weekend at Nutrilite Health Institute! Nutrilite has been in existence for 75 years and is the only company that organically grows all its own plants which are used to produce their own nutritional products for optimal health! If you're looking for quick weight loss products, Nutrilite can't help you! Nutrilite researches, grows and produces its own scientifically healthy products! My Fitness Hut and 8 other health bloggers (pictured above) were privileged to be invited...

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The Seated Cable Row Exercise

The seated cable row exercise should be a staple of your back strengthening routine! For many, too little time is spent on strengthening the back muscles. When you don't adequately strengthen your back muscles, you are affecting your pulling potential. And, to have good upper body muscular balance, you need to work your backside as well as your frontside.The back muscles targeted during the seated cable row exercise are the latissimus dorsi, teres major, middle trapezius and rhomboids. Follow these steps to properly execute the seated cable row exercise: 1) Maintain the natural arch in...

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Belly Fat Threatens Your Health!

You have heard that belly fat (abdominal fat) threatens your health! Belly fat has been associated with contributing to such diseases as cancer. That is serious stuff!Belly fat causes other health problems too! Scientist have learned much more about fat cells (adipose tissue) than ever before. Researchers from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis found that abdominal fat cells secrete inflammatory proteins that cause damage to blood vessels and other cells.Wait, there's more! These inflammatory chemicals secreted by belly fat cells are implicated in the development of coronary artery disease and Metabolic Syndrome! That is why personal trainers and health professionals always measure body fat with a special emphasis placed...

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Eat Enough To Build Muscle And Burn Fat

Eat enough to build muscle and burn fat. You do this by following your meal plan based on your basal metabolic rate and level of daily activity. You won't get consistent muscle growth without eating enough calories---consistently!! Don't be so concerned about weight loss that you fail to eat enough! You need to build muscle which will speed up your metabolism, burn fat and keep the weight off! The weight will stay off because you will eventually have that lean and toned body. Fuel your body throughout the day with consistent meals every 3-4 hours. This will give you enough energy to live and workout! If you want your muscles to grow, FEED YOUR MUSCLES CONSISTENTLY! Just lifting weights is not enough to grow your muscles and become...

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No Evidence Cycling Weakens Bones

No data exists in the scientific literature showing that any type of exercise weakens bones. Bone growth depends on the forces exerted on them by gravity and contracting muscles. So any activity or exercise that causes you to contract your muscles will strengthen bones (Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, November 2009).Previous studies showed that world class cyclists had reduced bone densities in their spines. However, bone density tests do not measure bones strength. They measure how much bones block X-rays that try to pass through them. The only way to measure bone strength is to see how much force it takes to break a bone.The most likely explanations for broken bones in cyclists are high-impact crashes and/or lack of vitamin...

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Tabata Training For Fat Loss

Tabata training for fat loss might sound weird but it can be a time-effective, fat loss training tool for you to use! If you're looking for ways to change up your exercise program, try Tabata training.Tabata training was developed by Izumi Tabata, Ph.D. in Tokyo. Tabata is a very intense interval training technique. It is a great way to burn more calories and fat during and after your workout! You will need one exercise and 4 minutes! Yes, only 4 minutes! Tabata training works this way:1. After a 5 minute warmup, choose an exercise like squat-to curl-to press or medicine ball front chop.2. Do as many repetitions as you can for 20 seconds.3. Rest for 10 seconds.4. Repeat this cycle for 4 minutes! Make sure to maintain correct form as...

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Burn More Fat With MUST DO Strength Exercises!

There are some strength exercises that you MUST DO if you want to burn more fat and sculpt your lean body! Don't make the mistake of always looking for "new strength exercises!" What you need are effective, muscle-building strength exercises that will primarily build large muscle groups.Strength exercises for fat loss should focus on maximizing your time at the gym...build more muscle mass to speed up your metabolism and burn more fat. To recruit more muscle fibers during workouts and improve your success, focus more on MULTI-JOINT OR COMPOUND EXERCISES. COMPOUND EXERCISES will help you burn more fat because you are working large muscle groups in your body. For example, the largest muscle in the body is the gluteus maximus and squats/lunges...

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Burn More Fat With Plyometrics

If you're having trouble burning fat, then try plyometric exercises. Because of the intensity of plyometrics (jump training), you will burn more fat and better sculpt your body. Plyometric exercises not only burn more fat, they also improve your power, or speed strength (how fast your muscles can produce force).Here are some good plyometric exercises to help you burn more fat and sculpt your body. 1. In Place Vertical Jumps, full speed, Double Leg, 3 sets/10, 2 minutes rest between sets2. Depth Jumps, 2 sets/10, 2 minutes rest between sets3. Bounding and Lateral Bounding, full speed, 2 sets...

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Fasting Does Not Increase Endurance

Some people think (incorrectly) that fasting before a race or competition will increase their endurance. Fasting weakens and tires you. How long you can exercise a muscle depends on how much sugar, called glycogen, you can store in that muscle and how long you can keep it there. When a muscle runs out of its stored glycogen, it slows down because it requires more oxygen to burn more fat. It also accumulates more lactic acid to become acidic which causes a burning pain, and it becomes more difficult to coordinate.Every time you move a muscle, some of the stored glycogen is used up. Every time you eat, some of the food can be stored as glycogen in that muscle. When you go for more than an hour without eating, you use up glycogen without replacing...

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