It is controlled, gradual and progressive exercise, rather than inactivity and bed rest, most often provides the best long-term solution for reducing back pain and preventing future episodes of pain.

Most experts recommend no more than one or two days rest at the onset of most episodes of back pain. Prolonged inactivity can make the back stiff, weak, and de-conditioned, and this will aggravate the cycle of recurring back pain.

Obviously, for chronic back pain, it is important to see a doctor in order to rule out possible types of back pain that could be aggravated by exercise, such as spinal instability.

By nourishing and repairing spinal structures, exercise helps alleviate many existing back problems. The erectors protect your nerves, and are the slowest recovering muscle in your body In fact, by some estimates, it takes some 100 hours to fully recuperate this body part.

How exercise helps the back

Engaging in exercise and fitness activities helps keep the back healthy by allowing discs to exchange fluids which is how the disc receives its nutrition. A healthy disc works like a shock absorber in your spine. It will swell with water and squeeze it out, just like a sponge. This sponge action distributes nutrients to the disc and the fluid exchange helps to reduce the swelling in the other soft tissues that naturally occurs surrounding injured discs. When there is a lack of exercise, swelling increases and discs become malnourished and degenerated.

Exercising the back reduces stiffness by keeping the connective fibers of ligaments and tendons flexible. Improved mobility through back exercise helps to prevent the connective fibers from tearing under stress, which in turn prevents injury and back pain.

In the 1920s, a physician named Edmund Jacobson developed a systematic technique to work each muscle group in the body separately and progressively. His studies showed that by contracting a muscle as tightly as possible, holding it for a few seconds, then abruptly releasing the tension, produced a deep state of relaxation. This methodology is widely used today and is known as by various names such as Progressive Muscle Relaxation (PMR), Sequential Muscle Relaxation (SMR) or Jacobson’s Relaxation.

Dr. Jacobson’s landmark book, Progressive Relaxation, outlined 200 different exercises but most practitioners use just 15 to 20 of them. In this short workout, you will tense each and every muscle group in your body, starting from the bottom and working up: feet, legs, buttocks, hips, arms and hands, stomach and chest, back, shoulders, neck, face and jaws.

Beginning progressive relaxation you can practice on your own

Lie down on your back and get comfortable. Start with the muscles in your feet by tensing them for 5 to 10 seconds. Abruptly release the tension and concentrate on letting your feet go limp.

1. Give yourself 15 to 20 seconds to relax before going on to the muscles in the legs.
2. With each release of tension, empty your mind of worries. You can use imagery when relaxing each muscle group and focus on the tension flowing out of your body. When working on a particular group, keep the rest of your body loose and relaxed. Some areas like the neck and shoulders may need to be tensed and released two or three times to feel the relaxation effect take hold.
3. Gradually work your way up the body, tensing and releasing each muscle group.

It should take you about 10 to 20 minutes to complete the cycle. Even if it is your first try at PMR, you can achieve a noticeable, relaxed state, and after a few weeks of daily practice you’ll be able to reach even deeper levels of relaxation.

Basic guidelines for PMR

• Do the exercises in a quiet place where you won’t be distracted. If you think you’ll have difficulty doing it alone, you can use an audio tape of a recorded progressive relaxation program to talk you through each step.
• Consistency is important, so try to do these exercises at the same time each day.
• Don’t try to attempt progressive relaxation after eating a full meal since digestion will interfere with your session.
• You can lie down on the floor or sit in a chair, but it is not advised that you do progressive relaxation while lying in bed or on a couch, as you don’t want to get too comfortable and drift asleep before getting all the way through. Deep relaxation requires your full attention.
• One of the goals of progressive relaxation is to help you sleep better. Your body needs a good night’s sleep to recuperate, but unfortunately sleep does not always permit deep relaxation especially if you toss and turn all night thinking about work or family problems. By practicing relaxation exercises for 10 to 20 minutes just before going to bed, you’ll get to sleep more easily and then sleep more restfully.

For thousands of years, yogis have practiced and perfected deep breathing techniques in order to achieve a tranquil state of being. These exercises have long been known to relieve stress and fatigue, and they have a remarkable impact on preventing illnesses.

As we all know, breathing is essential to life but for people who are actually not breathing deeply enough their bodies are stressed in a myriad of ways. Medical science has proven that breathing quantity and quality largely controls how well you live today and how long you will live.

Studies have shown that when cells in the body lack a sufficient oxygen supply, it leads to major health problems including heart disease, stroke, and cancer. Shallow breathing, something all of us are doing too frequently, does not draw in enough oxygen nor does it allow the body to fully expel carbon dioxide. As a result, toxins build up, cells are oxygen-starved, and vitality is sapped. To overcome this deficit, the practice of deep breathing rejuvenates your body by saturating the blood with extra oxygen and helping the lymphatic system carry away toxins.

Proper nose and belly breathing

The first rule when doing deep breathing exercises is to breathe through your nose. The nose prevents cold air, dust and pathogens from being breathed in, so it’s important to try and learn to breathe through the nose and not the mouth. A second point to consider is that shallow breathing is strong indication of chest breathing, another bad habit. Ideally, for better health you want to breathe through your nose and with the belly.

Take this quick test to see if you are a chest or belly breather: put your left hand on your chest and your right hand on your stomach. Take a breath and notice what happens. If your left hand rises first, you probably tend to be a chest breather.

Proper belly breathing will expand the abdominal cavity allowing the lungs to fill from the bottom up instead of the top down, as you do when chest breathing. The following breathing exercise can help you improve the quality of your respiration.

• Close your mouth and inhale slowly and deeply through your nose, extending your stomach as your lungs fill.
• Pause for 5 seconds, then exhale slowly through the mouth, allowing your stomach to return to its original position.
• Pause again, and take another slow full breath.
• Each time you breathe out, feel the tension leave your body. Repeat the cycle 5 to 10 times.

Yoga, tai chi and qi gong are excellent practices to learn deep breathing exercises but they take years to master. You can and should practice simple deep breathing on your own at any time during the day since (naturally) you have to breathe anyway. When you’re sitting in traffic, or just making dinner, take a few deep breaths and focus on the mechanics of breathing through your nose and using the belly.

article by Shane Ellison

If you could make one simple change in your diet to help you melt fat, sleep better, and improve your memory … wouldn’t you do it? What if that same simple dietary change could increase your energy, conquer depression, save your eyesight, restore your mental alertness, get your bedroom energy rockin’, and increase your lifespan?

This may sound too good to be true. But it’s not. And you don’t have to take drugs. Nor do you have to try some newfangled experimental supplements. Or stop eating. Or even give up the foods you love.

It’s as simple as reducing the amount of sugar you eat.

This is not a trick. I said you don’t have to give up the foods you love. And that includes sweets. You can actually give up sugar and keep your sweet tooth happy. This is the greatest health secret of all time. And I’m gonna teach you how to incorporate it into your life.

Before I tell you how, I want you to know just why you should give up sugar. It’s not just because of all the aforementioned benefits. It’s because sugar can have serious health consequences.
Have you ever been plagued by hard-to-diagnose health problems? You know something is wrong, but your doctor can’t seem to figure out what’s causing them? You …

* can’t lose weight, no matter how hard you exercise or diet

* feel depressed, even though you’re typically a happy person

* can’t get a solid night’s sleep

* feel sluggish at work

* lack mental focus

* have lost your libido

* suffer from rising blood pressure

Well, it’s not all in your head. It could be your sugar addiction.

My six-year-old can recite all the dangers of sucrose (table sugar) in a matter of two minutes. She can also warn you of the risks associated with those artificial sweeteners in pretty packets. And because she still likes to get her “sweet fix,” she can tell you which natural sweeteners are best to use in tea, cookies, and cake. Not bad, considering that the self-appointed custodians of our health – physicians – are totally clueless about the sweetener epidemic that is sabotaging us.

If a first grader can master the problems with sugar and understand how to choose the right alternatives, you can too.
We all have the need to get a sweet fix. It’s part of our biological makeup. When consumed, sweets elicit a chemical cascade of events that lead to the triggering of feel-good receptors within the brain. If this happens repeatedly, an emotional bond between happiness and sugar is formed. We become fully dependent on sweets.

Sugar addiction is best illustrated by children who break down with temper tantrums if not given sugar, women who consume chocolate in times of stress, and men who suck down soda to make it through the “afternoon blues.” In a study comparing the addictive properties of sweeteners, saccharin and sucrose proved more addictive than cocaine!

The irony is that your body doesn’t actually need any sugar. What you do need is glucose for energy. And you can obtain it from fruit and vegetables.

If left unchecked, an addiction to sweets spikes blood sugar and the fat-storing hormone insulin, disrupts satiety (causing users to overeat), and gives rise to age-accelerating molecules known as AGE products (advanced glycation end products). These aging molecules (not cholesterol) are responsible for causing wrinkles and age-related blindness, as well as premature heart attacks and stroke.

Over time, “sweetener addiction” leads to the hard-to-diagnose symptoms listed above, and a host of dreaded diseases like insulin resistance, heart disease, diabetes, and cancer. To avoid the sabotage, you must understand how to get your sweet fix without becoming addicted.

Years ago, people didn’t eat much sugar – as little as 10-15 pounds per year. And their health was much better for it. As time passed and sugar production became easier, people gave into their sweet cravings and began to overindulge. Today, the average consumption of sugar is a whopping 160 pounds! It’s suicide in slow motion. Sugar addicts eliminate a 11-20 years from their lifespan.

Few people realize how much sugar they are putting into their body. They are simply giving into an addiction while slowly ruining their health. To judge whether or not you are at risk, read your food labels for one day and count how many grams of sugar you are eating. Insert that number into my People’s Chemist Death by Sugar Calculator found at www.thepeopleschemist.com. Watch as the graph calculates how many pounds of sugar you are stuffing into your mouth annually.

But that doesn’t mean you should replace sucrose with artificial sweeteners to get your sweet fix. Artificial sweeteners are nothing more than drugs in disguise. Splenda is a perfect example.

Splenda contains the drug sucralose. Invented in a pesticide lab, this chemical is 600 times sweeter than sugar. To make sucralose, chlorine is used. Chlorine has a split personality. It can be harmless or it can be life threatening. In combo with sodium, chlorine forms a harmless ionic bond to yield table salt. When used with carbon, the chlorine atom in sucralose forms a covalent bond. The end result is deadly organochlorine, known simply as RNFOC (a Really Nasty Form of Chlorine). Unlike ionic bonds, covalently bound chlorines are a big no-no for the human body. They yield insecticides, pesticides, and herbicides – not something you want in your sports drink or your child’s lunchbox.

Think aspartame (Equal, Nutrasweet) is safe? Think again. Teaching organic chemistry, I taught my students how to identify the active ingredients in soda using a technique known as TLC (Thin Layer Chromatography). The byproducts of sodas containing aspartame are all known poisons (that would slowly kill you): methanol, phenylalanine, and aspartic acid. I never saw my students with a diet soda after that.

Safe alternatives to artificial sweeteners are abundant: erythritol, agave, xylitol and luo han guo.
Choosing which natural sweetener to use depends on which one tastes best to you. Agave nectar usually wins. It stimulates taste buds exactly the same way sucrose does. But unlike common table sugar, very little of its active ingredient – inulin – is absorbed. Therefore, you are protected from the dangers of sugar addiction.

As a “nectar,” agave is a bit harder to bake with. This is where the safe and natural erythritol wins. You can replace it gram for gram with sugar. Even better, I like to use 25% table sugar and 75% erythritol in baking and ice cream. You won’t even notice the healthy difference. That’s the real magic here!

All natural sweeteners are known to help control appetite, keep insulin and blood sugar low, and prevent the formation of age accelerating molecules in our body. None of them are addicting, nor will they diminish your lifespan. They are perfect to use with my Hormone Intelligence Therapy (HIT) program for reversing diabetes, losing fat and feeling great in 90 days.

Getting your sweet fix doesn’t have to be deadly. If you learn to gauge your sugar intake with The People’s Chemist Death by Sugar Calculator and start using natural sweeteners, you won’t be plagued by hard-to-diagnose health problems. And you’ll have more years to enjoy life and those you love.

This Exercise article is provided by Articleteller – The Free Article Directory http://www.articleteller.com

Ellison’s entire career has been dedicated to the study of molecules; how they give life and how they take from it. He was a two-time recipient of the prestigious Howard Hughes Medical Institute Research Grant for his research in biochemistry and physiology. Read the free report at www.thepeopleschemist.com/fatloss

Why do so many of us fail or give up our efforts to lose weight? And why do we fall for so much false advertising? The key to losing weight is eating good food, in moderation, and doing some form of regular exercise – such as walking. But let’s look at some popular weight loss myths:

1. Low Fat Diets

Low fat diets have had many people fooled for years, and with the result just about every brand has come up with a low fat or fat free alternative at a higher price of course, but do not be fooled any longer. Our bodies need certain amounts of fat to survive and actually help us to lose weight. Unsaturated fats are the good fats and can be found in most “fatty” foods as well avocados, nuts, others.

The real culprit to gaining weight is sugar. It is not the high fat content in chocolate, pizza, sauces, and sweets that cause weight gain, but the sugar content. Sugar is used to make fat free products taste much better, so most fat free “diet” products actually have more sugar then their normal counterparts. Sugar is turned into glucose, or energy, by the body and when you have too mush of it, it is stored in the fat reserves until you need it.

2. Eating Less

Eating less is good to a point. When you think that you have to eat less to lose weight you could be in actual fact going in reverse. The body needs a certain amount of food to be able to burn calories and then use up existing calories, so you must not cut out food all together. The metabolism slows down, making it even more difficult to lose weight. You should eat smaller meals more often and do not skip meals.

3. Fruits and Vegetables

Some people realize that eating fresh foods can help in their weight loss effort, but it is a myth that only eating fruits and vegetables will help you to lose weight. Your body needs other minerals and vitamins which will help you to lose weight that are only found in fish, chicken, red meats and fats. Eat everything in moderation and eat an average portion of fresh fruit and vegetables every day.

4. Weight Loss Can be done in a few weeks

No exercise routine, pill, or program can make you lose weight successfully in a few weeks. While some products can give the appearance of weight loss, it could only be temporary and you will end up gaining the weight again plus more. Pills are not good for your health and even the natural ones that aim to boost the metabolism will work without effort from you. They can assist along with good eating habits and exercise.

5. Sit ups will get rid of flab

Sit ups will not get rid of flab and make you lose weight around your mid section. The bodies fat reserves are all spread over the while body and you will lose weight equally and the same time. This is why most people get frustrated that they seem to be losing weight on their fingers and toes first, when in actual fact they are losing everywhere, but only notice it there first. The tummy will take a while to lose its fat reserves and sit ups will only work the muscles underneath all that fat. Only cardio vascular exercise – such as walking for fitness – will improve the body’s rate of calorie conversion to energy.

This article was written by Mark McDonald as a dedication to Jacob at: www.whatwouldjacobdo.com He’s 438 lbs. and Running the Boston Marathon; an amazingly inspirational weightloss story.

This Nutrition article is provided by Articleteller – The Free Article
Directory: www.articleteller.com

A cardiovascular workout is any type of exercise that increases the work of the heart and lungs. Only when your pulse quickens and your breathing gets deeper to the point of being “winded” have you reached a cardiovascular zone of physical exertion. You don’t necessarily have to be a runner to get the best results because any activity that keeps your heart rate up will suffice. In fact, there are a number of regular activities you may already be enjoying that will help to improve your cardiovascular system’s efficiency.

The kind of cardio exercises you need requires the combination of using large muscle movements over an extended period of time (duration) so that you heart rate is elevated to at least 50% of its maximum level (intensity). For true cardio benefits, you must engage in aerobic exercise for at least 30 minutes, preferably an hour, and reach a “target heart rate zone” several times a week.

Get to know your Target Heart Rate

Generally speaking, your target heart rate is the range of heart beats you should work at in order to challenge the cardio-respiratory system. The zone then, refers to the duration and intensity of exercise you need in order to get the targeted cardiovascular training benefits.

A maximum Heart Rate (HR) is the theoretical number of beats that your heart is capable of safely beating in one minute. The formula simply requires you to subtract your age from 220. For example, if you are 40 years old: 220 minus 40 = 180 beats per minute. Therefore, a typical target heart rate of 60% of your HR max of 180 would be about 108 beats per minute. Look at these ranges in the Heart Zones and use them as a guide when doing cardio work:

The first zone is called the Healthy Heart Zone which is 50-60% of your max Heart Rate (HR). Walkers most likely train at this zone which is not intense enough to get great cardio-respiratory benefits, but it will give overall fitness benefits.

The next level is the Fitness Zone which is 60-70% of your max HR. In this zone you can actually condition the rate of fat release and train your muscles to burn fat.

The Aerobic Zone trains at 70-80% of your max HR. Studies show that you can expect to increase the number and size of blood vessels, stroke volume (amount of blood pumped per heart beat), and respiratory rate while working in this zone.

The next level is the Anaerobic Zone, which is 80-90% of your max HR. At this rate you can expect cardiovascular benefits to include an improved maximum VO2 capacity (the highest amount of oxygen you can draw in during exercise). Your heart will become more efficient at transporting oxygen to the cells that need it (as well as removing waste products such as carbon dioxide).

At the top is the Redline Zone which is 90-100% of your max HR, or the fastest your heart will beat. This zone is for interval training and lasts only a few minutes.

Variety is the key to getting your cardio fitness benefits. There are a number of activities you can try that will put you in the “zone” and help you reap the benefits of cardiovascular exercises. Some of these benefits include the reduced risk of heart disease and diabetes, and the lowering of high blood pressure and cholesterol. Cardio workouts also help you to increase your lung capacity, make your heart stronger (so it won’t have to work as hard to pump blood), increase metabolism and strengthen your immune system.

The top 10 cardio workouts

1. Running. Not only is it the quickest way to shed pounds, running is easiest way to reach the upper HR training zones. The Cardio Classic.

2. Swimming. If you hate to run but love the water, swimming is the ideal exercise for overall fitness as well as for improving your heart and lung health.

3. Biking. Grab your bike and head for the trails where you can pace yourself at first, then crank up the workout. You change the intensity by changing the terrain, as well as mixing in sprints and long rides.

4. Kickboxing is a combination of boxing, martial arts and aerobics that will give you a full-body workout that increases balance, strength, flexibility and endurance. And a 30-minute workout on a heavy bag or a series of shadowboxing drills can provide an excellent cardio workout.

5. Inline skating is a challenging endurance sport that offers a great way to stay in shape while having fun. You won’t get bored, and a better body and healthier heart are only weeks away.

6. Cardio machines. Your club or gym may have an area called the “Cardio Room” but you’ll know it by the machines: treadmills, ellipticals, stair climbers, bikes, etc. These are ideal for maximizing your training time and you can add more incline, resistance, and speed on a machine to step up to the next HR level. Try different machines and vary your workout.

7. Racquet sports (including tennis, racquetball and squash) require a lot of running and explosive periods of energy. For best results, you need to maintain an exertion level and not simply poop the ball around the court. Play just for the cardio of it.

8. Team sports (basketball, soccer, laser tag, etc.) These will count as long as the activity provides extended periods of moderate intensity. (Not warming the bench, in other words.)

9. Water aerobics. Take a class and enjoy a fun and social workout to music. An aquacise session helps to improve stamina, strength, endurance and gives wonderful cardio benefits. Although the working heart rate in water is lower than when training at a similar intensity on land, the pressure of water on the body helps to improves blood circulation.

10. Power walking. Walking is the most common and easiest way to get a cardio workout. Hit the trails at a fast pace of 4.4 to 6.0 miles an hour so you can cover a mile distance in about ten to fourteen minutes. Pick up the pace to burn more calories than a regular-paced walk and step up to a higher target heart zone.

Any of these types of exercises will help to promote cardio fitness, but do keep in mind that there is no absolute “best” cardio exercise. As you can see from the list above, you can choose from a wide range of physical activities that will get your heart rate up. The important thing is to do it, and do it at least 3 or 4 times a week.

How Intense is Your Workout?

Many people who walk for fitness do not like the feeling of exerting themselves, yet in order to achieve any cardio benefits one must do a moderate intensity workout rather than an easy one. In fact, you must push yourself beyond what is comfortable since you’ll only get an aerobic workout-the primary cardio-vascular benefit-when your pulse rate is elevated.

Achieving a target HR zone isn’t difficult. You don’t even need to remember the levels of the heart zone chart, or any HR formula, if you keep in mind that any cardio workout must get you winded. If you’re not sure your workout is intensive enough, take the talking test.

If you can converse comfortably while doing your cardio workout (the “talk test”) then you’re at lowest intensity level. At an HR level of aerobic exercise, you should be able to say a few words, catch your breath, and then carry on talking. And if you find it difficult to talk-congratulations! You are probably working out anaerobically.

To get a better idea of this, imagine your exercise intensity level on a scale that goes from 0-10 with 0 being no effort and 10 being maximum effort:

· Level 1 – 3: lowest intensity
· Level 4 – 5: warm-up level, easy
· Level 6: moderate intensity, working and breathing a little hard
· Level 7: moderate to high intensity, breathing harder, challenging
· Level 8: high intensity, breathing very hard, conversation is difficult
· Level 9: very high intensity, no talking zone
· Level 10: maximum intensity, peak zone, feels like your heart will burst.

Just Do It.
Never fear that you’re doing your cardio “wrong,” the only important point to remember is to just do it. Kick-start your cardio fitness program with a brisk new workout, and see how your breathing feels. Start slowly and gradually build up the duration and intensity. If you are a healthy individual with no medical concerns, then you should have no boundaries as to how hard you can push yourself. And while you should never feel completely out of breath or winded, do try for a more challenging pace, since you won’t achieve an optimum fitness level by training comfortably.

The activity is up to you but make cardio fitness a part of your daily life and begin reaping the benefits of training the most important muscle of them all – your heart.

It’s easier and more convenient to make walking a daily regular routine than almost any other exercise.

Walking burns calories at any speed. Of course, brisker walking burns more, but if you can’t or don’t want to go faster, you can walk longer to make up the difference. For example, if you weigh 150 pounds and cover one mile in 15 minutes (that’s 4 mph), you burn about 110 calories. But walk at a slower pace (3 mph) and you get the same calorie burn in just a mile and one-tenth.

If you walk at an easy-to-moderate pace for 45 minutes, you would cover two and a quarter miles, at 100 calories per mile. So your total calorie burn for the walk will be 2.25 x 100 = 225 calories burned. Do that for 30 days and you’ve walked away 30 x 225 calories = 6,750 calories. Figuring that 3,500 calories equal 1 pound, you will have lost close to 2 pounds — which adds up to about 22 pounds less body fat after a year.

Not motivated, you say? Borrow your neighbor’s dog. One of the best aerobic exercises for any fitness level is plain old walking. (Note to self: Remember to bring the dog.)

Fitness Walking in Hot Weather

Be sure to drink 10 to 16 oz. of fluids at least 15 minutes BEFORE you start your walk. Then drink every 20-30 minutes along your walk.

You can tell if you end up dehydrated after your walk if your pulse rate remains high and your urine is dark yellow.

Thirst doesn’t tell the whole story, so be sure to drink during your walk whether or not you feel thirsty, and avoid drinks with a high sugar concentration. Water is the best choice though sports drinks (without the sugar) are worth a try.

Walking vacations

As you gathered from the figures, the benefits from walking are measured in months, not days. Don’t be discouraged. Tell yourself these facts, over and over again:

√ I’m better off losing weight slowly. The more gradual the weight loss, the more likely it is to be permanent.

√ Losing weight gradually gives my body and appetite the time to adjust to my new lower weight.

√ By losing gradually, I’m preventing the baggy skin that could result if I lost more rapidly.

√ This the healthiest way to trim down. I don’t have to cut back on good nutrition. I don’t need diet pills. (People who lose weight by dieting lose lots of muscle tissue, as well as fat.)

Keep your food intake constant and you will lose weight slowly. Walk 45 minutes a day, four times a week, and you could drop almost 18 pounds a year. If you combine a walking regime with a proper diet, snipping out a few hundred calories from your diet each day – the pounds will leave faster.

Walking is easy, free and will change your life. Start today and get fit!

To state the obvious, there are great benefits from losing weight. Though losing weight is not easy, the long-term effects would probably be of help to anyone considering to shed those unwanted and unhealthy pounds.

Here are a few of the remarkable advantages from losing weight.

1. Weight loss prevents high blood pressure, heart disease and stroke

That is a three-in-one benefit from losing weight. It is a fact that heart disease and stroke are one of the primary reasons for disability and death in both men and women in the US. People who are overweight have a higher risk to have high levels of cholesterol in their blood stream as well as triglycerides (also known as blood fat).

By decreasing your weight by a mere five to ten percent, it could positively decrease the chances of having or developing heart disease or a stroke. Plus, how your heart functions would also improve as well as your blood pressure, cholesterol and triglyceride count will decrease.

2. Weight loss prevents type 2 diabetes

Both types of diabetes, type one and type two are linked with being overweight. To those who already have diabetes, regular exercise and weight loss could help in controlling your blood sugar levels as well as the medication you may be currently taking. Increase your physical activity. You could simply walk, jog or dance. It helps get those blood streams moving as well as lose those unnecessary pounds.

3. Weight loss helps reduce your risk for cancer

Being overweight is linked to various types of cancer. Specially for women, the common types of cancer that is associated with being overweight include cancer of the uterus, gallbladder, ovary, breast, and colon. Men are at risk too from developing cancer if they are overweight. These include cancer of the colon, prostate and rectum. Extra weight, a diet high in fat and cholesterol should as much as possible be avoided.

4. Weight loss reduces/eliminates sleep apnea

Sleep apnea is a condition where one could temporarily stop breathing for a brief period and then would continue to snore heavily. Sleep apnea could cause drowsiness or sleepiness during the day and – because of being overweight – could result in heart failure. Weight loss could help eliminate this problem.

5. Weight loss reduces the pain of osteoarthritis

When one is overweight, the joints of knees, hips and lower back would have to exert double – if not triple – effort to carry the body through out his / her waking, walking and moving life. Weight loss decreases the load these joints carry and thus decreasing the pain of one who has osteoarthritis.

This Weight Loss article is provided by Articleteller – The Free Article Directory http://www.articleteller.com

Lots more FREE weight loss information! Just visit www.weightlossartist.com. Proven weight loss secrets and diet tips will all be revealed!

Unfortunately most weight loss diets are actually fad diets. All to often diets that describe themselves as being new or revolutionary are actually diets that are twenty or thirty years old come back for a second or third wave of popularity. Good examples are the Zen diet, which is simply a revival of hippie macrobiotic eating theories from the mid 1960s, the Zone diet which is based on food combining principles that have been around since the turn of the 19th century and the Atkins diet which was initially pioneered in the 1970s and had a Gloria Swanson type comeback not too long ago.

How to tell a fad diet

The best way to identify a fad diet is to determine if it is based on any of the following principles:

It is based on the way Neanderthals eat
It is based on foods from the bible
It is based on your blood type
It is based on eating mostly protein and no carbs
It is based on eating mostly carbs and no protein
It is based on eating no fat
It is based on eating fatty foods
It recommends the eating of negative calorie foods
It recommends eating only one fruit such as grapefruit
It recommends drinking more than three cups of coffee a day
It claims that you can eat whatever you want

High Protein/low carb Diets

Perhaps the most popular of these diets are the High protein/low carb diet that are based on the idea that carbohydrates are bad, that many people are “allergic” to them or are insulin-resistant, and therefore gain weight when they eat them. This includes the South Beach Diet, the Zone Diet and the Atkins diet. These types of diets induce ketosis to accelerate weight loss. Ketosis is an abnormal body process that occurs during starvation due to lack of carbohydrate. Ketosis causes fatigue, constipation, nausea, and vomiting, none of which are part of a healthy lifestyle. Long-term side effects of ketosis are documented to include heart disease, bone loss, and kidney damage

The truth behind weight gain in this society is that people are eating more total calories and getting less physical activity.

Your body simply doesn’t distinguish between types of calories when it comes to weight gain or loss only the number of them.

Crash diets dehydrate you, low calorie diets put your body into starvation mode so you plateau so you can’t lose one more pound and high protein diets stress your kidneys and clog your arteries.

The truth is that you do need protein and fat in the diet, both serve important metabolic and physiological roles in the body.

Fad and crash diets, such as the ones described above are not only unhealthy but they are also cause rebound weight gain. Also most diets, even though diet gurus write them cause an initial weight loss but the ultimate result is that you gain all of the weight back the minute you go off the plan. If you don’t gain it back within a couple of diets, you are likely to gain it all back plus a bit more within a year.

For more weight information visit www.the-weightloss-guide.com/blog. This Nutrition article is provided by Articleteller – The Free Article Directory: www.articleteller.com

An estimated 97 million adults in the United States are overweight or obese. The distinction between overweight and obese is a matter of quantity. Obese individuals simply have more body fat. Both these physical conditions significantly increase morbidity from many well known chronic health conditions. Following are a variety of common conditions found in overweight and obese individuals:

1. Metabolic Syndrome X. A cluster of cardiac symptoms which increase the risk for a heart attack or stroke.
2. Angina Pectoris. An often severe, constricting chest pain.
3. Pre-Diabetes. Reversible, but if left unchecked could lead to diabetes type 2. Diabetes type 2 has risk factors such as kidney disease, heart failure, amputation and blindness.
4. Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome. PCOS is a hormonal disorder which leads to infertility in women. It can also cause excess facial hair, male pattern baldness and certain skin conditions.
5. Loss of muscle tone and bone density due to inability or refusal to exercise. As time goes by, there is muscle loss and the mineral content of the bones decreases. Loss of muscle tone leads to loss of strength to do simple daily activities. Loss of bone density could lead to dangerous falls and fractures.
6. High Blood Pressure (HBP). Normal Blood Pressure is 120/80 (mm hg) and represents the pressure within your arterial system. Overweight and obese individuals often have readings above 140/90 which is high. HBP is known as the “silent killer” because it has no symptoms.
7. High Cholesterol Levels. Cholesterol profiles tend to be suboptimal. This can lead to other forms of heart and circulatory disease.
8. Coronary Artery Disease. This is caused when plaque builds up inside the arteries that supply the heart. Restricting the blood supply could cause a heart attack.
9. Arteriosclerosis. This involves a hardening of the arteries, making them hard and brittle often leading to a stroke.
10. High blood insulin levels. This is a risk factor for diabetes and heart disease.
11. Gallstones and other gall bladder related problems.
12. Psychological imbalances such as depression, anxiety, eating disorders and low self esteem.
13. Sleep apnea. This can lead to a heart attack by restricting oxygen to the brain and cause other respiratory difficulties.
14. Urinary control problems such as incontinence.
15. Cancer. Some types of cancer including colon, prostrate, and breast have been linked to obesity.

The number of both adults and children falling into the subgroups of overweight and obese grows each year. New research is linking overfat with more and more chronic health conditions. The above list is by no means inclusive. There are hundreds, perhaps thousands of ailments where an individual’s percentage body fat may have an influence. A word to the wise is to maintain a normal percentage body fat for optimal health and living.

Dr. Lanny Schaffer is an Exercise Physiologist and the President of The International Fitness Academy. For more cutting edge nutrition and weight loss news go to www.aerobic-exercise-coach.com.

Article Source: www.articleteller.com