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5 Signs Your Fad Fitness Program Is Really a Money-Waster – Credit.com News (blog)
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5 Signs Your Fad Fitness Program Is Really a Money-Waster - Credit.com News (blog)
Tammany Times: Exercise your brain with at neurobics classes – The Advocate
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I know regular exercise is an important part of my present and future well-being. Many studies have shown the correlation between exercise and health.
But a new St. Tammany Parish Library program has set out to demonstrate the importance of neurobics, the science of exercising our brains. Studies show its important to takes steps to ensure a healthy mind as well as a healthy body.
Samantha Brown, a research librarian at the Madisonville Branch, and Noelle Williams, a research librarian at the Slidell Branch, are offering a course titled "Building a Better Brain: Library Resources for Neurobics."
Adults are invited to learn about keeping their brains fit and to try some fun exercises that will stimulate brain growth.
Each program is dedicated to different exercises for the brain, Brown said. Theyve incorporated games and hands-on activities into each class.
The program is for adults but not just for the elderly. Although a person with Alzheimers disease or dementia can benefit from brain training, Brown said, brain health is important throughout your life. You can do these exercises and improve your brain at any age.
Building a Better Brain began with a workshop on memory and will continue with three more sessions. The next class, on logic, will be held from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, June 17, at the South Slidell Branch, 3901 Pontchartrain Drive, and at the Madisonville Branch, 1123 Main St.
The class will engage participants in interactive logic puzzles and optical illusions. With an optical illusion, Brown said, the brain has to adapt to new and different situations.
When information is missing, such as in a word scramble, the brain is confused, but then it adapts to make sense of the image or letters. Having to adapt makes the brain physically more flexible, she said.
As you learn, the brain makes new connections, new synapses," Brown said. "If the brain is not exercised, it can actually shrink. By exercising it, the brain is learning to grow.
When planning the final class on creativity, Brown said she was surprised to learn what the brain does when a person is involved in the creative process.
It doesnt just activate one part of the brain; it lights up everywhere, she said.
And you dont have to be sculpting in marble or playing a violin solo with an orchestra. You can be coloring, she said.
The creativity class will include exercises called Zentangles, a new type of doodling that follows patterns. Not only do the exercises help activate the brain, she said. They also provide stress relief.
People can attend any or all of the classes, and each class is self-contained. Registration is important so the librarians can have sufficient materials available.
Part three, motor skills, will be held July 1 at the Slidell Branch, 555 Robert Blvd., and at the Madisonville Branch; and part four, creativity, will be held July 15 at the Slidell and Madisonville branches. All classes are Saturdays from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m.
Brown said she believes the library systems basic premise of encouraging lifelong learning is in itself brain training. She said the course was developed show the resources available through the public library system.
More than a hundred books and online resources are available that involve brain training, she said.
Participants also will learn how to access online databases and do keyword searches using their library cards. The librarians will demonstrate programs such as Data Road Warrior, where patrons can learn about the diversity of cultures and the whole entire world, she said. There is also Pronunciator, a program that trains people in more than 80 languages.
It all about connections, Brown said.
To register for one or more classes, visit http://www.bit.ly/stplregister or call the Madisonville Branch at (985) 845-4819 or Slidell Branch at (985) 646-6470.
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Tammany Times: Exercise your brain with at neurobics classes - The Advocate
Parks After Dark Program Kicks Off Summer Season – Lasentinel
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The 2017 Parks After Dark (PAD) program kicks off the season on June 15 at 23 county parks, with numerous free programs and events for the entire family to enjoy during balmy summer evenings.
PAD encourages healthy living, promotes social connectedness and provides safe havens during extended evening hours of park operation and programming in underserved communities. Parks will be kept open to provide local youth and families with a variety of free recreational opportunities, health outreach and social services.
PAD takes place Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. and will last until Aug. 5 at the following county parks:
Amigo, Athens, Mary M. Bethune, East Rancho Dominguez, Helen Keller, Jesse Owens Community Regional, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Ted Watkins Memorial, El Cariso, Adventure, Amelia Mayberry, Stephen Sorensen, Val Verde Community Regional, Loma Alta, Pamela, Bassett, Belvedere Community Regional, Allen J. Martin, Eugene A. Obregon, San Angelo, Ruben Salazar, Stephen Sorensen and City Terrace parks.
The 23 county parks will host free activities that include organized sports, exercise classes, teen activities, movies, swimming, concerts and movies, arts and crafts and jumpers for kids, cooking classes, and resource fairs that offer social, health, economic and legal services. Some parks will also host Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics (STEAM) information mobile museums and booths.
Since its inception in 2010, PAD has helped transform County parks into safe havens for community members to participate in quality programming and gain access to valuable resources. A 2016 evaluation conducted by the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), showed that PAD:
Achieves high participation rates and increases access to quality services and programming (more than 175,000 people participated in PAD in 2016).
Achieves high satisfaction rates (over 94 percent of attendees indicated they would participate in PAD again and recommend it to a friend).
Increases collaboration among different stakeholders (95 percent of agencies that participated in the 2016 resource fairs agreed PAD makes it easier to reach target populations).
Decreases community violence and increases perception of safety (an estimated 81 serious and violent crimes were avoided from 2010 to 2016).
Increases physical activity and reduces the risk of chronic disease (83 percent of participants engaged in physical activity during PAD, including those who previously led sedentary lifestyles).
Increases social cohesion and community well-being (95 percent indicated PAD improved relationships with neighbors, and 97 percent indicated PAD improved quality time with family).
Achieves cost-savings for the County (more than $6 million in estimated chronic disease and criminal justice costs were avoided).
Parks After Dark is a proven program that has improved the quality-of-life in neighborhoods across Los Angeles County, said John Wicker, director of the Department of Parks and Recreation. Through its incredible array of free activities for youth and families alike, PAD has transformed many communities for the better. It is a unique program that is making a difference across the county!
From a public health perspective, being physically active has profound health benefits, particularly in preventing heart disease, stroke, diabetes and even some forms of cancer, said Barbara Ferrer, director of the Department of Public Health. Parks After Dark creates safe havens that make it easier for people to be active at local parks and take advantage of free health and social services.
PAD is led by the Los Angeles County Department of Parks and Recreation in partnership with the County Board of Supervisors, Chief Executive Office, Department of Public Health, Sheriffs Department, Probation Department, Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County and several other government agencies and community organizations.
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Parks After Dark Program Kicks Off Summer Season - Lasentinel
How Does Running Make You Feel? – Runner’s World
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Runner's World | How Does Running Make You Feel? Runner's World But there's growing interest in a related sub-discipline called exercise psychology, which deals with a different set of questionslike, for example, how a run makes you feel, and how that influences the probability that you'll stick to your running ... |
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How Does Running Make You Feel? - Runner's World
Running miles to lose weight? You’re wasting your time – USA TODAY
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There are lots of benefits to treadmills, but new research shows that runners are likely to get more out of their workouts if they take it outside. Video provided by Newsy Newslook
Running's great, but it's relatively inefficient for losing weight.(Photo: eggeeggjiew, Getty Images)
In the United States, a nation fatter than any other, running remains the most popular workout activity. That's according to a Fitbit analysis of fitness tracker user data.
And if tied-up treadmills across the country are any indication, much of that running is long distance.
Heres the cruel catch, though: Running miles at a time doesnt shed fat as efficiently as other forms of exercise. In some ways it doesnt help much at all.
As fitness author Lou Schuler explains in his book,The New Rules of Lifting For Women, relying on long-distance running to lose weight poses a key problem. The human body, ever-resourceful, eventually adapts to the repetitive nature of running. And thatadded efficiency means the body burns fewer calories for the same amount of work.
If your goal is to be leaner, then greater endurance isnt really to your benefit, Schuler concludes.
Dr. William Roberts, a University of Minnesota physician and former president of the American College of Sports Medicine, likes running. Hes blogged forRunners Worldand served as medical director for the Twin Cities Marathon in St. Paul.
But If Im looking at a gym and looking at what can I get the most bang for my buck from, its whatever I can use that moves and works the most muscle groups at the same time, Roberts said.
That means adding strength training to any purerunning routine, Roberts said, the latter of which neglectsupper body muscles. Losing weight requires about 40 to 60 minutes of activity most days of the week, he said, and at least half that time should be spent bulking up.
If you can build strength and build muscle mass, youre going to burn more calories, Roberts said. Even if youre idling.
Thats because strength training causes tiny tears in the muscles. Those require calories as theyrepair, meaning your body keeps working long after you leave the gym. Thats less so with steady, moderate jogging.
Fitness coach Adam Bornstein put it this wayinShape: With cardio, you can slog away for 30 minutes at a lower intensity and burn 200 calories or you can just eat 200 fewer calories per day. It's the same thing.
If you love running, fear not: Sprinting may work as well. A study from the University of Western Ontario asked one group of people to run at a slow, steady pace for 30 to 60 minutes, three times per week. Another group ran 30-second sprints, between four and six of them, three times each week a way less time-intensive routine.
The sprinters shed more than twice the body fat of the joggers after six weeks, while gaining some muscle mass. Those who jogged gained none.
Follow Josh Hafner on Twitter:@joshhafner
More: More than 2 billion are overweight or obese globally, new study says
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Running miles to lose weight? You're wasting your time - USA TODAY
How to lose weight fast with the BEST diet for weight loss according to new study – Express.co.uk
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A study published in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition discovered a plant-based vegetarian diet beats a conventional diabetic diet for helping people with type 2 diabetes to lose weight.
The research also found a vegetarian diet also reduces muscle fat, helping them improve their metabolism too.
Type 2 diabetes is the most common form of the the condition, and develops because the body does not make or use insulin effectively.
It can develop at any age but it arises most often in people in middle-age or older.
The study, led by Dr Hana Kahleov, director of clinical research at the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine in Washington D.C., found that compared to a conventional diet, a vegetarian diet can achieve weight loss, improve control of blood glucose and raise insulin sensitivity.
The authors of the study also found evidence that in people with type 2 diabetes, a "low-fat vegan diet improves glycemic control and cardiovascular risk factors."
The study was carried out over a six month period, and the researchers compared the effects of a conventional diabetic diet with those of a plant-based vegetarian diet in 74 type 2 diabetes patients who were taking oral medication for glucose control.
Participants were randomly assigned to each of the diet groups. For the first three months, participants were asked not to change their physical exercise habits and then for the second three months, an aerobic exercise programme was added in.
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The results showed that the average weight loss in the plant-based vegetarian diet group was 6.2 kilograms (13.7 pounds), nearly twice the 3.2 kilograms (7.1 pounds) average weight loss of the conventional diet group.
This was despite the fact that both groups consumed the same amount of calories per day.
The researchers also found that while both groups showed similar reductions in subcutaneous fat (fat stored under the skin), only the vegetarian group showed greater reduction in intramuscular fat (fat stored inside muscles) and any reduction in subfascial fat (fat that lines muscles).
The differences in the results of the two groups is significant because increase in subfascial fat has been linked to insulin resistance in people with type 2 diabetes, so reducing this type of fat could help to improve glucose control.
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A plant-based vegetarian diet is a helpful tool for anyone who is serious about staying healthy and lean
Dr Hana Kahleov
Dr. Kahleov explained: "By taking extra fat out of the muscle cells, we're letting insulin back in to convert sugar into energy."
She compared the effect to "a metabolic reboot, especially for people who struggle with extra weight, a sluggish metabolism, or type 2 diabetes."
The researchers also noted the reduction in intramuscular fat could help to increase mobility and muscle strength, which could be of particular benefit to older people with diabetes.
Dr Kahleov said: "What we found is that a plant-based vegetarian diet is a helpful tool for anyone who is serious about staying healthy and lean, especially as we age."
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How to lose weight fast with the BEST diet for weight loss according to new study - Express.co.uk
The 10 Best Apps to Help You Eat Healthy and Lose Weight – Paste Magazine
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In need of eating a little healthier or losing a few pounds? In theory, its simple to do eat less and exercise more. In reality though, theres a lot more to it than that. Knowing what food is good for you, and what food is just a waste, is an important part of good nutrition. Weve rounded up 10 great apps for helping you manage your weight effectively, and work on eating better and more intelligently.
1. MyFitnessPal (Free) MyFitnessPal offers a huge food database, listing over 5 million different foods. An effective calorie counter, it can take you less than 5 minutes a day to track your diet and exercise, meaning its a quick habit to get into. Working in conjunction with over 50 devices and apps including Apple Health, Fitbit and Garmin devices, itll help you keep on top of how well youre doing.
2. FatSecret (Free) FatSecret offers an easy to use food diary for you to track as well as plan in advance what youre going to eat. Image recognition of food and meals make it even easier to add what youre eating, with a community thats keen to advise on how best to proceed. A weight tracking tool, along with barcode scanning, rounds off the package.
3. YAZIO (Free) YAZIO offers a personal plan for losing weight or building muscles, before allowing you to track the nutritional elements of your meal. You can create meal plans, track your calories and daily steps taken, as well as sync up with other fitness apps. The Pro upgrade provides you with healthy recipes too, along with body fat tracking and even blood pressure and blood sugar.
4. Lose It! (Free) Lose It! wants you to lose weight while also enjoying the process. Simply telling it a little about yourself, itll devise a custom weight loss plan, setting you a daily budget and goal to aim for. Its image recognition means itll identify the food youre eating automatically, saving you from entering it yourself. It breaks things down according to every part of nutrition too, giving you plenty of insight.
5. MyPlate Calorie Tracker (Free) From the people behind Livestrong.com, MyPlate Calorie Tracker hopes to be the most user-friendly option for losing weight. The app helps you find out which foods you eat contain the most calories, allowing you to set personalized daily calorie goals. You can also keep track of your water intake, and create custom goals for your macronutrients and micronutrients. Meal reminders can also be set.
6. Fitbit (Free) Fitbit is best known for tracking your steps and day to day activity, but its also good for tracking other parts of your life. You can use its services to log the food you eat via its barcode scanner, seeing your meal history at a glance. You can also use it in conjunction with the Aria Wi-Fi Smart Scale, ensuring you always know what your weight is. Water intake and sleeping patterns can also be tracked.
7. Fooducate (Free) Fooducate doesnt just track how many calories youre consuming, but also the quality of them. Keeping an eye on your sleep, mood and hunger levels, itll give you insight into where you can improve things. Analyzing your meal, Fooducate considers any health conditions you may have, as well as if youre trying to avoid various allergens.
8. My Diet Coach (Free) Set a goal and My Diet Coach helps you work towards it. With a visual weight tracker, you can see the weight drop off. It focuses on encouraging you to pursue small but healthy lifestyle changes such as drinking more water. Alongside that, you can use motivational photos to encourage you, and even gain rewards for staying committed.
9. Charity Miles (Free) Want even more motivation to walk frequently? Charity Miles doesnt track your calorie intake but it does help the world a little. The app works like a pedometer with each step helping a charity of your choice. You can choose from over 40 different charities, earning them a little cash as you walk. Its an ideal extra form of encouragement.
10. MyNetDiary PRO ($3.99) MyNetDiary might be the only app here that requires an investment but its worth the few bucks. You set a weight goal and the app analyzes your diary, calculating the targets youve set yourself and providing you with personalized advice and diet tips. All you need to do is input your eating habits and exercise, and MyNetDiary PRO does the hard work for you.
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The 10 Best Apps to Help You Eat Healthy and Lose Weight - Paste Magazine
Youth using Ramadan for crash diets, UAE doctors say – The National
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Youth using Ramadan for crash diets, UAE doctors say The National "I have had cases where parents were complaining about their teenage children, around the age of 14, saying they do not eat any-thing, skip their breakfast and work out on an empty stomach hoping to shed weight," said Dr Juliot Vinolia, a clinical ... |
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Youth using Ramadan for crash diets, UAE doctors say - The National
Many people think a cage-free life is better for hens. It’s not that simple. – Washington Post
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Indiana egg farmer John Brunnquells 1.3 million hens dont live in cages. They also get to go outside, making his company, Egg Innovations, the nations largest free-rangeoperation in the industry.
It wasnt always so.Brunnquell, 54, grew up on a traditional chicken farm, and he says he could argue all the benefits of cages. That changed in the early 1990s, whenhis first glimpse of a cage-free barn convinced him that the freer systemwas better for the birds. He spent the next decade overhauling his own.
Along the way, he admits, things werent always better for his flocks. He had tofigure out how to prevent a barn full of newly mobile chickensfrom pecking, or cannibalizing, each other. He went through seven perching designs to find one that kept the birds from crowding on the floor. He also needed to find ways to lower the rate of a very common injury to laying hens: damage to thekeel bone, an extension of the sternum.
It was a steep learning curve on a pretty small scale. And it has made Brunnquell worry about the large-scale change now facing theU.S. egg industry, which is racing to meet the demand of hundreds ofcompanies that have pledged to switch to cage-free eggs by 2025.
The industry is going to adapt. It will go cage-free because the market says so, said Brunnquell, who sits on several industry boards. But we are going to be behind the curve for five to 10 years on how to manage those structures given the birds newfound freedom.
There are going to be some cases where management isnt up to par, he added, and we have fear of undercover videos showinghens that appear worse off despite their roomier quarters.
The cage-free revolution has been driven by consumers, many of whom thinkthe change is better for chickens (though many also may believe eggs from uncaged hens are better quality). Animal protectiongroups argue it definitely is: Birds that are not confined to small wire cages can at least spread their wings and engage in natural behaviors like dust-bathing and perching, even if they never see the light of day.
But egg producers and researchers cautionthat the switch is not as simple as just opening those cage doors and that mobility brings with it a new set of concerns for chickens welfare that most farmers have never confronted. A major 2015 studyof three different hen-housing systems found that mortality was highest among birds in cage-free aviaries and that they also had more keel bone problems.
Animal advocacy groups contend that the industry-backed study was flawed because the cage-free operations examined were run by farmers inexperienced with such systems.Michael Toscano, an American research scientist who leads the Center for the Proper Housing: Poultry and Rabbits at the University of Bern, said egg farms in Europe where cage-free operations are far more common show that the problems can be mitigated. But theres definitely going to be a very steep learning curve, he noted.
Professionally, I would say that in terms of welfare, cage-free systems are the best for the birds, Toscano said. But it needs to be done well.
One challenge is pecking, a behavior often described as a virus. Cages keep pecking contained,but it can rapidly spread throughout a flock of thousands of roaming hens, causing injuries and deaths to the birds, not to mention a loss of profits for producers. Reducing lighting can help stop it, as can distributing straw or offering pecking blocks. But farmers first need to know how to spot peckingand act quickly a skill those who have worked with caged hens dont necessarily have, Toscano said.
The big issue, however, is keel bone damage. Fractures and cracks are not fatal, and it is difficult to tell a chicken with damage from one without. But some research suggeststhat the injury reduces a hens egg production. And its almost certainly painful.
If I were to impose a similar level of damage on your arm, you wouldnt be working, said Toscano, who called keel bone damage the biggest problem for commercial laying hens in terms of animal welfare.
And its a larger problem in cage-free operations. Studies on caged birds suggest that about one-quarter to one-third will have keel bone damage, but the injury rate is upward of half of cage-free chickens, Toscano said. That isprobably because cage-free aviaries which provide nesting boxes, litter and food and water on different tiers contain lots of things for moving birds to smash into. Brunnquell, whose farms use a single-tier system, said most U.S. producers are likely to use aviaries because they can house more chickens.
Chickens arent good fliers, Toscano said. Theyre going to have collisions with other birds, support beams, drinking lines.
Theres no clear fixfor this yet. Farmers can help hens by providing ramps for them to get up and down tiers, but for that strategy to work they also need to raise chicks with ramps so they know how to use them,Toscano said. Solutions also might involve diets that include more calcium to strengthen chickens bones or genetic approaches to breed birds better suited to the environment, he said.
Keel bone damageis a major concern of U.S. egg producers who are staring into a cage-free future,said Sally Rockey, executive director of the Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research, a nonprofit organization created and funded by the government. It recently teamed up with the Open Philanthropy Project, which gives money to causes deemed underfunded, to offer $1 millionin grants for research on reducing keel bone fractures in cage-free laying hens.
The foundations main interest in the topic is chicken productivity, Rockey said.Having an effective production system for animals includes making sure theyre healthy and treated in such a way that you get a good product,she said.
For the Open Philanthropy Project, the motivation ischicken well-being.We wantto make sure that the systems that replace those cages are as good as possible and are as pro-welfare as possible,said Lewis Bollard, the organizations farm animal welfare program director. This is a new challenge created by the increased behavioral opportunities.
Toscano stressed that research is only one part, though. Training for farmers is crucial, he said, and he hopes the food service and retail companies that have made cage-free pledges offer it.
Its not just ripping out the cages and dropping in an aviary and everything goes according to plan, hesaid. Myconcern is that youre going to get this massive change, which in 20 years is probably going to be where we want it to be. But in the interim period, youre going to have a lot of difficulties.
Read more:
How eggs became a victory for the animal welfare movement
New techniques may prevent the gruesome deaths of billions of male chicks
Fresh eggs and Neosporin? The joys and challenges of raising backyard chickens
Bear breaks into house, plays the piano but not very well
Two lions survived a circus, only to be killed and mutilated in a sanctuary
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Many people think a cage-free life is better for hens. It's not that simple. - Washington Post
How to Keep Losing Weight Long-Term on Your Bike – Bicycling
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Bicycling | How to Keep Losing Weight Long-Term on Your Bike Bicycling When you first start riding a lot and watching the pounds come off, you're bound to be brimming with enthusiasm and willing to make all sorts of sacrifices to get out on your bike as often as possible. Once you've reached your goal and the honeymoon ... |
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How to Keep Losing Weight Long-Term on Your Bike - Bicycling