The Benefits of Brown Fat for Weight Management

Did you know that there is a type of fat that helps you burn energy and lose weight? It’s called brown fat, a heat-generating fat that burns energy instead of storing it. According to recent research, brown fat may have an important role in proper weight management.

Based on animal studies, researchers concluded that 50 grams of brown fat can burn about 20 percent or more of your daily caloric intake. A previous article on WebMDreports:

“Kirsi A. Virtanen, MD, PhD, of the University of Turku, Finland, and colleagues analyzed brown fat in five young men. One of the men had about 2.2 ounces of brown fat. If the brown [fat] in this example were fully activated, it would burn an amount of energy equivalent to approximately 4.1 kilograms [9 pounds] of fat over the course of a year, the researchers calculate. And that’s a low estimate, as this assumes only 50 percent activation of the brown fat.” (link)

“No wonder people are anxious to tap into the fat-burning capabilities of brown fat!” exclaimsDr. Joseph Mercola.

What Is Brown Fat?

Brown fat is located in the neck area, around blood vessels (to help keep your blood warm), and marbled in with white fat in visceral fat tissue.

“Human newborns have a supply of brown fat to keep warm, but by adulthood they lose most of their stores of it,” explains Dr. Mercola.

However, a new study revealed that the brown fat still present in adults can be activated when exposed to cold temperatures. The men who participated in the study burned more calories when cooled. They also lost white fat, which causes obesity. According to the authors:

“This boosts the possibility that calorie combustion in brown fat may be of significance for our metabolism and, correspondingly, that the absence of brown fat may increase our proneness to obesity – provided that brown fat becomes activated not only by cold but also through food-related stimuli.” (link)

The study also states that there are certain groups of people that tend to have more brown fat than others:

• Young people have more brown fat than elderly people
• Slender people have more brown fat than obese people
• People with normal blood sugar levels have more brown fat than people with high blood sugar

Can Cold Temperature Help Activate Your Brown Fat?

Many studies have claimed that cold temperature can increase brown fat activity in people. For example, a Swedish research published in 2009 revealed that cold-induced glucose uptake was increased by a factor of 15 percent. To get the results, the researchers dipped the subject’s foot in an ice bath while using positron-emission tomography (PET) to measure the findings.

A similar study by researchers in the Netherlands confined their subjects in a 16 degrees Celsius (or 61 degrees Fahrenheit) room for two hours, and also found an increase in brown fat activity.

Dr. Mercola says: “Needless to say, researchers are excited about the potential for a medical intervention that can help people develop more brown fat. But I would be cautious of any solution in a pill form. Instead, I’d suggest trying out some of the non-invasive methods that have been found to promote brown fat production and its activation.”

One possible option is exercise, which was found to help convert white fat into brown fat in animal studies. Time magazine reports:

“During exercise, the animals’ muscles released a newly discovered enzyme called irisin, which triggered the conversion. It’s not clear whether the same phenomenon is true in people, though humans do have the same protein. However, the brown fat that is easily observed in humans tends not to be the kind that is derived from white fat.” (link)

Can Ice Therapy Also Work?

Tim Ferriss, author of The Four-Hour Work Week, says that brown fat can also be activated when you are exposed to frigid temperatures. In his book The Four-Hour Body, Ferriss says that your fat burning can potentially increase by as much as 300 percent if you add ice therapy to your dieting strategy.

Ferriss’ Ice Therapy uses ice to cool down your body, activate the brown fat, and help you burn more calories. He recommends the following techniques (from easy to “hardcore”):

• Put an ice pack on your upper back and upper chest for 30 minutes daily
• Drink about 500 milliliters of ice water every morning
• Take cold showers
• Immersing yourself in ice water (bathwater and ice cubes) up to your waist for 10 minutes, three times a week.

Dr. Mercola advises: “Do advance slowly! It may be inadvisable to go straight to the ice bath if you’re not used to it!”

Other Ways to Improve Your Metabolism

Dr. Mercola also recommends strategies other than ice therapy to improve your metabolism for better weight management:

• Avoid sugar (particularly fructose) and grains because they cause insulin and leptin resistance. These directly affect your hunger levels, your fat-burning potential, and your weight.
• Eat healthy meals and snacks to satiate your hunger.
• Implement a well-rounded exercise program that includes strength-training and high-intensity interval training.
• Banish stress and negative emotions using tools like mediation, prayer, and theEmotional Freedom Technique (EFT).

“The goal is to establish a healthy relationship with food, one that will keep you satisfied, nourished, and slim, all at the same time,” reminds Dr. Mercola.

Source: http://www.drmercola.com/weight-loss-2/benefits-of-brown-fat-for-weight-management/

Shivering to lose weight? Don’t try it

Ismat Tahseen, TNN Feb 16, 2014, 12.00AM IST

After the Naked Lunch Diet and nose clipping, this is being touted as the latest fat-busting regimen...

Have you always hated the gym? Too lazy to go for a run? Then, this might be interesting for you. A new research says, if you simply shiver enough, you might lose the flab. According to the study, shivering mimics the effect of exercise, that is, it releases the same hormone, Irisin, that muscles produce during rigorous exercise. So, rather than getting all sweaty at a gym class, you receive the same calorie-burning effect from just feeling cold. This converts the white fat (fat on thighs, hip and belly) to brown fat (fat that generates heat and burns calories when stimulated). Interested already? Read on...

What the study showed

In the study, 10 healthy adults exercised in a 65°F room. They later lay down on a bed as the temperature plummeted to 53°F (12°C), which induced shivers in them. It was found in both premises their muscles contracted, producing a hormone called Irisin that boosts body heat and creates brown fat cells (colour comes from high iron content) out of white ones. It realised that shivering, instead of exercise, could be the primary driver of Irisin secretion.

'Too soon to call it a cure'

While it's creating a buzz, obesity surgeon Dr Jaydeep Palep says it's too early to call it any kind of cure. "Look, if I say taking irisin as a pill is going to have more circulating levels in the blood, still the role of brown of fat is not clear. Brown fat might be there in a finite quantity, but this does not allow all the white fat to be converted. There is always going to be a majority percentage of white fat — that is how the adult body fat is. So, it's early days to see how the brown fat burns calories. It might just be the wonder answer, but it's still too early to say so."

Agrees bariatric surgeon Dr Ramen Goel. "I would not advise this artificial shivering to lose weight. Brown fat is present in babies and goes off gradually. In adults it's present in neck and back areas. Using this as an idea to induce calorie burn is still to be researched," he says.

Other bizarre weight-loss fundas

Drinking oil: Yes, you heard right! As per Seth Roberts, a PhD in psychology who advocates 'flavourless calories', drinking up to 3 tablespoons of sugar water and one or two tablespoons of extra-light (not virgin) olive oil twice between meals can curb appetite.

Theory: It works on the flavour-calorie relationship, where tucking into various flavourful foods actually stimulates the brain toward more hunger.

Nose clipping: An online community of diet followers have tried this weird fad, where you wear a nose clip or pinch your nose to suppress flavours while eating food. Folks like it because it's painless, it doesn't take away your favourite foods or place restrictions on your dinner.

Theory: Smell influences taste, if you are attracted to certain aromas you eat more, resulting in greater calorie increase.

Plastic tongue patch: Created by a surgeon in Beverly Hills, this is about sewing a patch onto the tongue (not approved by FDA), actually stops you from having anything but liquids.

Theory: The patch and its sutures make eating solid food doubly painful so wearers are forced to stick to just liquids. Regarded as both dangerous and unhealthy.

Naked Lunch Diet: This one is as high as it gets on the weird scale. Apparently eating in the buff helps you control what you eat and a good honest look at yourself puts a restriction on your diet.

Theory: Eating this way makes you so self-conscious, even repulsed by your own flab, that you stop having those huge mouthfuls of food

More:

5 Steps to a flat tummy in 7 days

20 ways to gain weight fast

7 Day flat belly diet plan

Source:

http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2014-02-16/diet/47379221_1_brown-fat-white-fat-burns-calories

Dr. Mercola and Dr. Goodman Discuss Foundation Training

Portion Control: The Key to Weight Loss

The rigors of appearing on the reality TV show The Biggest Loser led Lisa Mosley to the emotional breakthrough that empowered her to lose almost 100 pounds. But it was portion control that kept her losing weight when she returned home from the set.

“I live on the motto “Moderation not deprivation,” she says. “As soon as I got home from the ranch, I started using a small plate instead of big dinner plates. It has been extremely successful for me.”

Mosley didn’t start gaining weight until she was about 20, when she began taking medication for a chronic anxiety disorder. The medication made her feel like a new person, but within six months she began to gain weight. Over the next 10 years she gained about 120 pounds.

By 2010, Lisa had suffered several personal setbacks. She had been laid off from her job, had lost her home and had no prospects to find work. The defining moment in her struggle to lose weight came when she discovered that her daughter had stopped eating and drinking because she didn’t want to be heavy like her mom.

That spurred Lisa to take action, including her willingness to bare her soul on The Biggest Loser.
When Lisa left the show, she had dropped 60 pounds. But she continued to lose weight, dropping another 37 pounds at home after she learned to control the size of her portions.

She recently became the national spokeswoman for Yum Yum Dishes, sets of hand-painted 4-ounce ceramic bowls. Tracy Adler, mother of two and former restaurant owner, created the bowls to help parents and kids control the size of their snacks.

“The idea for these dishes is what got me through this,” Mosley says. “A lot of times when I have entered into diets in the past, I went into it thinking I am never going to get a cookie, ice cream, or a piece of cake again. I was never successful with that,” she adds. “These dishes remind you that your life isn’t over and you are not going to be missing out.”

Today Mosley works as a fitness boot camp instructor and personal trainer. She weighs about 190 pounds, wears a size 12 and is happy with herself.

“I am literally a different person,” she says, “not just in how I feel physically but also how I feel mentally and emotionally.”

Source: copyrightfreecontent.com

There Are Five Key Reasons People Fail at Losing Weight

Why do so many people fail at losing weight? Laziness? Food addictions? Hereditary? While all of these things may be contributors, failure is often because of these factors:

1) People don’t truly understand the major health risks of being overweight. Why do most want to lose weight? Most would say to look better. Looking better certainly is a benefit of losing weight, but this shouldn’t be the sole reason to lose weight. There is a 1000 pound gorilla in the room and it’s often ignored. Obesity kills millions of people each year. Thousands of studies have shown and prove without any doubt that losing body fat will improve and lengthen your life. Knowing the dangers of being overweight is a tremendous motivator to lose weight and keep it off.

2) People don’t commit to permanent lifestyle changes. So many people think of a “diet” as something temporary. Often people on ”diets” restrict themselves excessively and create a miserable situation. Sooner or later failure is inevitable because of the unreasonable demands of most “diets.” Some diets have very strict guidelines such as only eating certain foods, eliminating all carbs, etc. The key to losing weight long term is to make gradual lifestyle changes you can stick to forever.

3) Most individuals are not provided the truthful facts of losing weight and becoming healthier. With the conflicting information in the media, and all of the different lose weight quick fad diets, it’s understandable why so many people really don’t know the truth about losing fat and keeping it off long term.

4) Our own warped thought process often ruins our efforts to lose weight. For example, some people justify binging or giving up because they hit a small road-block. This isn’t an all or nothing game. For example, when I was overweight, if I ate an unhealthy lunch, I’d go ahead and eat an unhealthy dinner and snack all night since I already “messed up” the day. Or I’d say, I’ll start eating healthy on Monday since I’ve already eaten poorly this weekend.” Every person at times eats too much. Successful people will not let a road bump completely derail their entire lifestyle change. If you are not implementing positive lifestyle changes and losing weight, you are gaining weight. Again, there is no “in-between.”

5) Most people don’t realize how many calories they are eating and burning each day. So many overweight people eat thousands of extra calories without realizing it. It’s tough to know if you are gaining weight or losing weight each day unless you are keeping an eye on what you’re consuming. It’s vital to write down what you consume on a daily basis. Then cross reference the calories you’re eating with the calories you burn. Use the calculators on freeweightloss.com to help you determine calories burned.

Source: freeweightloss.com

100 Painless Ways to Cut 100 or More Calories

Reaching your fat loss goals may be easier than you think. To lose a pound of fat a month, all you need to do is cut 100 calories a day from your diet, assuming the intake and expenditure of all other calories remains the same. That’s because a pound of body fat is equivalent to about 3,500 calories. So if you cut 100 calories a day for 31 days, you’re cutting 3,100 calories – or about a pound.

Wait… a pound a month? Isn’t that a little slow? Well, mounds of research indicate that you’re more likely to keep weight off if you lose it slowly. Besides, losing a pound a month doesn’t require drastic changes in your eating habits. It can be as simple as eating two egg rolls with your Chinese stir-fry instead of three. Here are 100 painless ways to cut 100 or more calories a day. As a bonus, they all reduce fat or sugar, which means, calorie for calorie, you’re getting more vitamins and minerals:

• Spread 1 tablespoon of all-fruit jam on your toast rather than 1 1/2 tablespoons of butter.
• Replace 1 cup of whole milk with 1/2 cup of nonfat milk.
• Eat 2 poached eggs instead of 2 fried eggs.
• Replace 1/2 cup of granola with 2 cups of Cheerios.
• Instead of using whole milk and eggs to prepare 2 slices of French toast, use nonfat milk and egg whites.
• Snack on an orange and a banana instead of a Snickers candy bar.
• Munch on 35 pretzel sticks instead of 1 ounce of dry-roasted peanuts.
• Replace 1 cup of sweetened applesauce with 1 cup of unsweetened applesauce.
• On your lamb-and-vegetable kabob, replace 2 of the 4 chunks of meat with fresh whole mushrooms.
• Dip an artichoke in 1 tablespoon of low-fat mayonnaise instead of 1 1/2 tablespoons of regular mayonnaise.
• Steam your asparagus rather than sauté it in 1 tablespoon of butter or oil.
• Instead of a 5-ounce glass of wine, opt for cherry-flavored sparkling water.
• For a chewy snack, have 1/2 cup of dried fruit rather than 9 caramels.
• Replace 3 slices of bacon with 3 slices of Light & Lean Canadian bacon.
• Eat a Lender’s egg bagel instead of a Sara Lee egg bagel.
• Select 1 cup of home-style baked beans instead of an equal serving of baked beans with franks.
• Replace 2 biscuits with 2 dinner rolls.
• When making a sandwich, use 2 slices of Roman Light 7-grain bread instead of Pepperidge Farm wheat bread.
• Eat 1/2 cup of steamed fresh broccoli instead of 1/2 cup of frozen broccoli in cheese sauce.
• Make a burrito with 1/2 cup of fat-free refried beans and 1 ounce of nonfat cheese instead of the same amount of traditional refried beans and cheese.
• Replace an apple muffin with a high-fiber English muffin.
• Reduce a typical serving of chocolate cake (1/8 of a two-layer cake) by one-third.
• Switch from 1 cup of whole-milk hot chocolate to 1 cup of steamed 1% milk flavored with a dash of almond extract.
• Replace 1 cup of caramel-coated popcorn with 2 1/2 cups of air-popped popcorn.
• Switch from 1/2 cup of yogurt-covered raisins to 1/2 cup of plain raisins.
• Snack on 1 cup of nonfat plain yogurt instead of 1 cup of custard-style yogurt.
• Top your celery sticks with 2 tablespoons of fat-free cream cheese instead of 3 tablespoons of regular cream cheese.
• Replace 2 fried-chicken drumsticks with 2 roasted drumsticks and a cup of peas and carrots.
• Instead of eating 5 chocolate-chip cookies, savor the taste of 2.
• Lighten your 2 cups of coffee with 2 tablespoons of evaporated nonfat milk instead of 2 tablespoons of half-and-half.
• Replace a 12-ounce can of cola with a 12-ounce can of diet cola.
• Thicken your cream sauce with 1 percent milk and corn starch instead of a roux of butter and flour.
• At the appetizer tray, choose 4 fresh raw mushrooms instead of 4 batter-fried mushrooms.
• Use 2 tablespoons of fat-free sour cream instead of regular sour cream (on baked potatoes or in stroganoff). If done twice in the day, 100 calories will be cut.
• Reduce the size of your steak from 4 1/2 ounces to 3 ounces.
• Grill a cheese sandwich with nonstick cooking spray instead of margarine.
• Replace 1 cup of chocolate ice cream with 2/3 cup of nonfat chocolate frozen yogurt.
• Snack on 2 ounces of oven-baked potato chips instead of regular potato chips.
• Instead of topping your salad with an ounce of croutons, get your crunch from 1/4 cup of chopped celery.
• Instead of 1 cup of macaroni salad, eat 3 1/2 cups of spinach salad with 2 tablespoons of low-calorie dressing.
• Cut the peanut butter on your sandwich from 2 tablespoons to 1 tablespoon.
• Serve your turkey with 1/4 cup of cranberry sauce instead of 1/2 cup.
• Order a sandwich on cracked wheat bread instead of a croissant.
• Complement your hamburger with 1 1/4 ounces of oven-baked tortilla chips instead of a side of fries.
• Split an apple Danish with a friend rather than eat the entire thing.
• Order 2 slices of cheese pizza instead of 2 slices of pepperoni pizza.
• Grab a Dole Fresh Lites Cherry frozen fruit bar instead of a Sunkist Coconut frozen fruit bar.
• Snack on 1/2 cup of fruit cocktail canned in water instead of 1 cup of fruit cocktail canned in heavy syrup.
• Switch from 1 cup of fruit punch to 1 cup of sparkling water flavored with 2 teaspoons of concentrated orange juice.
• Instead of eating garlic bread made with butter, spread baked garlic cloves on French bread.
• Rather than snack on 1 cup of grapefruit canned in syrup, peel and section 1 small grapefruit.
• Dip your chips in 1/2 cup of salsa instead of 1/2 cup of guacamole.
• Switch from 1/2 cup of Frusen Gladje butter pecan ice cream to Breyers butter pecan ice cream.
• Use 1 tablespoon of mayonnaise in your tuna salad instead of 2 tablespoons.
• Hold the tartar sauce on your fish sandwich, and squeeze lemon on it instead.
• Replace 3 fish sticks with 3 ounces of grilled halibut.
• In sandwich spreads or salads, use 3 teaspoons of dijonnaise instead of 4 teaspoons of mayonnaise.
• Use 2 tablespoons of light pancake syrup instead of 2 tablespoons of regular syrup.
• Top your pasta with 1 cup of marinara sauce instead of 1/2 cup of alfredo sauce.
• For each serving of pasta salad you make, reduce the oil or mayonnaise by 1 tablespoon.
• Replace 1/2 cup of peaches canned in extra-heavy syrup with 1/2 cup of peaches canned in water.
• Prepare 1/2 cup of steamed peas and cauliflower instead of frozen peas and cauliflower in cream sauce.
• Cut back on sampling during cooking. The following “tastes” have 100 calories: 4 tablespoons of beef stroganoff, 3 tablespoons of homemade chocolate pudding, 2 tablespoons of chocolate-chip cookie dough.
• At an Italian restaurant, snack on a large breadstick instead of a slice of garlic bread.
• Eat a 3/4-cup serving of pudding made with skim milk rather than a 1-cup serving of pudding made with whole milk.
• Choose 1/2 cup of brown rice instead of 1 serving of frozen rice pilaf with green beans or 1 serving of frozen Oriental rice and vegetables.
• Compliment your sandwich with 3/4 cup of split-pea soup instead of 1 cup of chunky bean and ham soup.
• Replace 3 tablespoons of strawberry topping on your ice cream with 3/4 pint of fresh strawberries.
• Pass on the second helping of mashed potatoes.
• Eat 3 grilled prawns with cocktail sauce instead of 3 breaded and fried prawns.
• Make a pie crust with 1 cup of Grape-Nuts cereal, 1/4 cup of concentrated apple juice and 1 tablespoon of cinnamon, instead of using a traditional graham-cracker crust. You’ll save 100 calories per slice.
• Replace 8 sticks of regular chewing gum with sugar-free chewing gum.
• Snack on a papaya instead of a bag of M&Ms.
• Substitute 3 ounces of scallops for 3 ounce of lean beef in your stir-fry.
• Rather than spread 4 tablespoons of cream cheese on two slices of raisin bread, dip the bread in 1/2 cup nonfat apple-cinnamon yogurt.
• Munch on 1 cup of frozen grapes instead of an ice cream sandwich.
• Rather than drink a strawberry milkshake, make a smoothie of 2/3 cup of low-fat milk, 1/2 cup of strawberries and 1/2 a banana.
• Replace 2 brownies with 2 fig bars.
• Eat 2 meatballs instead of 4 with your spaghetti.
• On a hot day, quench your thirst with a glass of ice water with lemon or mint instead of a can of light beer.
• Eat 1/2 cup of black beans instead of 3 ounces of roast beef.
• Replace 1 1/2 tablespoons of I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter spread with 1 1/2 tablespoons of Nucoa Smart Beat margarine.
• Choose 1 serving of vegetarian lasagna instead of lasagna with meat.
• Eat 2 Kellogg’s Nutri-Grain bars instead of 2 Kellogg’s Pop-Tarts.
• Drizzle 3 tablespoons of low-calorie French dressing on your salad instead of 2 tablespoons of blue cheese dressing.
• Replace 1 large flour tortilla with 1 six-inch corn tortilla.
• Eat a turkey sandwich instead of a chicken salad sandwich.
• Choose 4 1/2 ounces of tuna packed in water instead of 4 1/2 ounces of tuna packed in oil.
• At Burger King, have a Whopper Jr. Sandwich with regular fries instead of a Whopper With Cheese Sandwich.
• Order your Quarter Pounder without cheese.
• At Jack in the Box, eat a regular taco instead of a super taco.
• Fix 1 cup of turkey chili with beans rather than regular chili with no beans.
• Use 1 cup of fat-free cottage cheese instead of regular cottage cheese.
• Order a sandwich with barbecued chicken instead of barbecued pork.
• Replace 1 cup of corn with 1 cup of carrots.
• Reduce your helping of turkey stuffing from 1 cup to 2/3 cup.
• Have a single scoop of ice cream instead of a double scoop.
• Replace 2 ounces of corn chips with 2 ounces of SnackWell’s wheat crackers.
• Eat 1 hot dog at the baseball game instead of 2.
• Shred 2 ounces of fat-free cheddar cheese on nachos instead of regular cheddar.

Elizabeth Somer

Source: freeweightloss.com

12 Keys To Boosting Your Metabolism For Weight Loss!

You hear it all the time – “metabolism”, but what is it? It’s the process of converting food to energy. Metabolism happens in your muscles and organs and the result of it is what we commonly refer to as “burning calories”. Metabolism is essentially the speed at which your body’s motor is running.

“Basal metabolism” is the metabolic rate or caloric expenditure needed to maintain basal body functions such as your heart beating, breathing, muscle tone, etc. It’s how fast your “motor” is running when you’re still in a reclined position or sleeping. Basal metabolism accounts for about 75% of the calories you expend on a daily basis!

The good news is that there are 12 ways you can “boost” your metabolism! The more of these you’re able to incorporate into your life, the more you’ll boost your metabolism. That means you’ll be expending (“burning”) more calories 24 hours a day!

1) Always eat breakfast! Skipping breakfast sends the message to your body that you’re starving because you haven’t had food in 18+ hours. As a protective mechanism, your metabolism slows down. Food, especially complex carbohydrates, fuels your metabolism.

2) Eat earlier in the day! Research has demonstrated that you can lose weight simply by eating a substantial breakfast and lunch, and a light dinner. Dinner should be eaten as early as possible, preferably at least four hours before bedtime.

3) Never eat less than 1200 calories per day! Less than 1200 is usually not enough to support your basal metabolism and thus will slow your metabolism.

4) Snack frequently! Complex carbohydrates (fruits, vegetables, and grains) fuel your metabolism. Also, snacking prevents you from becoming too hungry. The hungrier you are, the less control you have over what and how much you eat.

5) Eat more carbohydrates (food from plants), and less fat (food from many animals and other food with added fat)! Carbohydrates boost your metabolism and have fewer calories per weight than fat.

6) Do some type of aerobic exercise (walking, jogging, swimming, stationary cycling, aerobic dancing, etc.) on a daily basis (preferably in the morning)! Forget this twice-a-week stuff. Our bodies were designed to be active on a daily basis! When we are, our metabolism soars!

7) In addition to your regular aerobic exercise, take a brisk 10 to 15 minute walk at lunch or in the evening. This serves to boost your metabolism even more!

8) Tone your muscles with weight training three days per week. Toned muscles send your metabolism through the roof. Do it!

9) Look for situations to be active. Park as far from the store as you can rather than looking for the closest parking spot. Use the stairs rather than the elevator, a broom rather than a blower, etc. Look for the “hard” way to do things!

10) Avoid alcohol! Alcohol depresses your metabolism and stimulates your appetite.

11) Drink 60+ ounces of water a day. Your metabolism needs plenty water to function properly. Carry a bottle of water with you and drink frequently throughout the day.

12) Avoid the”3 P’s”... pills, powders, and potions! There are NO quick fixes!

Get started today! You’ll feel better and your metabolism will be in “great shape”!

Greg Landry

Source: freeweightloss.com

Exercise to Age Well, Whatever Your Age

The new study joins a growing body of research examining successful aging, a topic of considerable scientific interest, as the populations of the United States and Europe grow older, and so do many scientists. When the term is used in research, successful aging means more than simply remaining alive, although that, obviously, is the baseline requirement. Successful aging involves minimal debility past the age of 65 or so, with little or no serious chronic disease diagnoses, depression, cognitive decline or physical infirmities that would prevent someone from living independently.

Jon Feingersh/Getty Images

Offering hope and encouragement to the many adults who have somehow neglected to exercise for the past few decades, a new study suggests that becoming physically active in middle age, even if someone has been sedentary for years, substantially reduces the likelihood that he or she will become seriously ill or physically disabled in retirement.

Previous epidemiological studies have found that several, unsurprising factors contribute to successful aging. Not smoking is one, as is moderate alcohol consumption, and so, unfairly or not, is having money. People with greater economic resources tend to develop fewer health problems later in life than people who are not well-off.

But being physically active during adulthood is particularly important. In one large-scale study published last fall that looked at more than 12,000 Australian men aged between 65 and 83, those who engaged in about 30 minutes of exercise five or so times per week were much healthier and less likely to be dead 11 years after the start of the study than those who were sedentary, even when the researchers adjusted for smoking habits, education, body mass index and other variables.

Whether exercise habits need to have been established and maintained throughout adulthood, however, in order to affect aging has been less clear. If someone has slacked off on his or her exercise resolutions during young adulthood and early middle-age, in other words, is it too late to start exercising and still have a meaningful impact on health and longevity in later life?

To address that issue, researchers with the Physical Activity Research Group at University College London and other institutions turned recently to the large trove of data contained in the ongoing English Longitudinal Study of Aging, which has tracked the health habits of tens of thousands of British citizens for decades, checking in with participants multiple times and asking them how they currently eat, exercise, feel and generally live.

For the study, appearing in the February issue of the British Journal of Sports Medicine, scientists isolated responses from 3,454 healthy, disease-free British men and women aged between 55 and 73 who, upon joining the original study of aging, had provided clear details about their exercise habits, as well as their health, and who then had repeated that information after an additional eight years.

The researchers stratified the chosen respondents into those who were physically active or not at the study’s start, using the extremely generous definition of one hour per week of moderate or vigorous activity to qualify someone as active. Formal exercise was not required. An hour per week of “gardening, cleaning the car, walking at a moderate pace, or dancing” counted, said Mark Hamer, a researcher at University College London who led the study.

The scientists then re-sorted the respondents after the eight-year follow-up, marking them as having remained active, become active, remained inactive or become inactive as they moved into and through middle-age. They also quantified each respondent’s health throughout those years, based on diagnosed diabetes, heart disease, dementia or other serious conditions. And the scientists directly contacted their respondents, asking each to complete objective tests of memory and thinking, and a few to wear an activity monitor for a week, to determine whether self-reported levels of physical activity matched actual levels of physical activity. (They did.)

In the eight years between the study’s start and end, the data showed, those respondents who had been and remained physically active aged most successfully, with the lowest incidence of major chronic diseases, memory loss and physical disability. But those people who became active in middle-age after having been sedentary in prior years, about 9 percent of the total, aged almost as successfully. These late-in-life exercisers had about a seven-fold reduction in their risk of becoming ill or infirm after eight years compared with those who became or remained sedentary, even when the researchers took into account smoking, wealth and other factors.

Those results reaffirm both other science and common sense. A noteworthy 2009 study of more than 2,000 middle-aged men, for instance, found that those who started to exercise after the age of 50 were far less likely to die during the next 35 years than those who were and remained sedentary. “The reduction in mortality associated with increased physical activity was similar to that associated with smoking cessation,” the researchers concluded.

But in this study, the volunteers did not merely live longer; they lived better than those who were not active, making the message inarguable for those of us in mid-life. “Build activity into your daily life,” Dr. Hamer said. Or, in concrete terms, if you don’t already, dance, wash your car and, if your talents allow (mine don’t), combine the two.

Gretchen Reynolds

Source: nytimes.com