Bodies By M.E.

First Lady Michelle Obama has developed a following for her toned arms. Her toned arms are becoming a trademark and a source of inspiration to American women. Recently a client asked me how to get Michelle Obama arms and I new what she meant. The Michelle Obama effect has been a great role model for American women. Mrs.Obama is as busy as any women in the United States, the mother of two young girls, a dog, and the co-pilot to the most powerful man in the United States and she still makes time to workout at 5:30 in the morning. She puts her time in and it shows!

What is the secret to those arms? Many factors come into play, genetics is the most important. Let’s face it she has great arm genes, frustrating but true. Genetics aside, training style is critical. Women tend to be afraid to push heavy weight because they think they will get to big. Huge myth, size is influenced by hormones. With heavy weight comes intensity, without intensity your workout is a huge waste of time.

Body fat percentage, the leaner you are the more muscular definition you see. We all have muscles but when covered up with subcutaneous body fat you do not see the results of your hard work. Diet and cardiovascular exercise will help shed those unwanted pounds. My feeling is without a healthy diet very little happens!

Hydration, eight to twelve glasses of water daily. Our skin is our largest organ, it needs daily care. Proper hydration insures healthy, subtle looking skin.

Good Luck, train smart!

What is the acai berry?

The acai berry is a reddish purple fruit; it comes from acai palm tree, a native to central and South America. It is related to the blueberry, cranberry, and other dark purple fruits.

Why is it so healthy?

Acai contains powerful antioxidants called anthocyanins and flavonoids. Foods that contain anthocyanins have a purple to blue color such as blueberries, red grapes, red wine and acai. These powerful antioxidants play a role in protecting our body cells from free radical damage. Decreasing the destructive power of free radical damage may help reduce the risk of certain disease such as heart disease and cancer.

Are there known health benefits of the acai berry?

The marketing hype is well ahead of the science. There is plenty of science based evidence demonstrating that antioxidants are health promoters, when consumed as whole foods, such as vegetables, fruit, red wine, green tea and dark chocolate.

Can acai berries boost weight loss?

Few studies have tested the benefit of acai berry for weight loss. Remember fruit juice adds calories and sugar to your diet. A better way to benefit from these powerful antioxidants is to eat some blueberries or other dark fruit and wash them down with water!

Do acai berries have any side effects?

If you have allergies or negative side effects from similar berries, you may want to avoid the acai berry. Eaten in moderate amounts, acai is most likely safe.

The benefits of eating seafood are exceptional. Seafood is a high quality source of protein, vitamins, and minerals.  If prepared in a healthful manner it can be low in calories, saturated fat, and sodium. Many varieties of seafood contain the beneficial polyunsaturated fat called omega -3 fatty acids which help fight heart disease and stroke by reducing blood pressure and lowering triglycerides. New research shows omega-3 fatty acids also help reduce pain and inflammation that is associated with arthritis, asthma, and colitis.

Most fish caught commercially are safe to eat, however there are dangers. Fish can contain substances that can be toxic to the body such as polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) and methyl mercury (MeHg).

• According to the US Department of Agriculture, farm-raised salmon have a higher overall fat content than wild salmon, yet both varieties are similar in Omega-3 content. Since farm-raised salmon contain more fat, they may be contaminated with more PCBs and other pollutants and pesticides. Farm-raised salmon are also fed fish meal that may be contaminated with PCBs.
• Methyl mercury occurs naturally in the environment and nearly all fish contain traces of it. Larger fish, such as swordfish, shark, king mackerel and tilefish contain the highest amounts.

While most fish are safe to eat, consumption of some types of fish may present serious health concerns for women who might become pregnant, pregnant women, nursing mothers, and young children. Therefore, the US Food and Drug Administration and the US Environmental Protection Agency have issued the following guidelines for these individuals. By following these guidelines, these women and young children can receive the benefits of eating fish and shellfish, yet reduce their exposure to the harmful toxins:

• Do not eat shark, swordfish, king mackerel, or tilefish because they contain high levels of mercury.
• Eat up to 12 ounces (2 average meals) a week of a variety of fish and shellfish that are lower in mercury. Five of the most common are low in mercury are shrimp, canned light tuna, salmon, pollock, and catfish.
• Another commonly eaten fish is albacore (white) tuna, but it has more mercury than canned light tuna. So, when choosing your two meals of fish and shellfish, you may eat up to 6 ounces (one average meal) of albacore tuna per week.
• Check local advisories about the safety of fish caught by family and friends in your local lakes, rivers, and coastal areas. If no advice is available, eat up to 6 ounces (one average meal) per week of fish you catch from local water, but do not consume any other fish during that week.
• To reduce exposure to PCBs, trim the fat before broiling, baking, or grilling fish. All of these methods are preferable to frying because they enable the PCB content in the fat to cook off.
• Though more costly, choosing wild and canned Alaskan salmon over farmed-raised salmon will help to decrease the PCB contamination.
• When feeding fish and shellfish to young children follow the guidelines listed above, but serve smaller, child-size portions.

Nothing in life is risk free. Limit the big fish such as shark, swordfish, king mackerel, anf tilefish. Eat tuna in moderation and watch for local fish advisories. You can always reel it in yourself and enjoy the serenity a good or even a bad day of fishing can bring. You can not beat the taste and health benefits of fresh caught fish!

Frustrated, disappointed, and hopeless are often emotions of people trying to lose weight, especially when you have done everything right and the scale will not move. At times like these it is important to remember to look at the big picture and pat yourself on the back for the positive lifestyle changes you have made.

The formula for losing weight is basic, burn more calories than you take in, participate in cardiovascular exercise, strength training and eat right. Sometimes despite our good effort it just doesn’t come together when you jump on the scale for that weekly weigh in.

Now what!

Here are four ways you can measure your success without a scale.

1. Take a trip to your closet, try on a piece of clothing that was a little tight a few months ago. My favorite, go for the summer cloths. We all want to look great when the weather warms up and we have more skin exposed.

1. Girth measurements, as your body composition shifts to a leaner you we lose inches. Muscle packs a tighter package than fat. Also look at the numbers that really count like blood pressure, cholesterol, and resting heart rate.

1. How is your energy level? Are you able to walk or pedal your bike farther with less exertion than you did last spring?

1. Take your emotional temperature, do you feel more up beat and overall less depressed. When we look good we feel good.

Remember numbers are not the only way to measure success!

Time constraints along with financial stress have led people to rethinking even their exercise programs. Many people often wonder if the time we spend in the gym is an efficient way to use our time as opposed to getting to work early or working late. It is my belief that we can do both. Matter of fact a heart thumping workout is a great way to start a productive day.

New research published in the January issue of International Journal of Obesity determined that a high intensity intermittent exercise training program may offer greater benefits than a steady state exercise program. Participants of the study included 45 overweight men and women ages 18-30. They were equally divided into three groups, steady state, high-intensity intermittent exercise, and a non-exercise control group. The steady state exercise group performed 40 minutes of exercise at 60% of peak oxygen uptake. The high intensity group performed 8 seconds of high intensity exercise followed by a 12 second recovery.

At the completion of the study both groups showed improvement in cardiac output and oxygen consumption. The high-intensity group also experienced reductions in body-mass, fat mass, trunk fat, and fasting insulin levels.

What’s the difference? The researchers suggested that the nature of the high-intensity workout placed a greater emphasis on fat metabolism.

What does it mean to you?  No excuses, it is possible to reap the benefits of a great workout and still strive for financial success. Your Boss will not even notice!

Fitness ads may have an unintended affect on us; they may actually make us eat more. In a recent study published in the journal Obesity 53 students where asked to study posters from an exercise campaign and on another occasion were asked to study posters that did not mention exercise. They were told they would be given a few raisins afterward; those who studied the exercise posters ate more raisins than those who studied the non-exercise posters. The lead author, Dolores Alberracin, stated that the setting of the advertisement was important. If the advertisement was more conducive to eating than exercise than the participants ate.

Newsday.com
Study links severe depression, heart disease in women

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

March 10, 2009

Severe depression may silently break a seemingly healthy woman’s heart.

Doctors have long known that depression is common after a heart attack or stroke, and worsens those people’s outcomes. Yesterday, Columbia University researchers reported new evidence that depression can lead to heart disease in the first place.

The scientists tracked 63,000 women from the long-running Nurses’ Health Study between 1992 and 2004. None had signs of heart disease when the study began, but nearly 8 percent had evidence of serious depression.

The depressed women were more than twice as likely to experience sudden cardiac death – death typically caused by an irregular heartbeat, concluded the study, published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. They also had a smaller increased risk of death from other forms of heart disease.

The big surprise: Sudden cardiac death seemed more closely linked with antidepressant use than with the depression symptoms the women reported.

That might simply mean women who used antidepressants were the most seriously depressed, cautioned lead researcher Dr. William Whang. But he said it merited more research.

Studies of the newer antidepressants most often used today haven’t signaled a risk of irregular heartbeat, and some have suggested protection, noted Dr. Redford Williams of Duke University, a specialist in how psychosocial factors affect health.

Copyright © 2009, Newsday Inc.

I know first hand that pet owners will go to extreme measures to keep their pets healthy and happily pampered. But if they won’t quit smoking for themselves will they quit for the pooch or the kitty cat? A new survey suggests that pet owners who are reluctant to quit smoking to save their own lives would consider quitting if they were told second hand smoke would harm their four legged friends.

A recent study led by Dr. Sharon Milberger of the Henry Ford Health Systems in Michigan reported that secondhand smoke has been associated with a variety of problems in pets, including lymphomas in cats and nasal and lung cancer in dogs. Pet birds have also been adversely affected by secondhand smoke.

Among the pet owners who smoked 28 percent said knowing that they were putting their pets at risk would make an effort to quit, 19 percent would not allow smoking in their home, and forty percent expressed interest in information on quitting.

Anti-smoking advocates may want to reach out to vetinary offices, humane societies and pet stores to post educational material. This new information may be especially beneficial to pet owners who live alone with their fury friend.

The largest -ever controlled study of weight loss methods was published in The New England Journal of Medicine. More than 800 overweight adults in Boston and Baton Rouge, La were assigned one of four diets that reduced calories through different combination’s of fat, carbohydrates, and protein. Each diet plan cut 750 calories from the participant’s normal diet; no one ate less than 12,000 calories a day. While the diet plans where not named they were based on principles of the following diet programs, Atkins, Dean Ornish, or the Mediterranean diet, with less animal protein. All participants received also received nutritional counseling

The results of the study, after two years every group had lost and regained the same amount of weight regardless of the diet programmed assigned. Participants lost about an average of 13 pounds at six months and had maintained about 9 pounds of weight loss and a 2-inch waist size after two years. The bottom line, people lose weight when they eat less calories, it doesn’t matter how.

What does this mean for the rest of us? No more food combining,  low carb diets, or purchasing expensive food products Just stay within your caloric range, enjoy whole foods, exercise, drink plenty of water, get enough sleep and live your life..