Top Exercise Tips For 2013!

There is something magical about the night of 31st December; no matter how tiring the year has been, no matter your emotional struggles and even if you did not achieve a single health goal or resolution, by 12noon of the 1st of January, you will feel totally refreshed and energized. You are ready to take on the New Year and turn it into your best ever. If you have been too busy to ever notice this phenomenon, this is your chance to cease this once a year opportunity.
This crusade about adopting a healthy lifestyle does not mean one is immune to diseases, NO! but your quality of life is much better than it would have been if you did nothing. Inspite of my background as a medical doctor and being certified as a specialist in exercise therapy and fitness nutrition, I have health challenges but I am much better off adopting a healthy lifestyle and I pray you do the same even if you are struggling with your health.
The more active you are the more likely you are to live longer, have a more youthful brain, enjoy better mental health, have a reduced risk for diabetes and other lifestyle diseases, a better recovery from heart failure and stroke and you perform better academically, socially and professionally – and that is only the tip of the iceberg! 
I have heard people do hundreds of abdominal crunches daily and this is for one reason – to tame that bulge around the midsection. There is no shortcut to permanent fat loss! You can’t isolate fat loss to one part of the body so get ready for a total body overhaul. Many people do strength and toning exercises in an effort to trim fat from areas such as the arms, thighs, hips or “stomach” but that is as far from the truth as the Earth is from Pluto. These exercises including abdominal crunches can help firm muscles. If the targeted area still carries an extra layer of fat, it won’t look much different. We all craze for a six-pack abdomen but are we prepared to pay the price? For the majority of us, a firmer “one-pack” still calls for celebration.
The winning formula is simple but not easy. Watch what you eat and drink, indulge in cardiovascular exercises and strength or weight training. Cardiovascular exercises such as walking and jogging will burn calories and resistance training is a must if you want to burn fat. Our ladies should not avoid this. The marginal increase in muscle mass that comes with resistance training increases your metabolism and the great news is that you burn calories ALL the time even when you are relaxing at home.
I am not certain how many of us want to live to be a hundred years old but it appears you could improve your chances if you get some additional sleep, improve your diet and social connections, exercise and increase spiritual activity. In 2013, do not just exercise but do it RIGHT!

BEWARE OF THESE
1. Wrong Posture
a. The right posture is life-saving and will reduce your hospital visits. Ensure the right posture when you sit, lift and even walk. Keep your body straight as you walk, fight the urge to bend. I often see people crouch over a treadmill – you are harming your back.
2. Wrong Shoes
a. If you have to go walking or jogging even on a treadmill, wearing the right shoes is very important. The wrong shoes could lead to severe pounding of your joints and many people have ended up with osteoarthritis the “wear and tear disease”, inflammed tendons and inflammation of the soles of the feet (plantar fasciitis); I believe you have experienced that agonizing pain when you get out of bed after a long rest.
3. Using Weight Belts
a. Some of us are obsessed with using weight belts and this may not be the best for our core muscles. If you have a back problem or are carrying very heavy weights then it will be necessary to fall on the belt for support but reaching out for the belt when lifting a feather in the gym may be an over kill.
MY FAVOURITE EXERCISES
Remember to always work large muscle groups first. Do not abuse your muscles, there is no point exercising the same muscle groups everyday. Your muscles need rest periods for repair and growth.
1. Squats
a. Squats and lunges are both great. They all work large groups of muscles and are very effective but I will stick my neck out for Squats because they are slightly easier to perform. Squats target the thigh muscles and buttocks.
b. Keep your feet shoulder width apart and back straight (standing posture), bend knees and lower rear till thighs are horizontal then return to the standing position. Repeat. If you have difficulty start with a chair behind you and with your back straight try to sit on it but do not let your buttocks touch the seat. 
2. Push-Ups
a. This is great for the chest, shoulders, triceps and core muscles. It is probably the most popular strength training exercise of all time. You may vary it by putting your toes on an incline etc.
3. Bent-Over Row
a. A recent addition to my favourites. It works muscles of the upper back as well as biceps. Your feet should be shoulder width apart and knees slightly bent. Flex forwards at the hip. Hold the weights beneath the shoulders, then flex elbows and lift both hands towards the sides of the body. Now slowly lower hands to starting position.
4. Abdominal Crunches
a. To avoid injuring your neck make sure you keep it in-line with your spine. To make life easier you could keep looking at the ceiling while you crunch. If at any point the ceiling (or sky) is out of view then your technique is wrong.
AS ALWAYS LAUGH OFTEN, WALK AND PRAY EVERYDAY AND REMEMBER IT’S A PRICELESS GIFT TO KNOW YOUR NUMBERS (blood sugar, blood pressure, blood cholesterol, BMI)

written by Dr. Kojo Cobba Essel
Moms’ Health Club

10 tips for a healthier 2013!

1. Eat something green or raw with every meal

Throwing spinach in your eggs or kale in your tomato sauce, soup, or smoothie is so easy and you won’t even taste it.  Start easy with eating a banana with breakfast or carrots with lunch! Finding it difficult to get enough greens in your diet? Try Supplements. Find a high quality multivitamin to take every day. Throw out generic store bought, cheap, synthetic ones since you literally flush them down the toilet anyway.  Start adding healthy items to your diet and your taste buds will literally change. Your body will crave what you put in it! 

2. Go without TV or computer at least once a week

As a culture, we have become TV and social media obsessed. Give your brain a rest!  Better yet, make a no phone date with your spouse or a friend where you turn off your phones. Talk to each other. Listen to each other without any distractions.

3. Set goals

Stop and write them down! Start with what you want to accomplish this year. Better yet title it what you WILL accomplish this year. Do this for health, finance, career, family, etc. List at least three goals for each topic and tape it to your fridge.

4. Change one bad habit

Whether you always get popcorn at the movies or that Monday afternoon latte, try to change it! Behavior modification is the most important tool when pursuing optimal health.  You may not even realize some habits that you have formed throughout your life. Write them down and just pick one at a time. Start easy on yourself!

5. Stretch your body

What does a baby do when it wakes up? What do our pets do when they wake up? STRETCH! It is just as important to stretch your body after resting as it is after strenuous activity.  Stay tuned to our website for our easy at home spinal stretches which are as important to do daily as brushing your teeth!7. Quit soda and alcohol

Cutting down on the last of the legal drugs, as I like to call it, will change your life. I don’t care if your soda has no calories or caffeine or you drink skinny martinis.  It is “poison” as my grandmother always says. Drinking water with lemon while out at restaurants will not only save you money, but illness and calories. Use the extra money you save and put it towards upgrading to organic food.

8. Cut down on sugar

There is an abundance of information out there that sugar is toxic. It feeds the pathogens in our body that causes illness. It is also very addictive and the more you eat it the more you crave it. See if you can go one whole day without eating anything with sugar in it. Completely cut out high fructose corn syrup! It is very toxic. Watch out for “glucose-fructose syrup” while overseas which is the same compound but a different name… so sneaky.

9. Count your blessings

As said by the great Bing Crosby, “count your blessings instead of sheep.” It is extremely important to appreciate every gift we have even when life is tough. Think about what you are grateful for every night before you fall asleep. I remember having an older patient who said “every morning you can get out of bed is a good morning.” I could not agree more.

10. Get adjusted by your local chiropractor!

It is imperative for your health to get your spine adjusted. The health of your spine and nervous system is directly correlated with the health of your brain and your body. Waiting for pain in your back to see a chiropractor is as foolish as waiting for a skin infection before showering. Without proper care of your spine, your spinal joints will deteriorate. When joints become subluxated, motion and alignment become lost, leading to improper signaling and communication in the body. Bottom-line, getting your spine adjusted is by far the most important and the easiest way to get healthier this new year. You can eat the most organic fresh off the farm veggies but if the communication to your digestive system is interfered with than the food will not be digested optimally. This is why it is so important to take care of your spine and nervous system for whole body health!

written by Dr. Jamie Engel

How to Boost your Immune System!

Eat loads of vegetables and fruit - As well as ensuring you get the right levels of vitamins and minerals, eating at least 5 servings of fruit and vegetables per day has been linked to lower levels of cancer. Eat yoghurt - Studies have shown that people who eat at least one yoghurt size pot of yoghurt per day have fewer colds than people who do not eat yoghurt. Scientists think it has something to do with the friendly bacteria in the yoghurt, so make sure you choose 'probiotic' yoghurt with acidophilus or bifidus. If you can't stand yoghurt or have a dairy intolerance, there are a number of probiotic supplements you can get including 'Tummy'. Eat Vitamin C rich foods or take a vitamin C supplement - People who have high levels of vitamin C in their diet can cut their chance of dying of premature illness by up to 50%. The optimum level of vitamin C is 500 mg each day, but even small amounts can help. Adding just one vitamin C rich food each day can cut mortality by up to 20%. Good sources of vitamin C are kiwi fruits, oranges, red peppers, broccoli and strawberries. Eat plenty of red foods - The red in foods like tomatoes comes from an antioxidant called lycopene, which can help prevent cancer and heart disease. A study at the University of Milan also found that it keeps white cells in the blood (which help to fight infection) in peak condition. Processed tomatoes are a better source of lycopene than raw, so eat plenty of tomato sauces, juice and ketchup. Stop smoking - Smokers suffer higher levels of respiratory infection than non-smokers as well as having higher risks of a whole raft of other diseases. Exercise moderately but don't overtrain - Working out for up to 45 minutes minutes, 3-5 times per week makes immune cells more active, with some studies showing that women who exercise had half the sick leave days of those who did not. However, extended exercise can do the opposite. Long sessions of high intensity exercise like 90 minutes of running raise levels of the stress hormones adrenalin and cortisol which can suppress immune-system activity for up to 3 days. So, if you are specifically trainingfor an event like a marathon, make sure that you drink 1 litre of a glucose drink every hour of exercise as the sugar can cause the adrenal gland to release less cortisol. Get enough sleep - Sleeping less than 7 hours per night can double the chance of coming down with an infection as during deep sleep your body increases production of natural killer cells. Wash your hands - Studies have shown that people who wash their hands at least 5 times per day cut their risk of cold and other infections by half. Listen to music - Listening to your favourite music (as long as it isn't too frantic!) for half an hour per day raises levels of IgA, a protein that indicates how fast your immune system responds. Get a pet - Petting a dog or cat for 18 minutes raises IgA levels 12% Have sex - Having sex once or twice a week improves IgA levels too, and having an orgasm releases opioid peptides that enhance immune activity and kill bad bacteria. Eat garlic - Garlic contains at least 25 antibacterial and antifungal compounds so really does help beat infection. Eat more fibre - Fibre helps promote friendly bacteria in your gut, so helping to fight digestive infections. Drink cranberry and blueberry juice - They are full of antioxidants called flavonoids and also help to prevent urinary infections. Cranberry juice in particular can be helpful in preventing and curing cystitis. Don't take antibiotics too often - Most viruses like colds and flu cannot be helped by antibiotics and taking them can kill the friendly bacteria in your body. So, take them sparingly, only when you really need them and they are appropriate and make sure you help replace the friendly bacteria with probiotic yoghurt. Drink lots of water - Making sure you are hydrated can help keep mucus membranes like those that line your respiratory tract moist and healthy, thus helping to prevent infection. Resist rubbing eyes and face - As you carry many bacteria on your hands, by rubbing your face you can transfer them to your eyes and mouth, thus 'catching' the cold. Take a good nutritional supplement every day - It is always best to get the vitamins and minerals you need through your diet, but for that added bit of insurance take a good multivitamin and mineral tablet every day. Take Echinacea - Studies have shown that taking Echinacea helps reduce the chance of infection. However to get the best benefits, make sure you take it over limited periods of time with breaks in between. Reduce stress - Many studies have proven the link between stress and illness, making people 3 times more likely to catch colds. Reduce the stress in your life and if you are going through a period of stress you can't avoid like divorce, redundancy or monetary problems, make sure you put time aside for yourself to relax. Also watch your favourite comedy films or TV sitcoms as a good laugh can counteract many of the effects of stress. - from feelingok.co.uk

Best ways to boost metabolism!

By Sam Murphy

Muscle up

The single most important factor in determining your resting metabolic rate (the amount of energy you utilise at rest) is how much lean muscle tissue you have. Your muscle tissue uses 16-22% of your daily calories just to exist. (Your liver uses 21% and your brain 20%, but you can't do much about beefing them up.) "Increasing metabolic rate through the development of more muscle tissue is the key to lasting weight loss," says Pete Williams, founder of London health club Health Dept. Resting muscle uses five times as many calories a kilogram a day as fat does. In an 18-week study from the University of Limburg in Holland, average daily metabolic rate increased by 9.5% and energy expenditure by 10% as a result of twice-weekly strength training. "But make sure your training is sufficiently challenging to increase muscle mass, by using weights that are heavy enough, and by training progressively and consistently," advises Williams.

Drink iced water

Here's a bit of maths to stoke your metabolism. It takes one calorie to raise the temperature of one litre of water by 1 degree. The body needs to heat water to body temperature (36.8C). The difference between the temperature of iced water and body temperature means you'll burn 36.8 calories "warming up" a litre of iced water. Supping two litres, therefore, is enough to burn off half a KitKat. At least, that's the theory. But don't go drinking gallons of icy water to help negate that piece of chocolate gateau you scoffed - there is such a thing as too much water.

Frontload your day

Metabolic rate is shaped like an ice-cream cone - highest in the morning, declining gradually through the day. Most of us, however, eat lightly in the morning and scoff larger meals as the day wears on, failing to take advantage of this daily peak. A study in the American Journal Of Clinical Nutrition revealed that starting the day with a meal boosted resting metabolic rate by 10%, while other research showed that people who skipped breakfast or lunch and ate most of their calories in their evening meal had lower metabolisms than "frontloaders."

Eat more protein

Ten per cent of the calories we consume each day are used up in digesting what we've eaten. It's called the thermic effect of food. "Contrary to popular belief, though, this doesn't mean that frequent small meals are more advantageous than one large meal," says Symonds. But meal content might increase your metabolism- because not all nutrients have the same thermic effect. Around 25-30% of the calories derived from protein are used up in its metabolism," says Symonds. Compare that to 6-8 of every 100 calories of carbohydrate and just 2-3 of every 100 fat calories, and ensure you have a serving of good quality protein at every meal.

Fidget

A recent study at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota found that one of the biggest determinants of who is overweight and who is skinny was their level of non-exercise activity thermogenesis (NEAT), better known as fidgeting or pottering. Obese subjects burned 350 calories a day fewer than leaner ones simply because they were more inert. While the leaner folk wiggled, stood, walked and constantly changed position, the overweight subjects sat more and fidgeted less.

Exercise more often

"Metabolic rate can increase as much as 15-fold during strenuous exercise," says Symonds. "And it doesn't return to normal the second you stop. In fact, the post-exercise elevation in metabolic rate (known as the afterburn) can make a significant contribution to overall daily energy expenditure." The more frequently you exercise the greater the afterburn effect - even if the overall volume is the same.

How to Get Motivated and Improve Motivation!

By Remez Sasson

Motivation has become a popular word nowadays. There are motivational coaches and speakers, and motivational books and articles. What is it actually, and why do you need it?

Motivation is a driving force. In order to accomplish anything, you need a driving force, otherwise nothing will happen. A wish is not strong enough to make you take action. A wish is a weak desire. Only a strong desire can drive forward, to act and accomplish aims and goals.

In order to get motivated, you need to know exactly what it is that you want, to possess a strong desire, and to be willing to do whatever it takes to accomplish your goal.

More than often there is lack of motivation or only a short-lived one. How many times have you started enthusiastically a weight loss program, began a bodybuilding or aerobics training program or started to learn a foreign language, only to stop after a short while? Few people possess enough willpower and self-discipline to go through to the end with what they begin (this is one of the reasons I have written the book "Will Power and Self Discipline").

It easier to show motivation in connection with a subject that is dear to you. If you desire something, but you don't feel motivated enough to act, this means that the desire is not important enough. To be motivated to take action and do something in respect to your desire, you need to possess a really strong desire.

Motivation has much to do with the emotions and the imagination, which means that if you want to increase it, you have to work on your feelings and imagination.

Tips to increase your motivation:

1. Think, meditate and find out whether you really want to achieve your desire, and whether it is worth the effort and time.
2. Make your goal very clear. Writing it down will help.
3. Think often about your goal or desire.
4. Visualize your goal as already accomplished, and close your mind to contrary thoughts.
5. Read books or articles about the subject of your goal.
6. Read about people who have achieved success.
7. Think often about the benefits you will gain by achieving your goal.
8. Visualize, and think about how you would feel after achieving your goal.
9. Repeat positive affirmations such as: "I have the desire and inner strength to achieve my goal". Repeat this affirmation often, with faith and strong feelings.
10. Start with doing something small concerning your goal. Success in small matters leads to greater success.
Motivation is the powerful engine that moves you towards success and accomplishments in every area.