December 30th, 2007 Milan
Here is the Harvard medical school guide to the best diet:
1. Eat variety of foods. Since no single food is perfect, you need a balanced mix of foods to get all the nutrients you need.
2. Eat more vegetable products and fewer animal products.
3. Eat more fresh and homemade foods and fewer processed foods.
4. Eat less fat and cholesterol. Fat should provide 20 to 30 percent of the calories in your diet. Restrict saturated fat to less than one-third of your total fat intake by reducing your consumption of meat, whole dairy products, and the skin of poultry. Limit your intake of trans fatty acids by reducing your consumption of partially hydrogenated vegetable oils found in stick margarine, fried foods, and many commercially baked goods. Favor mono unsaturated and omega-3 fats that are found in olive oil, fish, nuts. Restrict your cholesterol intake to less than 300 milligrams per day by limiting your intake of egg yolks.
5. Eat at least 25 to 30 grams of fiber per day by increasing your consumption of bran cereal, whole grains, vegetables, and fruit. Favor oats, barley, beans, and other sources of soluble fiber.
6. Eat more complex carbohydrates and less sugar by eating more grain products, starchy vegetables, and pasta. Complex carbohydrates should provide 55 to 65 percent of the calories in your diet. Favor foods with low glycemic index.
7. Eat protein in moderation. Protein should provide 10 to 15 percent of the calories in your diet. Favor fish, legumes, and skinless poultry as protein sources.
8. Restrict your sodium intake to less than 2,400 milligrams per day, particularly if your blood pressure is elevated or high, by reducing your use of table salt and processed foods such as canned soup and juices, luncheon meats, condiments, frozen dinners, cheese, tomato sauce, and snack foods.
9. Eat more potassium-rich foods, such as citrus fruits, bananas, and other fruits and vegetables.
10. Eat more grain products, especially whole grain products, aiming for six or more servings per day.
11. Eat more vegetables and legumes, especially deep green and yellow-orange vegetables. Aim for at least three to five servings of vegetables each day.
12. Eat more fruits, aiming for at least two to four servings each day.
13. Eat more fish, aiming for at least two to four servings per week.
14. If you choose to eat red meats, reduce your intake to about two 4-ounce servings per week. Avoid “prime” and other fatty meats, processed meets and liver.
15. Eat chicken and turkey in moderation, always removing the skin.
16. Eat eggs sparingly; aim for an average of no more than one egg yolk per day, including those used in cooking and baking.
17. Use vegetable oils in moderation, favoring olive oil. Reduce your intake of partially hydrogenated vegetable oils, palm oil, coconut milk, and cocoa butter.
18. If you can use alcohol safely and choose to drink, drink sparingly. Do not average more than two drinks per day.
19. Adjust your caloric intake and exercise level to maintain a desirable body weight. If you need to loose weight, aim for gradual weight loss by reducing your intake of calories and increasing your amount of exercise.
20. Avoid fad diets and extreme or unconventional nutritional schemes. If it is too good to be true, it’s not true.
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December 26th, 2007 Milan
Here are the myths – and facts about osteoporosis, by Liselle Douyon, M.D.:
Myth: Osteoporosis is a normal part of the aging process.
Fact: While it is completely normal to lose bone density while you age, that does not mean you can’t have good bone strength. Osteoporosis is a disease and can be prevented with proper nourishment, exercise and vitamin supplementation.
Myth: Only women get osteoporosis
Fact: About 2 million men have been diagnosed with osteoporosis in U.S.- that’s a fifth of everyone diagnosed with the disease.
Myth: Only older people need to worry about osteoporosis.
Fact: Building strong bones is something that starts much earlier in life – you’re never too young to begin thinking about building strong bones. Your bones begin building density from infancy through young adulthood and reach their maximum density around age 35. If you do not achieve maximum bone density by this time, you could be at risk.
Myth: Osteoporosis is strictly a hereditary disease.
Fact: Although women who have a family history of the disease have a greater chance of developing osteoporosi, there are several factors that can make you more likely to get it. Certain kidney diseases, vitamin D deficiency, some hormonal diseases such as thyroid disorders and Cushing’s syndrome, treatment with steroids for certain medical conditions and certain types of cancer can be attributed to osteoporosis.
Myth: Osteoporosis cannot be prevented.
Fact: Especially for those who start young, osteoporosis may be prevented. Make sure you have good nutrition, adequate calcium intake, exercise and sufficient vitamin D supplementation.
Weight-bearing exercises are effective for building strong bones. Activities such as walking, jogging, lifting weights and dancing are ideal. However, those who already have osteoporosis should avoid these activities since they could result in a brake or fracture. If you have osteoporosis and wish to continue such exercise, you should first consult your physician.
In addition, it is best to avoid smoking or heavy drinking as they can also increase your chances of developing osteoporosis.
Myth: Only osteoporosis medications can prevent future bone loss.
Fact: Medications alone do not help build bone. Although the FDA has approved certain medications to prevent and treat the disease, they have not been on the market for long and the long-term effects are still unknown.
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December 24th, 2007 Milan
Higher intensity in your workout can help you loose weight faster and achieve better fitness level:
- Canadian researchers reported that just two weeks of interval training boosted women’s ability to burn fat during exercise by 36 percent
- Levels of human growth hormone – which assists in building muscle and eliminating fat – skyrocketed 530 percent in subjects after just 30 seconds of sprinting as fast as they could on a stationary bike, according to British study
- Australian fitness researchers had 18 women perform 20 minutes of interval training on stationary bike – eight-seconds sprints followed by 12 seconds of recovery throughout the workout, three days a week. The women lost an average of five and a half pounds over 15 weeks without dieting, while a similar group performing 40 minutes of moderate cycling three days a week actually gained a pound of fat over the same period. Two of the heavier women who did intervals dropped 18 pounds.
Here is my simple cardio work out for you: you can run, bike, swim, elliptical train, even speed walk. What’s important is that during the interval, you push yourself hard enough that you can’t maintain the effort longer than 60 seconds.
- Start your first 60-second interval, if you are walking and don’t want to run, increase the incline on the treadmill 3 to 6 percent and speed up enough to feel that you’re working hard
- The effort should feel like 80-90 percent of your maximum for the first 3 sprints, than 100% (maximum intensity) the rest of the sprints
- After 60 seconds, recover at a casual relaxed pace, about 30 percent of your maximum (slowly) for 60 seconds, and then do it again for total of 10 intervals
- Finish with a 2 minute cool down
- The workout will take 30 minutes
Other important tips
- Your body needs time to adapt to the intensity of intervals. If you’ve been very sedentary, ease into the intensity by brisk-walking the intervals to start. For those unused to a fast pace, do just three moderate sprints for fist week and add one sprint every week until you do ten sprints
- Allow a day of active rest between interval workouts to give your body time off to recover. What could you do as a active rest? Walk outside easy for 30 minutes or swim in relaxed pace, bike slowly – active rest rule – your hearth rate should not go higher than 60 percent of your maximum heart rate. Your maximum heart rate = 220 – your age. Our body actually recovers actively faster.
- As with any exercise program, talk to your doctor before starting
Keeping intervals interesting
It is very easy to vary intervals to keep workout even after a while interesting:
Three-two-one interval training
- Warm up – 5 minutes easy to moderate pace – (30-60 percent) of your maximum effort
- Increase intensity (70 percent) – 3 minutes
- Push a little harder (80 percent) – 2 minute
- Keep increasing your effort for 1 minute, and finish last 10 to 15 seconds as hard as you can go (100 percent)
- Recover – 5 minutes (30-50 percent)
- Repeat three-two-one interval
- Total work out time – 30 minutes.
Two by two interval training
- Warm up – 5 minutes – easy to moderate effort (50-60 percent)
- Hard (90 percent) intensity – 2 minutes
- Recover (50-60 percent) – 2 minutes
- Repeat these interval 5 times
- Cool down (40 percent intensity) – 5 minutes
- Total work out time – 30 minutes.
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