Quick Update - allergy season hit here in Northern Nevada a bit early - we've had record rain and snow - and I woke up at 2 am this morning feeling like crap spread on a barbwire fence. Also we have a lot of wood smoke in the air this time of year and I'm very allergic to smoke. It's like somebody shoved two lit matches up my nose. Poor Bruno's coughing and Jerry's sneezing. I started on Claritin but it usually takes awhile to kick in - like a week or more. Bottom line, I'm exhausted and sick.
I did my first BOSU workout yesterday - BOSU Absolutely Abs. I am in love. I can do things on BOSU I can't otherwis. eThis isn't a full review but one big thing for me is I could never do a full Superman move in Power 90X despite having a padded floor. My ribs always hurt doing it. But on the BOSU I can do it! It's not totally comfortable but my ribs don't feel like they'll crack. More on BOSU later.
Here's some interesting news:
A Single Meal Can Lead to Good (or Bad) Health
It takes just one “bad” meal -- a cheeseburger, fries and a soda, fried chicken and biscuits, a slab of chocolate cake and ice cream -- to do damage to your body, according to new research.
The good news, however, is that eating just one good meal will start to repair the damage.
This occurs because, when you eat, your body breaks down the food into glucose (sugar), lipids (fats) and amino acids (the building blocks of protein).
As soon as you polish off the last of your high-fat, high-sugar meal, the sugar causes a large spike in your blood-sugar levels called “post-prandial hyperglycemia.” In the long term this can lead to an increased risk of heart attack, but there are short-term effects as well, such as:
• Your tissue becomes inflamed (as occurs when it is infected)
• Your blood vessels constrict
• Damaging free radicals are generated
• Your blood pressure may rise higher than normal
• A surge and drop in insulin may leave you feeling hungry soon after your meal
Eating healthy foods, such as fresh vegetables and fruits, lean proteins, and high-fiber items, will stave off post-prandial spikes and help to keep your blood-sugar levels even.
Even a small amount of alcohol appears to help blood-sugar levels stay stable.
The desire to eat junk food is a vicious cycle, the researchers pointed out, as the more you eat it the more your body craves it. This occurs because junk food distorts your hormonal profile, stimulating your appetite and causing you to crave unhealthy foods -- while making you feel unsatisfied when you eat only healthy ones.
The risky blood sugar spikes that follow a junk food meal are most likely to occur in people who don’t exercise, or who carry weight around their abdomen.
Sources:
• Time January 15, 2008
• Journal of the American College of Cardiology January 22, 2008; 51:249-255
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2008/2/5/a-single-meal-can-lead-to-good-or-bad-health.aspx
Laziness Increases Dangerous Organ Fat
People who don’t exercise build dangerous fat among their organs more quickly than previously thought, according to a study.
Researchers looked at visceral fat, fat among the organs that is often invisible but is linked with insulin resistance (pre-diabetes), heart disease and other metabolic syndromes.
The study involved 170 volunteers who were grouped according to exercise. One group got no exercise, another got small amounts of moderate exercise (equivalent to walking 11 miles a week), a third group got low amounts of vigorous exercise (equivalent to jogging 11 miles a week), and a final group got lots of vigorous exercise (equivalent to jogging 17 miles a week).
It was found that volunteers who did not exercise had an 8.6 percent increase in visceral fat after eight months, while those who exercised the most lost 8.1 percent of their visceral fat during that time.
Women volunteers gained visceral fat twice as quickly as men, according to researchers.
Researchers noted that the rapid increase in visceral fat among sedentary overweight adults mirrors the increasingly rapid rise in obesity in the United States. Currently, two out of three adults are obese or overweight.
On a positive note, exercise was found to take the fat away quickly. Volunteers who jogged for 17 miles each week had significant decreases in visceral fat, subcutaneous abdominal fat, which lies under the skin, and total abdominal fat.
50th Annual American College Of Sports Medicine May 28, 2003
Research Reveals the Best Abs Exercises
Fitness News Flash
-- By Nicole Nichols, Fitness Instructor
SparkPeople Sponsors help keep the site free!
We often get questions about the best abs exercises—after all, who doesn't want to tone their tummy in the least amount of time? There are countless exercises that target the abs, including fitness DVDs (Does "8 Minute Abs" ring a bell?) and even pricey machines that you see often see on infomercials. But do you need a video or specialized piece of equipment to get the abs of your dreams?
A study conducted at San Diego State University's Biomechanics Lab (and published by ACE, the American Council on Exercise) says no. Their research revealed that the best exercises for your abs don't require any gizmos, and are surprisingly easy to fit into your day.
Researchers looked at the effectiveness of 13 common abdominal exercises—everything from crunches to the "Ab Roller" machine. Using EMG (electromyography), researchers measured the muscle activity of the participants to determine which exercises best targeted the abs and the obliques, while also limiting the activity of the hips and thighs (because when an abdominal exercise is executed poorly, the hips and thighs engage to "help out" the abs).
Overall, researchers said that all of these exercises are "relatively effective" ways to train the abs—but some are more effective than others.
Check out their ranking of abs exercises (from best to worst) below:
1. Bicycle Crunches 2. Knee Lifts on Captain's Chair 3. Crunches on Ball
Click here for a demo.
Click here for a demo.
4. Crunches with Vertical Legs: This exercise is just like a traditional crunch (see #11 below), but with your legs extended up into the air, in line with the hips.
5. Torso Track Machine
6. Crunches with Arms Extended: This exercise is just like a traditional crunch (see #11 below), but you extend your arms overhead, squeezing your upper arms by your ears as your crunch up and lower down.
7. Reverse Crunches: Click here for a demo.
8. Crunches with Heel Push: This exercise is just like the Crunches with Vertical Legs (see #4 above), except that as you crunch up you also slightly lift your hips off the ground (feet towards the ceiling).
9. Ab Roller Machine
10. Plank: Click here for a demo.
11. Traditional Crunches: Click here for a demo.
12. Exercise Tubing Pull
13. Ab Rocker Machine
To view the entire study report from ACE, click here. (You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader to download this PDF.)
More here. http://www.sparkpeople.com/resource/fitness_articles.asp?id=191
