http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/04/100429111015.htm

Scientists funded by the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) found that volunteers who followed a low-calorie diet or a very low-calorie diet not only lost weight, but also significantly enhanced their immune response. The study may be the first to demonstrate the interaction between calorie restriction and immune markers among humans.

The lead researcher, Simin Nikbin Meydani, is director of the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging (HNRCA) at Tufts University in Boston, Mass., and also of the HNRCA’s Nutritional Immunology Laboratory.

The study is part of the “Comprehensive Assessment of Long-Term Effects of Reducing Intake of Energy” trial conducted at the HNRCA. As people age, their immune response generally declines. Calorie restriction has been shown to boost these immune responses in animal models.

In the study, 46 overweight (but not obese) men and women aged 20 to 40 years were required to consume either a 30-percent or 10-percent calorie-restricted diet for six months.

Prior to being randomly assigned to one of the two groups, each volunteer participated in an initial 6-week period during which measures of all baseline study outcomes were obtained. All food was provided to participants.

For the study, the researchers looked at specific biologic markers. A skin test used called DTH (delayed-type hypersensitivity) is a measure of immune response at the whole body level.

The researchers also examined effects of calorie restriction on function of T-cells–a major type of white blood cell–and other factors on the volunteer’s immune system.

DTH and T-cell response indicate the strength of cell-mediated immunity. One positive was that DTH and T-cell proliferative response were significantly increased in both calorie-restrained groups.

These results show for the first time that short-term calorie restriction for six months in humans improves the function of T-cells.

Details of this 2009 study can be found in the publication Journal of Gerontology, Biological Sciences.

Excerpts from ccn.com:

Replenishment specifics
After an hour of physical activity, here’s what your body needs for nutrition.

Fluid: Replace what’s lost through sweat. Use foods that are full of fluids (fruits, salads, soups) or fluid alone. Ideally you should drink before and during exercise, too.

Carbs: The American College of Sports Medicine recommends refueling muscles with 30 to 60 grams of carbohydrate in the first 30 minutes after an hourlong workout. “If you wait more than 30 minutes, it will take the body longer (about 24 to 36 hours) to refuel muscles,” says sports nutritionist Jackie Berning.

Protein: Contrary to popular belief, the amount of exercise you perform during a normal lunch break doesn’t increase protein requirements. But protein is satisfying, says sports nutritionist Nancy Clark, who recommends that exercisers include a little protein at each meal.

My 2nd half marathon is this coming weekend, May 22nd. Yeah, 2 half-marathons in one month… and I love it!

A food psychologist has found that people overeat unconsciously, due to numerous factors. Studies show that larger plates result in larger servings. Also, watching television while eating leads to people eating 40 percent more food.

America is a nation of over-eaters. But according to one food expert, the reason we eat too much is all in our heads.

Busy lifestyles cause many people to over-eat without noticing. A problem Brian Wansink, Ph.D., a behavioral scientist at the Cornell Food and Brand Lab, calls “mindless eating.”

“We’re a nation of mindless eaters. We do so many things during the day that when it comes to food we can just nibble and nibble and nibble, and eat and eat and eat.” Dr. Wansink said.

Dr. Wansink says the mind is to blame for over eating, not always the stomach. And just choosing a different plate could stop over indulgence.

“Our studies show the bigger the plate is, the more people serve, typically to the level of about 25 to 28 percent more,” Dr. Wansink said.

Six ounces of pasta on an eight-inch plate, looks normal. But that same serving on a bigger plate barely looks like an appetizer — causing many people to dish out more. “The best way to mindlessly eat less is to get rid of your large plates, or get rid of your large serving bowls,” Dr. Wansink said.

Distracted television viewers also don’t pay attention to what’s in front of them. Studies show over 40 percent more food is eaten while watching TV.

“We often end up eating more because we simply eat to the pace of the program, or we eat until the program is over.” Dr. Wansink said.

Brian has made a career watching how people behave around food. His best advice? Don’t be fooled by hidden dangers of food and packaging.

BACKGROUND: Brian Wansink is a food psychologist at Cornell University who focuses on the how and why people eat. For instance, he can tell you if you get more beer from a tall skinny glass or a short fat glass. His Food and Brand Lab tries to help people eat more nutritiously and to help control how much they eat. An additional focus is on increasing the acceptance of soy foods and the consumption of fruits and vegetables. He oversees a series of test kitchens, restaurants and cooperating grocery stores to understand how consumers “choose and use” foods.

SIZE (AND SHAPE) MATTERS: Wansink and his colleagues conducted two studies of 167 people demonstrating that both children and adults pour and consume more juice when given a short, wide glass compared to those given a tall, narrow glass – although they believed the opposite to be true. Those with the short wide glasses poured 76% more juice than those with the tall slender glasses. The bias is caused by a visual illusion known as the vertical-horizontal illusion: we tend to focus on heights instead of widths, so we are more likely to over-pour into wide glasses while thinking we poured very little because of the shorter height.

FAT-FREE ISN’T CALORIE-FREE: Wansink has also found that people will eat more of a snack – even one they don’t like very much – if it is labeled “low fat.” IN fact, low-fat cookies, for example, only have about 30% fewer calories than regular cookies, while low-fat granola only has 12% fewer calories. In one study, people given low-fat granola ate 35% more – 192 extra calories – than those who thought they were eating regular granola. The low-fat label leads people to mindlessly overeat a product, while believing they are being “health-conscious.” Wansink’s advice: if you’re going to indulge, eat something you truly enjoy – just eat half as much of it.

SEE WHAT YOU EAT: The human stomach isn’t designed to keep accurate track of how much we have eaten. In fact, it takes about 20 minutes after we eat before our stomachs register that we are “full.” Visual cues are critical to controlling our much we eat, according to Wansink. Students participating in an all-you-can-eat chicken wing buffet ate continually if their tables were continually cleared, because they couldn’t see how many they’d already consumed. Here’s a handy tip for your next buffet: people who put everything on their plate before they sit down to eat – including dessert – eat about 14% less than people who take smaller amounts and go back for seconds or thirds. He also advises people not to eat snacks out of the box; put it into a separate dish and leave the box in the kitchen. You will eat less if you can see how much you’ve already eaten.

How long does it really take to work off the calories in the foods you eat? We’ll show you the time before you do the crime.

You already know that scarfing down a bacon cheeseburger and fries will cost you a couple thousand calories — and a couple hours of cardio at the gym. But you may not realize that any food, no matter how healthy it seems, becomes instantly unhealthy once you eat too much of it. Here are some surprising — and not so surprising — caloric offenders, and exactly the price you’ll pay in sweat.*

CRIME: White cheddar rice cakes
Exhibit A: 45 calories, 0.5 g fat, 160 mg sodium per rice cake
Exhibit B: Can you resist the temptation to eat more than one? How about more than four? The more you chomp on these airy snacks, the higher the calories climb, but do you feel any fuller? Yeah, didn’t think so.
SENTENCE: 10 minutes on the stair climber for every two rice cakes

CRIME: Deep-dish pizza
Exhibit A: 220 calories, 7 g fat, 240 mg sodium per slice
Exhibit B: Add extra cheese, pepperoni, sausage and ham for an extra 120 calories per slice. And let’s be frank — are you going to stop at just one?
SENTENCE: 37 minutes on the stair climber for each overloaded slice

Did you know that reducing your body weight by just 5% to 10% significantly lowers your risk of developing type 2 diabetes? That’s why on November 7, in honor of American Diabetes Month, Gold’s Gyms across the globe will open their doors to members and nonmembers alike. The goal is to work together to burn off 180 million calories — the equivalent of 50,000 pounds of fat — to help us do a 180 on this deadly disease. Ready to do your part? The average person burns about 500 calories in 45 minutes of cardio!

Forward this article to friends Download our calorie-burn chart to see how you can contribute Log on to the American Diabetes Association’s website to donate now CRIME: Mini pretzels
Exhibit A: 110 calories, 0 g fat, 250 mg sodium per one-ounce serving
Exhibit B: Double dipping is double trouble, especially since a single serving contains 10% of the recommended daily sodium intake.
SENTENCE: 20 minutes of brisk walking for every serving you eat

CRIME: Large blended coffee with vanilla shot
Exhibit A: 440 calories, 4.5 g fat, 330 mg sodium
Exhibit B: Top it off with whipped cream for an additional 120 calories and 11 grams of fat.
SENTENCE: 37 minutes on the elliptical trainer

CRIME: Granola
Exhibit A: 210 calories, 6 g fat, 25 mg sodium per half-cup serving
Exhibit B: A half-cup serving is deceptively small. A hearty breakfast bowl can hold anywhere from one to two cups of cereal, which is at least double the recommended portion size and up to 840 calories. Use nonfat or low-fat milk to minimize the damage.
SENTENCE: 56 minutes on the elliptical trainer

CRIME: Multigrain bagel
Exhibit A: 400 calories, 9 g fat, 600 mg sodium
Exhibit B: Who gets a bagel without cream cheese? Add a schmear of reduced-fat strawberry cream cheese for an extra 150 calories and 10 grams of fat.
SENTENCE: 52 minutes of intense circuit training

CRIME: Six-inch deli meat sub sandwich
Exhibit A: 410 calories, 16 g fat, 1,450 mg sodium
Exhibit B: Maybe it’s not the worst thing you can eat, but it’s definitely not the best. The values above don’t reflect any of the tasty fixin’s, like mayonnaise, oil and vinegar, and fancy flavored dressings. Depending on how heavy-handed your server is with the squeeze bottle, you could be squirting another 200 calories on that sub. Oh, and over 50% of daily recommended sodium intake.
SENTENCE: 1 hour, 6 minutes on the row machine

CRIME: Cobb salad
Exhibit A: 708 calories, 55 g fat, 1,328 mg sodium
Exhibit B: We haven’t gotten to the dressing yet. How about reduced-fat vinaigrette? Boom! 100 calories.
SENTENCE: 1 hour, 29 minutes on the stationary bike

CRIME: Fat-free soft-serve vanilla frozen yogurt
Exhibit A: 110 calories, 0 g fat, 65 mg sodium per ½ cup serving
Exhibit B: On paper, this sweet treat doesn’t look so bad, until you realize that a size “regular” holds more than two and a half servings! Order the extra large for the equivalent of 4.6 servings in one tiny Styrofoam cup. Not to mention that fat-free desserts tend to overdo it on sugar to compensate for taste. You may end up consuming the same amount of sugar as found in a bottle of soda. Sugary toppings will only make matters worse.
SENTENCE: 1 hour, 30 minutes — the equivalent of 4.5 miles, or 18 laps around the track — of walking

CRIME: Honey BBQ wings (10)
Exhibit A: 90 calories, 5 g fat, 260 mg sodium per wing
Exhibit B: A tiny serving of zesty ranch or blue cheese dressing tacks on an additional 140 calories.
SENTENCE: 1 hour, 33 minutes of jogging

CRIME: Bacon cheeseburger
Exhibit A: 790 calories, 39 g of fat, 2,070 mg sodium
Exhibit B: You probably also ordered a medium fries (380 calories, 19 g fat) and a medium soda (210 calories) for a heart-stopping total of 1,380 calories.
SENTENCE: 1 hour, 32 minutes on the elliptical trainer

CRIME: Chili cheese fries
Exhibit A: 1,920 calories, 147 g fat, 3,570 mg sodium
Exhibit B: The prosecution rests.
SENTENCE: 2 hours, 25 minutes of full-speed running

How did Kate Hudson, Jennifer Lopez and Jessica Alba lose the fat they gained while pregnant? How do actresses like Angelina Jolie and Drew Barrymore (who was once considered chubby by Hollywood standards) stay so damn svelte?

While some celebrities like Beyonce Knowles who used an unhealthy concoction of cayenne, lemon juice and organic maple syrup to lose weight, and Fergie who attributes daily doses of apple cider vinegar to her fit yet curvy physique, may rely on unhealthy fasts or old fashioned home remedies the majority of the beautiful people consider a healthy balanced diet, exercise, massive water intake and calorie restriction to be the true secret to a slender physique.

Angelina Jolie believes that her youthfulness lies in a fountain, a water fountain that is. By drinking lots of water and eating a diet rich in lean proteins at all times she avoids the yo-yo diet cycle that celebrities like Oprah seem to find themselves hopeless victims too.

Kate Hudson went with good old fashioned calorie restriction to lose the weight that she put on while pregnant. By lowering her calorie intake to 1500 calories a day she was able to get back down to size within a few months. The moral of this story: You get out what you put in. If you eat less than you burn in a day, you will burn the excess fat off. It is simple program that has been proven, time and time again.
Sorry folks, the true secret to weight loss is no secret at all. A healthy balanced diet of lean proteins, whole grains, fruits, vegetables and lots of water along with lowering your calorie and fat intake is the only sure proof healthy way to lose weight and keep it off and this is one secret I hope you will share.

It is very easy to fall into a ‘routine’ or even a ‘rut’ when it comes to exercise, going on auto pilot and finding a comfortable workout routine that we do time and time again. Although you could argue that getting repetitive exercise in is better than doing nothing, you might be doing yourself a disservice. Why? Your body is smart. If you make it do something repetitively, over time it will get used to it and become so good at it that you don’t have to work that hard anymore.

When it comes to exercise, the idea is to challenge your body…to make it stronger…to keep it on its toes. You’ve probably seen people who make great strides at the beginning of an exercise program and then hit a point where they can’t progress anymore. This happens because once your body gets used to an exercise, it starts to not respond as much and your results (i.e., fat loss, increased muscle tone, etc.) start to slow down and maybe even stop. This is called ‘hitting a plateau’. How do you overcome this? Variation. And from a mental perspective, variation will keep you from getting bored.

Diverisfying your exercise doesn’t always mean changing everything about every workout every time. Here are a few examples of how to change it up:

Cardio:
Different Exercises: To change up your aerobic exercise routines, find different types of exercise…biking, swimming, running, power-walking, elliptical training.
Different Activities: Break out of the mold and find activities you enjoy that are less conventional:
Roller-Blading
Jump Roping
Hiking / Mountain Climbing
Rowing
Different Programs: If all you like to do is run, you can still incorporate variation. How? Here is a plan for a week:
Day 1: Interval training course – repetitively sprinting for 2 minutes and then jogging for 5 minutes – for a total of a 30 minute workout.
Day 2: Hills – 30 minutes.
Day 3: Flat endurance jogging at a steady pace for 45 – 50 minutes.
If you run on a treadmill, you can select the corresponding pre-programmed courses on the machine to help you. You can apply this approach to any type of cardio exercise – walking, arc trainer/elliptical trainers, biking, etc.

Strength Training: Here are a few ways you can vary your strength training workouts. Remember, you don’t have to do ALL of these…try doing one or two of them at a time:
Changing the number of Repetitions: Different numbers of repetitions of an exercise will have different effects on your muscle. Try doing 8-10 repetitions for a week or two and then for the next couple of weeks do 15 repetitions. Make sure you adjust the weight accordingly to ensure you challenge your muscles: More weight for lower repetitions and less weight for higher repetitions. Remember, your last repetition should be extremely difficult…as if you can’t do anymore.
Changing the kinds of sets
Circuits: Do one set of each muscle group. Then repeat each circuit for a total of 3 times.
Single Sets: Do 3 sets in a row of a specific muscle group.
Compound Sets/Super Sets: Put multiple muscle groups together, back to back with no rest in between
Giant Sets: Do four exercises one after the other with no rest between sets.
Changing your grips on the weights: For instance, on bicep curls, maybe you use an underhand grip one day and then an overhand grip the next time.
Changing the types of exercises: For instance, one week, maybe you do front lunges. And then the next week, you do back lunges.
Simply stated, be creative and look for lots of options. If you go to the gym, try something new and get out of your comfort zone. Your body will thank you for it (and so will your mind)!

Is there a stripper inside of you clawing to be free? Then pole dancing may be the new fitness craze for you. Pole dancing is no longer just for strippers, but also soccer and P.T.A. moms, as well as middle-aged women are getting into the bump and grind of it all.

The fitness craze started taking off with the appearance of Supermodel Kate Moss in the White Stripes raunchy music video. One look at this video might have you concluding that Moss has no bones the way she slithers and ropes herself around the pole with only her legs at times to hold her up. As you watch this video and Kate’s moves along the pole, you might wonder if there is such a thing as pole burn. Whether there is or not, don’t be deter from this innovative way to stay fit.

Nevertheless, this is the new way to pole your body into shape. So, what will you learn in Pole Dancing 101? Consider the following:

Walk Around
With shoulders pulled back and butt and chest pushed out, hold the pole in the crook of your arm, and strut slowly and with confidence around the pole.

Bridge
Hold the pole with one hand while straddling the pole between your legs, slowly bending your knees and arching your back while easing backwards until you can see the person behind you.

Ripple
Hold the pole with one hand lean forward into the pole with your shoulders, push your butt out, move your stomach forward until it touches the pole. Next, pull your shoulders back until the pole is between your legs. This should be a slow smooth motion.

Leg Grip
Holding the pole with both hands, jump on the pole and grip the pole between your thighs, extend one leg while the other is still bent, and spin around the pole.

Reverse Hold
Grasp the pole with your hands and fully extend your arms over your head. Hook the pole in the bend of your right leg, and with feet crossed behind you, slowly and seductively spin around the pole.

These are the moves, but women have received much more than the execution of moves-they have become more confident and comfortable with their bodies. It doesn’t matter if you’re a size two or a size twenty-two, size is no determiner of the sexiness of a woman. Her job in these classes is to build up enough confidence to allow that to flow through the moves of pole dancing.

Shelia Kelley reported to Clare Wigmore the following:

“The most erotic dancer I ever saw was a 250 pound Jewish girl wearing braces who as she got up to dance, she just floated. She was a real stripper. I was awestruck, dumbfounded by her beauty. This is when I realized that it doesn’t matter what you look like it’s about how you move your body. She was a big girl, but when those hips moved the men were riveted. She was beautiful for those few moments.”

In other words, size does not matter.

Also, age has no monopoly on sex appeal. Women as young as 25 and as old in their early to late fifties can still rock it with the pole.

Power curl
Stand with feet slightly wider than hip-width apart, a weight in each hand. Shrug left shoulder toward ear; release, then bend right elbow and curl weight to under right armpit as you extend left arm out to side at shoulder height (as shown). Release arms. Do 25 reps. Switch sides; repeat.
Works shoulders, biceps, triceps

Bowling throw
Stand with feet staggered, left foot in front of right, a weight in each hand. Rest left hand on front of left thigh; extend right arm behind you, palm down. Curl right arm forward as if throwing a bowling ball (as shown). Lower arm. Do 20 reps. Switch sides; repeat.
Works shoulders, biceps

Double pull
Stand with feet staggered, left foot in front of right, arms extended at chest height, a weight in each hand, palms facing each other. Squeeze shoulder blades together as you bend elbows, move weights to hips and push hips forward (as shown). Return to start; repeat. Do 15 reps. Switch lead leg; do 15 more reps.
Works back, biceps

Super shrug
Stand with feet slightly wider than hip-width apart, arms extended out to sides at shoulder height, a weight in each hand. Keeping arms straight, lift left shoulder toward ear (as shown). Lower and repeat on opposite side for one rep. Do 30 reps, keeping arms lifted throughout.
Works shoulders, biceps, triceps

Victory sign
Stand with feet slightly wider than hip-width apart, a weight in each hand, arms extended overhead in a V, palms out (as shown). Slowly bend elbows toward hips, rotating palms to face body. Press back into V. Do 25 reps.
Works shoulders, triceps

Forehead sweep
Stand with feet slightly wider than hip-width apart, a weight in each hand. Rest right hand on hip; extend left arm to side at shoulder height. Bend left elbow and bring left forearm across face, covering eyes (as shown). Straighten arm. Do 25 reps. Repeat on opposite side.
works shoulders, biceps, triceps