Why Variation is so Important to a Workout

Source: http://www.sheerbalance.com/fitness/why-variation-is-so-important-to-a-workout/

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)!

Pole Dancing Fitness Craze

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/11/26/48hours/main530884.shtml

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.

Sculpt arms fast

http://www.self.com/fitness/workouts/2008/11/sculpt-a-list-arms-fast/

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

Plyometric Jumping Video from Self Magazine

http://www.self.com/fitness/workouts/2007/12/plyometric-jumping-video

How to Get a Hollywood Body!

Source: http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20196362,00.html

1. Hayden Panettiere
Less (clothing) is more. “There are parts of my body that I don’t mind and parts that I can’t stand,” the actress admits. How she gets around it: bathing suits (“There’s nothing constricting the bad areas”) and “long, flowy summer dresses. You never feel fat.”

2. Is a tomboy. “I’ve always played a lot of sports—volleyball, softball, baseball. I was a gymnast for nine years.”

3. Walks with her dogs. When she’s not working, Panettiere takes daily strolls with her pets up the hill near her West Hollywood condo.

4. Jennifer Aniston
Is consistent. While filming Marley & Me in Miami, the actress has been working out for an hour a day on the hotel’s elliptical machine.

5. Makes workouts fun. Aniston does her cardio to her iPod.

6. Watches the cocktails. She’s fond of red wine and lychee martinis— but usually sticks to just one.

7. Eats fish. In Miami, a typical meal for Aniston has been three rolls of sushi or a fish entrée at Michael’s Genuine.

8. Hugh Jackman
His workouts consist of “interval strength training”—doing, say, a squat and a shoulder press at the same time.

9. ZAC EFRON
“I definitely love to stay active. If it gets me outside and gets me moving, then I love doing it.”

10. Rihanna
“I go through a phase where I just eat whatever. Then when I’m finally fed up, I stop and I’m back on my regimen. And it keeps going like that.”

11. “I do the elliptical for 30-40 minutes. I speed it up in between, then I come down, then I come up some more.”

12. “I hate vegetables but vegetables help. Carbs are my biggest enemy.”

13. “If I know I’m going on vacation, I’ll do Pilates for two weeks straight.”

14. Flaunts her assets. Her favorite body part? “My butt. It makes my clothes look good. It’s not a dress—it’s a dress! My butt perks up everything.”

A MODERATE APPROACH
Yes, these stars say: You can eat pizza and skip the gym.

15. Anne Hathaway
“When I’m working, I’m incredibly disciplined, because when you’re portraying someone else, your body isn’t your own. But when I’m not working, I think less about what I eat. For example, last night I had a club sandwich and two nights ago I had pizza. You’ve got to live!”

ELIZABETH MITCHELL
16. “I normally eat everything under the sun. But once a year for a month, I eat fruits, vegetables, nuts and lean fish, and I feel great.”

LEIGHTON MEESTER
17. “Just have a little bit of something that you want. Don’t overdo it.”

Claire Danes
18. The star’s trainer Joe Dowdell says three days of cardio a week “is healthy. You shouldn’t go to extremes.”

19 Penélope Cruz
Doesn’t obsess about working out. “She gets in, gets the work done, gets out,” says her trainer Gunnar Peterson.

20. Gets plenty of sleep. “I think she gets more than eight hours a night,” Peterson says. “She never comes into a workout sluggish or tired.”

21. Doesn’t believe in bad eating days. “If she eats fries, then she eats them and moves on to the next thing. It’s not a big deal,” Peterson says.

22. Keeps her body proportioned. “She has a butt—and the key for anyone with a butt is to do adequate shoulder work, to balance things out.”

23. Gwyneth Paltrow
Works out six days a week, doing dance aerobics for cardio.

24. Sets goals. For the upcoming Iron Man, “she wanted a Victoria’s Secret butt, like Gisele!” says her trainer Tracy Anderson.

25. Recently completed a five-day “live food” (raw and organic) fast from N.Y.C.’s Organic Avenue.

26. Katherine Heigl
Follows Harley Pasternak’s 5-Factor Diet, eating five small meals a day.

27. For exercise, works out with kettle balls twice a week.

28. Beyoncé Knowles
“She loves southern cooking,” says her rep, but when it’s time to trim down, “she packs up on the salads, grilled fish and chicken.”

29. David Beckham
“He is much more health conscious since moving to Los Angeles last year,” says a family friend. “He is training twice a day now.”

30. Kate Hudson
Favors salads for dinner and yogurt with honey for breakfast.

31. MARIO LOPEZ
“Break a sweat every day. I don’t feel like I’ve woken up if I don’t break a sweat first.”

32. Eats every three hours.

33. Has a cheat day once a week. “I eat a steady flow of tacos, ice cream and cookies.”

34. Curbs cravings with peanut butter. “It has some fat, and it’s tasty.”

35.”I like to keep my muscles guessing. I like to run, bike, dance when I can. A little yoga. And I swim when it’s nice out.”

AMAZING SLIMDOWNS

36 Mariah Carey
Water aerobics “is actually three times more effective” than other workouts, she has said.

37. “I have my trainer move in with me—so I can’t sneak food!” she says.

38. Sticks to what she has called a “bleak” diet of lots of soup and fish.

THEN 2006
NOW!

39. America Ferrera
Restricts pasta to lunchtime, says her nutritionist Philip Goglia.

40. Doesn’t have any starches (like potatoes or bread) at dinner.

41. Has a mid-morning snack (usually fruit) to keep up her energy.

THEN 2005
NOW!

42. SUSIE CASTILLO
Picks fitness classes over “boring” cardio machines.

43. Doesn’t mix meats and starches because “it’s too hard for the body to digest.”

44. Fills up every a.m. with a glass of juice made from romaine lettuce.

45. Eats 70% dark chocolate only.

THEN 2007
NOW!

KRISTEN BELL
46. “Have a colorful plate. I make a spinach salad with things like blueberries, apples and carrots.”

LORI LAUGHLIN
47. “As I’ve gotten older, I definitely have to watch more of what I’m eating and work out a bit more, run a bit faster.”

Cameron Diaz
48. “To get great legs, you have to do lunges, squats and steps,” says trainer Teddy Bass, who does all that with Diaz.

SHAR JACKSON
49. “I eat a lot of green and raw vegetables, and I juice a lot. And I do the trampoline with my kids!”

EVA LARUE
50. “I’m into horse show jumping. It’s an awesome butt, thighs, inner legs workout. You can’t walk for days if you haven’t ridden in a while!”

ALI LANDRY
51. “Chocolate is not cheating! After a salty meal, you need a little bit of sweet. This is living, not cheating.”

CIARA
52. “When I’m in focus mode, I do training six times a week. Carbs only in the morning. And I try not to eat at least two hours before bed.”

EMILY VANCAMP
53. “You have to find a workout you love. I hate the gym, but I just took up pilates and it has changed my life.”

LINDSAY PRICE
54. “Running is the only thing that gets me out of my head. It’s meditative and it makes you pretty in shape.”

GRETCHEN WILSON
55. “Having a child means having lots of sweets in the house. I try to keep that stuff in the cupboard and out of sight.”

ALANA DE LA GARZA
56. “Every couple of months I check myself in the mirror. If I go, ‘Your jeans look a little tight,’ it’s time to cut out the nachos.”

GINNIFER GOODWIN
57. “I don’t diet. There’s going to be barbecue and macaroni and cheese—but I’ll have broccoli and salad the next day.”

MELORA HARDIN
58. “I love restaurant pasta—the sauces. So now I ask for the sauce to take home and put it on whole wheat or rice pasta.”

MIRA SORVINO
59. “I can’t do diets. I find when I’m on them, I immediately feel like breaking them and eating a lot.”

Mandy Moore
60. “On occasion a bowl of Life cereal for dinner is the greatest thing. And I’m obsessed with Pink Lady apples.”

MIRANDA LAMBERT
61. “I go with my trainer on a 35- to 40-minute walk. I’m speaking out for all those people who hate to run. I hate it too!”

Kate Beckinsale
62. “Sleep is like the holy grail. My trainer says if you’re tired, your workout will suffer. Sleep is the magic stuff.”

ASHANTI
63. “I can do a good workout in less than an hour: 30 minutes on the treadmill, 10 minutes on the bike, then 10 minutes of crunches.”

JANE KRAKOWSKI
64. “I’ve been really into boxing. You don’t remember how hard jumping rope is! It really works my arms and I like the aggression of it.”

CHRISTINA MILIAN
65. “I don’t feel guilty. I love hot dogs, which are so unhealthy; but I have them on occasion so I don’t feel deprived.”

ANGIE HARMON
66. “I don’t cut anything out. If I want potato chips, I have three or four. After that, the craving is pretty much gone.”

STACY KEIBLER
67. “If there’s a dessert table and I like it all, I take a little piece of everything, take a bite and throw the rest away.”

ANA ORTIZ
68. “I just became a vegetarian [recently] and I’ve gotten a lot thinner. And if I take out the wine, I tend to slim down quickly.”

MOLLY SIMS
69. “I drink a lot of water. I love the little Crystal Light packets that make you feel like you’re drinking more water.”

NATASHA BEDINGFIELD
70. “I hate that feeling of being so full that you feel like you’re gonna burst, so I try not to do that.”

KIM KARDASHIAN
71. “I like my shape, but to get rid of cellulite I focus on toning, doing martial arts on a treadmill. And Spanx are my best friend!”

ROSELYN SANCHEZ
72. “I do Fresh Dining, which is delivered to your home. And the DVD P90X—it’s a 90-day program that transforms you.”

MINKA KELLY
73. “I work my butt off. Really. I run at least 45 minutes every day. And then three days a week I do weights.”

GABRIELLE UNION
74. “The quickest calories that add up are the cocktail calories. Might as well have a cheeseburger if you have a great margarita!”

BROOKE BURNS
75. “To help my muscles rebuild after I work out, I have a small serving of cottage cheese.”

76 Kate Walsh
Rotates Pilates with weights and circuit training.

77. “I avoid sugar, serious sugar, because you go up then come down and crash.”

78. Practices portion control so she doesn’t have to be “terrified of carbs. I want to be able to have a glass of wine.”

79 Fergie
Has meals delivered from Diet Designs.

80. “I do organic vinegar shots. Two tablespoons after lunch and dinner. It helps take toxins out of your body.”

81. Makes “fattening food low-fat,” like lasagna with turkey meat and cottage cheese.

82. Jessica Biel
“She’s game for anything, like 10 reps of standing on one foot doing a single leg squat,” says trainer Valerie Waters.

83. When not with her trainer, does yoga and running on her own.

84. MARY J. BLIGE
“I’m not a morning person, but I get up and knock out exercise, because if I don’t, in the afternoon I’ll be tired and there’s tons going on.”

85. When it comes to alcohol, “once I get my buzz, I shut it off. Two drinks is my limit.”

86. Blige’s trainer Gregg Miele (left) reinforces this mantra: What you eat in private shows in public.

87. Vanessa Williams
“I drink a beet-carrot juice in the morning or an apple-strawberry-pear juice.”

88. “On vacation I enjoy the desserts—and work extra hard when I come home.”

89. Ashton Kutcher
When it comes to feeling sexy, Demi’s husband once told PEOPLE that he relies on “quiet confidence.”

90. Catherine Zeta-Jones
“I do a lot of swimming because I live in Bermuda, both in the ocean and in the pool. I’ve got to drag myself to the gym, but when I finish it, I enjoy it.”

91. Her most common meal? Lightly grilled chicken with a little oil and lemon and a feta cheese salad.

92. Cuts down on bread when she needs to slim down.

93. Ryan Phillippe
Goes for daily runs at the UCLA tracks.

94. Sticks to an all-protein diet, ordering steaks from L.A.’s Dan Tana’s weekly.

LOOK 10 LBS. THINNER—INSTANTLY!

Ali Larter
95. “Just put your shoulders back and smile.”

MYA
96. “Don’t wear white, wear black. Very. Fitted. Black!”

AMANDA BYNES
97. “You know what’s totally amazing? Spanx!”

LISA RINNA
98. “Black, high-waisted, really tight skirts. That’s it!”

Carmen Electra
99. “If you wear a dress with a belt placed high, you accentuate your waist.”

SHANNA MOAKLER
100. “I love baby-doll dresses, so people look at my legs—not my stomach!”

Girls, Young Women Can Cut Risk Of Early Breast Cancer Through Regular Exercise

Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080513171443.htm

Text from source:

Mothers, here’s another reason to encourage your daughters to be physically active: Girls and young women who exercise regularly between the ages of 12 and 35 have a substantially lower risk of breast cancer before menopause compared to those who are less active, new research shows.

In the largest and most detailed analysis to date of the effects of exercise on premenopausal breast cancer, the study of nearly 65,000 women found that those who were physically active had a 23 percent lower risk of breast cancer before menopause. In particular, high levels of physical activity from ages 12 to 22 contributed most strongly to the lower breast cancer risk.

The study is by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and Harvard University in Boston.”We don’t have a lot of prevention strategies for premenopausal breast cancer, but our findings clearly show that physical activity during adolescence and young adulthood can pay off in the long run by reducing a woman’s risk of early breast cancer,” says lead investigator Graham Colditz, M.D., Dr.P.H., the Niess-Gain Professor and associate director of Prevention and Control at the Siteman Cancer Center at Washington University School of Medicine and Barnes-Jewish Hospital. “This is just one more reason to encourage young girls and women to exercise regularly.”

One-fourth of all breast cancers are diagnosed in women before menopause. Numerous studies have shown that physical activity reduces the risk of postmenopausal breast cancer, but the few studies that have looked at the influence of exercise on breast cancer risk before menopause have produced conflicting results.

For the current analysis, researchers examined data on a subset of women enrolled in the Nurses’ Health Study II, a prospective study of registered nurses ages 24 to 42. These 64,777 women had filled out detailed annual questionnaires about their levels of physical activity from age 12 on. After six years of follow-up, 550 women had been diagnosed with breast cancer.

The researchers found the age-adjusted incidence rates for invasive breast cancer dropped from 194 cases per 100,000 person-years in the least active women to 136 cases in the most active. The levels of physical activity reported by the most active women were the equivalent of running 3.25 hours a week or walking 13 hours a week. The benefit of exercise was not linked to a particular sport or intensity but related to total activity.

“You don’t have to be a marathon runner to get the risk-reducing benefits of exercise,” Colditz adds.

One leading theory to explain the lower risk of breast cancer among active young women is that exercise reduces their exposure to estrogens. Numerous studies have shown that the more estrogen a woman is exposed to, the greater her risk for breast cancer. Thus, women who begin menstruating later or enter menopause early have a lower risk of breast cancer. And young women who are physically active are more likely to start their periods later and less likely to have regular cycles when they begin their periods.

The research was funded by grants from the National Cancer Institute and the American Cancer Society.

Calorie Restriction And Exercise Show Breast Cancer Prevention Differences In Postmenopausal Women

Souce: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/11/081118150628.htm

Text from source:

Scientists at the University of Texas at Austin have identified pathways by which a reduced-calorie diet and exercise can modify a postmenopausal woman’s risk of breast cancer.

The results, presented at the American Association for Cancer Research’s Seventh Annual International Conference on Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research, suggest that both caloric restriction and exercise affect pathways leading to mTOR, a molecule involved in integrating energy balance with cell growth. Dysregulation of the mTOR pathway is a contributing factor to various human diseases, including cancers. Diet and exercise reach mTOR through different means, with calorie restriction affecting more upstream pathways, which could explain why caloric restriction is more efficient in delaying tumor growth than exercise in animal models.

“One of the few breast cancer modifiable risk factors is obesity,” said lead author Leticia M. Nogueira, Ph.D., a research graduate assistant at the University of Texas. “Our study may provide a good scientific basis for medical recommendations. If you’re obese, and at high risk for breast cancer, diet and exercise could help prevent tumor growth.”

Epidemiological data has suggested that inducing a so-called “negative energy balance” (where less energy is taken in than expended) through eating a low-calorie diet or increasing exercise levels, decreases the postmenopausal breast cancer risk associated with obesity. Although the mechanism responsible for these anti-obesity strategies was unknown, scientists have suspected hormone alteration plays a critical role. Increased fat tissue is known to be associated with alterations in adipokines, proteins secreted by fat tissue that help modify appetite and insulin resistance. For example, increased levels of leptin and decreased levels of adiponectin have been associated with breast cancer risk.

For the study, Nogueira and colleagues sought to compare the changes in adipokines, and their downstream signaling pathways proven to be altered in human breast cancers, following either caloric restriction or exercise in a mouse model of post-menopausal obesity.

For eight weeks, they administered a high-fat diet to 45 mice that had their ovaries surgically removed to model the post-menopausal state. During week nine of the study, the diet-induced obese mice were randomly assigned to one of three groups: a control group, permitted to eat at will; a group fed a diet reduced in calories by 30 percent; and a group that was permitted to eat at will but exercised on a treadmill for 45 minutes a day, five days a week. At week 16, researchers collected tissue from the mice for analysis.

At the study’s end, the mice fed a calorie-restricted diet weighed an average of 19.9 grams – significantly less than the control mice (average weight 28.8 grams) and the exercised mice (average weight 26 grams). The calorie-restricted mice and the exercised mice showed no significant difference in percentage of body fat, but both groups had significantly less body fat than the sedentary mice that were fed at will.

In addition, blood levels of leptin, a hormone that plays a role in fat metabolism, were significantly reduced in the calorie-restricted and exercised mice compared to the controls. The calorie-restricted mice also displayed increased blood levels of adiponectin, a hormone produced in fat tissue that regulates some metabolic processes, compared to the exercised mice.

Some of the cell signaling pathways regulated by these hormones converge at mTOR, Nogueira explains. She and her colleagues found that the key proteins found downstream of mTOR activation were less active in both the calorie-restricted and exercised mice compared to the controls.

“These data suggest that although exercise can act on similar pathways as caloric restriction, caloric restriction possesses a more global effect on cell signaling and, therefore, may produce a more potent anti-cancer effect,” Nogueira said.

Red Meat Linked To Breast Cancer

Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/04/070407174018.htm

Text from source:

The findings are most striking for post-menopausal women – those with the highest intake of red meat, the equivalent to one portion a day (more than 57 grams) – run a 56 per cent greater risk of breast cancer than those who eat none.

Women who eat the most processed meat, such as bacon, sausages, ham or pies, run a 64 per cent greater risk of breast cancer than those who eat none.

Researchers at the University’s Centre for Epidemiology and Biostatistics have been tracking the eating habits and health of more than 35,000 women for the past seven years, and their latest findings are published in the British Journal of Cancer. Earlier findings, widely reported in January, showed that pre-menopausal women who have the greatest intake of fibre have cut their risk of breast cancer in half.

Why Exercise Won’t Make You Thin

Source: Time.com

Excerpts:

I have exercised like this — obsessively, a bit grimly — for years, but recently I began to wonder: Why am I doing this? Except for a two-year period at the end of an unhappy relationship — a period when I self-medicated with lots of Italian desserts — I have never been overweight. One of the most widely accepted, commonly repeated assumptions in our culture is that if you exercise, you will lose weight. But I exercise all the time, and since I ended that relationship and cut most of those desserts, my weight has returned to the same 163 lb. it has been most of my adult life. I still have gut fat that hangs over my belt when I sit. Why isn’t all the exercise wiping it out?

The conventional wisdom that exercise is essential for shedding pounds is actually fairly new. As recently as the 1960s, doctors routinely advised against rigorous exercise, particularly for older adults who could injure themselves. Today doctors encourage even their oldest patients to exercise, which is sound advice for many reasons: People who regularly exercise are at significantly lower risk for all manner of diseases — those of the heart in particular. They less often develop cancer, diabetes and many other illnesses. But the past few years of obesity research show that the role of exercise in weight loss has been wildly overstated.

“In general, for weight loss, exercise is pretty useless,” says Eric Ravussin, chair in diabetes and metabolism at Louisiana State University and a prominent exercise researcher. Many recent studies have found that exercise isn’t as important in helping people lose weight as you hear so regularly in gym advertisements or on shows like The Biggest Loser — or, for that matter, from magazines like this one.

The basic problem is that while it’s true that exercise burns calories and that you must burn calories to lose weight, exercise has another effect: it can stimulate hunger. That causes us to eat more, which in turn can negate the weight-loss benefits we just accrued. Exercise, in other words, isn’t necessarily helping us lose weight. It may even be making it harder.

Then how did the exercise-to-lose-weight mantra become so ingrained? Public-health officials have been reluctant to downplay exercise because those who are more physically active are, overall, healthier. Plus, it’s hard even for experts to renounce the notion that exercise is essential for weight loss. For years, psychologist Kelly Brownell ran a lab at Yale that treated obese patients with the standard, drilled-into-your-head combination of more exercise and less food. “What we found was that the treatment of obesity was very frustrating,” he says. Only about 5% of participants could keep the weight off, and although those 5% were more likely to exercise than those who got fat again, Brownell says if he were running the program today, “I would probably reorient toward food and away from exercise.” In 2005, Brownell co-founded Yale’s Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity, which focuses on food marketing and public policy — not on encouraging more exercise.

Some research has found that the obese already “exercise” more than most of the rest of us. In May, Dr. Arn Eliasson of the Walter Reed Army Medical Center reported the results of a small study that found that overweight people actually expend significantly more calories every day than people of normal weight — 3,064 vs. 2,080. He isn’t the first researcher to reach this conclusion. As science writer Gary Taubes noted in his 2007 book Good Calories, Bad Calories: Fats, Carbs, and the Controversial Science of Diet and Health, “The obese tend to expend more energy than lean people of comparable height, sex, and bone structure, which means their metabolism is typically burning off more calories rather than less.”

In short, it’s what you eat, not how hard you try to work it off, that matters more in losing weight. You should exercise to improve your health, but be warned: fiery spurts of vigorous exercise could lead to weight gain. I love how exercise makes me feel, but tomorrow I might skip the VersaClimber — and skip the blueberry bar that is my usual postexercise reward.

Read more here: http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1914857,00.html