Most of us know that strength training is important, but that does not make it any easier to do it. It may help to know why strength training is so important and all the ways it can help you look better and feel better. The ten reasons to lift weights and get motivated to start strength training today follows:

1. Makes your life better

One thing that often surprises people after they start lifting weights is how it trickles into other areas of their lives. I often get phone calls and emails from clients telling me how they were able to work in the garden without back pain or walk up the stairs without aching knees. It’s those little improvements that offer the greatest rewards and it doesn’t take much time with weights to see and feel those kinds of improvements.

2. Helps you lose fat

If you lift weights, you build lean muscle tissue which is more metabolically active than fat. If you increase your muscle, you also increase metabolism which means you’re burning more calories throughout the day. Regular strength training is just as important as cardio exercise for losing fat and getting fit.

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3. Makes you strong

It may seem obvious that lifting weights can make you stronger, but what some people forget is that it does not just make you strong for your workouts, it makes you stronger in other areas of your life as well. If you lift weights on a regular basis, everything else becomes a little easier. Do not forget, it doesn’t just make your muscles stronger, it makes your bones stronger which can help reduce or even manage osteoporosis.

4. Reduces your risk of injury

The great thing about strength training is that it strengthens everything, not just your muscles and bones. If you lift weights, you also strengthen connective tissue - the ligaments and tendons that keep your body moving well on a regular basis. Strengthening your connective tissue helps you continue to operate in peak condition and protect your body from injuries.

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5. Can reduce arthritis pain

Recent studies have shown that arthritis sufferers who lifted weights actually reduced their joint pain. By strengthening the muscles, they were able to cushion and protect the joints during impact activities like walking. And don’t forget…most physical therapy programs incorporate strength training to help rehab a multitude of injuries, which just proves that lifting weights can make a difference in getting better and having a better quality of life.

6. Increases balance, stability and flexibility

If we do not preserve muscle mass with strength training, we lose muscle mass and that often leads to weight gain and loss of balance and flexibility. A weights program can help you work your joints through a full range of motion, keeping them strong and flexible.

7. Will make you better at sports

Athletes follow some type of strength training program to keep them strong and avoid injuries. Training specific to your sport will also help you improve your power, strength and speed to make you a better athlete. Kids and teens benefit from some type of strength training when it comes to playing sports.

8. Will make you feel better about yourself

By getting stronger and noticing changes over time like being able to lift more weight and do more exercises, both men and women build confidence and, especially for women, improve body image. Lifting weights, along with other types of exercise, helps build confidence and can even help manage symptoms of depression and anxiety, a great way to deal with stress in a healthy way.

9. Will help lower blood pressure

Studies have shown that regular strength training can help reduce high blood pressure. This may become another way to help treat high blood pressure in some people. If you do have high blood pressure, I remind you that you should always talk to your physician before doing any new activities. If you get your physicians approval, start a basic program along with other recommendations oc for helping reduce your blood pressure.

10. Adds challenge and interest to your routine

If you have been doing the same cardio workouts for a long time, that can get a little boring. Strength training is a great way to spice things up and add a completely different challenge to your body. The nice thing about strength training is that it offers so many ways to set up your workouts…there’s always something new to try and you never run out of new exercises, different types of resistance, new routines and a variety of ways to work your body.

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–About–
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Is it possible to eat healthfully at a fast food restaurant? The big name chains, such as McDonald’s, Wendy’s, Burger King, and Taco Bell want you to think so. All of these restaurants offer some type of “healthy” alternative on the menu to entice those who are watching their weight or simply wanting better options. But how healthy are these options? It depends on what you order, of course.

Aside from some options that can be quite healthy, such as salads, other options that may seem like wise choices may not be as great as they seem. Also avoid ordering anything in a large size, as this quickly adds extra calories and fat. Many foods also include extra sugars that quickly add calories.

McDonalds

Salads and salad dressings at McDonalds are quite low in calories and fat. A salad with dressing can go as high as 500 or more calories, but this is much lower than other choices. Salads do not necessarily mean that the nutritional value is high, however. Many salads are made with iceberg lettuce, which is primarily water. However, if you’re trying to watch your weight, and find yourself with no other options, a salad can be a good choice. It won’t likely make you feel full, so snacking ahead of time may be a good option to avoid other temptations while there.

Other options that seem like healthy alternatives can be deceiving. Whether a food is fried or grilled will also have a huge effect. But simply choosing between beef and chicken, for example, may not be enough. The Premium Crispy Chicken Club Sandwich has 680 calories compared to the Big Mac’s 560. The key is to look for grilled alternatives and avoid the tempting sides, such as fries or desserts.

Wendy’s

If you’re opting for a salad, choose wisely. Just because a menu item includes the word “salad” does not mean it’s healthy. Wendy’s Taco Salad, for example, comes with almost 400 calories if you only look at the basic salad ingredients; add in the extras that come with it, and the total is nearly 700 calories. This is about a third of a day’s totals on a 2,000 calorie per day diet. Even a seemingly healthy broccoli and cheese baked potato comes with 340 calories.

If you’re hungry, it can be very difficult to avoid the temptations of the fast food restaurant. This can be dangerous from the sense of added fat and calories. Should you give into temptation at Wendy’s and order a “biggie” fries, you’ll be taking in an extra 590 calories and 28 grams of fat.

What about alternatives such as the low fat strawberry flavored yogurt? The yogurt itself is 200 calories, and the granola topping that comes with it is an extra 110 calories. In comparison, an average cup of low fat yogurt from the grocery store will have around 100 calories.

Burger King

Burger King provides an array of eating options through its website for those who are watching carbs, fats, or calories. Many salads listed have from between 10 and 13 grams of fat, or 90 to 117 calories from fat. Salads fall in the 400 total calorie range. The dressings will add another 70 to 270 calories, for a total of up to almost 700 calories. Again, this is almost a third of a day’s total caloric intake. The original Whopper sandwich with everything on it has about the same amount of calories. Depending on the salad and dressing chosen, the salad option can actually have more total fat than the Whopper. In other words, eating a “healthy” salad instead of a sandwich may not provide you with the benefits you’re looking for.

Taco Bell

Taco Bell offers “Fresco Style” options that have fewer than ten grams of fat per serving. This translates into the cheeses and sauces being removed from the item. This style can reduce total fat and caloric intake. Many items on the Fresco Style menu are under 400 calories. The key to ordering through this method is to know which items are available Fresco Style and which are not. Most items offer this option, but many do not. Ask prior to ordering.

One final word of caution when it comes to fast food: even when the options are low fat and low calorie, many are still very high in sodium content and low in fiber content. The total nutritional value is an issue. Cooking methods, such as deep-frying or leaving foods under hot lamps for extended periods can dramatically reduce a food’s nutritional value. So what’s the bottom line? While the occasional visit to a fast food restaurant can be enjoyable and will not create too many negative side affects, the idea that ‘healthy’ alternatives at fast food chains are in fact ‘healthy’ is questionable.

About the Author
Mike Singh is a fitness instructor, who writes about health & fitness products reviews,elliptical trainers reviews,low carb diet recipes online!

Article source: http://www.articledragon.com/health/fitness/healthy-eating-at-fast-food-places-are-you-kidding-me.html

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Having a baby is an exciting moment. However, the nine months leading up to the experience can be a bit unnerving. Most women worry throughout their pregnancy about the health of their baby. To alleviate the stress and worry that often creep up during pregnancy, plan instead to have a healthy pregnancy and you can rest assured that you have done your very best to have a healthy baby.

1. Get in Shape Early. When you find out that you’re pregnant is not the time to start a new diet or exercise program. If you are planning to become pregnant, make sure you are at a healthy weight and in the best physical activity. Doing this will help you during your pregnancy and can help you to have a problem-free delivery. If your pregnancy is unexpected and you aren’t in the best shape possible, don’t worry about it. It is possible to have a healthy baby while limiting the amount of excess weight that you gain. Eating plenty of fruit and vegetables will give your baby the nourishment it needs while helping you to limit the amount of weight you gain.

2. Your Baby is What You Eat. Your baby depends on the lifeline that you and they share to grow properly. Following a diet that includes all the major food groups is probably the simplest approach to a healthy diet. You may discover your appetite changing during the course of your pregnancy. This is common and shouldn’t alarm you if you have unusual food cravings. It is quite acceptable to enjoy “bad” food once in a while, as long as you limit how frequently you indulge in these foods. Since some nutrients aren’t abundant in most foods, doctors often recommend that pregnant women begin taking vitamin formulas designed specifically for them.

3. Exercise regularly. While a rigorous exercise program is unsuitable when you are pregnant, it is a good idea to try and get some exercise every day. Many women are nervous about doing anything that may harm their baby. Walking on a daily basis is beneficial for your health as well as for your baby. Before you begin any exercise program, you should first discuss your plans with your doctor.

4. Avoid the big no-nos. If you follow only one step in this plan for a healthy pregnancy, avoid the big no-nos: don’t drink, smoke, or take drugs (this includes medications that your doctor has not approved). There are many debates about how these habits can affect your baby. The very fact that it is slightly possible to cause injury to your baby should be enough for you to avoid indulging in any of them during your pregnancy. The use of caffeine during pregnancy is debatable. You should discuss this with your doctor if you normally consume coffee, tea, or soda on a regular basis.

5. Pamper Yourself. Pregnancy is a special time and people will treat you with more attention. You should relish in this time because soon things will return to normal! Don’t forget to give yourself special attention. Remember, if you’re stressed your baby will feel stressed too. One of the most important things you can do to pamper yourself is to get sufficient rest. If before you were pregnant you spent days burning the midnight oil, you need to make sure you have this habit licked before you become pregnant.

About the Author
You can find additional information about preparing for pregnancy by visiting pregnancy-step-by-step.org.

Article source: http://www.articledragon.com/kids-and-teens/family/a-step-by-step-plan-to-a-healthy-pregnancy.html

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It is great news that research has found a food that lowers blood pressure and is healthy for the heart and maybe more. The problem is that the chocolate Americans consume most is not the kind that was studied. The more popular kinds of chocolate have little or no positive effect on your health. Only certain chocolate may be healthy.

Dark chocolate is the chocolate that was found to have positive effects on blood pressure. Participants, either given dark, milk, or white chocolate every day were evaluated in different studies. It turns out that dark chocolate contains important antioxidants called phenols. These natural compounds from the cocoa bean are known to increase nitric oxide, reduce platelet aggregation, and inhibit oxidation of LDL cholesterol. Cocoa can decrease blood pressure, reduce cholesterol, and increase your insulin sensitivity. Milk and white chocolate are low in these antioxidants and do not have the same effect.

The problem is how chocolate is processed in this country. White chocolate, regardless of where you get it, actually contains no cocoa at all and is made only from cocoa butter; just the fat from the cocoa beans. It also contains no phenols. Most of the other chocolate we eat is made with “dutched” cocoa. The cocoa beans are treated with an alkaline solution to make them dark in color and reduce the natural bitterness from the plant. But it also reduces almost 90% of the phenols and most of its healthy benefits. The other problem is that when made into milk chocolate, the milk seems to prevent the phenols from being absorbed and, thus, negating any possible benefit from the chocolate.

The best chocolate for your health appears to be dark chocolate. In the European studies done, participants ate 100gm of chocolate a day (100 grams equals approx. 3.5 ounces). This is the equivalent to 2 1/2 regular size Hershey’s bars. It also added about 550 calories to their diet. They were instructed to substitute this amount of calories from other foods they normally ate each day. You would have to do the same or forego its healthy benefits by increasing your waistline. European chocolate in general is healthier than that found in America due to the fact that it is less processed than ours and contains more of the heart healthy antioxidants. Dark chocolate is an acquired taste for most Americans since it is much more bitter than its milky counterpart.

So why is this research being touted as the ‘best medical news in ages’? It appears to be one more way we look to justify the unhealthy diets we follow. When people hear that chocolate is now healthy, they don’t hear any of the other restrictions involved, and don’t want to. In fact, most people wouldn’t want to change to a more bitter tasting chocolate and also cut out over 500 calories from their diets as they did in the studies. Our diets already have enough sweets and this type of news only fuels the diabetic and obesity epidemics. This kind of medical news will only make most people add extra calories to their diets and increase their health problems.

These studies do look promising but there still is no information on how long these benefits last, how many phenols need to be eaten or how often. Stick with the darkest chocolate, if you must, and balance out your calories. Until we have more information, chocolate should remain a treat and not a treatment.

About the Author
Free trials of green tea patches and instant beverages are available while supplies last. Find out the benefit of green tea today. Learn more about the new superfood - the amazon super berry - acai. Acai may be the most powerful food in the world. MonaVie is the next generation of health food.

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