It doesn’t matter if they are over-the-counter, FDA approved, or guaranteed to work, diet pills are dangerous and are not the answer to weight loss. Apidexin diet pills, which has “helped” many obese people shed pounds, already has so many negatives to it that I can’t even imagine what things will happen to a long term user. There are many ways a diet pill will cause one to lose weight. Some suppress appetite, some remove excess fat in organs like the intestines, and some even elevate your heart rate.

There are so many cases of how these diet pills have caused serious personal injury and even killed the users of them. More over once the users of these pills stop taking them, all the weight lost comes right back. The users are forced to continue taking a potentially fatal drug in order to just maintain their weight. It’s dangerous to lose weight this fast and in this manner.

When you are chronically stressed your body goes into a state similar to the fight or flight syndrome and produces chemicals like cortisol which can have a big impact on your weight loss goals. Cortisol has the effect of making your body store more fat which may just add more stress to your already stressful life. It’s a vicious cycle, but the reason your body does this is no accident. Say you were in physical danger, like if a big scary bull dog were to start chasing after you, the fight or flight syndrome would produce these chemicals that would lower your appetite, increase your energy, and make you more likely to escape or fight off the dog. The problem though is that the things that stress us are generally more among things like job loss, bills to pay, and other such inactive stressors. Generally we do not make use of the extra energy and when it comes time to replenish the energy that we didn’t even use our body doesn’t know and drives us to eat more. So do your best to keep relaxed!

There are two main ways for getting in shape; Diet and Exercise. Too often however, people think that you have to eat less in order to be fit. That’s not necessarily true. Yes, eating less and working out more will slim you down, but it may not be the healthiest way. Athletes in order to reach their peak physique, consume a ton of calories from healthy foods, and they look like they are in great shape. The key is the focus on their exercise.

They eat more to perform better. This is a vastly different approach to the eat less and do more mentality. You need your calories to be able to get more exercise in. Just focusing on your diet alone will not put you in great shape. You need to focus on exerting yourself. After doing so much exercise you can feel good about eating a nice dinner. More food leads to more energy, more energy leads to more exercise, more exercise leads to a healthier and stronger you.

So have a real diet of a lot of healthy fulfilling foods, and focus on getting in shape through exercise. What’s the best exercise to get started with? Run. Run outside, run on a treadmill, just get your heart racing and follow through until you feel that you have had a good workout. Need a treadmill to run on? You can find some really good ones on sale that have discount codes at http://www.treadmillreviews.com/

Folic Acid

Also known as B9, folic acid helps in the production of red blood cells. Folic acid also helps to synthesize and repair DNA. This is especially important in the first three months of pregnancy. If you do not get have enough folic acid in your body then you may suffer from extreme tiredness due to anaemia which is a illness from lack of red blood cells. Foods that are rich in folic acid tend to be leafy green vegetables, carrots, egg yolks, and liver products.

Magnesium

Magnesium helps to build strong bones, regulate body temperature, and convert energy from food. It is the fourth most abundant mineral in the body. Green vegetables like legumes and spinach again come to the rescue as they provide a great source of magnesium. Cereals like raisin brand are also fortified with magnesium as well as chocolate milk. Magnesium deficiencies result in a wide variety of symptoms such as muscle spasms, personality changes, and even seizures.

These are just 2 more important vitamins and minerals to remember throughout your day for a healthier you.

Last year we covered a couple vitamins including, vitamin A, B1, B2, and B6. You can read more about it here at Essential Vitamins and Minerals (part 1). Lets continue going over some of these essential vitamins and what they can do for your body.

Vitamin B12

Vitamin B12 as well as the other B Vitamins helps regulate the body’s metabolism. Another important function of B12 is to maintain the central nervous system and also to help form red blood cells. You can find B12 in foods such as meat, fish, and dairy. Vitamin B12 can help against memory loss diseases like Alzheimers and help against a variety of other diseases such as multiple sclerosis, macular degeneration, and Lyme disease. The recommended daily amount of B12 in a teen or adult’s diet is approximately 2.4 mcg per day

Vitamin C

Vitamin C is well known for many health reasons. Everything from curing the common cold to helping with arthritis and cancer. This vitamin’s function is to grow and repair all sorts of tissues in your body and to work as an antioxidant throughout your body. You can find vitamin C in a number of foods including citrus fruits like oranges, vegetables like broccoli, and other vitamin C fortified foods like certain cereals. Look to have around 85 mg/day of vitamin C.

Vitamin D

Vitamin D is the self made vitamin so to speak. This vitamin is produced by your body by getting 10-15 minutes of sunshine in a day three times a week. Vitamin D helps to absorb calcium into the body and helps to build strong bones and bone tissue. Most dairy products in the US like milk and cheese are fortified with vitamin D.

In the next article we will be going over a couple of lesser known vitamins and minerals such as Pantothenic Acid and Biotin.

Run Any Where in the World with NordicTrack’s x9i Interactive!

Today I took a trial run on NordicTrack’s x9i Interactive and let me tell you, it was quite the experience. I am floored by how motivated I felt running on this treadmill. This treadmill, outfitted with iFit Live, inclines from a -6% to an astonishing 40% incline! That’s only the beginning though. My first run was around Niagra Falls! It was a short 3 mile run, which was a good start for me, but I was able to track where I was at all times. I could feel every inclination of the trail I was on as the treadmill calculated all the hills and valleys.

The features that this treadmill had were extraordinary. There is a web browser that you can watch videos and surf the net with and the speakers were great. My second run was on the Haleakala trail in Hawaii. This run was so cool because the iFit Live came with a HD video of the trail. You got to see the sights and the feel the rise of the mountains.

If you’re looking for a great way to stay motivated running on a treadmill, the x9i Interactive is the best treadmill for the job. Even the fan that  this stellar treadmill comes with works far better than expectations. I highly recommend NordicTrack and their x9i Interactive model. If you’re interested in buying this treadmill, you can save some money by visiting NordicTrack Coupons.com and by using their coupons!

Pineapple slices

Pineapples are one of the best fruits out there that don’t grow on trees! These strange, vitamin C enriched delicacies are known to help arthritis, high blood pressure, and help digestion! Slices of pineapples on the right salad adds a whole new zing to the meal.

Almonds

Almonds can bring a much needed source of vitamin E, calcium, and iron to a salad. These added bits of crunch can help regulate cholesterol and prevent colon cancer. They are also are very filling, leaving you more satisfied by the meal! Crushed almonds sprinkled around your salad will help balance your meal and provide essential vitamins and minerals.

Romaine Lettuce

Romaine Lettuce is full of potassium, folic acid, and is a great low calorie choice for adding the green to your salad. This green leaf is a wonderful ally in preventing heart disease and cancer. The taste of romaine is a little bitter, but can really accent the other tastes in the salad.

Balsamic Vinaigrette Dressing

Balsamic Vinaigrette can be a great tasting sour tang to bring to your salad. This dressing helps produce pepsin, which greatly aids in the digestion process. Another advantage to balsamic vinaigrette is that it slows down the emptying of your stomach which helps keep you full!

Adding it all together

All the ingredients that this article mentions go perfectly together for a salad. The pineapple brings the super sweet and sour, the romaine brings the slight bitter to calm the pineapple, the almonds add some smooth flavors and add crunch, and the balsamic vinaigrette wraps all of it up with a pleasant tang. Just writing this article has got me craving for one of these salads!

Your metabolism is the amount of energy your body will use everyday. The higher the metabolism, the faster your body goes through energy. The lower the metabolism, well, the slower your body will go through energy. This is why it is so hard or so easy for different people to lose weight. A high metabolism will use up more energy and thereby store less fat.

Often times after a surgery or long period of inactivity your body’s metabolism will significantly decrease. This is also true with aging. Although this is an unfortunate thing, there are a few things you can do to regain or even increase your metabolism.

1. Exercise

This shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone. The more you exercise, the more you build up muscle mass. Muscles use up more energy and elevate your metabolism.

2. Eat Breakfast

Don’t skip out on meals, but try to space them evenly throughout your day. This gives your body access to that energy every moment of the day. If you are skipping meals, your body will end up conserving fat and burning the energy slower.

3. Eat more Protein

Protein is harder for your body to break down, causing your body to spend more calories to digest. Eating lean chicken, beef, and fish can be a great way to start a meal off that will raise your metabolism.

4. Relax

Stress causes your body to send out hormones that cause you to stores more fat.

The Human body is utterly amazing. The more we study it, the more we find just how incredible it is. One of its most amazing powers is called “muscle memory”. This is exactly what it sounds like, and is one of the most essential functions of our body. Without it, we would hardly be able to get anything done, and we would never be able to improve at anything that requires movement.

Muscle memory is basically the ability for our body to ‘remember’ how to do something without having to consciously think about it. We use it every day. When we walk, talk, type, text, drive and more. After much repetition of the same thing, our body is able to consolidate the attention and effort that it requires so much that we are able to do it without having to think about it.

This comes in extremely handy for things that would normally take a lot of effort. Children for example, struggle with walking because they have to think hard about every movement that they make. After they walk a lot, then it becomes easy and natural for them. We take for granted the things that we can do with muscle memory. A lifelong piano player will require less thought and attention to play Flight of the Bumblebees as a beginner would require to play Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.

The reason muscle memory is so incredible is because it enables us to learn anything. Anybody can learn how to play any instrument, play any sport, or do anything physical with enough practice. All it takes is patience and repetition until our brain makes it automatic. So, get out there and start trying new things. Develop muscle memory for as many things as you can. It makes life fun.

Just thought i would post a few fun excercises for you to try.

In and out slalom shuffle – The in and out slalom shuffle is an exercises that utilizes and imroves foot coordination, balance, and cardio. You can use tape or chalk to draw your area on the ground. Basically draw a ladder like shape on the ground: two 15′ long parallel lines about a foot apart, then connect those with cross lines about a foot apart. Read the rest of this entry »