Dangers of Obesity for Vegetarians by Laura Ng

How much do you know about the dangers of obesity as an obese vegetarian? Are you obese when you're overweight? It's actually not like what you've been reading elsewhere about the dangers of obesity. Here let me show you what determines obesity and the potential risk of being an obese vegetarian so that you know exactly how to combat your obesity issue as a vegetarian.

Weighing heavy does not necessarily lead to obesity. Look at the heavyweights - their weight come from their muscle mass. Of course for us, the common people, heavy weight means overweight!

The logic is simple: if we consume more calories than we use, the excess calories will get stored in our bodies as fat. When you're obese, it simply means you're carrying way too much fat in your body. Therefore, obese people run a higher risk of suffering from high blood pressure, high blood cholesterol, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and stroke. Obese vegetarians are no exception, even though you're considered relatively "healthier" than obese meat-eaters.

Let's now take a look at what factors exactly contribute to your gaining of weight and cause you to become an obese vegetarian. They affect the way your body burns calories, thereby deciding whether you'll gain weight or not.

Lifestyle

Our long working hours and other commitments often become our excuses not to cook nutritious vegetarian meals. Instead we head for the nearest fast food outlet or food center even though we know these prepared vegetarian foods are often high in fat and calories and the portion size is usually too large. On top of that, many of us lack exercise which is vital to burn away the excess calories. The end result: the excess calories turn into fat.

Psychological

Are you someone who tends to overeat to cope with your emotional problems such as stress, depression or boredom? If so, this is one of the causes to your obesity issue.

Genetics

Your genes actually affect the amount of body fat you store and where the fat is distributed. Take a look at your parents - are they obese too?

Age

Your muscle mass decreases with age. You'll also become less active as you age. This in turn leads to a decrease in metabolism and calorie needs. Therefore, if you do not reduce your caloric intake as you age, you'll most likely gain weight.

Medical

Problems like low thyroid function, arthritis, excess production of hormones by the adrenal glands (Cushing's syndrome) or other hormonal balances, such as polycystic ovary syndrome - these disorders can make your fat grow too.

These are just some common factors that trigger weight gain and result in obesity. However, you can reverse the situation.

Getting on with a healthy vegetarian lifestyle will definitely help you lower your body fat and return you a slender body and more importantly, your overall health which will in turn, extend your life. The only concern is, how long will it take for you to achieve your goals?

That really depends on how many factors contribute to your obesity problem. If you're plagued with only one factor like psychological, you probably need relatively less effort than if you were plagued by two or more of the above factors combined. In other words, the more factors you need to deal with, the longer and more effort it'll require of you.

But that shouldn't deter you from pursuing good shape and health. Think about your loved ones. Do you want them to worry about your health day and night? Do you want them to see to your funeral and mourn over your death? Don't you want to take good care of them for life? The choice is yours.

Vegetarian Weight Loss - How to Lose Weight with Vegetarian Diet by Laura Ng

Eating vegetarian diet may not guarantee weight loss. You must make sure you're ingesting a balanced vegetarian diet filled with various macro- and micro-nutrients essential for your body needs. Only then can you lose weight effectively.

Let me share with you on how to make up a proper vegetarian weight loss diet.

As you already know, you need to eat as many different fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts and seeds etc for leading a healthy vegetarian lifestyle, but you can't finish them all in a day. And each food carries somewhat similar and different nutritional content. So, you rotate the food varieties in your vegetarian weight loss diet.

For example, in the morning, you drink smoothie blended from strawberries, blueberries, spinach, lettuce with some sprinkle of protein powder. Then in afternoon, you take brown rice (cooked) layered with black bean sauce plus few pieces of tempeh and spinach on top. Dinner time comes and you ingest mushroom soup with fresh slices of tomatoes and cucumbers. In between these vegetarian meals you take some oatmeal crackers or whole grain crackers.

Now, next day, you should try to change these entire recipes. It's quite a challenge trying to eat differently every day. Eating a vegetarian weight loss diet this way brings you 2 major benefits:

1. You get a full spectrum of nutrients from different vegetarian food sources. You body cells and tissues need them to function properly. You get excellent health and you won't fall sick easily.

2. As you keep changing your caloric intake with different food varieties and patterns, your body tends to remain metabolically active and readily burn excess calories you don't need. You end up losing weight without trying too hard.

I know you may find it difficult to think of new vegetarian recipes every day. Try doing this: Take a one-day recipe and swap among the meals and turn it into a 3-day recipe. Then make another one-day recipe and repeat the same procedures. This way you can generate a 9-day vegetarian diet recipe for your weight loss with only a 3-day recipe.

Alternatively, go find some easy-to-prepare vegetarian weight loss meal plans which already come with hundreds of recipes created for you. You just need to plug and play, that's it. In fact, most importantly, the meals should tantalize your taste buds, or you won't feel so keen to whip up your own vegetarian diet for weight loss.

Preparing your own vegetarian weight loss diet is one of the most effective techniques you should adopt. You can control the caloric intake, the portion size, and exactly what you want to feed your body with.

How To Lose Belly Fat The Vegetarian Way by Laura Ng

As a vegetarian, it should be easier for you to lose belly fat since you're not intoxicating your body with fat-amassing toxins, long-chain fats and very long-chain fats (hardest type of fat to break down) from eating animal carcasses. However, vegetarians are growing on belly size is an indisputable fact due to their unhealthy vegetarian lifestyle and poor eating habits.

Like I said, a vegetarian will lose belly fat much easier than a non-vegetarian, so let's see what you can do to quickly shed that extra inches off your stomach and make it flat.

1. Which Vegetarian Foods are Effective to Lose Belly Fat?

Your vegetarian weight loss diet should contain at least 50% vegetables because vegetables really carry tons of fiber and toxin-removal nutrients that will help you flush out toxins accumulated (from your processed vegetarian food intake) in your fat cells. Intoxicated fat cells can be extremely difficult to metabolize as energy for body use.

So, first step is to get rid of those toxins. And vegetables like carrot, radish, kelp, cucumber, radish, bean sprouts, celery, cabbage, bok choy, pumpkin, asparagus etc are particularly good on losing stomach fat.

2. Less Food More Meals

You should include 5 - 7 small vegetarian meals in your vegetarian weight diet plan. This way you'll provide your body with continual food supply but yet do not stuff your stomach too full after each meal. The best part is, you'll boost your metabolism to burn belly fat throughout the day.

You can set 3 main meals (breakfast, lunch and dinner) and the rest all light snacks to keep you going. Bottom line - always keep your stomach busy but don't keep it full.

3. Say 'No' to Empty-Calorie Drinks

Simple or refined sugar lurking in coffee or soda pop is one major culprit that makes your belly fat grow. High calorie content in beer does the same. These beverages offer you nothing but calories. Cut down on these sweetened beverages. Ingest healthier options like natural green tea (without sugar) and best, plain water.

4. Fat-Burning Workouts for Belly Fat Loss

Stop wasting time and effort on crunches or other single-joint exercises to target your tummy. They don't work. Do total body ab exercises like pushups, mountain climbers, spiderman climbs, side planks, cross-body mountain climbers, jumping jacks etc.

These exercises work well to help non-vegetarians lose belly fat, but it'll work even better for you, a vegetarian.

You'll lose belly fat relatively fast as a vegetarian provided you combine these tips in good common sense.

Coconut Oil Facts - Things to Know Before Using Coconut Oil by Laura Ng

The craze on the benefits of coconut oil seems unstoppable without signs of dipping ever since someone unlocks its enormous healing power after years of being locked up in the dark. Thousands of people who use it have benefited from it. But as a beginner to this healthful oil, I wouldn't advise you to jump right into the pool before learning about some hard facts about coconut oil and start swimming in it hoping to get the same result as others.

There are, however, few users who only get to see the negative effect rather than the positive ones. Even when I just started out I was careful in administering the dosage until I feel safe and comfortable with the quantity I'm consuming.

Because I know what exactly it can do to your health and skin via my personal close contact with this liquid diamond, you should take a serious look at these coconut oil facts so you know exactly how to reap maximum health benefits out of it and use it to reverse the aging effect of your skin.

Coconut Oil Fact #1 - Benefits of Coconut Oil

Coconut oil benefits you in more ways than any other vegetable oils in the world. It protects you against various species of bacteria, viruses, fungi by ripping them apart. It keeps you free of constipation, helps you burn more fat with its thermogenic effect, and prevent you from getting colon, breast and other types of cancers. It also moisturizes your skin effectively and heals many acne-prone skins thus far.

It locks the protein in your hair so your hair won't lose protein so easily, thus keeping it silky and dazzling with glow. Having dandruff problem? Coconut oil will get rid of them for you!

Coconut Oil Fact #2 - Disadvantages of Coconut Oil

It'd be too idealistic to say all good things about this health-promoting oil without a single defect. In fact, when you eat too much of it than your body can take, instead of curing constipation, it can trigger diarrhea-like symptoms instead - the opposite reaction. So, increase its intake progressively until your body accustoms to its nutritional effect.

When applying to your acne-prone skin, because of its super detoxifying power, you may experience a breakout due to the toxin-purging effect before getting a flawless skin. Are you game enough to give this skin-healing oil a try?

Coconut Oil Fact #3 - Types of Coconut Oil

Most people only know about 2 types of coconut oil - that is, virgin and RBD (refined, bleached and deodorized). In fact, there are 2 more types you ought to know - fractionated and hydrogenated.

Needless to say, virgin grade bears the best quality among its family due to its cold-pressing extraction method. Unlike olive oil, extra-virgin coconut oil means exactly the same as its virgin counterpart. No difference.

RBD oil is another type produced for those who dislike the natural coconut flavor but still want to reap the super nutritional benefits of coconut oil. When you buy this refined oil, make sure it comes as pure without hydrogenation because hydrogenation can produce trans fatty acid that can inflict damage on your health very badly.

As just mentioned about hydrogenation, you shouldn't buy any hydrogenated oil for your consumption or skin care. It'll harm your health and clog your pores. Again, go with virgin oil instead if you want better health and skin.

As for fractionated type, it's mainly used in beauty, skin care and massage industry. But I use virgin oil for all purposes - be it skin care, beauty, massaging, dieting, etc because virgin oil contains the most nutrients in its most natural form. But of course, it costs the most too. Just a few bucks more for better health, I'm sure you can afford.

In a Nutshell...

These coconut oil facts serve to give you a basic idea of what you should expect from using it as a health and skin care product. But what you see here is just a tip of the iceberg of the benefits of coconut oil. I encourage you to explore and uncover more specifics about it before you start feeding the first teaspoon to your mouth. Knowledge is not only important in bringing you wealth, but when applied correctly, it'll bring you long-term health as well.

Why Fit Employees Are Better by Sarah Long

Workplace fitness is an investment that business owners and managers should consider for their employees, as they are their biggest asset! By implementing a workplace fitness program, employees can embrace their daily experience at work and be encouraged to apply their skills as best as possible in their careers.

Here are 7 things to remember when it comes to workplace fitness and fit employees:

1.Fit employees experience less stress than employees that are out of shape. Some companies allow employees to exercise during their lunch break at corporate fitness centers or bring in a Personal Trainer to run group training classes at the workplace in order to distress and refocus on the tasks at hand. Stress management systems can also be put in place to aid employees in their efforts to remove harmful stressors in their lives.

2.Fit employees have better attitudes around the office. A positive attitude can be contagious and inspire others to become the best person they possibly can. Physical fitness activities such as running, jogging, swimming, lifting weights, yoga, and other athletic activities can be inspiration and help employees focus on the reasons why they are working and enjoy their lives more fully.

3.Fit employees are more confident. When it comes to self-confidence, nothing is more visible than an employee’s physical self-image. When employees are healthy and fit, they look and act more confident. This can be crucial for sales positions, account management, and other groups of individuals that must interact face-to-face with their clients or potential clients. Likewise, supporting staff such as customer service, information technology, and on-the-job workers can benefit from a healthy image as it helps them feel better about themselves and the work they are doing.

4.Fit employees are healthier and absent less often. By taking care of our bodies, we can experience less downtime and be more productive day in and day out. The number one reason why employees are absent from work is because they are physically or emotionally sick. Being fit raises the antibodies in our system and helps us fight harmful biochemicals that cause the flu and carry viruses.

5.Fit employees are more likely to have goals and achieve them. Anyone who goes to the gym consistently knows that it takes dedication, focus, and goals. Consistency is key when it comes to keeping your body healthy. Whether you are trying to lose weight, gain muscle mass, or simply relieve some stress and improve overall health, the greatest improvement is made with consistent, diligent effort. These same principals apply to corporate goals and success. By making gains in the gym, employees learn how to better achieve success at work.

6.Fit employees are more energetic. Each day the human body releases internal toxins from cellular breakdown, general metabolism and digestion. This cycle creates a poisonous environment in our bodies cid that must be removed through exercise, proper stretching and a colorful diet. Fine tuning the body through physical fitness can leave employees feeling energetic and stress free. Fitness management systems can be a great way to help improve employee energy.

7.Fit employees that are allowed to participate in workplace fitness programs can be a great way to show your employees that you care for them and care about employee health. Employee fitness programs can be a great way to say “I Care” and provide a benefit that differentiates from competitors and other people in the marketplace.

How to Get Rid of Cellulite for Vegetarians by Laura Ng

Do you know how your cellulite forms? If you know that, it'll be easier to help you get rid of cellulite the vegetarian way. Let's take a quick look at how cellulite forms before I show you what to do to remove that ugly "cottage cheese" sticking on the skin of your thighs and buttocks. It sure looks embarrassing on you when you wear shorts, mini-skirt or worse, bikini.

How Cellulite Forms and What Causes Cellulite Appearance?

When your fat tissue (right underneath your skin) expands, it pushes up against your skin, forming cellulite. But why would your fat tissue expands? These are the reasons:

1. When you never drink enough water to hydrate your body, your body will store more fluid within the fat tissue than it normally would.

2. When you consume more calories than your body needs, excess calories will turn into body fat and get stocked up in the fat tissue.

3. When you wear tight pants or underwear, causing poor blood flow around your buttocks and thighs. When blood doesn't flow well, more toxic and wastes will accumulate in your fat tissue causing it to expand upwards.

How to Get Rid of Cellulite as a Vegetarian

As a matter of fact, you're not actually removing cellulite but instead making the appearance less visible by stopping your fat tissue from expanding upwards. The problem now is, your fat tissue has already been in the "push-up" position for long time, so now we must do what we can to pull it down and get rid of the cellulite dimples on your skin. Let's do it now.

1. Make sure you drink enough water for optimal body hydration. Avoid alcohol and sweetened beverages. Best, stick to just plain water where possible.

2. Keep your salt intake to the normal level of around 4 - 5 grams per day. Ingesting too much salt can cause your body to retain water and hamper blood flow, causing cellulite formation.

3. Increase your fruit and vegetable consumption. But remember, intake of these natural foods forms part of the total fluid you consume. Meaning, when you already eat lots of fruits and veggies for the day, you may only need 3 - 4 glasses of water. Exercise your own judgment on this.

4. As your fat content is also one culprit that pushes the tissue up against the skin to form cellulite, you must get rid of the fat by burning it off. You can go with cardio if that's what you prefer. But if you want to cut down the time on exercising, do interval training which will burn more fat for you in shorter time.

For example, brisk walk for 1 minute, then jog (at faster pace) for 1 minute and brisk walk again for another minute. Do it for 10 - 15 minutes every alternate morning. You can apply such interval principle on any exercises you love, such as cycling, swimming, strength training, body workouts etc. (Note: you should not do more than 5 interval trainings in a week to prevent muscle injuries)

5. Catch enough sleep at night. A good night's sleep will help improve your blood circulation and prevent water retention.

6. Avoid tight pants, jeans and underwear to help improve your blood flow around your buttocks and thighs.

That's it. Put these 6 cellulite-removal tactics into work with your vegetarian lifestyle and do it for at least 10 days, you'll be able to reduce cellulite and see dramatic improvement in your skin appearance.

How to Lose Weight the Vegetarian Way by Laura Ng

Two things you must get it right in order to lose weight the vegetarian way - watch what you feed your stomach with and what you do to your body. However, because you're not eating meat, so you actually got an edge over meat-eaters such that your body doesn't need to deal with the toxins, antibiotic residues and bacteria (like E.coli) coming from dead animals. So in a way, you should lose weight as a vegetarian more easily when you apply the vegetarian weight loss tips below.

1. Skipping Meals to Lose Belly Fat?

Many vegetarians thought by skipping a meal or 2 will help them lose weight faster. Wrong! Skipping meals will only slow down your metabolism. And when you start eating after starving, your body will absorb more calories than usual to store as body fat as it fears that it might not get any food supply in future. To make matter worse, your metabolism has slowed down due to starvation, and so you can only convert little calories into energy as fuel, leaving pounds of calories to get stocked up as body fat.

2. Eat More to Lose Weight the Vegetarian Way

When you eat more meals in a day but in smaller portion sizes, you're in fact keeping your body metabolically active throughout the day because your body is getting a continuous supply of food gradually over time, instead of getting a gush of energy from food in one large meal each from breakfast, lunch and dinner.

To lose fat effectively, you should take 5 vegetarian meals like this - breakfast, morning snack, lunch, afternoon snack and dinner. Your meals should comprise high-fiber foods loaded with complex-carbohydrate and other key nutrients so you won't feel hungry and take in excess calories so easily.

3. Rid Sugar in Your Meal Plans for Quicker Belly Fat Loss

Imagine on one hand you're eating those vegetarian weight loss foods, on the other hand you're ingesting weight gain foods, the end result? You lose nothing.

Sugar is one of the greatest culprits that causes belly fat to grow and makes it doubly hard for vegetarians to lose weight. That explains why more vegetarians are gaining weight. It depends on what type of vegetarian foods you eat. That said, quit your refined sugar intake totally.

Tip: When you apply the previous tip and take more fibrous foods, you should be able to stop your sugar cravings instantly and lose fat more easily.

4. Your Stomach Needs No More than 70% to Lose Weight the Vegetarian Style

Your stomach doesn't like to be full. So, always feed your stomach to 70% fullness. But a common problem to many people, even vegetarians is they only realize they become 80 or even 100% full 10 - 20 minutes after they finished eating. That's because your stomach needs about 10 - 20 minutes (sometimes only 2 minutes) to tell your brain your satiety level, so when you eat, try to reduce your speed by chewing more times than you normally would. This way, you'll find yourself getting no more than 70%.

Tip: To avoid wasting food, always request for the exact portion size you need where possible when you eat out.

5. Drink Zero Calories to Achieve More Fat Loss

No beverages beat water when it comes to stimulating your metabolism and help you shed the extra pounds, regardless of whether you're a vegetarian or not.

You might not get used to changing to drinking plain water overnight. Here's what you can do - starting today, take 1/2 a glass for 2 days, then on the 3rd day you increase to one glass and so on. After 8 days, you should be able to replace your unhealthy beverages with just plain water. If you can make changes within 3 days, why not?

6. Active Rest During Exercising Speeds Up Your Metabolism

A study conducted on cycling shows that interval cycling burns more fat than cycling at a steady pace. What does it mean? When you cycle fast, then slows down for "active rest" then speeds up again, you'll rev up your metabolism. Same thing applies to any interval training.

But remember, though interval training helps to burn more fat, you'll find hard to lose weight without a proper vegetarian weight loss meal plan.

7. The Better Your Sleep Quality, the More Fat You Burn

It all comes down to getting your metabolism to run at full speed. Hence, catch quality sleep because a rejuvenated body will definitely burn more fat than a sluggish body with sleeping disorder.

These 7 tips are just appetizers for you to lose weight as a vegetarian. But they're enough to let you see some stunning results in the next 7 - 10 days.

7 Vegetarian Weight Loss Foods Your Vegetarian Weight Loss Diet Should Contain by Laura Ng

What weight loss foods should you include in your vegetarian weight loss diet for maximum fat loss? Of all vegetarian weight loss foods, vegetables help you lose weight most effectively, particularly these 7 super vegetables:

Vegetarian Weight Loss Food #1 - Kelp

How does kelp help you lose weight? Besides being low in cholesterol, kelp provides your body with good amount of dietary fiber, vitamin C, pantothenic acid, calcium and minerals such as iodine.

Iodine in kelp keeps your thyroid function properly. It stimulates a hormone produced by the thyroid gland that's responsible for boosting metabolism, so you'll burn more fat. If your weight gain is related to thyroid disorder, kelp can help you lose weight. It has also been shown to lower the blood cholesterol levels.

However, seek your doctor's advice before loading on kelp as too much iodine can have a negative effect on your thyroid. Adding kelp moderately in your vegetarian weight loss diet is the key to lose weight optimally with kelp.

Vegetarian Weight Loss Food #2 - Celery

An 8-inch stalk of celery contains approximately 6 calories. But the mere act of digesting this stalk burns more than 6 calories, resulting in a negative calorie count. In other words, you'll use up more calories from your energy reserve (fat storage) to break down celery, achieving fat loss.

Not only that, celery provides a good source of vitamin C and fiber (as in kelp), and fiber is one key ingredient to help you detox and lose weight more effectively. It contains unique oil that helps to relax your muscles, which improves blood flow and regulates blood pressure. It's especially good for you if you're having hypertension.

Vegetarian Weight Loss Food #3 - Spinach

Spinach carries lots of fiber which helps you stay full longer and reduce the overall number of calories that you consume each day. You can also benefit from its rich content of vitamin K and calcium which help to prevent or treat osteoporosis and the loss of bone density.

Vegetarian Weight Loss Food #4 - Cucumber

Cucumber contains sterols which can help to lower cholesterol and prevent carbohydrates from converting to body fat. Filling yet low in calories, it's a great choice in salads. It also helps you digest better and bears a cleansing effect on your bowel. With normal bowel function, you'll lose weight efficiently with less effort.

Vegetarian Weight Loss Food #5 - Radish

As radish is rich in vitamin C but low in calories, fat and stimulates metabolism, it's popular as a weight loss snack. However, eating too much radishes is very cooling for your body, especially if you already bear a "cool" body constitution, defined in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) terms.

This means that your immunity to cold and cough could be affected, especially during winter. Thus, eat them in moderation.

Vegetarian Weight Loss Food #6 - Bean Sprouts

These refer to sprouting from mung beans, alfalfa, lentils, chickpeas and soya beans. Sprouting actually helps to turn the starches, oils and other nutrients in beans to vitamins, enzymes and other forms of proteins, minerals and sugars.

A single helping of fresh sprouted mung beans contains about three quarter of the daily requirement of vitamin C. Sprouting increases the presence of vitamin B in beans, including thiamin, folate, B6 and biotin and produces less intestinal wind when consumed.

How do these vitamins in bean sprouts help you lose weight? They'll nourish your body and keep your body metabolically active. When your metabolism runs at full tank, you'll burn fat and lose weight. Simple logic. Oh, you can buy them at cheap prices too. A cheap weight loss food to add into your vegetarian weight loss diet indeed.

Vegetarian Weight Loss Food #7 - Broccoli

Most vegetables carry lots of fiber that helps you feel full and satisfied easily and sustain your activity over longer period of time, but I highly recommend broccoli here due to its high nutritional value - rich in vitamin C and carotenoids, and also contains protein, all-important B vitamins, phosphorus, potassium, chromium and calcium etc.

You'll lose weight with broccoli when it stops you from eating more food, but you'll also gain health with its antioxidant properties and anti-carcinogenic (cancer-fighting) power. Hence, broccoli is a must-add ingredient in your vegetarian weight loss diet.

No doubt these 7 vegetables can help you lose weight effectively as a vegetarian, you should also include other varieties of plant-based foods to achieve both effective weight loss and excellent health.

Group Outdoor Training: How to take Working Out from Painful to Awesome! by Anders N W Lindgreen

There are many non-fitness converts out there asking themselves when exercise begins to become fun. Everyone is always talking about enjoying exercise and having fun doing it, but some people just seriously loathe it. And that is okay. There are generally three things that will increase the fun factor for participants; improvements and results, social value and the experience in itself.

Improvements and Results

Exercise can definitely be tedious work until you start to see improvements and even when progression starts there will be the occasional step back and there will be workouts where you'd rather be someplace else. It's the same with everything. Even if you love your job, you have days where you'd rather stay in bed. Not all games watching your favourite team were enjoyable experiences and not every relationship you had was good every single day. But to minimise the bad days, make sure that you make the most out of the time you put in and that you enjoy doing the activity itself - otherwise every hard day will be a reason to quit. If you haven't found your thing yet, explore, and if you don't know how to be truly efficient and effective in your workouts, research or hire an expert.

Social Value

The reason many of your friends (and mine!) spend two hours in the gym is not because they work harder and are more dedicated than other people, no, it's because they do everything but to exercise - so they're there for a lot longer. They may be reading magazines, watching TV or speaking to their mates (who are there for two hours as well by the way). The way around this is to find a social environment where you are forced to do some effective work. And if the large cardio classes at the gym are too anonymous for you, find group outdoor training options, smaller clubs or studios where you will have chance to really engage with people while keeping fit. If done well, you'll feel like you spent all the time socialising, while the trainer or instructor made sure that you did some effective exercise meanwhile. It's great!

The Experience

I you don't have many great experiences involving exercise, it won't be hard for your mind to find excuses to not do it - so let's find some. Get some mates together for an outdoor barbecue. Warm up with some team games like tag, soccer or touch footy. It's simple, fun, engaging and you don't even think about the exercise part. Next, set up some challenges for yourself and your friends (and be creative) - here are some examples:

Push Up Competition (if you are strong, do them with your partner on your back)

"Circus Exercises" like handstands, cartwheels and balancing on unstable surfaces etc.

Lift Heavy Things or carry them across a distance

Plank/Hover max test (for fun, see if you can get everyone to hover in a group without anyone's feet touching the ground!)

Hill Sprints

The possibilities are endless and when you are done you finish off with a lovely barbecue. Get the kids involved too why don't you. And for more inspiration go on to YouTube and find that you have endless resources at the touch of a button. Best of luck making exercise enjoyable for yourself!

Corporate Wellness: Encourage Micro-Breaks for Back Health by Anders N W Lindgreen

They say that nothing is certain in life besides death, taxes and lower back pain. The first two are not that hard to figure out, but did you also know that 70-90% of people will experience back-pain at least once in their life? It is true (or at least so researchers say). Just ask ten of your friends. I would be amazed to hear statistics of less than 8 out of 10, seriously. So with lower back pain being inevitable, what can we do to minimise the impact? Well, for one we can change the way we sit.

The Art of Sitting

Sitting down in any way, shape or form is great. But it is not the best thing for our lower backs or our posture, at least not the way we do it. You see after about 10-15 minutes of sitting our brain fails to recognise good posture and will start to slump (even more than before). It will push our head and shoulders forward, curve our spine like a big "C" form top to bottom and push the discs in our lower back our towards the back. Needless to say, it's not great for our back.

We Need Movement

The reason our brain lets everything hang out is because of the absence of movement. Without movement it becomes increasingly difficult for our brains to keep track of where we are in time and space, so it begins to switch our stabilisers of and gravity starts pulling us down.

Your Reality And What to Do About It

Let's say that you are sitting down for 8-10 hours per day with very few breaks to get up, this is the way your body will find itself most of the time. Spread that out over 5 days per week and add in all your time in the couch at home and it's not hard to realise why a few hours in the gym may not be enough to rectify 40-80 hours of poor sitting. But the solution is simple; you just have to be conscious about it.

Every 10-15 minutes (set an alarm to go off ever so often if you need to), stand up, move around and reset your posture. It will take you what, 10-15 seconds and while it won't strengthen your back it will reduce the negative impact and wear and tear on it. And while you are sitting, wring your shoulders back, sit up straight and pull the chin in.

While it may seem like an awful inconvenience to you, imagine what a bad back will do to your lifestyle and not to mention all the health care visits you will have to pay for. I'd take my micro-breaks if I were you.

Personal Training: Spot the Fad Diet by Anders N W Lindgreen

There are endless diets being released constantly and they all claim to be the holy grail of weight loss and body transformation. I am pretty casual and don’t mind these as long as they are sound, because not one diet or particular eating style will suit all people. That’s just unrealistic. But how can the non-dietician and non-nutritionist separate the bad from the good, well, there are few things to look out for. If you don’t, you just may get less than sub-optimal results from your personal training regime.

Lifestyle

Is the diet in question a realistic way to live your life for the long-term (not that not all are die-hard health nuts)? For example, if you are required to have meal replacements for most or all of your meals – is that something that you can see yourself doing for the rest of your life? If it isn’t, don’t do it. You may lose some weight, but you also run the risk of malnourishment and once the diet is over you are likely to go back to your old habits and gain the weight back. So what did we learn? Nothing.

Malnourishment

Is the diet getting you enough vitamins, minerals and fibre? Does it even mention it? Is it a one-size-fits-all or can it be customised? One energy requirement is seldom enough to cater for all different shapes, sizes and goals. But if it gives clear instructions on how to modify it, then it’s okay in my books.

Education

Do the creators explain their reasoning behind their choices and do they educate you on how to style your eating for the long-term, once your weight loss goal is achieved? Like with the lifestyle paragraph, if you don’t know what to do once you lost your weight, other than follow the same plan for the rest of your life, chances are you’ll fall back into old habits and put stack the kilos back on again. And doing so can be extremely discouraging and damaging your self-confidence and self-image, so do everything you can to avoid it.

That I’d say are the most important things to look out for and if they all check out and there are no huge question marks that worry you, go right ahead and try it. Remember that “diet” simply means “what you eat”, and has nothing to do with restrictions or limitations. It is not an ugly word, but it’s definitely overused by us fitness nerds.

So, put any negative thoughts to the side and look forward to become a culinary master that keeps his or her waistline in check without sacrificing taste. Best of luck!

Personal Training: Be Critical of Circus Trainers by Anders N W Lindgreen

If you are new to personal training and are observing local trainers in your gym or outside to determine whether they are good or not, you should be more mindful of client retention, results and interaction than what you see them do in the gym. It is easy to assume that the trainer who teaches his client to do the most spectacular (or sometimes downright dumb) exercises should be trainer for choice – and her or she well may be, but you need to be aware of a few things.


While it is extremely impressive to see people doing squats on a Swiss Ball, is it functional and is it safe? Actually, let’s ignore the safety aspect of the client falling off breaking his or her neck (or someone else’s) and let’s look at the exercise itself. To stand on a Swiss Ball takes increasable balance and core strength, but should we squat on it? It’s a challenge you say, but think of the person’s feet. In order to remain balanced on a round object the client needs to have his or her feet turned inwards. Now see if you can see anyone in the gym doing squats with their feet like that, or try to think of any situation in everyday life where we need to take look through such a position. I can’t think of any.


If the client specifically asked to learn this circus skill, that’s all good and fine, but if it’s the trainer’s way to show off his skill – it’s all bad in my eyes. You see, there are millions of ways to make exercise harder and sometimes it’s viable and sometimes it’s not. Just because something is more challenging doesn’t necessarily mean that it is better for you and if you as a client is looking to lose weight, then you are really wasting your time. Don’t think I’m beating my own drum here, I am not, I am just educating you on what to look out for. It doesn’t even have to be a squat on a Swiss Ball, that was only an example, and I’ve got hundreds of them. And if you saw me training in the gym, either by myself or with one of my clients, I would love to be criticised just the same. More knowledgeable clients will keep good personal trainers on their toes and force the ones with no thought behind their set-up to find a more suitable occupation.

New Regulations to Boost Indian Clinical Trials Industry by Shushmul Maheshwari

According to our new research report “Booming Clinical Trials Market in India”, India is anticipated to become one of the most lucrative destinations for clinical research outsourcing in coming years. The future outlook of the Indian clinical trials market remains buoyant as it will grow at a CAGR of around 31% during the forecast period FY 2010-FY 2012. Various factor like new government incentives & policies will spur growth in the industry.

We have done thorough research and prudent analysis of the Indian clinical trials industry and identified some critical factors acting as a catalyst for the industry’s current and future growth outlook. The report reveals that the number of clinical trials in India has been rising continuously since 2005. Further, it was observed that the clinical trials in India grew at a CAGR of 50% during 2007-2009, nearly six times higher at which number of global clinical trials surged. Low cost, English based medical education, prevalence of western disease and expert medical staffs were the major drivers of the industry during this period.

Our research indicates the clinical trials market will help many allied sectors like IVD industry and educational industry to accelerate their growth pace. In addition, the market will observe opening up of many job opportunities for young professionals in the coming years.

“Booming Clinical Trials Market in India” provides detailed information about the cost associated with different clinical trials phase. It also elaborates on the contribution of government regulation in the growth of clinical trials industry in the country. Apart from this extensive research on success and risk factors for clinical trials industry has been done. Further, the report covers an in-depth analysis of various industry parameters like global clinical market trends, size and patient pool availability, infrastructure and expertise.

It also includes future outlook of various industry segments such as clinical trials, doctors, etc. with aid of effective and prudent forecasting techniques. To enable the client for better understanding of the industry, competitive landscape has been provided to derive a clear picture of the market trends and new strategies. Easy to comprehend content, detail information analysis and effective presentation are some of the main features of this report.

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Need Tips On Smart Lipo Philadelphia? by Rudy Silva

Nowadays, the term Philadelphia liposuction surgeon has been often heard. This is especially in situations wherein people talk about smart lipo or other ways of fat removal.

A Liposuction doctor or surgeon is more popular in cosmetic procedures rather than medical ones. If you want to trim your excess fat, then he is the right person to see.

Here is what these surgeons do. Together with modern science and technology, they can eliminate unwanted fat from our body without cutting and stitching.

Their expertise cover wide varieties of cosmetic procedures that could help others improve their looks and body so that they can feel good about themselves. One of the most popular is liposuction!

Cosmetic liposuction procedures such as smart lipo are already recognized and accepted in society. In the past, people would ridicule you if they knew you had some type of cosmetic surgery, especially fat removal.

Additionally, liposuction procedures are no longer just popular for celebrities and other TV personalities; in fact, they too are much appreciated by the different levels of society. Many people can now afford lipo and so they choose to do it.

To give you a better idea of what a Philadelphia liposuction Surgeon does, here are some of the popular liposuction procedures.

Smart Lipo is a method of sucking our unwanted fat from the areas of our body that are not usually affected by exercises. Double chins, muffin tops and bra rolls are stubborn and need special removal techniques.

With this procedure, a liposuction doctor sucks out the unwanted fat after they have melted. A special kind of laser is needed to burn and soften the fat.

Tummy tuck liposuction is another cosmetic surgery process that is highly recommended by liposuction specialist. This aesthetic procedure is popular to both men and women, who aim to have flatter and sexier looking abdomens.

Abdominal fat are usually hard to take out. Sometimes, even a hundred crunches daily and maintaining a good diet do not produce much result. For that, people turn to science for help.

By using vacuuming suctions or ultrasonic probes, fat can be taken off our stomachs, which allow us to show off our flat tummies.

Thigh liposculpture, on the other hand, helps ladies to walk with attractive pair of legs. Through sound waves, thighs are being re-sculpted into perfection. Without excess fat, your whole body will look more proportioned.

All of these procedures are just a few of the magic aesthetic surgeons can do. Of course, there also liposuctions that are specially done for the face and neck.

Moreover, there are also different types and techniques that are needed in this kind of procedure. With numerous types and processes, liposuction cost varies on the method applied to remove fat.

A Philadelphia liposuction surgeon may also offer extra services and procedures aside from liposuction. So, if you feel that you need to burn your fat, just knock at any liposuction clinic to know the most effective way to lose it.

Lose Weight by Savoring Delicious Food without Feeling Guilty by Roseanna Leaton

You want to lose weight. You need to eat and you should enjoy eating, so why feel guilty? What does guilt achieve anyway? It's not as if the guilty feelings have prevented you from eating; guilt is only experienced whilst actually eating food or after eating. Guilt achieves nothing other than making you feel bad about eating.

And surely eating something gorgeously delicious should make you feel good, not bad? After all, you eat for nourishment and when you are feeling well nourished you feel good. Enjoying good food is part of enjoying life. It should satisfy your taste buds as well as your need for nutrition.

I have heard many people comment upon how unfair it is that so many thin people seem to be able to eat food which is laden in fatty calories and yet still stay thin, whilst they themselves manage to put on weight simply by looking at a plate of lettuce leaves! But is this really the case? Can you really eat any diet which you choose without thinking about calories and still stay slim?

Yes, individuals are subject to their own metabolic differences, which are also related to the amount and types of exercise which they partake in. But metabolism is not the only reason why some people put on weight whilst others do not.

Let's examine for a moment the habits and thought processes of those people who seem to eat whatever they want without gaining weight. You will usually find that they eat relatively slowly, and savor the taste of the food which they are eating. You will also notice that they do not tend to overeat; once satisfied they stop eating. They do not suffer pangs of guilt and neither do they think that they should not eat particular types or amounts of food. Their minds are not tied up or restricted by a diet mentality.

If you consider the people who complain of putting on weight at the mere sight of food, you will usually notice that they are preoccupied with thoughts about food and ideas about what they should or should not have. They constantly feel guilty and so cannot fully enjoy the food which they should be enjoying. And herein lies one of the key issues; if you do not allow yourself to enjoy the food which you are eating, you will not feel satisfied, because satisfaction is not merely based on nutritional value alone.

To feel fully satisfied with your meals you need to savor the taste, smell and texture of the food which you are eating. You need to enjoy it and there is also evidence to support the requirement of a range of tastes within your meals. Thus if you limit yourself to a boring diet you will not feel satisfied, and if you do not allow yourself to enjoy your food, you will not feel satisfied.

And we all know what happens when you do not feel satisfied; you reach for more and more and more. Ironically, even whilst you reach for more food, because you are feeling guilty and not fully enjoying it, you do not fully appreciate what you are eating and it is easy to kid yourself into thinking that you are not actually eating very much. Your vision becomes distorted. And needless to say, until you fully recognize what is happening you are not in a position to do anything about it.

To lose weight successfully you have to get back to enjoying your food without feeling guilty, and to do this requires you to learn to think in a different way. This is why hypnosis presents us with such a successful approach to effective weight loss.

Roseanna Leaton, specialist in hypnosis mp3s to lose weight easily.

P.S. You too can think about food differently and lose weight easily; Grab a free hypnosis mp3 from my website.

http://www.RoseannaLeaton.com

Get The Ultimate Hard Body and Ripped Abs by Robert D. Franklin

The Front Squat is an excellent exercise that will also get you rock hard abs.

As you may have already discovered, the squat is at the top of the heap (along with deadlifts) as one of the most effective overall exercises for stimulating body composition changes (muscle gain and fat loss). This is because exercises like squats and deadlifts use more muscle groups under a heavy load than almost any other weight bearing exercises known to man. Squats and deadlifts use hundreds of muscles throughout your entire body to move the load and also to stabilize your body while doing the drill.

These exercises stimulate the greatest hormonal responses (growth hormone, testosterone, etc.) of all exercises.

In fact, research studies have even proven that inclusion of squats into a training program increases upper body development, in addition to lower body development. Whether your goal is gaining muscle mass, losing body fat, building a strong and functional body, the basic squat and deadlift (and their variations) are the ultimate solution.

Squats can be done with barbells, dumbbells, kettlebells, or even just body weight. Squats should only be done with free weights – NEVER with a Smith machine! My program, The Truth About Six Pack Abs contains the full story on why machines are so inferior and even potentially DANGEROUS compared to free weights.

The type of squat that people are most familiar with is the barbell back squat where the bar is resting on the trapezius muscles of the upper back. Many professional strength coaches believe that front squats (where the bar rests on the shoulders in front of the head) and overhead squats (where the bar is locked out in a snatch grip overhead throughout the squat) are more functional to athletic performance than back squats with less risk of lower back injury.

A combination of all three (not necessarily during the same phase of your workouts) will yield the best results for overall muscular development, body fat loss, and athletic performance. Front squats are moderately more difficult than back squats, while overhead squats are considerably more difficult than either back squats or front squats.

The front squat recruits the abdominals to a much higher degree for stability due to the more upright position compared with back squats. It is mostly a lower body exercise, but is great for functionally incorporating core strength and stability into the squatting movement. If you're doing front squats right, you'll feel a hard contraction in your abs during these.

It can also be slightly difficult to learn how to properly rest the bar on your shoulders. There are two ways to rest the bar on the front of the shoulders.

In the first method, you step under the bar and cross your forearms into an “X” position while resting the bar on the dimple that is created by the shoulder muscle near the bone, keeping your elbows up high so that your arms are parallel to the ground. You then hold the bar in place by pressing the thumb side of your fists against the bar for support.

Alternatively, you can hold the bar by placing your palms face up and the bar resting on your fingers against your shoulders. For both methods, your elbows must stay up high to prevent the weight from falling. Your upper arms should stay parallel to the ground throughout the squat. Find out which bar support method is more comfortable for you.

Then, initiate the squat from your hips by sitting back and down keeping the weight on your heels as opposed to the balls of your feet. Squat down to a position where your thighs are approximately parallel to the ground, then press back up to the starting position. Keeping your weight more towards your heels is the key factor in squatting to protect your knees from injury and develop strong injury resistant knee joints.

For more effective full body exercises, visit the website below.

The Heart Beat of Anxiety Relaxation by Michael Logan

Anxiety relaxation sounds like it is impossible to do, at first reading, doesn't it?

But the search term anxiety relaxation probably refers to how to relax from anxiety, and I can offer some experience there, having dealt with (and I am still dealing with) a heightened startle response and hypervigilence since I was six years old.

In fact, my children, once they learned that Daddy was really funny looking when surprised by a loud noise behind him have taken great delight in inducing a startle response by sneaking up behind me and yelling and then running away.

My first antidote for my ever present over vigilence was ethyl alcohol which works fast and works every time used.

However that medication comes with some serious side effects, and I do not recommend it for your anxiety relaxation.

What I can recommend after years of trying out various tools, like Transcendental Meditation, Chi Gong, EEG Biofeedback, heart rate variability biofeedback, bio-dots, handwarming biofeedback, progressive muscle relaxation, Open Focus, physical exercise, sweat lodges, binaural beat tapes, neurolinguistic programming, (after all, I am a counselor) is the heart rate variability biofeedback tool which includes Open Focus and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy components.

The one thing that makes this tool so superior in my mind is that it is learned. I can cue the physiology on any given heart beat and feel it happen. While the other tools I mentioned are powerful, they require time and often I do not have that time available. In other words, a learned behavior can be practiced on any given heart beat without equipment like computers, sensors, head phones, ect. The training is portable.

So heart rate variability biofeedback can be used as a lifestyle tool and not just as an antidote to anxiety.

I can practice heart rate variability biofeedback every five minutes for two heart beats to keep my heart beat coherent which means that every cell in my body will beat on that frequency too, and when my heart moves into that coherence I feel really good even though I have not gotten richer or grown more hair.

In other words, anxiety relaxation is an inside job. Anxiety Relaxation and Your Brain Fitness?

I first came across heart rate variability biofeedback in the late 1990's and began using it personally and professionally in 2000, so I had some years of experience teaching it to my clients in domestic violence and anger management groups when I first came across a reference to the brain fitness revolution that is going on now.

And heart rate variability biofeedback has been recommended as part of the tool set one needs to use to encourage neurogenesis or the growth of new neurons daily (that is right, replacement parts) and neuroplasticity, which is the term used to describe what neurons do, sometimes within minutes, when they learn something new.

If you have a 62 year old brain like mine which occasionally forgets where its glasses are, then you are probably interested in neurogenesis, which was only discovered a few short years ago.

OK, so maybe this brain fitness stuff is very confusing for you.

For a very clear and mostly jargon free overview, I suggest you read Brainfit for Life written by Simon Evans,Ph.D. and Paul Burghardt,Ph.D. who are neuroscientists at the University of Michigan.

They write about the pillars of brain fitness and how attending to those pillars prepares the brain for neurogenesis and neuroplasticity.

Those pillars are physical exercise, the most important, nutrition including antioxidants and omega 3 fatty acid, sleep, stress management, since excess adrenalin and cortisol kill those new neurons, and novel learning experiences, which usually consists of the kind of learning involved in learning a new instrument or a new language.

Imagine my surprise when I saw a recommendation for heart rate variability biofeedback from one of the leading lights in the brain fitness field, Alvaro Fernandez.

For once I was actually ahead of the curve.

So it turns out that living a brain fit lifestyle also impacts your anxiety relaxation, much to the delight of your brain.

There are also some computerized brain fitness tools available for you to try out in your quest for neurogenesis.

The research is beginning to demonstate that there is great viability in them. Hope you enjoy.

Top Ways That Anyone Can Use To Help Prevent Hair Loss by Jeff Schuman

There are many people that find themselves losing their hair and don't know how to stop it. This is more of a common problem than you may think it is and for anyone that is dealing with it you need to know the top ways that you can use to prevent hair loss.

The following are the best ways to help anyone prevent the loss of their hair.

One: Take good care of your hair - Everyone knows that hairstyling and hair products are not known for hair loss but if you use too much bleaching or you do repeated coloring then this can damage your hair. For some people it will even damage the scalp and this can lead to hair loss.

Always take really good care of your hair and keep it as healthy as possible. Plus don't overdo coloring or bleaching to avoid any problems this may cause.

Two: Be careful of your hairstyles - There are many hairstyles that will cause stress or traction placed onto the strands of your hair and this can cause them to get uprooted from your scalp. The hairstyles that can cause this problem include:

- Braids

- Corn rolls

- Pony tails

You can still wear these hairstyles just don't wear them every day.

Three: Exercise and eat healthy - There have been researches done that show that being deficient with some types of vitamins and minerals can cause a loss of hair. You can prevent this by eating nutritious foods for every meal.

The exercising is important so you can be sure that the nutrients get to the parts of the body where they should be. Aerobic exercise is a good one to do on a regular basis. Others you can do include:

- Walking

- Swimming

- Running

- Bicycling

Four: Vitamin supplements - Eating right is not always enough for getting the vitamins that you need to prevent a loss of hair. Taking vitamin supplements is a good idea for anyone to be 100% sure you are getting all the vitamins that you need to keep your hair healthy and in place on your head.

Five: Herbs for loss of hair - There are many herb remedies that can be found that will help with hair loss prevention. You just have to take the time to find them and then learn what it can do to help you with this problem before deciding to use it.

Knowing the tops ways to use to help prevent hair loss will give you the best chance possible of not losing anymore hair. You can even find ways to re-grow the hair you have lost. No one these days has to live with hair loss because there is help available for preventing it if you just take time to look and use them.

High Blood Pressure by Dr. A. R. Scopelliti

Hypertension affects about 1 in 4 American adults and is one of the most common worldwide problems afflicting humans. It increases the chance of heart disease and stroke for those afflicted, so it’s important to understand how to lower hypertension. High blood pressure, aka hypertension risk factors include obesity, drinking too much alcohol, smoking, and family history of hypertension. Hypertension is the most important modifiable risk factor for coronary heart disease (the leading cause of fatality in North America), stroke (the third leading cause), congestive heart failure, end-stage renal disease, and peripheral vascular disease.

Normal blood pressure with respect to cardiovascular risk is less than 120/80 mm Hg, (however, unusually low readings should be evaluated for clinical significance as well). Prehypertension is a new category emphasizing that individuals with prehypertension are at risk for progression to hypertension and that lifestyle modifications are important preventive strategies. Home blood pressure predicts cardiovascular events much better than do office readings and can be a useful clinical tool. Anyone with hypertension should be monitoring their own BP at home. BP kits are available everywhere, and they are inexpensive. If your BP readings suddenly become low, you should tell your doctor to titrate downwards your medication so that you do not become syncopal, (passing out). The following are the ranges of BP:

Normal – Systolic, (top number) lower than 120, diastolic, (bottom number) lower than 80.

Prehypertension - Systolic 120-139, diastolic 80-99.

Stage 1 hypertension- Systolic 140-159, diastolic 90-99.

Stage 2 hypertension- Systolic equal to or more than 160, diastolic equal to or more than 100

Recommendations to lower blood pressure and thus decrease cardiovascular disease risk include the following:

• Lose weight if overweight. Even a few extra pounds will raise blood pressure.

• Google DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) for a reasonable diet, which is rich in fruits and vegetables.

• Limit alcohol intake to no more than 1-2 drinks/day.

• Increase aerobic activity (30-45 min most days of the week).

• Reduce sodium intake, learn to read nutritional information labels on products you purchase.

• Maintain adequate intake of dietary potassium, calcium and magnesium for general health.

• Stop smoking and reduce intake of dietary saturated fat and cholesterol for overall cardiovascular health.

Dr. Scopelliti is both a Fellow of the American College of Functional Neurology, and, a Fellow of the American Board of Vestibular Rehabilitation, practicing at the 279 Professional Arts Bldg at the rear of Monmouth Medical Center, in Long Branch, NJ. His office specializes in the drug free management of patients suffering with vertigo, dizziness, imbalance, presyncope, dystonia, TBI, headaches, ADD and other brain based disorders. As a community service, Dr. Scopelliti offers a free computerized risk of fall posturographic analysis and consultation. The office can be reached at (732) 229-5250. Dr. Scopelliti has a wealth of information updated weekly on the web at www.dcneuro.net. You may also obtain a free report on vertigo and dizziness by subscribing on line to our E News.

Personal Training: Improve Your Lower Back Health by Understanding Posture Force Couples by Anders N W Lindgreen

All the muscles in our bodies are anatomically structured to balance each other, and whenever one is stronger than the other we get aches and pains. If you see someone with a really tight chest, for example a guy who only does bench press, chances are they have curvature in their upper back, separated shoulder blades and shoulders that are rotated forward. So to balance this you would have to strengthen the muscles in your back that pull your limbs the opposite way, which is something you need to be aware of in your personal training regime.

In terms of your lower back posture, there are four major muscle groups working in conjunction with one and other. Your lower back muscles and your front thighs will pull your hip to create a curve in your lower back, while your gluteus (bum muscles) and your abdominals will pull your hip the other way, creating a more flat lower back. When in balance, you should have a slight curve in your lower back but when one force couple are stronger than the other, you will either be left with a flat back and no bum, or an excessively curved back and larger-looking bum. Either situation will increase the risk of lower back pain in the future.

By far, the most common imbalance is the curved lower back and what you need to do is to strengthen your gluteus muscles and your abdominals, while stretching your front thighs and your lower back. To combat the flat back and flat butt syndrome you need to strengthen your front thighs and lower back while lengthening your gluteus (and back thighs as well). The abdominals are rarely too short, and you should generally be very careful with abdominal stretches as you can only accomplish them by excessively curving your lower back.

Now these imbalances may be due to poor biomechanics, which in layman’s terms mean that in one particular exercise involving more than one muscle group, you are either not activating them in the right order or at all. And with lengthening you need to, apart from making sure you hit the appropriate muscle group, do it for long enough. Generally 5-15 minutes per day and muscle is recommended with more being better.

If you are a member of a gym there will be professional’s at hand to help you troubleshoot and correct your technique where necessary, and it doesn’t have to cost you a cent. The reason I haven’t prescribed any particular workouts or stretches here is because it may do you more harm than good. Had you been a client of mine I wouldn’t just tell you, do this, it’d start by investigating what you are already doing and how you are doing it and so should you. Best of luck!

Exercise Tips for Vegetarian Weight Loss by Laura Ng

To lose weight effectively as a vegetarian, eating a right vegetarian weight loss diet is not sufficient. You should factor in exercises to achieve more rewarding fat loss results. But you can't just do any workouts or do anytime if you want to get the most fat-burning response out of exercising. Check out these 7 exercise tips and you'll begin shedding unwanted excess body fat all day long - 24 hours round the clockwork.

Exercise Tip 1 - Interval Training

Do short burst interval training such that you'll transition between hard and easy exercise with active rest in between. Not cardio. Steady-state cardio only burns fat during the exercise bout while interval training will continue to burn fat throughout the day. (Interval training works extremely well for vegetarians who take up a nutrient-packed vegetarian weight loss diet because such diet will fuel your body with plenty of energy to help you sustain the short-burst exercises.)

Exercise Tip 2 - Metabolism Booster

Boost your metabolism to an all-time high with bodyweight exercises. Don't waste time doing many reps of exercises with those little dumbbells which only maintains a slow, steady state of metabolism.

Exercise Tip 3 - Ab Flattener

All pros know that crunches do not work on burning belly fat. So, do total body ab exercises like Stability Ball Jackknives, Side Planks, Cross-Body Mountain Climbers, and Stability Ball Rollouts, etc. You'll get rid of your stubborn belly fat faster. Again, a quality detoxifying vegetarian weight loss diet which helps to remove toxins from your belly fat and cleanse your body will help you achieve optimal belly fat loss.

Exercise Tip 4 - Best Time to Exercise

Morning is the best time to burn more fat. But if you can't work out in the morning due to shift work or odd working hours, never mind, other timings will still help you burn fat, albeit slightly lesser.

Exercise Tip 5 - Eating for Energy

You can work out before breakfast if you don't feel hungry or feel slightly hungry only. But it's best to take 2- 3 whole grain crackers or 2 slices of wholegrain bread (as light snack) 30 minutes before you exercise since most of the energy you got from dinner the night before could've been used up by the following morning, and you need some fuel to power your workouts in the morning.

Exercise Tip 6 - Eating for Recovery

Eat a nutrient-dense vegetarian meal that contains both protein and carbohydrate within 2 hours after your workouts to help your muscle recover and restore your glycogen loss.

Exercise Tip 7 - Proper Hydration Techniques

Don't drink too much water before exercise. Just consume enough for hydration purpose. During active rest in your interval training, take small sips of water to quench your thirst. Even right after the regimen, take small sips. Increase your water consumption only 30 minutes after the regimen.

Note: Your exercises will help you lose weight with minimum effort only when your body receives vital nutrients via a quality vegetarian weight loss diet.