SELF HEALTH + HEALING

"For most of my life, I followed a bodybuilding approach to fitness based on aesthetics, frequent eating, and targeting 1-2 muscle groups each workout."

 

My fitness bible was “Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Guide to Modern Bodybuilding” and I “chased the pump” for many years. I worshipped hugely muscular dudes with 20-inch biceps, so of course I did their 20-set arms routines, which I read in Muscle & Fitness magazine to get my 12-inch teenage guns bigger.

 

After over 10 years of following the bodybuilding path, I realized my athleticism and overall health were declining. I was tighter than Tin Man, I lacked the balance and coordination I enjoyed as an avid athlete growing up, my frequent eating schedule created unnecessary anxiety in my life, and finally, I had an unhealthy focus on how I looked.

The Ultimate All-Day Guide To Snacking

 

When your alarm goes off in the morning, we're willing to bet your first thought is, How can I squeeze in 20 more minutes of much-needed sleep? And then it's probably, What am I going to eat today? We get it, we pretty much always have food on the mind. Still, planning out a full 24 hours' worth of meals and snacks can be daunting. 

With this all-day primer, though, we've got your back on not only how to eat well from morning to night, but also when to re-fuel. First step? Treat yourself to avocado goodness, spiced-up coffee, and an apple cider vinegar and honey concoction (just trust us on it). You're in for a delicious day.

There's no medical definition for what counts as a "superfood," but that doesn't mean it's bogus. Here's what it means, along with some healthy options.

 

Ever wondered what people mean when they say you should eat more superfoods?

You're not alone. As it turns out, there's no legal or medical definition for what counts as a "superfood." Nutritionists and public health experts rarely use the term.

But that doesn't mean it's completely bogus. In fact, there is some scientific basis for calling a food "super."

 

"The year 2015 was an exciting one in wellness. The healthy food “bowl” took over our breakfast, lunch, dinner, and our Instagram feed. Amanda Chantal Bacon’s adaptogen dusts (hello, Sex Dust) became a staple of our smoothies."

 

We saw the rise of the fitness omnivore, partially fueled by the growth of Class Pass. Vegans got glam as our dear friends Rich Roll and Julie Piatt graced the New York Times Styles section, and vegan restaurants become some of the most desirable dining destinations, thanks to Gracias Madre and Crossroads in Los Angeles and Dirt Candy, Semilla, and by Chloe in New York.

 

We expect 2016 to be even better for wellness enthusiasts as healthy living is sweeping the world. Here are 10 trends to watch over the next year:

From cooking at home to walking faster, there are lots of ways to improve your health with minimal effort.

 

So you've resolved to be healthier this year. Congratulations! Now how are you planning to keep that resolution?

Luckily, there are some relatively small changes you can make to your life right now to start living healthier.

We've put together a list of some of them. Read on to start your healthier life!

"If you pause to breathe properly, your skin will become smoother, fresher, less tired-looking'

Not that we want to add to your list of new year’s resolutions, but if we  could just suggest one  more it would be to take a breath. Yes, really. While the average person breathes in  and out more than 23,000 times a day, the majority of those breaths (especially when you’re awake) are short, shallow ones that just reach the chest."

 

‘Or what I call “stress breaths”,’ says Rebecca Dennis from the Breathing Tree, a self-help course and  series of workshops and retreats that teaches better breathing for the stressed-out and beehive-brained among us. ‘Everyone makes themselves so stressed out by trying to do everything and be perfect, and never is this more apparent than in January,’ says Rebecca.

Include the following 10 immune system boosters in your recipes and meal planning, and you'll increase your family's chances of fighting off those winter bugs before they get you sick.

 

If you're looking for ways to prevent winter colds and the flu, your first step should be a visit to your local grocery store.

 

Feeding your body certain foods may help to keep your immune system running strong. Plan your meals to include the following 10 powerful immune system boosters and you may increase your family's chances of fending off those winter bugs before they get anyone sick.

From the outside looking in, exercise sure looks like a form of medieval torture. The exertion, the grunting, the self-inflicted pain -- it's not exactly a walk in the park.

 

"Except that it is. It is exactly a walk in the park.. If you're still not exercising because you "hate exercising," then it's time for a little chat. Your "I hate exercising" excuse is about as acceptable as claiming you hate puppies, and both speak to potentially serious problems with your heart. Here's how to push past the pain and start moving your butt."

 

In the face of holiday stress, better breathing reduces physical tension, promotes mindfulness, and helps us rest.

 

The good news is that we're all equipped with a natural superpower to manage stress: breathing.

 

By training ourselves to breathe properly and leverage the power of our respiration, we can reverse the negative physiological responses that dampen our holiday spirit. Better breathing also reduces physical tension, promotes mindfulness, and helps us rest -- all useful in decreasing the impact of holiday stress.

"Skipping breakfast, a popular form of intermittent fasting, is a practice that I believe most people can benefit greatly from. In my experience, breakfast is the most important meal of the day … not to mess up. I have discovered that what I eat (or don’t eat) in the mornings has an enormous impact on how I think and feel for the rest of the day. "

 

When I suggest skipping breakfast to some people, I am usually met with the same three reasons this could be a bad idea:

 

Reason #1: “You would starve!” Not true. There will be a period of about a week when you might feel hunger pangs shortly after waking up, but there is a way to curb that. Adding coconut oil or heavy cream to your morning coffee or tea is a great way to ease your appetite while still training your body to burn fat for energy.

And none of them are stretches!

 

Below is a TEDx talk given by Mark Mattson, the current Chief of the Laboratory of Neuroscience at the National Institute on Aging. He is also a professor of Neuroscience at The Johns Hopkins University, and one of the foremost researchers in the area of cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying multiple neurodegenerative disorders, like Parkinson’s […]

 

"We could not predict that prolonged fasting would have such a remarkable effect in promoting stem cell-based regeneration of the heatopoietic system. . . . When you starve, the system tries to save energy, and one of the things it can do to save energy is to recycle a lot of the immune cells that are not needed, especially those that may be damaged.  What we started noticing in both our human work and animal work is that the white blood cell count goes down with prolonged fasting. Then when you re-feed, the blood cells come back. ” – Valter Longo, corresponding author (source)

Scientists are unlocking the secrets to why it's difficult to rid ourselves of fat once we have it.

 

When we get overweight, a protein in our bodies tends to locks the excess fat, preventing it from being burned. Research shows that mice lacking the gene to produce this protein burn off excess weight faster.

 

Fat is stored in our bodies in two forms, white adipose and brown adipose tissue. The white fat is regular fat, and gives up energy whenever we need it. The brown fat, though, is burned only to keep us warm. Babies have a lot of it, because they’re more susceptible to the cold than adults. And it’s this brown adipose tissue that gets locked up by the protein, sLR11, say researchers from the University of Cambridge in the U.K.

Get rid of that extra layer of insulation we all seem to put on this time of year.

 

Winter bod: The softer shape we take on when daylight feels in short supply and the weather calls for comfy layers. You haven't stopped working out; it's just that you have a little less motivation than you did during, say, the summer, and a lot more desire for, say, carbs-and-couch time.

 

This workout, from Tamara Pridgett, NASM certified personal trainer, can help counteract that. "You're targeting the four areas of the body that tend to soften up the most -- the abs, upper legs, butt and arms. You'll get your heart rate up to burn calories, too," says Pridgett, head coach at Tone House gym in New York. So, grab a small towel and a timer and get started.

 

By Mark Jellison, CSCS, SFG

"Are you looking for fun, quick, and challenging exercises that will increase the intensity of your workouts? Plyometrics might just be the answer. As a 3x USA Decathlon team member, I know the power of plyometrics. But these exercises aren't just meant for serious athletes; even weekend warriors can add plyometrics to their workout routine to reap impressive benefits."

 

What Are Plyometric Exercises?

 

 

Plyometrics are movements performed rapidly where there's a quick stretching of the muscle followed by a forceful contraction. Some examples include jumping rope, throwing objects like a baseball, and kicking like in martial arts.

 

High-intensity exercises like plyometrics are so effective because they:

1) Help you burn more fat than low-intensity exercise.
2) They train your fast-twitch muscle fibers, which are responsible for speed and power.
3) They're a fun way to train like a professional athlete.

 

How much, what kind, and when? Time to question (only some of) what you know about fueling up.

 

All athletes follow (or at least are aware of) the same nutritional guidelines: drink a protein shake within an hour—at most—after working out. It’s the same token of advice we’ve been hearing for years. But does it still hold true? It may be time for the rules of protein—namely, quality and timing—to be rewritten.

Functional medicine, a science-based, whole-body approach to addressing chronic disease, focuses on the underlying causes of chronic diseases, unique to each patient.

 

In the 25 years since nutritional biochemist Jeffrey Bland, Ph.D., of Gig Harbor, Washington, coined the term, this science-based, whole-body approach to addressing chronic disease has gained widespread traction. More than 100,000 physicians—60 percent of them medical doctors—have trained with the Institute for Functional Medicine he founded in Washington and New Mexico, and numerous medical schools have added its tenets to their curricula. More naturopaths and chiropractors are also distinguishing themselves with a functional medicine emphasis.

 

“It is not alternative medicine at all,” stresses Bland, whose latest book, The Disease Delusion, details how functional medicine can curb chronic diseases like arthritis, diabetes, dementia, and heart disease, which constitute 78 percent of U.S. health care costs. “It’s the basis of 21st-century health care,” he says.

Seaweed could be a miracle food—if we can figure out how to make it taste good.

"Dana Goodyear visits Bren Smith’s farm to learn about the environmental and nutritional possibilities for kelp."

 

Seaweed, which requires neither fresh water nor fertilizer, is one of the world’s most sustainable and nutritious crops. It absorbs dissolved nitrogen, phosphorous, and carbon dioxide directly from the sea—its footprint is negative—and proliferates at a terrific rate. Smith’s kelp can grow as much as three-quarters of an inch a day, maturing from pinhead to ten-foot plant in the course of a winter, between hurricane seasons. It is resilient, built to take a lashing, but if a storm wipes out the crop he can just start over. Every year, he harvests between thirty and sixty tons of it, about the same per-acre yield as a potato farmer. Plentiful, healthy, and virtuous, kelp is the culinary equivalent of an electric car. “You’re not just gaining nutrition, you’re also gaining absolution from guilt,” Mark Bomford, the director of the Yale Sustainable Food Program, says. “This is your get-out-of-anxiety-free card.”

Most of prevention is fairly straightforward and, unfortunately, there are no shortcuts. But then again, the most important steps you can take to safeguard your health are well within your reach.

 

I'm often asked for medical advice by friends, family members, even new acquaintances: What about this diet? What should I do about this symptom? What about this medication?

People are usually disappointed when I don't share their enthusiasm about the latest health fads. Members of my family, in particular, are often underwhelmed by my medical advice.

I'll be the first to admit that I don't always do a great job of conveying why I'm skeptical about the newest medical technology, reports of the latest health news and fashions and even people's symptoms. Mostly it's because in my experience so much about health just isn't that simple.

"The weight-loss "industry" is full of myths.

People are being advised to do all sorts of crazy things, most of which have no evidence behind them.

Over the years, however, scientists have found numerous strategies that seem to be effective.

Here are 26 weight-loss tips that are actually based on evidence."

Want to continue to crush well into your 80s? Here’s how.

 

I recently spent a few weeks immersed in Fast After 50, along with a few other books on the topic, including Margaret Webb’s Older, Faster, Stronger, Lee Bergquist’s Second Wind, and Bill Gifford’s excellent and entertaining Spring Chicken. My interest was both professional and personal. I was staring down the gun barrel at 50, the ominous milestone, just a year and change away. Should I prepare to surrender to backgammon and bocce, or was there still hope for my lifelong addiction to biking, skiing, climbing, and other outdoor activities and races?

 

While all the books were informative, and even inspirational, chronicling many aging athletes who still excelled at their respective sports, Friel’s was the only one dedicated to mapping out a plan of action. A few years ago, Friel, 71, author of the classic Training Bible series and one of the most respected figures in endurance coaching, noticed that his own power on the bike was fading. His training group, which varied from young to old, routinely started dropping him on climbs, which had been rare in the past. Compelled to see if science offered any solutions, he dove into the research literature, which was limited but enlightening. Were there ways to beat time, the ultimate foe?

"Think of fascia as the most sensitive, highly interconnected system in the entire body — it's the life force next to blood. Without fascia, toned and structured muscle would turn to hamburger meat, organs would spread like wildfire and bones would crumble, as fascia is the single element that organizes and suspends these parts of the body. It's the most highly innervated tissue, sensitive to every hormone in your system, recoiling with every bump and bruise sustained."

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Our understanding of fascia in modern science will revolutionize how we exercise, how surgeons operate, how athletes train and how we address pain management. Fascia is the frontier of body knowledge, and the better you understand what it is and how it works, the more in tune with your body you'll be. Here's what you should know about fascia.

Working out could help us fight off colds and other infections, a new study suggests, providing more incentive to exercise as the temperatures drop.

 

Working out could help us fight off colds and other infections, according to a timely new study. The study, which found that regular exercise strengthens the body’s immune system in part by repeatedly stressing it, was conducted in animals. But the results most likely apply to people, the researchers say, and could offer further incentive for us to remain physically active this winter.

 

In broad terms, our immune system reacts to invading microbes through a variety of cells. Some of these cells don’t directly combat the infection, but instead promote the development of inflammation. When we think of inflammation, we usually think of fever, swelling and redness. But inflammation can also be a good thing, helping the body to heal itself as it fights invading microbes.

How Gut Bacteria Affects Basically Every Aspect of Your Health

 

"The probiotics hiding in your yogurt and most fermented foods don't only help with digestion"

 

One of the most exciting and revolutionary topics in health right now is also one of the least sexy: We’re talking about the bacteria that live in our digestive tracts—what science types often call the gut microbiome. Our bodies play host to trillions of these critters, and they make up a mini-ecosystem that helps us break down the food we eat and absorb its nutrients. At least, that’s all we thought the microbiome did.

 

Recent research has shown, however, that our belly bacteria have an incredible impact on everything from fat loss to inflammation levels and perhaps even our susceptibility to depression and anxiety   

 

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Hesitant to do a vegan type diet? Well we checked it out and vegetables can still help you gain muscle. We even give some recipes that are vegan style.

 

Your mom was right. You have to eat your veggies. Here’s everything you need to know about the best foods you have to start eating.

For many years, it’s been widely believed that a vegetarian dominated diet can’t work if you’re trying to put on quality muscle.

 

However, from experience, I know this isn’t entirely true. Vegetarian diets, and veggies in generalare thought not to contribute to weight gain as they have fewer calories when compared to proteinssuch as chicken, beef or fish.

 

But, if a vegetarian athlete or trainer includes the right veggies in their diet, and at the right times, they can be successful in their goal of gaining muscle and maintaining a strong, healthy body.