SOME FACTS ABOUT SUGAR!!

Some of us have a love affair with sugar.  It's a fact...so take a good grip of these facts and determine for yourself how much or how sweet sugar really is:

• Sugar can supress the immune system
• Sugar can cause juvenile delinquency in children
• Sugar can cause hyperactivity, anxiety, inability to concentrate and crankiness in children
• Sugar can increase reactive oxygen species (ROS), which damage cells and tissues
• Sugar can lead to ovarian cancer
• Sugar can cause osteoporosis
• Sugar can cause arthritis
• Sugar can lead to alcoholism
• Sugar can cause to tooth decay
• Sugar can cause vericose veins
• Sugar can cause hemorrhoids
• Sugar can cause toxemia during pregnancy
• Sugar can increase cholesterol
• Sugar can contribute to diabetes
• Sugar can cause cataracts
• Sugar can ruin the sex life of both men and women by turning off the gene that controls the sex hormones
• Sugar can cause obesity
• Sugar cause inflammation

Now this is just a handful of reasons why sugar is not the best thing for our bodies.  Sugar is naturally found in various foods, but to keep the shelf life of certain items more sugar and even sodium are added.  When we consume these goods any number of things can happen (all in the bad sense) when coupled with inactivity, genetics, lifestyle, sleep and a number of other factors. 

Some time ago, our society was made up of mostly slender people.  Overweight people stood out amongst the crowd.  Now the reverse is true, it is especially sad when we are facing an obesity epidemic in children.  People are claiming to be "born fat" these days...it has nothing to do with what they're putting in their bodies or their lifesyles in general, but soley to do with genetics.  Which in my opinion is vastly incorrect.  We may not be able to change our height or the color of our skin or eyes...but because your mom/dad died with high blood pressure issues, obesity related problems including cholesterol etc, doesn't mean you have to.  Change is necessary sometimes to carry on a species.  In our case it's absolutely true.

Think about your choices and when you choose something rich in sugar also think of the consequences your body will then have to face.


Visit youtube, search: Karlenex and enjoy. 
Change will come, if only you allow yourself to change.
Resources: Suicide by Sugar by Nancy Appleton, PhD and G.N. Jacobs

Your everday workout regimen:

Here's a great way to start getting Summer ready: Your 30 day workout, Diet/Beauty tips below:

For the next 30 days do the following: (no excuses) Workout Title: TERRIFIC TWENTY-FIVE
(THIS STARTS TOMORROW MAY 12TH, 2010)

• 25 push ups (start with knees on the floor if full body extension is too hard, butt, head, shoulders, legs are all level)
• 25 squats (legs shoulder width apart, toes turned out slightly, butt down, shoulders back, back ached, go below parallel)
• 25 sit ups (legs at about 30 degrees, back, head and shoulders are aligned, go all the way down and all the way up. Tip: tighten your stomach and hold your breath when you come up, quick inhale on the way down...repeat)
• 25 jumping jacks (clap your hands at the top of each jumping jack)
• 25 lunges (90 degree angles for both front and back legs, knees DO NOT slam to the floor ever)
• 25 burpees (keep your butt down, knees drive into your chest with each leg cycle)
• 25 sec push up hold (get into push up position, straight legs, straight arms, butt down, head, shoulders and butt are in one straight line, hold this position for 25 sec)

It is not going to be easy if you are not accustomed to working out, but be patient with yourself.  This requires no equipment and not a lot of space.  This can be done right next to ur bed as u get up in the morning.  For the 1st two-three days, take as many rests as you need....then push yourself to finish all 25 in one shot.  Find a rhythm, stick with it and when you feel like u can't do anymore, tighten your stomach and dig in further.  So, let me know how it goes.

In 15 days: take it up a notch by timing yourself, remember you are doing this everyday, so write your time down on day 15, 16, 17 and so on, and see if there is an improvement on day 30.  I will be putting up my scores as well. (Don't be afraid, we all have a starting point and yes, I need to do better as well.)

Beauty tip:
Check out this link to find what works best for u or what's in your part of the world:
http://www.cosmeticsdatabase.com/browse.php?category=bar soap

For body clensing try: Kiss My Face, Olive Oil, Fragrance Free


Diet tip:
Last week we reduced out juice intake and eliminated sodas, substituting these with water.  This week, cut out fried/processed foods and potatoes/potato products.  That includes chips, french fries, home fries..., irish potatoes, english potatoes, sweet potatoes anything made from potatoes.  A healthy sub for potatoes: squash of any kind.  Dig in.

Tomorrow I'll upload a workout playlist that you can try...

MAY IS BIKE/CYCLING MONTH IN NYC......

All roads lead to SUMMER 2010, so let's enjoy bike month in a low cost, fun fashion shall we??

So I got to thinking, how can i get ready for Summer, enjoy Bike Month and have fun all at the same time without breaking my pocket on having to buy a bike and special gear (shoes, clothes, water bottles etc). Daaa, spin studio right?  YESSS...ok, so  I did some research and got feedback and here's the studio I chose and why.  Introducing FLYWHEEL SPORTS....

This spinning studio was described as "THE ULTIMATE SPIN EXPERIENCE"...

Here were my findings:

• The staff is professional yet friendly, if you are a regular...they call you by name.  (Not a factory/plant atmosphere)
• Things that are free that most other studios have you pay for: water, spinning shoes and towels.
• The ultimate in clean studios, spacious with an adjacent yoga studio (post workout...ahhhhh)
• Personal amenities provided and get this, the bathroom is not the changing area...if you don't want it to be.
• Three-tiered stadium seating
•  Technologically advanced spinning equipmentPerformance logs (tracking performances per ride)
• Competitiveness taken to a new level, race against your neighbor if you dare.
• Convenient locations at JCC on 76th Street (Upper West side) and in the Flatiron district on 21st street
• For all of this the cost must be out the roof? WRONG!!

Check out their site: http://www.flywheelsports.com/

They even have discount codes, unlimited memberships that don't dig into college funds.

Ok so that said, I will be going back....again....and again....and yes...again.  Here is the link to the events for Bike Week, so enjoy my fellow health/fitness fanatics. http://bikemonthnyc.org/events

Let's get Summer ready....together:

We'll take baby steps together:
Weekly discussions on diet, exercise and beauty (yes, for men too):

Let's begin:

Diet:
Eating foods that make you healthier:

• Eat more nutritionally dense foods, instead of calorie dense foods.  - Stay away from processed and fried foods
• Eat more alkaline foods, instead of acidic foods - if your food intake is too acidic, your body will take nutrients needed from your bones to satisfy it's needs (eg Calcium) 
• Try substituting your juices and soda based drinks for water.  Start slowly, if this is easier for u.  If you are used to drinking juice in the morning/hot chocolate, juices with lunch and dinner.  Start by drinking just juice in the morning and sub everything else.  Then eventually take away the juice/hot chocolate in the morning as well.  Black coffee is still suitable, no sugar or cream though.  (oops, yeah i said NO SUGAR OR CREAM).

Ok, so let's take baby steps...every week if we try something new it's much easier than taking everything away all at once....but education is key.  So read on and do your research.

Exercise:

• Try a mix of cardio and strength training.  I would reccommend more strength training than cardio (for both weight loss and weight gain - diet plays a very important role in achieving your goals.  It also plays a part in your recovery time as well)

Beauty tip:

• Be sure to moisturize your body especially your face before going to bed, namely your face and your extremeties (hands, your feet, especially your heels...this added moisture will be needed when the heat arrives)

Here are some things that you can try to transition to a healthier lifestyle:

• Sunbutter (healthier than peanut butter, but tastes just like it)
• Almond butter (not as smoothe as Sun butter but it's just as healthy)
• Substiutute cauliflower for potatoes in your regular mashed potato recipe (recipe to follow)
• Try run/walking, start with 30 sec run, 1 min walk, then increase your run to 1 min run, then 30 sec rest, then when that's mastered try doing it in ratios of 2:1 until you don't have to rest for 5 mins then keep adding 30 secs onto the 5mins.  This may take some time, so please be patient.  (after all Rome wasn't built in a day...right)

Pls post any questions or comments, they will be answered or addressed.  If there is a specific topic that you would like to know about, please feel free to add those in as well.

The Cardio Debate

Losing  weight without doing tons of cardio...

Year after year gym members run, walk or swing their extremities on electrical machines for several hours a week, months or even years...but they still look the same.  Everything has it's purpose of course, but to enlist "cardio" as the main or sole source of weight loss can be deemed as incorrect.  From personal experience apart from cardio not being the most thrilling of workouts, it can for some yield slow results and does not strengthen muscles throughout the body.  Some people may not be looking for physical muscle definition, but at the end of a year of running on a treadmill, one would hope somewhere would be stronger as well as being thinner.

Research has shown that strength training stimulates fat loss and it's guaranteed, if you do strength training for even half the time that is dedicated to cardio, results would be clearly evident.  Here are some examples of strength training exercises:

1. Ball slams for 1min and 2 mins of jumping rope (do 5 times, with 30secs rest after each set)

http://media.crossfit.com/cf-video/CrossFit_BallSlams.mov

above: illustrations of ball slams.

     2.   Mountain climbers for 1min and 2 mins of push and press (do 5 times, with 30secs rest after each set)
http://media.crossfit.com/cf-video/CrossFit_SherwoodPushPressDip.mov
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IO5KVEoEbo4&NR=1
click the link above for an example of the push press


    3.  Box jumps for 1min and 2 mins of renegade rows (using a dumbbell)



BoxJumps_exercise_2up.jpg
http://media.crossfit.com/cf-video/CrossFit_BoxJumpVariations.wmv

Food Focus: The Egg

Is it healthy to eat an entire egg?

Give your opinions, and the answer will soon follow.

The Squat:

Positioning is very important in most exercises to increase effectiveness and to avoid injury.  Proper positioning while squatting, feet should be shoulder width apart angled outward slightly.  Always looking forward, torso upright, shoulders back and always moving in a straight line up and down (never swaying in various directions).  Now at the base of the movement, you should feel like you are about to sit in a chair... calf and hamstring nor chest and thigh should meet, then back to an upright standing position.  If you feel off balance, check your foot positioning and at the base of the movement push back further into the invisible seat.  See illustration below.

 

 

Thanks to :http://www.marylandaau.com/images/squat.gif for this illustration, feel free to browse this link for further information.