When most people think about exercise, they think of strength training and cardiovascular activities, e.g. lifting weights and running on the treadmill.  A good fitness program definitely involves doing both of these sorts of exercise, but it also includes a third often overlooked type of exercise – stretching.  Most people think of stretching as something you do for sore muscles or as a quick supplement for cardio or lifting.  However, these people fail to recognize the importance that stretching has on being fit.  Stretching provides you with a half dozen serious benefits; and anyone who wants to maximize their health should take stretching seriously.

Stretching initially promotes a greater range of movement and circulation through the joints.  This is excellent because it allows you to maximize your regular exercise.  By promoting good range of muscle movement through joints, you will be ensuring that your muscles can move in the ways needed to lift weights or cycle.  Often people injure themselves with their muscles are too tight to perform a motion the way it ought to be done, and stretching can help prevent problems like this.  

Stretching is one of the easiest ways to promote blood flow and circulation to the muscles that need it.  Increased blood flow provides a two-way street that helps muscles perform better with less effort.  On the one hand, the increased blood flow is able to bring oxygen and nutrients to the muscles in order to provide them with the energy they need to function properly.  On the other hand, the blood flow is there to flush out waste products that build up when muscles work out, including lactic acid.  Stretching also provides a low impact way to condition muscles and tendons.  The better conditioned your muscles are, the less prone to injury and soreness they are.  

By stretching before you engage in cardio or weight training, you will be warming up muscles and promoting blood flow and circulation; which is a definite way to enhance your workout.  However, just as important as stretching before running or lifting, is stretching after the exercise.  Post-exercise stretches help develop new flexibility and strength in muscles and tendons, and provide better conditioning to prevent injury.  Post-exercise stretches are also a good way to even out blood circulation and flush out the damaging lactic acid buildup.

One thing that everyone serious about stretching should know is that protein is a needed nutrient to promote healthy stretching.  Protein helps repair torn muscle fiber and can maximize the benefits that come from stretching.  One of the easiest ways to get added protein into your diet is through a whey protein supplement.  Whey protein is easier for the body to digest than soy protein, and provides better utilization and absorption into the body.  The reason you want to take protein in supplement form is for this reason, you want your body to quickly absorb the nutrients and get the nutrients to the parts of the body that need them.

For more info on tasty whey protein, visit My Top Form Protein

Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/health-articles/why-stretching-matters-and-how-to-maximize-your-stretches-1383345.html

Two of the greatest challenges many people have when they try to get in shape is monotony and boredom.  The Wii Fit changes all that.  Wii Fit is getting people in great shape because the exercises are fun, diverse, and entertaining.

I recently saw my friend Larry who I had not seen in over a year.  The last time that I saw Larry he was looking in great shape and well below his 43 years.  In fact, he looked so good I inquired about what he was doing.

“Well,” he exclaimed, “I’ve enrolled in this new exercise class at the gym and it gets me in great shape.”  I like to get my workouts at the workout room in my house or outside in the sun so I do not belong to a gym.  But, after I last saw Larry, he almost had me convinced.  Whatever program he was on was certainly working.

That was then.

When I saw Larry last week, he was back to his former self if not a little heavier.  He lamented about his physique which had been so great the previous year.

“What happened with the program?” I asked him.

He replied, “It just got too routine and boring.  Plus, driving to the gym was taking too much time.”

Larry is proof that getting in shape sometimes is much easier than staying in shape.  Workouts become tedious, routine, boring, expensive, and take up a whole lot of time.  However, staying in shape is so important for vitality and longevity in your life.

This is where Wii Fit Plus comes in.

Wii Fit Plus adds variety to your routine.  There are several forms of exercises from which to choose:  warm ups, cardio, strength, yoga, and more.  One day you can work your respiratory system with a great cardio workout and the next you can build up your muscles with strength training.  Following that, you may wish to choose yoga or a variety of mini routines that you can setup to focus on certain areas.

I love the pre-set routines offered by Wii.  You can choose workout durations of 20, 30, or 40 minutes that are different everyday.  This is about the amount of time that it would take to get to the gym and back.  With the Wii Fit Plus, you are already done with your workout in that amount of time.

But probably the best feature is the automatic goal setting and progress tracking.  At the gym, you work with your trainer to create a plan.  Then, you often carry that piece of paper around with you and have to manually track your progress.  Not with this game though.  The Wii Fit Plus tracks your progress so that you can see where you have been and, most importantly, where you are going.

It is no small wonder that the Wii Fit Plus (make sure you get the Balance Board option as it adds many new balancing workout) is a regularly one of the top rated Wii games. It provides you an opportunity not only to get in great shape, but to stay in great shape.

Wii Fit Plus has been selected as one of the Best Christmas Gifts for 2009. It makes a great Christmas Gift for Her 2009 and for him as well. The author of this article, Richard Mas, is a retail specialist and senior editor at The Christmas Store Online.

Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/health-articles/wii-fit-plus-review-a-great-fun-way-to-stay-in-shape-1364353.html

Many weight loss problems are due to psychological factors, but some are due to external factors. It’s either your mind playing tricks on you, or a busy schedule that’s the issue normally.

When you think about it losing weight is a mental game. Your body tells your brain you are hungry, but your brain has the last say in if you are going to eat right then or not. You have to learn to control the way you think if you want to lose weight and keep it off.

You have to realize that your mind is in control of everything you do. If you can make eating less a mental habit, then your body will follow suit. One of the biggest weight loss problems is not having the right mindset to make eating differently than what you are used to a habit.

Once you form the habit of eating less healthy food, and start seeing results, you will have a much easier time continuing your weight loss efforts. When you get used to it losing weight will not seem that hard after awhile. It’s the introduction to eating less that’s the hardest part.

Another big issue is having limited time to spend on preparing food, and eating more often during the day. You will need to do some advance planning so that you don’t mess up your weight loss strategy.

You should have your meal times planned out ahead of time. It’s a good idea to make whatever meals you need to take to work ahead of time too instead of getting food on the go.

You shouldn’t wait until you’re hungry to go find something to eat somewhere. Most of the time you will end up eating more than you would if you had planned everything out beforehand.

Set a timer or a stop watch to know when you should be eating your next meal if you don’t have exact times when to eat planned out. This way you won’t wait too long and end up getting overly hungry. When you wait too long to eat while you are dieting it can have very negative effects on your diet because it’s much easier for you to over eat.

Bottom line about having a busy schedule is that you need to plan your meals in advance to be prepared to grab the meal and eat it in a timely manner, so that you can get back to whatever you were doing in the first place.

Another problem when dieting is when the people you live with are not on the same diet as you. If your are trying to eat healthy, but your family or room mates aren’t it can be hard to see them eating all the foods you want to eat.

Keeping the “bad” foods out of the house in the first place is the easiest way to stay on the right track. If you can persuade your family to eat better foods, even if they aren’t eating the same amount of meals a day you are it will be a huge step in the right direction.

They don’t have to eat at the same times as you, or maybe even the same foods in each meal, as long as you only have the right types of food in your household it will be a big plus.

These weight loss problems can be avoided if you take action, and know how to deal with them. Once you have a concrete plan in place it’s not as easy to get diverted from your weight loss goals.

John Jameson gives his insights on some of the weight loss problems you may face every day. To find a solid diet plan that will shed weight off of you very fast John strongly advises you to go to http://lightningweightlossnow.com/top-diet-plans-review.phpArticle Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/health-articles/discussion-about-weight-loss-problems-1354801.html

So you want to know how to lose weight faster with exercise and diet. I am sure that you have heard it time and again that in order to lose weight effectively, you need to exercise and go on a good weight loss diet, so that your calories burnt can exceed the calories you consumed to lose weight naturally.

So why must we combine exercise with diet in our weight loss plan? This article will discuss which is a better way to lose weight. Exercise or diet or both.

You see, exercise plays only one part of a successful weight loss story. Professor Robert Kushner of Northwestern University and clinical director of the Northwestern Comprehensive Center on Obesity said that his overweight patients often tell him they are not getting the results they want from exercise. These patients will typically say that they have been working out three days a week for 30 to 45 minutes for several months and I have lost 1 or 2 pounds.

Dr Kushner said that he advise his overweight patients that exercise is very good for them, but for successful weight loss, he emphasizes a healthy diet in the beginning. “Firstly, we’ve got to get a hold on your diet,” Dr Kushner said. “Then, as you are losing weight, feeling better and you are getting lighter, you can then shift more and more toward being more physically active and then living a physically active lifestyle for the rest of your life which is critical to keeping your weight off permanently.

James O. Hill, PhD, professor of pediatrics medicine and the director of the Center for Human Nutrition at the University of Colorado at Denver said that Prof Kushner’s weight loss strategy is a reasonable approach to losing weight effectively but others have had success including physical activity early on. It is easier to cut 1,000 calories from a bloated diet than to burn off 1,000 calories through exercise.

Prof Hill went on to emphasize that there are numerous studies that show that exercise is associated with weight loss when done in enough volume and consistently. It all depends how much exercise you do.

Another medical doctor, Pamela Peeke, MD, MPH, FACP, said that she emphasizes getting exercise immediately with obese patients, partly for its mind body benefits.

Dr Peeke said that she asks her patients to start walking as a way to “celebrate” their body with activities. “For years, they have blown off their body, so by having them actually using their body, they can begin to integrate their body back into their life and not use it as a source of torture or torment or shame.”

All the weight loss experts metioned above agreed that no matter how you lose the extra pounds, you need to be active to keep them off. “You can’t find very many people maintaining a healthy weight who are not exercsing regularly,” Prof Hill said. “What we find is that people who focus on diets alone are not very successful in the long run without also focusing on regular exercise”.

He further warned that people can be wildly successful temporarily at losing weight through diet alone, but there are plenty of data to show that those people regain the weight if they are not physically active or exercising regularly. “When it comes to weight loss, you can’t talk about diet alone and you can’t talk about exercise alone because you absolutely have to address both issues at the same time,” declared Dr Timothy Church, MD, MPH, PhD, director of preventive medicine research at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge, La.

“The average person overestimates the amount of activity they are doing by about 30% and underestimates their food intake by about 30%,” said Kathianne Sellers Williams, MEd, RD, LD, a registered dietitian, personal trainer, and wellness coach in Atlanta. She said, “When I am looking at people’s food consumption and activities, sometimes things just don’t add up,” she said. “I do think that people think, oh, I just did 60 minutes at the gym or I just did 30 minutes at the gym and think that counteracts a lot of what they are eating. But the reality is, our food portions are huge.” Plus, you have to look at all the other calories you ate or drank that day and how sedentary you were apart from your workout. The rest of the day, you are sitting down and you are also eating other things,” Dr Peeke said. “How are you going to burn of those stuff, let alone this extra little treat that you just thought you wanted?”

It is hard to accurately estimate how many calories you burn working out. Dr Timothy Church said, “If it is an intensive workout, you will kind of instinctively think, wow! That’s cool! I just put enough in the bank for two days. But and you really have not!”

For example, it is estimated that a 150 pound person who bikes furiously for 30 minutes burn about 340 calories. Let’s just say that this person would have burnt 70 calories sitting on the couch watching TV, the extra calories they burned by biking drops down to 270 calories. That’s less than the 300 calories in just one cup of cappuccino.

Treadmills and other exercise machines often have monitors that estimate how many calories you are burning. Those displays are “close, but for each individual as they can vary quite a bit,” said Prof Kong Chen, PhD, director of the metabolic research core at the National Institutes of Health. Prof Chen suggests using calorie displays on exercise equipment for motivation, but not to offset your eating. “For example, it doesn’t matter if the monitor says, 300 or 400 calories. If you do that every day or increase on that level, then you have achieved your purpose. But if you’re feeding yourself against that, then no, I wouldn’t recommend that”.

Those machines may not subtract the calories you would burn without exercising. “It isn’t 220 calories for those 40 minutes of exercise versus zero. If they were sitting at work or playing with their kids, they are probably burning 60 to 70 calories during that period of time,” Prof Kushner said. “You have to minus out what you would burn if you didn’t exercise. So it really becomes much less.”

Therefore your best bet for effective weight loss is to lead a physically active lifestyle that goes above and beyond a brief bout of exercise. “It is not just about 30 minutes of exercise a day, it is about avoding being sedentary.” Dr Chen said.

So the message isn’t that the half hour on the treadmill isn’t any good, it is just that the 30 minutes on the treadmill is not going to make up sedentary hours. So you should weave in physical activities throughout the entire day.

So which is the best method for losing weight effectively and to keep the pounds off permanently? Diet or exercise? The answer is both together.

Chris Chew is a fitness personal trainer and author of “Burn Fat Build Muscles Fast”. More free articles at his sites at How To Build Swimmers Physique and Weight Loss DietArticle Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/health-articles/combine-diet-with-exercise-to-lose-weight-fast-1352365.html

How can you tell if your child has autism?

This is a question that has perhaps puzzled many parents, especially those with children showing unusual red flags pointing to autism. However, knowing whether one has autism or not can be a very difficult, strenuous, and often emotional task. The person involved, after all, can be loved one, a child, a relative-and, naturally, you wouldn’t want them to be afflicted by this horrible disorder. Still, the task must be done, no matter how difficult it is. Unfortunately, the signs are not as clear cut as they could be. For one, autism is not like a simple ailment like a fever where you can use a thermometer to measure whether one is inflicted by autism or not. Experts do tests do determine the presence of the ailment, of course, but how do you determine if you need to bring your child to the professionals for a more comprehensive analysis of the situation.

Many say that autism cannot fully be assessed until the child has reached the age of two. At this age, certain developmental signs can become more pronounced, hence making the assessment easier. But there are certain signs that can help you determine early on.

For instance, by the age of six months above, you can detect early signs of the disorder by checking the child’s social and oral skills. When the child does not coo or babble, does not make eye contact, or does not smile, your “red flags” should be raised, although might say you should wait for a few more months to check for other signs. Other “signs” at this point include: non-participation or non-response in any vocal activities and non-response to any game or activity that require their reaction (a peek a boo game, for instance).

At the age of one, the child should show attempts to speak, point, wave, respond when being called by name, grasp-or, basically, just to simply react. One of the main and most assuring sign of autism is indifference, the lack of reaction to any activity, sound, or visual elements around him. An autistic child, in turn, may also be overly sensitive to certain smells, sounds, and/or textures. Furthermore, if the child is prone to making repetitive actions or motions, along with other signs, parents should bring their child to experts right away. Other red flags: resistance to chance and an unusual attachment to a particular object.

At age two, the signs should be more pronounced. Along with the cited warning signs, other autism red flags include lack of joyful expression, indifference to social activities, loss of speech (by the child’s 24th month, he should be able to at least say two-word phrases that are meaningful or not simply imitated from someone else), among others.

Generally, the three main criteria of these sign are: impaired social interaction, restricted movement and interests, and impaired communication skills.

Obviously, as one could tell from these signs, it may be possible to tell if a child has autism at an early age, although it is not a possibility for most children. The signs that become apparent are not constant, and they are differently not standard to every child with the disorder. In any case, once these signs are detected, you should bring your child to medical experts who can treat the symptoms and help your child live a normal life.

For more information on <a rel="nofollow" href=http://autism-supplements.com title=”Autism Vitamins”>Autism Vitamins, and Autism and Fish Oil, please take a look at our Supplement Guide for Autism.Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/health-articles/recognizing-the-warning-signs-of-autism-1329160.html

There are a few basic steps to building muscle that are often overlooked even by people who have been working out for years.  These are simple steps to building muscle fast that can be done without drugs, supplements, or putting anything unnatural into your body.  All you need to do is remember them and take them to heart – and continue them for as long as you’re trying to put on muscle.

The first step is to commit to weight lifting three to four times per week.  You want to stimulate your muscles for maximum growth.  Putting stress (resistance) on your muscles results in them growing so that every time you repeat that stress, it gets easier for your body.  When you go home, you need to let your muscles heal through nutrition and rest.  Repeat this process, and your muscles grow.

The second step is to focus on 5 to 7 meals a day of a balance of carbohydrates, protein, and fat.  Your carbohydrates should equal about 45% of your intake, protein 35%, and fat should be the remaining 20%.  Over half those meals should be solid, whole food, and the rest can be liquid meal replacements.

The third step is to stretch.  You should aim to stretch at least half the amount you lift weights.  Stretching is a process that helps your body restore normal length to the tissue.  If you’re consistently training, your muscle tissues will shorten, putting you at higher risk for injury.  If you lift weights 4 hours per week, an additional 2 hours should be dedicated to stretching.

The last of these simple steps to building muscle fast is to avoid supplements that are newer – as in, those that haven’t been around for longer than 3 years.  This way, you’ll avoid being a guinea pig who suffers from the result of marketing hype in the latest fitness and bodybuilding magazines.  You should aim to include a multi-vitamin, fish oil capsules, powdered creatine and protein powder.  These will cover your basic health, strength, and muscle needs.

Shane McGriever runs a fitness blog to help skinny guys build muscle and gain weight without getting fat. Want to learn how you can quickly build muscle without drugs or supplements and train even less than you were before? Visit http://buildmuscleroastfat.blogspot.com/2009/09/vince-del-monte-honest-review-of-no.html

Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/health-articles/a-few-simple-steps-to-building-muscle-fast-1304212.html

Women are unique individuals each facing different health issues affected by diet, environment, heredity etc. However they generally fall into three age categories.

Women’s Health Age 20-35

Although women in this age group generally have fewer health problems than their older sisters they usually experience higher levels of stress compared to older women. The challenges of balancing children, career, and personal life can be stressful. During this demanding time in a woman’s life it is essential to make sure that you receive the proper nutrients to meet the energy levels your busy schedule demands. Doing so will keep you healthier now and build a good foundation for a healthy future.

The old adage “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure is certainly true in the area of skin care. Now is a good time to start taking care of your skin to help reduce the appearance of wrinkles down the road. A little sun is healthy, but too much can set the stage for skin cancers of all types.

Speaking of pounds, maintaining a healthy weight now will make staying healthy in your future years easier. Losing a few excess pounds is easier now than in midlife. Exercise and a diet full of nutritious foods is the best way to do this.

Women’s Health Age 35-50

As women enter their 30’s they begin a slow process of ending their reproductive years. This is known as perimenopause. Actual menopause is reached when your body has not experience your monthly cycle for one year. Perimenopause can last up to ten years. Every woman’s body is different and the duration and intensity of perimenopausal symptoms varies. If you experience at least 3 of the following symptoms you are probably entering perimenopause: moodiness, irritability, menstrual changes, sleeping disturbances, bloating/water retention, hot flashes, mild to moderate depression. Studies have shown that consuming phytoestrogens (plant estrogens) in addition to a healthy diet and lifestyle can reduce the severity of menopausal symptoms.

This is also the time when laugh lines and crow’s feet begin to show up, along with the dreaded double chin. As your skin ages collagen and elastin begin to break down, causing it to lose its firm supple appearance. New skin cell production begins to slow down and this may lead to a dry, dull complexion. Your scalp also is aging and this may lead to dull, brittle, even thinning hair.

Women’s health 50 and beyond

The major concerns for this group are heart health, keeping bones strong, and preserving healthy joints. It is vital to supply your body with the nutrients it needs to help prevent osteoporosis and heart disease.

Your skin will have matured as well. It now takes your skins cells twice as long to replace themselves as it did at age 20. Oil production decreases, leaving your skin significantly drier. Skin becomes thinner with age, making wrinkles, dropping, and irritation more likely. Years of sun exposure can make the skin tone uneven.

One way to be sure to get the nutrients you need is to take a good multi vitamin. This should be made of all natural ingredients, and cold-processed to retain enzyme activity. Make sure that your vitamin provider does clinical studies to prove delivery of the nutrients in their product, and is willing to publish the results.

Vickie Blair

http://www.vitamins4maxhealth.com/WOMENS_HEALTH