One Big Health Nut

Finding the energy to exercise can be difficult, especially if you have a busy schedule.  It is not difficult to understand why people turn to energy drinks and supplements for a boost.  After all, energy provides motivation to work out.  So which supplements heighten your energy levels and feed your motivation?   

The exercise and nutrition markets are flooded with supplements that increase your energy.  Most of the energy boosting supplements claim the added benefit of burning fat, too.  The energy enhancing ingredients most common in the energy drinks or supplements is usually caffeine, synephrine, and guarana.  Body building supplements use creatine and nitric oxide to feed energy directly to the muscles.  Some energy bars and drinks use protein and carbohydrates to provide long lasting energy to carry you through your work out.  

Energy drinks and supplements are usually intended for healthy individuals between the ages of 18 to 50.  The higher levels of the energy boosting substances can have side effects and aren’t recommended for people with health problems or who are on certain medications.  It is best to consult with your doctor prior to taking an energy supplement to ensure it is safe for your use. 

The three main energy supplement ingredients, caffeine, synephrine, and guarana, all provide similar physiological effects.  Caffeine and guarana are usually used in weight loss products also.  Supplements containing caffeine and guarana modestly increase your metabolic rate, encourage thermogenesis, and boost your energy levels allowing you to work out longer and harder.  The most popular supplements containing these ingredients are Stacker 2 & 3, Hydroxycut Hardcore, Xenadrine, and BSN NO-Xplode.   

Syneprhine works comparable to the way ephedra worked.  It increases the metabolic rate and calorie expenditure.  But synephrine doesn’t cause the dangerous heart and blood pressure changes that ephedra did.  You can find synephrine in energy supplements like EAS Thermo DynamX and TWINLAB Metabolift.   

Some of the energy and fat burning products have the unfortunate side effect of irritability.  This probably depends on the individual.  Some people are not able to take the energy supplements and fat burners on a regular basis because of the substantial effects of the irritability.  You have to make the decision of which energy supplement is best for you.  If you experience side effects that interfere with your daily responsibilities you may want to switch to a more natural energy supplement; such as the energy supplements containing protein or carbs.

Perhaps you started noticing that your child started to gain weight.  At first you thought it was just a temporary weight gain that would correct itself once your child hit his/her growth spurt.  Now you are suddenly aware that was several months ago.  Your child’s weight hasn’t leveled off; in fact your child’s weight seems to be increasing.  You’ve noticed a roll of excess weight around the middle and are now becoming concerned.   

Now that you have recognized your child may be starting to have a weight problem you aren’t really certain what you should do about it.  You don’t want to say anything that will hurt your child’s self esteem.  You are also concerned that by saying something that may cause your child to develop an eating disorder.  So you say nothing about the weight gain to your child.  After all, isn’t it more important that your child is comfortable with his/her body?  Your job is to raise a confident, healthy, happy child, right?   

Although it is true that you should raise your child to love their body and to be happy, it is your job to ensure your child develops healthy eating and exercise habits.  It is difficult to overcome the fear of hurting your child.  But there are ways to approach the weight gain issue without damaging your child’s self esteem or confidence.  Discuss the weight gain with your child’s doctor.  The doctor may be able to talk with your child.  You could work with your doctor to develop a healthy, nutritional diet plan that will keep your child from gaining any more weight.   

You can also help your child stop the weight gain by exercising with your child.  You could join a gym together, take exercise classes together, do exercise tapes at home together, and participate in physical activities with your child.  There are many outdoor activities you could do with your child that would help burn calories.  Taking a bike ride is a great opportunity to spend time together and exercise at the same time.  Sign your child up for a sport.  Sports will teach your child social skills, team work, and will keep your child active. 

Childhood obesity has become a great cause of concern among experts.  Statistics indicate that over 15% of children are obese.  This figure is up from 4% in 1970.  The U.S. Department of Health found that obesity results in the same number of deaths per year as cigarette smoking.  You are your child’s line of defense against early death, chronic diseases, and a diminished quality of life.  Don’t let your fear of negatively impacting your child’s self esteem stop you from saving his/her life.  Take action now.  Give your child the opportunity to have the life they should have, not the life they are forced to lead due to the limitations of obesity.  

It is not shocking to read that fast food is bad for your overall health and diet. What else could you expect from a food industry that promotes its service by claiming you’ll be served your food order in 90 seconds or less? Unfortunately the health and diet dangers don’t end with fast food chains. Restaurants food fare can pose a far greater risk with calorie and fat content than any of the fast food joints around.

The food at Outback Steakhouse, Chili’s, Lonestar, and On the Border may be delicious, but some of their foods should be considered a health hazard. Heart disease, high cholesterol, and obesity are some of the risks you are assuming if you make these foods a regular part of your diet. There is nothing wrong with splurging on a meal with a few extra calories, but these numbers are just down right scary.

Outback’s Aussie Cheese Fries with Ranch Dressing:

Calories 2900
Fat grams 182
Carbs 240

Lonestar’s 20oz T-bone:

Calories 1540g
Fat 124g

On the Border Grande Taco Salad with Taco Beef:

Calories 1,450
Fat 102 g
Carbs 78 g

Chili’s Honey Chipotle Crispers
with Chipotle Sauce:

Calories 2,040
fat 99 g
carbs 240 g

It is important to remember that calories count no matter where they come from. Don’t be lulled into believing that foods in popular restaurants don’t come with a price too. If the calorie and fat contents are this high, then you may as well go through the drive through. You would actually save your body from excess calories!

Inflammatory diseases are chronic conditions that are usually extremely painful.  Inflammation results when the body’s immune system attacks the joints.  The pain and stiffness can be debilitating.  Available treatments offer only temporary, but welcome, respite from the pain.  Researchers are working on developing treatment a new treatment from an unusual source, the chili pepper.   

Chili peppers contain a substance known as capsaicin.  Capsaicin is believed to offer significant pain relief for inflammation.  Capsaicin has been used in the treatment of inflammatory conditions and is an ingredient in some creams currently used to sooth the pain.  Unfortunately, but not surprisingly, a burning sensation accompanies the treatment.   

 The effectiveness of capsaicin in relieving the pain of inflammatory conditions has prompted researchers to study the possibility of developing a medicine in pill form from the substance.  The need for additional treatments with less serious side effects is substantial.  Capsaicin may be the solution.  Inflammatory sufferers may soon find a new, effective treatment option available.

If you want to have a great body, you must be willing to work for it. You will not be able to lose weight, tone your body, and maintain your weight loss without a good amount of effort on your part. Any diet or exercise plan that claims to help you lose weight and keep it off without adding or increasing daily exercise or while eating anything you want is a farce. So it should come as no surprise to you that in order to get a great butt, you will have to work for it.

Burning fat requires cardiovascular exercise. So pick a cardio exercise you can do at least four days a week and do it for 30 to 60 minutes. You can perform different cardio exercises or do the same one every day. Examples of great cardio exercises are running, bicycling, elliptical machines, and stair climber machines. The stair climber is excellent for whipping your butt into shape, literally. The cardio is necessary to lose weight and burn the extra inches off of your butt to make it smaller.

Besides a daily cardio exercise, you will need to do resistance exercises to tone the butt muscle, otherwise known as the gluteus maximus. The best resistance exercises to tone your butt are lunges and squats. There are many ways you can do lunges to ensure you work all parts of your gluteus maximus muscle. It is recommended that you use weights, usually 3-8lb hand weights, when performing the lunges and squats to make them even more effective.

Try these exercises to work your way to a great butt:

• Staggered squat – Stand with your left foot in front of the right, shoulder width apart. If you are using weights, clasp them in your hands with your fingers facing forward. Raise the weights up above your shoulder to about chin heights. Lower your body into a squat until your front knee is at a 90 degree angle. Make sure the pressure from lowering your body is in the heel of your foot. Keep your torso straight. Repeat this move 8 to 12 times. Then switch to the other leg.

• Reverse Lunge – Stand with your feet hip width apart. If you are using weights, grasp one in each hand with your fingers facing outwards. Hold the weights straight down at your sides. Take a giant step back with your right foot. Lower your body towards the floor into a lunge. Repeat this 8 to 12 times, then switch to the other leg.

• Forward Lunge – Perform the exercise exactly as above, except you should take a giant step forward. Follow the rest of the exercise instructions above.