Fitness Tips For Life

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Children from newborns to teens need double the previously recommended amount of vitamin D, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). New research points to growing evidence that the nutrient once called “sunshine vitamin” is needed in increased amounts to prevent serious diseases, in addition to strengthening bones.

The new recommendation of 400 units daily replaces a 2003 AAP recommendation of 200 units daily. To meet the new vitamin D recommendation, millions of children will need to take daily vitamin supplements. This includes breastfed infants and many children and teens. The new recommendations include:

• Breastfed and partially breastfed infants should be supplemented with 400 IU a day of vitamin D beginning in the first few days of life.
• All non-breastfed infants, as well as older children, who are consuming less than a quart per day of vitamin D-fortified formula or milk, should receive a vitamin D supplement of 400 IU a day.
• Adolescents who do not obtain 400 IU of vitamin D per day through foods should take a supplement containing that amount.
• Children with increased risk of vitamin D deficiency, such as those taking certain medications, may need higher doses of vitamin D.

Read the rest of this entry »

Exercise is good for more than just your waistline. A recent study presented at the American Association for Cancer Research’s Seventh Annual International Conference on Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research suggests that regular physical activity can lower a woman’s overall risk of cancer – but only if she gets a good night’s sleep. Otherwise, lack of sleep can undermine exercise’s cancer prevention benefits.

“Greater participation in physical activity has consistently been associated with reduced risk of cancer incidence at several sites, including breast and colon cancers,” said James McClain, Ph.D., cancer prevention fellow at the National Cancer Institute and lead author of the study. “Short duration sleep appears to have opposing effects of physical activity on several key hormonal and metabolic parameters, which is why we looked at how it affected the exercise/cancer risk relationship.”

Even though the exact mechanism of how exercise reduces cancer risk isn’t known, researchers believe that physical activity’s effects on factors including hormone levels, immune function, and body weight may play an important role. The study examined the link between exercise and cancer risk, paying special attention to whether or not getting adequate sleep further affected a women’s cancer risk. Read the rest of this entry »

The diabetes rates in the US seem to have doubled in just the last 10 years with almost 1 in 10 people nationwide having diabetes.

The incidence of newly diagnosed diabetes in the U.S. nearly doubled in the last 10 years, with the south especially hard hit, according to the CDC.

The age-adjusted annual incidence of diabetes was 9.1 per 1,000 adults in 2005 to 2007, up from 4.8 per 1,000 in 1995 to 1997, reported Karen Kirtland, Ph.D., of the Division of Diabetes Translation, and colleagues in the Oct. 31 issue of Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

“Development and delivery of interventions that promote weight loss and increased physical activity among persons at high risk for diabetes are needed to reduce diabetes incidence,” according to an editors’ comment in MMWR.

“Also needed are public health interventions, including environmental and policy changes (e.g., creating or enhancing parks, walking trails, and access to healthier foods) that encourage healthy lifestyles and maintenance of healthy weight to pre­vent obesity and reduce the risk for diabetes.”

The report included diabetes incidence data for 33 states that collected data during both time periods in CDC’s Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System. Read the rest of this entry »

A while back I wrote some articles about how to decide on a fitness club. The articles were about joining a gym, gym staff, how far to the gym and how to tour a gym. I have to think that it would have been a good idea to decide what is important in picking a fitness trainer so that article is coming right away as well.

I would love to go into depth into how you can best choose a personal trainer but the busy time of year for getting a personal trainer is around New Years Day so I will put some stuff together for just before then. If you are looking now for a personal trainer though here are a few tips

Choosing a Personal Trainer

First of all make sure that your trainer has some kind of credentials. There are a couple of accreditation’s that personal trainer can get. Read the rest of this entry »

I just caught an article in a Hartford newspaper that talks about how dangerous the Biggest Loser TV show is for people that are morbidly obese or at lease sedentary with no fitness level because it would encourage them to exercise hard. The article made me mad because discouraging exercise is in itself irresponsible..

Who’s The Loser?: ‘Biggest Loser’ Workouts Questioned — Courant.com.

Well I was a little shocked although I am not sure if I really should be. This is the time for the backlash against the Biggest Loser. The Biggest Loser has now been on for a few years and the ratings are falling so why not say that the show is irresponsible and dangerous to copy. Read the rest of this entry »

JoLynn at the Fit Shack pointed me to an article that she wrote just over a year ago about a Periodic Mono Diet.

The idea of the diet is different than you might think of as a diet. This diet is not designed to help you lose weight, although you might, the idea is that you change your diet for a few days in order to clean out your Lymphatic system.

So what do you eat on this mono diet? Fruit for a few days or fruit and vegetables only for a few days. The idea seems to be to eat more raw food and to clean out that lymphatic system to help your body be better able at cleaning itself.

You cna read more at the Mono Diet post

A couple of weeks ago I got my annual Flu Shot. I know that some people do not bother with a flu shot because let’s face it no one wants to get a shot and every year people still get the flu even when they get a shot.

Well let me tell you, the flu shot is worth getting, most of the time out of the multiple strains of the flu out there the scientists get the flu shot just right to stop many of us from getting sick later in the fall and Winter

With flu season on the way, Google unveiled a new tool Tuesday dubbed Google Flu Trends, through the company’s philanthropic wing, Google.org. The new Web tool takes data from search queries and crunches the information to paint a real-time picture of the level of influenza infection in a given area of the United States. Read the rest of this entry »

I got my flu shot last week and I know that many people are nervous about getting a flu shot, let’s face it no one wants to get a shot just because it “might” help them stay healthy, but it really is important.

Studies show that even though a lot of press is made about the flu shot occasionally not being formulated to hit the right flu virus, more often than not the researchers are right on and a lot of sickness is avoided by getting a simple flu shot.

The flu shot may not just protect against influenza. A new study suggests it may also reduce the risk of developing a blood clot by as much as 26 per cent.

Researchers from the University Paris Descartes found that the flu shot was equally effective against two types of blood clots: deep vein thrombosis, which is a blood clot in the leg, and pulmonary embolism, which is a clot in the lung.

A blood clot can be fatal if it breaks loose, travels through the bloodstream and reaches the lungs.

The research, which included more than 1,400 patients, also found that the flu shot: Read the rest of this entry »

I was at the supermarket yesterday and while looking at the magazines I saw that Barack Obama was on the cover of one of the fitness magazines, I almost bought it to see why he would be on the cover but didn’t. I am still thinking about it today so I guess maybe I should go and pick it up this afternoon.

Anyway, back in May, Men’s Fitness magazine named Barack Obama one of its “25 Fittest” describing how Obama starts every day with a workout and generally skips fatty foods.

The magazine quotes former Duke University player and Obama staffer Reggie Love on the president-elect’s backetball skills “He’s wiry-looking but actually pretty strong,” Reggie said. “And he hates losing. He plays hard.”

Fitness advocates hope Barack can inspire Americans to get active just as he inspired young people, minorities and those who never voted to go to the polls. Read the rest of this entry »

What are the foods to gain muscle? I wrote a few posts last week that were about how to gain muacle and how to do weight workouts to gain muscle. One of the things that I kind of glossed over were the foods that you need to eat to gain muscle. Lots of this may just be a recap for lots of people but it is important to know what foods help you gain muscle and what your diet should look like.

Protein to gain muscle

The building block of all muscles is a combination of amino acids (the building blocks of protein) and water. If you look at that as part of your diet then you need to eat lots of protein. Here I want to stress lean protein, you know fish, chicken, lean beef, not Kentucky Fried Chicken or deep fried fish. Read the rest of this entry »