Making-Money-Month Is Now!

You might be surprised to know that there are many reasons why we gain weight that have nothing to do with calories. Here are five of them:

Prescription drugs. A few prescription drugs are known to promote weight gain: certain antidepressants (particularly Prozac, Paxil and Zoloft), steroid anti-inflammatories (prednisone), drugs used for for bipolar disorder, and medications given for hyperthyroidism.

Scrawny muscles. Muscles are the body’s primary engine for burning calories. Any physical, whether walking in a shopping mall or running up a mountain, will use more calories if there are more muscles involved in the actions. Bigger muscle mass also increases our calorie burn when the body is at rest. Simply said, the more muscles you have, higher the rate of metabolism.

Dehydration. When your body doesn’t have sufficient water to function, it holds on to the water it does have. This triggers water retention in the cells, which adds inches to our body.

Artificial sweeteners. Be cautious of the substitute sweeteners that tout zero calories. There are two reasons why they may promote weight gain to the unaware dieter. In 2008, a study by Duke University determined that Splenda causes weight gain and destroys beneficial bacteria in the digestive track. There is also mounting evidence that artificial sweeteners increase insulin levels, which causes the body to store fat.

Bad food combining. Medical research that shows that the proportion of carbohydrates, protein and fat directly influences our insulin levels, which in turn, impacts how much fat our body stores. This is true for every meal, including small snacks. If you eat a reasonable snack of a rice cake with sliced banana, you are consuming a meal entirely of carbs — no protein and no fat. Despite the fact that your calorie intake is roughly 150 calories, your insulin levels will spike as though you just ate a few donuts. The key to keeping insulin levels optimal is to have a little protein and fat with every carb we eat.

Obesity triggers numerous serious medical issues. We all understand that dieting isn’t as easy as it seems. To start with, you need to make sure you know how to lose the extra pounds. Remember that it has taken months or even years to put the weight on, still losing it in as much time is not many people’s idea of fun. Everyone wants the effects to be visible quickly when they are dieting. You need to discover a program to assist you to lose the extra weight safely, but now and again, this frequently ends up in more medical issues than it solves. That is the reason why you have to be particular regarding the plan you choose.

Gastric bypass surgery provides swift body fat reduction, but individuals who choose this kind of surgical operation run a higher chance of getting stones in the kidneys or gall-bladder, and anemia. Overeating subsequent to gastric bypass surgery can often result in you having diarrhea or vomiting. Many patients who have undergone the surgical option also experience allergic reactions to particular food groups, diarrhea and the cold intolerance. This is evidently not sensible. Fat burners offer a better selection if you really want to shed those excess weight fast. Fat burners accelerate the metabolic processes in the body by raising your internal temperature, which simulates the effects of exercise to help unburden yourself of the unwelcome pounds. Different kinds of fat burners utilize carnitine, hoodia, and sesamin to accelerate metabolic processes and lose those unwelcome fat stores. Liquid fat burners are very similar to those available as capsules, however, they will obviously come in liquid form. Naturally, they act nearly in realtime because fluids are digested more quickly.

Whether you choose surgery or intend to change your diet and lifestyle, you should take care that you your nutritional demands. Restricting your food consumption can also mean limiting your nutrition and the variety of important vitamins and minerals you can get from your diet. So, the right supplements and drinking enough fluids are crucial. If you wish to further boost your metabolism, put together a physical exercise routine that includes both stamina-building routines as well as strength routines.

Everybody wishes we could discover a miracle that will let us get rid of all that excess body fat instantaneously. Becoming healthier should be the focus of your efforts. In conclusion, it’s recommended that you follow a healthy eating plan, work out regularly and start using a good multi-vitamin to vastly improve your prospects of reaching your ideal weight.

Fulvic Ionic Minerals might just be one of nature?s greatest kept secrets. Users of Fulvic Minerals have accounted finding vitality, loss of excessive appetite, a stronger immune system and many other benefits. Ultimately, like any nutraceuticals product you must make a conclusion on your own about the strength of such a product. This is simply because the FDA doesn’t approve nutraceuticals.

You might be curious how an acid can help you feel better, particularly when you may have also seen that alkaline substances may be better for your body. First of all, Fulvic is not truly acid , it was described this because in early pioneering days acids were used to extract organic fulvic matter from substances such as fossilized peat moss. Since that time, better methods to extract fulvic have been discovered. It is always best to find a Fulvic product that has not been processed with excessive heat, chemicals or acids. You are much better off with an all natural, organically processed Fulvic acid product.

True Fulvic acid should contain no less than seventy two minerals in their ionic form and should contain the eight essential amino acids. It is very important to note that you should be looking for fulvic that has no minerals in their molecular form as it is likely to have heavy metals in it. There are only a couple of Fulvic sources that have been found to have 0 heavy metals and only one hundred percent ionic form minerals.

Please go to this very good resource for kettlebell infos!

Hardly a recent invention is the pair of kettlebells. The estimates endorsed by historians locate the instrument as having originated early in the 1700s. Over the last couple of years, however, kettlebells have shot up in popularity to become one of the most popular workouts worldwide.

All you need are the weights and you can begin using these simple exercise routines. We wouldn’t advise leaping directly to the more advanced exercise routines. Always learn to walk before you run, as your father might say. A very important move before starting to use Russian kettlebells involves making sure you select the appropriate weight. Happily, with these types of exercises, the weights used are surprisingly light. For women, an 18lb kettlebell is often more than required as you begin, and men should choose the thirty-five pound weights. This is because the benefits of a kettlebell workout are related much more closely to the motions conducted than they are to the actual weights used. Ensuring you’re doing your techniques right is crucial, so order an educational DVD or pamphlet to get it right. The first routine to work on with the kettlebell is a two-handed swing. This motion acts as the core of most other exercises, and its simple appearance is misleading. No matter what your motions must be flowing, rather than abrupt. Remember to confirm your lift doesn’t come from your back — use your hips instead. Having mastered this movement, you’re free to take a stab at the more advanced routines. To retain your dedication, variance is key; you could perhaps vary the backing music, rotate techniques in and out of the workout program, etc. As you get comfortable carrying out these maneuvers, think about introducing a second set of Russian kettlebells into your routine maybe with a selection of weights. That way, you can make sure your muscles are toiling at maximum effectiveness and not run the risk of any counter productive plateauing. A point we really must point out here is that the kettlebells won’t help you increase your strength or play a role in body building. Instead, rely on them to lose weight and, also, to improve and maintain all round fitness and health in the long term.

Finally: introduce a session working with the kettlebells to your broader workout scheme. Keep in mind that you can decide how frequently to use the exercises. Do you want to sustain your weight? A mere two routines every week is about what you want. Or, you can step up the pace, work out five or six times per week, and burn off that excess fat…

Kona Berry is rich with phenolic acids and healthy plant nutrients. These phenolic acids are brilliant anti-oxidants. Kona Fruit begins it?s healthy goodness along the inclines of high altitude mountain side with rich organic soil. Nourished by mineral-rich soil and warmed by intense tropical sunlight, coffee plants produce a profusion of wonderful bright red fruit, known as Coffee Fruit.
Kona Fruitis so exceptionally rich in anti-oxidants because it grows in high altitude, low-latitude regions where the sun?s rays are strongest. As the plants mature, they develop these powerful anti oxidants to protect them from damage caused by high doses of the sun?s radiation and the natural byproducts of photosynthesis.
You might be asking what the difference is between a Coffee Berry and a Kona Bean. Kona berries are the outer layer of the coffee fruit and are a rich source of anti-oxidants. Research reports that 400 mg of concentrate has a radical scavenging activity equal to 9.6 grams of fresh blueberries, 6.2 grams of strawberries, or 4.9 grams of raspberries.
This potent anti-radical power has not been commercially available previously because the fruit rapidly perishes, which is why only the bitter seed has been commercially exploited.
“We have discovered a means of growing, harvesting and processing the whole coffee fruit so that we arrest the development of mycotoxins and thereby render the coffee fruit for human consumption.
Because no one until now has figured out how to do this in a cost effective manner, whole coffee fruit has simply not been available.”
Kona Fruit contains five of eight rare and essential sugars called monosaccharides, with research indicating that these are essential for the proper functioning of various biological systems.
Almost half of the dry weight of the concentrate is made up of polysaccharides, such as mannans and arabinoglactan. Conventional roasting destroys these nutrients, so they are not found in traditional brewed coffee.

Kona Fruit is now available in a new energy drink called XOWii.

Obesity is turning into a serious, modern epidemic which may lead to heart dysfunction, diabetes, and a number of other major health concerns. Naturally shedding weight is easier said than done. Before you begin, you must look into the best method of ridding yourself of the surplus weight.

Remember that it has taken years to gain this excess weight, still dieting for the same time period can be painful. Dieting for long periods and not seeing the results is bad for motivation levels. You need to discover a program to assist you to achieve your target weight fast, but sometimes, this leads to further side-effects. So you must look into every selection available before picking out one. Gastric banding operations promote drastic weight reduction, but people who undergo this sort of surgical procedure run a greater chance of getting gallstones, kidney stones, and deficiencies that can lead to anemia. Binging after surgery can often result in you being nauseous or vomiting. A high proportion of patients who opt for surgery likewise experience allergies to certain food groups, constipation and the inability to tolerate cold conditions. Of course this is plainly not a sensible option.

fat burners may provide a smart solution if you really need to drop weight fast. These supplements copy the effect of exercise on the human body by producing heat, promoting fat burning. Assorted active ingredientse.g. caffeine and bitter orange are employed in fat-burners. Liquid fat-burners are well-nigh identical to those in capsule form, only they will come in liquid format. Of course, they start working virtually without any delay because a liquid is generally absorbed almost straightaway. Whether you select a gastric bypass or hope to diet, you should fulfill the nutrients required by your body. Weight loss plans and surgical operations will often decrease the variety of important nutrients available in your body. Consequently, an appropriate multi-vitamin and staying hydrated are essential. An exercise regime normally speeds up weight reduction, in particular if you mix muscle-building routines with stamina-building routines to increase the pace at which you metabolize fatty tissue. We all want the magic answer to how to lose fast. Taking care of your health should be your ultimate goal. Planning your meals properly, exercising on a regular basis, and using the right supplements if necessary, is in all probability everything you have to understand with regard to how to shed weight fast.

What do you think about when you are running? Does it make a difference? Research suggests it definitely can.A survey into what runners think about when competing identified four categories. These are relevant to participating in many sporting activities: -

1) Inward monitoring - focusing on how you feel while running.

2) Outward monitoring - focusing on aspects of the race such as distance, terrain and tactics.

3) Inward distraction - having thoughts irrelevant to the race such as solving ‘mental puzzles’ or what we are going to do after the race.

4) Outward distraction - focusing on surroundings irrelevant to the race such as scenery.

The research concluded that inward distraction (3) should be avoided as it reduces awareness resulting in either running too fast and ‘burning out’ or running too slow. Inward monitoring (1) is useful for judging the required pace and also being aware of any warning signals such as muscle strain. The researchers believe that most attention should be focused outwardly on aspects of the race to minimise the influence of discomfort whilst remaining aware of the race situation.

However, I would like to add another category, I call it ‘interactive awareness’. This is thinking of how we are running in relation to terrain. This is not to be confused with what we are feeling or race strategy but to the actual movement.

For example, when running are you aware of the location of your hip joints or which muscles lift the leg off the floor? Focusing on the act of running can help to ‘free up’ the movement if unnecessary tension can be identified. Misconceptions about our body will influence the way we run. The pelvis is part of the back yet many run with an excessive swing of the pelvis because the hip joints are held too tightly. The swaying action of the pelvis will also twist the lumber spine where the psoas muscle (hip flexor) has its origin. The psoas lifts the leg therefore inappropriate movement of the spine reduces efficiency and alters the direction of the pull.

This type of thinking is neither inward nor outward, as it requires us to maintain awareness of who is running, how we are running and where we are running. For example, see if you can be aware of yourself reading this article. What parts of you are making contact with a surface? Is your jaw tight? If we are aware of the feet landing on the ground when running, we can appreciate the force opposing our weight as gravity helps us to move forward.

Newton’s third law of gravity states that ‘the mutual actions of two bodies upon each other are always equal and in opposite directions’, or more commonly known as, ‘for every action there is an equal opposite reaction’. We do not have to be pulled down by gravity yet many runners appear to lose the battle.

Contemplate this law when running and we can allow ourselves to ‘go up’ to go forward due to the action of the legs and utilise energy more efficiently. Another way to describe this is ‘Thinking in Activity’.

So on your next run try and maintain an awareness of what you are thinking. ‘Interactive awareness’ can exist concurrently with thinking about the race and surroundings. but if you find your thoughts drifting onto to something beyond your run to the point of distraction, let your awareness come back to your moving parts and the ground.

Roy Palmer is a teacher of The Alexander Technique and has studied performance enhancement in sport for the last 10 years. In 2001 he published a book called ‘The Performance Paradox: Challenging the conventional methods of sports training and exercise’ and is currently working on a new project about The Zone. More information about his unique approach to training can be found at www.fitness-programs-for-life.com

He works with sports people of all abilities to recognise and overcome performance-limiting habits.

By now you are well aware that increased activity burns calories and fat. Exercise is essential to your health and well being, but could you be taking part in too much of a good thing? The old adage, more is not always better, is a good rule to live by.

When it comes to fat loss, you need to be in tune with your body and learn how to listen to it. The idea behind fat loss is to manipulate the body often. As long as you are a step ahead of your body’s actions, you will be on top of the fat loss game.

What exactly does that mean? How do you stay a step ahead of your body? Let’s explore this concept a little further.

Megan is an e-client of mine. When she began her fat loss endeavor she started cardio six days a week for forty-five minutes and saw great results in a matter of weeks. Her new cardio program was exhilarating. It pumped her up mentally and physically and gave her a newfound energy she hadn’t felt in years.

It wasn’t long before she extended her forty-five minute ritual to an entire hour for six days a week. With the extended time, she saw even more results. She was delighted.

Eventually, the daily hour cardio chore was wearing on her. Her changes ceased, she was constantly fatigued, and began to hate cardio with an intense passion.

To combat the plateau, she added yet…more cardio on top of fatigue and hatred for exercise. Her grueling hour sessions turned into an hour and fifteen minutes to even longer, an hour and a half.

Nothing is more aggravating than putting all your time and effort into something that takes you no where.

Her fat loss results stalled dead in their tracks and even seemed to reverse. How could something once so productive now be destroying her weight loss efforts?

What may surprise you is that excess cardio can be counterproductive. Any cardio or weight training session lasting over a continuous hour does more harm than good.

Keep Cardio Productive
Cardio is heart healthy and it’s a great exercise, but if your goal with cardio is to burn fat, you need to take it with a stride and make it fat burning productive.

I come across many ladies who are quite active. This is all fine and dandy, but when they are active and top that with teaching spinning classes, kickboxing, high energy videos, and general cardio machines, this can be a recipe for disaster, setting your further back than when you started.

Don’t go overboard with cardio. Keep it simple, yet effective.

Cardio Intensity
Cardio intensity is a factor to keep fat burning beneficial. This does not mean to do an all out killer cardio routine that leaves you crawling from the gym in a near death status, but to simply shake things up a bit to force the body to respond.

A good way to master cardio is with HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training). There are many variations of HIIT and my favorite is the 2/2 ratio.

Example of 2/2 Ratio HIIT

Minutes 1-2 - Warm up

Minutes 3-4 - Low intensity

Minutes 5-6 - High intensity

Minutes 7-8 - Low intensity

Minutes 9-10 - High Intensity

Minutes 11-12 - Low intensity

Minutes 13-14 - High intensity

Minutes 15-16 - Low intensity

Minutes 17-18 - High Intensity

Minutes 19-20 - Low intensity

Minutes 21-22 - Cool down

With HIIT, your body never falls in a rut because you are constantly changing the intensity to prevent cardio adaptation.

Progressive Cardio

Another successful cardio tactic to use is Progressive Cardio. Your body can adapt to anything in a short amount of time and Progressive Cardio can stop adaptation before it occurs. Progressive Cardio is simply increasing your cardio each week by either the numbers of day or the amount of time to invite change and prevent staleness, provided you don’t overdo it.

Example of Progressive Cardio

Week 1 - 4 times a week for 20 minutes

Week 2 - 4 times a week for 25 minutes

Week 3 - 5 times a week for 25 minutes

Week 4 - 5 times a week for 30 minutes

You will notice how each week is a step advanced from the previous. This is how you make cardio work in your favor to burn fat.

Adopt Weight Training
Have you even seen someone in the gym doing endless hours of cardio and still look soft and unfit? That is because she is lacking lean muscle, which is built from weight training and excessive cardio burns muscle.

Weight training builds lean muscle mass. The more muscle you add to your frame, the less you need to rely on cardio. Muscle is metabolically active and allows you to burn more calories at rest and at play. Of course, this does not mean to kick cardio to the curve, but having a balance of both in your program will keep things interesting and will give much better body transformation results.

Summary

Once you understand how you can manipulate cardio, you will be able to master the fat burning game. Realize that you don’t need three or four different cardio methods stacked on top of one another. Just use cardio wisely and you will have the advantage. Remember, cardio is a fat loss tool, not the determining factor.

Karen Sessions has been in the fitness industry since 1988. She embarked on weight training to overcome an eating disorder, Anorexia Nervosa in its early stages. She overcame the eating disorder, received her personal training certificate, competed in many local bodybuilding contests, and qualified for Nationals. Since then she’s went on to write six e-books (weight loss, female bodybuilding, contest preparation, leg training, figure/fitness secrets, and cellulite removal). She writes articles for several fitness websites, as well as her own, www.theelitephysique.com, and also distributes a monthly e-newsletter. She has a very active and lively forum, filled with positive and supportive people with informative content. Karen’s sole goal is to educate others and help them apply that knowledge.

Any competitive or recreational athlete will use a variety of cross-training methods or tools to complement their particular sport or to meet their fitness needs. One such tool that is becoming increasing popular is the Kickbike. The Kickbike is a high end adult version of a scooter. Although new to North America, the Kickbike has been around for about 20 years in Europe and the Netherlands where national and international Eurocups are held yearly establishing national and world records for distances ranging from 200m to 30km.

How does one train on a Kickbike?

The Kickbike is propelled forward by kicking back as you would on any scooter. The only new skill needed is learning how to switch kicking legs. There are two techniques that can be used for switching kicking legs. One is called the “Heel Roll” and the second the “Hop- Step” technique. How often you switch kicking legs is dependant on the person but usually a cadence of 3 to 10 kicks before you switch is normal. When attacking hills your cadence will increase. When descending hills you are best to just stop kicking and enjoy the ride. For those who would like to see both techniques you are invited to visit Kickbike Ontario’s website at www.kickbikeontario.ca were a short 36 second video clip is available.

What muscle groups are utilized?

Training on a Kickbike utilizes the large muscle groups that are used in running as well as cycling. When riding a Kickbike the standing or support leg uses primarily the quadricep and lower leg muscles, (tibialis, gastrocnemius, (calf), and soleus). Most of the load while riding is handled by this support leg which is constantly flexing thoughout the kicking cycle. The kicking
leg itself makes use of a pendulum type of kickback beginning at the hip which draws in the glutes, hamstring and calf muscle groups. As the kicking leg is brought forward and up the abdominals come into play. With a little practice a pushing motion can be added with the arms that will involve the pecs and forearm muscles.

Who will benefit from using a Kickbike?

The Kickbike can be used by those who are interested in light exercise while cruising the harbor front or bike paths though out the city or as a means of commuting to work. The Kickbike can also be used by those who have a more intense interest in cardio fitness and would like to avoid the high impact nature of running. Because it is low impact the Kickbike has become a popular tool with those mature athletes who have had to give up running due to knee or hip problems. The Kickbike is very light weight at 13 kg. making it ideal for just about any age group from 10 to 60 years of age. When you factor in the cardio and its low impact nature along with the utilization of the muscle groups discussed above the Kickbike is an excellent cross-training tool for any walker, runner, cyclist or for those who are recuperating from an injury. It is truly a fun and unique way to exercise.

Rodger Knight
Mathematics teacher, Basketball and Track Coach
at George S. Henry Academy in Toronto, Ontario

Also owner of Kickbike Ontario - website http://www.kickbikeontario.ca

Fitness in general includes both aerobic and anaerobic aspects. According to the priorities of the sportsman, one or the other of the two aspects will be emphasized, but the second one will not be neglected. The purpose of doing fitness exercises is, ideally, to create a complete athlete, able to face various physical and psychological demands.

The object of aerobic fitness is the so-called cardio training, a term which refers to the cardio-vascular system and the heart muscle (myocardium). We’ll talk about trainings which do not make oxygen duty and which are generally called ‘trainings of aerobic effort’. More exactly, they refer to efforts which take a long time (more than 12 minutes) - usually they take between 20 and 60 minutes and they determine acceleration of cardiac frequency and lung ventilation. Efficiency in training requires a frequency between 60-80% of the maximum cardiac frequency (calculated according to the formula 720-age - in years).

The typical exercises of aerobic fitness come from classic resistance sports (long distance running, cycling, swimming, fast walking, etc.) and from different aerobic training programs (aerobic gymnastics, step-aerobic, tae-bo, dance, etc.).

Aerobic fitness uses specific cardio machines: treadmill, classic or elliptical trainer, stepper,etc. Dosing the aerobic effort depends on the somatic type and the actual objectives of each sportsman.

Normally, the ectomorphic and mezomorphic types, which do not accumulate large quantities of subcutaneous adipose tissue, will need to practice for a rather short time (20-30 minutes per training in two or three trainings a week, in non-consecutive days). This time is necessary for realizing an effective cardiac stimulation, without the risk of losing muscular mass.

For the endomorphic somatic type, ‘benefiting’ of a lot of adipose tissue, aerobic training must last 45-60 minutes and needs to take place 4-6 times a week.

Even if trainings are extended (time, miles) and they are more frequent, their intensity, which is given by the cardiac rhythm per training, must remain high, so finally the body burns as many calories as possible. It is well-known that only after 20-30 minutes the body starts to mobilize the fat ‘deposits’. Before this, at the beginning of the training, the energetic support of the aerobic effort is ensured by the muscular and hepatic glycogen, the same as in anaerobic efforts, which are supported exclusively by the glycogen from the muscles and the liver.

This is one of the main reasons for recommending, in programs designed for losing weight, aerobic exercises - they are the biggest and fastest ‘fat burners’. Of course, the other big benefits of these exercises appear at the cardiovascular, pulmonary, psychological and other levels.

A real euphoria is observed at the psychological level during aerobic training. This is motivated by the big number of endorphins produced in the body by this type of effort. Endorphins, also called hormones of happiness, are not produced in such a big quantity during anaerobic effort. Anaerobic training determines a big release of catecholamine (adrenaline, noradrenalin), which are considered stress hormones.

A disadvantage of aerobic fitness is, first of all, non-developing a strong and fortified musculature, because of the reduced muscle efforts. We can also observe (and must resist) the monotony of the training, which is long and repetitive.

However, generally speaking, the advantages of aerobic fitness are remarkable and irreplaceable.

Gaby Munteanu is a fitness trainer, with over 15 years experience, and editor at http://www.healthfitnessworld.com. HealthFitnessWorld.com - Health, Fitness, Body Building, Weight Loss, Nutrition - Articles and Resources.

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