From CookingLight.com

How does core training prevent back pain?
You’d think strong abdominals would simply act as a muscular back brace, but they actually help maintain better spinal alignment and posture, and thus allow for correct movement and less chance of injury.
What’s the best piece of core training equipment?
A stability ball is one of the few pieces of equipment that has a valid scientific basis. Studies have shown it helps build stability while engaging the obliques (the muscles on the sides of your stomach). It also allows you to make basic exercises more challenging.
How often do you need to train your abdominal muscles to build strength?
You use your abdominal and back muscles virtually all day long, so you need to build muscular endurance rather than pure strength. And with endurance, the more you can train, the better. Ideally, you should do 10 minutes of abdominal exercises each day. But even training three times a week will allow you to see improvements.
What are good exercises for training abs?
It depends on someone’s fitness level. Some general recommendations: If you’ve just had a baby, or if you’re an absolute beginner, the Cat/Camel is gentle but still effective. To do it, get on all fours and pull your abs in toward your spine, rounding your back. Next, release and push your belly toward the floor. If you’re an advanced exerciser, try the Bicycle. This move recruits the most abdominal muscles at once. Lie on your back with legs at a 45-degree angle, and crunch from side to side as you ‘pedal’ your knees toward your elbows.
Are regular crunches beneficial?
They are, but there’s a variation that’s even better: Do your basic crunches with one leg straight and one leg bent. Keeping one leg straight relieves pressure on the back. Simply do half of your crunches with one leg straight and one leg bent, and then switch legs for the second half.

http://www.cookinglight.com/cooking/hl/fitness/article/0,13803,1665534,00.html

1. Keep your gear packed
You’re less likely to work out on the road if you have to hit the mall when you arrive for a new set of gym clothes.
Many business travelers keep a bag partially packed with essential toiletries to avoid scrambling when a new trip pops up.
A pair of gym shoes that can double as running shoes, a sports top, shorts and a light jacket will usually do the trick.
2. Work out in the morning
An early workout gets you started with vigor and ensures that exercise makes it into your schedule.
3. Find out about gym partnerships
Your home gym membership may allow you to work out at affiliated gyms across the country. YMCA members usually are welcome at other Ys, sometimes for free.
Even if your gym does not have branches in other regions, some health clubs will welcome members of other clubs that belong to the same professional organizations.
For example, if your home gym belongs to the International Health, Racquet and Sportsclub Association, you may be able to work out at other affiliated gyms for a small fee.
Some hotels also partner with local gyms.
4. Pack emergency food
Avoid getting stranded with unhealthy vending machine options by packing a few things that will tide you over.
Eat healthy snacks such as energy bars, trail mix and turkey jerky.
5. Don’t let stress determine what you eat
Resolve ahead of time to stick to your healthy routine — working out early and packing healthy snacks will help.
Then make healthier meal choices when you have a chance to slow down.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/TRAVEL/09/06/fitness.tips/index.html

Small Steps
Take Small Steps Today!

1. Walk to work.
2. Use fat free milk over whole milk.
3. Do sit-ups in front of the TV.
4. Walk during lunch hour.
5. Drink water before a meal.
6. Eat leaner red meat & poultry.
7. Eat half your dessert.
8. Walk instead of driving whenever you can.
9. Take family walk after dinner.
10. Avoid food portions larger than your fist.

http://www.smallstep.gov/sm_steps/sm_steps_index.html

http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=801

Swimming, cycling, jogging, skiing, aerobic dancing, walking or any of dozens of other activities can help your heart. They all cause you to feel warm, perspire and breathe heavily without being out of breath and without feeling any burning sensation in your muscles. Whether it is a structured exercise program or just part of your daily routine, all exercise adds up to a healthier heart.
Here are some tips for exercise success:
1) If you’ve been sedentary for a long time, are overweight, have a high risk of coronary heart disease or some other chronic health problem, see your doctor for a medical evaluation before beginning a physical activity program.
2) Choose activities that are fun, not exhausting. Add variety. Develop a repertoire of several activities that you can enjoy. That way, exercise will never seem boring or routine.
3) Wear comfortable, properly fitted footwear and comfortable, loose-fitting clothing appropriate for the weather and the activity.
4) Find a convenient time and place to do activities. Try to make it a habit, but be flexible. If you miss an exercise opportunity, work activity into your day another way.
5) Use music to keep you entertained.
6) Surround yourself with supportive people. Decide what kind of support you need. Do you want them to remind you to exercise? Ask about your progress? Participate with you regularly or occasionally? Allow you time to exercise by yourself? Go with you to a special event, such as a 10K walk/run? Be understanding when you get up early to exercise? Spend time with the children while you exercise? Try not to ask you to change your exercise routine? Share your activity time with others. Make a date with a family member, friend or co-worker. Be an active role model for your children.
7) Don’t overdo it. Do low- to moderate-level activities, especially at first. You can slowly increase the duration and intensity of your activities as you become more fit. Over time, work up to exercising on most days of the week for 30-60 minutes. Keep a record of your activities. Reward yourself at special milestones. Nothing motivates like success!

http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=801

A focus on body weight may be necessary when a seriously overweight child’s well-being is at stake. But parents need to be respectful and supportive, since pressuring kids—especially teens—to lose weight could cause them to overeat more or develop an eating disorder. After seeing her 18-year-old son, Wes, shave 65 pounds off his 270-pound frame, registered dietitian Anne Fletcher set out to discover the secret of other teens’ success. In her recent book Weight Loss Confidential, she studies how 104 seriously overweight preteens and teens, 41 boys and 63 girls, got to a healthier weight and stayed there for two years or longer. The kids on average lost 58 pounds each, and one quarter lost 75 pounds or more. Here’s how they did it:
They took the initiative. Readiness is everything, says Fletcher, and the teens she studied decided on their own when and how they were going to lose the weight. They were motivated by wanting to improve their health, look better, feel better about themselves, and improve their performance at sports and other activities.
They got active. Exercise was by far the most popular slimming strategy, with 83 percent of the teens reporting that they upped their calorie-burning efforts to lose and then to maintain. Running, walking, and lifting weights were the most common choices. Nearly two thirds of the kids continued to exercise three to five times a week.
They got real about portions. These teens know that a proper portion of meat is the size of a deck of cards and that a cup of pasta is the size of their fist. Using smaller plates and cups helped them impose limits, as did avoiding eating directly out of a bag.
They drew on support from their parents. Never underestimate the power of a cheering section. Encouraging parents who stocked the kitchen with nutritious low-calorie fare and exercised with their kids were a key to these teens’ success.
They discovered what worked best for them. Some of the teens went to nutritionists for one-on-one counseling or attended summer weight camps that emphasized the importance of a healthful lifestyle. Others created their own structure, by cutting portions or giving up certain foods like french fries or soda. Fletcher’s son counted calories. “Wes had always been able to eat a huge amount of food without feeling full, so this really made him start paying attention to portion sizes,” she says.
They connected. Some teens discovered the power of bonding with peers in support groups like Take Off Pounds Sensibly. One girl went to meetings with her mother, and they both lost weight together.
They gave themselves time. Some of the teens lost the weight over many months or, in some cases, years. Gradual weight loss, explains Fletcher, doesn’t demand the kind of deprivation required for quick results.
They didn’t use the scale as their only measure of success. Although they were certainly motivated by drops in clothing sizes, the successful losers were also encouraged by feeling less winded when they climbed a flight of stairs, by improvements in their blood pressure, and by closer relationships with friends and relatives and greater self-confidence. Most realized that they were never going to reach society’s thin ideal. So they chose to appreciate their assets and aimed for good health instead.

http://health.usnews.com/usnews/health/articles/070902/10kids.b1.htm?s_cid=rss:10kids.b1.htm

http://www.elsonhaas.com/health_tips/2002_september.html

1.) Open up to the harvest of your year and be willing to work hard and discipline yourself as you head into a new season. If you’re a student (we are all students of life), get back to your studies. Yes, it’s time to shift from the frivolity and laziness of Summer. Nature is so giving, and it helps to be receptive to her and what the Earth has to offer. What do we have to give to life for all the energy, love, and beauty I hope we all receive?

2.) Relationships are important to all of us. This is a good time to deepen and clarify our love and family connections. This helps us discover more about our own needs and those of others close to us, as well as learn to listen to them (both the needs and the people). Also, learn to be alone and listen to your inner guidance and truth. Some folks focus relationships on their computers and TV’s, cars or other electronics. Can you still your mind chatter, and let your body breathe deeply to your soul? Give it a try and your spirit will be calmed and can also fly free of the burdens of time.

3.) Open to the creative Spirit. We can receive new ideas and actions necessary to fulfill our purpose and move us forward in our life. This can help to improve motivation with new energy and excitement for life. This could be writing about past experiences or our future goals, working on a book or personal story, reading a self-help book and applying it to improve our life, or taking up a new exercise. In other words, start a program now that you can develop and work on in the colder, darker months.

4.) The foundation and fortification with our foods and diet is an important focus now. Again, this is Harvest time and there are a great many foods—apples and walnuts, sunflower seeds, zucchini and other squash, cabbages, peppers and tomatoes, plus many grains and beans. Learn some new recipes and enjoy good foods. Most of us need more protein and heat generating foods in the colder months, even the energizing spicy peppers such as cayenne and chilis. This will keep our blood and energy moving.

5.) Exercise activity is crucial now as in any season. As the weather cools, stretching is even more important, as is having indoor exercises we can do. Yoga and other flexibility-enhancing movements are helpful at keeping us youthful. “We are as young as our spine is flexible.” Our weight work and aerobic activities are vital to staying fit and toned, and strong to support our immune function and circulation. A vital body rarely gets sick.

6.) Nutritional supplements are often useful this time of year. Many of my patients add some nutrients that support immune function so as not to pick up “what’s going around.” Taking some Echinacea now is helpful as is the Chinese herb, astragalus. Maintaining daily vitamins C and E along with selenium and zinc is also immune protective and clears our body of certain toxins. Roots are helpful at tonifying our body at this time. Ginseng is quite good for building strength and endurance. Burdock root is good for the skin. See the Autumn section of Staying Healthy with the Seasons for further information.

7.) Detoxification is the word for September. I am doing a whole month myself and have a 3-week group starting in mid-month (See Upcoming Appearances). Doing an effective Detox Diet or avoiding sugar, wheat and dairy for a couple weeks (as I write about in The False Fat Diet) is often quite revealing and helps us to feel better—lighter and more youthful with greater energy. Since it’s getting cooler, we’ll need to exercise and sauna or steam as a means to sweat to clear toxins. Regular sweating is important to health and longevity.
Allowing, Bowing, Plowing, Nowing is the desired outcome for some — with cleansing their lens, their perceptions and their ability to create a healing oasis with their inner and outer environments. This is a healthful attitude and creates a mood that encourages longevity, with a life lived to the fullest. Argisle

8.) Prepare for the cold season. Gather your fuel and food, breathe, and exercise, as you should. In Chinese medicine, the fall season focuses on the lungs and large intestine. Overdoing it can lead to congestion and toxicity, as well as constipation and the clogging of the nose and sinuses. This leads then to upper respiratory infections as the germs grow in the mucus and then inflame the membranes. Staying clean and clear this season along with a healthy immune system will help keep you well. Try a facial steam and breathe in the herbal mist (you can use mints, rosemary, chamomile, lemon verbena, and other herbs) to help clear the sinuses.

9.) Should you get any colds or flu’s, it’s best to jump on those immediately. I start with hourly vitamin C of about 1000 mg, increased doses of vitamin A (not beta-carotene) 25,000-30,000 IUs 3 times daily for just 3-4 days and then lower that dosage to 10-20,000 IUs twice daily for about a week (then take a break since excess vitamin A can be toxic if taken too long). I also use fresh garlic as several cloves at a time dipped in honey and chew them; I may repeat this several times the first day. That’s a spicy and aromatic natural antibiotic and immune defender; you can alternately use the odorless garlic caps, several 3 times daily if you don’t want to smell, but they’re not quite as effective. Echinacea and goldenseal alcohol extract can also be used to support immunity and cleanse the membranes. Some help may be achieved with olive leaf extract as a mild anti-viral herb. Of course, drink lots of water, herbal teas, and hot soup. You can press several cloves of garlic into your bowl of soup before you eat, instead of eating the garlic straight.

10.) Take a rest now because the demanding holiday season is just around the corner. Don’t burn your batteries out before November. Kindle your inner flame and firepower, which is protective from the invasion of harsh climates and germs. The Winter blues comes partly from a loss of this fire energy. Shifting and balancing with the Seasons is vital to Staying Healthy.

http://www.elsonhaas.com/health_tips/2002_september.html

Have a health question or concern? Ask Dr. Tim and tune in to News Now.

How to get the most out of the fruits and veggies you buy.
http://www.methodisthealthsystem.org/ca/11323.htm

So you want to include more fruits and vegetables in your diet.
You know eating fresh produce is an important part of a healthy lifestyle.
But when confronted with the produce aisle, you find yourself confounded. How do you tell a good avocado from bad? Should a banana have brown spots? Is this a lemon of a lemon?
And, really, let’s be honest. How many times have you passed up fresh produce because “it’ll just go bad before we eat it, anyway”?
Well, help is on the way—with this guide to buying and storing fresh fruits and vegetables.
A quick plug for produce
Many health experts believe that a diet rich in fruits and vegetables can reduce your risk for chronic illnesses, such as heart disease, some types of cancer, stroke and high blood pressure.
And most fruits and vegetables are low in fat and calories, as well as high in fiber and water. Translation: They can help you maintain a healthy weight, or even lose weight, while still satisfying your appetite, according to the American Dietetic Association (ADA).
The average daily requirement is two cups of fruit and two cups of vegetables each day, though you may need more or less depending on your overall calorie needs. You can get information on specific calorie and nutrient needs for every member of your family at www.mypyramid.gov.
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, examples of one cup include:
· 1 large ear of corn.
· 1 small apple.
· 1 large orange.
· 1 large sweet potato.
Examples of ½ cup include:
· 5 broccoli florets.
· 16 grapes.
· 1 small banana.
· 6 baby carrots.
· 4 large strawberries.
Some general words of advice
When shopping for fresh produce, try to buy only as much as you can eat in a few days. That guarantees you’ll get the maximum taste and nutrition for your money.
If you’re looking to cut costs, says Melinda Johnson, R.D., spokeswoman for the ADA, buy produce when it is in season. And although produce that is “on sale” might not be at its peak of freshness, it can be good in soups and stir-fry meals. Just don’t buy anything that has mold, bruises or cuts in it, Johnson says.
“Talk to the person selling it, the person working in the produce aisle,” says Johnson. “Usually that person is pretty knowledgeable about what’s fresh, what’s good.”
Store fruits separately from vegetables in your refrigerator, preferably in crisper drawers. Vegetables need more humidity than fruits do to stay fresh, and some crisper drawers even let you control humidity levels.
It’s usually best to wash produce just before eating it by rinsing it under cold running tap water. Produce with hard surfaces, such as apples or potatoes, can be scrubbed with a brush.
But don’t use detergents or soaps, says the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).
Cut away damaged or bruised areas, which can harbor bacteria, before eating. And refrigerate any fresh-cut items, both for food safety and to maintain quality.

http://www.methodisthealthsystem.org/ca/11323.htm