Month: September 2016

Nosh

5 Go-To Snacks For An Energy Boost That Lasts

Post author By Julie Ryan
Post date September 22, 2016

My mom was recently diagnosed with cancer. As I listened to her talking to her oncologist about the constant fatigue and her discovery that if she ate some protein instead of taking a nap her energy levels rebounded, I couldn’t help but think about how the foods we choose can either increase or decrease fatigue. I guess I can still learn a few things from my mom.

It’s interesting that we so often go straight for coffee or a sugary snack when we need an energy boost even though those are rarely the best choices. Sugar and caffeine might give you a quick burst of energy, but they also typically come with a sugar crash. Choosing the right snacks and meals throughout the day can make all the difference in whether we spend the day on the sugar high/carb crash roller coaster or simply coast through with steady energy levels.

Making wise food choices can not only boost our energy levels in that moment but can help them stay constant throughout the day. So what are the best foods to maintain energy throughout the day? Here are my top five picks.

Almonds

Protein is an excellent source of quick energy that can boost us throughout the day. The best part is that it doesn’t take much. A handful of almonds will raise your energy levels and keep you going for several hours. Unlike with carbohydrates, it takes your body a while to turn protein into energy, meaning that you get a solid boost over a longer period of time, rather than the sugar rush and crash that you get from loading up on carbs.

Lean Meat

A few slices of lean deli meat can go a long way. Skip the bread and avoid the carbs, but lean meat doesn’t just provide protein for an energy boost, but also B vitamins that increase energy, and the amino acid tyrosine that increases dopamine and norepinephrine, which can help you feel more focused and alert.

Leafy Greens

A salad of leafy greens is filled with B vitamins to increase energy, plus most salads won’t weigh you down and leave you wanting a nap. Dark leafy greens such as spinach and kale are also high in protein.

Apple With Peanut Butter

An apple with a spoonful of peanut butter may be one of the best snacks you can have. It offers good carbs, fiber, water, good fats, and protein, making it a perfectly rounded snack or meal that leaves you feeling satisfied and full of energy.

Water

Although water isn’t a food per se, what you drink can do as much for your energy levels as what you eat. Don’t weigh yourself down with sugary drinks, but do stay hydrated. Dehydration can leave you feeling really fatigued. In fact, drinking 2–3 full glasses of water as soon as you get out of bed can help you wake up even better than a pot of coffee. I’ve found water to be so important for controlling fatigue. Drinking 2–3 glasses before I get out of bed makes all the difference in feeling dead to the world versus feeling ready to get up and move.

A snack of almonds and a few chocolate chips or an apple with peanut butter helps me get through the day without crashing, and a salad with lean meat is about the most filling meal I can find.

The next time you feel your energy levels waning, don’t go for another cup of coffee or a sugary snack. Choose a high-protein snack that will leave you energized and satisfied throughout the day.

Tags 19259, fuel, hemingway

Wellbeing

Here's Why You Feel Crappy About Your Body When You Get Your Period

Post author By Jessica Serdikoff
Post date September 18, 2016

When I was eight, I informed my grandmother that I wanted my belly to be concave. (I wasn’t quite up to that vocabulary level yet, but that’s the gist of it.) Basically, I wanted it to “go in.” I thought that’s what it meant to be truly skinny. I don’t remember her exact response, only her explaining to me that healthy bellies aren’t meant to “go in.”
It’s one of my earliest memories of body dysmorphia.
Thirteen or so years later, I was in college and still grappling with the body that stared back at me from my bedroom mirror. I knew I was thin. I mostly felt ok about my appearance, but why did my lower abdomen have to protrude ever so slightly like that? Why wasn’t it perfectly flat? One day, I stumbled upon a blog article titled, Does This Make My Uterus Look Fat? The blog no longer exists, but the title distinctly lingers on in my memory.

Wait a second. That gentle protrusion below my belly button was an organ? I was about to graduate as a nutrition major, I had taken two semesters of anatomy and physiology, and flipping heck, I had never once considered that.
From then on, I started to observe my body. I watched how it changed throughout the month, and I noticed something. Right before my period, my belly “pooch” (a.k.a. my uterus) became that bit more pronounced, and I became that bit more self-conscious. Every. Single. Month.
In actuality, there is little evidence that our body weight changes much throughout our menstrual cycles. If anything, it might fluctuate one or two pounds. Our body, however, does change. And so, too often, does our self-consciousness, thanks to our media-skewed expectations of how our bodies “ought” to look.

Some of that body dissatisfaction likely stems from the very real, tangible water retention that commonly occurs the week or two leading up to menstruation. Some women experience this more significantly than others.
What really seems to get to us, though, is not an increase in weight at some point in our cycle, but rather an increase in weight preoccupation. Here’s what happens: leading up to menstruation, serotonin naturally dips, which can lead to feelings of depression; our body physiologically attempts to boost serotonin by increasing cravings for sweet, carbohydrate-rich foods; we are more prone to emotional eating; and, when we “give in” to those cravings, we feel riddled with guilt along with, you guessed it, body dissatisfaction.

So what do you do?
If part of your discomfort is related to physical bloating, a healthy diet combined with regular physical activity may help. Drink plenty of water and keep an eye on high-salt foods, like those prepared at restaurants and cafeterias, canned soup, lunch meats, and cured meats. Load up on fruits, veggies, nuts, seeds, whole grains, and simply prepared proteins.
The heart of the matter, though, is that we need to have a conversation about not just the female body, but your female body, which is beautifully unique and responds to the world in its own, individual way. Keep track of how you feel about your body in conjunction with where you are in your cycle. If you find that you feel more negatively about yourself or that your clothes fit less well around a certain time each month, view it as a sign that your body is preparing for a natural process, and it’s time to take extra-good care of it. Practice self-compassion.

As women reach menopause, they run into a similar conundrum. Suddenly, the estrogen that once made fat more likely to accumulate around the hips and thighs plummets, and weight settles somewhere new. You guessed it: the belly.
There isn’t an ab routine in the world that can do much about it, either, because our bodies change. They change from one life stage to the next, and they change from one day to the next. Ladies, the female human torso is made up of a stomach and intestines, and a uterus that shifts in position and size throughout the month and our lives. We aren’t supposed to look the same at age 60 as we did at age 25. We aren’t supposed to look like our best friend or even our sister (except all those identical twins out there), and we certainly aren’t meant to look like a Barbie doll. We’re supposed to look like us.

So go easy on your bathroom scale or pant size. Focus on taking care of yourself from all angles, and I promise, your body will settle into its individual version of healthy. Health is what we reach when we stop trying to control our bodies and instead start listening to them.

Tags 25864, body, hemingway

Sweat

I'm A Bikini Bodybuilder And Here's What It's Taught Me About Competition

Post author By Bonnie Pfiester
Post date September 18, 2016

As a National Physique Committee (NPC) bikini competitor, I realize few people understand the sport of being a physique athlete. To most people, a bikini or figure competition probably looks like a muscular version of a beauty pageant.

But it’s so much more.

My husband, Steve, has competed for over 20 years in amateur bodybuilding, to help keep his weight in check. He typically competed once or twice a year, and often teased he’d be big as a house if he didn’t compete at all.

For years, he has asked me to compete with him, and I shut him down every single time. I had no desire to get on stage and subject myself to being judged. I already knew all my flaws, and didn’t want to show them to the world. Why would I want someone else to pick my body apart for me? I do a good enough job on my own.

However, Steve kept telling me competing would take my training, diet, and physique to another level. I finally gave in and reluctantly decided to give it a try. I was scared to death. I loathed the idea of getting on stage, half naked. I’d rather sing the national anthem for a thousand people or teach a diet seminar. The idea of standing in front of a crowd in a bikini doing basically nothing but posing and smiling terrified me.

So I decided to push the stage out of my mind and focus on the training instead. And I quickly realized the competition was pushing me to diet and train harder than I had ever dieted or trained before. While I have leaned out for modeling jobs in the past, I never had the extreme drive and motivation that the stage began producing in me. I hated to admit it, but it was obvious that competing was exactly what I needed.

Train to Compete vs. Compete to Train

You may be under the impression people compete because they think they can win a trophy for having such a great body. I’m sure there are a few of those people out there, but I believe it’s the opposite for most of us. Most people I know compete because they’re trying to conquer their body.

Competing is more about overcoming your weaknesses rather than showing off your strengths. Most people struggle with their diet, battle overeating, and are prone to inconsistency or intensity in their training. I don’t diet and train to compete, I compete to diet and train.

In other words, people (like me) use competitions like runners use races. The competition is the goal, and the stage is the finish line. I use the competition to help me take my training and diet to a new level. I do it to force myself to be more disciplined.

It’s not about winning for me. I don’t compete to win. I train to win. There’s a difference. I train to be my personal best and I give it my all, but my biggest prize is my own personal success—not a trophy.

If I get a trophy, great. But the reason I compete is to simply have something to train for. I’m naturally lazy and love to eat, so I need to force myself to be more disciplined. I realized competing is what I need to say no to overeating or skipping workouts.

While I do understand competing in a physique competition isn’t for everyone, I do believe it’s important to set clear goals that push yourself to succeed. Whether it’s a mud run, 5K, CrossFit Game, bodybuilding competition, or even an office weight-loss challenge, participating in a specific event or program boosts your chance of success.

Here are 5 benefits of participating in a fitness competition and event.

Something To Train For

Workouts can get stale without clearly defined goals. Having something to train for gives you purpose— a real reason to diet and work out hard. When you’re training with purpose, your workouts become more structured and precise. You’re not just going to the gym and going through the motions. You no longer do what you feel like doing, but you start doing what you know you need to do to perform.

It Gives You a Deadline

Many people set goals, but never have a deadline to reach them. Participating in an event forces you to stay on schedule and to reach your goal by a set time. Since I’m a big procrastinator, I found that this is probably the biggest reason I love to compete. I don’t really care about the competition as much as I just need that date in my head to force myself to stay on track.

It Holds You Accountable

Anytime you join a public event, you’re putting yourself out there for all to see. Since most people don’t want to fail publicly, competing can offer that added push you need to succeed. I know the first time I competed I didn’t want to shame my team or myself. That fear pushed me to surpass my goals and do better than I ever dreamed.

You Can Measure Your Progress

Whether you’re running in a race or competing on stage, each sport has a way of measuring your progress. I track my progress by tracking my body fat and muscle mass. Runners track their pace and time to measure improvement. Either way, competing is a great tool to track and continually improve your personal best.

It’s Rewarding

If you reach your goals and do your personal best, it doesn’t matter if you bring home a trophy or not. You still walk away better than you were before you started. This makes competing a total win-win. I still finish feeling like a winner because I reached my goal.

Like I said, I personally don’t compete to win. There are so many amazingly fit people out there who have trained just as hard (or even harder) as me. It would be ridiculous to think I deserve a trophy any more than anyone else. People who only have their eyes on winning can get let down too easily. The winner depends on who shows up. Part of that is just luck.

Nevertheless, training to win will result in so much more gratification. It doesn’t matter who your competition will be, it’s just you against you. If you train to win, you’ll most certainly beat your old self.

When I prepare to compete, I’m focused on my own goals, my own progress, and my own journey. No matter how well I do compared to others, it doesn’t matter, as long as I continue to improve and reach my own personal goals.

If you’re stuck in a rut, can’t seem to get focused, or just need more motivation, maybe it’s time you take the plunge and try a new way to set goals. Maybe it’s time to compete for success.

Tags 82089, body, hemingway

Nosh

Here's Why Juicing May Be Doing You More Harm Than Good

Post author By Jessica Serdikoff
Post date September 18, 2016

Whenever a client tells me they juice, whether it’s an all-out “cleanse” or a simple addition to their daily routine, I’m quick to point out that I have concerns. But the truth is that juicing isn’t all bad—or all good.

So here are both sides of the debate.

First off, some basic facts. Overall, Americans aren’t consuming enough fruits or vegetables. A paltry 10% of Americans get the recommended servings of fruit per day, and that percentage unsurprisingly drops to below 9% for veggies. If these beverages help someone venture into the wide world of nutrition, then shouldn’t, as a dietitian, I be celebrating?

Not only do juices bring more fruits and vegetables into people’s lives, but certain vitamins (vitamin C and all of the Bs) are actually more bioavailable (our bodies use them more easily) in juices than in whole fruits and vegetables. I always teach my clients to consume foods in a variety of ways (cooked, raw, whole, pureed, you name it), because different nutrients are best preserved and gleaned from different preparation methods. Juices could add a new dimension to that piece of advice.

So what’s my hang up?

My biggest gripe is that juicing removes a fruit or vegetable’s fiber, and I am all about that fiber. Fiber is an indigestible carbohydrate that helps us stay fuller longer and with more moderate portions, aids in blood sugar regulation, gives our digestive system a good workout, and keeps our cholesterol levels in check. In short, fiber is pretty awesome and pretty important. And guess what? Americans aren’t eating enough of that, either.

Without fiber, juice is just a hefty dose of simple sugars that doesn’t fill you up and can cause your blood sugars, whether you’re diabetic or not, to spike up and later crash.

Plus, juices “pre-digest” food for us. Digestion begins in the mouth as we chew our food and continues in the stomach, which manually and chemically breaks food into smaller pieces. Juices don’t require either of those processes, so the calories in them are ripe for the taking, right off the bat. I even found this article that praises juice for doing “the body’s digestive work for it.” That’s not a good thing—we want our bodies to work for our food!

Lastly, juices are naturally low in fat and protein. So, by relying on them too heavily, you’ll wind up with an unsustainable, imbalanced, and nutritionally inadequate diet.

Juicing is by no means essential for wellness, but it can be incorporated into an overall nutrient-dense way of eating. If you’re into juicing, follow these guidelines to make the most out of it and feel like a million bucks.

Go Heavy Veggie

Go as heavy on the veggies and light on the fruits as you can, ideally sticking to one piece of fruit if possible. Fruits add more simple carbohydrates and calories to the drink. And without fiber, fat, or protein, those calories aren’t going to be very satisfying or ideal.

Add Spices

Add in nutritious spices and herbs, like parsley, turmeric, cinnamon, and ginger. They’re no miracle pills, but they add a number of phytonutrient and anti-inflammatory benefits.

Think Small

Stick with small, four- to eight-ounce servings, and think of them as the carbohydrate for the meal or snack.

Balance It Out

Round out the juice with protein, fat, and fiber. Here are some ideas:

A handful of almonds or other nuts or seeds.
One or two hard-boiled eggs.
Greek yogurt (opt for plain, and flavor with a splash of your juice and some chia seeds).
A big, green salad with grilled chicken or tempeh on top.
A blend of the juice with Greek yogurt, almond butter, or silken tofu, a mixture which can then be used as a base instead of milk for granola, oats, breakfast quinoa, or chia pudding.

Time It Right

If you’re going to have juice on its own (without extra protein, fat, or fiber), use it as a pre-workout fuel-up. It will give you the quick-acting carbs your body needs for the physical activity, and will empty out of your stomach quickly so you don’t cramp up. Beets and cherries can be particularly beneficial for this purpose.

Save The Pulp

Remember, that pulp is rich in fiber! So save it up and add it into batters, soups, smoothies, and more.

I will never recommend juices as an everyday staple, nor will I endorse any program that talks about “cleanses” or “detoxes,” but there is a way to juice healthfully. Think of it not as the only way to get veggies into your diet, but one way—a single tool in an entire tool box for wellness!

Tags 82094, fuel, hemingway

Sweat

The 5 Things To Do When Your Doctor Calls You Morbidly Obese

Post author By Diane Carbonell
Post date September 18, 2016

I will never forget the first time my doctor told me I was morbidly obese. Well, he didn’t actually tell me, but his nurse wrote it down on my intake form. There it was in stark black and white. “Morbidly obese.”
It wasn’t a good feeling.
So what do you do if your doctor has told you that you are dangerously overweight? It can seem overwhelming, but there is hope. You just have to have a plan, and the will to follow through.

Know What Morbid Obesity Means

When I saw in my chart that I was morbidly obese, I wasn’t exactly sure what that meant, other than the fact I weighed 300 pounds. Here’s what the definition of morbid obesity is according to the National Institutes of Health:

Being 100 pounds or more above your ideal body weight.
Your Body Mass Index (BMI) is 40 or greater.
Or, instead of your BMI be 40 or greater, it’s 35 or greater, and you have one or more co-morbid conditions such as diabetes.

Ask Your Doctor For Advice

The first logical step is sometimes hard to do. Many people I talk with about weight issues don’t like to ask their doctor for help with weight loss, because they’re fearful or embarrassed. But don’t let that stop you from getting the help you need.
Talk to her about what staying at your current weight may do to your health over the long term, and what she recommends. She may tell you to follow a particular diet such as Weight Watchers, get you an appointment with a nutritionist, or think about surgery.

Consider All Your Options

As hard as it is to hear, being morbidly obese puts you at risk for all sorts of health complications, from heart disease to joint issues. Because of this, you should consider all your weight-loss options, including bariatric surgery, should your doctor recommend it.
I’m frequently asked whether I considered surgery when I was 300 pounds. I did think about it, but in the end, decided to lose weight by diet and exercise.
There are pros and cons to surgical solutions to morbid obesity.
Some of the pros include feeling full quickly, relatively fast weight loss, and the potential reversal of obesity-related health issues such as high blood pressure. Some of the cons include eventual [linkbuilder id=”6877″ text=”weight regain”] surgical complications, frequent nausea, and malnutrition.
There are really no cons to losing weight using diet and exercise. Both options require a long-term commitment to changing your lifestyle and relationship with food.

Get Regular Support

Losing over 100 pounds requires a significant amount of time, an adjustment to new eating habits, and dealing with emotional issues you have surrounding food. I’d encourage you to meet with a therapist to discuss the underlying issues that caused you to overeat to the point where you are right now.
If you aren’t comfortable with a therapist or can’t afford one, find a weight-loss support group that meets regularly, either online or in person. A good support group can prop you up when you’re feeling weak and help you work through some of your cravings for food.

Follow a Comprehensive Life-Changing Plan

It doesn’t matter how you decide to lose weight. You still have to follow a weight-loss plan that’s comprehensive. What do I mean by comprehensive? I mean a plan that meets these five criteria:
1. Sustainable.
2. Realistic for your lifestyle.
3. Based around real food instead of supplements or packaged diet foods.
4. Includes exercise.
5. Has built-in accountability.
I know firsthand how overwhelming it can seem to make all the changes necessary to lose 100 pounds or more. The secret is to consider the changes you’re making as life-changing and permanent. No more temporary diets or attempts to quickly fix your morbid obesity.
Day after day, follow your plan, get support, and keep yourself accountable. Over time you’ll see the pounds come off, and your health and appearance improve.

Tags 83569, body, hemingway

Nosh

5 Subconscious Reasons You Can't Stop Yourself From Eating Too Much

Post author By Jessica Serdikoff
Post date September 18, 2016

Have you ever felt out of control with food and swept up by emotions? Have you ever wondered why you just can’t seem to stop overeating time after time?

There are many factors that contribute to why, how, and how much we eat, but here are a few examples of how subconscious lessons you learned in childhood may be driving your current relationship with food.

You Had To Clean Your Plate

After all, there are starving children in Africa, right? Unfortunately, this “clean plate club” teaches children to ignore hunger signals, relying on external cues like the presence or absence of food to dictate when and how much is eaten. They eat until the food is gone, no matter how it makes them feel.

As adults, these children may continue to eat beyond the point of comfort at restaurants and buffets to “get their money’s worth,” finish food they may not even like so that it doesn’t “go to waste,” or absentmindedly pick leftovers off their own child’s or spouse’s plate.

Dessert Was The Reward For Eating Your Vegetables

This teaches children several lessons. First, they’re encouraged to again ignore their hunger signals (by eating more of their dinner than they like) so that they can get to the part of the meal that they really want (and therefore eat even more and feel even more uncomfortably full). Second, they learn that nutritious foods are eaten out of obligation rather than enjoyment. Finally, they come to place “junk” food on a pedestal.

You may be struggling with this if you find that you force yourself to eat nutritious foods before allowing yourself to have what you really want, or if you tend to have a negative view of “healthy” foods while referring to “unhealthy” foods as guilty pleasures.

You Were Told What To Eat

Parents of very slender children may worry that they are not eating enough, so they allow him or her to eat any food ad libitum. Meanwhile, parents are tempted to restrict “junk” foods if they are told (or they themselves believe) their child is overweight. This teaches children that they only need to worry about nutrition if they are considered to be overweight.

The slender child may wind up with a palate distorted from years of not being encouraged to eat a variety of nutritious foods, while the overweight child may grow up to view healthy foods with resentment. You may struggle with some form of this if you associate healthy foods with dieting or a need to lose weight; in other words, if you feel nutrition is only needed temporarily, as a means to an end.

Junk Food Wasn’t Allowed

When less nutrient-dense foods are forbidden, children tend to overeat them when they do become available. After all, who knows when they will get them again?!

Adults who have had these types of experiences in childhood may struggle with overeating unhealthy foods and categorizing foods as either good or bad. This black-and-white thinking often leads to judgments based on foods consumed: you’re “good” when you eat salad and “bad” when you eat a cookie. People who grew up this way may also have trouble stopping, once they start eating a food they see as being unhealthy or off-limits.

How To Fix The Problems

If any of these obstacles (or others!) resonates with you, the first step is awareness. When do you first remember struggling with your relationship with food? What was going on in your life at the time?

Forgive yourself: you’ve been coping with these internalized lessons the best way you could at the time. Remind yourself that most of the people who may have contributed to the development of your struggles genuinely meant well; they, too, were acting in the best way they could at the time. If these thoughts are very difficult for you to navigate, consider working with a counselor to sort through them in a safe, non-judgmental space.

Once you begin to unfold the factors that helped shape your current relationship with food, you can begin to mindfully choose a new path. There will always be bumps and curves, but there’s also always a way forward.

Remember: you are not a trash can. There are no rules with food, only choices. You are more than what you eat. And more than anything else, you are not alone.

Tags 205824, fuel, hemingway

Sweat

5 Essential Ways To Fight Loose Skin After Weight Loss

Post author By Bonnie Pfiester
Post date September 18, 2016

One of the biggest complaints I hear from people who have lost a bunch of weight is their struggle with loose skin. This can be very discouraging when you’ve worked so hard to improve your appearance. After all, you may feel like you’ve just exchanged one unattractive problem for another.

I have good news. There’s not only a good explanation for loose skin, but there may be a solution. But, before I tell you how you can improve the problem, let me talk about why this problem exists to begin with.

The Deflation Process

When we’re overweight, our skin is jam-packed with fat cells. These oversized cells fill the skin out, making it seem “firm,” when really it’s just tight from the abundance of fat underneath the skin. This tightness can give the skin a tighter, smoother texture.

As we lose weight, our fat cells begin to shrink and the previously stretched-out skin loses that support, leaving us with sagging wrinkly skin.

Think about a balloon. When you fill up a balloon, the elastic skin stretches out nice and smooth. But as the balloon deflates, it starts getting dimples in the elastic skin. The same thing happens to our skin.

Ironically, people may actually feel flabbier as they are losing fat. They may notice their skin has more folds in the tummy area or more noticeable cellulite on their thighs. In reality, the skin has simply lost the support of all those big fat cells that once stretched the skin out nice and tight.

At first, this may seem hopeless, but our body is a marvelous creation with the incredible ability to adapt as it changes.

Here are 5 ways to fight the flab.

Limit Long Steady Runs

People often turn to running as a way to lose weight. While it does help burn calories, it can have some adverse effects. One of those side effects is muscle loss.

You see, our body doesn’t need a lot of muscle to run. A matter of fact, because running burns fat our body will want to store fat so it has the fuel, our body needs to perform well. Remember, our body doesn’t care what it looks like. It just wants to survive. If you are running from a dinosaur, it will do what it needs to do so you aren’t eaten.

On the contrary, excess muscle hinders a long-distance runner’s performance. Even at a resting state, muscle requires more energy to exist and weighs more than fat, giving your body two good reasons to ditch it.

However, this is not the case with sprinters. Sprinters have awesome muscular legs because sprinting requires powerful muscles. So if you like to run, it’s better to do sprint interval training rather than maintaining a slow and steady pace if you want to improve muscle tone in the legs and butt.

Boost Protein

Dieters often lose muscle during weight loss. While weight loss is determined on calories in vs. calories out, our body’s shape is determined by where we get those calories. If you’re on a diet that’s low in protein, your body may use your own protein stores (your muscle) to meet those requirements. But if you boost your protein intake while incorporating exercise, you can preserve muscle mass (and even gain muscle) while losing weight.

Lift Weights

Muscle can fill out the skin just like fat fills out the skin. If you’re decreasing your fat mass, you should lift weights to increase your muscle mass. One of the great thing about muscle is that it’s much more shapely and firm than fat could ever be.

Lose Weight Slowly

You don’t want to lose weight so slowly that you get discouraged, but going on an extreme rapid weight-loss program is more apt to leave you with loose skin. Since your skin is an organ, it can shrink as your body realizes there’s no need for the excess skin mass. If you lose 1-2 pounds a week, your skin can adjust slowly, along with your weight loss, with less-noticeable side effects.

Maintain Your New Weight

One of the biggest reasons people deal with loose skin is because their weight is constantly yo-yoing. Your body has no idea if you’re going to need that extra skin or not. The longer you stay small, the tighter your skin will get.

Of course, if you’ve lost 100 pounds, you can’t necessarily fix excess skin accumulated over years of being overweight, but the situation can definitely improve over time. The process requires patience, along with purposeful training and eating.

Meanwhile, while you wait on your body to change, focus on the positive changes your body has made. No matter how much loose skin you’re fighting, you are healthier, stronger, and thinner!

Tags 205804, body, hemingway

Wellbeing

Here's Why Taking Too Much Viagra Could Be Dangerous For You

Post author By Armin Brott
Post date September 18, 2016

Like it or not, the ability to produce a firm erection on demand is a pretty important component of men’s identity—both to us and to our sexual partners.
So when that ability wanes (as is the case for more than 30 million American men who suffer from erectile dysfunction–ED), many guys make a mad dash to the nearest doctor to get medical help. That help often comes in a bottle containing one of three prescription drugs: Viagra (sildenafil), Levitra (vardenafil), or Cialis (tadalafil).
These drugs, when taken as directed, usually produce the desired effect, which is great. But it’s possible to have too much of a good thing: Taking excessive amounts of these drugs or mixing them with other medications could kill you.

Viagra and the other ED drugs are called phosphodiesterase type 5 (PDE5) inhibitors, meaning that they relax the muscles in the penis and increase blood flow, which causes an erection. But the effects of these drugs go way beyond the penis. They can, for example, lower blood pressure, which, according to the Mayo Clinic, may cause a variety of unpleasant symptoms, including “blurred vision, confusion, dizziness, faintness or lightheadedness when getting up from a lying or sitting position suddenly, sweating, or unusual tiredness or weakness.”
And when taken with certain other medication (especially blood pressure-lowering drugs), ED meds can cause serious heart problems, including irregular heartbeat, stroke, cardiac arrest, and even heart failure.

In one now-famous case, 28-year-old Sergey Tuganov, a Russian mechanic, took a $4,000 bet from two female friends that he couldn’t keep up with them sexually for 12 hours. He swallowed a ton of Viagra and won the bet. Unfortunately, his erection lasted longer than he did. A richer, prouder Sergey died of a heart attack right afterward. And Tuganov is far from the only ED OD fatality.
Recreational ED drug use (as opposed to having a genuine medical need), in particular, can have some unexpected psychological side effects. A young man who gets used to pharmaceutically enhanced erections may become psychologically dependent on the drug (there’s no evidence that it’s possible to become physically dependent) and may worry that he wouldn’t be able to have an erection without his prescription stash.

Recreational ED drug use is also associated with other health risks. Several studies of college-age men have found that ED drugs are often taken at parties where illicit drugs and alcohol are also being consumed in large amounts. Drug and alcohol use tends to increase the chance of risky behavior (such as unprotected sex).
And because ED drugs decrease the refractory period (the “down time” most men have after orgasm and before they can have another erection), there’s in increased likelihood that the man will have unprotected sex with multiple partners, potentially leading to an increase in sexually transmitted disease and unwanted pregnancy.

There are also some interesting differences between straight men and gay and bisexual men (also known as “men who have sex with men,” or MSM). MSM are three times more likely than straight men to use ED drugs recreationally. And MSM who do use ED recreationally are two to six times more likely than those who don’t to engage in unprotected intercourse with a partner.

A Fate Worse Than Death?

Okay, let’s get back to that whole blood-rushing-to-the-penis thing. For most men, all that blood rushes right back out immediately after orgasm. But in some chemically induced erections, that doesn’t happen. The result is what those commercials for ED drugs always warn about: a painful erection that could last for more than four hours.
This is called a priapism (after the Roman god of fertility, Priapus, who is often depicted with an enormous penis). While it might be tempting to think of a four-hour erection as desirable, it can cause permanent damage to the penis, which could, ironically, lead to erectile dysfunction.

In some cases, all that excess blood will have to be surgically drained. And then there are extreme cases. Gentil Ramirez Polania, for example, popped a few dozen Viagra and had an erection lasting so long that his penis was fractured and developed gangrene. Fortunately, surgeons were able to save Polania’s penis, but he came very close to losing the whole thing.
The message here? If you’re not having trouble getting and/or maintaining an erection, don’t take any ED medication. It’s that simple. You may see some short-term benefits, but the risks are just too high.

Tags 205774, body, hemingway

Wellbeing

This Is How A Selfie Could Save Your Life

Post author By Armin Brott
Post date September 18, 2016

Pop quiz: Who’s taken a selfie?
A better question: who hasn’t taken a selfie? A recent estimate says we take 93 million selfies worldwide every day.
Narcissism? Perhaps. But the real danger seems to lie in selfie-induced injuries, and even death. People (mostly young adults) have fallen off bridges and cliffs, slipped down stairs, been bitten by rattlesnakes, mauled by bears, been hit by trains, shot themselves, and even been blown up by hand grenades. (We’re not sure how that happened, either.)
Still, what we rarely hear about is that selfies—at least, certain types of selfies—may improve or even save lives.
Take oral health. We all know that brushing and flossing can help prevent tooth decay, gum disease, and bad breath. And dental professionals have probably given us lessons in proper brushing. But when was the last time someone watched you brush and critiqued your form? Probably not since you were 6 years old.

And that’s a problem, according to Lance T. Vernon, an instructor at the Case Western Reserve University School of Dental Medicine. “Often, tooth-brushing is learned and practiced without proper supervision,” he said in a press release. “Changing tooth brushing behaviors—which are ingrained habits tied to muscle memory—can take a lot of time and guidance.”
To figure out how best to change these habits, Vernon and his colleagues did a study. First, they trained participants in proper brushing techniques. Then, at home, the participants put their phones on stands and took selfie videos of themselves brushing their teeth. The result? Although the study’s participants didn’t spend any more time brushing, they increased the number of brushstrokes, and those strokes were more accurate. Overall tooth-brushing skills (which included holding the brush at a 45-degree angle and making circular brushstrokes) improved eight percent.
The lesson: Apparently, recording themselves as they brush makes people more conscious of their technique and can help eliminate harmful habits, according to Vernon and his team. Now he’d like to see apps where patients can get feedback and coaching from a dentist.
Vernon’s not the only pro-selfie medical professional. Many dermatologists, for example, have patients e-mail photos of their moles, freckles, and other suspicious blemishes.

These selfies can provide doctors with information that can allow them to rule out problems or take immediate action that could save a life. Selfies may also help doctors monitor their patients’ progress and the effectiveness of treatments and medication.
Selfies can also help in those annoying situations where we have some kind of medical issue that mysteriously disappears in the doctor’s exam room, but just as mysteriously re-appears as soon as we get home. Kara Burns, a researchers at Queensland University of Technology in Australia, talks about the case of a woman who’d visited her doctor after an episode of slurred speech and facial paralysis. The doctor ran tests, which came back negative, and sent the woman home. When the symptoms returned, she captured it on video and sent it to her doctor, who immediately diagnosed a stroke.

While some people worry that patients’ selfies will overload medical practices, others suggest that the net effect will be quite the opposite. If a doctor is able to accurately determine that a particular mole, for example, is nothing to worry about, the patient can stay home and the doctor can spend more time with another patient who truly needs treatment. Selfies can also be invaluable to patients who have mobility issues and would have significant difficulties making an office visit.
Of course, there’s no substitute for seeing your doctor face to face. But there are plenty of times when an office visit is a waste of everyone’s time and resources. In those cases, a little selfie narcissism can go a long way.

Tags 205779, body, hemingway

Lifestyle

Shaun T's Secrets For Staying Fit While Traveling

Post author By Shaun T
Post date September 16, 2016

Working out consistently is tough enough at home. Add traveling to the mix, and suddenly panic mode ensues. But don’t stress. Take it from me—keeping up with your routine while traveling is very doable, as long as you’re prepared to make some minor tweaks.
I know because I travel. A lot. In fact, I probably travel more than I’m home, so I know the struggle is real! But if you trust and believe in who you are, then I have no doubt you can stay healthy and fit while on the road.
Here’s how to do it.

Check Out The Hotel Gym In Advance

Check the hotel’s website, or just give them a call. Find out first if they have a gym. Then, what are the operating hours? How big is it? What equipment do they have? This will help you better plan your workouts while there. You can also book your hotel based on its fitness center. If the gym’s not adequate for your needs, don’t forget that at-home fitness programs are also great for you while traveling. Exercise in your room, or find an outdoor space like the pool or a park. Then get after it by using your digital device to get in your workout.

Walk It Out

Walk, walk, walk! Is your room on the 3rd floor? Take the stairs! Headed out to a restaurant to get a bite to eat? Skip the Uber and walk! I find it helps tremendously if I walk more and sit less while traveling. Consider using an activity tracker to count your steps, and do your best to get in 10,000 of them!

Hit The Grocery Store

Can you book a room with a mini-fridge? Do it! Then hit up a local grocery store for supplies so you can limit how often you’ll need to eat out. And while you’re there, stock up on water! I find that when I travel I don’t drink enough water, so it really helps to have a case of water in my room for easy grab-and-go. Drinking water is essential, especially when we travel. It helps keep down the bloat and weed out the toxins we might incur on the road.

Modify The Menu

You’re going to have to eat out while you travel, but you don’t have to fall victim to the menu! Don’t be scared to modify the menu as you see fit in order to feel good and maintain your goals. After all, you’re paying for this food, so you have the power to change items to meet your needs! Halve your portions, ask for no butter or cheese, or pass on the bread. And make smart choices with drinks: choose soda water with lime instead of a cocktail, for example. The possibilities are endless—if you’re strong enough internally to make changes.

Don’t Beat Yourself Up

You aren’t going to be perfect when you travel (or even when you’re at home!). Treating yourself is what makes life fun, and it’s okay! Do the best you can do. The mental anguish isn’t necessary. If you’re eating 85% healthy and maintaining a consistent exercise regimen, your 15% fun foods won’t destroy your fitness journey.
Traveling is a fun part of life. Whether it’s for work or pleasure, it doesn’t have to derail you on your journey to a healthier, happier you.

Tags 207614, care, hemingway