Healthy Lifestyle Alternatives

Archive for March, 2010

Healthy Lifestyle

Healthy Lifetyle

Jason Finley

If you walk or climb stairs, for instance, you are doing the best exercises to drop weight quickly. You just need to make the most of them by raising the frequency and time you commit to these heart-thumping activities.

Unless you spend an effective 45 to 60 minutes every day on these exercises, you won’t lose fat quickly. You’ll just get tired. The key is consistency and that you work your system regularly. Muscle-building exercises are most effective to lose fat quickly.

Whichever training you choose, make sure you put all your energy into it. You want to keep your heart rate up and your blood pumping throughout the training period, with a precise cool down afterwards.

If you’re brisk walking, for example, walk slowly for the final couple of minutes to give yourself a chance to cool down. Stopping suddenly could cause muscle cramps and really isn’t good for your heart. Give it some time to fall back to normal while you’re still somewhat active.

Make sure you have lots of water during to replenish your reserves and to help prevent cramping.

When you’re ready, here are the 10 best exercises to drop weight quickly. Start gradually and let yourself adjust to the workouts.

1. Squats: This training is great for building leg and buttock muscles. Stand with your feet at shoulder length apart and squat downward and then up 10-20 times through two or three sets.

Healthy Lifestyle

2. Jumping Jacks: You probably remember these from your school days. They provide one of the best whole body aerobic workouts.

Do four or five sets of 20 jumping jacks for best results.

3. Stepping: If you’ve made numerous trips upstairs when moving or cleaning, you’ll know how much energy this training takes. Thebenefits are multi-fold: burns calories, boosts heart rate, great aerobic workout, and builds leg and buttock muscles. You should use your stairs for this. Step up and downwards 20 times, rest and repeat two or three times.

4. Walking: Fast walking is better than slow walking, but both are beneficial. If you want an excercise to drop fat quickly, walk briskly for half an hour and you will burn up to 180 calories.

5. Bicycling: The outdoors can be more delightful, but stationary indoor cycles can provide an equally good training to shed weight quickly. In fact, if you apply the right amount of resistance at the right speed, you will lose between 250 and 500 calories in half an hour.

6. Swimming: This is a great, fun exercise for some people. It provides a superior cardio workout that uses your entire body. Doing the breast stroke for half an hour will burn 400 calories.

7. Cross Country Skiing: Another fun exercise with the same benefits as swimming.

Healthy Lifestyle

8. Jump Rope: This isn’t only a kids’ game. Adults can receive a terrific, unparalleled total body workout by jumping rope for as little as 15 to 20 minutes.

That gives you eight of the top workouts you could try.  They are a just a few of the best exercises to shed weight quickly.

A Healthy Lifestyle is only a few steps away.

Healthy Lifestyle

Good skin care — including sun protection and gentle cleansing — can keep your skin healthy and glowing for years to come.

By Mayo Clinic staff

Don’t have time for intensive skin care? Pamper yourself with the basics. Good skin care and healthy lifestyle choices can help delay the natural aging process and prevent many skin problems. Get started with these five no-nonsense tips.

1. Protect yourself from the sun

The most important way to take care of your skin is to protect it from the sun. A lifetime of sun exposure can cause wrinkles, freckles, age spots and rough, dry skin. Sun exposure can also cause more-serious problems, such as skin cancer. For the most complete sun protection:

Avoid the sun between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. This is when the sun’s rays are the strongest.

Wear protective clothing. Cover your skin with tightly woven long-sleeved shirts, long pants and wide-brimmed hats. You might also opt for special sun-protective clothing, which is specifically designed to block ultraviolet rays while keeping you cool and comfortable.

Use sunscreen when you’re in the sun. Apply generous amounts of broad-spectrum sunscreen 30 minutes before going outdoors and reapply every two hours, after heavy sweating or after being in water.

2. Don’t smoke

Smoking makes your skin look older and contributes to wrinkles. Smoking narrows the tiny blood vessels in the outermost layers of skin, which decreases blood flow. This depletes the skin of oxygen and nutrients, such as vitamin A, that are important to skin health. Smoking also damages collagen and elastin — fibers that give your skin its strength and elasticity. In addition, the repetitive facial expressions you make when smoking — such as pursing your lips when inhaling and squinting your eyes to keep out smoke — may contribute to wrinkles.

If you smoke, the best way to protect your skin is to quit. Ask your doctor for tips or treatments to help you stop smoking.

3. Treat your skin gently

Healthy Lifestyle

Daily cleansing and shaving can take a toll on your skin, so keep it gentle:

Limit bath time. Hot water and long showers or baths remove oils from your skin. Limit your bath or shower time, and use warm — rather than hot — water.

Avoid strong soaps. Strong soaps can strip oil from your skin. Instead, choose mild cleansers.

Shave carefully. To protect and lubricate your skin, apply shaving cream, lotion or gel before shaving. For the closest shave, use a clean, sharp razor. Shave in the direction the hair grows, not against it.

Pat dry. After washing or bathing, gently pat or blot your skin dry with a towel so that some moisture remains on your skin.

Moisturize dry skin. Find a moisturizer that fits your skin type and makes your skin look and feel soft.

4. Eat a healthy diet

Healthy Lifestyle

A healthy diet can help you look and feel your best. Eat plenty of fruits, vegetables, whole grains and lean proteins. The association between diet and acne isn’t clear — but research suggests that a diet rich in vitamin C and low in fats and carbohydrates may promote younger looking skin.

5. Manage stress

Uncontrolled stress can make your skin more sensitive and trigger acne breakouts and other skin problems. To encourage healthy skin — and a healthy state of mind — takes steps to manage your stress. Set reasonable limits, scale back your to-do list and make time to do the things you enjoy. The results may be more dramatic than you expect.

A Healthy Lifestyle is only a few steps away

Healthy Lifestyle

By Liz Vaccariello, Editor-in-Chief, Prevention

Healthy Lifestyle

There’s nothing like a weight loss strategy that takes almost no time or effort–but still works like a charm! Here are 10 successful strategies to cut calories and burn fat that literally take 60 seconds or less.

1. Mix a juice spritzer Combine your favorite juice (half of your usual amount) with plain or sparkling water. You can cut up to 85 calories per glass–and lose 5 pounds or more a year.

2. Walk while you talk Burn calories while you talk on the phone: Do the laundry (68 calories), set the table (85), or water plants (102).

3. Study the wrapper At a quick glance, that candy bar appears to contain 220 calories. But a closer look may reveal that it (or a bottle of juice, bag of crackers, or bag of nuts) provides two or more servings–which more than doubles those calories.

4. Sip green tea before a walk The caffeine frees fatty acids so that you burn fat more easily. And the polyphenols (antioxidant compounds) in green tea appear to work with caffeine to increase calorie burn. (If you have high blood pressure, skip this tip.)

Healthy Lifestyle

5. Pack a lunch Dining out more than 5 times a week may make you eat more–nearly 300 calories a day–than if you dine out less frequently.

6. Dip your bread Use olive oil in place of butter. It’s healthier and may also help you eat less. In a recent study, dippers ate a total of 52 fewer calories, on average, than those who used butter.

7. Sprinkle flax on cereal High-fiber ground flaxseed can help curb your appetite and eliminate calories. Add it to yogurt or muffin and bread mixes–it’s available in health food stores.

8. Schedule a blood test About 1 in every 12 women (most of whom don’t know it) has an underactive thyroid, which can slow down her metabolism.

9. Supersize your H2O Buy the big bottle when it comes to good-for-you stuff such as water: You’ll drink more.

Healthy Lifestyle

10. Eat a chunky salad Chop carrots, celery, sweet potatoes, zucchini, or other veggies instead of shredding or slicing. It takes more effort to munch bigger pieces; you’ll do more chewing and eat less during the main course.

A healthy lifestyle is only a few steps away.