You are what you eat. It’s an old adage that speaks volumes on what has become of the American lifestyle.

A focus on overly processed foods and a mere brush with fruits and vegetables have lead to an alarming rate in obesity and the detrimental diseases linked to it like diabetes. Documentaries filmed in public schools show children who have no clue what a real potato looks like!

Eating right takes some effort and here are the 10 foods that will make it worthwhile and turn on your brain.

1. Fish. You won’t get fat from it and it improves your immunity, which keeps you healthy and promotes collagen production which keeps you looking younger, longer. When it comes to how fish affects your brain, the results are amazing. The omega-3 fatty acids in fish ease signs of depression. Fish also keeps the memory portion of the brain alert and working well into old age. Incorporate fish into your diet 2-3 times a week to reap the health benefits. If you’re one that loads up on red meat regularly, you’ll notice the difference fish makes your health almost immediately.

2. Vegetables. Vegetables? Good for you? Who would have thought? Vegetables are good for nearly every part of your body (organs, digestive system and more), but they’re also fantastic for your brain. A study of over 3,700 women and men showed that those who consumed at least three servings of vegetables a day retained their mental abilities better than those who had fewer than three servings of veggies per day. The study was conducted over three years and showed the best mental results from those who focused on consuming dark, leafy greens. Case in point? Make a dark, leafy salad a part of every meal.

3. Red wine. Red wine started making headlines a few years ago when we heard it was great for the heart. Thanks to the rich antioxidants in red wine, it’s also the go-to beverage for protecting brain cells. In April of 2010, scientists discovered properties in red wine that help recovering stroke victims. The resveratrol component found in red wine is what protects brain cells from damage during and after a stroke. Researchers have not tested synthetic versions of resveratrol, which is available in health food stores alongside other vitamins, so for now, you’re better off consuming red wine daily to reap the benefits. One glass for women and 2-3 glasses for men is seen as moderate red wine consumption.

4. Strawberries. Feeling forgetful lately? Strawberries may be the answer. Researches have recently discovered an antioxidant in strawberries that helps preserve the memory and fight Alzheimer’s. It’s the antioxidant properties in strawberries called fistein and it’s said to improve the connection of neurons, leading to a stronger memory. Not only does fistein prevent existing cells from dying, it also contributes to new and strong cell growth. Fistein is also found in peaches, tomatoes, grapes, oranges and onions. Strawberries are also chock full of iodine, which is known to preserve the nerve and brain systems.

5. Walnuts. Walnuts are packed with lecithin, which fasten the transmitters between brain cells. This means you’re alert and ready to go when anything hits. Besides making you think on your toes, walnuts also improve memory and brain power. Lechitin also slows the aging process in the brain, which may prevent Alzheimer’s. Don’t think you have to put away bags of the nuts to benefit from the components. Having 2-3 walnuts a day will suffice, so stash a bag at your desk and use them as your pick-me-up snack when the mid-afternoon slump rolls around.

6. Pumpkin seeds. Pumpkin seeds should be a go-to snack in your household. Pumpkin seeds are packed with zinc, which is good for your brain in a myriad of ways. Zinc helps your short term memory take off and also improves your abilities to concentrate, especially during a high pressure situation. Just a small handful of pumpkin seeds per day will benefit your brain.

7. Blueberries. We know blueberries are fabulous for your skin and immune system, but what do they do for our brains? The antocianines are antioxidants that protect the brain from aging, warding off diseases like dementia and Alzheimer’s. They also improve your motor skills and learning capacity. Chowing down on blueberries improves your navigation skills, short term memory and coordination too. Wash blueberries and stash them in a bowl in the fridge for a quick, accessible snack or mix them into a smoothie on a daily basis.

8. Sage. This is a major brain food. Sage may not be in your regular diet, but it’s a pretty easy one to fit in when you’re working with proteins at home. Sage improves everything from your short term memory, improve your senses and helps the nervous system. Sage also inhibits the production of the amino acids known for memory loss. So how can you move sage from the produce aisle into your diet? Mince it and use it on pork, chicken or beef. You can also sprinkle it raw onto a salad or steam it in water to extract the oils and sip as a quick DIY tea.

9. Cacao products. Who doesn’t love chocolate? The unprocessed version of the cacao bean are best and will do much more for your brain than a Snickers bar. Cacao beans have flavonoids, which improve brain cell production and blood flow in the brain. The Theomobrine found in cacao beans also improve the “bliss” factor going on in our brains. However not all cacao is created equal. If you are seeking out the cacao that’s going to keep your brain going strong, you need to look for 100% organic non-alkalized cocoa powder. Mix this in with your coffee or a glass of organic or soy milk to get your cacao fill.

10. Olive oil. Like fish, olive oil is rich in omega-3 fatty acids. It curbs depression and serves as a healthy fat, which keeps your skin, hair and nails in tip-top shape. This fat is responsible for nerve transmission and cell membranes are comprised of fatty acids. Fatty acids also help build brain cells, making them an essential part of your diet. .

Making a few changes to your diet will create a serious difference in your brain activity and leave you looking and feeling better. If you had kids, these foods will typically help them be more alert and aware in school and also promote healthy eating habits for the long term.

Post from: Weight Loss Blog (Lose That Tyre)

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Maruchy Lachance is president of Running Ninja!, a lifestyle brand for runners by runners. Running Ninja! offers a wide variety of apparel and gifts for runners to keep you happy and inspired while you’re on the run.

So, you are either fit and fabulous or well on your way… but you see your spouse, children, or friends who could benefit from some healthy advice and a little push in the right direction. How do you get them motivated to follow your lead?

The first thing you should not do is nag or brag. I have long believed that nagging and belittling is not a good motivator because it doesn’t evoke people’s free will into changing unhealthy habits. Being direct in a kind and honest way will probably get you further than making the person feel bad about themselves. The key is to set them up for success not failure.

As you prepare to engage your fitness-challenged friend keep these three things in mind:

1. You should be focused on the person’s overall health rather than just the physical appearance. Looking good is a natural byproduct of a change to a healthy lifestyle, but it should not be the only goal. Often people give up when they fail to fit into those skinny jeans within a few weeks into their program. If the focus is placed on health versus appearance, your friend will be less likely to quit when they experience those normal negative body-issue days!

2. Encourage them to adopt eating and fitness habits that are well within their comfort zone – not yours. Just because a diet and exercise routine works for you does not mean it will work for your friend. Be supportive of whatever positive efforts they make in order to get healthy and fit.

3. One of the best ways you can help a person to seek a healthier lifestyle is through example and encouragement.  Share your journey with them. Your ups and downs. The benefits you have experienced now that you are making healthier choices, such as feeling better, experiencing less aches and pains, better flexibility. And share with them how you conquer those setbacks and temptations.

By being their mentor and biggest cheerleader you are more likely to inspire someone you love to a happier, healthier, and longer life.

For more fitness inspiration from Maruchy Lachance check out:

Personal Fitness is a Wise Investment

When Fitness Experts are Wrong

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How to Motivate Loved Ones to be Healthy

Guest blogger, Carol Dunlop is certified through FiTour as a Personal Trainer and through the American Red Cross as a CPR, AED and First Aid Instructor. She has competed and placed in several Fitness America and National Bodybuilding competitions. To receive your free E-course “How to Burn Calories While you Sleep,” visit her website:

When you think about healthy eating, what comes to your mind? Carrots and celery?

Yes, they are healthy, but are they the type of foods you think about as gotta-haves? No, I’ll bet they don’t conjure up those thoughts.

Usually, when you hear someone is eating healthy, it’s accompanied by thoughts of blandness. Healthy eating doesn’t have to be a sacrificial plate filled with flavorless varieties of rabbit food.

Really think about what you eat

While healthy eating may not bring about the best thoughts, it is synonymous with losing weight. When you focus on pain and sacrifice, this is when healthy eating is no more than something to do. Instead, you should be thinking about how this will change your lifestyle for the better, making you more aware of your everyday food choices.Healthy food doesn’t have to be devoid of taste or flavor or even satisfaction. Chocolate is a completely healthy choice in snack food, it’s just the amount you eat that makes the difference. So stick with it, try new and different foods and even find new ways to prepare old favorites, you may even find some new favorites that you never thought you would enjoy.

Make the choice to be healthy, not just eat healthy

When you choose dishes that are lower in calories and fats because you like them; rather than making it feel as if someone is standing behind you with a shotgun aimed at your heart, you can truly say that you are making health a choice. You are now making lifestyle decisions that affect not only your here and now, but your future and how well you live in it. Pat yourself on the back, because in order to make healthy eating a way of life, you have to live it every day.

As you start making healthier choices, you’ll begin to feel better about your decision making abilities. This becomes a habit and you won’t have to think about cheating and going off your diet, because you won’t be on a diet, you will be living!

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How to Make Healthy Eating a Way of Life

Coffee beans

Guest blogger, Eugene Wells is the author of The Decaf Diet: Is Caffeine Making You Fat? You can download and read the first 50 pages of the book for free on his blog, LastingLeanness.The caffeine in your daily coffee, tea, and soft drinks can lead to weight gain and make losing weight a losing battle. Caffeine can make you fat because it drives overeating and slows metabolism, by making your body increase its production of cortisol.
 
Cortisol is one of your body’s chief stress hormones, and caffeine’s impact on your cortisol levels can cause an increase in hunger, muscle breakdown, and a relocation of fat stores to your body’s center. If you are a regular caffeine user, your cortisol levels are chronically elevated. As a result, you become more prone to both physical and psychological stress, and the fat-promoting effects of elevated cortisol levels.

 1. Elevated cortisol levels promote appetite, contributing to overeating. Many studies implicate cortisol as a predictor of increased hunger, cravings for calorie-dense foods, and binge eating. This is not surprising, as many of us associate stress with overeating, and we acknowledge fatty, sugary foods as comforting in times of stress.

2. Elevated cortisol levels lead to muscle breakdown, reducing the amount of fat-burning muscle mass you carry. Your muscle mass is one of the key determinants of the rate at which your body burns energy while at rest, so conserving muscle is of vital importance for maintaining a healthy level of fat-burning.
 
3. Elevated cortisol levels make your body prefer to store central and visceral fat, contributing to the “pot belly” look. The more central and visceral fat that you carry, the higher is your risk of developing insulin resistance, and insulin resistance further contributes to cravings and overeating by destabilizing blood sugar levels.
 
The best way to keep your cortisol levels in check without reducing your caffeine intake is by adopting a diet that is high in vitamin C, a vitamin that is effective in lowering cortisol and keeping it under control. To maintain healthy levels of vitamin C in your body, you should eat fresh fruits and vegetables, including citrus fruits, fresh greens, and berries. 

Here is a complete review of The Decaf Diet.

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Three Reasons Why Caffeine May Be Making You Fat

I really like coming across stories such as this one. You may have heard of Ernestine Shepherd before, but if you haven’t, she is a 73 year old grandmother who runs 80 miles a week and can bench press 150 lbs! All I can say is, wow! She proves that it is never too late to get and stay fit.

She has won many awards to include one for a bodybuilding competition. She also gives back to her community by teaching exercise classes at her local church. Ernestine is truly an inspiration for people of all ages. Check out the video below to learn more about her.

Have a great weekend!

I’m a fan of body weight exercises and I like putting them together to create short, intense interval routines. I’m always on the lookout for new workouts and when I came across a recent article that describes two exercises that I do quite often:

• Dumbbell swings
• Burpees (or squat thrust)

According to the article (linked at the end of this post) these two exercises are effective when done one after the other without any rest in between. It is called a countdown workout. For example, you would start with say 15 reps. You would do 15 dumbbell swings, followed by 15 burpees. After that set, you do 14 reps of dummbell swings followed by 14 reps of burpees, and so on until you’re down to 1 rep.

Countdown workouts can be done with most body weight exercises and you may find that you won’t make it to one rep. That is fine though because it is supposed to be a challenging workout.

Why These Two Exercises?

If you consider the movements for both of these exercises you will see that they are working the entire body. Use them with the countdown method and you will end up doing 240 reps within 12 – 15 minutes. Since it’s an interval type of workout, you will also have the effect of boosting your metabolism long after the workout is complete. The article itself has a link to a podcast that will explain even more about why these two exercises are so effective.

Here are examples of how both exercises are done in the videos below.

Single-Arm Dumbbell Swing:

Burpees or Squat Thrust:

Resource:
The Ultimate Two-Exercise Workout

There’s nothing like getting really sick to make one appreciate healthy living. For me, my wake-up call came in the form of H1N1, which became pneumonia, which became a year of grappling with incapacitating lung issues, some of which will never abate. When I asked my doctor what to do to prevent matters from worsening, he insisted that a strengthening, rigorous exercise program was as important as the mounds of medication I now take. I was no stranger to fitness before getting sick, having played tennis avidly and attended gym classes regularly, but the year off, while necessary, had taken its toll – and the end-game had changed.

Exercise has many benefits, of course, that we all know (weight loss, toning, increasing metabolism – all reasons for my prior commitment to fitness), but I restarted my training program with one primary, new goal: increased physical wellness and the accompanying decreased chance of getting sick.

With that goal in mind, I joined the best gym I could find close to my house. Proximity is important to me; I have young children, and kindergarten is only half-day, so if I have to waste time getting there and back, I’m not going to go as much and for as long.

My gym is a five-minute bike ride from my house (longer if I want to make the ride my cardio warm-up!). After choosing the gym, I needed some refreshers; with my priorities being building muscle mass and endurance as well as developing routines that I could do anywhere – so I hired a trainer.

Luckily, the first six months of membership at this gym come with one hour of training per month – so working out with her every other week only moderately increases my costs. In between, there are plenty of weight training classes, which I alternate with yoga to increase my flexibility, plus the stretching feels great after muscles tighten with weights.

After the first couple of weeks, I was extremely sore, but I remain committed. In a sense, exercise is saving my life. So if the trainer asks for five pull-ups, I give her ten; ten push-ups, I give her 20. I’m already seeing results and feeling better, and I’m hoping that my renewed commitment to fitness will result in the long and healthy life I hope to lead.

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Fitness Can Save Your Life

Labor Day doesn’t have to make or break your diet. By taking advantage of the fresh produce in season this summer and offering healthy, fresh and delicious dishes to your guests, you’ll be able to enjoy your party, guilt-free, without worrying about busting anyone’s swim suit seams.

Running low on ideas? Here are a few of our tried and true recipes that will satisfy your guests’ taste buds without expanding their waistlines.

Barbecued Corn What’s a summer celebration without corn on the cob? Instead of drenching it in butter, try topping your corn with a bit of Parmesan cheese, pepper or a little garlic.

Pasta and Bean Salad You get your pasta salad and your bean salad, all wrapped up into one healthy dish.

All-American Potato Salad Potato salad, while delicious, is a fat and calorie bomb, but this slimmed down recipe may become your new favorite way to serve spuds.

Blue Cheese Dip Blue cheese is always a crowd pleaser, and this lower calorie version won’t disappoint. It pairs perfectly with fresh cut veggies or Buffalo Chicken Wings.

Cottage Cheese Dip for Vegetables For those who loathe fat-free store bought dips, and can’t stomach any more hummus, try this refreshingly unique, yet simple dip.

Microwave Baked Beans These beans are made with fruit (apple) instead of cups of sugar, to give you the same sweet taste, without the junk.

Oven Fried Chicken If you need a break from the BBQ chicken you’ve been eating all summer long, try this healthy spin on traditional fried chicken.

Actually Delicious Turkey Burgers The name says it all.

Blueberry Cobbler Nothing closes out a summer celebration better that a fresh fruit cobbler. Instead of topping it with fattening ice cream, try vanilla Greek yogurt.

Pineapple Angel Food Cake Sure, you could do the same old strawberry and blueberries angel food cakes, but pineapple gives a sweeter, more exotic taste your guests will love.

Remember to watch your portions, get in plenty of exercise, and most importantly, have fun!

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Healthy Recipes for Your Labor Day Party

After losing a considerable amount of weight, I get a lot of questions about weight loss.

What should I eat?
How often should I work out?
What vitamins work the best?

Most people who have success with weight loss get asked these questions. People want to know: Is it easier than what they are doing now?

I never know the right answer. So many people lose weight so many ways. There are a bazillion diets and workout plans. Because I am a life-long dieter I know that the only perfect diet is the one you are successful at.

In fact, weight loss is like a snowflake – no two people lost weight the exact same way.

Sometimes that is not fair of me to not answer those questions. After losing over 200 pounds, I should have some sort of advice.

So here it is…

No matter how successful you are at weight loss, how much weight you lost, how fit you are…

Never forget where you were.

Never forget the times you would sweat for no reason. Never forget the times where the pants that always fit you did not fit you anymore. Never forget the comments people made about you. Never forget the way you looked in the mirror.

As time went on, my memories faded.

How the seat belt did not fit.
How I had to shop at special stores for clothes.
How I did not take showers often because I could not.

It was only two years ago for me. In 2008 I was 420 pounds.

Yet, every day I live life to its fullest. I workout, I play with my son, I dance with my wife. I do things I was not able to do. I enjoy myself.

Yet, part of my success is that I will not forget where I was.

The other part of my success is knowing I will not go back.

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Weight Loss Success is Not Forgetting Where You Came From

Sadly, many traditional picnic options are unkind to your diet and do nothing to support a healthier lifestyle. Why not try some of these tricks to help you throw a figure-friendly picnic this weekend?

• Instead of grilling red meat or hot dogs, try chicken breast or pork tenderloin. There are some great marinades available, and both of these lean choices cook up well. Prepare extra for the coming week to make dinner time a cinch.

• Choose healthier side dishes. Swap your mayonnaise based potato salads and cole slaw for healthier versions. Roasted Garlic Potato Salad and Old Fashioned Cole Slaw are two great recipe swaps. Serve fresh fruit kabobs or ice cold watermelon wedges.

• Make fresh fruit popsicles or hand crank your own low-fat ice cream. An old fashioned hand crank works off just enough calories to make the ice cream a diet win, and it’s a great social activity – why not have two buckets and race against each other?

• Relay races that pit teams against each other, like sack races, dress up relays, and even jump rope and limbo contests, create good will in your neighborhood and help everyone fit their fitness in, almost without notice. Think about the games you played as a child: freeze, flashlight or TV tag, dodge ball or hula hoop contests are all great ways to increase camaraderie and encourage exercise. Some other great activities include foursquare or hopscotch, bike parades and flag football games.

• The above activities can work up quite a thirst. Instead of reaching for a HFCS laden soda, make your own healthier version. Try a Lemonade Smoothie or Sangria Spritzer or fill a pitcher with ice cold water and juicy fruit wedges or unsweetened iced tea with mint leaves.

Don’t forget the sunblock and the bug spray, and have a great holiday weekend!

Post from: Diets in Review Blog

How to Have a Healthier Labor Day Picnic