Avoid Common Exercise Mistakes

The most important goal when undertaking any exercise program is not to build muscle, burn fat, increase cardiovascular capacity, or anything else. Those are important, but the number-one priority is to keep from being injured. That's the only way you'll have a real chance of reaching your fitness goals. Here are four movements to avoid when exercising, along with a few exercises that are often performed incorrectly:

1.	Don't use jerking motions, especially when lifting. Speed is fine when done appropriately, but you should always have fluid motion and proper form when performing any and all exercises; otherwise you could strain or even tear something.
2.	Don't use body parts not required for the exercise. Have you ever seen people doing biceps curls and rounding their shoulders or arching their backs? Those are just two of the big no-no's that can lead to injury.
3.	Don't lock out your knees or elbows. Never lock your joints when working out; keep them slightly bent so the weight will not be transferred to the joints.
4.	Don't arch your back. Picture someone on the barbell bench press, lifting a weight that is actually too heavy for them. Chances are that eventually, they will start arching their back. Sooner than later, that back is going to give out and they won't be able to exercise for days, weeks or even longer.

Push-ups. The wrong way: You should never have a dip or arch in your back or lock your arms. The right way: Arms should be underneath you and not locked, back parallel to the floor. Engage your "core" the entire time (squeeze your glutes and draw in your belly button).

Walking lunges. The wrong way: When performing a lunge, extending the front knee past the front foot will cause injury at some point. The right way: When you are in a split stance, go straight down and do not let your front knee go past your foot.

Squats. The wrong way: Knees coming forward over your toes. The right way: Perform this exercise as if you were sitting back on a chair and putting 80 percent of your weight on your heels. Then lean slightly forward so you won't fall back.

Chest press. The wrong way: Lifting the weight using your back (high arch). The right way: Keep your back flat and relax your shoulders while lifting the weight.

And let's not forget about the right and wrong way to exercise in general. Get some expert advice prior to working out. Most gyms have personal trainers who will give you a free consultation and show you some basic machines and correct postures. Your doctor is also a good source of information, particularly if they specialize in exercise and rehab protocols.

Break Free of the Disease Diet

The SAD fact is that cultures that eat the reverse of the "Standard American Diet" - low fat, high in complex carbohydrates, fruits, vegetables and fiber, etc. - have a lower incidence of obesity, cancer and coronary artery disease. What's even more SAD is that countries whose populations can afford to eat the healthiest disease-preventing foods don't. America spends more money on weight loss than any country in the world, yet the American diet contributes to the very conditions we spend so much money to prevent.

Research conducted at the University of San Francisco Department of Medicine by Drs. Lynda Frassetto and Anthony Sebastian, and subsequently published in the prestigious Journal of Gerontology, clearly demonstrates that as we get older our bodies accumulate acid wastes. They attribute the accumulation of acid and the reduction of the alkaline state as we age to eating the Standard American Diet (SAD), and conclude that the role of age-related metabolic acidosis in the cause of adult degenerative disease warrants consideration.

So, it's obvious that we must consume more "alkaline" fruits, vegetables and plant foods to fight off disease as we age. Our SAD choices in food must change. Education and the new advances in food technologies are the keys. It's as simple as replacing the Standard American Diet, which is:

	High in animal fats including dairy products
	High in unhealthy fats: saturated, hydrogenated
	Low in fiber
	High in processed foods
	Low in complex carbohydrates
	Low in fruits, vegetables and other plant-based foods

with a healthier diet that focuses on alkaline fruits, vegetables and plant foods, including the following:

	Tomatoes
	Carrots
	Spinach
	Broccoli
	Blueberries
	Raspberries

Talk to your doctor for more information on how you can break free of the SAD cycle of weight gain and disease and achieve your health goals.

Back Pain: Exercises to Help Healing

When it comes to back pain, your first thoughts may be to take over-the-counter pain medication and rest whenever possible. Two bad options. First, medication is only going to temporarily relieve the pain, if at all, and may be accompanied by various unpleasant side effects attributable to drugs. Second, rest may actually hurt more than help. While you're seeing your chiropractor, there are a few things you can do at home to help the healing process. Believe it or not, it's based on the simple principle of movement.

When you stop moving, everything tightens up, circulation slows down, and pain chemicals accumulate in your muscles and joints. It's like waking up after sleeping in a cold room on a lousy mattress with a draft. You need to move. Here are two simple exercises to get you started (discuss these with your doctor first):

Exercise #1: Backward Bending (extension of the lumbar spine). An exercise called the McKenzie extension is the first thing you should try if you have sciatica (pain running down your leg). If these exercises work, your pain will diminish and may centralize, which is a good thing. Centralize means your pain goes less far down your leg, and you may feel it closer to the spine. Bending backward may not feel good at first, but you should feel better immediately afterward. If you feel worse afterward or the pain goes farther down your leg, stop, as this is not the exercise for you.

How to Do It: Lie face-down on the floor, arms bent at your sides (sort of like a starting push-up posture). Straighten your arms up slowly, lifting your upper body off the floor as you do so. Your legs and feet should stay on the ground. Hold for 3-5 seconds, then slowly lower your upper body back down. Repeat 10 times, as often as once per hour

Exercise #2: Flexion Exercises (bringing the leg toward the chest). People with lower back pain can also feel better with various types of leg flexion, bringing the bent leg toward the chest, or doing contract-relax and then bringing the bent leg toward the chest. These people usually have sacroiliac joint problems. (The SI joints are located on either side of the spine in the lower back.)

How to Do It: Lie on your back with one leg bent and then other flat on the floor. Bring the bent leg up toward the chest. Wrap your arms around the leg and then try to lower it toward the floor for 3-5 seconds, resisting with your arms. Relax, and then pull the bent leg up farther toward the chest. Repeat the entire process three times.

What Do Strawberries Have to Do with ADHD Kids?-Fooducate

A new study by US and Canadian scientists is linking ADHD to pesticide. Researchers found that kids with high levels of pesticide residue in their urine were more likely to suffer from the challenging attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Unfortunately some of childrens’ favorite fruit are the most heavily sprayed with pesticides. Strawberries top the list.

What to do at the supermarket:

For some people, the solution is dead simple – buy organic. For most of us though, this is not an option, as the price is too prohibitive.

But if we reframe the financial consideration, and instead of focusing on just the high price of 2 lbs of fresh berries, think about our overall expenditure on food vs our spending on healthcare, things may even out.

If you’re a longtime reader of this blog, you know where to find hundreds of extra dollars to feed your organic frenzy – switching from soft drinks to tap water…

Just don’t give up fruit because you’re afraid of pesticides. Your kids are much better off with the nutritional benefits of conventional fruit than without.

Soft drinks

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Dr Pepper vs. Coke [Inside the Label] Posted: 17 May 2010 05:00 AM PDT With a particular flavor you either love or you hate, Dr Pepper has been around for as long as Coca Cola. Actually, one year longer – since 1885. Although it never reached the heights of Coke's success, Dr Pepper is a very popular soft drink, mostly in the US. At 7 teaspoons of sugar per cup, though, it is nutritionally equivalent to all the other fizzy pops. Meaning – you get a 100 calorie liquid snack. Looking at the ingredients list, Dr Pepper and Coke are almost identical. Dr Pepper Ingredients:  Carbonated Water, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Caramel Color, Phosphoric Acid, Natural and Artificial Flavors, Sodium Benzoate (Preservative), Caffeine. Coke: Water, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Caramel Color, Phosphoric Acid, Natural Flavors, Caffeine. The difference between the two is the pepper, right? Actually, we'll never know. Both Coke and Dr Pepper's flavoring are trade secrets hidden behind  "natural flavors" and "natural and artificial flavors" respectively. Whenever a product needs to be strengthened with natural or artificial flavors, you should ask yourself why. In the case of soda pop, the answer is clear. Sugar and water alone are not enough to compel consumers. But what about all the other processed foods and drinks made with "real" fruit that still require added flavorings? Moving on to other ingredients – Both Coke and Dr Pepper contain high fructose syrup as the sweetener, caramel color, caffeine, and phosphoric acid. Dr Pepper adds sodium benzoate to boot. You definitely don't want your kids having too much of any of these ingredients on a daily basis, if at all. What to do at the supermarket: Make a habit of skipping the beverage aisle. Soft drinks should be treated as a once-in-a-while treat, not a daily must have.

Nutrition for Healthy Skin

Along with hair and nails, skin is the fastest growing and most superficial tissue in the body. As such, it has a high demand for nutrients in order to continuously replenish itself with rapidly developing immature skin cells from the layers below. Even a marginal deficiency of nutrients such as vitamin A, the carotenoids, vitamin D, vitamins B₁ and B₂, niacin, pantothenic acid, biotin, folic acid, vitamin B₁₂, vitamin E, vitamin C or essential fatty acids can result in impaired development of skin cells, resulting in skin that is less smooth, prone to lesions, less elastic and more likely to suffer accelerated aging.

Here are some of the more common skin problems and the nutritional supplements that can help you get rid of them:

For sun- and chemical-induced free-radical damage that causes premature aging of the skin, wrinkling, cancerous conditions, other forms of skin damage, the appropriate supplement contains optimal levels of antioxidants to help protect your skin from the aging and damaging effects caused by the sun: Antioxidants vitamin C, vitamin E, beta-carotene, selenium and zinc intercept and neutralize free radicals and defend skin cells from these damaging effects. Antioxidants also protect skin from ultraviolet light damage.

For skin disorders such as dermatitis (skin inflammation problems), lack of smoothness, seborrhoea-like scaly lesions, irregular pigmentation, the appropriate supplement contains B vitamins at sufficient doses to ensure the healthy development of skin cells: B-vitamin supplementation corrects these skin problems and successfully treats a wide range of dermatitis problems. B vitamins also help to improve the smoothness and texture of the skin.

For unhealthy skin, acne and other conditions, the appropriate supplement provides adequate daily doses of zinc and selenium to enhance your skin's vitality and appearance: Zinc improves oil gland function, local skin hormone activation, wound healing, inflammation control within the skin and tissue regeneration of skin cells. Selenium plays a key role in antioxidant protection and in the prevention and management of various skin conditions.

Healthy skin is an important step toward a healthy, happy you, so what are you waiting for? Ask your doctor about how to give yourself an "inner facial" with the right nutrition.

Restaurant Sushi May Have More Mercury Than Store-Bought Fare

Restaurant Sushi May Have More Mercury Than Store-Bought Fare
Toxin concentrations higher in certain tuna species versus others, study finds

(HealthDay News) -- The tuna sushi that you order in restaurants may have higher concentrations of mercury than the sushi you buy at your local supermarket, a new study finds.

Supermarkets tend to sell sushi made from yellowfin tuna, which contains less mercury than other tuna species, researchers report.

"We found that mercury levels are linked to specific species," Jacob Lowenstein, a graduate student working with the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, said in a news release from the museum. "So far, the U.S. does not require restaurants and merchants to clarify what species they are selling or trading, but species names and clearer labeling would allow consumers to exercise greater control over the level of mercury they [consume]," he added.

For their study, the researchers combined two efforts: DNA barcoding performed at the museum to identify specific species; and a mercury content analysis from experts at Rutgers University. The report was published online April 21 in Biology Letters.

"People who eat fish frequently have a particular need to know which species may be high in contaminants," said Michael Gochfeld, professor at Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in New Jersey. "Some agencies have been afraid that any mention of contaminants will discourage people from eating any fish."

The team sampled sushi from 54 restaurants and 15 supermarkets in New York, New Jersey and Colorado, and tested them for relative mercury content. Through DNA barcoding, 100 samples were identified as either bigeye tuna, yellowfin tuna or three different bluefin tuna species.

The team reported that all species tested exceeded or approached mercury concentrations permissible by the United States, the European Union, Japan and Canada, plus those set by the World Health Organization.

Higher mercury levels were found in bigeye tuna and bluefin akami, which is a lean, dark red tuna, than in bluefin toro, a fatty tuna, and yellowfin tuna akami, the researchers said. Mercury tends to accumulate in muscle rather than fat, so mercury content is usually -- but not always -- higher in leaner fish. Yellowfin tuna, for example, is lean, but may accumulate less mercury because it is smaller and harvested earlier than other species, they said.

The seafood industry took a critical view of the report.

"This is a study that tests mercury levels in fish, but stops short of any work exploring what -- if anything -- those levels mean for health," said Gavin Gibbons, director of media relations at the National Fisheries Institute, in an institute statement issued Wednesday.

He added that research has shown that "eating fish as a whole food -- omega-3s, selenium, lean protein, traces of mercury and all -- is a boost to heart and brain health."

In addition, Gibbons said, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's mercury limit for seafood includes a 1,000 percent safety factor, "and approaching that limit or even slightly exceeding it does not equal health risk," he said.

More information

To learn more about mercury in seafood, see the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.


SOURCES: American Museum of Natural History, news release, April 21, 2010; statement, National Fisheries Institute, April 21, 2010