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Archive for November, 2011

Have you ever wondered if what you know about omega 3 is accurate? Consider the following paragraphs and compare what you know to the latest info on omega 3.

Adding fats to your diet is essential if you want to live a healthy lifestyle that results in feeling and looking great, but it has to be the right kind of fats. Essential fatty acids fall within this category and are a crucially important addition to anyone’s diet.

Omega-3 essential fatty acids are made up of two components: DHA (which stands for docosahexaenoic acid) and EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid).

The best source of DHA and EPA are fish, especially salmon, seaweed, shellfish and algae. Furthermore, you can also get omega-3’s from unrefined whole grains, dark; leafy greens and certain nuts and seeds like walnuts, flaxseeds and pumpkin seeds. This second group contains ALA (alpha linolenic acid) which your body then converts to EPA and DHA.

Your best bet, however, is to get your omega-3’s from seafood because your body converts only about 15 percent of dietary ALA to EPA and much less to DHA.

What do you do if you don’t like, and absolutely refuse to eat, seafood? Well, fortunately you can get omega-3’s in capsule form. Not everyone’s stomach can handle these capsules, but try them out for one month. It’s an extremely convenient way to add omega-3’s to your diet.

When purchasing omega-3’s in pill form, you’ll notice some products also contain the other two components of essential fatty acids: omega-6 and omega-9. Stick with the products that contain only high amounts of omega-3’s. Most people already get high amounts of these two fatty acids from their diet, and it’s this lack of omega-3’s that is potentially the culprit behind many health problems today.
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Hair loss treatments are usually divided into two groups: natural hair loss treatments and all the other hair loss remedies. Unfortunately, many people that experience hair loss are not aware of the natural hair loss remedies. They usually get frustrated after having side effects of the hair loss remedies or spend too much money on ineffective hair loss remedies.

Herbal hair loss treatments have been proven effective for decades and in some cases even centuries. They cause no side effects, cost less than any other hair loss treatment and bring good results in preventing hair loss, stopping hair loss and regrowing hair.

Here are some of the most common herbs for hair loss:

1. Rosmary (Rosmarinus in Latin) – known for stimulating hair growth and for enhancing dark hair.

2. Dong Quai – A Traditional Chinese herb that contains phytoestrogens that reduces the formation of DHT. Hence, Dong Quai is beleieved to stop hair loss and even regrow hair.

3. Saw Palmetto – A small creeping palm – Also known as Serenoa repens. It contains free fatty acids and phytosterols, which block the formation of DHT and by inhibiting the enzyme 5-alpha reductase that contributes to androgenetic alopecia. and has shown to be more effective than Finasteride in some cases.
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Moshi Moshi!

Hello again from the Far East on the West Coast, and greetings from the DOJO. This week, before I get in to the nuts and bolts of the treadmills and the ellipticals I work on, I’m going to start with a quick guide to how to choose a treadmill — well, how to choose a residential / home grade treadmill. Choosing a commercial treadmill tends to be a bit easier — go Star Trac, Matrix, Landice or Life Fitness and, in spite of their great ellipticals, avoid Precor treadmills. Precor is a great company, they just don’t quite have treadmills down as well as the other companies. With the commercial treadmills it’s kind of like choosing between a BMW, a Mercedes and a Lexus. It’s all about bells and whistles more than performance…they’re all great machines and we’ll talk about them another time.

Home treadmills are a tough sea to navigate for most buyers — there are so many different brands and they all look alike to outsiders. Luckily, over the past 20 or so years, I’ve had to repair just about every treadmill ever made. In other words, my pain will be your salvation!

My first piece of advice is: avoid anything and everything from Icon Health and Fitness. They’re the manufacturer of the units you’ll find at places like Sears — nothing against Sears, but the treadmills they sell tend to be on the lower end of the quality scale. Their treadmills seem to have specs that are too good to be true for their cost and, truth be told, they are. The old proverb, “you get what you pay for” comes in to play with them. Small motors with high RPMs to give them a perceived higher horsepower (most of their motors should really be rated at under 1.5 HP regardless of what they tell you — a motor the size of a soda can should not be powering a full sized treadmill!), lots of plastic pieces, tiny rollers, and generally unstable machines are par for the course for the Icon brands like Proform, Weslo, Healthrider and Image. Just stay away from them! There are better treadmills even at the more affordable prices that Icon tempts the unlearned consumer with.

On with translating the arcane lore that is treadmill purchasing for the lay person.

Let’s start with the motor. The first thing you want to do is make sure the motor is rated with “Continuous Duty.” Any sales person or manufacturer who gives you a “Peak” rating is trying to sell you a bag of magic beans. Peak is best described as the maximum a motor will perform at before it breaks down. What’s more imporant is: how the heck is that motor going to perform when you’re actually using it? Another thing a shady salesperson might mention is that a common home circuit (120v/15amps) will only let you run about 2.5 HP and any motor larger than that is a waste of money. Technically that is true (about the amps vs. HP, not the waste of money), but the larger motors will tend to last longer as they are not running at the higher RPMs of a smaller motor. And, if nothing else, the larger the motor, the smoother the “ride.” A bigger motor will allow you to run or walk on it without slipping.

The next thing to look at is the size of a treadmill’s rollers. The bigger the rollers, the longer your belt will last and the better the running experience. Read the rest of this entry »

Everyone, regardless of how disciplined they are with their diet, will from time to time fall victim to cravings for one food item or another. For people trying to lose weight, these cravings are even more of a challenge to deal with than for someone simply maintaining their weight. Regardless of whether or not you are trying to lose weight however, cravings can be the one thing that makes you break your normal dietary habits and overdo the calories you usually try to do without.

Most people know that getting some kind of exercise and eating healthy, low-fat foods is the key to maintaining good health, but with the hectic and hurried schedules so many people have these days, sometimes eating right and getting exercise can be easier said than done. The best way to insure against dietary disaster when you do get those cravings throughout the day is to plan ahead and use a little strategy.

For one thing, try to plan 5 to 6 small meals with one to be eaten around every 3 hours of the day and make it a point not to miss any of them. It takes an average of 2 ½ hours for the human body to digest a meal, so by the time you start to feel a craving coming on, it’s almost time for your next meal anyway.
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