Picking The Right Exercise Class

Some of you may feel that you need to join an exercise class in order to regularly exercise. That's perfectly alright. The problem is that many times you don't actually ever get started because there are 25-30 different classes and you don't know which one you should join. Here are some things to help you make a decision and get started.

First, observe the class. Ack the instructor if you can stand in the back of the class and just watch. This will give you a better idea of what happens in the class. You can also talk with some of the participants after the class. Ask them how to get through that first class if you think this may be a fit for you. If it is not a fit, just leave and observe a different class.

More tomorrow.

Green Space and Health

I just read an article on green space and health. It was a large study done in Holland and looked at the health, not as individual's feelings of health, but rather on diseases present. They found that those who had green space around them such as parks were less likely to have disease present.

One of the most significant pieces was that those with green space around or near them were 90% less likely to have anxiety and depression, which we know accounts as the basis for most disease.

So find some green space near you!

Lifestyle Changes For Diabetics

If you have diabetes or you need to decrease your blood sugar, lifestyle changes are better than the medications. You may still need to take medication, but altering your lifestyle can make a huge difference.

The first and most important change you can make is to begin to exercise. You don't need to go out and buy a gym membership, although if that will motivate you to go, then by all means do it. You can do simple exercises at home, or just walk every day for 60 minutes nonstop. You'll be amazed at how much this helps.

Secondly is to watch what you eat. I'm not saying to go on any rigid diet. I'm saying, watch portion size, always have protein with every meal and eat 3 meals a day at least. Not such rigid and hard guidelines to follow.

Diabetes Epidemic - Are You Part Of It?

I get asked lots of questions about diabetes. Rightfully so, diabetes is at near epidemic proportions in the US. Let me first say that it is not a sugar problem. It is a vascular problem with insulin. You can feel perfectly normal or maybe a little tired with elevated blood sugar levels. The problem here is that by the time you find out your blood sugar levels are high, irreversible damage has been done on the inside.

Risk factors for diabetes are obesity, sedentary life style, family history, and poor eating habits, you should get checked to see if you have diabetes. This does not even require a trip to the doctor. Go to the pharmacy and get a blood glucose monitor. The pharmacist can show you how to use it.

Fast for 8 hours and check you blood glucose (best is to do this over night) in the morning before you eat or drink anything. If your result is less than 100, that is great! It's normal. If you are 100-125, you really need to start looking at what you're doing in your life and start addressing those risk factors. If you're higher than 125, you need to see your doctor. Medication may not be required but lifestyle changes are a must.

Happy Thnaksgiving!

Happy thanksgiving to everyone!

Have a wonderful day relaxing and enjoying your turkey, the football games, or whatever is your Thanksgiving Day passion.

As for me, I will be enjoying the football games, eating turkey and pumpkin pie!

Workouts With Instruments

I mentioned yesterday my workout with the tower bells in the City and County of Denver building. One of the workouts was our tour up to the top of the tower to actually see the bells. We had to walk up several flights of stairs and a small ladder to get into the bell tower. I realized coming back down what a great workout that had been.

If your thing is shopping during this holiday season, consider walking around the mall one more time before you make your purchases. It's a great way to get a little exercise in while you're shopping. Also, remember to park as far out in the parking lot as you can. Just adds a little more walking and gives you some physical activity which is a good thing!

Playing An Instrument Can Be More Than A Mental Workout

We all know that music is really about our inner being. So playing an instrument can be not only good for that inner being but also for the physical being as well. I have played the piano since I was 6 and played handbells for the last 18 years. While I didn't always expend a lot of energy playing the piano the mental energies were always beneficial.

In playing handbells, I often work up a sweat if the music is challenging or difficult or if I am ringing a lot in quick succession. I was playing with a small group the other day and we were working on a fairly difficult piece and I found myself removing my sweater, so I know I was burning a lot of calories even though I was not moving my legs.

Well now I have a new challenge and a new way to exercise with bells. I am being given the opportunity to ring the big bells in the top of the City and County Building in Denver between Thanksgiving and Christmas. There are only 10 bells, but I figure it will be a good workout!

Hints For Maintaining Your Weight During the Holidays Part 4

Here's another tip to avoid eating more. Get plenty of rest. Sleep is critical for you to produce leptin, which is a hormone that helps increase your satiety. In other words, you feel satisfied with less food.

If you are sleep deprived, your body produces ghrelin, a hormone that tends to make you hungry. So your tendency when sleep deprived is to eat more because you feel more hungry.

So get lots of rest!

Hints For Maintaining Your Weight During the Holidays Part 3

We've all heard of vegging out, but most of us think about that as just laying around in mindless inactivity. What I mean by vegging out here is not the same. You guessed it, go for the veges. Be careful though. The dips and sauces that often accompany veges can be very detrimental. Go for the raw veges and avoid the dips. Savor the flavor of the vegetable itself. Another thing is to look for the fruit. Hopefully there will be some fresh fruit on the table which is also and excellent choice to make.

Again it will be easier to do this if you have had something to eat before you go to the party.

Hints For Maintaining Your Weight During the Holidays

I have mentioned this before, but again as we head into the holiday season and the parties and goodies that will be around, one of the most important things you can do is keep your plate small. The smaller your plate, the less food you will consume.

Research has demonstrated that on average, if you use a smaller plate you will decrease the number of calories by about 142 per meal. Now that may not sound like much, but over a year of 3 meals a day, this results in about 44 pounds of weight gain.

Also, before you go to a party eat something at home, like a bean soup or salad with beans in it. By the time you get to the party, you will not have the urge to eat everything in site.

Some Do's To Help You Stay Trim

As we move into the holiday season, people are always looking for ways to not gain another 10, 15 or 20 pounds during the holidays. Over the next couple of days, I'm going to give you some suggestions to help you not over eat and go crazy with food over the holidays.

My first suggestion is to eat more fiber. Fiber mixed with protein will give you a feeling of fullness much more quickly than if you are eating rice, pasta or breads. A good choice is to eat beans such as lentils, pinto, kidney, black, navy, or garbanzo beans. Beans naturally contain protein and fiber which slows mealtime digestion, so it takes fewer calories to fill you up.

Keep in mind that as you eat, you are actually "full" long before your brain tells you that you are full.

Fitness Mistakes #3

The third biggest mistake in exercising is not paying attention to form. Slopping your way through your exercise regime is not going to help you. You may not be able to do the exercise perfectly, but attempt to follow the very best form that you can.

If you rush through a set of exercises, muscles are likely to get strained and then you're not getting the benefit you want. It is far more important to concentrate on quality and not quantity. Straining your neck while doing crunches is not what you're hoping to accomplish and your neck is not even the area you are working on!

Fitness Mistakes #2

One of the things you need to do in your exercises is variety. Some people call this cross-training. If you do the same set of exercises every day, over and over, the muscles may become strained from overuse.

Vary your routine and try some new things so that you get a well rounded workout. The very best thing to do is to be sure that you have not only a cardio workout, but also strength training.

Fitness Mistakes #1

Over the next 3 days I will be giving you the 3 most common fitness mistakes. The number one mistake is forgetting to warm up or cool down. Have you ever just started to work out without really warming up first. The result is usually not something you feel immediately, but can lead to being sore later on.

The other thing that warming up does is it gets the muscles ready to work. If you don't warm up first, you may end up with a serious injury because the muscle wasn't ready to work yet.

The cool down is equally important. Stretching out after you exercise helps the muscles relax. Be carefully with stretching. You need to be doing it correctly, or you can injury yourself. Just stretch gently, do not bounce or force the stretch.

Healing Power Of Sleep

We do need our sleep. But there is a lot of controversy out there as to how much sleep do we need. The youngest among us need the most. Toddlers need 12-14 hours of sleep a day. School age children need 10-11 hours per day. Teens need 9-10 hours per day. Adults need 7-9 hours per day.

Sleep is important to our health. Usually when you come down with a cold, you have had some sleep deprivation. But there is research that has shown a decrease in sleep may add to the body's overall inflammation, increasing the risk for heart disease and stroke. Getting just 1 extra hour of sleep can decreases the risk by 33%. So you can see how important sleep is to us.

Give your body a rest, if you can't get your 7-9 hours a night, take a nap or 2 during the day.

Birth Control Pills and Muscle

If you're on birth control pills and trying to build muscle, you might want to consider the following. Researchers found that women taking birth control pills had higher levels of catabolic hormones which tend to destroy muscle. The anabolic hormones are the ones that build muscle. Women not taking the pill and put through identical 10 week courses of resistance training added more than 60 percent more muscle mass than those on the birth control pill.

So if you are working on building muscle and not seeing much result, are you taking birth control pills?

Vitamin D and Asthma

I just read a study about Vitamin D and Asthma. The upshot of this research was that kids who had higher levels of vitamin D tended to have less asthma treatment needs. Indicating that Vitamin D does make a difference in the immune system. Two of the markers that indicate immune activity, IgE and eosinophils were both lower in the kids who had higher levels of Vitamin D.

So how to we get it? The best way is to spend some time in the sun. Not hours but 15-20 minutes a day is enough to begin to replenish the body's Vitamin D requirements. You can also get it in Vitamin D fortified milk, fatty fish and fish oils.

Hooping Your Way To Health

Were you one of those kids that had a hoola hoop back in the 60's? If not, you may remember seeing them and some of you may have seen them more recently. The hoops today are a way of exercising, meditating and staying in shape.

The hoops today are bigger and heavier and afford a great workout with a little music. It really is a form of dancing which is great exercise as we all know. The hoops can be used on the waist, the chest, legs, arms, and hips. The movement is great and as you get into the music, you can put yourself in a meditative state.

Some Last Thoughts On Portion Control

Curb your appetite. Before a big meal, eat a salad or broth based vegetable soup. If you do this before you go to have the big meal, you will have a feeling of fullness much sooner and will tend to eat less.

Eating out - here are a couple of things for when you eat out. Ask for a lunch size portion of a dinner entree. Share whatever you order with a friend. My husband and I have found that the portions are so huge now in restaurants, that we do much better just ordering one and sharing it.

Ask for a takeout container or doggie bag when you place your order. When the order comes, place half of it in the container before you start eating.

Lastly, on eating out, steer clear of the "All-You-Can-Eat" buffets. If possible order off of the menu.

Portion Control

Another thing to do for portion control is to use smaller plates. If you have a smaller plate and it is full, you will have a sense of eating the right portion. If you have a big plate, you will want to fill it.

Another thing is the utensils. Use small spoons for gravies and heavy sauces and big spoons for vegetables. This way you will get more of the vegetables and less of the things that are not as good for you.

More to Control Portion Size

Slow down!! Eat more slowly. Most of us eat until our brain tells us we are full. The problem is that we have probably had 2-3 times as much food as we need by the time our brain says we're full.

Take sips of water between bites. Take time to really enjoy what you are eating. Pause before you take seconds and ask yourself if you really need that second helping. Think about it for a few minutes and have another sip or two of water. If there are going to be leftovers, put them away before you start your meal after you have dished up. This will make it more of an effort to go get seconds.

Better yet is to cook so that there will not be left overs. Then the temptation for seconds is removed.

Limiting Portion Sizes

Yesterday I started to talk about controlling portion sizes. Here are a couple more tips on controlling portion sizes.

Read the label. How much is actually one serving? Sometimes what we think is one serving is actually 2 or 3 servings.

Put left overs into single serving size containers. This will help you limit that next portion instead of grabbing the entire leftover and eating what may be 3-4 portions.

Ways to Control Portion Size

Here are some tips to help control portion sizes. Start out with half of your usual portion of your favorite foods. Then substitute vegetables and fruits for the rest of your portion. This is a great place to start.

Try to avoid the big snack bags of chips and cookies. Either buy the smaller pre-portioned sized bags, or if you buy the big bag, as soon as you get home, immediately divide the bigger bags into single serving plastic bags.

Shellfish

Yes, shellfish are good for you. Shellfish have gotten a bad rap because they are said to contain too much cholesterol. If you have been reading this blog for any length of time, you will know what I think of the cholesterol myth. While they do contain cholesterol, shellfish also contain lots of omega 3 fatty acids and are actually low in fat.

My husband was ecstatic when I told him he could really eat shrimp and not worry about the fat or the cholesterol. He wasn't so ecstatic when I told him, that was the sauces and butter that he had to watch a little more carefully. He's happy with the boiled shrimp and low cal cocktail sauce.

Other shellfish that are great for the same reasons are mussels, scallops and oysters.

Memory and Mood

Thinking happier thoughts will help your mood. Yesterday I mentioned movement as part of memory.

Here's something for you to ponder. If you put a pen or pencil in your mouth and hold it with your teeth, the facial muscles are utilized in the same way as when you're smiling. If you hold the pen or pencil with your lips, the facial muscles are ina downward or sad place. Smiling makes you think happy positive thoughts. Frowning or a sad face makes you think sad or negative thoughts. Think about this the next time you put your pen or pencil in your mouth.

More On Improving Your Memory

I mentioned yesterday that going for a walk can improve your memory. If you are learning something, walking can help you not only clear your mind, but then add some movement to help you remember what you are learning. Create a hand gesture that you can relate to whatever it is you are learning.

Repeating the hand gesture will help you remember.

Improving Your Memory

I get asked by many of my older patients if I think they are getting Alzheimers Disease. Usually it is because they have forgotten somethings. But the bottom line is that if they are asking the question, they don't have it.

Most of us have experienced times when we have forgotten something. Or have you ever been at work and you suddenly just can't seem to think any more, your brain is in a fog. Then it's time to clear it. One of the things that will help you improve your memory is simply by going for a walk. What this does is change your environment and also your thoughts. While you're walking, you may come up with a solution to whatever you were working on that you might not have thought of otherwise.

Exercise and Diabetes

I recently read an article about exercise and diabetes. It was a study conducted on NFL players and their risk factors for heart disease and diabetes. The finding that was being stressed, was the fact that the blood sugars of the NFL players tended to be lower on average than men in the control group who were not particularly physically active.

I found this somewhat amusing because for one thing, the diet of NFL players tends to be very high in protein. This is to help them build muscle. Their diets tend to be less in the realm of fruits and vegetables and hence how many times have we heard that an NFL player has the flu - there are at least a couple every week. They're not building their immune systems. But that is another issue. Back to the sugar. We also know that if you are physically active and the more physically active you are, the more efficient your cells become in terms of utilizing glucose. Also muscle cells tend to use more than fat cells. So it is reasonable to believe that these fairly large NFL players who are very physically active would have lower blood sugars.

My case in point here. When I was practicing in endocrinology, I had a patient who was a world class bicyclist. He was also a Type I Diabetic. When he quit riding his bike 6-8 hours a day, and started to work in an office where he sat at a desk most of the day, his insulin requirements started to go up and his fat to lean body mass changed.

The lesson here is to get out and move!

How The Nutrients Work When Your Engine Is Running #4

The fourth major output when your body is functioning well is the waste and recycling. The fiber you eat helps you eliminate the solid waste. Yes, we have our own internal recycling plant in the form of our kidneys. Once cells have grabbed the nutrients from the food we eat to nourish themselves, they send the rest back into the blood stream to get filtered and recycled.

Basically the blood carries the waste to your kidneys (your own person recycling center). The kidneys filter about 45 thousand gallons of fluid every 24 hours. In the filtering process, they return needed water and chemicals to the blood. Only about 1% of filtered fluids gets turned into urine.

How The Nutrients Work When Your Engine Is Running #3

In addition to the blood vessels dilating and bringing blood to the surface to cool the body, your body also begins to sweat. This is the body's most effective way of cooling itself. The sweat evaporates and results in cooling of the body.

There is a downside to this and that is if you sweat a lot, you can become dehydrated for two reasons. First, if you are sweating you are usually doing some activity that is going to require more oxygen, so you may have an increased respiratory rate. Usually, as you begin to breath faster you will open your mouth and breath through both nose and mouth. This will begin to dry the membranes of the air passages and hence begin the dehydration process. Secondly, as you sweat, you are not only losing water through the skin. If you lick your skin after you have been sweating, it will taste salty, because you lose sodium, chloride and potassium through the skin as well with the sweat. These elements stay on the skin while the water evaporates. Beware that you are replacing what you are losting.