I was first introduced to the foam roller in my pilates class and since then we have had a love-hate relationship.
I love how my muscles feel after rolling them along the foam, but the process kills!
Here are some tips from Shape.com to using the foam roller and reaping the benefits. Remember when it really hurts is probably when you need it the most.
Stretching Exercises
The foam roller is an effective tool for anyone that experiences tightness in the quads, hamstrings, or calves. “A client can complain of knee aches and in just 3 minutes of rolling out the IT band, they report greatly diminished pain,” says Jackie Warner, fitness trainer and star of Personal Training with Jackie: Power Circuit Training.
If you’re using the roller to release tightness in the legs, position your body over the roller and lower yourself down. Aim to hold each foam roller exercise for about 20-30 seconds. Rolling these muscles can be painful, but you’ll feel much better after. “Avoid direct contact on the joints and focus more on the deep muscle and connective tissue right above or below the joints,” adds Warner. This technique shouldn’t be used to treat injuries. You might cause more damage when muscles and surrounding ligaments or tissues are inflamed.
Correcting Posture
Stand taller by using the roller to correct postural imbalance. Try lying on the roller with your body in a bridge and slowly roll up and down your vertebrae. This foam roller exercise will help release tension in the muscles surrounding your spine. Many people also roll their upper backs in lieu of going to see a massage therapist.
Strength Training
You can focus on your balance and core muscles with the roller too, but it’s a bit more advanced. “Some instructors use them as a balance strengthener by doing squats and kicks while standing or kneeling on rollers, but do so with a professional instructor that can help you get the most out of it,” adds Warner. Looking for a more basic move? Try focusing on your triceps with this foam roller exercise.
There are some nights where I go to bed early only to wake up just as sleepy! According to this article from Women’s Health the problem is that even though we’re getting the 8 hours of required sleep, we’re not actually getting the deep sleep that is needed!
Here are some tips to sleeping well so that you’re waking up with more energy!
1- Skip the Nightcap
“Alcohol may help you fall asleep faster, but once your body begins to remove it from your system, it acts as a stimulant,” says Donna Arand, Ph.D., clinical director of the Sleep Disorders Center at Kettering Medical Center in Kettering, Ohio. “Four or five hours after your last drink, you’ll wake up, and it will be hard to fall back to sleep.” So instead of reaching for a glass of pinot noir, start a nighttime ritual that actually promotes sleep: Take a warm shower (when you step out, your body begins to cool off, a process it goes through before sleep) or sip a cup of decaf chamomile tea.
2- Breathe Easier
If you’re one of the 12 million Americans with sleep apnea, you’re about 80 percent more likely to feel sluggish during the day, no matter how many hours you sleep, Ojile says. The condition occurs when the soft tissue at the back of your throat blocks your airway during sleep, stopping your breathing and waking you up as many as hundreds of times a night. “Imagine how exhausted you’d feel if someone were constantly poking you awake,” Ojile says. “Apnea deprives your brain of oxygen, increases your heart rate, and saps your energy levels.”
3- Reschedule Your Sweat Sessions
Exercise will help improve the quality of your sleep—if you time it right. Working out late in the day can actually leave you staring at the ceiling in bed, since it can take three to four hours for your body to cool itself afterward. “When your core body temperature is too high and your heart rate is too fast, it can keep you awake,” Ojile says. It’s better to exercise at least four hours before bedtime. Better yet, hit the gym in the morning or at lunch—you’ll feel the energy-boosting effects for hours.
From Oprah.com
Ancient Greek physicians prescribed garlic. Egyptian herbalists favored licorice. For Oprah, the cold-fighting concoction of choice is the juice of freshly crushed cranberries.
Cranberries are rich in health-boosting antioxidants, including vitamin C and flavonoids (which can act as anti-inflammatories). And fresh cranberry juice offers all its nutrient content with none of the high-fructose corn syrup and other additives found in many store-bought brands.
Continue Reading Here.
Jillian Michaels, the hardcore personal trainer from NBC’s Biggest Loser teaches TIME what to eat at the office while on a diet
Follow these 6 rules from Shape.com to make smarter choices when you indulge in candy, cookies, ice cream and fast food.
1. Control cravings
Complete deprivation is not the solution. A denied craving can quickly spiral out of control, leading to bingeing or overeating. If you’re craving fries or chips, for example, eat a small serving of fries, or buy the mini 150-calorie bag of chips and be done with it. Also to consider: a healthier alternative like chips made from blue corn.
2. Indulge sensibly
Splurging on occasion is acceptable — just don’t get carried away!
3. Avoid stocking treats in your cabinets or fridge
Buy something only when the craving hits and enjoy a small quantity. Then share or trash the rest.
4. Mix it up
Try eating something healthier thing along with the less-nutritious food, like a piece of fruit with your cheesecake. By eating the fruit first, you’ll dull your appetite and be less likely to wolf down a second slice of the cheesecake.
5. Count calories
Compare the amount of fat and calories found in healthy, filling snacks vs. less-healthful foods. For instance, a medium apple contains just 81 calories and no fat.
6. Focus on fat
Take extra care to read labels. After reviewing several types of packaged food, like cookies, snack cakes, and chips, researchers at the University of Minnesota found that less expensive items tend to have more trans fats than those that cost a little more. These processed fats, which have been shown to raise your LDL (bad) cholesterol level, may show up on ingredient lists as partially hydrogenated or hydrogenated oil and shortening.
What you eat, everything from your meals to snacks, can have a huge effect on how your day goes. Here are some tips from Men’s Health Magazine to eat and sip your way to a successful day!
Breakfast
Eat This: Bacon or ham and fried eggs (Protein that will leave you feeling satisfied)
Benefit 1: Fullness and energy
Benefit 2: Relaxed blood vessel (i.e. lower blood pressure)
Not That: Pancakes, or a bagel with cream cheese
These carbohydrate-loaded options will send your blood glucose skyward and then crash! Leaving you hungry too soon.
Extra tip: Eat now at home, not later on the road.
A University of Massachusetts study found that eating breakfast out instead of at home more than doubles your odds of obesity.
Dealing with Stress:
Try This: Chewing gum
Benefit: Stress relief
Not That: Coffee
Caffeine can trigger a spike in the stress hormone cortisol.
Having Trouble Concentrating at Work
Drink This: Peppermint tea
Periodic whiffs of peppermint increase people’s concentration and performance on tasks requiring sustained attention.
Not That: Soda
Sugary drinks have proven to make people drowsy
Lunchtime
Eat This: Grilled salmon
Benefit: Alertness
Add This: Spinach or arugula salad
Benefit: Improved mood and memory
Not That: Tea with milk (Mixing milk (protein) with tea cancels out the health benefits)
Continue to complete your perfect day of eating menu.
Wouldn’t your day seem so much easier if you didn’t have to deal with fatigue?! Here are some tips from Mens Health to energy that will last all day long!
7 a.m.: The Morning Fog
Fill it up. Make your morning meal a bowl of instant oatmeal prepared with skim milk. Tufts University researchers recently found that people who ate one packet of instant oatmeal spiked with 1/2 cup of skim milk received a steady glucose infusion, which increased their alertness all morning and improved their ability to process information. And if you aren’t already jolting yourself with java, start; a University of Pennsylvania study shows that a dose of caffeine can combat sleep inertia.
1 p.m.: The Lunchtime Letdown
Order a combo meal. If you can’t (or won’t) limit your lunchtime carbohydrate consumption, work in extra fiber to slow your digestion and the release of insulin, says Susan Kleiner, Ph.D., R.D., owner of the consulting firm High Performance Nutrition. For example, if your noon nosh includes a baked potato, make sure you eat the skin, which is dense with a type of fiber called pectin. “Pectin slows everything down in the gastrointestinal tract,” says Kleiner.
3 p.m.: The Afternoon Slump
Expose yourself. As in, give yourself a shot of sunlight. The sun’s rays will provide a boost to your circadian clock that should solve your afternoon slump—if you time things right. “The key is adequate exposure to sunlight very quickly after you wake up in the morning,” says Michael Terman, Ph.D., a professor of clinical psychology at Columbia University medical center. “As you move into the middle of the day, the same amount of light exposure doesn’t affect the circadian clock at all.”
6 p.m.: The Preworkout Conk-Out
Snack before you sweat. Schedule a small snack roughly an hour and a half before your postwork workout. The ideal mini meal totals 250 calories and consists of 25 to 35 grams (g) carbohydrates, 10 to 15 g protein, and up to 5 g fat, says Kleiner. Two handfuls of pretzels and two slices of cheese fits the nutritional bill, as does a Myoplex Lite bar.
8 p.m.: The Prime-Time Torpor
Rock yourself awake. First, do not stretch out on the couch or recline in your easy chair. “Underlying sleepiness becomes more apparent when we put ourselves in sleep-conducive positions, such as lying down,” says Wright. And instead of turning on the TV, power up your iPod. “To increase the perception of energy, listen to a piece of music that is upbeat and familiar, and use that song to get you going,” says Andrea Scheve, director of the University of Pittsburgh medical center music-therapy program.
Shut It Off
It would be funny if it weren’t so frustrating: You spend the entire day fighting fatigue, only to slip into bed, shut your eyes, and suddenly realize that you now have too much energy. This is due to doing too many other activities, other than sleeping, in your bed. Which means the fix is what sleep researchers have recommended all along: no books, no Leno, and definitely no laptop when you’re under the covers. Sex is fine—it is, after all, nature’s perfect sleep aid.
According to Mens Health
Celebrity fitness trainer, and author of No Gym Required: Unleash Your Inner Rockstar, Jennifer Cohen goes back-to-basics. Her focus on using body weight instead of the latest gadgets, coupled with a clean-living diet to maximize health and strength, has created clear results. In this video, she explains to WatchMojo.com how the most basic exercises are the most effective and how easy it is to stay in shape without going to the gym. For more information click Here
There is still no cure, but there are some methods of prevention that can decrease the risks of breast cancer.
Follow these healthy breast habits today:
- Maintain a healthy weight
- Eat a balanced diet
- Examine yourself
- Know your breasts
Learn more about each step you can towards minimizing your breast cancer risk Here.
I came across this diet that I had never heard of before. It looks simple enough.
No funny science or calorie accounting involved, just a few simple and mnemonic tricks for giving your willpower the upper hand.
There are just three rules and one exception:
No Snacks
No Sweets
No Seconds
Except (sometimes) on days that start with “S”
PLAY
