Recent Articles

Many people are consumed with their busy schedules, vacations, shopping and parties during the holiday season.  Although the holiday season is an exciting time, don't let the excessive amount of activities affect your waistline!  Corry Matthews, Gold's Gym Fitness Institute Member and certified personal trainer, recommends ways to avoid gaining weight during the holidays.
Make exercise a daily priority. Wake up early and workout before all the festivities begin for the day.  It is important to plan a workout into your schedule, along with cooking, parties, etc. Matthews also suggests incorporating exercise into a family affair by taking a walk after a holiday meal, walking to look at Christmas lights, etc.

Don't over-indulge on the holiday sweets.  Choose which indulgences you have to have, and choose them first. "I always have old fashioned caramel rolls, it is a family recipe and tradition," says Matthews. "So, I lower the fat in my potatoes and take the brown sugar off the sweet potatoes and use pumpkin spice seasoning instead."  Also, try to avoid skipping meals, which will slows down your metabolism and causes you to over-eat during the next meal.   

Focus on maintaining your current weight.  The holiday season is not an ideal time to begin a diet.  Weigh yourself right before the holidays start and focus on maintaining your weight. To do this, it is important to drink extra water, exercise at least three times per week, leave your favorite foods alone, and try to make your other choices a little healthier!

 

A fast spin on the dance floor or taking daily walks might help keep the brain in top shape as people age - and might reduce the risk of developing age-related diseases such as Alzheimer's or Parkinson's, experts now say.
Both Alzheimer's and Parkinson's are degenerative, incurable diseases of the brain. Both are more common in older people; together they afflict more than 5 million people in the United States. Alzheimer's causes memory problems, and Parkinson's leads to tremors and shakiness, but the diseases often overlap: Some people with Parkinson's also have memory loss.

Growing evidence now suggests that lifestyle factors such as diet, exercise and challenging activities, might help ward off or delay the onset of neurodegenerative diseases, possibly by building connections between brain cells or even spurring the production of new brain cells. People who power up the brain in this way may have a better shot at reaching old age with a brain that still performs at top speed, says Elizabeth Edgerly, a brain expert at the Alzheimer's Association.

To keep the brain healthy:

• Stay fit. Physical activity boosts the blood supply to the brain, and that keeps brain cells well nourished.

Edgerly recommends taking a walk, swimming, yoga or anything that's physically active three to five days a week. Spend about 30 minutes a day on such activities if you can, but a study suggested that even a 15-minute daily walk could reduce the risk of Alzheimer's.

"My guess is that we're going to discover that we should be exercising most days of the week," said Michael Zigmond, a Parkinson's researcher at the University of Pittsburgh.

He and other experts say workouts that involve a mental challenge might be better for the brain than those that are routine. So learning a series of complex dance moves might be better than zoning out while riding a stationary bike; a 2005 study found that older men and women who learned to tango got measurable improvements in balance and memory, skills that might help compensate for early signs of a brain disease.

• Challenge your mind. The mental decline that goes along with old age can be traced to altered connections between brain cells, Edgerly says. But stimulating leisure activities can help keep those connections strong. Activities such as playing chess or card games such as poker, going to the theater, reading a book or learning how to play a musical instrument might help keep older brain cells agile and less vulnerable to damage, she says.

• Eat a healthful diet, one loaded with colorful fruits and vegetables. Neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's are tied to damage done by free radicals, highly reactive molecules that are byproducts of metabolism, says James Joseph, a researcher at Tufts University. Fruits and vegetables contain antioxidants, powerful substances that combat free radical damage and might help protect the brain, he says.

His studies of diets rich in such foods show that older rats get a boost in the ability to remember and stay balanced. He says humans might get the same benefit and recommends adding blueberries, strawberries, spinach and other colorful fruits and vegetables to a whole-grain diet that includes low-fat dairy foods and very little junk or fast food fare. 

 

---

 

Hitting the gym is a better way to trim down than agonizing over portion size, a new study suggests.

Although the ultimate goal of using more energy than what you ingest can be achieved with dieting or exercise, working out has more perks.

Those who exercise tend to be stronger, have more muscle mass, and an increased aerobic capacity. Dieters, however, tend to lose muscle mass and strength.

"If push comes to shove and somebody wants to know if they should diet or exercise to lose weight, I would suggest exercise, provided they are willing to put in the extra time and effort and not offset the gains they make by eating more," said study lead author Edward Weiss, a researcher at Saint Louis University's Doisy College of Health Sciences.

Weiss and his colleagues studied 34 people between the ages of 50 and 60 who were in the high end of normal weight or overweight. Of the participants, 18 dieted while 16 exercised.

The dieters cut out their calorie intake by 16 percent the first three months and 20 percent for the next nine months. Similarly the exercise group worked out to burn 16 percent more calories the first three months and 20 percent the following nine months.

Both groups lost around 9 to 10 percent of their body weight. But the dieters lost muscle mass, while the exercisers did not.

"It's important that dieting not be seen as a bad thing because it provides enormous benefits with respect to reducing the risk of disease and is effective for weight loss," Weiss said. "Furthermore, based on studies in rodents, there is a real possibility that calorie restriction provides benefits that cannot be achieved through exercise-induced weight loss."

The study is detailed in an online edition of the Journal of Applied Physiology.

 

---

 

By Sara Goudarzi
LiveScience Staff Writer 

Originally published at LiveScience.com

"It started in about 1972 as a hypothesis that eating slowly would allow the body time for the development of satiety [fullness] and we would eat less," said Kathleen Melanson, a researcher from the University of Rhode Island. "Since then we've heard it everywhere and it has become common knowledge. But no studies had been conducted to prove it." The study, led by Melanson, gave 30 college-aged-women large plates of pasta and told to eat as much as they wished.
When they were asked to eat quickly, they consumed 646 calories in nine minutes. But when they were promoted to slow down and chew the food 15 to 20 times, their calorie consumption was about 579 calories in 29 minutes.

"Satiety signals clearly need time to develop," Melanson said. "Not only did the women take in fewer calories when they ate more slowly, they had a greater feeling of satiety at meal completion and 60 minutes afterwards, which strongly suggests benefits to eating more slowly." The women who ate slowly also reported enjoying their meals more.

The results were reported at the annual meeting of the North American Association for the Study of Obesity in October.  

 

---

 

Originally published at LiveScience.com.

If you need another reason to take a brisk walk or bike ride after a big dinner, Indiana University kinesiology researchers have one for you.

They found that physical activity after eating a high-fat meal not only reverses the damage to arteries but also improves their functioning compared to before the meal.

"What happens four hours after that high-fat meal is that your artery looks just like the arteries of a person who has heart disease," said Janet P. Wallace, professor in IU Bloomington's Department of Kinesiology and co-author of the study.

"What our study showed is that when you exercise after that meal, it doesn't look like a sick artery anymore," she said.

Wallace, along with doctoral student Jaume Padilla and other researchers, studied eight 25-year-olds who were physically active and healthy. They walked on treadmills for 45 minutes two hours after eating a 940-calorie breakfast of eggs, sausage patty and hash browns. The food had 48 grams of fat, including 16.5 grams of saturated fat and 4.5 grams of trans fat.

The same people also ate a breakfast of 945 calories that included no fat. It consisted of a large amount of cereal, skim milk and orange juice. The study tested the brachial artery because it is similar to the coronary arteries.

The research, conducted in the summer of 2005, is reported in the current issue of the European Journal of Applied Physiology.

Previous research has shown that high-fat meals cause the arteries to appear unhealthy during a four- to six-hour period after eating, generally just in time for the next meal, said Wallace.

During that time, known as the postprandial state, arteries lose the ability to expand in response to an increase in blood flow. If the artery stays in that condition for long periods, that's when cholesterol starts to build up.

The oxidation of high-fat meals causes stress markers that harm the arteries and contribute to heart disease, diabetes, Alzheimer's and cancer.

Healthy arteries can better withstand the trauma of high-fat meals or other causes of heart disease, she said.

Wallace said showing the impact of exercise soon after a high-fat meal has not been studied previously. "This is kind of cutting-edge," she said.

However, Wallace added, more research needs to be done to find out how sedentary people and those with diabetes and other health problems react to exercising after a high-fat meal. She also wants to vary the time of the exercise after a high-fat meal, although she believes exercise could take place more than two hours after a meal with the same impact.

The research results, though, shouldn't be interpreted as giving people the green light to eat high-fat meals, she said.

"You still shouldn't eat high-fat meals," Wallace said. "But if you do, make sure you exercise afterward."

 

By Barb Berggoetz 

  

 

In revised guidelines, the American Cancer Society put top priority on diet and fitness, saying that eating a nutritious diet, staying active and limiting alcohol are the top things American should do to fight cancer.

 

The guidelines were published recently in CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians. (Full article can be found online here, or download the .pdf here.)

One-third of the more than 500,000 cancer deaths each year are attributable to poor diet and no physical activity, the cancer society said. That's about the same number of cancer cases caused by smoking.

Research has long shown that colon, rectal, stomach, breast , prostate and pancreas cancers are related to diet. New studies indicate that for most nonsmokers, weight control can cut other cancer risks.

"There is evidence that losing weight can reduce the risk for postmenopausal breast cancer, and because of hormonal changes that occur with weight loss, there's reason to believe it's beneficial for other cancers as well," said Colleen Doyle, director of nutrition and physical activity at the American Cancer Society and a co-author of the new guidelines.

The guidelines also say that the standard recommendation - 30 minutes of moderate exercise five days a week - is still good, but it works better with with more strenuous activities such as biking, running or power walking.

Doyle said it's time people understand they have a say in the future of their health. "Unfortunately, there's no guarantee. You can do all those things and still get cancer. But the good news is that a lot of people think they don't have any control over their risk of cancer and we're here to tell people that absolutely you do have some control."

 

Group Exercise Classes: The newest group exercise classes to hit Gold's Gyms around the country are BODYATTACK™ and BODYJAM™.  These recently introduced classes have become extremely popular amongst fitness enthusiasts throughout the United States.  

BODYATTACK™ is the sports-inspired cardio workout for building strength and stamina. This high-energy interval training class combines athletic aerobic movements with strength and stabilization exercises. Dynamic instructors and powerful music motivate everyone to reach their fitness goals - from the weekend athlete to the hard-core competitor.  

BODYJAM™ is the cardio workout where you are free to enjoy the sensation of dance. An addictive fusion of the latest dance styles and hottest new sounds put the emphasis as much on having fun as breaking a sweat. Funky instructors teach you to move with attitude through this 55-minute class.

Cardio Cinema: Has taken Gold's Gym's fitness experience to a whole new level. The cardio cinema allows members to watch movies, in a room similar to a movie theatre setting, while working out on their favorite cardiovascular equipment. The spacious 16,000 square foot cardio cinema rooms features the same cardio machines offered on the floor such as treadmills, elliptical machines and upright and recumbent bicycles. The large screen, upscale audiovisual equipment, low lighting, and surround sound system allows members to engage in their workout routine while enjoying some of the most popular movies.   

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Regular, moderate-to-vigorous aerobic exercise can reduce cellular changes in the tissue lining the colon that can lead to the formation of colon polyps and colon cancer, a study suggests.

"This shows that you can see a biological effect at the tissue level of exercise," Dr. Anne McTiernan of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle told Reuters Health. "This supports the observational studies that people who exercise have a lower risk of colon cancer."

However, the effects of exercise were only seen among men in the current study. This may have been because women just didn't exercise as hard, McTiernan offers, or because their workouts reduced their levels of estrogen, which protects against colon cancer.

McTiernan and her team looked at the structure of colonic crypts, microscopic pits in the lining of the colon that help to absorb water and nutrients. People with colon cancer show increased cell growth within these crypts, she explained. Specifically, the area of rapid cell growth, or proliferation, extends higher from the bottom of the crypt in patients' tissue than in healthy individuals.

To investigate whether exercise might affect these structures, the researchers randomly assigned 202 healthy men and women aged 40 to 75 years to an exercise program with the goal of working out moderately to vigorously for one hour a day, six days a week, for a year, or a control group who did not exercise. All study participants had undergone a colonoscopy within three years before the study, and then had another colonoscopy after the study ended.

Men exercised for 370 minutes each week, on average, compared to 295 minutes for the women.

Men who exercised for 250 to 300 minutes each week had a 1.7 percent reduction in the extent of cellular proliferation within their colonic crypts, while the men who exercised more than 300 minutes weekly reduced it by 2.4 percent, the researchers found.

The men who exercised for less than 250 minutes a week showed a 0.3 percent increase in the height of cellular proliferation, while those who didn't exercise had no change.

Among men who increased their cardiovascular fitness by more than 5 percent, the reduction in colon crypt cell proliferation height was 2 percent, compared to 0.9 percent for those who exercised but showed lower gains in cardiovascular fitness.

The findings support studies linking regular aerobic exercise to lower colon cancer risk, and suggest that exercise may cut this risk by reducing cell proliferation in the colon, the investigators conclude.

 

---

SOURCE: Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, September 2006. 

Halloween is quickly approaching, which means kids will soon be tempted with "King Size" candy bars and endless amounts of sugary treats.  Jason Jablonski, Gold's Gym Fitness Institute Member and certified Cycling and Youth Fitness Trainer, recommends ways to keep children fit during the Halloween season.
Encourage children to get involved in holiday activities. Parents and older siblings should encourage children to do something festive for during the holiday such as going to harvest festivals, pumpkin carving or decorating the home.  By engaging in the Halloween activities, children will be able to enjoy the holiday without focusing on the excessive amount of candy.

Allow children to choose a "few" pieces of candy. Encourage children to pick out a few pieces of candy that they can have the night of Halloween.  Then, let them choose one piece a day.  "This teaches moderation and also gives them a treat every day, something many adults can learn from," says Jablonski. "Too many people try to restrict their diets so much that they have nothing to look forward to during a meal."

Keep healthy snacks in the house. It is important to keep healthy snacks, such as fruit, in plain sight during the holiday season. Apples and dried fruit provide the fiber and vitamins that candy can't offer, and there are many all-natural varieties that kids will love. Other ideas include making yogurt parfaits using low-fat yogurt and fruit or homemade fruit-juice popsicles.

Take advantage of outdoor activities and sports. Fall is an easy time for kids to enjoy the outdoors. The temperature is perfect for outdoor play and the scenery is beautiful.  Make after school play dates for your child's friends, get them involved in a new sport, or just have them help you with yard work. Make sure to praise the children for playing hard or participating in any type of physical activity, regardless of ability level.  "Just because the child isn't the best soccer player now, doesn't mean that they don't have the determination to excel," says Jablonski. -A little encouragement goes a long way."