2 weeks to better health

Assignment 1 : Put The Soda Down
Whether you call them "sodas," "pops," "tonics" or "soft drinks,your first assignment for you is to cut these sugary drinks out of your life for two weeks. "The entire obesity epidemic, according to all the long-term studies we've done, comes down to [consuming] 100 calories less in a day. "Now a soft drink usually has about 160 calories. Plus, on average, you'll eat an extra 125 calories at the meal you're having with the soft drink. If you can just cut out that soft drink, then you're going to be able to lose an estimated 15 pounds over the course of a year."You can drink other nonsugary carbonated beverages. If you're addicted to the caffeine, try switching to coffee or green tea, which he says are much healthier options. "We've got to break those habits that you've formed," Dr. Oz says, "to remind you what life should be like."

Assignment 2 : Whole Grain Bread and Olive Oil
For the next 14 days, you need to eat one slice of 100 percent whole grain bread lightly dipped in non-chemically processed extra virgin olive oil before every dinner. "[The bread has] B vitamins in it. It has fiber, which we've talked about is important for you," he says. "That's all good because it actually slows the movement of food through your stomach."
The olive oil, is a healthy fat. "Remember, healthy fats are the ones that are liquid at room temperature in general, and olive oil has vitamin E in it," "It's got all these cool little chemicals that work as antioxidants. If you combine them together, you're giving yourself wonderful nutrition to feed the liver." yet powerful, combination will reduce the amount of food you'll eat at dinner and keep your fuller for longer amounts of time. "Dinner's our big meal where we make most of our mistakes," . These mistakes can lead to serious consequences, like heart attack or diabetes. Eating whole wheat bread and olive oil can reduce your risk for both, "And you'll probably lose weight to boot."

Assignment 3 : Take A Deep Breath
Now it's time for a "breather."
For the next two weeks, simply take 10 deep breaths in the morning and another 10 in the evening. "Lie on your back. Put one hand on your stomach and one hand on your chest. As you inhale, push your stomach way out to the count of five,". "After five seconds, a comfortable breath should be held and then slowly exhale—again, letting your stomach come down really pushing your stomach down till your belly button hits your spine." Making this a regular habit has three great health benefits. It makes your lungs and blood vessels function better, it helps with stress relief and also helps with the drainage of your lymphatic system—the system that removes toxins from your body.

Strokes Don't Discrimate

Since 1988, the incidence of stroke for middle-aged women has tripled, according to a recent study. The lead author of the research, Amy Towfighi, MD, an assistant professor of neurology at USC, found that one reason for the sharp increase is that like American women—like men—have begun putting on weight around the waist, a significant risk factor. What's more, women fare worse than men after strokes, with higher risks of lasting disability or death. Towfighi believes women can turn those numbers around with a better understanding of the risk factors and signs of stroke.

Women don't realize they're at risk

High blood pressure, high cholesterol, and obesity all place a woman at risk for stroke. But diabetes, which disproportionately affects women after the age of 45, and pregnancy can also increase risk. For reasons that aren't completely clear, migraine headaches, especially with auras (characterized by visual disturbances such as lights or blind spots), are linked to stroke—even in women under 40. Migraines, high blood pressure, and smoking are particularly dangerous for women who take oral contraceptives. If you have any of these factors, talk to your doctor about ways to reduce your stroke risk.

Women have different symptoms

A woman experiencing a stroke is more likely to feel face and limb pain, shortness of breath, hiccups, or nausea than classic symptoms like numbness on one side of the body or dimming or loss of vision. That means not only that women are less likely to rush to the ER when a stroke hits (they take up to 46 percent longer to get to the hospital than men) but also that doctors can miss the signs. If you're in a high-risk category and have symptoms, don't hesitate to go to the ER and inform doctors as soon as you arrive that you may have suffered a stroke. The more quickly you are treated, the better your chances of recovery.

If you're trying to get out of exercising....

Remember that there's one consistent finding in health research: Exercise helps you live longer and better. Five new studies confirm what experts keep telling us: Every little bit of effort counts.

1. It wards off Alzheimer's.
In a study of more than 800 elderly adults, Mayo Clinic researchers found that those who engaged in moderate physical exercise two to five times a week earlier in life had a reduced risk of developing the mild cognitive impairment thought to be a precursor to Alzheimer's.

2. It boosts your energy.
Pedaling at an easy pace on a stationary bike relieved fatigue by as much as 65 percent in people who complained of exhaustion, according to a study at the University of Georgia. And that was after only six weeks of three-times-a-week 20-minute workouts. The authors say this dispels the myth that exercising when you're tired will leave you even more fatigued.

3. It slows down aging.
One measure of aging is tail ends of DNA strands, which are called telomeres. Each time a cell divides, the telomere unravels and shortens, eventually dictating a cell's death. When British researchers examined the DNA of more than 1,000 pairs of twins—some of whom were active, others couch potatoes—they found that the most active twin's telomeres were longer on average, equal in length to those of a sedentary individual up to ten years younger.

4. It helps manage menopause.
A daily walking routine can decrease feelings of stress and anxiety triggered by depleted levels of estrogen, finds an eight-year study of 401 pre- and postmenopausal women at Temple University. Benefits were seen even with light to moderate levels of effort—the subjects walked 35 minutes at a pace of 4 mph.

5. It reduces the need for drug treatment.
Walking as little as three to eight miles a week could reduce the chances of having to take medication for diabetes, hypertension, or high cholesterol, according to a survey of more than 40,000 men and women. Even less likely to be at the pharmacy counter are those who go for at least one long walk—more than four miles—once a week.

Back after Raya with Great Article- "Sprinting to Weight Loss"

Speed Works

While most experts keep telling us we need to exercise longer if we want to lose weight—we're supposed to exercise 60 to 90 minutes a day just to maintain weight loss—a fast-growing body of research indicates that intensity, not duration, is really the missing piece in our fitness puzzle:

• Last December, Canadian researchers reported that just two weeks of interval training boosted women's ability to burn fat during exercise by 36 percent.
• Levels of human growth hormone—which assists in building muscle and eliminating fat—skyrocketed 530 percent in subjects after just 30 seconds of sprinting as fast as they could on a stationary bike, according to a British study.
• Australian fitness researchers had 18 women perform 20 minutes of interval training on a stationary bike—eight-second sprints followed by 12 seconds of recovery throughout the workout, three days a week. The women lost an average of five and a half pounds over 15 weeks without dieting, while a similar group performing 40 minutes of moderate cycling three days a week actually gained a pound of fat over the same period. Two of the heavier women who did intervals dropped 18 pounds.

Reduce Your Risk: How You Eat

Eating for your heart health can actually be delicious! That’s right. Your taste buds and your heart can enjoy the same foods. Plus, the same diet that protects your heart has also been found to be good for your health in general. It protects against diabetes, high blood pressure, osteoporosis and even certain types of cancer.
Better still, your whole family can eat it. Because it doesn’t look, feel or taste like a therapeutic diet, it’s a food pattern everybody in the household can enjoy (and benefit from, including children).

Heart-Healthy Eating

A Cornucopia of Fruits and Veggies
Every woman should be eating seven to nine daily servings of produce. No, it’s not a half cup of steamed green beans with a scant pat of margarine on top. It’s a snack of six to 10 baby carrot sticks dipped in hummus; a half cup of berries (frozen or fresh) thrown over yogurt; a half cup of frozen spinach on a whole wheat English muffin. Be creative. The choices are only as limited as your imagination.

Choosing the Right Fats
You want to be eating fewer saturated fatty acids found in fatty beef and other meats, and also fewer trans fatty acids, found in all manner of packaged snack foods, including store-bought cookies, stuffing and rice mixes, and so on.
But unsaturated fatty acids, found in various cooking oils and other foods, are great for heart health—as long as you use them sparingly, since they’re high in calories. Canola oil is particularly low in saturated fat. Try it in dishes for which you’re not looking for a strong, oily flavor. Olive oil has a rich, full-bodied flavor. Dribble it onto salads and other dishes where you want the oil to assert its flavor. Sesame oil works great for Asian cooking.
In terms of spreads, opt for liquid or tub margarine rather than butter or hard margarine. They’ll be lowest in the kinds of fats you’re trying to limit.

Truth on Carbs
Grain-based, high carbohydrate foods like bread and pasta have gotten a bad wrap with the recent popularity of low-carb diets. But carbohydrates are good for you. You just want to emphasize the more healthful ones in your diet.
Choose whole grains rather than refined whenever possible. Of the four to nine servings of grain-based foods you should choose each day, try to make sure at least half are whole grain. That includes a 1-ounce slice of whole grain bread; a serving of whole grain breakfast cereal (including oatmeal, which is a whole grain); a half cup of whole wheat pasta; or a half cup of brown rice. The first ingredient on ingredient lists should be “whole wheat” or “whole grain.” Oats and oatmeal do not have to have the word ‘whole.’ They are automatically a whole grain. The same is true for brown rice.

Dairy Does It
Go for two to three servings of dairy foods everyday, which help reduce blood pressure, a major risk for heart disease. That includes a cup of skim or 1% milk; a cup of low or nonfat yogurt; or an ounce to an ounce-and-a-half of hard cheese such as Swiss or cheddar.
Go easy on ice cream, heavy cream and most other whole-milk dairy foods. It’s not that you can never have them; there’s no food that’s totally off limits. But those should be the once-in-a-while foods, while low- and nonfat dairy should be dietary mainstays. (Hard cheese is high in saturated fat, which is why the recommended serving is on the small size—about the size of one to two dominoes.)

Pulses, Poultry and Other Protein Picks
All women should shoot for three to four daily servings of high-protein foods. The best ones for women trying to keep their hearts healthy don't come packaged with a lot of saturated fat. That means going easy on fatty cuts of beef and other meats. But even more than that, it means keeping protein servings on the modest side. A protein serving is 3 ounces of cooked fish, meat, or poultry; a half cup of cooked beans, a half cup of tofu, an egg (yes, eggs are okay a few times a week), or 2 tablespoons of peanut butter. To stretch small meat servings, slice them up for use in stir fries, stews or casseroles. A 3-ounce serving of meat pushed by itself to the side of the plate can look rather small.

Is Fish Fishy?
Fish, with its particularly heart-healthy omega-3 fatty acids, is highly recommended at least twice a week. A lot of women are concerned about fish because of reports of mercury and other toxins. But only four types of fish should be off the menu for women of childbearing years and young children: shark, swordfish, king mackerel, and tilefish. All other fish are okay, and it’s fine to eat up to 12 ounces of fish a week, as long as you vary the type. (Don’t just go with two 6-ounce cans of tuna fish.)

Snacks?
Sure!A lot of women feel they get very hungry between meals and need something to tide them over. Go for it. Snacking is a great idea because it provides more opportunities for women to get the foods they need. A reasonable snack contains anywhere from about 80 to 120 calories. That includes a piece of fruit, an ounce of cheese, 2 to 3 tablespoons of nuts or a small container of yogurt. Don’t forget those baby carrots—just go easy on the hummus and other dips, which tend to have a lot of calories.

Circuit Training Video

Contours Night out

Last Saturday on 13th Sept, Contours members and staff were having bowling competition at Cathay Cineleisure and breaking fast. Here is the photo;

Here is the winner, our own Contours Trainer....Sally!!

Breaking fast time at Warung Penyet at Curve