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shrink your tummy
Are you ready to reduce your body fat to flatten out your stomach? It is fully possible for you to do this with an effective combination of fat burning cardio, resistance training and clean eating. My clients routinely drop fat and transform their bodies. You can do it too! Here’s how to make your tummy shrink… 1. Exercise a minimum of 4 times per week. It is important to dedicate yourself to working out a minimum of 4 times a week if you want shrink your stomach. Anything less than this won’t make a large enough impact on your progress. 2. Make sure your workouts are effective. What makes a workout effective? It includes intense cardiovascular training coupled with effective resistance training. Walking on the treadmill for 30 minutes isn’t a fat blasting routine. Neither is a leisurely 20 minutes on the elliptical machine. The truth is that you can dramatically increase your results while investing less time when your workouts are effective. Cardio exercise is all about maintaining an effective level of intensity. This doesn’t mean that you should be out of breath or gasping for air, but it does mean that you need to push yourself. Resistance training is the second key part of a fat burning workout. This means working your major muscle groups against resistance in a way that stimulates your metabolism. Again, the key here is to find the right intensity and to keep each muscle group guessing. 3. Eat a clean diet. Diet is a big stumbling block for most people. If your diet is out of control, then your stomach will be too. You can’t trim your waist without trimming the junk out of your diet, regardless of how intensely you exercise. Keep calories in check. Do you know how many calories you eat? The best way to find out is to record everything you eat for a few days. Tally the number of calories that you eat each day and do an evaluation—feel free to recruit me to help out with this part. Together we’ll chart improvements for your diet and adjust your calories for maximum results. Just say “No” to junk food. While this may seem obvious, your definition of “junk food” may need an alteration. Refined sugar is one of the biggest culprits in the junk food world—it is found in soft drinks, blended coffee drinks, cookies, cakes, packaged snacks, and other sinfully sweet treats. Processed fat is another monster. As a rule of thumb you can safely view all processed or refined items as junk food. Eat more frequently. The key here is to never let your metabolism “crash” by going hours without eating. One of the biggest mistakes you can make is to skip breakfast—as this is the meal that ‘breaks the fast’ that your body goes into each night. Stick with eating small meals every few hours and always avoid stuffing yourself. Do you want to flatten and shrink your tummy once and for all? Simply decide that you really want it. Commit to yourself—you deserve it. See me for fat-blasting workouts that deliver results. Together we will get you on a program that will melt the fat off your abs, exposing shape and definition. Call or email me today to get started. Let’s do this!    5 Facts About Parkinson’s Disease and Exercise  April is Parkinson’s Disease Awareness Month and a good time to discuss how exercise can lessen symptoms and improve quality of life.
Parkinson’s is a neurodegenerative disorder that affects the brain. The cause is unknown, and progression differs widely among individual patients. Symptoms include tremors, problems with walking and balance, and limb rigidity.
Treatments include medication and surgery, says the Parkinson’s Foundation. It is not fatal itself. But complications are the 14th leading cause of death in the US, says the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Here are 5 Fast Facts about the disease.
To learn more about Parkinson’s or how to participate in awareness month, visit The Parkinson Foundation online. Dr. YinYang Says The Treatment to Kiss Your Sleep Problems Goodbye TCM Treatment Boosts Production of Melatonin Acupuncture has been used in the treatment of all sorts of medical conditions. However, this article concerns itself with acupuncture’s ability to help you get a better night’s sleep. When sleep is disrupted, the fallout in terms of quality of life can be significant. Work, relationships, hobbies, and your health can suffer. There are many potential causes for insomnia, but in the end, what really matters is getting enough sleep at night that you can feel rested when you wake up in the morning. Here’s a little background information on sleep itself before we get into a debate about the effectiveness of acupuncture in the treatment of insomnia. Basically, there are two states of sleep: rapid eye movement (REM) and non-rapid eye movement (NREM). During REM sleep, all your muscles—except for those used to breathe and your eye muscles—don’t move. In NREM sleep, there are four stages that can be detected by scanning brain EEG waves. The Four Stages of NREM Sleep Stage One There is a reduction in activity between wakefulness and stage-one sleep. Your eyes are closed in this stage, and you can be easily awakened. Even though you’re not in a deep sleep at this point, if you’re awakened, you can still feel as if you haven’t slept. Stage one usually lasts for about 10 minutes. Some people have the sensation of falling in stage one, which can make the muscles suddenly contract. Sleep specialists have a name for this: “hypnic myoclonia.” Stage Two This is a period of light sleep during which sleep tests reveal positive and negative waves. This means that the muscles are both contracting and relaxing spontaneously. It’s during stage two that your heart rate slows and your body temperature decreases. Your body is getting ready to enter a deep sleep. Stages Three & Four These are both deep-sleep stages. If you get woken up during one of these stages, you’ll likely feel disoriented for a temporary period. Scientists have learned that REM sleep alternates with NREM sleep about every 90 minutes. When you are sleeping normally, you should go through four to five cycles of REM and NREM during one night of sleep. Now back to the subject of insomnia. When you’re looking for treatments for insomnia, acupuncture may be an excellent place to start. Acupuncture can help finetune your body to respond to sleep in a more normalized way. How does acupuncture accomplish this? Let’s take a look at some recent clinical trials to find some answers. Acupuncture for Sleep Problems Due to Anxiety In one study, acupuncture was shown to be of value as a therapeutic intervention for insomnia in people who were suffering from anxiety. This study was performed on 18 subjects who received 10 treatment sessions over the course of five weeks of acupuncture. The study was unique in that it tried to determine exactly what was happening physiologically to improve the sleep of the anxious patients. The researchers found that the acupuncture treatments normalized the 24-hour profile of urinary “aMT6s”—a test that determines levels of melatonin. The acupuncture treatments caused an increase in the production of melatonin as evidenced by the elevations in urinary aMT6s. Melatonin is a hormone that helps regulate the sleep–wake cycles of the body, but the hormone also regulates the rhythm of many other functions, and changes in levels of melatonin have been associated with a number of psychiatric problems. Scientists think that low levels of melatonin may play a role in seasonal affective disorder, bipolar disorder, depression, bulimia, anorexia, schizophrenia, panic disorder, and obsessivecompulsive disorder. All of these disorders also disrupt sleep. What the researchers don’t know is whether low levels of melatonin directly trigger psychological problems or are simply a marker for problems in the neurochemical functioning of the brain. The researchers also noted significant improvements in the way the study participants fell asleep after getting the acupuncture treatments. The participants were able to get to stage three of their sleep—a phase that we call “deep sleep” but that sleep specialists refer to as “slowwave sleep.” This is the sleep that really lets the body rest, recuperate, and heal itself. According to the researchers, acupuncture helped the participants improve their likelihood of reaching slow-wave sleep from 4.2% at the outset to 6.1% after the five weeks of acupuncture. Seven percent was a normal average for slow-wave sleep, so the participants were close to reaching that target. The acupuncture treatments also triggered improvements in sleep continuity and sleep habits. In addition, the patients reported significant improvements in fatigue and “sleepiness.” The study participants said that their anxiety and depression levels dropped after the five weeks of acupuncture. Acupuncture for Sleep Problems Due to Menopause Menopause is a very common cause of insomnia for women. Brazilian researchers therefore decided to evaluate the effectiveness of acupuncture therapy on sleep patterns, depression symptoms, and quality of life in postmenopausal women with insomnia. This study included 18 postmenopausal women aged 50 to 67. The participants were not using antidepressants, hypnotics, or hormonal therapy in order to avoid confusion with the study results. The research team divided everyone into two groups: acupuncture and “sham” acupuncture. They performed 10 sessions of acupuncture and sham acupuncture during a period of five weeks. A polysomnography exam (a type of sleep study) and questionnaires were completed by all the patients before and after the treatment period. The sleep study monitored the participants as they slept or tried to sleep. Test results were similar among all the participants at the outset of the study. However, post-treatment, the acupuncture group showed significantly lower scores on the sleep questionnaire and an improvement in psychological well-being compared to the sham group. The acupuncture group also scored higher than the sham group when it came to deep-sleep scores. The research team concluded that acupuncture was effective in improving reported sleep quality and quality of life in postmenopausal women with insomnia. Acupuncture Versus Zolpiderm Another clinical trial looked at the effectiveness of acupuncture compared to a common insomnia drug— zolpiderm—in the treatment of insomnia. Thirty-three patients were chosen to receive one of the two therapies. The 19 patients in the acupuncture group received one acupuncture session a week. The 14 patients in the control group took zolpidem 1# (10 milligrams (mg)) every night. The researchers noted improved sleep quality almost equally in both groups. They concluded that acupuncture could be used as an alternative strategy compared to zolpidem for the treatment of primary insomnia. Acupuncture for Brain Injury Here’s another interesting trial conducted by researchers at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago. There, scientists set out to assess the effectiveness of acupuncture in treating insomnia due to traumatic brain injury (TBI) compared to medication. The research team wanted to determine whether acupuncture would show fewer cognitive and adverse effects than the medication. Twenty-four adult TBI survivors were randomized to either acupuncture or control medication. Patients were assessed for insomnia symptoms, sleep time, depression, and cognitive function. The researchers found that sleep time did not differ between the treatment and control groups after intervention. However, they do note a significant improvement in cognition in the acupuncture treatment group compared to the control group. They concluded that acupuncture has a beneficial effect on perception of sleep or sleep quality and on cognition in a small sample of patients with TBI. Acupuncture for Insomnia Due to Stress One final study looked at the effectiveness of acupuncture in the treatment of college students suffering from stressinduced insomnia. This time, the study took place at the Hospital of Liaocheng University in Shandong. They recruited 92 college students who were suffering from insomnia for the trial. The students were randomly divided into a treatment group (52 cases) and a control group (40 cases). Acupuncture plus cupping was used for boosting the brain and calming the mind in the treatment group while conventional methods were used in the control group. Cupping therapy is an ancient traditional Chinese medicine in which a local suction is created on the skin. This suction is said to mobilize blood flow, triggering healing effects. The research team measured the therapeutic effect of acupuncture by having the participants rate their sleeping. They found a significant difference between the two groups. For the cases with moderate insomnia, sleep quality was better in the treatment group than that in the control group. For those with slight and moderate insomnia, the researchers found that the average number of treatments needed to remedy symptoms was much lower in the acupuncture group. Quick & Creamy Chicken Soup
By using flavorful ingredients, like roasted red bell peppers and white bean hummus, this soup tastes like you slaved over it all afternoon– but really takes less than 20 minutes to throw together. This recipe is a great way to fit some quinoa into your diet. Quinoa is a protein-packed seed that is considered a “super food”. It’s s a complete protein, containing all 9 essential amino acids, and is gluten free. Courtesy of RealHealthyRecipes.com
What you need 1 cup roasted red bell peppers Instructions 1. Take 1/4 cup of the roasted red peppers, slice into strips and set aside. 2. Place the remaining red peppers in a blender along with the hummus and chicken stock. Blend until smooth. 3. Transfer to a medium saucepan. Add the quinoa and chicken. Season with salt and pepper. 4. Bring to a boil. 5. Ladle the soup into bowls and garnish with the slices of red pepper and chopped parsley.
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Lawrence Marcuson 2670 Charles Ct NW 5072023894   Move Well to Age Well Online Coaching Online Coaching/Training is a new and exciting way for me to provide more effective, and more cost effective, body transformation services for people looking to be their best. Your virtual Personal Trainer - Anytime or Anywhere!! Learn more: Try for $1!!! Drops of Inspiration 'Truce is better than friction.' - Charles Herguth Sleep for fat loss
If you’re not getting adequate rest (close to 8 hours each night) then you’re more likely to be hungry, overeat, and put on fat. How does this work? Something like this… If you’re tired, you won’t feel like cooking a healthy meal, and you’ll opt for fast (fattening) food instead. This very same lack of energy will also likely cause you to skip the gym. On top of that, sleep deprivation causes your metabolism to slow down, and if you’ve not heard, that is not something you want when trying to shape up. |