Why Is My Waist Size Important?

Your risk of some health problems is affected by where your body fat is stored, as well as by your weight. Carrying too much fat around your middle (waist) can increase your risk of developing conditions such as:

heart disease
type 2 diabetes
cancer

Measuring your waist

Measuring your waist is a good way to check you're not carrying too much fat around your stomach, which can raise your risk of heart disease, type 2 diabetes and stroke.

You can have a healthy BMI and still have excess tummy fat – meaning you're still at risk of developing these diseases.

To measure your waist:

• find the bottom of your ribs and the top of your hips
• wrap a tape measure around your waist, midway between these points
• breathe out naturally before taking the measurement

Regardless of your height or BMI, you should try to lose weight if your waist is:

• 94cm (37ins) or more for men
• 80cm (31.5ins) or more for women

You are at very high risk and you should contact your GP if your waist is:

• 102cm (40ins) or more for men
• 88cm (34ins) or more for women

Losing weight around the stomach

Most people who are overweight find their excess weight is down to eating more energy (calories) than they burn.

Weight gain occurs when we regularly put more calories into our bodies than we use. Over time, that excess energy is stored by the body as fat.

If you're trying to lose weight, it's a good idea to eat less and be more active.

Hula hooping is an excellent way to trim the waist and burn calories without too much effort!

Source:nhs.uk/chq/Pages/849.aspx?CategoryID=51

How To Trim Your Waist And Burn Calories

Get Your Hoop HERE

Exercise You Can Take Anywhere....

If you're anything like me I like to exercise even when I'm away. Doing some exercise as part of my weekly routine is important to me, so having items I can use to exercise with and pack easily into my suit case are a must.

I have recently been asked to try out a hula hoop. Not your solid circular hoop but a weighted, flexible type.

I really didn't know what to expect, let alone even see how it could possibly be effective but I was willing to give it a try.

My initial thoughts were that it would be difficult to use but I liked the idea of being able to take it with me on my travels AND it was easy to store at home, so I reserved all judgement.

It took me only a short time to get the hang of using it and because of the weight and design I could really feel it working. Not only did it work my waist and hips but I also felt like I'd had a cardio workout and felt slightly breathless and sweaty (all good signs in my eyes!!)

I was really impressed by this piece of equipment and could definitely feel a difference.

Not only could you use it to trim your waist but it was cleverly designed to enable you to also work other parts of the body including your arms (all will be revealed).

I'll be sharing a video on how to use it.

If you can't wait that long, then here is the link to the hula hoop HERE

It really is amazing, easy to use and store, so it ticks all of the boxes for me 👍

Benefits of Hula Hooping. Q&A

Can Hula Hooping help you lose belly fat?

If you hoop for 30 minutes, you'll burn 210 calories. The heart rates of research participants elevated to 84 percent of their maximum heart rate, sufficient for burningfat as fuel. To lose abdominal fat, calories must be burned. Hooping contributes to overall weight loss, including the extra fat across your core.

Is a hula hoop good for abs?

Fat Loss. While the claim that you can spot train to lose weight in one area is a myth, it is possible to lose fat wherever it is in excess on your body. Since working out with a Hula-Hoop is a very good aerobic exercise, it burns more calories than other ab-building anaerobic exercises.

What is a hula hoop good exercise for?

Using a hula hoop works your arm, leg and core muscles. Hula hooping is a total-body workout that not only tones your muscles, but also improves joint flexibility and balance. The rocking motion of hula hooping is also relaxing and fun, which can relieve stress.

Is a weighted hula hoop better?

In fact, any type of hula hooping, using a weighted hula hoop or a regular hula hoop, can help you meet your exercise goals and provide aerobic activity. And it can be fun! Weighted hula hoops are bigger and heavier than are traditional hula hoops. ... The weight of the hoop is up to you

What are the benefits of hula hooping?

Hooping will make you feel the (calorie) burn. Hooping has been proven to burn over 400 calories per hour by the American Council on Exercise, although thecalorie-burn from hooping may be as high as 600 calories per hour when other parts of your body, such as your arms and legs, are engaged

How many calories do you burn with a weighted hula hoop?

The American Council on Exercise (ACE) funded a study completed at the University of Wisconsin, and found that a 30 minute weighted hula hoop workout which consisted of hooping moves and twirling motions around the arms, waist, and legs burned roughly 7 calories per minute.

I Lost 85 Pounds By Hula Hooping

Cori Magnotta, 32, was the kind of person who couldn't stick with a workout routine. But faced with stubborn extra pounds after the birth of her son, she decided it was time to make a change. She lost 85 pounds in a year doing an exercise she loved: Hula-Hooping. 

When I was 5, Hula-Hooping was my party trick. I was really good at it. As I got older, I Hula-Hooped less and less and eventually joined the real world, put the hoop aside, and forgot about it.

I'm 6 feet tall and I've always struggled with my weight. I just didn't find working out fun. I would join a gym, go once, and never go back. When I was pregnant with my son, I developed preeclampsia, or high blood pressure, and had to be on bedrest for 2 months. Being sedentary contributed to my weight gain during my pregnancy. At my heaviest, I was 265 pounds. My son was a big baby—10 pounds!—so I attribute some of that to him. But I struggled with getting the rest of it back off. I developed hypothyroidism after my pregnancy, and my metabolism had slowed, making it easier to gain weight and that much more difficult to lose it.

In October 2014, I was down to 250 pounds, and I started searching the internet for fun workouts. I came across FXP Fitness, which uses a weighted Hula-Hoop in a routine that borrows from barre, yoga, and pilates. I remembered how much I loved hooping as a kid and signed up for a class. I drove from my home in Portland, CT, to Massachusetts, the only place classes were available at the time. "Let me go see what this is all about," I remember thinking.

I immediately loved it. It's impossible to not smile while Hula-Hooping. I wore a fitness tracker and a heart rate monitor and watched my heart rate spike like I was doing a high-intensity interval training workout. I could burn as much as 800 calories in an hour, doing the class's combination of ballet movements, yoga poses, strength exercises like squats, and of course traditional waist hooping. We even hooped around our arms and our hands to give our waists a break. We used the weighted hoop to do stretches and hooped while we did dance routines like the YMCA and the Macarena.

I took the 2 lb hoop home with me to Connecticut and started hooping on my own. I started with just 10 minutes a day and built up my stamina. It was easy to stand in front of the TV and whip it around my waist, even if I had toys all over my living room floor from my son. It didn't take me long to decide I wanted to become an instructor myself. I decided I was going to push my fears aside, and I went to Boston to get certified.

Hooping helped me slowly and steadily lose weight, and in about a year, I was down 85 pounds to 165. It helped that I now have a 2-year-old I have to chase everywhere! Once you start exercising, there's a snowball effect: You have more energy to do more things. I started eating a little bit better, because I now had the energy to cook instead of going to the drive-thru. I had the energy to play with my son instead of watching him at the playground. Now, I teach hooping three times a week

I competed in pageants when I was young, and 20 years later, I gave it another shot: I was recently crowned America's Fit Mrs., and I Hula-Hooped as my talent. I was even recently featured as Trainer of the Month with FXP Hoop Fitness. If you told me 2 years ago I would now be a fitness instructor, I would have laughed at you.

The most important thing is that it's fun. Most people crack up when I tell them I'm a Hula-Hoop instructor and tell me they can't hoop. But I have yet to meet someone I can't teach to hoop! I have 21-year-olds and 65-year-olds in my class, petite people and tall people, couch potatoes and marathoners—it's for anyone and everyone.

Source:prevention.com/weight-loss/i-lost-85-pounds-by-hula-hooping

Think Hula Hoops Are Toys? They Could Change Your Life...

As told by Jenny Wood.......

Going through my wardrobe recently, I found a pile of brightly coloured bikinis languishing in a drawer. They can go straight to the charity shop, I thought glumly, stuffing them into a bin bag. 

When I gave birth to my little boy 18 months ago, I gained something else as well - a wobbly belly, or, as it’s affectionately known, a ‘mum tum’. So, I was pretty sure my bikini-wearing days were over.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t hate my body. Long walks with a buggy, breastfeeding and running after a toddler have actually helped me lose more than the three stone I put on during pregnancy. But, while the rest of me has slowly shrunk back into shape, my tummy hasn’t followed suit. Wearing anything body-hugging  still fills me with fear.

I’d love to have abs like Olympic athlete Jessica Ennis. And, it would seem, I’m not alone. In a recent survey of 3,000 women, 58 per cent said their stomach was the body part they most wished they could change. 

The problem is, like most people with children or busy lives, I can’t spend hours in the gym or afford to hire a personal trainer. But now, thanks to the latest celebrity fitness craze, I may have found an unlikely solution: hula hooping.

‘I’m all about hula-hooping right now!’ tweeted Kelly Osbourne recently. ‘Five mins in the morning, five mins at night ... in five days I lost two inches from my waistline!’ Michelle Obama, who can apparently hula while kneeling, Grace Jones, who hooped throughout her Queen’s Diamond Jubilee performance last year, and Beyoncé have all credited the humble hoop for their fantastic figures. If they can do it, I reckon, so can I.

So I arrange to meet hula hooping expert Anna Drury, 30, at a gym in South London. Anna first picked up a hoop in 2006 after seeing them used in a performance at a music festival. 

 

She’s been hooping professionally for five years now and teaches in schools, runs adult classes and performs at events worldwide, often using several hoops at once and even setting them on fire. Crikey.

The last time I picked up a hula hoop, I had ankle socks and pigtails, so I’m understandably nervous as I join the 12 other women in the evening’s class. Anna believes that everyone - even those who are hopelessly uncoordinated like me - can learn to hula hoop. 

The secret is lots of practice and the right equipment - the larger and heavier the hoop, the easier it is to control and the more it’ll help you tone up. 

As for what to wear, apparently the fewer or tighter the clothes the better. That way the hoop sticks to you rather than the fabric, so I opt for a purple vest top and blue leggings. 

As the class starts, Anna explains that hooping is like riding a bike - it’s all about finding your own personal rhythm and once you’ve got it, it never goes. Music helps you relax, making the whole process much easier, so she turns on the stereo and off we go. 

Getting the hula hoop ‘in flight’ (to use the technical term) is actually easier than I’d thought - I just hold it around my waist and fling it sideways - but keeping it twirling for more than a few rotations is going to take some practice. 

Anna’s tip is to stay positive - just concentrate on trying to keeping the hoop from falling. That’s easy for her to say, casually spinning her hoop around her neck, but I get countless knocks as mine keeps clattering to the ground. 

Anna cheerfully explains that bruises are par for the course when learning, and that my stomach will toughen up, so I should look at them as war wounds. 

Slowly, I start to get the hang of it, although I find it much easier to hoop in an anti-clockwise direction than a clockwise one (apparently this is normal for right-handed people). However, if I can learn to hoop in both directions I’ll get better-looking abs, because I will then be working the muscles on both sides of my body. 

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2333002/The-10-minute-workout-rolled-away-spare-tyre-weeks-Think-hula-hoops-toys-They-change-life-.html#ixzz4wKPS5HLv 


I will be doing my own trial of a different kind of hula hoop in the next few weeks with a video so wacth out for that!!

Exercising In Winter

Here in the UK we are still enjoying a bit of warm sunshine. Many people exercise in the warmer weather but then fall out of routine as the darker, colder nights draw in.

Here are some tips to help you stay active......

More energy

Regular exercise will make you feel more energetic, which should make it a little easier to get out of your warm bed on cold, dark mornings.

Your body’s defences will also benefit. There is some limited research suggesting that moderate exercise can strengthen the immune system, thereby reducing the risk of coughs and colds. However, more research is needed in this area.

If the shorter days are affecting your mood, being active can improve your sense of wellbeing.

You may be tempted to eat more during the colder months. Exercising will help you manage your weight better and keep your body in shape.

Warm up

If you’re starting a new exercise regime, don’t overdo it. Slowly build the amount of exercise you do. If you can't manage 30 minutes in one go, break it up into 10-minute chunks.

Always warm-up for up to 10 minutes before you start. Walk at a brisk pace, or jog in order to warm your muscles.

Make sure you’re warm if you’re going outside. Wear several layers to keep the heat in. A lot of heat escapes through your head, so consider wearing a hat as well.

Stay safe

If you're exercising after dark, keep to well-lit areas and wear bright and reflective clothing. Ideally, exercise with a friend, but always tell someone where you’re going.

Avoid listening to music while running outdoors. Not hearing what’s going on around you can make you vulnerable.

If rain or ice is making exercise dangerous, do it another day. The weather might be better tomorrow, but an injury could take weeks to heal.

If you have a cold

Colds are more common in winter, but you don’t necessarily have to stop exercising if you’re feeling under the weather. According to Dr Keith Hopcroft, a GP from Basildon in Essex, use common sense and listen to your body.

“If your symptoms are not severe and you generally feel OK, then you can exercise. If you feel absolutely rotten, then it’s best not to go.”

However, it’s important not to exercise if you have a fever. A fever is when your body’s temperature is 38°C (100.4°F) or above and is rarely a symptom of a cold. “If you exercise with a fever,” says Dr Hopcroft, “it’ll make you feel worse. In very rare cases, exercising with a fever can lead to the virus affecting your heart, which can be dangerous.”

If you have asthma, take extra care when exercising in winter as cold air can trigger symptoms. Dr Hopcroft recommends using your inhaler before you exercise and taking it with you during your activity.

Something you enjoy

Choose an activity that you enjoy. Now might be the time to try something new that you can do indoors, such as:

• archery
• badminton 
• bowls
• cycling
• dancing
• curling
• fencing
• fitness classes
• five-a-side football
• handball
• judo
• pilates
• racketball
• squash
• swimming
• table tennis
• tai chi
• yoga

You don’t even have to stop doing outdoor activities.

If you enjoy running, don't let cold weather put you off. 

You could take a long walk at the weekend or go for a bike ride. Just wrap up warm and be careful if it’s wet or icy. 

If being outside when it's windy, raining or snowing doesn’t appeal, rent a fitness video and try doing some exercise at home.

Source:nhs.uk/Livewell/fitness/Pages/Winterexercise.aspx

Healthy Herbs

HERBS CAN CHANGE YOUR HEALTH 

Melly Lou, naturopathic Doctor at Farm Girl and founder of Liquorice Lifestyle told FEMAIL:  'Adding medicinal and culinary herbs to your food and drink can drastically change your health.'

Herbs to incorporate include:  

Mint for calming your digestion.

Turmeric for anti inflammatory properties, building immunity, and having a positive effect on blood cholesterol, among many other things.

Nettle in Spring and Summer to reduce the effects of Hayfever.

Rose for calming the digestive system and cardiovascular health.

Cinnamon facilitates the movement of sugar from the blood into your cells by potentiating the function of insulin. This results in more stable blood sugar levels and less sugar cravings.

Coriander is a 'Metal Chelator', cleansing the central nervous system of unwanted heavy metals consumed mainly in large fish and canned food.

Juices and smoothies might appear to be a 'drink' but should always be viewed a meal. 

Adding herbal powders and different sources of plant based proteins such as chia seeds, spirulina, and soaked nuts, gives your body a huge dose of micronutrients which satisfies you. When you eat like this regularly your body is nourished by a lesser amount of food, as often hunger is actually the desire for vitamins, minerals, and what is commonly referred to these days as 'superfoods'.' 

Source:dailymail.co.uk/femail/food/article-3156251/FEMAIL-talks-experts-reveal-40-eating-habits-change-life.html#ixzz3hCLpCENU

Detox

For these days avoid all starchy carbs including wheat, potatoes, rice, bread and pasta. This will heighten your weight loss and limit bloating.

Eat plenty of green leafy veg like spinach and watercress, to keep your calcium intake up. You can also have soya or rice milk with added calcium.

The most important thing is to avoid wheat, dairy, sugar, alcohol and caffeine and fill up on vegetables (except root veg, unless raw carrots), fruit like berries, pears and apples and lean proteins like chicken, turkey, unprocessed ham, fish and eggs.

Eat small portions of seeds too, they are rich in healthy fats. Make salads big; not just leaves. Include sweetcorn, beetroot, olives, tomatoes and mushrooms.

Avoid shop-bought salad dressings, just use lemon juice and a teaspoon of olive or flax oil.

Tuna salad for lunch on Day One

DAY ONE

Breakfast: Smoked salmon and scrambled egg.

Mid morning snack: A pear and one tablespoon of pumpkin seeds.

Lunch: Tuna salad.

Mid-afternoon snack: A small bowl of prawns.

Dinner: Grilled chicken and vegetable stir-fry.

DAY TWO

Breakfast: Smoothie made with a handful of mixed berries, half a banana, half a glass of rice or soya milk, one heaped tablespoon of seeds.

Mid-morning snack: A hard-boiled egg.

Lunch: Ham salad.

Mid-afternoon snack: A punnet of blueberries.

Dinner: Roasted salmon with streamed green beans and curly kale.

DAY THREE

Breakfast: Natural soya yoghurt (about 150g) with fresh berries and one tablespoon of sunflower seeds.

Mid-morning snack: One hard-boiled egg.

Lunch: Avocado salad; slice up one ripe avocado and mix with onions, watercress, tomatoes, cucumber and salad leaves.

Mid-afternoon snack: An apple and one tablespoon of pumpkin seeds.

Dinner: Roast turkey with vegetable stir-fry

Drink detox tea to help the process

Source:dailymail.co.uk/femail/food/article-3162210/How-flat-stomach-just-24-HOURS.html#ixzz3g3pkL5PA 

Tips For A Flatter Stomach

TIPS FOR A FLATTER STOMACH

Eat 5 times a day. Breakfast, lunch, dinner and mid-morning and afternoon snacks.

Have herbal teas and plenty of water. Drink six to eight glasses of water a day, sipping slowly, add a teaspoon of lemon juice to heighten the cleansing effects. If you normally drink a lot of tea and coffee and are worried about going ‘cold turkey’ then have just one to cups a day, but really dilute to lessen the caffeine.

Got a sweet tooth and worried about getting cravings when you cut it out? Eating regular healthy meals, with a steady intake of protein, should help reduce sugar cravings by keeping your blood sugar levels balanced. But if you need extra help try taking a supplement of the mineral chromium, it will help boost blood sugar level balancing. Take two 200mcg tablets a day, one 30 mins before a mid-morning snack and one 30 mins before a mid-afternoon snack

Eat your celery. Celery is an excellent diuretic, due to its high potassium content, so it can help with water retention. Add celery chunks to salad, look for a good recipe for celery soup, or use celery as one of the ingredients in a vegetable juice

Limit gassy foods. Foods like beans, pulses and root vegetables are notorious for causing bloating and wind.

Always chew food well and take your time when eating. Chew each mouthful until the food is almost liquid; not only will this help to ensure that the food is properly digested, but it will also help you to eat slowly and enjoy your food, so can prevent you over eating.

Avoid all fizzy drinks, even diet ones. Fizzy bubbles in carbonated diet drinks can cause gas to get trapped in your stomach and can cause bloating. Instead, drink water flavored with lemon, lime, or cucumber or try peppermint tea or a herbal tea like Pukka Detox, £2.09, with detoxing aniseed, fennel and licorice.

Don't chew chewing gum. It can lead to swallowing air, which can cause bloating. It can also stimulate your digest enzymes to expect food which can then stimulate hunger.

Watch your salt intake. Never add extra salt to your food as it increases the amount of water that the body retains and can therefore make you look more bloated and heavier.

Avoid sweeteners. Many people suffer from bloating because they consume too much sugar alcohol in artificially sweetened foods and drinks, and so it is important to avoid these sweeteners.  

Tips from NutriCentre nutritionist Shauna Wilkinson 

                                                   

                                               Detox easily with this tea 

Source: dailymail.co.uk/femail/food/article-3162210/How-flat-stomach-just-24-HOURS.html#ixzz3g3nf7jtP

Quick Abs Workout

Strawberry Lime Popsicles

Fresh fruit popsicles are an easy way to enjoy the summer's freshest produce. This refreshing combination of strawberries and lime is very low in calories, and is also an excellent source of vitamin C.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups fresh or frozen whole California strawberries
• 1 cup water or lemonade
• Juice of 1 lime
• 1/4 cup sugar (optional)
• 4 cups ice cubes
• 1/2 cup California strawberry slices, for garnish

Directions:

1. Combine strawberries, water, lime juice, sugar, and ice cubes in blender with a lid. Blend at high speed for about 1 minute or until all ingredients are crushed and mixed well.
2. Divide mixture among 12 4-ounce popsicle molds or cups.
3. Garnish each cup with a few strawberry slices.
4. Freeze for about 4 hours or until completely frozen

Source:shape.com/healthy-eating/healthy-recipes/10-diet-friendly-frozen-dessert-recipes/strawberry-lime-popsicles

Diet-Friendly Frozen Dessert Recipe

Cantaloupe-Basil Granita

Granitas are a combination of fruit, water, and sweetener frozen into a scrape-able mixture. This recipe includes only a minimal amount of honey, a natural sweetener containing small amounts of nutrients, allowing the natural sweetness of the fruit to really shine through.

Ingredients:

• 1 cantaloupe, seeds and rind removed, cut into chunks
• 1/2 cup water
• 2-3 tablespoons honey, based on sweetness of fruit
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 4 basil leaves, divided, plus extra for garnish

Directions:

1. Add water, honey, lemon juice, and two basil leaves to a saucepan over high heat. Use a spoon to press down on basil leaves a few times to help release their flavor.
2. Bring mixture to boil, remove from heat, remove and discard basil leaves, and allow mixture to cool.
3. Add cantaloupe and liquid mixture to a food processor and blend until smooth. Taste and adjust seasoning as needed.
4. Add two remaining basil leaves, and blend until incorporated into mixture.
5. Place mixture into a shallow glass pan and place in freezer.
6. After an hour, remove pan and use fork to scrape mixture around. It should have begun to freeze by this point, but may still be in a fairly liquid state. Place pan back in the freezer.
7. Repeat this process after another hour, and repeat hourly as needed, until reaching desired consistency.
8. Serve in individual bowls, and garnish with basil leaves if you’d like.

*You may want to leave several hours of freezing time before serving the granita

Source:shape.com/healthy-eating/healthy-recipes/10-diet-friendly-frozen-dessert-recipes/cantaloupe-basil-granita

WHAT TO EAT AFTER A BOOZY WEEKEND

Whether you're still hungover or just feeling weakened by the damaging effects of a boozy weekend, we've got some nutritionist approved advice for feeling like yourself again.

You went hard, you're feeling more than a bit peaky, your head feels like a small animal may be burrowing a new home in it - what do you eat?

LEMON WATER

As much as you may be tempted by a can of coke, try to resist the urge and opt instead for a glass of lemon water. This will kick start your metabolism and most importantly start the much needed rehydration process.

EGGS ON TOAST

If you can face food, you can't go wrong with eggs and wholegrain toast. Eggs are rich in the amino acid cysteine which is needed to break down acetaldehyde - the nasty thing that's thought to cause hangovers.

The wholegrain bread will give you slow release carbs - a stable source of glucose and energy which will do you much better than that coke.

BERRY SMOOTHIE

If you're not ready for solid food, try a fruit smoothie full of antioxidants. This will give you hit of energy from the fructose and continue to rehydrate you.

WHAT TO EAT THE NEXT EVENING

It is essential to take in both protein and nutrients. Make sure you're meal is packed with leafy greens to up your magnesium levels.

MAGNESIUM

For every molecule of sugar that slips past your lips, it takes 54 molecules of Magnesium to process it so if you went hard on the cocktails, kale will help.

PROTEIN

If you're a vegetarian you may also want to through some lentils and beans into the mix to keep protein levels up (full of those helpful amino acids). These are also good for the heart and recent research has found that the impact of drinking may be even worse for the heart than the liver.

COCONUT WATER

Wash it all down with some coconut water - it's full of electrolytes and is much healthier than a Lucozade.

WHAT TO EAT THE FOLLOWING DAY

There are recommendations to not drink again until at least 48 hours after you've had any alcohol, however new research has found that in terms of the impact on the body you need weeks not days to fully recover.

POTASSIUM

It's very important to keep hydrating for the following days and if you suffer from terrible hangovers and are still feeling a bit weak, it's essential to keep eating well. So start the day with a banana and up your potassium levels, this will help with mood boosting and fatigue.

ZINC

Even if you're not feeling sick anymore, you'll likely still be tired and lacking in concentration so add pumpkin seeds to your salad for some brain enhancing zinc.

WHAT TO EAT ALL WEEK

If you're feeling run down after going hard, now is the time to have some orange juice. Avoid OJ the next morning as it will give your liver even more work to do.

VITAMIN C

Later on in the week though, your body will be glad of the Vitamin C as alcohol consumption has been linked to a lowered immune system.

You should also avoid spicy foods until your stomach has recovered so now's the time to start boosting the metabolism with chilli again.

We chatted to NutriCentre's head nutritionist, Shona Wilkinson to get this advice.

Source:womenshealthmag.co.uk/nutrition/happy-hour/3023/what-to-eat-after-a-heavy-weekend-when-you-re-hungover#ixzz3dDUa8OV5

Exercise Keeps Your Skin Soft and Glowing....

A dewy sheen on your cheeks thanks to all the sweat dripping off your forehead may not be the only way fitness keeps your skin young. Researchers at McMaster University in Ontario studied a small group of adults between ages 20 and 84.

The frequent exercisers who were over age 40 had skin that resembled the more supple, elastic skin of people in their 20s and 30s. The difference had nothing to do with sun exposure (which would age your skin faster if you didn't wear sunscreen), reported the research team; they theorized that exercise creates body substances that help slow aging in skin, though they say more research is needed to learn how exercise changes skin composition.

Exercise gives you more vim and vigor

A workout is like nature's energy drink, firing up your brain and body so you feel more alert and alive. "Exercise puts your body in a state of arousal, which translates into more vitality and a greater sense of well being," says Frisch. "Daily tasks become less strenuous and require less exertion." It's the kind of pep in your step that makes you feel like you've peeled off a decade or two.

Exercise improves your posture

Thanks to muscle loss and bone density changes, your posture takes a hit as you age. Counteract this with strength training, which builds muscle and bone health, especially in your core and along your spine, so you naturally stand taller and shave years off your appearance, says Amie Hoff, personal trainer and founder of Hoff Fitness in New York City. Working out also makes you feel more psychologically powerful, so you naturally stop slouching and straighten up, she adds.

Source:abcnews.go.com/Health/ways-exercise-makes-feel-younger/story?id=29961839

A Five-Minute Walk Could Undo An Hour of Sitting

The evidence is overwhelming — sitting for long stretches of time can damage your health and a new study could tell us why. Researchers from Indiana University found it takes just one hour of sitting to decrease the blood flow from your legs to your heart by 50 percent. When you're parked in a chair, the muscles in your lower body don't contract to pump blood to the heart as effectively as they should, causing blood to pool in your legs. Eventually, this can lead to impaired blood vessel function — an early marker of heart disease.

And because many of us sit at a desk for at least eight hours a day, the damage done by sitting throughout each day could be even greater, says study author Saurabh Thosar. But there's an upshot — Thosar and his team discovered you can counteract the damage of sitting by taking five-minute walks every hour.

They asked a group of healthy men aged 20 to 35 to sit for three hours without moving their legs. Measuring the guys' arterial function every hour with a blood pressure cuff, they found that the ability for their arteries to expand and pump blood was reduced by 50 percent after the first hour.

The men then sat for another three hours, but took a slow five-minute walk (two miles per hour) every hour. This time, the tests showed no decrease in arterial function. "Five-minute walks prevented the decline of blood flow and arterial function during sitting," says Thosar. "[Walking] does not erase the effect of sitting, per se. Rather, it just does not allow sitting to be as harmful."

The jury's still out on whether you need to walk for at least five minutes to get these benefits or if a one- or two-minute stroll can stifle at least some of sitting's negative effects. Another question is if walking for more than five minutes or picking up your pace will help even more. "I do not have data to prove it, but my feeling is that even shorter walks or taking more breaks will be helpful as long as blood flow increases," says Thosar. 

Source:mensjournal.com/health-fitness/exercise/a-five-minute-walk-could-undo-an-hour-of-sitting-20141009#ixzz3buWQzrH5