Key Benefits Of Performing Yoga For Heart Health

Yoga is an ancient technique that focuses on breathing, meditation, and the body. Practicing yoga instills a deeper awareness of your emotions, mind, and physical well-being, which allows you to be more in tune with your mind, body, and spirit. Those who choose to perform yoga for heart health reasons get the added benefits of improved cardiovascular health along with increased lung capacity, and better respiratory function as a result. It's a great way to naturally decrease inflammation, build muscle, and boost blood circulation.
Four Key Ways Yoga Helps Your Heart
Not only is yoga a good way to stay in shape, it can do much more for you than simply tone your muscles. Here's how it can literally improve the health of your heart.
1. Improves blood pressure.
Long-term blood pressure can potentially damage the walls of blood vessels and weaken the heart, which may cause plaque build-up and possibly narrow and/or block arteries. This condition is the leading cause of stroke and heart attack.
While a lack of exercise and poor diet are key players in contributing to high blood pressure, there's also the element of stress. Yoga practice is a great way to help in treating high blood pressure due to its ability to diminish the body's reaction to ongoing stress.
2. Encourages physical activity.
People who are primarily physically inactive are literally twice as likely to develop heart disease as opposed to those who regularly exercise according to health experts. Yoga enhances flexibility and strength, which greatly improves cardiovascular health.
Studies show that individuals who perform yoga have a much higher tendency to stick to an exercise routine. A recent case study enrolled a group of people who were previously inactive into yoga classes twice a week for a total of 10 weeks and discovered that just by taking the classes the participants increased their likelihood of continuing other physical activities as well.

3. Decreases stress.
When you encounter a certain stressful situation, your brain floods your system with adrenaline in helping you choose to either flee the imminent threat or fight it. This rush of adrenaline causes an increase in your blood pressure and heart rate. While your body's natural response to stress is to protect you, it can also tax your cardiovascular system if you're constantly stressed out. Based on the findings of the Heart and Stroke Foundation, individuals who are more prone to stress suffer a greater risk for heart disease over their less stressed counterparts.
4. Counteracts inflammation.
Inflammation is a result of your body responding to harmful situations or injury as well as stress. However, it's also the culprit of most pathologies, such as heart disease. Therefore, learning to effectively relax by performing yoga may help to diminish stress-related inflammation in the body.
Is Yoga Safe for Everyone?
In general, yoga is safe for virtually anyone. But, there are a few situations where it may pose somewhat of a risk in certain individuals. In such cases, it may be necessary to scale back some of the poses or at least find a temporary alternative.
If you're dealing with any of the following situations or conditions, consult your health care practitioner prior to practicing yoga for heart health.
- Severe osteoporosis
- Balance issues
- Artificial joints
- Some eye conditions, such as glaucoma
- Unregulated high blood pressure
- Severe osteoporosis
You can still practice yoga despite these conditions by taking some key precautions, like eliminating certain stretches or poses. No matter where you are in terms of your general health, it's important to start out gently and slowly at first.
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How Important Are The Differences Between A Diet And A Lifestyle Change?

Many people regard the differences as being irrelevant. However, others have recognized that when you 'diet' you commit to changing your nutritional intake for as long as it takes to lose weight. But when the weight finally comes off you return to your old habits.

And it was your old habits that brought you to the point where you wanted to lose weight in the first place.

So, as you might imagine, diets do not work. What does work is making permanent lifestyle changes that result in weight loss, overall improved health and no rebound weight gain. Too many times people are sucked into the promises of quick loss with fad diets that don't provide enough nutrition to support a health body and deprive the individual of foods they truly love and appreciate.

This deprivation oftentimes will lead to termination of the diet and returning to the old nutritional habits. Unfortunately, this can also lead to an increase in weight above what the individual lost in the first place. And the reason a person puts on more weight has a basis in physiology.

When a person originally loses weight they often lose lean muscle mass because of the nutritional mistakes they make using fad diets, too little calories or depriving the body of the fuel it needs to survive. When the individual finally gets tired of being tired, over exercising or depriving themselves of their favorite foods and activities they turn back to their old habits, but in an overabundance. In other words, they over eat, over indulge and forget about the workouts.

This reversal in nutritional intake results in a weight gain of fat instead of the lean muscle mass they originally lost. The weight gain is often more than they lost because of the rebound effect and because the fat they gain burns less than lean muscle mass. The metabolic rate of the fat is also lower than the muscle mass which means that it takes a lower amount of calories to gain back the weight they lost and then some.

For many this knowledge comes as an epiphany. After years of dieting and traveling on the yo-yo train they finally come to realize that a "diet" brings nothing more than fatigue, frustration and aggravation. Instead, they turn to a knowledge that they have held for years but were often unwilling to acknowledge because now it appears as if they must deprive themselves forever of the foods and activities at once loved.

Nutritional changes are best accomplished in moderation. This means that totally depriving yourself of chocolate ice cream, pizza or the bread and butter will only lead to another roller coaster ride that you finally fall off of. Instead, it is important to accomplish changes in nutrition slowly, methodically and deliberately.

By acknowledging that your previous dietary habits have led you to a place where it was necessary to consider losing weight you can also help yourself to find moderately small changes in your diet that will lead to a successful end goal. For instance, you may start by eliminating regular soda from your diet and replacing it with diet soda. Then slowly over time, you can also eliminate diet soda, full of empty calories and no nutrition. Or you may start by decreasing the amount of ice cream or candy you the each day. You can also replace that morning doughnut with a cup of yogurt.

By slowly changing your habits your weight will not rebound and you will not have difficulty when you go out with your friends. Consider that we are what we eat and that the old adage "garbage in, garbage out" holds just as true for our nutritional intake as it does for the data we input into our computer.

http://ezinearticles.com/?How-Important-Are-The-Differences-Between-A-Diet-And-A-Lifestyle-Change?&id=8612826

Super Greens - The Smoothie Secret to Healthy Drinks That Taste Like What You Really Want

Everyone who's ever heard "eat your vegetables" knows how good green foods are for you. The real winners in the nutrition showcase are the dark, leafy greens like kale, spinach & collard. Each leaf has a giant list of diet and nutrition improving benefits, so you would think everyone would want to include leaves at every meal... but... as you know, no one wants kale for breakfast.
The problem with dark leafy greens is two-fold: not everyone likes the taste, and the texture, especially of kale & collard can be tough & fibrous. The combination of bitter plant compounds and unappealing textures makes these literally "hard to swallow". Don't miss out on a great nutritional opportunity because flavor and texture are getting in the way. Learn the secret of eliminating any undesirable texture and the amazing food-chemistry behind neutralizing the flavor right here in this article.
First, gain confidence by learning how to eliminate the flavor of spinach, kale or collard greens.
By learning how to combine different fruits and vegetables, you can use certain ingredients to cancel out flavors you don't want, and then add others to achieve the taste you actually desire. When you know the rules, experimenting will be easier, and you can make drinks to suit your own tastes for variety and fun. The recipe in this article demonstrates each of the following points to create a drink that tastes really good at any meal of the day. Before you see the recipe, learn why it works.
Bitter compounds -
Each of the 'big 3' greens has a certain amount of bitter plant compounds. Little kids hate these greens because they are more sensitive to the compounds than adults are. To enjoy the leaves, you have to neutralize the compounds with a sweet plant based sugar. You can't just dump granulated sugar on them, it's the wrong type of sugar. The ideal item here is a banana. Bananas have natural fructose (that's different from high fructose corn syrup produced artificially) and glucose. A yellow, not-over-ripe banana has these 2 sugars in a decent proportion to neutralize bitterness.
Leafy flavor -
Even if you eliminate the bitterness, there's still the regular, leafy flavor. Different for each green, but still not suitable for snacking. You have to knock this out with a powerful flavor such as chocolate. Raw, powdered, unsweetened cocoa is not only very healthy, but very powerfully flavored. It can easily overpower any of the big 3.
Taste & texture -
Greens are alkaline foods, but cocoa is acidic, so you don't want to introduce more acid with dairy milk. Coconut milk, coconut water, almond milk, or rice milk are all less acidic than dairy milk. These non-dairy milks contribute a smooth, drinkable texture and flavor. Non dairy milks mellow things out.
It needs to taste sweet enough -
Most of the 'sweet flavor' of the banana will be canceled out by the compounds in the greens. Because unsweetened cocoa is bitter, reach for the stevia (powder or drops) to sweeten without sugar or calories. Stevia tastes sweet, but doesn't affect blood sugar. How much stevia you need to achieve the level of sweetness you desire, will be up to you.
You need ALL the nutrients -
Did you know that some nutrients in greens (and other veggies too) are more absorbable, or only absorbable in the presence of fats? Fat soluble vitamins like A, D, K and E are present in most leafy greens, but you can't digest/absorb them unless they dissolve. The only thing that will dissolve these so your body can use them, is a unit of healthy fat. "Bio-availability" is the term for how much of a certain nutrient you can access by eating a food. Healthy oils, like omega 3s and olive oil, when eaten in combination with other nutrients increase the bio availability. (So yes, salad oil on a salad really can make it better for you.)
The way to add healthy oils, extra fiber, calcium, and protein to the recipe, all without altering the flavor is by adding tiny, healthy seeds. Chia seeds have no flavor, but they're big on omega 3 oils. They're the perfect ingredient to add at the end to increase nutrition even more, and make the greens really worthwhile. (As you'll notice, there's hardly any fat at all in any of the other ingredients, you'll really be missing out on those fat-soluble vitamins if you skip this step. Nothing else is oily with healthy plant fats but ALSO free from flavor, so there's really nothing else you can use.)

It's all in how you make it -
This recipe is a smoothie, or just a chocolate drink. (Depending on how much rice milk you add) The texture will depend on your blender or food processor. If you have a weak processor with old, dull blades, or a poor, old-fashion blender, it may not be able to handle the "tough guys" kale & collard. These greens come with rough, fibrous stems and you need real power to liquefy them into micro-pieces that no one will notice. If your blades are blunt (or just old) you could notice bits, specks, or fibers of texture that are undesirable in a drink. That's why you should take the easy path first, and start with user friendly spinach.
Make a chocolate drink that's great for you!
1 cup baby spinach leaves
1 yellow banana
2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
½ tsp stevia powder (or more, to taste)
½ cup non-dairy milk (less for thick 'smoothie' texture, more for a drink)
1 to 3 tsp dry chia seeds
Blend until smooth, chill and enjoy.
You might not think something this simple could be so good... but give it a try. It's so easy it takes less than 5 minutes. If you use it in the morning, you can always scoop in some of your favorite protein powder. Chill overnight in the fridge for breakfast in an instant. Feel good about your day because you already had a salad-worth of greens before most people have even thought of touching a veggie.
http://ezinearticles.com/?Super-Greens---The-Smoothie-Secret-to-Healthy-Drinks-That-Taste-Like-What-You-Really-Want&id=8787851

Best Alkaline Water and Alkaline Diet Specialists

What natural remedies work for the prevention and management of common health problems? If you are suffering from the symptoms of allergies, asthma, arthritis, multiple sclerosis, or gout you may have looked into natural remedies. There are so many alternatives and additions to standard medicine now.
You may have searched for a healthy diet plan to reduce or eliminate your symptoms, but which diets actually work? If you don't find a natural remedy to prevent or manage your symptoms your energy levels and lifestyle can be compromised. Being unwell means that you have less enjoyment in your life, spend less quality time with your family and friends, and it's more challenging to make a good income.
One of the best natural remedies that boosts your ability to regain wellness is the Alkaline diet. This includes drinking Alkaline Hydrogen water. The symptoms of common health problems can be reduced with improved nutrition. For instance, did you know that cooked food has no enzymes in it? This means over time you can get enzyme depletion in your body. Chronically poor digestion creates chronic illness. The fresh and raw foods that make up the Alkaline diet are enzyme rich and will alleviate the stress placed on your digestive system. You will also be avoiding substances that destroy enzymes in your body.
Did you know that excess sugar consumption may be contributing to your health problems? Reducing sugar intake is part of the alkaline diet and can help prevent symptoms and improve your body's ability to manage symptoms. Start making changes now by creating a healthy eating plan based on the Alkaline diet. Enabling your body to become more alkaline increases your energy, immunity and mental alertness.

Healthy eating starts with a healthy alkaline diet rich with energy foods. The ideal combination is 80% foods that make your body more alkaline and 20% acidifying foods. Alkaline Hydrogen water boost your wellness because it provides antioxidants and anti-inflammatory protection. Tap water and most filtered waters don't do this and can even be contributing to your health problem symptoms. Water that makes your body more alkaline is water with little to no impurities, giving it a pH of around 8.
Use a quality alkaline water filter to access Ionized, Alkaline Water. There are many types of water filters including fixed, benchtop and portable. An alkaline diet and alkaline water is one of the best natural remedies to assist the prevention and management of common health problems.
Disclaimer
The information in this article is not intended to diagnose or treat any health condition but is intended to help individuals make informed decisions about natural health. This information does not substitute for treatment or advice that may have been prescribed by a physician. If you have a medical condition, you are advised to seek assistance from a trained medical professional. This article has not been evaluated by the Therapeutic Goods Administration

http://ezinearticles.com/?Best-Alkaline-Water-and-Alkaline-Diet-Specialists&id=8766668

Secrets of a PT: The secret ingredient for fat loss

Fibre is quite possibly one of the most underrated and important foods that will help you reach your health and fat loss goals. It’s not only important for helping to reduce the risk of diseases such as diabetes, heart disease and colon cancer, but it also helps your body to burn fat by controlling your blood sugar levels, reducing the release of the hunger hormone ghrelin, and helping curb sugar cravings.

Compared to our Paleolithic ancestors who would consume close to 60g a day, the modern western diet provides on average only 5-15g. No wonder constipation is a frequent problem for an estimated 90% of the world’s population.

One of the main reasons the modern Western diet lacks fibre is processed food. Food-processing methods not only remove much of the fibre, but strips food of many of its essential vitamins and minerals to give it a longer shelf life.

Now - enough of the bad news!

5 EASY WAYS TO BOOST YOUR FIBRE INTAKE

1. Eat a wide variety of whole, fresh, seasonal organic foods as much as possible such as fresh fruits, vegetables nuts and seeds. Berries, avocados and leafy green vegetables are packed with fibre

2. Eliminate processed food from your diet.

3. Eat more fibrous carbohydrates such as broccoli, cauliflower, asparagus, spinach, peppers and mushrooms

4. Eat more raw food. Half of your vegetable and fruit intake should be raw.

5. Use a good quality supplement such as Ultimate Clean from Bodyism, ground flaxseed, ground linseed or chia seeds. Rotate between them to ensure you don’t develop an intolerance.

Apply these tips today to help your body detoxify, fight sugar cravings and stay (ahem) regular.

http://www.womenshealthmag.co.uk/weight-loss/healthy-eating/1061/secrets-of-a-pt-the-secret-ingredient-for-fat-loss/

Leaving Obesity Behind To Be Nutrition Empowered

Obesity has been a global epidemic over the last 10-20 years in its making, as people are constantly afforded the many types of foods that are considered fattening and/or unhealthy for overall consumption. The epidemic has gotten so bad as to now be greatly affecting children. This certainly proves that the physical and mental condition can happen to anyone, as it does not discriminate. What time can be better than now to become empowered by proper nutrition?
There are many types of harmful body effects that can result from the body becoming overweight. Excessive fat resulting in obesity is known to cause diseases like: diabetes, heart disease, sleep apnea, and even cancer. All of these diseases can be life-threatening if not remedied through proper dieting. Proper dieting involves healthy eating choices by the consumption of food known to possess high nutrition values. Exercise also plays a key role in achieving bodily health benefits.
Foods that are known to have high nutrition values are foods like, raw vegetables and fruits high in antioxidants, fiber, and potassium. Antioxidants benefit the body by removing what science has identified as "free radicals," which are simply harmful molecules produced within the body during the body's biological processes. Antioxidants counter/remove such free radicals as they are produced by the body.
Fiber is another important nutrition factor for the body. Natural fibers are types of fibers that interact with the biology of the human body. These types of fibers are found in various foods like: whole grain foods (cereal, wheat bread, etc.), vegetables, and fruits. They benefit the body throughout the body's metabolic process (or the breaking down of food) and they help to turn food into energy for the body. Fiber is also known to help foods process in the digestive tract within the body, for easier expulsion (exiting) from the colon.

Potassium is another healthy benefactor for the body and the body's biological processes. It is an element found in nature and is identified by the letter "K" in the scientific 'Table of Elements'. Potassium is known to build in the cells of plants. Vegetables and fresh fruits are known to be a very good source of it for dietary functions and proper nutrition.
If a proper, healthy diet is sustained by the continued consumption of health-benefiting foods like vegetables, fruits, and whole grains, then obesity can be prevented. People (both children and adults alike) need to make conscious, healthier choices when it comes to eating habits. All too often, temptation of the many, diversified food choices offered in a thriving food industry, can heavily influence bodily senses to crave what is not necessarily good for the body. A bad diet, stemmed from bad eating habits, can cause serious risks to one's health. It is 'personal choice' to become nutrition empowered, while remaining conscious enough, to simply stay away from unhealthy eating thus contributing to leaving obesity behind
http://ezinearticles.com/?Leaving-Obesity-Behind-To-Be-Nutrition-Empowered&id=8780327

The 10 Week Wedding Body Challenge: Week Four - DIET & NUTRITION

If you've been ramping up the exercise, adding weight training and fat burning workouts to your regime and generally being active and healthy, there's one more thing to think about, and it's a big one.

Diet.Food: The other half of your wedding dress plan (REX)
But we're not advocating the famous 'wedding diet' or anything remotely crash-diet like. If you're aiming to transform your body to look its best (which we are), this will only have the opposite effect.
So PT Scott Laidler explains what you actually have to do to achieve the right kind of weight loss - and not be miserable in the run up to your big day.Scott Laidler
"It’s easy to ‘lose weight’ by being overly restrictive with your calories, but being overly restrictive, cutting calories and avoiding carbs will leave you feeling lethargic, irritable, even foggy - not great when you need to be on the ball for final wedding planning," he explains.
"Even more importantly, drastic ‘weight loss’ usually involves losing a lot of water and muscle, which may mean you fit into your dress but your muscles will feel depleted, and soft to the touch - not particularly healthy-looking and hardly ideal for the honeymoon.Jennifer Aniston's incredible bod is built on healthy eating and hard work (REX)
Strong not skinny
"You want to achieve a firm, toned and defined figure, not a skinny one. This looks best in your wedding dress and on the beach, and will keep your energy levels soaring and you feeling great."
Plus you need enough energy to actually get through your workouts.

Scott's 'right way' to slim down
"Let’s throw the scales out and aim for positive composition change (losing fat rather than muscle and water) through a balanced and healthy approach to nutrition. Here’s how…"

1) Get the right macronutrient balance
I recommend the following split:
Protein 40-50 per cent
Fat 30-40 per cent
Carbs 10-20 per cent
"This is not what you will see in most recommendations. I have kept the carbs quite low because fat loss is our goal, but with the right type of carbs in your diet you will still be able to keep your blood sugar level and experience abundant energy."Processed foods are out. As delicious as they look... (Flickr/lifeontheedge)
2) Avoid all processed foods
That means no processed foods, microwave meals, crisps, cookies, sweets, soda drinks, anything that contains trans-fats.
3) Eat lots of leafy green vegetables
These are packed with nutrients and you can eat as much as you like of these with absolutely no fat gain.
4) Choose the ‘right’ carbs
Select carbohydrates that will give you energy without affecting your blood sugar levels.  (E.g. sweet potatoes, brown rice, wholegrain oats and quinoa.)
"Remember, your real enemy is always sugar or, in other words, poor quality carbohydrates.
"I’m highlighting this to reassert the importance of healthy fats in your diet. Healthy fats are absolutely essential for healthy hormones, they are also heavily involved in maintaining skin and hair health. So it makes sense that we don’t lose them in the run up to your wedding."

 
5)  AVOID
•    Never go too low with calories, it will drain you of your energy and lead to poor quality weight-loss.
•    Never try to exercise your way out of a poor diet - you can't. Exercise and healthy eating are a synergistic combination
6) Don't 'diet'
"Losing weight through healthy eating isn’t the same as dieting," explains Scott. "Dieting is temporary by nature but really sustained lean living comes from consistently eating the types of foods that create the best environment for your body.

If you're not sure what this shakes down to, take a look at this two-day meal plan to get an idea of the nutrient balance:

To begin with, knocking out your go-to comfort foods such as cakes, biscuits, crisps and takeaways can be tricky and the idea of cooking everything yourself can seem time consuming but 'eating clean' is actually not as hard as you'd think.

 
https://uk.lifestyle.yahoo.com/blogs/health-blog/the-10-week-wedding-body-challenge--week-four---diet---nutrition-134909128.html