Mainstream Media Admits Diabetes Can Be Reversed by Diet, Lifestyle Changes

Alternative health practitioners have long maintained that Type 2 diabetes was a reversible condition. Now the mainstream media is beginning to catch on.

The mainstream media is just now catching on to what NaturalNews and other natural health advocates have been saying for years: type 2 diabetes can be reversed through dietary and lifestyle changes, and without the need for lifelong drug interventions. A recent report by CNN says that improving one's diet, keeping off excess weight, and regularly exercising, can help millions of people with diabetes get rid of it for good.

"We have seen numerous people reverse their condition," Dr. Michelle Magee, director of the MedStar Diabetes Institute in Washington, is quoted as saying by CNN. "But it takes a real dedication for the rest of their lives." Read more

5 Budget-Friendly Ways to Stay Fit during Winter

Charlotte Hilton Andersen has five budget-friendly tips to stay fit during the winter.

I do not like being cold, but I am cold all the time. These two facts will tell you, pretty much, everything you need to know about me. It's why I hate swimming (also known as controlled drowning). It's why big fuzzy socks are my go-to gift (both for others and for myself). It's why I avoid Black Friday like the plague. (Cyber Monday, however, did some wallet damage.)

If I won't venture outside of my toasty house for even Black Friday, it goes without saying that outdoor running, biking, hiking, swimming and frisbee are out of the question too. At least until I can breathe without snot-cicles forming. But a girl's still got to get her sweat on, even if she lives in the frozen wasteland of the North.

Of course working out in cold weather is easy if you have a gym membership and a car to get you there, but there are lots of other options that cost less. Read more

Diet and Lifestyle Determine Longevity More Than Genetics

Though genetics is one factor that determines longevity, diet and lifestyle play a bigger role, says Dr. Joseph Mercola.

... Death is surely inevitable, but I do believe you can live far longer than the average life expectancy, which, in the US, is around 78. Genetics may play a role, but is NOT the final determining factor for whether you'll live a long healthy life.

Barring an accident, your lifestyle has everything to do with your longevity. It's already been established that diet can override genetic predispositions for disease, for example, so don't fall into the trap of believing your health and longevity is somehow the inevitable result of what's in your gene pool.

Please understand that the list in the summary above is from US News and World Report and it is THEIR concept of what contributes to aging. Of course you don't get the newsletter for their views so I am going to use their list as a springboard to provide you with my thoughts on the topic. Read more

Is Your Workout Helping You or Huring You?

Your workout may be hurting you more than helping you if you believe any of the following three misconceptions about fitness.

Working out should be something that is both fun and beneficial. The body responds almost immediately to proper training, but it also responds to improper training. Improper training can lead to aches and pain down the road, or even muscles tears. Are you working out the right way?

Misconception #1: The Longer, The Better

Contrary to what you have heard from old school bodybuilders, a longer workout does not lead to better muscular gains. In fact, a longer workout can be detrimental to your muscular gains. Read more

How to Work Out Your Transverse Abdominals

If you want a strong core, you need to work out your transverse abdominals, which are usually neglected in most ab routines. Ashley Clark gives three exercises that work these important muscles.

A group of muscles that often gets neglected in stomach exercise routines are the transverse abdominals, the core muscles that lie below the rectus abdominus. Most abdominal exercises target the rectus abdominus and the vertical abdominals, ignoring the transverse abdominals. Even crunches, the staple of most abdominal workouts, do nothing for the transverse abdominals. These muscles are actually the most important to target, however, as they connect to both the lower back muscles and the rectus abdominus and for a girdle for the entire abdomen.

Any routine aimed at flattening the stomach should include the transverse abdominals as a focus. Using the following exercises, you can work out your transverse abdominals and really make progress on that flat tummy. As with any workout routine, be sure to consult a professional before beginning and always warm up properly to avoid injury. Read more

Living Prehistorically in the Modern Age

Andrea Shea explains how to live prehistorically in the modern age. She apparently doesn't know that Neanderthals and modern humans were a different species, but not everyone watches the History Channel, I guess. Otherwise, it's a good introduction to the Paleolithic lifestyle

The word “Paleolithic” might evoke images from the 1980s film “Quest for Fire” — or, more recently, the scruffy cavemen in those Geico commercials. But Nate Rosenberg says going back in time to eat like a Neanderthal doesn’t make him one.

“It’s obviously not a reenactment of Paleolithic life,” Rosenberg says.

The 27-year-old foraged through his contemporary kitchen in the cute Somerville apartment he shares with his Paleo partner Michal Naisteter.

“We eat modern foods,” he says. “In the Paleolithic era they did not have ground beef or, you know, dried oregano from Whole Foods and stuff life that, which we benefit from. But we try keep in mind our evolutionary history.”

Added Naisteter: “I eat fish, I eat eggs, I eat vegetables and I eat berries and nuts.”

Naisteter and Rosenberg are part of an international fitness and nutrition movement known as “ancestral health.” Read more

Receive Anti-Aging Benefits with Exercise

Vigorous exercise helps prevent aging at the cellular level.

According to a new study, funded by The German Research Association and the University of Saarland, and published in "Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association," intense exercise acts to help prevent the shortening of telomeres. The gradual shortening of telomeres through cell divisions leads to aging at the cellular level. The study findings were released online Nov. 30, 2009 in advance of publication in an upcoming print issue of "Circulation". It follows up on the work done by Elizabeth H. Blackburn, Carol W. Greider, and Jack W. Szostak, who won the 2009 Nobel Prize in Physiology of Medicine for their work in showing how during cell division, telomere length is shortened. Read more

Why Exercise Won't Make You Thin

John Cloud explains in TIME magazine why exercise alone is not the answer for weight loss.

... I have exercised like this — obsessively, a bit grimly — for years, but recently I began to wonder: Why am I doing this? Except for a two-year period at the end of an unhappy relationship — a period when I self-medicated with lots of Italian desserts — I have never been overweight. One of the most widely accepted, commonly repeated assumptions in our culture is that if you exercise, you will lose weight. But I exercise all the time, and since I ended that relationship and cut most of those desserts, my weight has returned to the same 163 lb. it has been most of my adult life. I still have gut fat that hangs over my belt when I sit. Why isn't all the exercise wiping it out? Read more

How to Work Out While Muslim and Female

So, you think you have excuses to avoid exercise? What if you were a Muslim woman who had to try to stay in shape while respecting your faith's modesty etiquette? Ever go jogging wearing a head scarf in hot weather?

For the pious Muslim woman, one of the greatest challenges of modern life is how to get a health-conscious work-out. In Iran, of course, the state mandates Islamic dress, so secular and faithful women alike must contend with religious codes that interfere with exercise. But the problem persists for individual Muslim women throughout the Islamic world and the West. It grabbed headlines this week when a Paris swimming pool refused entry to a young Muslim woman wearing a "burqini," a swim garment resembling a diving suit. In France the incident falls into a wider political debate over how to reconcile the country's Muslim immigrants to French secular values. And while the number of Muslim women in France — indeed throughout the world — who insist on such a severe covering as the burqa is small, the challenge of staying slim and Islamically proper is not. Read more

When NOT to Take Vitamins

If you exercise strenuously and then go home and take some vitamins, those supplements may undo some of the benefits of your workout.

Taking vitamins after exercise may undo some of the beneficial effects of the workout, research suggests.

Some advocate taking antioxidants like vitamin C and E to help protect the body from harmful chemical by-products it creates in breaking into a sweat.

But German scientists now believe these "free radicals" may actually be good for us and even buffer against diabetes, PNAS reports.

And mopping them up with antioxidants may do more harm than good. Read more

Sweatin' with the Socialists

This exercise video that will keep you up on your feet for hours to the voice of your favorite president Barack Obama! Join Nancy Pelosi as she leads you through thousands of annoying, exuberant clapping exercises to the voice of President Obama. Spring into action as Pelosi keeps you on your feet during this highly engaging video.

Age-Related Changes in the Brain Slowed with Fitness

Need another reason to exercise? Researchers from the University of Kansas Medical Center say age-related changes in the brain appear to be slowed in physically fit individuals.

Being more physically fit appears to slow down damage to the brain's memory centers in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease, according to a study conducted by researchers from the University of Kansas Medical Center and presented at the Alzheimer's Association International Conference on Alzheimer's Disease in Chicago.
Read more

Another Reason to Exercise

If you need another reason to exercise, how about cutting your colon cancer risk by a quarter?

Taking exercise can cut the risk of the most common kind of bowel cancer by a quarter, research suggests. Read more

Fit, Not Frail: Exercise as a Tonic for Aging

Jane Brody explains how regular exercise can delay and may even prevent a life-limiting loss of physical abilities into one's 90s and beyond.

Fact: Every hour of every day, 330 Americans turn 60.

Fact: By 2030, one in five Americans will be older than 65.

Fact: The number of people over 100 doubles every decade.

Fact: As they age, people lose muscle mass and strength, flexibility and bone.

Fact: The resulting frailty leads to a loss of mobility and independence.

The last two facts may sound discouraging. But they can be countered by another. Regular participation in aerobics, strength training and balance and flexibility exercises can delay and may even prevent a life-limiting loss of physical abilities into one's 90s and beyond. Read more

How Running Helps You Live Longer

A new study shows that runners had half the death rate of non-runners. Notice, though, that runners often reduced their running, but maintained their exercise time by increasing other activity. It's any vigorous exercise - not necessarily running or even aerobic exercise - that confers the benefits.

People who want to live a long and healthy life might want to take up running.

A study published on Monday shows middle-aged members of a runner's club were half as likely to die over a 20-year period as people who did not run.

Running reduced the risk not only of heart disease, but of cancer and neurological diseases such as Alzheimer's, researchers at Stanford University in California found. Read more

Your Brain on Exercise: How Working Out Makes You Smarter

Exercise improves your body, but it also improves your mind. Regular exercisers learn faster, remember more, think more clearly, and even recover more easily from brain injuries.

Athletes and people who exercise not only have better bods — they have better brains too, a host of studies have now firmly established.

A review of studies published earlier this month, in fact, found that a balanced diet and regular exercise can protect the brain and ward off mental disorders.

Other research has focused just on the effects of exercise. The bottom line: Exercisers learn faster, remember more, think clearer and bounce back more easily from brain injuries such as a stroke. They are also less prone to depression and age-related cognitive decline.

But why should a mindless half-hour on a treadmill affect your brain? Read more

Moderate Exercise Can Help Insomniacs Sleep Better

Exercise has many benefits. One of them turns out to be better sleep.

Moderate aerobic exercises... is likely to reduce anxiety and improve the sleep quality of insomniacs, according to a study. Read more

Burning Calories through Exercise Harder Than You Think

Many people hope to burn enough calories through exercise so that they don't have to change their eating habits. However, burning calories through exercise is harder than you think.

THE Spinning class at our local gym was winding down. People were wiping off their bikes, gathering their towels and water bottles, and walking out the door when a woman shouted to the instructor, “How many calories did we burn?”

“About 900,” the instructor replied.

My husband and I rolled our eyes. We looked around the room. Most people had hardly broken a sweat. I did a quick calculation in my head.

We were cycling for 45 minutes. Suppose someone was running and that the rule of thumb, 100 calories a mile, was correct.

To burn 900 calories, we would have had to work as hard as someone who ran a five-minute mile for the entire distance of nine miles. Read more

The only people who could burn significant calories through exercise are people who are already lean and fit. Otherwise, to lose weight, you're going to have to modify your diet.

Protecting the Aging Brain

The most effective technique for slowing the decline of the aging brain seems to be physical exercise. Exercise is known both to boost mood and maintain the blood supply network to the brain, both of which are known to be crucial to mental functioning.

Physical exercise is the best-proven prescription so far, the scientists agreed. Memory improved when 72-year-olds started a walking program three days a week, and sophisticated scans showed their brains' activity patterns started resembling those of younger people. Read more

Exercise is not just good for your muscles and your heart, but also for your brain.