What Your Waist Says About Your Health

What Your Waist Says About Your Health

Is your weight causing problems for your life…or lifestyle?  Some people aren’t sure.  Do scales tell the whole story?  Although widely used as a calculator for idea weight, BMI or a measure of your body mass index is not a definitive measure, either.  Perhaps your family and friends tell you that you look just fine and you don’t need to lose any weight.  Still, you wonder… Is there a quick way to get an accurate answer to the question: Is my weight affecting my health?  If a look in the morning mirror doesn’t tell you or perhaps you are trying to access your current health status, your waist-to-hip ratio will provide the answer.

The waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) is an indicator of health and also an indicator of the increased risk of developing serious health conditions. Research has shown that people who carry more weight around their waist are at greater risk than those who carry more around their hips.  WHR is used as a measurement of obesity.

Several studies have found that the waist circumference alone provides a good indicator of cardiovascular risk factors, distribution of body fat and hypertension.

The World Health Organization defines abdominal obesity as a WHR above 0.95 for males and above 0.80 for females, or a body mass index (BMI) above 30.0.  The National Institute of Diabetes, Digestive and Kidney Diseases say that women with WHR above 0.80 and men above 1.0 are at increased health risk because of their fat distribution.

“When it comes to older people, WHR has been found to be a better predictor of mortality than waist circumference alone or BMI.  In fact, if obesity were redefined using WHR instead of BMI, the number of people classified in the high-risk category of heart attack would be three times higher.  Body fat percentage (BF%) is a more accurate measure of relative weight and would also greatly increase the number of people classified as obese,

When considering BMI, WHR and BF%, the WHR is simple and accurate because takes account of the differences in body structure with just 2 measurements. This is important because it is possible for two people to have vastly different BMI’s but the same WHR, or to have the same BMI but vastly different WHR’s.  The same can be said for BMI and BF% numbers.”

Determining your WHR is really quite simple:  Take your waist and hip measurements at their respective widest points.  Waist measurements should be taken after a full exhale at the navel level or an inch above (whichever is higher).  Then divide your waist measurement by your hip measurement and you will have your WHR.  For example; if your waist is 38 inches and your hips measurement is 38, your WHR is 1.0; if your waist is 38 and your hips are 36, your WHR is 1.06.

Remember, if you are a woman your WHR should be less than .8 and men should be less than .95.  It is worthwhile noting that in ancient civilization depictions, female representations most often fall in the 0.6-0.7 range for WHR.

How many people do you know that have potbellies?  Perhaps you are one of them.  Regardless of what you think about your current weight, if your WHR is higher than the recommended limits, you are asking for trouble if you don’t do something about it.

Walk or Run For Health?

Walk or Run For Health?

At least one study has concluded that walking equaled running for heart health as long as the same distance was covered.  It was not how long you run or walk but how far.

The study included data from more than 33,000 runners and almost 16,000 walkers aged 18 to 80 with most between 40 and 50.  The time period observed was 6 years.

Both activities reduced risk factors and if the same amount of energy was expended, they both provided the same benefits. The more people walked or ran each week, the more their health improved.

Here is a summary of the results:

• Running reduced the risk of high blood pressure 4.2 percent and walking reduced the risk 7.2 percent.
• Running reduced the risk for high cholesterol 4.3 percent and walking lowered the risk 7 percent.
• Running lowered the risk for diabetes 12.1 percent and walking reduced the risk 12.3 percent.
• Running decreased the risk of heart disease 4.5 percent and walking reduced the risk 9.3 percent.

It is interesting to note that for health benefits, walking was actually much better than running.  In fact, it is obvious that walking beat running in all categories for reduced risk and some by a significant margin.

“Fitness experts often suggest that running is better than walking for those who want to lose weight because running requires 40% more energy.  However, this observation is usually based on the time spent doing either activity, not the distance covered or total energy expended and does not consider our body’s hormonal response or the fuel used.

There is nothing wrong with running if you enjoy it.  All activity is good activity.  Just don’t think that you need to run or progress from walking to running to reap significant health benefits.

The New Sexy Diet : Lose Weight with Fun and Look Younger

The New Sexy Diet : Lose Weight with Fun and Look Younger

Wouldn't it be great if weight loss was fun? Most people consider dieting a chore. But according to registered dietitian and nutrition expert Elizabeth Somer, it doesn't have to be. Somer, the author of several books, including Food & Mood, has developed a new, sexy diet designed to help you look younger and feel more passionate.

In Eat Your Way to Sexy, Somer provides a step-by-step guide to becoming a happier, healthier, sexier version of yourself.

What inspired you to develop a diet to cultivate sexiness?

 My niche is reporting on current research. Back in the 1990s researchers started reporting a link between diet and mood; linking things like fatigue, memory and depression to the foods that we eat. At that time, I wrote Food & Mood. This book is a sassier version of that one. Eat Your Way to Sexy is a little more naughty and a lot more fun. It's about not only improving your mood, but also about adding gusto and increasing your confidence.

What makes this diet sexier than other diets?

 Sexy is all about circuitry and circulation. It's about having oxygen-rich blood and clean vessels and having a fine tuned brain that sends sexy messages throughout the body. That sexy circulation is entirely based on the foods that you eat. In Eat Your Way to Sexy you learn to eat the right foods to get your blood pumping. You feel more energetic, more passionate and sexier.

What foods are most important on this diet?

 Good eating is really about eating style more than any one specific food. I have two basic rules about healthy eating and lifestyle:

1. Aim for a diet where 75% of the time you eat foods that are authentic, and unprocessed. These are foods without a label; plain foods, like lean proteins, fruits and vegetables. Then 25% of the time you fill in with less healthy processed foods.

2. You've got to move. Exercise is essential to living a sexy life.

What are the first steps someone can take to become more sexy through diet and lifestyle?

 There are three habits that anyone can use to get started.

 Clean out your kitchen. Get rid of all the junk food. Throw away the Pop Tarts, the chips and all of the processed food. Then restock your refrigerator and pantry with foods from the Eat Your Way to Sexy grocery shopping list. This will help to 'fuel your sexy.'

In addition, bring healthy sexy foods with you so that you are not tempted to eat fast foods or processed foods from vending machines. Pack healthy snacks and take them with you on the road.

Double your intake of colorful fruits and vegetables. That means that you eat at least two servings at every meal and at least one at every snack. And be honest about what you are really eating. If you make this simple change, you'd be surprised at the results! I've had clients lose up to 30 pounds by making this one simple change.

Start taking an omega-3, DHA supplement. Most people don't eat the two servings of fish per week that are needed to get enough of this important fatty acid. So you want to be sure to take at least 220 milligrams of DHA. Some researchers have even suggested that up to 900 milligrams might be even better. And if you are a vegetarian, there is now a supplement called Ovega-3 DHA + EPA. It's perfect for people who cannot consume fish oil.

In the book, you provide a lot of helpful advice to help readers look younger. Is this a good diet for people who are in their 20s and 30s, who might not be worried about aging?

Aging actually starts in our teens, much earlier than most people think. So the sooner you start eating well, the better. But on the flip side, it's also never too late to start. Good eating and exercise habits can prevent, and in some cases reverse, the signs of aging, no matter when you start.

What about a woman with a family? Can this sexy diet be adapted so that the whole family can eat the same foods?

Of course! It's important that we, as parents, model good behavior for our kids. We can't expect kids to eat carrots if we are eating potato chips. Eat Your Way to Sexy is really about eating healthy foods. It can be tweaked and adjusted to meet the family's needs.

For example, if the kids like macaroni and cheese, but you are trying to increase your intake of whole grains, then use ½ of the pasta that the kids are used to and ½ whole-wheat pasta. That way, everyone benefits from eating better.

Can you Eat Your Way to Sexy on a budget?

You can save money on this diet! If you think about it and weigh all of the costs, fast food is more expensive than healthy food. Having said that, there are still other ways to save money when you shop for healthy foods.

Buy in bulk, rather than individually packaged foods

Lean on lentils

Stock up on healthy foods when they are on sale

Split bulk items with friends

Buy fresh fruits and vegetables in season

6 benefits of sleep in the nude for your health

6 benefits of sleep in the nude for your health

Pack away the flannel pajamas: A handful of studies and surveys show sleeping naked could actually be good for you. Six reasons why you should consider it:

You may like your partner more: A 2014 survey of Brits by Cotton USA (which promotes cotton products that likely include both pajamas and sheets) found that 57% of those who slept nude reported being happy in their relationship.

That was 9 %  more than PJ wearers, followed by 43 % of nightie wearers. Onesie wearers—they apparently exist—brought up the rear at 38 %, per the Daily Mail.

It could help prevent diabetes: It's a bit of a stretch, but here's the logic: Adults have small amounts of brown fat (aka "good fat") in their bodies, and a 2014 study looked at how bedroom temperature affected the fat.

The four-month study was small: just five males who slept in rooms heated to 66-, 75-, or 81-degrees. After four weeks spent at the coldest temp, the men had almost twice as much brown fat, and their insulin sensitivity was better, which a researcher says could lower their diabetes risk.

Four weeks at 81 degrees undid all the benefits. Though the New York Times points out the test subjects slept in hospital scrubs, going naked could help prevent overheating.

It's better for your lady health: Cosmopolitan cites advice from Dr.

Jennifer Landa, who points out that an overly warm environment could spur too much yeast or bacteria to grow in the vaginal area. By passing on PJs, you'll have a better chance of giving air access to the region, preventing infections.

It's how our ancestors did it: If you're a Paleo-dieter who eats like a caveman, why not sleep like one, too? Neurologist Rachel Salas with the Johns Hopkins Center for Sleep in 2013 told the Wall Street Journal that "back in the cave days," people slept naked. 

It was, in part, a means of protection from predators, and that feeling of safety could be imparted by sleeping similarly in modern day.

It could be better for the immune system: Mic reports that when skin-on-skin contact occurs, our adrenal glands get a message: lighten up on the production of the stress hormone cortisol.

As one doctor explains, "Cortisol suppresses the immune response." Skin-to-skin contact also increases levels of oxytocin, which can have positive effects on blood pressure and healing, says Salas.

Body temp affects sleep: A 2004 study found that for sleep to "initiate normally," core body temp matters. Per a researcher, "Studies of sleep onset insomniacs show that they consistently have a warmer core body temperature immediately before initiating sleep, when compared with normal healthy adults." 

Pack away the flannel pajamas:  A handful of studies and surveys show sleeping naked could actually be good for you. Six reasons why you should consider it:

You may like your partner more:  A 2014 survey of Brits by Cotton USA (which promotes cotton products that likely include both pajamas and sheets) found that 57 percent of those who slept nude reported being happy in their relationship.

Per a researcher, "Studies of sleep onset insomniacs show that they consistently have a warmer core body temperature immediately before initiating sleep, when compared with normal healthy adults."

Crucial Food items in a More aged Adult’s Diet plan

Crucial Food items in a More aged Adult’s Diet plan

More aged Grown ups have to take care of them selves completely. An incredible starting point for inside looking after one’s do it yourself will be watching what we consume because your diet program may have many effects for your well being. While older grown ups, spending better awareness of what we consume is necessary since you need to not consume for the wants, nevertheless far more for your requirements.

The easiest idea on the subject of an older adult’s diet is to contain far more vegatables and fruits. Fruits and vegetables contain many nutrients and vitamins of which the human body requirements. Select fresh fruits for example a the apple company, banana, or berry which can be all set with nutrients and vitamins necessary for of which level inside life. On the subject of vegetables, choose black leafy veggies for example kale, spinach, and also broccoli; and also vivid yellowish and also lemon vegetables for example peppers, peas, and also melons.

Various dairy, tofu, and also almonds are good causes of lime scale, that older grown ups requirement for the bones’ well being, helping prevent problems for example brittle bones.

Necessary protein via sources for example fish, ova, nut products, seed, and also pinto and black beans are suggested intended for older grown ups, rather than red-colored various meats. Necessary protein helps with the muscle groups, facilitate using their disposition, strain, nervousness, and also major depression.

Last but not least, older grown ups must have far more grains, that they can effortlessly will find in numerous merchandise for example bread, cereals, and also pasta. Grains contain dietary fiber which can be needed for a wholesome food digestion, that many older grown ups have a problem with.

The actual Role of Darkish Leafy Greens throughout Kids Diet

The actual Role of Darkish Leafy Greens throughout Kids Diet

It is just a struggle to help give little ones dim leafy vegetables. These sorts of greens are generally never well-known between little ones and they are typically disliked intended for either his or her appears to be or even his or her flavor; nonetheless, dim leafy vegetables are very important throughout one’s diet regime, in addition in relation to little ones. Listed below are why little ones should have these individuals within their diet regime.

Darkish leafy green veggies are important causes of numerous vitamin products such as a, G, Electronic, K, and lots of complex-B vitamin products which can be many necessary for one's body, particularly for little ones given that their bodies are generally constantly undergoing advancement. Together with those people vitamin products, they also incorporate antioxidants, carbohydrates, fibers, as well as health proteins.

Kids together with autism or even ADHD could also drastically gain from dim leafy vegetables since facilitates tackle these kinds of troubles through strengthening digestion as well as counteracting the results of toxic troubles which will give rise to those people health issues.

Examples of dim leafy green veggies are generally collards, broccoli, kale, mustard green veggies, turnip green veggies, spinach, as well as europe chard. A good way of which includes these kinds of throughout children’s diet regime can be by way of a pot of soup, smoothies, and even roasted these individuals, that makes intended for wonderful treats.

Advantages of Wheats along with Grains

Advantages of Wheats along with Grains

Wheats along with grains are usually meals that are generally well-advised regarding a healthy diet plan. Together with wheats along with grains to arrive various forms, it's not necessarily of which hard to own these in what you eat. But why would you hassle which includes these in what you eat? Here is things to be familiar with these food types.

Wheats

Wheats, particularly complete wheats, are usually substantially wholesome. Rice generally includes vitamins and minerals for instance vitamin products B1, B2, B3, along with E, calcium, birdwatcher, folic p, fiber, straightener, along with zinc.

The best thing concerning grain will be of which other than getting wholesome, it is also identified regarding aiding folks, particularly females, control their particular fat along with improve digestive practice and also metabolic rate.

Rice likewise puts a stop to a variety of diseases for instance type-2 diabetes, breasts melanoma, lower the possibilities of childhood asthma, along with cardiovascular system diseases.

Grains

Grains, for instance helping along with flaxseed, will also be incredibly therapeutic for the body. Grains include a variety of vitamins and minerals for instance carbs, fiber, straightener, magnesium, proteins, selenium, along with nutritional W.

Grains can efficiently reduce the risk of cerebrovascular event, type-2 diabetes, cardiovascular system diseases, along with guide control fat. Some other current research likewise claim that grains can help reduce the risk of asthma along with colorectal melanoma, along with advertise healthier blood vessels force quantities, gums along with enamel.

7 Foods Missing From a 'Healthy' Diet

7 Foods Missing From a 'Healthy' Diet

A balanced program isn't solely with what you're NOT ingesting. We consulted top registered dietitians to determine which important ingredients well-meaning dieters commonly forget in the hunt for healthy eating.

It’s an easy task to assume that cutting food items from your diet will automatically allow it to become healthy, or that adhering to a meal program that’s restrictive is the key to weight reduction. However, despite the most beneficial of nutritious objectives, if you're solely centered on what you must not eat, you could be passing up on key benefits in addition to nutrients -- in addition to the pleasure involving eating foods you actually like that are not necessarily as damaging for a diet since you may think.

The more you can think inclusion on the subject of your diet, the more likely you’ll continue your current healthy-eating habits long-term. Here are 7 astonishingly healthy foods you could be missing out in:

Eggs

Everyone slams eggs for cholesterol content -- yet it’s a misnomer that you can avoid them. “We now understand eggs are safe for people with high cholesterol, ” states NYC-based dietician Jackie Birmingham, RD. “It’s other factors from the diet that raise cholesterol levels. ” Birmingham can’t stress the vitamin B-12 content material in eggs adequate, and says they may be particularly important when you’re a vegetarian or eat a mostly veggie-based diet. “It’s one of the most biologically-available protein you have -- the ideal source, ” your lover explains.

If you’re nevertheless wary with eating way too many, London says to mix one egg along with two egg whites, so you get the nutrients from the yolk even though you’re cutting down on the fat content material. And if one does a three-egg omelet with out subbing eggs with regard to whites, skip the cheese. (Eggs aren't just by breakfast, either. This anytime formula for Saucy Eggs can be a game changer. )

Dairy

Lots of people assume that if they love the idea, it should always be off-limits -- and that's why dairy items including cheese and whole milk don’t usually produce the cut in lots of “healthy” diets. Nonetheless, they can become a great source involving calcium and potassium. “You’re only planning to get that nine grams of healthy proteins from animal whole milk, so you’re losing that if you switch to help soy, almond, or coconut, ” Birmingham says. “And the reason for putting potassium on the new food labels is really because Americans aren’t having enough. Dairy is an effective source of which. ” So, don’t ditch dairy for the wrong reasons. Keep cheese limited by a one-ounce serving, and stick to some cup of skim milk and keep calories in examine.

Pasta

“People usually do not gain weight coming from eating pasta, they gain weight from eating excessive pasta, ” states Keri Gans, MICROSOFT, RD, author with the Small Change Eating plan. “It’s the meal and what one does with it that’s so key. ” Gans says to create pasta your side attraction, not the leading dish. Keep your serving to some half cup or one cup utmost, and avoid “creamy” sauces that are high in calorie consumption. Instead toss with olive oil, veggies, and a slim protein source including shrimp to normalize your bowl in addition to keep you entire.

White Potatoes

While sweet potatoes usually are hailed as any superfood, white potatoes are deemed virtually ineffective. “I can’t even commence to tell you the number of people believe this specific, ” says Gans. “But they may be a good way to obtain fiber and potassium, and they’re not an excellent source of calories. ” It’s all in the manner you prepare potatoes which could make or break your diet. Instead of large spuds like People from france fries and potato skins which could weigh you lower, Gans suggests leading your potatoes along with salsa, Greek yogurt, mustard, or hummus to have an extra nutritious quit that’s modest from the calorie department.

Nuts

“It’s jammed in this minds that insane are fattening, ” Gans states, “but really it’s way too many nuts that tend to be fattening. ” Otherwise, they are loaded with healthy fats in addition to protein. “Portion them out -- a serving is roughly the size of a shot cup. Just never consume them straight from the bag or jar, ” Gans states. If you accomplish, you’re likely to shed track and binge.

Bread

Why have carbs get to be the enemy? “I couldn’t become a bigger supporter of any sandwich for lunch, ” says Gans. “Two slices of whole wheat grains bread with barbequed chicken and avocado, or turkey with lettuce, tomato in addition to mustard, or almond butter using a little jam. ” Gans says in the event you head to work with a healthy sub in tow, you’re on the way to losing excess weight -- just ensure that your bread is really a source involving whole grains ("whole wheat" should be the only flour you observe on the label), so it’s full of protein, fiber, and other important nutrients.

Indulgences

The surest approach to fall off the healthy eating wagon? Restricting all indulgences, states Gans. “A big issue my clients always think they have to cut out is actually alcohol, but it could be apart of any well-balanced diet. Bare in mind that the ‘more is actually better’ rule won't apply here, ” your lover says. However, Gans suggests keeping your intake modest, rotating along with water. A glass of red wine or a vodka soda pop with lime can be a far, far better option which a pina colada. In the event you cut it just about all out, you may think you can’t always be social -- and all of a sudden, healthy eating turns into a buzzkill of any chore instead of any better lifestyle selection.

“Even a cookie doesn’t need to be eliminated, ” your lover says. “Share 1 dessert among a few people, for illustration. Or if you like chocolate, a little goes a long way on the subject of staying on course and continuing you can eat healthy overall. ”

You're Still Not Eating Enough Vegetables

You're Still Not Eating Enough Vegetables

Americans are not getting close to eating enough fruits and vegetables daily, a new government report finds.

Guidelines are clear -- people should get a cup and a half to two cups of fruit every day and two to three cups of vegetables. But three-quarters of Americans do not manage to get that much fruit and 87 percent fail to eat enough vegetables.

"Everyone would be healthier eating more vegetables," said Marion Nestle, professor of nutrition, food studies, and public health at New York University, who wasn't involved in the survey.

Latetia Moore of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Frances Thompson of the National Cancer Institute went through data from a large national survey to calculate just how close Americans come to meeting national recommendations.

"These results indicate that fewer than 18 percent of adults in each state con­sumed the recommended amount of fruit and fewer than 14 percent consumed the recommended amount of vegetables," they write in the CDC's weekly report on disease and death.

People who eat just five servings of fruits and vegetables a day lower their risk of cancer, heart disease, stroke, diabetes and other conditions.

One study found that people who ate seven or more servings of fruits and vegetables were 42 percent less likely to die from any cause over the next eight years compared to those who ate less than one serving a day.

But Americans just don't eat their veggies.

On average, Americans eat only one serving of fruit a day — equivalent to a small glass of orange juice or an apple — Moore and Thompson found. Consumption ranges from just under one serving a day on average in Arkansas to 1.3 servings in California.

People do barely any better on vegetables, getting 1.4 servings a day in Louisiana, Mississippi and North Dakota on the low end and just under two servings a day in California and Oregon, the highest-scoring states.

"Overall, 13.1 percent of respondents met fruit intake recommendations, ranging from 7.5 percent in Tennessee to 17.7 percent in California, and 8.9 percent met vegetable recommenda­tions, ranging from 5.5 percent in Mississippi to 13 percent in California," they wrote.

"Substantial new efforts are needed to build consumer demand for fruits and vegetables through competitive pricing, place­ment, and promotion in child care, schools, grocery stores, communities, and worksites."

The best place to start is with kids, who are setting up their habits for a lifetime. Some school districts are trying to make vegetables more appealing to kids.

The researchers have other advice, also. "For example, work sites can make it easier for employees to make healthy food choices and create social norms that support healthy eating by creat­ing policies to ensure that fruits and vegetables are provided at work-site gatherings, including meetings, conferences, and other events," they suggest.

It's not easy to eat vegetables, Nestle notes. "People perceive vegetables as being difficult to manage," she said. "Start with expensive. There's a lot of waste. They have to be peeled. They have to be washed. They have to be cut. They aren't as filling as junkier foods. The barriers are real."

Politics doesn't help, Nestle adds. There aren't powerful lobby groups for fruit and vegetable growers like there are for beef, soy, corn and dairy.

"If the government were serious about getting people to eat more fruits and vegetables, it could do for vegetable growers what it does for corn and soybean farmers. You can subsidize," she said.

"The bottom line is that there are patients for whom the cancer recurs despite our best efforts and we wanted to see what diet and lifestyle could modify that risk," Fuchs said.

"A majority of patients do believe that these things matter. The problem is we haven't been able to give them answers that are based on scientific investigation."

Fuchs says it's too soon to prescribe coffee to cancer patients, or to encourage non-coffee drinkers to start. He wants other teams of scientists to try and match his findings first.

Average U.S. Diet May Kill Prostate Cancer Survivors

Average U.S. Diet May Kill Prostate Cancer Survivors

Prostate cancer survivors who eat a typical American diet loaded with red meat, cheese and white bread are far more likely to see their cancer come back and kill them, and they're more likely to die sooner of any disease than patients who eat a healthier diet, researchers reported Monday.

It's yet another piece of evidence showing that the so-called Western diet can worsen the risks for cancer, as well as all sorts of other diseases from heart disease to Alzheimer's.

Many studies have shown it doesn't take a whole lot of adjustment to greatly lower the risks. So-called Mediterranean-style diets, with plenty of fresh vegetables and fruit, olive oil instead of saturated fat, whole grains and more fish than meat, ward off these same diseases.

"Our results suggest that the same dietary recommendations that are made to the general population primarily for the prevention of cardiovascular disease may also decrease the risk of dying from prostate cancer among men initially diagnosed with nonmetastatic disease (cancer that has not spread)," said Dr. Jorge Chavarro of Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, who led the study.

Chavarro and colleagues studied 926 men who had prostate cancer that hadn't spread. They were all taking part in the Physician's Health Study, a giant, ongoing research project that follows thousands of male doctors over their lives.

The men answered questions about their diets about five years after getting a diagnosis and were watched for about 10 years.

"We found that men diagnosed with nonmetastatic prostate cancer whose diet was more 'Westernized,' i.e., contained processed meats, refined grains, potatoes, and high-fat dairy, were more likely to die of prostate cancer," Chavarro said.

Prostate cancer survivors who eat a typical American diet loaded with red meat, cheese and white bread are far more likely to see their cancer come back and kill them, and they're more likely to die sooner of any disease than patients who eat a healthier diet, researchers reported Monday.

It's yet another piece of evidence showing that the so-called Western diet can worsen the risks for cancer, as well as all sorts of other diseases from heart disease to Alzheimer's.

Many studies have shown it doesn't take a whole lot of adjustment to greatly lower the risks. So-called Mediterranean-style diets, with plenty of fresh vegetables and fruit, olive oil instead of saturated fat, whole grains and more fish than meat, ward off these same diseases.

"Our results suggest that the same dietary recommendations that are made to the general population primarily for the prevention of cardiovascular disease may also decrease the risk of dying from prostate cancer among men initially diagnosed with nonmetastatic disease (cancer that has not spread)," said Dr. Jorge Chavarro of Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, who led the study.

Chavarro and colleagues studied 926 men who had prostate cancer that hadn't spread. They were all taking part in the Physician's Health Study, a giant, ongoing research project that follows thousands of male doctors over their lives.

The men answered questions about their diets about five years after getting a diagnosis and were watched for about 10 years.

"We found that men diagnosed with nonmetastatic prostate cancer whose diet was more 'Westernized,' i.e., contained processed meats, refined grains, potatoes, and high-fat dairy, were more likely to die of prostate cancer," Chavarro said.

They were more than 2.5 times as likely to die of their prostate cancer than patients eating the healthiest diet and they were more than one and a half times as likely to have died of anything over the 10 years, Chavarro's team reports in the journal Cancer Prevention Research.

It's really not a shocking discovery, Chavarro says.

"Because cardiovascular disease is one of the top causes of death among prostate cancer survivors, our findings regarding all-cause mortality are what we anticipated and closely align with the current knowledge of the role of diet on cardiovascular disease," he said in a statement.

"Our findings with Western diet and prostate cancer-specific mortality, however, were surprising, in part because there are very little data regarding how diet after diagnosis may impact disease prognosis."

The findings could be important for many men. Prostate cancer is very common, showing up in 240,000 U.S. men every year. It kills about 30,000 a year.

These are not the kinds of studies that drug companies will pay for, so the research is funded by the federal government's National Cancer Institute.

Coffee Aids Colon Cancer Recovery, Study Finds

Coffee Aids Colon Cancer Recovery, Study Finds

Colon cancer patients who enjoy a few cups of coffee a day appear to survive their cancer better and they're less likely to die early than non-coffee drinkers, researchers reported Monday.

It's the latest in a series of studies showing the benefits of coffee, which can lower the risk of diabetes, Parkinson's and cancer. This is the first one to show it may help patients recover better, and should come as welcome news to colon cancer patients who worry if they can safely enjoy coffee.

"What we found in this slightly less than 1,000 patients is that those who drank coffee regularly had a better disease-free survival, meaning they had a lower rate of having their cancer recur or of dying," said Dr. Charles Fuchs, director of the Gastrointestinal Cancer Center at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston.

The colon cancer patients have been filling out daily diaries with details of what they eat and how much they exercise. They've all been diagnosed with Stage III colon cancer, which has spread to nearby lymph nodes but which hasn't spread to the rest of the body yet.

All the patients had surgery and chemotherapy. Those who drank four or more cups of coffee a day were 42 percent less likely to have their cancer come back than non-coffee drinkers. They were 33 percent less likely to die of their cancer or of anything else during the study, the team reports in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

Two or three cups of coffee a day had a somewhat slighter benefit.

By the way, other caffeinated drinks such as soda didn't have the same effect. "People who consumed two or more sugar sweetened beverages a day have a poorer outcome," Fuchs said. Tea and decaffeinated coffee did not have the same benefit, although not very many people drank tea or decaf exclusively so it's hard to say.

And the researchers did not ask how people took their coffee - black, with sugar, or as a latte. That's a question to ask in follow-up, Fuchs said.

Fuchs said there were two reasons for the study: Colon cancer and diabetes seem to have similar risk factors, and the demand among patients for something they can do to help recover from their cancer.

"We have actually in this cohort found that obese patients do worse, sedentary patients do worse, patients who exercise did better and patients who avoided a Western-pattern diet or a high-glycemic-load diet did better," Fuchs said.

"The risk factors for adult onset type-2 diabetes seemed to influence the outcome of colon cancer patients," Fuchs added. "The preponderance of evidence is that people who drink coffee have a lower risk of diabetes."

Now the question is what is it about coffee that's helping? Fuchs said it could be antioxidants or other compounds in coffee, it could be effects on metabolism, on the microbes living in the gut, or something else.

Eating fish 2-3 times a week is recommended: What about every day?

Eating fish 2-3 times a week is recommended: What about every day?

With government guidelines urging everyone to eat fish twice a week for heart and brain benefits, you might wonder: If two days of fish is good, is eating fish every day even better?

That's a question experts haven't yet completely answered. And it's a little complicated because it's not just a health issue, it's also an environmental one. Simply put, there are probably not enough fish in the sea for everyone to eat seafood all the time.

But, experts say, eating seafood more than twice a week, for most people, can be healthful.

"For most individuals it's fine to eat fish every day," says Eric Rimm, a professor of epidemiology and nutrition and director of in cardiovascular epidemiology at the Harvard School of Public Health. "And it's certainly better to eat fish every day than to eat beef every day."

However, Rimm says, there are some groups — pregnant women, for example — who shouldn't eat certain kinds of fish every day. Larger fish with longer life spans like swordfish and tuna tend to bioaccumulate toxins, such as mercury, he explains.

"And that's not great for a developing fetus," Rimm says. For the same reason, daily consumption of these types of fish is also not good for children, he adds.

Mercury is much less of a problem in smaller fish with shorter life spans, says Theresa Sinicrope Talley, a researcher with the California Sea Grant at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego.

Mercury won't cause lasting damage in adults, although it can cause temporary neurological effects.

"There are anecdotal reports from places where people eat fish every day of patients complaining of neurological problems, like dizziness or problems concentrating," Rimm says. "Those would be people eating maybe sushi or tuna twice a day. You tell them to stop, and sure enough, the mercury levels go down." When that happens, Rimm says, the symptoms pass.

As for the question of whether eating fish every day is even more healthy than twice a week, the science is still out on that, Rimm says.

Is it safe to eat tuna every day?

"Most of the science isn't looking at daily consumption," he explains. "But many, many studies have shown that those who have it a couple of times a week have a lower rate of fatal heart attacks compared to those who don't eat any."

Scientists attribute most of the heart-healthy benefits of fish to omega-3 fatty acids. These nutrients have also been shown to improve cognition in adults and aid in the brain development of babies.

As for the environmental issues, they're a little thornier. Some experts have suggested that we could empty the seas of fish by 2050 if we increase the amount we eat.

"Even to get people eating fish two times a week we need to ramp up fish farming," Rimm says.

Are farmed fish as nutritious as wild caught ones? "It completely depends on the fish," Rimm says. "In some cases farm raised are healthier because they are fed more omega-3 through their feed than would a wild caught fish."

Indeed, fish farms are on the rise all around the world, says Daniel D. Benetti, professor and director of aquaculture in the department of ecosystems & society at the University of Miami. "In 2015 we passed a major milestone," says Benetti. "We are producing more seafood than beef: 66 million metric tons of seafood versus 63 million metric tons of beef."

Fish farms are also becoming more environmentally friendly. Until now, one of the biggest knocks against farmed fish concerned what farmers fed the fish - namely, other fish.

But that's changing and it's economics that drives the change, Benetti says.

Researchers have been trying to devise pelleted feeds that contain more soy than fish. As it turns out, that's a whole lot cheaper than feeding 100 percent fish meal and oil, Benetti says. The trick is to make the pellets taste good. "We fool the fish into thinking they are eating all fish meal and oil," he says.

Still, fish farms aren't the whole solution, says Talley.

Consumers should also consider broadening their gustatory horizons to include smaller fish, shellfish, mollusks, and even seaweed, she says, giving them the additional benefit of a more diverse diet which is also healthier.

EIGHT HEALTHY EATING GOALS

EIGHT HEALTHY EATING GOALS

Small changes can make a big difference to your health. Try incorporating at least six of the eight goals below into your diet. Commit to incorporating one new healthy eating goal each week over the next six weeks. You can track your progress through PALA+.

Make half your plate fruits and vegetables: Choose red, orange, and dark-green vegetables like tomatoes, sweet potatoes, and broccoli, along with other vegetables for your meals. Add fruit to meals as part of main or side dishes or as dessert. The more colorful you make your plate, the more likely you are to get the vitamins, minerals, and fiber your body needs to be healthy.

Make half the grains you eat whole grains: An easy way to eat more whole grains is to switch from a refined-grain food to a whole-grain food. For example, eat whole-wheat bread instead of white bread. Read the ingredients list and choose products that list a whole-grain ingredients first. Look for things like: "whole wheat," "brown rice," "bulgur," "buckwheat," "oatmeal," "rolled oats," quinoa," or "wild rice."

Switch to fat-free or low-fat (1%) milk: Both have the same amount of calcium and other essential nutrients as whole milk, but fewer calories and less saturated fat.

Choose a variety of lean protein foods: Meat, poultry, seafood, dry beans or peas, eggs, nuts, and seeds are considered part of the protein foods group. Select leaner cuts of ground beef (where the label says 90% lean or higher), turkey breast, or chicken breast.

Compare sodium in foods: Use the Nutrition Facts label to choose lower sodium versions of foods like soup, bread, and frozen meals. Select canned foods labeled "low sodium," "reduced sodium," or "no salt added."

Drink water instead of sugary drinks: Cut calories by drinking water or unsweetened beverages. Soda, energy drinks, and sports drinks are a major source of added sugar and calories in American diets. Try adding a slice of lemon, lime, or watermelon or a splash of 100% juice to your glass of water if you want some flavor.

Eat some seafood: Seafood includes fish (such as salmon, tuna, and trout) and shellfish (such as crab, mussels, and oysters). Seafood has protein, minerals, and omega-3 fatty acids (heart-healthy fat). Adults should try to eat at least eight ounces a week of a variety of seafood. Children can eat smaller amounts of seafood, too.

Cut back on solid fats: Eat fewer foods that contain solid fats. The major sources for Americans are cakes, cookies, and other desserts (often made with butter, margarine, or shortening); pizza; processed and fatty meats (e.g., sausages, hot dogs, bacon, ribs); and ice cream.

Eating for Health, Not Weight

Eating for Health, Not Weight

ALMOST half of Americans are on a diet  not surprising, since two-thirds are overweight or obese, a frightening statistic that inspired Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg to push through a ban on large soft drinks in New York City. The country is preoccupied with calories. McDonald’s, for instance, is now posting them. But our widespread hope for weight loss makes us vulnerable to all kinds of promises, even ones that aren’t true, when it comes to food.

Perhaps the biggest misconception is that as long as you lose weight, it doesn’t matter what you eat. But it does. Yet being thin and being healthy are not at all the same thing. Being overweight is not necessarily linked with disease or premature death. What you eat affects which diseases you may develop, regardless of whether you’re thin or fat. Some diets that may help you lose weight may be harmful to your health over time.

A widely publicized study earlier this year showed that a low-carb Atkins-type diet might be a faster way to lose weight. That may have given many people the idea that eating meat and butter is the route to thinness and thus health.

In 35 years of medical research, conducted at the nonprofit Preventive Medicine Research Institute, which I founded, we have seen that patients who ate mostly plant-based meals, with dishes like black bean vegetarian chili and whole wheat penne pasta with roasted vegetables, achieved reversal of even severe coronary artery disease. They also engaged in moderate exercise and stress-management techniques, and participated in a support group. The program also led to improved blood flow and significantly less inflammation which matters because chronic inflammation is an underlying cause of heart disease and many forms of cancer. We found that this program may also slow, stop or reverse the progression of early stage prostate cancer, as well as reverse the progression of Type 2 diabetes.

Also, we found that it changed gene expression in over 500 genes in just three months, “turning on” genes that protect against disease and “turning off” genes that promote breast cancer, prostate cancer, inflammation and oxidative stress.

The program, too, has been associated with increased telomerase, which increases telomere length, the ends of our chromosomes that are thought to control how long we live (studies done in collaboration with Dr. Elizabeth Blackburn, who shared the Nobel Prize in 2009 with Carol Greider and Jack Szostak for discovering telomerase). As our telomeres get longer, our lives may get longer.

In a randomized controlled trial, patients on this lifestyle program lost an average of 24 pounds after one year and maintained a 12-pound weight loss after five years. The more closely the patients followed this program, the more improvement we measured in each category — at any age.

It’s not low carb or low fat. An optimal diet is low in unhealthful carbs (both sugar and other refined carbohydrates) and low in fat (especially saturated fats and trans fats) as well as in red meat and processed foods.

WHAT you eat is as important as what you exclude — your diet needs to be high in healthful carbs like fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, soy products in natural, unrefined forms and some fish, like salmon. There are hundreds of thousands of health-enhancing substances in these foods. And what’s good for you is good for the planet.

Calories do count — fat is much denser in calories, so when you eat less fat, you consume fewer calories, without consuming less food. Also, it’s easy to eat too many calories from sugar and other refined carbs because they are so low in fiber that you can consume large amounts without getting full. Sugar is absorbed so quickly that you get repeated insulin surges, which promote Type 2 diabetes and accelerate the conversion of calories into body fat.

But never underestimate the power of telling people what they want to hear — like cheeseburgers and bacon are good for you. People are drawn to Atkins-type diets in part because, as the study showed, they produce a higher metabolic rate. But a low-carb diet increases metabolic rate because it’s stressful to your body. Just because something increases your metabolic rate doesn’t mean it’s good for you. Amphetamines will also increase your metabolism and burn calories faster, which is why they are used to help people lose weight, at least temporarily. But they stress your body and may mortgage your health in the progress.

Patients on an Atkins diet in this study showed more than double the level of CRP (C-reactive protein), which is a measure of chronic inflammation and also significantly higher levels of cortisol, a key stress hormone. Both of these increase the risk of heart disease and other chronic diseases. A major research article published recently in the British Medical Journal studied 43,396 Swedish women over 16 years. It concluded that “low carbohydrate-high protein diets ... are associated with increased risk of cardiovascular diseases.” An important article in The New England Journal of Medicine examined data from a study showing that high-protein, low-carb diets promote coronary artery disease even if they don’t increase traditional cardiac risk factors like blood pressure or cholesterol levels. A diet low in fat and high in unrefined carbohydrates caused the least amount of coronary artery blockages, whereas an Atkins-type diet caused the most.

Outcomes from more than 37,000 men from the Harvard-sponsored Health Professionals Follow-Up Study and more than 83,000 women from the Nurses’ Health Study who were followed for many years showed that consumption of both processed and unprocessed red meat, a mainstay of an Atkins diet, is associated with an increased risk of premature death as well as greater incidence of cardiovascular disease, cancer and Type 2 diabetes.

About 75 percent of the $2.8 trillion in annual health care costs in the United States is from chronic diseases that can often be reversed or prevented altogether by a healthy lifestyle. If we put money and effort into helping people make better food and exercise choices, we could improve our health and reduce the cost of health care. For example, Medicare is now covering this program for reversing heart disease. In an increasingly polarized political landscape, this approach provides an alternative to some Republicans who want to privatize or dismantle Medicare and some Democrats who want to simply raise taxes or increase the deficit without addressing the diet and lifestyle choices that account for so much health spending.

This way of living helps you lose weight and keep it off while enhancing rather than harming your health.

Why You Should Have More Sex for Heart Health

Why You Should Have More Sex for Heart Health

Sex and heart health go hand in hand, but what comes first? Find out about the benefits of sex for heart health and how a healthy heart can make for better sex.

Sex is generally safe for heart patients as long as they get the OK from their doctors, according to a statement from the American Heart Association (AHA) released in January 2012, which reported that less than 1 percent of acute heart attacks are linked to sexual activity. In fact, research has actually shown that sex can be good for your ticker. One study from 2010, published in the American Journal of Cardiology, found that men who had sex at least twice a week were less likely to develop heart disease compared with men who had sex only once a month.

So get out there and get busy. But first read up on the health benefits of a little frisky business.

"When it comes to sex and your heart, the benefits go both ways," says E. Dean Nukta, MD, medical director of interventional cardiology at Fairview Hospital, a Cleveland Clinic Hospital. "If you have a healthy heart, you are more likely to have frequent sex, and a healthy sex life may also decrease your heart attack risk factors."

Sex and Your Heart: Benefits of Sex

The most obvious way sex benefits your heart is the fact that it’s a bit of a workout. "Sex is good aerobic exercise, and aerobic exercise is good for heart health," says Dr. Nukta. The American College of Sports Medicine defines aerobic activity as one that uses the big muscles of the body in rhythmic, continuous fashion, so doing the deed definitely counts

Benefits of aerobic exercise range from weight loss to reduced risk of heart attack and diabetes. They include:

Lower blood pressure. Aerobic exercise is generally good for lowering blood pressure, and sex itself may deepen the effect in women. "Orgasm in women stimulates the release of the hormone oxytocin, which has a direct effect on lowering blood pressure," says Nukta.

Stress reduction. There are many reasons why people have sex, including relaxation. Chilling out is good for your heart because stress hormones constrict your blood vessels and speed up your heart rate, increasing your risk for heart attack.

Emotional health. Regular sex as part of a supportive emotional relationship is especially good for your heart. Studies show that emotional issues like stress, anger, anxiety, and loneliness contribute to heart attack risk much like smoking and high cholesterol do.

Sex and Heart Health for Men and Women

Even better news, the lifestyle choices you make to reduce your heart attack risk are also good for your sex life. Heart-healthy habits can help prevent erectile dysfunction in men and sexual dysfunction in women. Here are the basics:

Stop smoking.

Exercise regularly.

Avoid alcohol and drugs.

Reduce your stress.

Sleep well.

The health benefits of sex may be particularly important for seniors. As men and women age, sex becomes less about performance and more about intimacy. There’s no reason seniors should stop enjoying the many benefits of an active sex life, including increased circulation, reduced anxiety, and a greater sense of well-being.

Nukta warns not to look for action in the wrong places, however. “The benefits of sex come from stable relationships. Having unsafe sex far outweighs any benefits you get from doing it frequently."

16 Health Benefits Of Daily Sex

16 Health Benefits Of Daily Sex

Stressed, burdened with life's difficult problems and fear that your health is declining? Then sex is the answer to happiness, longevity and a healthy body. You don't agree? Well, here is a list of the health benefits of sex, so do it daily to experience complete pleasure. These are 16 reasons to have sex today!

1. De-stress Sex helps you reduce stress.

 When deep breathing exercises fail to de-stress you, sex will do the needful. During sex your body produces dopamine, a substance that fights stress hormones, endorphins, aka "happiness hormones" and oxytocin, a desire-enhancing hormone secreted by the pituitary gland. In a study, published in the Public Library of Science journal, three neuroscience researchers conducted a test on male rats and found that the sexually active rats were less anxious than rats with no sexual activity.

2. Great Form of Exercise

Making love is a form of physical activity. During intercourse, the physiological changes in your body are consistent with a workout. You must have noticed that the respiratory rate rises, which means you get tired. Hence, you burn calories. If you have sex three times a week for 15 minutes (but we know you can do better than that) you'll burn about 7.500 calories in a year. That's the equivalent of jogging 75 miles! Heavy breathing raises the amount of oxygen in your cells, and the testosterone produced during sex keeps your bones and muscles strong.

3. Lowers high blood pressure

 Hugs and sex can improve your blood pressure. Sex reduces diastolic blood pressure, that is, the bottom number while reading blood pressure. Researchers with the University of Paisley conducted an experiment on the same. They concluded that sex improves blood pressure.

4. Builds your immunity

Trying to fight the sniffles? Sex is the answer to fight cold and other health problems; sex can boost your immunity. Immunoglobulin A, an antigen that fights the flu increases when the frequency of sex increases.

5. Makes You Look Younger

Making love three times a week can make you look 10 years younger, claims a Scottish researcher. "It's good for you to have good sex," says David Weeks, a clinical neuropsychologist at the Royal Edinburgh Hospital, whose study on the effects of sex on aging appears in his book, Secrets of the Superyoung.

6. Healthy heart

 Sex helps you burn calories but it can also improve your heart. Sex will take care of stroke and heart attacks, you just have to enjoy the moment. Scientists with New England Research Institute examined the effect of sex on the heart. The study concluded that men are 45 percent less likely to experience cardiovascular diseases. But the study fails to study the effect of sex on a woman's heart.

7. Pain relief

Pleasure is the measure to beat out the pain. Do you experience migraines and body pain? Well sex is the answer. But if you experience back pain, it is best to consult a doctor. Dr. George E. Erlich, an arthritis specialist from Philadelphia conducted a study on the link between arthritis and sex. He narrows down that patients who engaged in sex experienced less pain.

8. Builds trust and intimacy

 The act of sex spikes the hormone oxytocin; this hormone is responsible for your happiness and love. If your feel your relationship is falling out, there is trust or you're worried that your partner will stray away, then sex will dispel these doubts. The hormone oxytocin builds trust and brings couples closer, and cupid too.

9. Less chances of cancer

Regular ejaculation reduces your chances of developing prostate cancer. In an Australian study men who ejaculated 21 times a month were least likely to develop cancer. It is further supported by other researches that sexual intercourse reduces the risk of prostrate cancer.

10. Stronger pelvic muscles

Sex involves the use of several muscles; hence regular sexual intercourse can help you develop stronger pelvic muscles. Further, since the act of sex involves a range of muscles, it also helps strengthen these muscles - for ex: quads, your core, and the upper back. Through regular sex, you can also maintain a strong bladder and bowel function. Strong muscles, calorie burner, improves heart health - sex seems to take care of you.

11. Prostate Protection

Most of the fluid you ejaculate is secreted by the prostate gland. If you stop ejaculating, the fluid stays in the gland, which tends to swell, causing lots of problems. Regular ejaculation will wash those fluids out and ensure the well being of your prostate until old age. Problems may also occur when you suddenly change the frequency of ejaculations.

12. Induces sleep

After that great, lovely workout you are bound to get good sleep. But guess what? Sex works the same way as exercise. The increased heart rate leads to increased post-coital relaxation. Sex could be the next thing for insomniacs! So what really happens: - Sex can relax you, hence if you are already tired, the act of sex will induce sleep. - When men ejaculate they become lethargic, this can make them sleepy.

13. Regular periods

Apparently sex can improve your menstrual cycle. Sex regulates hormones, which in turn regulate the menstrual cycle. Sex reduces stress, which is one of the reasons women miss their periods. Sex seems like a better option than pills.

14. Prevents Erectile

Dysfunctions Fifty per cent of men older than 40 suffer from erectile dysfunctions and all young men fear the moment when they won't be able to get it up any more. The best medicine against impotence is...sex. An erection keeps the blood flowing through your penile arteries, so the tissue stays healthy. Plus, doctors compare an erection to an athletic reflex: the more you train the more capable you are to perform.

15. Live longer

A healthy heart, stronger muscles, increased circulation of oxygen and happiness are some of the factors that add life to the years and as a result - years to your life. A study published in the British Medical Journal reveals that men who engaged in sex often live twice as those who rarely had any action.

16. Healthier semen

 If you're trying to conceive, you increase the volume of semen if you have sex regularly. Regular sex replaces old sperms from the testicles. If there is a natural build of sperms it can lead to DNA damage.

5 Ways To Deal With Loose Skin After Weight Loss

5 Ways To Deal With Loose Skin After Weight Loss

 One of the most frustrating aspects of losing weight for many men and women is that after months of watching your diet and exercising regularly you lose the weight but are left with pockets of loose skin. Depending on how your body fat is distributed, this can happen whether you lose 20 pounds or 100 pounds and in some cases the amount of loose skin remaining after extreme weight loss requires surgical intervention to be completely removed. That said, in over twenty years of working with people who have lost considerable amounts of weight (from 50 to over 100 pounds)- none of them ever opted to go under the knife as they were able to deal with the excess skin over time using non-surgical interventions. In this article we will take a look at five tried and true tips to help prevent and deal with the problem of loose skin after losing weight. They are however neither magical nor fast acting, but for some it can bring about an improvement if not a near complete removal of excess skin, depending on your age, body fat distribution and how you lost the weight in the first place.  A search on the internet for articles on dealing with loose skin after losing weight will give you tons of articles that are little more than advertisements for surgical skin interventions or creams and potions proposing to solve the problem, but there is little out there cataloging the experiences of those who have lost significant amounts of weight and who dealt with the issue of loose skin without any external interventions. I hope this article helps as many people as possible realize that there are options besides surgery and do feel free to share it!

Getting Rid Of Loose Skin- Understanding How Skin Works

The first thing we need to do before jumping into how to avoid or get rid of loose skin after losing weight is to understand how our skin works. Skin elasticity defined as your skin’s ability to stretch and then revert to its previous position and shape once the stretch is complete. Along with wrinkles and gray hair, reduced skin elasticity is a fact of aging for most people. This natural loss of elasticity is called elastosis and can be especially easy to see in parts of the body that have excessively exposed to the sun. In fact, elastosis is most prevalent among those who spend most of their time outdoors and can be identified by a telltale leathery, weather-beaten appearance. Smoking can also increase the likelihood of elastosis as well. When you lose weight skin elasticity is a key factor in how long it will take for your skin to tighten up afterwards. Bodybuilders and physique competitors who diet down for competitions need drum tight skin over their muscles to be able to display maximum muscular definition and present an aesthetically pleasing appearance and are experts in the field of dealing with loose skin. In a way, being a bodybuilder or any kind of physique competitor comes down to ensuring that your skin is as tight as possible after reducing your body fat and there are tried and true ways to do it even if you have problems with excess skin. That said, here are some recommendations that can help you avoid the problem using some tricks that have used in the natural bodybuilding trenches for decades.

Step 1: Check If It’s Really Skin

Most people who I have seen who I have worked with who complained of having excess skin still had some excess body fat to lose in order to get the look they were trying to achieve. The first thing you need to do is to check to see if it’s really skin and not fat. If you pinch the area and it feels almost paper like when you squeeze it, then it’s skin, but if there is a bit of a resistance when you pinch it, that means there is usually some fat that still needs to be lost. Keep in mind that fat loss for health reasons and fat loss from a cosmetic point of view are two diametrically different goals. A loss of only 10% of your body weight among those who are categorized as obese or overweight confers tremendous benefits in terms of reduction in chances of developing diabetes, hypertension and cardiovascular disease. That being said, the only way those fat stores between the skin can be lost is by dropping your body fat levels even lower. Most people don’t realize how low our body fat levels may have to be reduced in order to have a really tight appearance and what’s even more daunting is the fact that in order for this to work you have to not only lose the excess body fat but also be able to sustain a low body fat level for a significant period of time in order for your skin to adapt. How long depends on your age, lifestyle and skin elasticity. My experience with individuals ranging from their twenties to their fifties is that it can take weeks for some, months for others and years for most but only when there is a dedication to consistently good nutrition and a weight training program focused on increasing muscle mass.

Step 2: Build Muscle

We hear the term ‘muscle’ today and immediately the image of an outrageously musclebound man or woman comes to mind. Unfortunately, this stereotype prevents most people (women especially) from achieving their goals as the look that the general public associates with weight lifting is that of the bodybuilders you see in the magazines or online who use anabolic steroids. Without drugs and a balanced training system building muscle mass won’t make you look like you are wearing a gorilla suit, a fact that anyone attending a reputable drug tested bodybuilding contest can attest to. Building muscle is in fact as close to a miracle aid as you can get if you are losing weight as without a weight training program most people will end up with significant amounts of excess skin if they lose a sizeable amount of weight.   Let’s say you don’t have much in the way of muscle mass to begin with and you are striving to lose weight. You drop your calories and or partake in aerobic based training routines and you lose 10-20lbs over the course of several months. The aerobics you did would not have increased your skeletal muscle mass (and may have decreased it- see my article Rethinking The Need For Cardio) and so if your skin was taut to begin with, the loss of fat tissue under it would indeed leave some degree of loose skin. You aren’t going to be mistaken for a Greek gods or goddesses as you will only be a smaller version of yourself. A version wearing a set of skin that is a size or two bigger than when you started off, leaving a loose look that most aren’t very pleased with.

 Now as long as you spend the rest of your life with a reduced calorie intake (which studies show is rather unrealistic long term for most) and doing aerobic exercises you might be able to keep your weight down and you may have some tightening of your skin over time, but it will take a very long time if it ever happens at all. This is the experience most people tend to have when losing weight.   On the other hand, if you started a program of weight training to build muscle while also watching your diet to see to it that you lose weight the outcomes will be very different. For one you won’t lose weight as quickly as the person doing aerobics and keeping their calories low, as you are not only losing fat but also building muscle at the same time. A pound of muscle tissue is far denser than a pound of adipose tissue and so small increases in your muscle mass can reduce how quickly the numbers on the scale go down even though the increased muscle mass means you’ll burn more calories at rest and thus are more likely to burn off more body fat if your diet is controlled. To the rapid-weight-loss-fixated it may sound counterproductive but it’s a superior method in every way possible. Not only will the increased muscle mass serve to tighten up your arms, legs and abdominal regions so that when you lose the fat you will have some toned muscle showing through instead of just being a smaller version of yourself, but the area under your skin that was once tightened by fat stores will over time be replaced with muscle tissue. Not as much muscle tissue as the fat that might have been there previously but enough to reduce the amount of time required for your skin to adapt to the reduction in size.

Step 3: Take Your Time

An artist beginning a sculpture looks at the stone, wood or whatever medium he or she is going to use and does their best to plan out how they will realize their final vision. Most people seeking to lose weight tend to be a bit more myopic, focusing only on losing weight as quickly as possible without much care for the consequences of rapid weight loss. The nearly communal obsession with rapid weight loss is often the very reason people end up with hanging skin. If we keep in mind the idea that our skin’s elasticity is finite, it becomes somewhat clear that the faster you lose weight the less time your skin would have to adapt to the reduction in adipose tissue under it that was keeping it taut in the first place. I have seen people lose as little as 15 pounds within the span of a couple of weeks from combinations of starvation diets and extreme amounts of aerobic type exercise and have hanging skin as a result, while I have worked with others who have lost over 50 pounds over the course of a year (with a program of sensible diet and high intensity weight training and zero steady state aerobics) who had consistently less loose skin than those around their same age who loss far less weight in a shorter period of time. It isn’t a message many are willing to embrace but when it comes to weight loss the slow and steady do win the race.   The older you are the more important it becomes for you to take your time in losing weight. I have worked with competitors in their 20’s who have lost over 40 pounds within a three month period who had no problems with hanging skin and others in their thirties, forties and fifties who lost less weight to get into contest shape but took a while for their skin to adjust to the drop in body fat. Studies show that post-menopausal women especially tend to have a harder time dealing with loose skin than those who lose weight in their earlier years, perhaps due to the effects of estrogen on skin elasticity[1] and so it becomes critical that you take your time and understand that slower weight loss means faster tight skin afterwards.   With the growing popularity of bariatric surgery patients routinely lose 50 to as much as 100 pounds within a very short period of time, a massive degree of weight loss that inevitably leads to hanging skin as there is no way our body could possibly adapt to such fast weight loss regardless of our age or skin elasticity. Unfortunately in these cases plastic surgery is the only recourse to deal with the remaining skin and it’s one reason why I always recommend individuals to stick with the slow and natural approach. It might take years instead of months but you are far less likely to have the problem with hanging skin if you lose weight the right way.

  

Step 4:  Stay Hydrated At All Times

 Hydration is a bit of a funny thing- if your body doesn’t have enough water it does it’s best to hold on to as much water as possible and you get a bit bloated. On the other hand, if you always have a constant intake of water that meets your body’s needs your body does not retain water. Now you might wonder what hydration has to do with loose skin after losing weight and it’s actually very much connected. Most people don’t drink enough water to begin with and thus will be slightly dehydrated- holding excess fluid under their skin. That fluid pushes against your skin, and can reduce the degree to which your skin shrinks when you lose weight. Think about it- if you are dehydrated you can hold anywhere from 2 to as much as 7-10 pounds of excess fluid whereas if you are fully hydrated you won’t have that excess fluid buildup and your skin will have a much easier time adapting to your reduction in body fat. The key idea is that if you want your skin to adapt to a reduction in body weight you want to try to stay consistency at that body weight. The ups and downs brought on by water retention does nothing to help and proper hydration is also a critical factor in optimizing skin elasticity. So don’t forget that water is indeed an important component to your dietary program and avoid high sodium foods that can also make you retain water.

  

Step 5: Be Patient And Accept Yourself

Acceptance is a hard thing for most of us. We want the body of our dreams and after working hard to lose weight it can be difficult to look in the mirror and see hanging skin. The problem is that very often this very perception can be for all intents and purposes a bit skewered. Humans are by nature designed to be very selective in focus. If you walk down a busy street talking to your friend you can easily follow your friend’s conversation even if it’s a bit noisy, and if you are really involved in the discussion you may not realize that it’s a noisy street at all. This perceptual focusing is part of how our hardware operates but it doesn’t change reality. No matter how great (or horrible) the conversation, the fact that we stop being aware of the car horns, people talking and general hustle and bustle around us doesn’t mean that they cease to exist- it just shows where our focus is. Similarly if you work hard for months on end watching what you eat and how you train and keep your focus only on the hanging skin that you see, that skin becomes your reality. Your friends and family may be telling you how fantastic you look, you may be wearing clothes that you haven’t worn in years and you may have energy and a general feeling of health that you never had before but if your focus is solely on what could be better, then you can’t enjoy your accomplishments- and that is a tragedy that plays over and over for most people losing weight today.

 The health benefits of losing weight and the cosmetic ones as well aren’t marred by some lose skin, and you aren’t any less beautiful or accomplished because of it. Our society holds up images of individuals with (Photoshop) perfect skin, and seemingly perfect bodies and we often can’t help but compare ourselves to the models who have nothing in common with us in terms of our individual fitness stories. A 19 year old with a six pack isn’t much of an accomplishment whereas a 50 year old who was overweight and now is down to his or her optimal weight most certainly is. Comparison is often the mortal enemy of inner peace and inner peace is the foundation of the very patience you need to continue training and eating well even though you have some loose skin. I know some professional natural bodybuilding champions who were very much overweight and who spoke with me early on in their careers about their fears that the hanging skin from their ‘past lives’ would make it impossible for them to ever really be competitive without surgical intervention. In each case, it did indeed take years, but to look at them today you would never think that they had a problem with loose skin. The same applies to some of my clients who lost 50 to 100 pounds and have little in the way of hanging skin today. In the end it comes down to the simple reality that if there isn’t some degree of self-acceptance and a sense of accomplishment for what you have done you are far less likely to keep up with your routine and see the long term benefits. True there are those who are driven by self-hatred to train and diet but at the end of the day I never saw anyone with such motivations ever really enjoying the fruits of their labor. Balance is and always will be the key.