MardianInMotion.com

frontsquats.com

If you’ve never heard of “Complexes” for fat loss before, you’re in for a treat…a very tough, very challenging (and I think very fun) treat!

——————

Nick Nilsson has a degree in Physical Education and Psychology and has been innovating new training techniques for more than 20 years. Nick is the author of a number of bodybuilding books including “Gluteus to the Maximus – Build a Bigger Butt NOW!”, “Muscle Explosion! 28 Days To Maximum Mass”, “Metabolic Surge – Rapid Fat Loss,” “The Best Exercises You’ve Never Heard Of,” and “The Best Abdominal Exercises You’ve Never Heard Of”, all designed to maximize the results you get for the hard work you put into your training.

Be sure to grab your FREE copy of Nick’s 30-day “Dirty Little Secret Program for Building Muscle and Burning Fat FAST,” available at http://www.fitness-ebooks.com!

leakygutcure.com

The incidence of undiagnosed celiac disease has increased dramatically since the mid-1900′s.  When people with the auto-immune system disease eat gluten – a protein found mostly in wheat, barley and rye – the immune system responds by attacking the lining of the small intestine.

In the U.S., 1 in 133 people are estimated to have this disease and 1 in 56 have related symptoms, for a total of at least 3 million people suffering. In Canada more than 330,000 Canadians have been diagnosed with celiac disease. More than 73,000 are children.

It’s been said that for even person diagnosed with gluten intolerance, there are 80 more which are undiagnosed. In fact, 95% of celiacs are undiagnosed or misdiagnosed with other conditions. (Source: Fasano A, et al. Arch Intern Med. 2003;163:286-292.) statistics say:

** Delayed diagnosis of celiac disease increases the individual’s risk for the development of serious chronic medical issues which, in turn, will increase their use of the health care system and reduce their ability to contribute to society.

** Rates of celiac disease have nearly doubled in the last 25 years in western countries.

** The risk for developing celiac disease is increased 20 times for those who have a 1st degree relative with the disease.

** Nearly 30% of Canadian children with celiac disease are initially misdiagnosed.

** As 30% of celiac disease patients may develop a malignancy (e.g, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma), adhering to a gluten-free diet is critical for preventive purposes in spite of the personal costs.

Source: Canadian Digestive Health Foundation

“There is also a lesser known problem referred to as Sub-Clinical Gluten Intolerance, meaning that there are no obvious signs and symptoms. Inflammation is still present, but on a lesser scale, and can cause damage over years, such as Leaky Gut, as well as assist in chronic symptoms occurring.

In fact, there was a large scale medical study run in the US on chronically ill patients that were unresponsive to medical treatments. The researchers believed that there could be a dietary connection and thus used saliva testing for sub-clinical gluten intolerance on several hundred of these patients of which 85% tested positive. Many times you can see a common pattern with people who suffer from sub-clinical gluten intolerance. Typically as children they will suffer from allergies, asthma, reoccurring infections, a constant upset stomach, and milk intolerance. Then as they get older their symptoms will subside until they reappear later in life.” (Leaky Gut Cure)

In a 1999 study, Ventura, et.al. found that those diagnosed with celiac disease between 2-4 years of age had a 10.5% chance of developing an autoimmune disorder. Additional findings are outlined in the table below:

Age at diagnosis         Chance of developing autoimmune condition

4 – 12 yrs of age                      16.7%

12 – 20 yrs of age                    27%

Over 20 yrs of age                   34%

Source: Celiac Disease Facts & Figures

Nutrient Deficiencies

Gluten intolerance, especially celiac disease, creates malabsorption of nutrients. The villi (finger like projection which line the small intestine) help to emulsify and absorb fat. These villi are frequently eroded with celiac disease  and fat absorption is thereby compromised. This affects not only the absorption of vitamins D, E and A, but it will drastically affect hormones, creating hormonal imbalance as well. Hormones are made from cholesterol – fat.

According to the University of Chicago Celiac Disease Centre, Celiac can cause diarrhea, constipation, bloating, cramps and other symptoms, but it can also have no symptoms at all. In other cases, sufferers from gluten-intolerance develop an intense burning and itching rash called dermatitis herpetiformis. The intestinal symptoms of celiac disease may or may not appear in dermatitis herpetiformis.

Treatment

According to the Canadian Celiac Association, celiac disease as yet has no known cure, but can usually be effectively treated and controlled. The treatment of celiac disease is strict adherence to a gluten free diet, which can have its challenges.  This requires knowledgeable nutritional counselling about which foods and contain gluten and frequent “up-dates” as commercial food contents change. Care must also be taken to understand hidden sources of gluten such as HVP/HPP (hydrolyzed vegetable/plant protein); malt; spelt; kamut; and certain drug products. Today’s processed and packaged foods have many hidden sources of gluten which can be unintentionally ingested. Particular care should be taken in the selection of soups, luncheon meats and sausages. So people with celiac disease must read the list of ingredients on all labels, every time.

If people with celiac disease continue to eat gluten, studies show that their risk of gastrointestinal cancer is 40 to 100 times that of the normal population. In addition to increased cancer risk, untreated celiac disease is associated with osteoporosis, and a two-fold increase in the risk of fractures, including first-time hip fractures. (Source: Celiac.com)

Eat This, Not That

Eat: Rice, corn, millet, quinoa, amaranth, oats (for most people), and buckwheat are all safe to eat.

Not: Gluten containing foods such as wheat, rye, barley, kamut, spelt, teff, and couscous that are typically found in bread, pasta, bagels, and cereals.

freshhealthyvending.com

In the U.S. Cancer Prevention Study II which tracked 70,000 men for roughly 10 years, the risk of fatal or metastatic prostate cancer was 54% higher in those who were obese, compared to those who were of normal weight. (Cancer Epidemiol. Biomarkers Prev. 16: 63, 2007)

In other studies, men who were overweight or obese had no higher risk of being diagnosed with prostate cancer, but once diagnosed, they were more likely to die of the disease. (Cancer 109: 675, 2007)

The bottom line is that evidence on prostate cancer is still somewhat uncertain, though the overall consensus among experts seems to be that overweight or obesity is related to aggressive, but not indolent, prostate cancer.  So avoiding this disease seems to be the 100th reason to stay lean and active.

featuresblogs.chicagotribune.com

Popcorn is one of the healthiest and tastiest snacks available. It’s a whole grain food that is low in calories and fat and it’s a complex carbohydrate.

For centuries corn has been basic in diets of many civilizations because it provides so many different nutrients. Today it still is among leading foods health-giving qualities. As we strive more and more for a balanced diet of healthy and tasty foods, who can resist the salty, tantalizing taste of hot, well-seasoned popcorn. Perhaps this has been a factor in popcorn’s tremendous popularity. It’s a sociable snack, which can be offered to anyone with complete assurance that it will supply the body with valuable nutrients.

Popcorn is also great for weight management. it provides plenty of volume to fill you up, but few calories. Both air and oil-popped popcorn are low in calories. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture Nutritive Value of Foods, 1 cup of air-popped popcorn provides 31 calories and 1 cup of oil-popped popcorn provides 55 calories. Each offers 1 g of protein per cup. (Livestrong.com)

Abundant in minerals

One of the outstanding qualities of popcorn is its abundance of essential minerals. Three ounces of popcorn will supply children with more than one-third of their daily requirement of phosphorous and one-fifth of their daily iron requirement. It also contains 2.7 milligrams of iron per 100 grams, which is more than eggs, roast beef, peanuts, codfish, or milk, and is just short of spinach, which has 3.0 milligrams. With 281 milligrams of phosphorous per 100 grams, popcorn is far ahead of eggs, beef, codfish, and spinach, and not too far behind liver and peanut Popcorn also supplies more calcium than many other foods, at 11 mg per 3.5 oz serving.  (Popcorn.co.za)

How to kill the benefits of popcorn

Go to any movie theatre and you’ll fork over $5 – $7 for a bag of popcorn. But lest you think you’re doing a good deed for your body, let’s have a look at what a monster movie theatres are turning this wholesome food into.

The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) is calling movie theater popcorn the “Godzilla of Snacks” because of its deplorable nutritional content. A large untapped popcorn at your average movie theatre is like eating almost a quarter kilo of potato chips. And that’s only if they use the best oil and serve it without butter or any other toppings. Why?

Because a small popcorn typically contains about 480 calories, and it gets worse from there. A regular size tops 780 calories and a large typically 1,120 calories, which is about half of your typical person’s daily calories. When you size up the fact that you may get a free refill with a large size (burp), it gets to be a pretty hefty two hours. But wait, doesn’t the typical person have a medium (bucket) of pop with that popcorn? Sure you do, because the stuff is extra salty — on purpose anyone? — wink, wink. Yes, the up-sell is brutal and adds 20-30 teaspoons of sugar, chemicals, phosphoric acid, a whack of calories and whatever else abominable ingredient may be in the cola syrup.

Also, let’s not forget the butter (whoops, fake as in Becel), which adds an extra 170-220 calories and 13 grams of fat on to your love handles. Others use ”buttery” non-hydrogenated soybean oil topping that adds about 120-130 calories per tablespoon. And some theaters actually offer a real butter topping, but far too much, adding 9 grams of saturated fat per tablespoon.

So your typical movie experience with two large popcorn and a medium coke would look like this:

**1 large popcorn containing 1,120 calories, a heart stopping 1500 mg of sodium and 22 grams of saturated fat. This is equivalent to eating 220 grams of potato chips (large bag), drizzled with 4-7 teaspoons of oil. Yummy!

**2nd large popcorn with the same undesirable ingredients, equivalent to 68 Premium Plus crackers topped with 6 teaspoons of mayo.

Granted, this is assuming you are hungry and really like popcorn at the theatre, in which case 2 large popcorn would top your total to 2,240 calories and 44 grams of saturated (as well as rancid) fat. Compare that to eating a pound of baby back ribs and a scoop of Haagen-Dazs ice cream or maybe two Big Macs while watching the latest release at the movies.

Make it a combo and add 300 to 1,110 empty calories worth of candy and another 150 to 500 calories from a sugary soft drink to wash it all down. Don’t laugh, because it happens more often than you think. But let’s say you’re going with moderation and only order a medium popcorn plus medium soda. You’ve just consumed 1,610 calories, which is like eating six scrambled eggs with cheddar cheese, four bacon strips, and four sausage links before the lights come up. Heartburn anyone?

Let’s not kid ourselves about the drink sizes either. I’ve seen people from all walks of life slurping back a 54 ounces bucket of pop, which at nearly 7 cups of delicious chemicals adds 400 to 500 calories and 26 to 33 teaspoons of sugar. Won’t you be feeling alive during the movie? (Health News)

None of this constitutes what we normally define as a snack. If you really want to be informed, go to the CSPI Web site for information on the soda and oversized boxes and bags of candy. Or read the cover story in the December issue of the CSPI’s Nutrition Action Healthletter.

Your best advise is to buy a small, unbuttered popcorn and ask the theater to pop it without salt. Most theatres will accommodate special health requests, which you can wash down with water. You might not get a friendly smile as they hand it to you, but you’ll survive the experience.

prasarayoga.com

Yoga is a philosophical system of exercise and meditation originating in what is now India 2000-4000 years ago. It is said to be a philosophy, a science of universal applicability.

It’s a well-established fact that prac­tic­ing Yoga will help you increase flex­i­bil­ity and learn to relax, and var­i­ous stud­ies have shown it to cor­re­late to just about any health improvement you can think of.  There are many forms of yoga which differ in specific practices, while maintaining the philosophy of directing the mind and body (1). Common elements of many forms include postures (asanas), which are held for a certain period of time, controlled breathing exercises (pranayama) and meditation.

A new style of yoga (Prasara) is one of the fastest growing styles in the world. Compiled and developed by Dr. Scott Sonnon after years of study and training throughout the former Soviet Union with Olympic and national coaches, and in his work as a USA national team coach and international martial arts champion, it is very much “real yoga.”

It was designed to be a great all-around way for athletes to emphasize movement to increase range of motion and balance, which is a key benefit for them. Yet the great thing is that it is also accessible to new yoga students and veterans, giving everyone the benefits of a “flow style” which focuses not only on poses and breathing, but also in the transition between each pose with dynamic movement. This “flow” is a qual­ity of move­ment in which you can tran­si­tion smoothly form one thing to another.

The unique ele­ment of Prasara prac­tice as opposed to most other styles of yoga is that instead of focusing on sit­ting in poses, Prasara shifts the empha­sis to the tran­si­tions between poses. There is still an emphasis on the same pos­tures and posi­tions, but with the added work on your abil­ity to “flow” from one to the next so you can develop increased agility, grace, power, and flow.

It does so by releasing restrictions through what is called the “Six Degrees of Freedom” – heaving, surging, swaying, pitching, yawing and rolling. The benefits of this style of yoga are almost limitless and will find hidden vulnerabilities in your body as never before. Some include:

**Increased power and mobility

**Develop functional, mobile muscle

**Increase stamina

**Produce qualitative changes in movement

**Decrease chronic aches and pains

**Promotes weight loss

**And so on

It is difficult to describe a “best” way to move the body, so I will not concentrate on this definition here. There are, of course, wrong ways — inju­ri­ous ways — but the beauty of yoga is that most of the poses are very dif­fi­cult to do in a way that could cause you to hurt yourself.

Prasara yoga is also a great workout. By focusing on the Big Three – Structure, Breathing and Movement – you control your workout. You can perform your Prasara practice for a light warm-up or cool-down, or you can make it a sweat-dripping, fat-scorching, muscle-toning workout.

The ulti­mate goal of prac­tic­ing Prasara is to teach you to flow with­out think­ing of what comes next. There are routines in the beginning, but through prac­tic­ing them you’ll actu­ally be giv­ing your body a vocab­u­lary of move­ment to sail through transitions and impro­vise your own movements. This last bit is the real benefit of Prasara and what makes it such a nat­ural fit for athletes.

Rather than being a specific style of yoga, Prasara is a mode, or general method of expressing one’s personal style. So with the multitude of yoga styles available today,  Prasara fits in beautifully. It will make your practice stronger, easier, more free and fluid by filling in the gaps via movement transitions between poses, aiding in total flow.

This last part is crucial as spontaneous, intrinsic flow is meant for all you do; more agility to nav­i­gate the unex­pected chal­lenges life throws at you, trans­lating to more effec­tive and effi­cient move­ments that leave you with less stress, more energy, and a greater feel­ing of mas­tery in your environment.

Just how healthy are Tim Horton’s Hot Smoothees? Many say these drinks are absolutely delicious, smooth and frothy. Others turn to them because they’re non-caffeinated.

Timmies smoothees come in 4 flavours (1) Butter Caramel (2) Hazelnut (3) Raspberry and (4) Orange. Reading this almost makes you want to try one just for the uniqueness of flavours offered, but hold on a minute until you read what’s in these drinks:

**Sugar (5 tsp, in a small/12 tsp. in a large)

**Hydrogenated coconut oil

**Skim milk powder

**Glucose solids

**Sodium caseinate

**Potassium phosphate dibasic

**Artificial flavouring

**Silicon dioxide

**Salt

**Mono and diglycerides

**Cellulose gum

**Xanthan gum

**Soya lecithin

**FD&C Yellow #5

Whew, that’s a long list of unhealthy ingredients for which I had to dig deep and hard. Not surprisingly, I did NOT find them on Timmies own website.

Amazingly, this list of ingredients is only the vanilla base. Now we have to ad in the extra flavours. Let’s see, raspberry contains propylene glycol, glycerine, water, FD&C Red # 40, and FD&C Blue #1 as painfully artificial ingredients. The hazelnut? I’m sure a nut never came near this concoction. Try caramel colour and triacetin for a unique, mouth-watering flavour.

I know that many people love these drinks, but reading this should make you want to give them up because they’re a heart attack in a cup.

Just 2 tsp. of bee pollen daily boosts energy levels by 25% and overall immunity levels by 50%, according to studies. And bee pollen packs such an impressive punch of nutrients, including B vitamins, digestive enzymes, minerals and essential amino acids, that the US department of Agriculture has named it nature’s most complete health food.

Bee pollen also contains lecithin, a natural substance that cranks up the metabolism so you can burn more fat.

hometestingblog.testcountry.com

Pistachio nuts, eaten as part of a healthy diet, can increase the levels of antioxidants in the blood of adults with high cholesterol, according to an international team of nutritional scientists. (Journal of Nutrition, May 20, 2010)

Antioxidants are of interest because oxidized low-density lipoproteins (LDL) are implicated in inflammation and plaque buildup inside blood vessels. Antioxidants should prevent LDLs from oxidizing, migrating into the blood vessel walls and causing inflammation.

Pistachios also help to lower  lipids and lipoproteins, which are a risk factor for heart disease, and are extremely rich in gamma-tocopherol, a form of vitamin E that helps protect and speed healing of lung tissue.

And other published research suggests that eating 2 oz. of these nuts daily could cut your lung cancer risk as much as 50%. (American Association for Cancer Research Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research Conference, held Dec. 6-9)

2 oz is about 117 pistachio kernels, which might give cause for concern about weight gain. Don’t worry though, as study participants didn’t gain a pound, thanks to the abundance of appetite-dampening essential fatty acids and minerals in pistachios.

The effects of eating pistachios are significant on two fronts: (1) in the astounding reduction of lung cancer, and (2) in prevention of a cancer that kills more people per year than breast cancer, colon cancer, and prostate cancer combined.

-

If you don’t like pistachios, you can get your gamma-tocopherol from wheat germ oil, as one-hundred grams contains 215 milligrams.