Relieve anxiety with stress

I know this without a doubt, going to the gym relieves stress for me.

It turns out my belief is supported by a study done by the University of Georgia that found that people who exercise regularly can greatly reduce their level of stress. The people studied were suffering from a chronic medical condition ranging from heart disease to cancer.

The benefits weighed in at a 20% reduction in anxiety and the benefits were evident in just 3 to 12 weeks.

Source: HealthyStyle - Parade Magazine 3/10

Are you hiding fat?

What you can't see may hurt you. A Boston University School of Medicine study showed that a healthy body-mass index may not show the amount of dangerous fat in and around one's heart or other vital organs. And these internal fat deposits help to decrease cardiovascular function.

Exercise physiologists at the University of Alabama at Birmingham also warn of hidden fat around your organs can increase the risk of cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and diabetes.

The good news is you can reduce visceral fat through diet and exercise. Once lost, this fat is easier to keep off than subcutaneous fat which lies just beneath the skin. The University of Alabama study showed that 80 minutes of aerobic or strength exercise a week will keep this fat from reforming around your organs.

A University of Southern California study found that increase fiber in your diets also helped to decrease the amount of harmful fat in and around the human body's middle area where the important organs are.

For more fiber, snack on fresh fruits and veggies, eat oatmeal for breakfast and choose brown rice/whole wheat over processed grains.

Source: GetFitNow by Michael O'Shea in Parade Magazine of 12/6/09

Exercise makes you gain weight?

In a study of postmenopausal women, it was found that women who exercised the most lost far less weight than had been predicted.*

The researchers concluded that this was probably due to the stimulating effect exercise has on appetite. The more you burn the more you'll want to eat.

The lesson learned is that you still need to carefully monitor your food intake to lose weight even with exercise.

*2009 study done by Dr. Timothy Church

Exercise with others and work up more endorphins

Excerpt of the article "Health, Smart ways to live well" in Family Circle 1/10

British research has found that if you exercise with others your body produces more endorphins (the 'happy hormones').

That makes sense to me but I won't be signing up for the spinning class any time soon. Every time I'm in the YMCA when one of those classes are in sessions, the thumping of the bass is hard on my eardrums and I don't understand why they spin in the near dark - or worse yet- spin in black light!

And I don't think I could do Boot Camp. There are non-patriotic reasons why I didn't sign up for the Army, and boot camp is one of them. Something about someone yelling over you to move faster or harder is not my style.

But I am impressed with the people who do spin and show up every night for boot camp proving there are exercise programs for all.

Antioxidant Pills Negate Exercise Benefits

Vitamin stores, health food stores even my local grocery store has them - antioxidant pills that promise to neutralize the free radicals generated by strenuous exercise. Instead antioxidant pills block metabolic improvements that you gain with exercise.

In a recent German study, people who engaged in about an hour and a half of intense exercise -- running, cycling, weight-lifting -- five days a week achieved various health benefits, including improved ability to control blood sugar, thus reducing diabetes risk.

But when the men took antioxidant supplements -- 400 IU of vitamin E and 1,000 mg of vitamin C -- there was NO improvement in insulin sensitivity.

Why? The pills seem to displace the body's own natural antioxidant systems, which otherwise neutralize the oxidative damage caused by increased oxygen intake during exercise.

Take Home Message: For maximum benefits and minimum risk, get the nutrients you need from Antioxidant Superfoods like apples, berries, broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage.