Today's Links Are about Health and Fitness
Get rid of the guilt! Trade up to healthier treats
Five Gym Mistakes
Are you working regularly out but not losing weight? Here are some common reasons why.
1) Always Doing the Same Workout
"People often fall into the trap of hitting the treadmill for 30 minutes every time they work out," says Rachel Cosgrove, owner of Results Fitness in Santa Clarita, Calif. "It works at fi rst, but then your body starts to adjust to the routine, and you burn fewer calories." To keep seeing results, change one workout factor like intensity or duration every trip to the gym, then completely switch your activity every three to four weeks.
4 Reasons You're Still Fat
You're doing everything you can to lose weight. Or are you?
1.) Liquid Calories
Smoothies and juices are way too easy to guzzle down. Worse, your brain doesn't consider those calories food, so they don't fight off hunger.
Solution: Choose water every other time you're thinking of having a "healthy" drink. Better yet, limit yourself to eight ounces of 100% juice a day and skip juice drinks entirely.
5 foods to maximize your muscle power
Want tighter abs or bigger biceps? You need more than a workout program
There is a strong connection between muscle mass and good health, says Robert Wolfe, director of Translational Research in Aging and Longevity at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville. “As we age, we tend to lose muscle, especially if we are not using it,” says Wolfe. “These losses eventually affect quality of life, our balance, strength and ability to recover from an illness or accident.”
13 things your grocer won’t tell you
Get smarter about grocery shopping with these supermarket secrets
Americans are now spending less time eating out, and a lot more time in the grocery store. So before you go shopping, Reader’s Digest shares hidden tricks of the trade that will help you save a lot of money and make your family’s meals healthier.
The Food-Mood Connection
Superfoods or super-hype?
7 products that claim to shrink your belly, fight cancer and help your heart
15 ways to get rid of your gut
‘The Belly Off! Diet’ tackles portion size and how it can impact your weight
How did we get so heavy?
We eat too much food
In 1960 the average American man weighed 166 pounds. The average woman weighed 140. Today, the average man weighs 191 pounds, and the average woman checks in at nearly what that dude wearing the skinny tie and horn-rimmed glasses used to weigh - 164. Amazing, no? But those are just averages. The scariest statistics can be found at the top of the scale: The number of Americans who are considered obese, essentially 30 or more pounds overweight, has almost doubled to around 40 million.
Exercising etiquette: Don’t be a gym diva
Sweaty slobs, cell phone chatterboxes irk their fellow gym-goers
Exercise etiquette
- Smell nice, but not too nice. Wash your workout clothes every time, and wear deodorant. Avoid heavy perfume and cologne.
- Don’t hog the equipment. Follow time limits on the cardio machines, and allow others to work in on the weight machines between your sets.
- Get to class on time. If you’re late, enter quietly and take a spot at the back of class.
- Practice weight control. Don’t drop the weights. When you’re done, put them away.
- Keep it quiet. No blasting your music, singing, grunting, screaming or talking loudly on your cell phone.
- Don’t ogle. It’s rude, and not everyone is looking to make a love connection at the gym.
- Clean up after yourself. In a perfect world, you would wipe off anything you touch with sanitizer. At the very least, clean up that swamp you left on the exercise bike.
- Don’t be a diva. You don’t own any particular spot in class. So be flexible, follow instructions and respect those around you.
Five Gym Mistakes
Are you working regularly out but not losing weight? Here are some common reasons why.
1) Always Doing the Same Workout
"People often fall into the trap of hitting the treadmill for 30 minutes every time they work out," says Rachel Cosgrove, owner of Results Fitness in Santa Clarita, Calif. "It works at fi rst, but then your body starts to adjust to the routine, and you burn fewer calories." To keep seeing results, change one workout factor like intensity or duration every trip to the gym, then completely switch your activity every three to four weeks.
4 Reasons You're Still Fat
You're doing everything you can to lose weight. Or are you?
1.) Liquid Calories
Smoothies and juices are way too easy to guzzle down. Worse, your brain doesn't consider those calories food, so they don't fight off hunger.
Solution: Choose water every other time you're thinking of having a "healthy" drink. Better yet, limit yourself to eight ounces of 100% juice a day and skip juice drinks entirely.
5 foods to maximize your muscle power
Want tighter abs or bigger biceps? You need more than a workout program
There is a strong connection between muscle mass and good health, says Robert Wolfe, director of Translational Research in Aging and Longevity at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville. “As we age, we tend to lose muscle, especially if we are not using it,” says Wolfe. “These losses eventually affect quality of life, our balance, strength and ability to recover from an illness or accident.”
13 things your grocer won’t tell you
Get smarter about grocery shopping with these supermarket secrets
Americans are now spending less time eating out, and a lot more time in the grocery store. So before you go shopping, Reader’s Digest shares hidden tricks of the trade that will help you save a lot of money and make your family’s meals healthier.
The Food-Mood Connection
Superfoods or super-hype?
7 products that claim to shrink your belly, fight cancer and help your heart
15 ways to get rid of your gut
‘The Belly Off! Diet’ tackles portion size and how it can impact your weight
How did we get so heavy?
We eat too much food
In 1960 the average American man weighed 166 pounds. The average woman weighed 140. Today, the average man weighs 191 pounds, and the average woman checks in at nearly what that dude wearing the skinny tie and horn-rimmed glasses used to weigh - 164. Amazing, no? But those are just averages. The scariest statistics can be found at the top of the scale: The number of Americans who are considered obese, essentially 30 or more pounds overweight, has almost doubled to around 40 million.
Exercising etiquette: Don’t be a gym diva
Sweaty slobs, cell phone chatterboxes irk their fellow gym-goers
Exercise etiquette
- Smell nice, but not too nice. Wash your workout clothes every time, and wear deodorant. Avoid heavy perfume and cologne.
- Don’t hog the equipment. Follow time limits on the cardio machines, and allow others to work in on the weight machines between your sets.
- Get to class on time. If you’re late, enter quietly and take a spot at the back of class.
- Practice weight control. Don’t drop the weights. When you’re done, put them away.
- Keep it quiet. No blasting your music, singing, grunting, screaming or talking loudly on your cell phone.
- Don’t ogle. It’s rude, and not everyone is looking to make a love connection at the gym.
- Clean up after yourself. In a perfect world, you would wipe off anything you touch with sanitizer. At the very least, clean up that swamp you left on the exercise bike.
- Don’t be a diva. You don’t own any particular spot in class. So be flexible, follow instructions and respect those around you.