Live Longer Now » Living Well

Secrets To Lose Belly Fat And Have Great Ab Muscles

admin — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 05:07:42 +0000

Belly fat consists of excess fat and toxins, and here are seven healthy ways not only to lose belly fat, but also develop great-looking ab muscles, and have a general sense of well-being.

For instance:

Belly fat is fat that most often contain toxins, so the first order of the day is getting rid of it by drinking the right water. Drink Bio-Electronic Vincent (BEV) water or water filtered through the reverse-osmosis filtration method. This water attracts the heavy toxins from fat and pulls it out the body. The less minerals and metals in the water, the more the water can remove the dense stuff from your belly!

Source: Lose belly fat and great ab muscles: top 7 ways to lose belly fat and having great ab muscles

Prevent heart disease by brushing at least twice a day, study says

admin — Fri, 28 May 2010 08:48:21 +0000

The results of a new large population-based study indicate that those who brush their teeth at least twice a day have a 70% decrease in cardiovascular disease risk.

Researchers examined self-reported oral hygiene habits and coronary disease in 11,869 adults aged 35 and older (with a mean age of 50) from the Scottish Health Survey—a study conducted once every three to five years—between the years 1995 and 2003. The team, led by Cesar de Oliveira, a research fellow in epidemiology and public health at University College London, followed up with subjects after an average of eight years to see if they had had a heart attack or coronary disease.

Even though the researchers found that those who reported brushing their teeth less than twice a day were more likely to be male, older, smokers and to have other health issues (such as diabetes, hypertension and obesity), the team controlled for those variables and others and still found that tooth brushing is associated with cardiovascular disease.

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Also: carnitine supplements help in heart attack recovery.

Foods that effectively fight aging, disease and fatigue

admin — Thu, 13 May 2010 08:03:41 +0000

Foods are not all equally able to provide us not only basic nourishment but also important antioxidants to stave off disease and to delay the onslaught of aging. So here’s an awesome list of foods that have been shown to build muscle, enhance your brain’s powers, strengthen your immune system, and lets you overcome inflammation–all naturally.

Can you really find a place in your daily diet for superpower foods such as almonds, flaxseeds, tomatoes, sweet potatoes, spinach, rosemary, and good ol’ wild salmon? Well, you should, if you want to remain on top of this game called life.

Get the list here.

Men Are “Addicted” To Curvy Female Bodies

admin — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 03:11:28 +0000

Researchers gathered 14 men — a small number, admittedly — and made them look at pictures of curvy women while scanning their brains. The researchers found that looking at curvy bodies activated parts of the men’s brain linked with rewards, including regions associated with responses to drugs and alcohol.

“These findings could help further our understanding pornography addiction and related disorders, such as erectile dysfunction in the absence of pornography,” said researcher Steven Platek, an evolutionary cognitive neuroscientist at Georgia Gwinnett College in Lawrenceville, Georgia. “These findings could also lend to the scientific inquiry about sexual infidelity.”

Source.

10 Healthy Sandwich Recipes

admin — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 02:50:08 +0000

Not all sandwiches are calorie-laden turd-bags from Obesity Hell. With a few smart choices, certain key ingredients, and knowledge of what’s healthy and what’s not can enable you to enjoy a good delicious lunch without sacrificing your health. Here are 10 awesome and healthy sandwich recipes you can actually use.

Your Kitchen May Be Making You Fat

admin — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 02:42:41 +0000

If you’re more on the chubby side, you probably should blame your kitchen and what it contains. From the size of your platter, to your kitchen layout, to your pantry pace, even the clarity of your HUGE cookie jar matter — these contribute to make you eat more.

How Lack Of Sleep Can Kill You

admin — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 07:00:11 +0000

New research suggests what we’ve already understood as truth: lack of sleep can not only make you an unpleasant human being, but it can also actually kill you.

From the obvious health-related effects of lack of sleep, such as obesity, heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes and shorter lives. There’s even new findings that lack of sleep causes Alzheimer’s disease plaques, albeit in mice. Worse, long-term lack of sleep may cause changes in the brain that may stay permanently, which may predispose people to mental disorders like depression.

Just one night of short sleep has been shown to increase levels of inflammatory chemicals in the blood (SN: 10/11/08,p. 14) and increase hunger-promoting hormones. A week of getting just two hours less sleep per night than usual changed the way people in one study responded to glucose, mirroring a change seen in people who develop diabetes.

And lack of sleep can also have immediate injurious or fatal consequences: The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration estimates that drowsy-driving crashes result in about 40,000 nonfatal injuries and 1,550 deaths each year, probably a conservative estimate. Now, scientists are trying to understand not only how sleep deprivation affects driving performance, but also why one sleepy person might drive fine while another becomes a road menace.

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How Sex Makes You Live Longer, Better

admin — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 06:28:34 +0000

Sex isn’t only a feel-good thing; it’s also a great means to stay healthy. To live longer now, here are five reasons how sex improves your health.

1. Sex boosts your immune system. “Honey, I have a headache,” may now be the best reason to have sex! A startling number of physicians are now recognizing how sexual and emotional health affect our entire well being. In other words, how our brain directly impacts our immune system. “We know that people who enjoy a regular, satisfying sex life (i.e. regular orgasms) are less stressed, less depressed and generally more well physically, mentally and emotionally,” says Wendy Strgar, loveologist and CEO of Good Clean Love. In a recent article, Dr. Paul Pearsall, director of Behavioral Medicine at Detroit’s Beaumont Hospital, concludes that many of his patients had experienced sexual dissatisfaction prior to a heart attack. He also claims that sexual contentment leads to less severe headaches and reduced discomfort from arthritis in both genders.

2. Sex burns calories. Oh yeah, forget those fad diets and get busy gettin’ busy. A mere 30-minutes of sex burns 90 calories and while that may not sound impressive, at an average of three times a week, you’re burning 5 pounds in a year! Or, according to Forbes magazine, having sex just twice a week for a year will burn off the equivalent of seven huge spaghetti dinners. Seconds, anyone?

3. Sex relieves pain. Orgasm is one serious narcotic! Oxytocin, a naturally occurring chemical in the body surges during and after climax while working in conjunction with a few other endorphins to make sure you feel no pain. In his book, How to Treat Arthritis, rheumatologist Carter V. Multz asserts that sex can reduce pain, swelling, and inflammation associated with arthritis, headaches and menstrual cramps.

4. Sex decreases aging. “Use it or lose it” has never been more applicable. Regular sex releases a plethora of “happy” chemicals into your bloodstream, including testosterone. As we age, our testosterone levels decrease. Sex is a wonderful way to build your reserves back up, helping build new bones and muscles while putting a youthful glow on your face. According to a study by Dr. David Weeks, a clinical neuropsychologist at the Royal Edinburgh Hospital in Scotland and co-author of Superyoung, men and women who reported having sex an average of four times per week looked approximately 10 years younger than they really were.

5. Sex is great for depression. “The release from orgasm does much to calm people. It helps with sleep, and that is whether we talk about solo sex or sex with a partner,” says Jennifer Bass, the head of information services at the Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender and Reproduction in Bloomington, Ind., in a recent MSNBC article. Researchers believe that sex helps the brain produce serotonin which, in turn, prompts new neurons to grow. Most chemical, antidepressant medications, like Zoloft, work to increase serotonin levels. These drugs take three to four weeks to begin working–about the same amount of time required for new neurons to form. One reason these drugs could be an effective treatment is because they increase cell growth–just as sex does.

7 Diseases Doctors Miss That Can Kill You

admin — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 04:53:02 +0000

Doctors make mistakes, too. And often, such mistakes come by way of making a diagnostic miss. These are the top seven diseases that doctors miss, and they can just kill you.

1. Cancer. Being diagnosed with cancer can be terrifying, but not being diagnosed if you have it is far worse. A Harvard study found that cancer, primarily the breast and colorectal types, is the most commonly misdiagnosed disease, and experts say this is due to doctors failing to stick to screening guidelines. In fact, singer Kylie Minogue reported that her breast cancer was initially misdiagnosed.

2. Infection. The same Harvard study found that infection was the second most misdiagnosed disease, in part because many infections share symptoms that are similar to those of other conditions. Some of the most commonly misdiagnosed forms include ear infection, yeast infection, sinus infection, and pertussis infection (whooping cough).

3. Aortic dissection. With this potentially life-threatening condition, there is bleeding into and along the wall of the aorta, the major artery leaving the heart. But the disease frequently gets misdiagnosed as heartburn because of sensations felt in the chest. It is believed that actor John Ritter died of an aortic dissection that had been misdiagnosed.

4. Clogged arteries. When the arteries become clogged with fatty deposits called plaque, it leads to coronary artery disease–the leading cause of death in the United States for both men and women. Despite its prevalence, though, doctors often misdiagnose the condition because they attribute symptoms, such as shortness of breath, to the side effects of being overweight rather than to clogged arteries.

5. Heart attack. How could a heart attack be misdiagnosed? Well, they’re not always as obvious as the ones we see on TV; sometimes, the only symptoms are a sense of fullness in the chest and nausea. A study conducted by the New England Medical Center in Boston found that one in every 50 heart attack victims are mistakenly sent home by emergency room doctors, and other studies suggest that misdiagnosis rates may be even higher.

6. Celiac disease. Celiac disease is a digestive condition triggered by eating the protein gluten, which is found in bread, pasta, cookies, and many other foods containing wheat, barley, or rye. It is most frequently misdiagnosed as irritable bowel syndrome, Crohn’s disease, or even chronic fatigue syndrome or depression.

7. Bacterial meningitis. Bacterial meningitis causes a swelling of the lining around the brain and spinal cord, and it can kill its victims in hours. Symptoms include fever, vomiting, severe headache, stiff neck, sensitivity to bright lights, sleepiness, confusion, rash, and seizures. From this list, you can guess how it could be easily mistaken for influenza.

Live Longer By Eating Less

admin — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 04:12:31 +0000

Scientists have known for a long time that rats, mice, and worms that eat very little live longer than those that eat normal diets. Now, the results of research on humans are starting to emerge. It may take decades to prove that people who carefully regulate their calories and eating patterns extend their life span, but at the very least, some scientists say, these people may avoid many health problems associated with aging.

This spring scientists issued a report documenting the health benefits on a small group of people between ages 35 and 82 who decided to severely restrict their calorie intake simply on the basis of what is known about laboratory animals. These people have a lower risk of heart disease, as well as reduced chances of having a stroke or getting diabetes. Incidence of these three conditions generally increases markedly as people age.

John O. Holloszy of the Washington University School of Medicine, in St. Louis, Missouri, and his colleagues cataloged what they call “profound and sustained beneficial effects” of the calorie restricted diet.

Over a three-year period, Holloszy’s team at Washington University compared 18 people who had, in hopes of slowing the aging process, independently eaten a calorie-restricted diet for at least six years, and 18 healthy, non-obese study participants who ate typical Western diets. Their findings appeared the Proceedings of the National Academies of Sciences.

The study volunteers consumed from 2,000 to 3,550 calories per day, and the calorie restriction group consumed between approximately 1,000 and 2,000 calories per day.

The dietitian-approved meal plan is carefully balanced: The calorie restriction group consumed about 26 percent of their calories from protein, 28 percent from fat, and 46 percent from complex carbohydrates. The fare was enlivened by a nutrient-dense array of fruits, vegetables, legumes, and whole grains.

“Calorie restriction is not about starvation,” says Chhanda Dutta, chief of the Clinical Gerontology Branch of the National Institute on Aging in Bethesda, Maryland. “It’s about lowering caloric intake, minus malnutrition.”

The calorie-restriction subjects scored vastly better on all major risk factors for heart disease including total cholesterol, triglycerides, and blood pressure. Each of these tends to increase with advancing age. They also have very low amounts of body fat compared to the average person in the control group, who had about 25 percent body fat.

This quality protects the calorie restrictors from the type 2 diabetes associated with obesity, Holloszy says.

In addition, three people in the calorie restriction group had familial high cholesterol when the study began. According to Holloszy, calorie restriction reduced their cholesterol levels, and they no longer take cholesterol-lowering medication.

“The amazing thing is that regardless of their genetic background, they all showed the same response,” he says.

And their blood contained negligible amounts of the protein (CRP) known to cause inflammation, which is increasingly believed to be a factor in diseases.