This notion is nonsense! You lose fat by burning more calories than you take in. You will burn many more calories training intensely than exercising slowly. The body does not metabolize fats by themselves. Rather, fat use is integrated with carbohydrate and protein metabolism. Even if you used more fat during exercise, fuel storage balances itself out according to energy balance — calories in versus calories out. Intense exercise causes you to burn more calories and fat after the exercise is over. So, when trying to lose fat, work harder and burn more calories.

What is Interval Training?

If you’re exercising to lose weight, adding interval training to your program will help you burn more calories. Interval training refers to bouts of higher intensity exercise interspersed with periods of lower intensity exercise or rest. Let’s say your current workout is a steady 45-minute spinning class in which you’re working at about 70 to 85 percent of maximum heart rate. If you introduce short periods of higher intensity sprints (at 80 to 100 percent of max) into the ride, you’ll do more work and burn more calories in the same amount of time. Also, you’ll rev up your metabolism so you continue burning calories even after you stop exercising. You can use interval training for all of your favorite aerobic exercises, including ground or treadmill running, stair climbers, elliptical trainers, swimming, or cycling.

There are also other benefits. Interval training also builds muscle power that will carry over to your fitness and body-shaping program. The strong, shapely muscles you build doing intervals will make it easier to do leg exercises such as lunges and squats and give you greater stamina that will help you better cope with your busy schedule. Intervals will also develop sleek, attractive lower body muscles faster and better than almost any other exercise.

Intervals can be a real time-saver, too. You know you need to run, work on the elliptical trainer, or ride a bike to cut fat, but you just can’t face the boredom of slogging along on the roads or looking at a blank wall for a half-hour— or, you just don’t have the time. Interval training not only makes you run faster, but also enhances cell enzymes that improve fuel use at rest and during exercise. Previously, scientists thought you needed to run for 45 minutes or more per workout to get these cellular effects. If you train intensely in short bouts, you can get more benefits in less time. An added benefit is that interval training turns up your metabolic furnace so you continue to burn more calories than normal all day long.

Components and Results

Interval training involves performing repeated exercises at set distances or times. This type of training helps the body move at faster speeds by training the nervous system to react more quickly, increasing the heart’s ability to pump blood, and help the cells cope with rapid metabolism.

The four components of interval training are distance, repetitions, intensity and rest. Distance refers to either the distance or time of the exercise interval. Repetition is the number of times the exercise is repeated. Intensity is the speed of the exercise. Rest is time between exercises.

Each factor of interval training is related to the others. When you train more intensely, you will do fewer repetitions and rest longer. For example, a runner performing 400-meter runs at 100 percent of her maximum running speed might only manage four to six repetitions. A woman working at only 75 percent of maximum intensity might manage eight to 15 repetitions.

Don’t practice interval training more than three days per week. Intervals are exhausting and can easily lead to injury. Let your body tell you how many days you can tolerate. If you are overtired doing three days per week, cut back to one or two days. Also, if you feel good, try increasing the intensity or volume and see what happens. Begin slowly and progress conservatively. Integrate interval training into your total exercise program. You shouldn’t be so tired from doing intervals that you can’t function during the day, or do other parts of your exercise and shaping program.

Intervals on the Treadmill

The treadmill is the best health club machine for burning calories and cutting fat— it’s better than ski machines, stairclimbers, stationary bikes and elliptical trainers. Interval training on the treadmill involves alternating between fast and slow running and walking. You can also vary the exercise intensity by raising and lowering the treadmill grade. Use the built-in programmer— if available— because it will automatically change the speed and elevation of the treadmill during your workout.

For treadmill walking, begin by exercising at a brisk pace that you can manage easily. For example, set the treadmill speed at three miles per hour and the elevation at a zero percent grade, and walk for two minutes. Then, raise the elevation to 10 percent and walk for one minute. Return to a zero percent grade and walk for another minute. Alternate each minute between walking up zero percent and 10 percent grades for a total of 10 minutes. As you become more fit, extend the total time or your interval training workout or increase the speed or elevation of the treadmill.

You can practice interval training in almost every sport and exercise. For example, in tennis, you could hit against a wall or tennis ball machine for two minutes, rest one minute, then repeat. On the stationary or supine bike, exercise for one minute at a high power output, rest one minute, then repeat. In basketball, you could run four court lengths, shooting a lay-up at each end, rest, then repeat. You are limited only by your imagination when setting up interval training programs. The bottom line is that interval training is a terrific fat burner and fitness builder that will help you make rapid progress.

References

Billat, L. V. Interval training for performance: a scientific and empirical practice. Sports Med. 31: 75-89, 2001.

Fahey, T.D. Superfitness for Sports, Performance, and Health. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 2000.

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It is estimated that about 75% of our immune system is actually located inside our gut. Because of this fact, the importance of good nutrition should be obvious. If we can promote a healthy digestive tract, our body can naturally overcome much of the suffering from allergy symptoms.

When it comes to healing the intestines and gut, there is a plethora of foods that are beneficial. Here are my top 5 picks of foods to reduce allergies:

Dandelion – this bitter offers excellent support to your liver. The liver is responsible for filtering much of the toxins in our body, as well as produce bile needed for proper digestion of fats. When our liver is not functioning optimally, our digestion becomes impaired and our immune system becomes overwhelmed. Dandelion can give your liver some much needed assistance and help reduce allergies.

Unpasteurized Sauerkraut – this (and other traditionally fermented foods) provides our digestive system with a massive boost of probiotics (good gut flora). Be sure to get unpasteurized since pasteurization will destroy all of the beneficial flora that we want. The live probiotics from raw sauerkraut are often more powerful than any pill or supplement and is another top choice of foods to reduce allergies. When our intestines are lacking in probiotics, our immune system becomes over-burdened, and allergies often arise.

Organic Kiwi Fruit (with skin on) – Although the entire fruit is full of allergy-fighting vitamin-C, the kiwi fruit skin is also high in phenolic compounds, such as flavanoids, which have antioxidant properties. Eating the skin triples the fiber, and increases the Vitamin-C you get from the fruit. It’s no secret that vitamin-C plays a major role in boosting the immune system. Eating one kiwi fruit per day can give you as much as 150% of the recommended daily amount of vitamin-C (and 3 times as much if you eat the skin).

Wild Salmon – The essential fatty acids (especially Omega-3) present in wild salmon is crucial for allergy relief. As well as having anti-inflammatory effects, the EFA’s in wild salmon will also work to heal and protect your intestinal system, where most of the immune system is found. Eating wild salmon 2-3 times a week will give your body a much needed advantage when battling allergies.

Unrefined Virgin Coconut Oil – Unrefined virgin coconut oil is some of the healthiest fat on the planet. The medium chain triglycerides found in coconut oil have been known to assist the body absorb other vitamins and minerals, as well as help in the production of various hormones needed for allergy relief. This anti-inflammatory oil is also a natural anti-bacterial, anti-parasitic and anti-microbial substance.

If this occurs on the long term, for example, on calorie restricted or low carb diets, a process called starvation ketosis occurs. While weight loss may result, the health risks such as organ damage, kidney failure, brain injury (and in serious cases result in coma or death) are not worth damaging your overall health. It’s also common to see the pounds that have been shed return once the diet is no longer being followed.

In past experiences, I’ve noted the importance of differentiating between the two types of carbs.

There are the simple carbs which mainly come from refined sugars and starches such as white rice, pasta, breads and commercially baked goods. They offer us zilch for nutritional value as most of the important nutrients are removed during the refining process. With the absence of fibre, their sugars are released very quickly into our blood stream. Consuming these types of carbs make our bodies work harder to keep us in balance and are not an ideal choice to sustain hunger since we don’t have those nutrients. So yes, these carbs are good to avoid!

Complex carbohydrates are the opposite. I’m referring to fruits such as pears, apples and berries, whole grains such as brown rice, quinoa and spelt, starchy vegetables such as yams and carrots, potatoes, leafy greens, beans and legumes.

These carbs are good guys and play many different roles in the body. They are packed with nutrients. Complex carbs contain fibre along with important vitamins and minerals which help the body detoxify, prevent illness and disease and provide us with long lasting energy. They keep you fuller on the long term, aid in digestion and thus, can lead to weight loss! These are just a few reasons why I consider them essential for optimal health and therefore should not be avoided.

When following diets with very high amounts of protein and fat (which are acidifying to the body when metabolized) and not enough fruits and vegetables to balance them out, the state of the body becomes acidic and nutrients are not properly absorbed.

An acidic body is susceptible to experiencing health symptoms and is the ideal state for illness to set in.

It’s also likely for carb cravings to result over time when the body is not getting the nutrients it’s asking for. This can likely lead to carb and/or sugar binges which pose negative impacts on both physical and psychological levels.

That being said, I truly believe that a diet balanced in protein, good quality fats and complex carbohydrates is a healthful way to achieve weight loss without enduring unnecessary health risks. Keeping your body in balance with a variety of nutrients from a variety of different foods is essential to your long term optimal health & well-being.

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Physical Benefits and Advantages for Men

Most men workout to build muscles and pump iron but this is only effective for the areas being worked. Traditional exercise routines are split into categories of appropriate size, weight, and which muscles will be worked. For instance, a buff and muscular man will certainly be able to lift heavier weights than one half his size. But within the context of yoga, both men would have equal playing field to learn and improve. More athletes are incorporating this relaxing form of fitness into their routine to help recover from strenuous sports activity. Yoga for men doesn’t mean that it replaces other types of workouts. In fact, practicing yoga has proven effective to relieve sore muscles, decrease stiffness, flush away unnecessary acids, and restore energy to the body. A great physical advantage of yoga for men is that specific poses can stimulate sexuality and enhance performance. By renewing oxygen and blood levels to the sex organ, sexual energy is uplifted and restored. Yoga also helps with improving flexibility and helps to boost cardiovascular activity as well as stamina. The most common misconception about yoga is that it is not intense. A type of yoga called Bikram, is designed for men or women and adds heat to the routine in order to flush out toxins in the system and rejuvenate the immune system. Even men who are accustomed to doing strenuous workout routines will have a lot to benefit from “hot yoga.”

Relaxation and Other Mental Benefits

There certainly are many physical benefits of yoga for men but in addition to that, there are various mental factors that improve as well. Mainly, this ancient practice is built on the philosophy that mind and body are one. This is likely the reason why women are often associated with this form of fitness and men with active and dynamic sports. Ironically, for many centuries, yoga has inspired and benefited many wise men by channeling anger properly. The main focus of yoga is to help clear the mind of daily stresses and pressures. It can also have positive results with concentration and overall focus at work, home, or while playing other sports. The philosophies of yoga not only improve the ability to focus but infuse the strengths of the physical, emotional, and mental factors into one. Many men may also be surprised to discover the great energy surrounding the yoga community. Since serenity is the center of this ancient form of fitness, individuals are calmer and easier to communicate with. A typical gym setting is usually a meeting ground for comparing muscles and inflating egos. Yoga offers a more relaxed and supportive energy for men who often play rough sports, have high stress levels, or simply want to maintain good health.

Expectations and Evolutions

Most men may be skeptical about yoga because there is little awareness and expectations for so many benefits. A majority may not associate spiritual health with physical aspects and see no contributions. The beauty of yoga is that it offers a plethora of positions that range from relaxing to vigorous. For example, Vinyasa yoga is a more aggressive variety but can do wonders for improving cardiac health and maintaining a healthy blood pressure level. Aside from positions that build strength and endurance, breathing techniques called pranayama help to balance brain activity and drastically reduce anxiety levels from daily pressures. Not many would expect it but even psychiatric problems like depression can be alleviated by practicing yoga. The ultimate proof of yoga’s effects is how it is becoming more popular worldwide. From everyday people to successful male athletes and celebrities, more are practicing yoga. Especially for professional sports players, the rejuvenation and serenity offered by yoga can help to reduce stress and allow for better performance during the next game. Aside from eliminating strain from intense sports, yoga can also maintain a healthy balance of sympathetic and parasympathetic systems. From the time this form of therapy and fitness was created thousands of years ago until present day; yoga has exceeded the expectations of many.

Visit HolisticYoga.Info to find out how to improve your life whether you would like to know how to get started with yoga or have been doing for years.

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First and foremost, it’s the right kind of fats we want to be focusing on. As a lover and advocate of fat, I must be clear that the fats I’m referring to are known as “healthy fats” or EFA’s – Essential Fatty Acids. One of the reasons fat in general has gained a bad reputation is from getting thrown together all in one big category. All fats are NOT created equal. Healthful fats such as avocados, coconut oil and olive oil were placed alongside their polar opposites when it comes to health benefits. Such undesirable fats are hydrogenated (or trans fats) and poor quality fats and highly processed vegetable oils. These are the fats linked to high cholesterol, heart disease, cancer and other major health conditions. Luckily, the difference between the healthy fats nature provides us with are becoming recognizably different from the processed fats that do not occur naturally which are a concern to our health. I am delighted to share with you my top 5 reasons for you to fall in love with healthy fats.

1. Eat healthy fats to burn fat

You may have heard this before. Due to their chemical make up and the way they are broken down by the body, fat takes longer to digest and absorb which provides you with readily available and slow burning energy. Healthy fats are nutrient dense so they keep you feeling full for longer. Certain fats like coconut oil take a different and more desirable pathway in the body when being metabolized. Instead of going directly to storage, it is burned right away. This is beneficial because it stimulates your metabolism which teaches the body how to burn fat more efficiently. I’ve recently heard the saying “An avocado a day keeps the tummy fat away.”

2. Fats are beautifying, ladies & gents

Beauty comes from within and healthy fats keep your cells smiley. They are needed to give your skin it’s healthy glow and are essential to help build strong nails. Healthy fats help keep your hair growing and flowing, healthy & shiny. The antioxidants in healthy fats prevent premature aging, liver spots and wrinkles. And as I’ve mentioned, they are little helpers with keeping unwanted fat from setting up shop on your waistline.

3. Craving Control

Consuming foods higher in fat and protein opposed to sugar will keep your cravings until control. This is because fat has a stabilizing effect on blood sugar levels (one of the keys to successful weight loss.) In turn, this will help diminish your appetite for sugary foods or beverages with empty calories that may only provide a quick burst of energy (mid afternoon crash, anyone?) and/or encourage weight gain.

4. Healthy fats = Healthy heart. And healthy heart = healthy libido

Healthy fats help lower LDL (the “lousy” cholesterol) while raising HDL or the “good” cholesterol. HDL cholesterol will actually protect us from heart disease and help lower the levels of LDL cholesterol in the body. We also need adequate amounts of HDL cholesterol to help maintain good intestinal health and strapping immune systems. And who doesn’t love a good healthy libido? Since the health of our circulatory systems correspond to sexual function, it only makes sense that healthy fats are among the top listed foods to eat for a fiery sex drive. Pumpkin seeds, chia seeds, almonds & avocados top the charts for boosting sex hormone production & circulation.

5. Healthy fats are a No-brainer

Especially when we’re talking about the nervous system. An inadequate intake of healthy fats are linked to low mood and depressive disorders, forgetfulness and feeling sluggish, lethargic and tired. Essential Fats (especially DHA) play a critical role in brain development and function (approximately 60% of our brain is fat) while helping our moods to stabilize and keep our memories sharp. The omega 3 essential fatty acids also act as natural anti inflammatories against factors prevalent in modern day diets and busy lifestyles (such as stress!) DHA can be found in oily fish such as salmon, mackerel, sardines and in certain algae. These are the reasons I chose to highlight but there are many more benefits to loving fat. I hope they’ve given you some ideas to include them in your diet if you don’t already. Personally, my mouth is watering as I’m ready to make a mad dash to the nearest avocado.

Get your doctor’s okay before starting any fitness or workout program. This is especially true if you’re a complete beginner. You need to be sure you’re aware of any underlying health conditions and even if you know you have any complications to begin with, your doctor should know what kind of physical activity you are planning to participate in.

Weigh yourself. Out of all six of the things on this list, I’m willing to be that most people do weigh themselves before starting. When weighing yourself, do so first thing in the morning. While starting weight IS important to be able to compare to when you’ve finished a program, there are a few more things you should be keeping track of.

Take measurements. Measurements are very important because you’ll be able to see inches lost even if you haven’t lost that many pounds. When you’re burning fat and building muscle, it’s going to be difficult at times to see much difference in the numbers on the scale (depending on your current physique) but you will notice inches lost. You’ll see it in the mirror and you’ll feel the changes in the way your clothes fit.

Be sure to measure the following:

1. Waist (at belly button level)
2. Hips (widest part – may have to turn sideways to see where that is)
3. You may also want to measure:
4. Waist (at the smallest part)
5. Each thigh (at about the mid-point)
6. Each bicep
7. Chest

Take before photos.  Just think of these as your “goodbye photos”. They will serve two purposes: The first is that you’ll see what you looked like before you started so you can see the differences after 30 days, 60 days, 90 days, etc. The second is that at any time you get discouraged along the way, you can take out your “before” photos and remind yourself.

Record body fat percentage. If you haven’t checked your body fat percentage before, you definitely should. You can estimate this online using various calculators but you’ll never know for sure without actually physically measuring it for yourself. You’ll get the most accurate reading if you measure body fat in 2-3 different ways, but we’ll keep things simple here. To track your body fat percentage you simply need to choose one method and use it throughout the duration of your program.

Keep a food diary. Keeping a food diary or food journal is crucial if you’re trying to lose weight. A food journal allows you to visualize what you’re putting into your mouth. This makes it easy to analyze how you’re eating and where you could make some improvements. When tracking, log every single calorie that touches your lips. It’s very easy to make calorie counting mistakes but just remember that each one counts! It’s a good idea to track water consumption too. I usually try to aim for 64 ounces each day. You can keep a food diary using a notebook or you can download an app on your phone or online for free using MyFitnessPal

Once you’ve started your program, I recommend tracking your progress every 30 days along with way. Thirty days is a sufficient amount of time to be able to see changes in your body. If you want you can weigh yourself more frequently but I’d suggest no more than once per week. Also, if you do choose to weigh yourself weekly, be sure to weigh-in on the same day of the week, same time. For example, Wednesdays at noon.

The first issue when it comes to health is one of personal responsibility. None of us are born with an instruction manual, and so it is very important to provide people with a model of health and personal health care that is easy to understand and practice, including both diet and lifestyle. I believe that medical science is too complex a model – too liable to shift and change opinions – to be a sustainable model for health care. You should not need to go to school and become a doctor to understand how your body works. Thus, the first task I believe is to provide people with a simple model that accurately represents effective health practices that work. Fortunately we have many examples of traditional health care models that do exactly that, including Ayurveda, TCM, Unani and other traditional systems of health care. I think researchers should spend more time investigating these models, as a way of leveraging the knowledge we already have.

In many traditional societies, health care wasn’t a commodity to be bought and sold like it is now. Recently, I just finished working on a new book written by the late Vaidya Mana Bajra Bajracharya called Ayurveda in Nepal. It was over 800 years ago that the patriarch of the family took up the consecration of “bajracharya”, and since then, this family has carried forward the tradition of hereditary Buddhist priests and Ayurvedic physicians. As part of the family’s commitment, they have provided free health care to the public since this time, relying upon donations from generous benefactors. The quality of health care wasn’t dependent upon the wealth of the patient. Thus, another way we can improve health care is to make it freely available to all. But while I do argue for socialized medicine, the infrastructure costs including technology and physician’s salaries are way out of line. I believe that much of this cost could be reduced if we emphasized personal responsibility, and then provided preventative strategies such as free harm-reduction, free home care for elders and subsidized maternity/paternity leave. At one time in North America, there wasn’t a large gap between the salaries of doctors and their patients, but over the decades this gap has grown steadily wider. Many people enter into the medical profession not from a sense of altruism but as a way to make money and solidify social status. But this is entirely the wrong reason to get into health care, and it is one of the base reasons why our health care system is unsustainable. A profit-driven health care model is inherently unethical. Perhaps we could resolve this issue is medical training was free, and was tied to a commitment to serve the community. With no student loans, doctors might find it easier get out of the business mentality that runs counter to the needs of their patients.

Another way I would change health care is to leverage the potential of the community for support. Any person with a new diagnosis should be directed to government-funded social support groups. These groups would be made up of survivors and their families, who would work collectively to educate and support each other, inviting experts and other clinicians that could provide them with a cornucopia of tools and strategies. The worse thing about getting a medical diagnosis is the sense of isolation and hopeless that it can engender. Actively engaging the energy of the community is a good way to overcome this sense of inertia, and can help facilitate a greater sense of personal responsibility. Very often the best support doesn’t come from a clinician, but from other people that have had success treating their own health issues. Successful patients and survivors need to be given a more active role in the health care delivery system. It is called mentorship.

Another way I would change the health care system is to get rid of the centralized institutions such as big hospitals that are not only costly to run, but more often than not, actually end up making patients sicker. For example, the CDC reports that over 99,000 people die each year in the US from hospital acquired infection. And this doesn’t even account for the effect of trying to recuperate from an illness in a building filled with thousands of other sick people, staffed by doctors, nurses and staff who are often stressed out and exhausted, while eating from an institutional menu that often doesn’t even meet basic nutritional requirements. Whoa!  How can we expect people to get better in such a dysfunctional, unhealthy environment?  While there is clearly a need for centralized, acute care facilities, patients should be referred as soon as possible to decentralized clinics and small hospitals. Not only would they have more flexibility in meeting the individual needs of the patient, but they could easily incorporate additional elements such as herb and vegetable gardens, domesticated animals and live music, all of which have been shown to promote healing and good health. If we expect a person to get better, we should create an environment that facilitates that. The hospital itself should be a place of healing, not just crisis management.

These are only a few ideas, and I have many more. But I am interested to hear what you think. How would you change health care for the better?

Embrace Exercise

If you lead a sedentary life or if you have long been considering a lifestyle of increased physical activity, make the “change of life” your excuse to embrace exercise. If you suffer from hot flashes and night sweats, two of the most common menopause symptoms, evidence shows exercise may help reduce the frequency of these symptoms.

In addition, exercise can help you get a better night’s sleep, shed excess weight, and improve your cardiovascular health. Even moderate exercise can be enough to make a big difference – try taking a brisk walk every night after dinner for 20 minutes or swimming at the gym for 30 minutes 3 times per week.

Consider adding a simple weight lifting routine to your physical activity schedule. Many women begin to lose bone density after menopause, and strength training (combined with a healthy diet) has been shown to increase bone density. There is also evidence weight lifting may help improve your focus and boost your energy levels.

Whether you walk, paddle, or lift your way to better health, be sure to make exercise a part of your life during and after the “Big M.”

Reevaluate Your Diet

Eating a balanced and nutritious diet is essential for mental health, energy levels, organ health, and general wellbeing. Take advantage of the menopausal motivation to rid your diet of processed foods and foods high in sugar, salt, fat, and additives.

With less of these substances in your diet, you can help avoid diabetes, heart disease, and osteoporosis while keeping your body leaner and preventing changes in complexion that reflect age.

During and after menopause, be sure to incorporate soy foods, calcium, and vitamin D into your diet. Soy products can help replace estrogen in your body, and calcium and vitamin D can help maintain proper bone health and prevent osteoporosis.

In addition to incorporating tofu and milk, take a look at your current diet and consider ways you could gradually begin to improve it. For instance, opt for fresh, whole vegetables and fruits instead of processed or packaged, and select canned or frozen foods without added sodium or sugar.

Treat Yourself to a Spa Day

Perhaps the best news of all is that you can include massages, meditation, and relaxation therapy in both your personal commitment to your health and your self-management of menopausal symptoms. These and other alternative treatments for menopause symptoms can relieve some of the mood swings, aches and pains, fatigue, memory loss, stress, and anxiety menopause can bring.

As if these perks weren’t enough, incorporating stress relief and relaxation strategies into your new lifestyle can offer benefits for your mental health well beyond menopause. Use your sanity and wellbeing as an excuse for a regular visit to the spa, yoga studio, therapist, or even just the bathtub!

Making the Most of Menopause

While many women experience a host of challenging and unpleasant symptoms during menopause, embracing a healthy lifestyle can help you minimize their impact and turn over a new leaf. If the first half of your life has left something to be desired in terms of managing your health, make menopause an impetus for change.

Turn your dreams of regular exercise, a balanced diet, and some “me time” into a reality by committing just a few minutes each day to positive, healthy changes. Life is too short to let menopause interfere, and with a little determination, you can make menopause the best (and healthiest) thing to ever happen to you!

Effects of Yoga after Pregnancy

Yoga addresses physical, mental, and emotional health, and that’s why it is one of the best forms of exercise for new mothers. Yoga is gentle in that it doesn’t require fast, jarring movements like other exercise programs, and it can be adapted to people of any age, and any stage of physical fitness. A new mother whose body is still recovering from pregnancy and childbirth benefits greatly from the calm and nurturing environment of the yoga class. Having a brand new baby can be mentally and emotionally exhausting, and the breathing and meditation techniques used in yoga classes improve mental resilience and can be used at any time when stress seems to get out of control. Yoga’s effects on the body are also noteworthy. It not only improves the flexibility of the body, but also strengthens muscles, many of which may have relaxed or atrophied during latter stages of pregnancy. Many poses specifically improve the strength of the pelvic floor muscles, which are severely taxed during pregnancy and childbirth. Becoming attuned to a post-pregnancy body makes the new mother aware of what her strengths and weaknesses are, and helps empower her for this new and exciting stage of life. As yoga helps a new mother regain her figure, it also helps her have the emotional tools to gain confidence in her role as a mother. Yoga is not about competitiveness or trying to be “the best” at something, and that makes yoga classes a peaceful, supportive environment in which the new mother may regain her strength and fitness.

Bikram Yoga after Pregnancy

Once a new mother has been cleared by her physician to engage in physical activities again, she may want to try Bikram yoga as a way to get back into shape after childbirth. Bikram yoga takes place in a studio heated to 95 to 100 degrees Fahrenheit. The heat helps the muscles regain flexibility, and it also causes the student to perspire heavily. For this reason, it is vital that Bikram yoga participants remain well hydrated before, during, and after class. This is particularly true for nursing mothers, who must ensure they take in enough water. Even with proper hydration, however, new mothers may find that they lose weight quicker, as the body gets rid of excess water weight and bloating. Bikram yoga is one of the more intensive yoga workouts, so if a new mother is unfamiliar with yoga, she may want to spend time participating in gentler forms of yoga before stepping up to the demands of Bikram yoga. Once a woman feels ready to do the hard work of regaining her strength and shape, however, Bikram yoga is an excellent choice. Those who are put off by the thought of exercising in the heated conditions Bikram yoga uses may want to try another intense form of yoga, such as Power yoga or Ashtang yoga.

Tips for Getting Back into Shape after Pregnancy

New mothers who are anxious about leaving their newborn while they exercise may be able to find yoga classes specifically designed for new mothers, where they can actually bring their babies with them to class. Many new mothers find these classes to be very supportive and encouraging. Regardless of the type of yoga class a new mother chooses, she will have the best results attending at least two to three times per week. This will allow her to improve fitness and lose excess weight in a healthy manner, without overtaxing her body. Many yoga poses can be adapted for use at home, so that when the new mom finds a few minutes of precious free time, she can use them to relax and rejuvenate. Mothers who practices yoga before giving birth should not be discouraged if they cannot immediately undertake the poses and exercises they were doing before having a baby. Childbirth has major effects on the body, and it takes time for the postpartum body to regain all its abilities. By doing the best she can, a new mother will gradually improve her fitness and will eventually find herself to be physically fit once again. The human body is capable of amazing things, and nobody knows this better than a woman who has brought a new life into the world!

Visit HolisticYoga.Info to find out how to improve your life whether you would like to know how to get started with yoga or have been doing for years.

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“There are no enzymes in coconut oil, nor any other edible oil for that matter.” – Mary Enig, Ph.D, a nutritionist/biochemist and the author of Know Your Fats. A good thing about coconut oil is that it isn’t damaged by heat. That’s why it’s so good for cooking. It’s the saturation that makes it stable. If coconut oil contains enzymes it would become very perishable – just like all raw foods containing enzymes. Coconut oil contributes to better digestion and health because it is anti-microbial and therefore kills or inhibits the growth of harmful microorganisms such as bacteria, fungi or protozoans.

Enzymes: You are What You Digest

By Dr. Mercola

You’ve probably heard of enzymes, and you probably already know they are important for your digestion. But you may not be aware of just how necessary enzymes are to every cell in your body—not just for digestion but for ALL your physiological processes.

Enzymes are composed of amino acids and are secreted by your body to help catalyze functions that would normally not occur at physiological temperatures. They literally make magic happen and are absolutely vital to your life.

More than 3,000 different enzymes have been identified, and some experts believe there may be another 50,000 we have yet to discover. Each enzyme has a different function—like 3,000 specialized keys cut to fit 3,000 different locks. In this analogy, the locks are biochemical reactions.

Enzymes drive biological processes necessary for your body to build raw materials, circulate nutrients, eliminate unwanted chemicals, and the myriad of other biochemical processes that go on without your even thinking about it.

For starters, here are just some of the activities in your body requiring enzymes:

• Energy production
• Absorption of oxygen
• Fighting infections and healing wounds
• Reducing inflammation
• Getting nutrients into your cells
• Carrying away toxic wastes
• Breaking down fats in your blood, regulating cholesterol and triglyceride levels
• Dissolving blood clots
• Proper hormone regulation
• Slowing the aging process

And small amounts of enzymes can affect profound changes! Enzymes are the catalysts that cause many essential biochemical reactions to happen—but they are not “used up” IN the reaction. They merely assist—meaning, they accelerate reactions—sometimes to a mind-boggling several million reactions per second!

Enzymes lower the amount of energy needed for a reaction to occur. Without them, some reactions simply would not function in your body.

But enzymes don’t work alone.

Enzymes rely on other elements to accomplish their tasks, such as certain vitamins and minerals. These elements are called “coenzymes.”

You are probably already familiar with one of these—coenzyme Q10. CoQ10 is found in the mitochondria (power centers) of your cells where it is involved in making ATP, every cell’s principal energy source. Another example is magnesium, which participates in over 300 enzyme reactions.

The Concept of “Enzyme Potential”

Dr. Edward Howell spent his entire professional life studying enzymes and can be credited with catalyzing enzyme research.

Whether or not this is true, Howell believed you were born with a limited enzyme-producing capacity, and that your life expectancy depends on how well you preserve your “enzyme potential.” His theory was that if you don’t get enough enzymes from the food you eat, great strain is placed on your digestive system to “pick up the slack,” i.e., produce enough enzymes to accomplish the task.

A deficiency in digestive enzymes then reduces availability of your metabolic enzymes. Howell believed this metabolic enzyme deficit was at the root of most chronic health problems.

Enzyme Basics

There are three basic categories of enzymes:

1. Digestive
2. Metabolic
3. Food based

Digestive enzymes, as their name implies, help you break down food into smaller parts that can be absorbed, transported and utilized by every cell in your body. Digestive enzymes are extra-cellular—meaning, they are found outside your cells.

Metabolic enzymes are intra-cellular—meaning, inside your cells, where they help the cell carry out a variety of functions related to its reproduction and replenishment.

Your pancreas produces most of these digestive and metabolic enzymes.

Fortunately, you get (or should be getting) many enzymes from the foods you consume—particularly, raw foods. These directly help with your digestive process.

The more raw foods you eat, the lower the burden on your body to produce the enzymes it needs, not only for digestion, but for practically everything. Whatever enzymes are not used up in digestion are then available to help with other important physiological processes.

Your Meal’s Journey through Your Digestive System

Once consumed, your meal begins a complicated, multi-phased journey of breakdown and conversion into nutrients your body can use. This process is, of course, called digestion, and enzymes play a key role.

There are eight primary digestive enzymes, each designed to help break down different types of food:

1. Protease: Digesting protein
2. Amylase: Digesting carbohydrates
3. Lipase: Digesting fats
4. Cellulase: Breaking down fiber
5. Maltase: Converting complex sugars from grains into glucose
6. Lactase: Digesting milk sugar (lactose) in dairy products
7. Phytase: Helps with overall digestion, especially in producing the B vitamins
8. Sucrase: Digesting most sugars

Digestion begins in your mouth, starting with saliva. Did you know that you produce about 1.7 liters of saliva each day? Your mouth is where enzymes (primarily amylase) begin to exert their action. Amylase in your saliva begins to break down carbohydrates.

As food passes into your stomach, proteins are worked on by protease. From there, the bolus of food passes into your small intestine, where lipase begins to break down fats, and amylase finishes off the carbohydrates.

Did you know that 90 percent of your digestion and absorption takes place in your small intestine?

From here, the micronutrients are absorbed into your bloodstream through millions of tiny villi in the wall of your gut. But what happens when this process goes awry?

Disease—or “dis-ease.”

Aftermath of the Western Diet: Enzyme Deficiency

Insufficient enzyme production is at the root of much “tummy trouble” in our country. Digestive problems cost Americans $50 billion each year in both direct costs and absence from work.

It is a sad fact that 90 percent of the food Americans buy is processed food. Diets heavy in cooked, processed, and sugary foods, combined with overuse of pharmaceutical drugs such as antibiotics, deplete your body’s ability to make enzymes.

Enzymes may be relatively large, but their protein structures are fragile. The amino acids in the molecular chain link together to form certain patterns and shapes, which give enzymes their unique characteristics and functions. When something disrupts the chain’s structure, the enzyme becomes “denatured“—it changes shape and loses its ability to perform.

Heating your food above 116 degrees F renders most enzymes inactive.

This is one of the reasons it’s so important to eat your foods raw. Raw foods are enzyme-rich, and consuming them decreases your body’s burden to produce its own enzymes. The more food that you can eat raw, the better. Ideally, you should get 75 percent of your digestive enzymes from your food.

In addition to heat, enzymes are also very sensitive to shifts in pH, which is why different enzymes work in different parts of your digestive tract, based on the pH each enzyme needs in order to function.

Enzyme deficiency results in poor digestion and poor nutrient absorption. This creates a variety of gastrointestinal symptoms, including:

• Constipation
• Bloating
• Cramping
• Flatulence and belching
• Heartburn and acid reflux

Chronic malabsorption can lead to a variety of illnesses. Think about it—if your body doesn’t have the basic nutritional building blocks it needs, your health and ability to recover from illness will be compromised.

Besides breaking down food, enzymes (particularly the proteases) can help with gut healing, controlling pathogens, and immune support. Your immune system begins in your gut—and if you have enzyme and digestive issues, chances are your immune system isn’t functioning as well as it should be.

Complicating matters, your capacity for enzyme production also declines with age.

How Aging Affects Your Enzyme Production

Research has shown that your natural enzyme production starts to decline by the time you’re about 20.

Studies show that, every ten years, your body’s production of enzymes decreases by 13 percent. So by age 40, your enzyme production could be 25 percent lower than it was when you were a child. And by the time you’re 70, you could be producing only ONE-THIRD of the enzymes you need.

Making matters worse, your stomach produces less hydrochloric acid as you age, and hydrochloric acid is crucial in activating your stomach’s digestive enzymes.

When digestion of foods requires such a heavy demand, enzyme supplies run short and your enzyme-producing capacity can become exhausted. Why does this matter? The high demand for digestive enzymes depletes your body’s production of metabolic enzymes, which every cell in your body needs in order to function.

The Many Roles of Metabolic Enzymes

Now that you know how important digestive enzymes are for getting nourishment, let’s take a look at another type of enzymatic activity—your metabolic enzymes. Metabolic enzymes are intimately involved with running your circulatory, lymphatic, cardiac, neurologic, endocrine, renal, hepatic, and reproductive systems, and maintaining your skin, bones, joints, muscles and other tissues.

Every one of your 10 trillion cells depends on these enzymes and their ability to catalyze energy production. As I said before, each of these enzymes is highly specialized as a function of its particular molecular structure.

Consider these two examples:

• RNA polymerase is an enzyme your body uses to transcribe DNA into RNA, which is used to make proteins.
• Lysosomal enzyme, produced in the lysosome of each cell (also called the “suicide bag”), breaks down macromolecules and other foreign particles the cell has ingested (such as bacteria) so they can be disposed of. The lysosome is a microscopic garbage disposal!

One of the most important functions of metabolic enzymes happens in your blood. If you think about it, it makes sense. We know that bacteria, fungi, and parasites are comprised of protein, as is the shell encompassing viruses. Enzymes in your blood—primarily proteases (proteolytic enzymes)—serve to break down protein-based foreign bodies, effectively cleansing your blood.

As blood cleansers, these enzymes combat chronic inflammation, which left unchecked can lead to everything from autoimmune diseases, to cardiovascular disease and even cancer. Enzymes reduce inflammation in your body by:

1. Breaking down foreign proteins in the blood that cause inflammation and facilitating their removal via your blood stream and lymphatic system
2. Removing “fibrin,” a clotting material that can prolong inflammation
3. Reducing edema in the inflamed regions

It follows, then, that any disease caused by inflammation—which is practically every chronic disease we face today—can be benefited by increased levels of functional enzymes in your blood.

I will discuss oral enzyme supplementation shortly. Although taking an enzyme supplement may be helpful, NO manufactured product can duplicate the positive effects of a nutrient-rich diet.

Boosting Your Enzyme Levels Naturally

There are four ways to naturally increase your enzyme levels:

1. Increase your intake of raw, living foods
2. Eat fewer calories
3. Chew your food thoroughly
4. Avoid chewing gum

The very best way to get enzymes into your body is by consuming at least 75 percent of your foods raw. For many of you, you’ll have to work toward this goal gradually.

While all raw foods contain enzymes, the most powerful enzyme-rich foods are those that are sprouted (seeds and legumes). Sprouting increases the enzyme content in these foods tremendously. Besides sprouts, other enzyme-rich foods include:

• Papaya, pineapple, mango, kiwi, and grapes
• Avocado
• Raw honey (the enzymes actually come from the bee’s saliva)
• Bee pollen
• Extra virgin olive oil and coconut oil
• Raw meat and dairy

The best way to bump up your metabolic enzymes is to provide your body with the raw materials and energy it needs to make them. By eating these types of foods, you supply your body with the amino acids and the enzyme co-factors needed to boost your own natural enzyme production.

Another way to lower your body’s demand for enzymes is to reduce your caloric intake. Did you know the average person spends 80 percent of his available energy simply digesting food?

By reducing overall consumption, as well as introducing more living foods, you reduce your need for digestive enzymes, which allows your body to put more of its energy into producing metabolic enzymes.

Which brings us to chewing. Quite apart from the esthetic pleasure of an unhurried meal, there are important physiological reasons to chew your food well.

Chewing stimulates saliva production, and the more time you spend chewing, the longer your saliva enzymes have to work in your mouth, lessening the workload of your stomach and small intestine. Chewing also stimulates a reflex that sends a message to your pancreas and other digestive organs, “Gear up—we’ve got incoming!”

And don’t chew gum.

Chewing gum fools your body into believing it is digesting something, so it pumps out digestive enzymes unnecessarily. Why waste those precious resources?

Digestive Enzyme Supplementation

If you suffer from occasional bloating, minor abdominal discomfort, and occasional constipation and suspect your enzyme production is low, you might want to consider a digestive enzyme supplement in addition to eating more of your foods raw.

Digestive enzymes should be taken WITH a meal. There are hundreds on the market, so how do you choose a good one? You should look for an enzyme formula with the following characteristics:

• It should contain a mixture of different types of enzymes, to help digest all of the different components of your diet (including lipase, protease, and amylase)
• The ingredients should be high quality, all-natural, and free of allergens and additives
• The supplement should be labeled as to the enzymatic strength of each ingredient, not just its weight
• It should be made by a reputable company with rigorous quality control and testing for potency

Besides digestive enzyme supplementation, there is another way to use oral enzymes—for systemic use. This requires taking enzymes between meals so they can be absorbed through your gut and into your bloodstream, where your cells can use them metabolically.

Systemic Enzymes—Playing Catch-Up with European Medicine

Getting enzymes from your digestive tract into your bloodstream isn’t as easy as it would seem. As I’ve already discussed, enzymes are very susceptible to denaturing and must be helped to survive the highly acidic environment in your stomach. They are often given an “enteric coating” to help them survive the journey through your digestive tract.

And then, there is the matter of absorption.

For nearly 100 years, medical dogma insisted that enzymes taken orally were too large to pass through the digestive tract wall.

However, there is now a good deal of research that they can indeed pass through your intestine intact and into your bloodstream and lymphatic system, where they can deliver their services to the rest of your body… one of the mysteries of medical science.

Now that we know this is possible, systemic oral enzymes have been used to treat problems ranging from sports injuries to arthritis to heart disease and cancer, particularly in European countries. But most of the research has been published in non-English language journals.

This systemic use of enzymes is just now taking off in the United States.

It is crucial that, in order for enzymes to be used systemically, they must be ingested on an empty stomach. Otherwise, your body will use them for digesting your food, instead of being absorbed into the blood and doing their work there.

Let’s take a look at how systemic enzymes can benefit your health by examining their applications for two major health problems we face today: heart disease and cancer.

How Systemic Enzymes Battle Heart Disease

It is now fairly well recognized that heart attacks and strokes are related to inflammation, which is why C-reactive protein (an inflammatory marker) can be predictive of cardiac events.

However, according to an excellent article about systemic enzymes by Michael Sellar, French researchers have proposed that bacteria might be a causative factor in coronary artery disease. Very high levels of bacteria were found in their patients’ arterial plaques, possibly explaining elevations in C-reactive protein.

C-reactive protein functions to stop the spread of bacteria in your body.

Since enzymes inhibit platelet aggregation, help your immune system combat pathogens, and break down fibrin (which makes up clots), they may offer significant benefits for vascular diseases like thrombosis, phlebitis, and varicose veins.

Sellar quotes enzyme researcher Rudolph Kunze:

“Although enzymes reduce inflammation and we used to think that was all they did, we now believe that the central target of systemic enzymes is the immune system. It is my belief that heart disease is an immune disease very much, although obviously not totally, related to bacterial pathogens and other invaders.”

Systemic Enzymes in the Treatment of Cancer

The use of enzymes to treat cancer has its roots all the way back to 1911 with John Beard’s The Enzyme Treatment of Cancer and Its Scientific Basis. Beard believed cancer was a result of diminished pancreatic enzymes, impairing your immune response.

A study in 1999 suggests he may have been right on target.

Ten patients with inoperable pancreatic cancer were treated with large doses of oral pancreatic enzymes (along with detoxification and an organic diet), and their survival rates were 3 to 4 times higher than patients receiving conventional treatment. Proteolytic enzymes can be helpful in treating cancer because they help restore balance to your immune system.

Dr. Nick Gonzalez in New York City, NY has also done a lot of work on enzymes in cancer treatment and has written a book on the subject.

Some of the ways proteolytic enzymes can be helpful in the fight against cancer are:

• Boosting cytokines, particularly interferon and tumor necrosis factor, which are very important warriors in destroying cancer cells.
• Decreasing inflammation.
• Dissolving fibrin: Cancer cells hide under a cloak of fibrin to escape detection. Once the cancer cells are “uncloaked,” they can be spotted and attacked by your immune system. It is also thought that fibrin makes cancer cells “stick together,” which increases the chance for metastases.
• German studies have shown that systemic enzymes increase the potency of macrophages and killer cells 12-fold.

For more about the difference between digestive enzymes and systemic enzymes, click here for a video interview with enzyme expert Nena Dockery.

Hopefully you can now appreciate just how important enzymes are to your overall health, right down to the cellular level. Once you understand this, you may begin to see just how important it is to eat a diet rich in fresh, organic, raw foods. You may even want to try juicing some of your vegetables as a way of getting more nutrients—and enzymes—into your body.

It has been said, “You are what you eat.” But really, “You are what you digest” is closer to the truth.

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