The Health Gazette

A co-worker at my office recently went under the knife for a painful plastic surgeries. She was out of work for two weeks and when she returned to her desk the next Monday, she looked like death warmed over. She was in tremendous pain. Her face was bright red, her nose swollen to two times its regular size, the staples in her scalp could be seen upon closer examination, and the pain medication that she was on rendered her almost incoherent. The looks themselves were enough to break me of any desire to submit my body to that kind of torture. The sad thing was, she is only 50 years old and this was her third facial plastic surgery. This made me think that her desires to be young were more addictive than rational.

We see the same thing with dieters. Being a healthy weight is desirable but some go to extremes to obtain what they view as the perfect weight. Eating disorders such as anorexia and bulimia are examples. But these are not healthy. The key to good health and weightloss is excercise and lots of fruits and vegetables. Akavar Weight Loss Pills work great without side effects but if possible healthy eating and excercise should be tried first. Likewise there are healthy means to youthful appearance and there are very unhealthy procedures that we should stay away from.

Two Tips To Remember In Choosing A Healthy Way To Youthful Beauty

Do what feels right.

Painful procedures (like micro-derm abrasion) don’t feel good. And they are not good for you. The natural way to exfoliate dead skin is using natural exfoliator such as sea sand. There are many cosmetic exfoliators with these natural exfoliators as their main ingredients.

Work with your skin.

Don’t try to change your skin and stay away from products that claim to. Using a product such as Amatokin that works with your skin to enhance its natural abilities is a good alternative. If you have oily skin, choose products that work with oily skin (not those that eliminate it). Treat your skin with care and respect and it will serve you well for “ages” to come.

I have mentioned Amatokin because it has shown to be a very good eliminator of wrinkles. Yet it does so without painful procedures. Women should choose their way to beauty like they choose their lifestyle and their weight loss course. They should choose, with care, those products which are nourishing and beneficial for their body in the long run. Healthy skin is beautiful skin.

A look at health news headlines from around the world:

-Research from the University of Texas found large waist measurements, relative to hip size, were linked to early signs of heart disease.  This confirms other research that waist size, rather than overall body weight, is a key indicator of heart disease. The study of 2,744 people suggests that a waist size of 32ins (81cm) for a woman and 37ins (94cm) for a man represents a “significant” raised risk.  Time for me to cut back on the beer.

-The Department of Health (DoH) advises people not to drink more than five single espressos - roughly seven instant coffees - a day, although individuals vary in their sensitivity and reactions.  The highest natural caffeine content is found in filter coffee, a mug of which contains about 120mg of caffeine. Instant coffee contains roughly 75mg and espresso 107mg.

-Carrying too much weight while pregnant increases the risk of complications for mother and baby, including birth defects, labor and delivery problems, fetal death and delivery of large babies, according to the March of Dimes. A revision is long overdue, said Dr. Raul Artal of the Saint Louis University School of Medicine. “The reality is for too long we are telling pregnant women to take it easy during pregnancy, be confined and to eat for two,” he said. “This has been one factor in causing the epidemic of overweight and obesity that we see in our country.”

Dear Heather, I enjoyed reading your Dear Heathers when you published them, but it seems like it's been a while since you posted one. Also, I have been doing my own workout at home for a few years now, I alternate strength training and cardio and it seems to be a good system. But I do sit-ups every morning before I shower (I know they are strength training, but I have a phobia about my middle) and even though I can do 50 at a time and it's easy, I still do them. Is there a way I can make it harder so I can improve the results from doing them? - Thanks, Arizona Fan

Dear Arizona Fan.

Thank you for the kind words. I appreciate it. Yes, Dear Heather has sat idle for a time now, life seemed to be unexpectedly busy, specifically with my dental issues. I thought they would be resolved by now, but my insurance wouldn't pay for the procedure (or to be more precise they offered to pay $77 of the $1200 - what a bargain, eh?) I have an appointment with a local dental college that will do the work for cost, but they were pretty packed on the appointments, so I can't see them until the middle of August.

In the meanwhile, let's talk about your sit-ups. If you are doing standard sit-ups (50 are impressive) and they're easy, consider varying the types of abdominal exercises you do. For example:

• Monday - Bicycle Crunches - this requires that you pump your legs and twist your torso as you crunch and reach left elbow to right knee and right elbow to left knee
• Tuesday - Do 7-7-7s - this is a form of crunch that requires that you do 7 crunches towards the left, 7 towards the center and 7 towards the right
• Wednesday - Reverse crunches - instead of lifting your torso, let your legs do the work. Lay on your back, toes pointed towards the ceiling and knees slightly bent, control the gravity and bring them down to you and the push up again - you'll be engaging your core to hold this position
• Thursday - Standard Sit-ups if you want or return to bicycle crunches, you can also add a five pound medicine ball that you hold to your chest while doing the sit-ups to increase the resistance
• Friday - Day Off

Now you may change this around so you are doing an alternative method of abdominal exercise every other day while your body gets used to it. This is important to keep from tearing or causing injury to an abdominal muscle. I spoke with a mom just a week ago that lunged across the room to scoop up a toddler who'd fallen and she tore two muscles in her abdomen, so it can happen. Be careful.

Good luck with your workout.

It was a quiet and simple week here in the Fitness blog. Look for some serious ramp up next week as we get ready for the Back to School rush and tackle things like what you can do for your local P.E. programs and how to manage your fitness schedule around work, school and much more. In the meanwhile, let's take a look at our week in review:

Monday, July 30th

U is for Uniforms and we all have our own specific fitness uniforms. They serve a dual purpose: making you comfortable while you work out and putting you in the right mind set to work out.

Tuesday, July 31st

In V is for VO2 Max we take a look at the measurement of oxygen consumption necessary to perform at a maximum effort. It's a measurement of fitness and you can improve the VO2 Max if you lose a few pounds too.

Wednesday, August 1st

W is for Walking takes a look at walking, one of my favorite forms of fitness. Walking is a great sport and anyone can do it and there are any number of ways you can jazz up your walking routine and make the best of it.

Thursday, August 2nd

X is for eXtreme Fitness takes a look at what happens when you go to far with your fitness plans. In the case of fitness, moderation is your best course of action. If you do too much or you go to far, you are more likely to injure yourself or set yourself back.

Friday, August 3rd

Finally, we rounded off our week with Y is for Yoga and yes, it was the simple way out for the letter Y, but there are a lot of reasons to do yoga and a lot of benefits you reap from performing it.

What was your favorite article this week?

For more great fitness articles be sure to check out our previous weeks in review. Also, be sure to check back in next week as Dear Heather makes a return to answer your fitness questions.

You had to know that I was going for the obvious when I got to Y - X was harder to deliver on, but in fitness, Y almost always stands for yoga. You don't have to be in perfect shape or uber flexible to do yoga. In fact, yoga is not only a great way to get in shape, it's also a great way to calm your mind and increase your sense of personal focus.

As a workout form, yoga is more than 5,000 years old. You use a series of positions, poses and postures to stretch, shape and tone your body. You can perform mantras or not at your own discretion. Many modern yoga classes have abandoned any religious aspect and simply focused on the physical.

Core Strengthening

Yoga is more than a flexibility exercise. It also builds core strength. There are poses that require you to hold a certain body position, one foot firm on the floor, one leg extended behind you and slightly elevated with your arms raised upwards on a diagonal palms facing each other. It's difficult and holding this pose for longer than a minute can actually make me ache, but you are using your entire core to create stability so that you can hold this pose.

The deep stretches associated with yoga also utilize all the major and minor muscle groups - engaging and releasing them. There are multiple styles and levels of yoga to provide for you whether you are a beginner, intermediate or advanced yoga enthusiast. Many fitness clubs offer yoga classes to their members and you can buy a standard, beginning yoga DVD for less than $12 at Wal-mart, Target or other super center.

The primary gear you need for yoga is loose clothing and maybe a yoga mat if you work out at a club where they have hard wood floors. At home, I don't use the mat at all.

Check out more great articles on yoga.