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Weight Loss Exercise

Fruits and Vegetables – The Good Carbs

One interesting line I heard once has stuck with me for years when it comes to carbohydrates,

“If it is white, don’t eat it”

Well that may be true for a few reasons that I wanted to cover today. When we eat carbs they tend to come in all colors, fruit has all sorts of colors, vegetables have all sorts of colors and bread, rice and potatoes some in one color often and that is white.

So why should we avoid all of those white carbohydrates? There are two ways that colored carbs are better than white carbs but I don;t think that we really ever hear why…so I will tell you now

White carbohydrates are low in water

Fruits and Vegetables - The Good Carbs

Carb Loading Foods

If you are looking for a way to lose then you are going to have to eat high water foods. I have not written about this too much in the past but fruit and all colored veggies like peppers or broccoli and other classic fruits and vegetables are high in water which will fill you up with less calories. Having high water foods to eat also means that your body will be better hydrates with these lower calorie foods but this is not the only great reason to eat colored fruits and vegetables, you also need them because….

White carbohydrates are low in nutrients

If you think about rice or potatoes and even white breads then you also thing about foods that are devoid of many nutrients. Vegetables are very high in minerals and fruits are very high in vitamins. I know that this is a generalization but I don’t think I have ever heard of someone getting healthier by eating bread, rice and potatoes but anyone can get healthier by eating more fruits and vegetables

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Weight Loss Exercise

FDA says OK to Prilosec and Nexium

Earlier this year there were some stories around about fears that Prilosec and Nexium may not be quite as healthy as they should be for people taking them for dealing with acid reflux disease and that they increased heart attack risk. The FDA is now saying that there are no increased risk of heart attacks with these drugs in the long term

Long-term use of Prilosec (omerprazole) and Nexium (esomeprazole) is not likely to be associated with an increased risk of heart problems.

FDA has completed a comprehensive, scientific review of known safety data for both drugs, which are used to treat the symptoms of gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) and other conditions caused by excess stomach acid. While long-term studies reported to the agency on May 29, 2007, collected safety data, the study protocols did not specify how heart problems, such as heart attacks, were defined or verified. As a result, evaluating the information that was gathered about the safety of both drugs in these studies was challenging.

FDA’s assessment of the information from the data gathered was further supported by an additional analysis of 14 comparative studies of Prilosec, four of which were placebo-controlled (an inactive substance was used). Although these studies were not specifically conducted to assess the risk of heart problems, and patient follow-up was incomplete, they do not suggest an increased risk of heart problems with the use of Prilosec or its newer formulation Nexium.

Based on everything now known at the agency, the reported difference in the frequency of heart attacks and other heart-related problems seen in the earlier analyses of two small long-term studies does not indicate the presence of a true effect. This represents the agency’s current analysis of available data on these medications.

FDA recommends that health care providers continue to prescribe–and patients continue to use–Prilosec and Nexium as described in the labeling for the two drugs.

Categories
Weight Loss Exercise

How often to do core exercises

I find that people either do their ab exercises every day or never. Some people do them a couple of times a week and I thing that that is a good plan but the way that they are done is kind of haphazard and not really in a way that is conducive to reaching your fitness goals.

To work your abdominals effectively it is important to have a set schedule to work them . Try Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday for working your core muscles. When you are doing abdominals it is best to couple your ab workout with your lower back workout as the erector spinae muscles really are related and it is a good idea to keep the workouts together to stop one muscle group from overpowering the other.

An abdominal – lower back workout should only last around 15 minutes or so and include exercises for your upper and lower abs, your obliques and your lower back. This means that you are hitting four muscle groups and you can get away with one exercise of three to four sets for each, although you should do an extra exercise for your lower back.

Here is a sample core exercise workout

3 sets 20 crunches (work up to 30 as you get stronger)
3 sets 20 of leg raises (work up to 30 as you get stronger)
3 sets of 15 upright side stretches per side
3 sets of 15 pelvic lifts
3 sets of 15 hip extensions

As you get stronger with all of these exercises, and strength gains come pretty quickly, you can start to add or reps to make the exercise more difficult. I think that there is a lot of knowledge about how to do ab exercises but to strengthen you lower back I always rely on a fantastic page of back exercises at the Nismat site, there you can see how to do each of over a dozen lower back exercises.

How often to do core exercises
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