The holidays are upon us and for most of us, it’s time to break out the eatin’ pants. After all, once it starts with the candy frenzy that is Halloween and runs on through Turkey-and-Stuffing Day (aka, Thanksgiving Day) and then of course, the traditional food fest that is the Christmas season, we’re probably going to have several big and delicious meals and we’ll need to jeans to accommodate them. Read more…

Crunches are the part of the most basic exercise regimens we all start with. We do them to exercise our core muscles to gain better balance, improve our cardio performance and sculpt the most amazing abs possible. But let’s get the truth out there, are we really exerting all that effort when all we’re getting are the Hollywood-approved midsection and not the two other benefits?

It’s a question researchers at the Indiana State University dared to ask when they held a study among healthy young adults. Their assumption was that those with better cores would succeed in their battery of exercises more than the others. However, the results seemed to say that while most sports scientists and coaches believe in the correlation of subjecting your core to a workout (typically through crunches and medicine ball exercises) can improve your athletic performance, studies on the subject (including this one) have yielded a very mixed bag of results. Read more…

There are many benefits to having a dog at home. Dogs are, after all, great companions if you’re ever lonely because they’re loving. Also, aside from being man’s best friend, a dog can be your very own personal security guard or hunting partner. But did you know that keeping a dog at home can also help you lose weight?

Surprised?

Well, according Tara Parker-Pope, who writes for the NYTimes’ Well Section, if you’re looking to lose some poundage, having your very own pup is much better than running on treadmill (providing, of course, that you’re not allergic to dogs).

In the article Forget the Treadmill. Get a Dog, Ms. Parker-Pope relates that studies have shown that older people are more likely to take regular walks if they have dogs because their furry friends will always need to be walked so they get some exercise too. She also cites findings from researchers from Michigan State University that dog owners got at an average of 30 minutes of exercise about 5 times a week while those without canine companions hardly get as much exercise.

The study, led by Dr. Matthew Reeves also brought forth an important question: does dog walking add to the amount of exercise you do, or does it merely replace the exercise you would have done if you didn’t have a dog?

It turns out that dog walkers tend to take part in other physical activities for leisure (say, playing sports or gardening) and they got about 30 minutes/week more exercise than people without dogs.

Of course, that doesn’t mean that having a dog means that you’ll being doing the walking. Some people have large enough yards for their dogs to run free, while other people need to hire dog walkers for various reasons.

Still, it should be noted that another study found that people who acquired dogs were able to increase their physical activity compared to before they brought their dog’s home.

Another interesting result of yet another research project done at the University of Missouri is that most people who walked with dogs were likely to get more exercise than those who walked with human companions. Why? Simply because humans could talk each other out of tiring exercise while dogs don’t.

Dr. Johnson who led the study says that people “help themselves by helping the dog.” Basically, Johnson continues, “If we’re committed to a dog, it enables us to commit to physical activity ourselves.”

Now isn’t that better motivation for getting a work out?

To learn more about how owning a dog can help you get more fit, read Forget the Treadmill. Get a Dog by Tamara Parker-Pope at NYTimes.com. You can also find more fitness and workout tips at the Well Section.

Admit it, trying out and eating different kinds of food is exciting and well, tasty. Why, some people even spend their lives looking for epicurean delights from all over the world. Unfortunately, there are a number of us who enjoy eating but don’t necessarily have the genetic makeup that keeps what we eat off our waistlines.

Well the good news is, we don’t actually have to starve ourselves just to keep our waists at a reasonable girth. According to an article by Jeffrey Kluger at Time.com’s Healthland Section, a recent study published at the August issue of The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition claims that “boring yourself thin” can help you lose weight. Read more…

By FitFarms Editorial

Aging is a natural process of human development. However, leading researches show that diseases and health problems are denser in older age brackets. It becomes imperative to ask, is aging really a part of human development?

Fitness is commonly defined as the holistic summation of the overall health of individuals. This naming convention ties up with the common connotation of how to become fit such as doing regular exercise, enrolling in boot camp, religiously following a diet plan and even on scoring pounds of weight loss.

Typically, scientific researches especially on medicine and demographics put emphasis on the physical health of individuals. However, the birth of more comprehensive approaches in scientific research gives the same weight on other non-physical aspects of health such as psychological, emotional and even sociological health studies. The new comprehensive aspect of scientific research on health gave birth to the common definition of fitness. Read more…

At some point in our lives we’ve all encountered the familiar saying “we always hurt the ones we love?” We don’t always mean to hurt them hence love, but we end up doing so anyway. Case in point? Many of our kids are becoming obese.

Despite our best efforts to keep our children healthy and nourished, statistics say that there’s now an alarming rise in the number of obese children in the country. In fact, Sahar Aker’s Fat Fighter TV asks the question “should parents lose custody of extremely obese children?” According to Ms. Aker, an opinion article published in the Journal of the American Medical Association says “yes”. Read more…

By FitFarms Health and Fitness Editorial

Planning to lose weight? You’re not the only one. Weight loss is simple enough, conceptually. After all, it’s simply a function of burning more calories than you take in. It should be as simple as having a proper diet and getting enough exercise. However, as we all know, it’s usually never as simple as these sounds. Most fitness programs fail well before target weights are reached. Those who succeed also typically eventually gain back the weight they’ve lost. Keeping it off may even be harder than losing it!

Many attempts at weight loss are often met with cynicism precisely because most fail to stick to their planned regimen. It often takes an enormous amount of willpower to be able to carry through with a fitness plan. This isn’t usually because dieting and exercise are physically difficult- most do not necessarily have a problem with the physical aspects of exercise. Rather, it is often the mental aspect that stymies most fitness programs.

Knowing this, it’s important to know that eating the right food and doing the right amount of exercise aren’t the only things to consider when you’re planning to lose weight. You will need to have some sort of strategy to cope with the psychological aspects of your diet plan. Fortunately, there are many ways to do this without relying purely on your innate willpower.

An Easy Way

Perhaps the easiest way to do this is to join a fit camp. It’s been proven that weight loss programs tend to be more effective when done in groups. The spirit of competition often gives participants the motivation they need to keep working towards their goals and to maintaining their target weights afterward. A fitness or weight loss camp takes this concept to a whole different level by pushing the concepts of fitness camp into higher gear. Read more…

It’s not unusual for doctors to prescribe diets that have us cutting back on salt, especially if we’re prone to having heart ailments. Low sodium diets, which mean that you can only consume about 1,500 to 2,400 mgs of sodium a day, are frequently pushed on those with vigorous lifestyles and those with health problems. This is because studies have shown that the average American eats about five or so teaspoons of salt every day -way more than the body’s requirement of one-quarter of a teaspoon each day!

Still, an article from Time Magazine’s website questions the practice of cutting back on salt for health reasons. Aptly entitled “Does Cutting Salt Really Improve Heart Health,” Meredith Melnick reports about a study published in the Cochrane Library (an organization that helps healthcare providers keep informed) that claims that there are no clear benefits from cutting down on salt in as far as lessening the risk of cardiovascular ailments or death. Read more…

Have you ever noticed that after finishing your usual exercise routine you somehow felt more calm, serene, relaxed and even euphoric? Evidence stemming from recent research shows a correlation between exercise and improved mental health.

Norwegian researchers recently published survey results announcing that those engaging in even small amounts of exercise report improved mental health compared to fellow survey takers who almost never got out and exercised.

A separate study presented at the annual meeting of the American College of Sports Medicine showed that six weeks of bike riding or weight training eased the symptoms of anxiety disorder in women participants. The study further showed that weight training was particularly effective at reducing the feeling of irritability.

While the studies above have mentioned the cause and effect between exercise and mental health, it has not gone into an in-depth explanation of this relationship into the cellular level. Read more…

From the early 1960s towards the early 1980s, dieting was considered to be only a woman’s concern and preoccupation. Weight loss and reduction were synonymous with women’s fashion and was part of a beauty regimen.

This outlook however changed in the late 1980s when men suddenly started to be more health conscious. In fact, weight loss became a major concern for men as there were more health and workout centers that started to cater for their requirements for weight reduction.

Before the 1990s, liposuction has slowly emerged as an option that men took if they wanted to lose weight fast, and reduce their bulging bellies.

But behind the glamour and fads, there was an urgent need for men to start taking their health seriously. Diet and weight loss then became a common term among men like cars and sports.
According to Laurence Beeken of Weightlossresources.co.uk, “dieting should be easier for men: they have a higher metabolic rate than women and a lower propensity to store fat.” Read more…