The New Year is all about finally getting things right, starting fresh and shedding the extra pounds from the holiday season. Right now you’re probably all geared up, ready to hit the gym once and for all. Fitness resolutions are great but you might be setting yourself up for failure in mid-February when you decide to have drinks on the beach instead of working on your body. So what can you do to sustain your health zest for good?

Change your attitude about fitness. Excessive willpower won’t work. Willpower is for short-term success. In order to establish long-term sustainability, plan your fitness routine in advance, establish a clear and measurable fitness goal and find ways to motivate yourself. Establish how many times a week you would want to train (including the time and place), at what realistic intensity and what type of exercise. Understand that discipline and consistency is what works best in maintaining a healthy lifestyle.

Be honest to yourself. Make a self-analysis about your emotional and physical health. Are you stressed? Do you eat for comfort? Are your family members or loved ones going to give you that space for you to work out? How serious are you about making changes? Answer these questions and then decide what YOU really need. Be easy on yourself and start slow. Do not jump into a lifestyle change that is too drastic. Slide into a lifestyle change that is maintainable and realistic.

Focus on the positive. Count the things you love about your body and not the things you despise. This way, when you get more fit, you’ll embrace your continual success and not get unmotivated in the process.

Diets don’t work! Don’t get into the ‘yo-yo’ habit. Even though you want to lose the weight quickly, you are not going to keep it off with all the fad diets. Eat consciously, develop a good relationship with food and eat frequently in small portions throughout the day. You generally know what’s healthy and what’s not. Go for a balanced nutrition that allows you to appreciate all the food groups without turning to packaged junk or fast food that’s high in trans-fat.

Share your plan with your loved ones. Let your friends and family know what your fitness and health goals are. This way, they can support you, understand your challenges and praise you for your steady success. Show them your workout schedule and tell them that you take that time for yourself seriously.

It’s all about sustainability and conscious growth in health and fitness. Love yourself and give yourself the opportunity to make changes for life and not for the first two months of the New Year. Good luck

Beer belly, tummy fat, love-handles,muffin-top; indeed simply mentioning these nicknames brings a knowing smile to most peoples face. These days’ controlling the waistline has become such a pervasive issue that we’ve developed many nicknames (and ‘quick fixes’) for the issue. So what is the real solution to this problem that many of us are facing?

Studies have shown that excessive fat around our mid-section is even a medical indicator to a long list of illnesses such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, obesity and cancer. Even though many of us want to trim for beauty we should also understand that there are some serious health risks associated with an overgrown belly, giving us even more reason to trim down!

We are regularly bombarded with an array of fitness gadgets to help us shape up, such as the vibrating tummy belt (for tummy spot reduction) to mechanical galloping machines. We are told that if we sat sedentarily on our couch (even while sipping on soda) and had our abs massaged by a machine, we’d develop solid washboard abs. The lesson here is: if you don’t physically exert yourself, there is no way to a beautiful six-pack.

To slim down our stomach, we need to engage in aerobic exercise in order to eliminate overall body fat. Crunching it out and doing hundreds of sit-ups will work on toning the abdominals but will unfortunately do nothing to the rest of the surrounding muscles or the fatty tissue (adiposity) that is just sitting on top. Think of your midsection as a corset, to pull it in tighter we want to focus on all the muscles surrounding that area. The abdominals are just one part of a plethora of postural and superficial muscles that are all working together synergistically. That’s why spot-reduction isn’t physiologically possible. Your body is a kinetic chain rather than a division of sections you like and dislike. So, get your whole body moving! The more muscles you involve and the higher the overall intensity - the more calories burned.

If you focus on your whole body by strength training large muscle groups and getting on a continuous cardiovascular routine, you will be able to tighten it up and increase your metabolism rapidly! Muscle naturally increases your metabolism while a higher fat percentage decreases the overall calories burnt throughout a day. For every 1 lb. of muscle gained, you naturally burn 60 calories a day. If you gain 3 lbs of muscle you burn 180 calories a day (that is better than doing 100 sit-ups daily). Do a functional fitness program that includes core strengthening and follow a balanced rather than focused fitness approach.

The most important component to a naturally stunning stomach is your diet. In one study it was shown that a healthy and balanced diet counted for 65 percent of the health of your midsection. Exert more energy than you take in on a daily basis and keep a food-log to keep you on track. If you can shed 500 calories per day through exercise and healthy eating, you can lose almost 1 lb of body fat a week. Remember to keep your blood sugar constant and don’t starve yourself. When your body goes into starvation mode (basically when you start feeling moody from hunger) your body actually holds on to fat because it thinks you are not going to eat. The best gift you can give your tummy is to never overload it. Graze throughout the day, consuming 5-6 small, healthy meals while avoiding sugary drinks (remember that 1 soda roughly equals to 12 tablespoons of sugar). Alcohol also slows down your metabolism and fills you with empty but hefty calories, similar to those of fatty foods. In other words, stick to the lean protein, the greens, the natural and flush out the toxins with plenty of water.

If you want to flaunt your midriff in some hipsters, twelve weeks is the average time it takes to see dramatic changes. Cardio it up, get your metabolism under control, eat healthy and feel the burn!

Let’s face it. We are all stressed in some way. Stress can linger physically from something like a chronic knee injury, can challenge us emotionally or can even affect us internally in the form of a chemical imbalance. Whatever the cause may be, we need to analyze our own stressors to identify what exercises and lifestyle choices can get us back on track. Many of my ‘Type A’ clients always wonder: Why am I not fit if all I do is run around all day and hit the gym five times a week? The secret lies in your autonomic nervous system (ANS), which is primarily responsible for controlling your body to reach homeostasis.

The ANS is composed of primarily your parasympathetic nervous system (PNS), the system responsible for rest/repair and build, and the sympathetic nervous system (SNS) that prepares your body to react quickly in fight or flight situations. Those two systems are responsible for the stresses in our life. The PNS (the body’s brakes) serves us as a soother: without it, we’d never be able to get to rest, have proper digestion or be able to grow physically or psychologically. The SNS (the accelerator) on the other hand is our activation mechanism, which when dominant, shunts blood and attention away from our internal organs and into our muscles to facilitate action. The SNS system is dominant in all situations that increase our heart rate or blood pressure momentarily.

The challenge in today’s society is that the SNS system is activated most of the time in most individuals, thereby creating muscle tension, fatigued limbs and even a loss of sexual appetite. Financial stress, poor quality foods, emotional hardship, exercising too much or too little are the factors of an unbalanced lifestyle. Always being on the go (include excessive exercise) can lead us to weight gain and psychological fatigue. Often your body will rebel and let you know that you need to slow down, signaling you in the form of sickness or long-term ailments. So what is the answer for an overly dominant SNS?

Even though some types of stresses are good for us (by provoking growth and health) we need to identify the 6 physiological stressors that over activate the SNS in our lives:

Physical stress
Good: Active and healthy exercise that enables a balanced lifestyle
Bad: Suppression of immune system due to lack of exercise,too much active body tension or excessive exercise
Chemical Stress
Good: The right ingestion of vitamins/enzymes/proteins/fats
Bad: Synthetic foods (such as soft drinks) that cannot be neutralized in the body and therefore remain as toxins
Electromagnetic Stress
Good: Sunlight!
Bad: Overexposure/ underexposure to sunlight
Mental Stress
Good: Learning/studying/creating future plans
Bad: Taking on too much responsibility/ emotional hardships
Nutritional Stress
Good: Consuming then right amount of natural and nutritious foods
Bad: Overeating/eating too little
Thermal Stress
Good: Maintaining your core body temperature
Bad: Exposure to drastic changes in temperature

In order for us to reach homeostasis and proper functioning we need to recognize that sometimes running on a treadmill like a mad-man will not do us any good. If your body is already in PNS debt, is fatigued from stress at work, suffering from a sweet tooth, or is in distress from personal issues, then you are not physically ready for excessive energy output. To exercise excessively under these conditions could lead you into a downward spiral of unhealthy bodily functions and an unhappy mental state. So yes, if you are stressing about body image at the end of a stressful day at work, you are not doing anything to really help your body. You are just letting the SNS take over and drain you.

So, for those frazzled individuals out there: try a balanced fitness routine of meditation, light cardiovascular exercise and easy weight training. Do an energizing workout rather than a goal driven (half-maniac) workout. It’s not emasculating to do tai chi or meditation rather than hitting the boxing ring. Be gentle and give your body an active rest through slow and cautious exercise. Once you feel a sense of zest and readiness – go for that workout you want for yourself. The most important objective is that you feel good at the end of your workout and not worn out. Identify the triggers of your physiological stressors and do something to heighten your PNS. Once you reach homeostasis you’ll be happier and fitter!

The honey trap: Decadent triple chocolate cake, French crème brule, New Yorker blueberry cheesecake, Rich nougat gelato; Is your mouth watering yet? Sugar, has been our sweet escape, our comfort on lonely nights and our companion since the beginning of time. Our prehistoric ancestors used the detection of sweetness as a sign that something was edible. Therefore, we have psychological dispositions to feel ‘safety’ with sugar. Studies have shown that we naturally gravitate to sugar because the effects are similar to those of drugs such as morphine or even heroin. Sugar can produce opiodis in our brain, giving us a feeling of pleasure and self-satisfaction. So why are there 6 million Google links on the harmful effects of processed sugars?

Studies have shown that the average American eats 158 pounds of sugar a year. That would be 800 extra calories per day in the form of pure sugar which equals to 1 pound gained every 5 days. The primary diseases associated with the consumption of these extra calories are obesity, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, poor immune functions, a rapid decrease in energy and a roller-coaster affect in your hormonal functions. With a worldwide epidemic in obesity we are not only harming ourselves and feeding the pockets of mean ‘Willy Wonkas’ but we are also harming the environment with useless sugar cane plantations. So what is the true golden ticket?

Vanquish the sugar monsters by avoiding: White sugar, brown sugar, cane syrup, sucrose, glucose, sucralose, dextrose, fructose, corn syrup, maltose, xylitol, sorbitol, aspartame, nutrisweet etc. Yes, sweeteners also contribute to a weakening of immune functions!

Stay natural with: fruits, raw honey, pure maple syrup, molasses, stevia and agave. The average human being consumes enough sugars through grains and starches and usually doesn’t need to fill the void with extras. If you are feeling the sugar craving treat yourself to 1 square of organic dark chocolate or tea with honey (if there are absolutely no fruits around).

Stay regular with mini-meals: Eat something healthy and nutritious every 2-3 hours. This way, your metabolism won’t go into sugar deficit and hypoglycemia. Once you get your diet off the binge habit, you’ll stop craving sugar for good. If you continue having problems, focus on exercising and seeing a nutritionist or health professional. They could help you with an initial detoxification program to get you started.

Even though we suffer from the many physical hardships of sugars, it is said that sugar-cravings a largely psychological. Try to find some sweetness and wholesome love in your life and usually you are half the way there! So when it comes to delicious apple pie and citrus sorbet, try to skip that for some real honey!

Nowadays we come up with all kinds of excuses not to engage in physical activity: too busy, too old, too caught-up or too stubborn. Even the most excused of us have to walk from the TV set to the fridge, so let’s at least consider putting one foot over the other (in repetitive sequence, that is).

Walking is the nearest activity to perfect exercise and in fact is a large contributor to a healthy lifestyle. The human body is not only designed for daily movement, it is essential for optimal physiological function, which contributes to health and wellbeing. Harvard health studies show that a prescription of only 30 minutes of brisk walking a day/ 5 times a week can improve overall health by 30-40%! Daily outdoor pursuits can eventually:

Reduce the risk of heart attack/stroke
Decrease osteoarthritis and hip fractures
Lower blood pressure and heart rate
Reduce fat-weight or obesity
Eliminate bad cholesterol
Prevent depression
Lower digestive issues such as constipation
Manage stress and boost spirits

Walking is the most primal movement to man. Taking a stroll has been essential to our survival during our developmental years as well as our evolution. Do you remember the human evolution chart in primary school? They’re walking!
Walking uses the integration of the natural swinging of our arms, the muscular integration of our legs, the overall stimulation of blood flow and the integration of our core muscles. Calorie burning muscles are naturally utilized, therefore enhancing metabolism and activating our digestive system.
As walking enables rhythmic contraction and relaxation of all muscles and increases circulation in our lymphatic system, our body naturally ‘wakes up’. A steady walk can therefore make you feel happier, more focused and alert.

So next time you chose the elevator over the stairs or take the motorbike to visit a friend down the block, think again. It might just save your health in the long run!

Scenario: A workout buddy (who looks good in skin tight spandex) passes along an exercise tip and you believe it. You watch a late-night infomercial and become enticed by an ab-crunching, tae-bo kicking and hot-bod marketer. Why not believe them? Do they really know what they are talking about?

The fitness industry can become disheartening at times and many health ideas you hold dear are simply fiction. With health studies coming and going its hard to catch up but there are a few supported facts (tested by the American Council of Exercise) that might make you change your mind:

Myth 1: Running on a treadmill puts less stress on the knees than running on asphalt or pavement. The truth is: both put the same amount of weight bearing on the knees. There is no difference. If you are suffering from bad knees, use an elliptical, a rower or anything that is of low impact on contact with the ground. The harder you hit, the more damage you are causing. The absolute best thing is to change up your cardio by using a lot of variety. This way, your knees become stronger and less endangered of becoming injured. As an example: Use the stationary bike one day and swim on another day.

Myth 2: You can spot reduce! I have had clients coming to me with a whole wish list of the impossible: thinner waistline, bigger breasts, wider shoulders, large but tight buttocks and no change in the leg structure. It is important to remember that your genetic composition is also a determinant of what you can achieve. It is great to want to tone up, but remember that your body has the all-or-none rule. Fat reduction happens all over when toning up and body fat is lost in all areas of your body.

Myth 3: Strength training for women will make you look bulky. Oh girls… you can safely go hard on weights and you’ll look great! Females simple have not enough testosterone to be looking like Schwarzenegger on steroids. The more weight training you do, the faster you’ll burn calories, the easier it will be to maintain a tight butt and the better you’ll feel.

Myth 4. There is a magic bullet out there! Yet another joke. There is no quick fix. Nutritional supplements often use deceptive, misleading, or fraudulent advertising. So next time you buy a diet pill that promises a top figure, think twice. It’s probably too good to be true.

How pesticides and processed foods make us unhealthy.

Many of us wonder why we haven’t lost more weight or why we look good but feel like crap. Even though we might be calorie reducing and working out like maniacs, we come to the essential root problem: are we really eating what is good and nutritious?

In this crazy, polluted world, the US alone sprays 2 billion pounds of pesticides a year on crops that end up in our bodies through vegetables, fruits, meats, dairy and grains. Our bodies have never been fit to digest toxic and poisonous pesticides and are incapable of actually ridding them from our system. Anything we ingest literally becomes a part of us. It is our cells (the core of our make up) that bear the immense job of dealing with this poison. Pesticides and any other farming impurities can lower our energy levels, slow down our metabolism, can weaken our immune system and lead to silent killers and long-term health effects such as cancer. Pesticides are not easily prevented. Consumers all over the world are still choosing beautifully sculpted, shinny and symmetrical fruits without asking the question: what did it take for that fruit to have a 3 week shelf life and grand esthetics?

There is in fact a large difference in nutrient values between organic and conventionally grown produce. Dr. Virginia Worthington reviewed 1,230 published comparisons between organically grown and conventionally grown crops. The results of the survey indicated that organic crops had higher nutrient levels and lower levels of toxicity in 56% of the comparisons. From that survey, it was also concluded that pesticides are carcinogenic, disrupt the endocrine system and impair immune response in individuals.

Such as pesticides, processed foods greatly affect our bodies negatively. These ‘non-foods’ actually cost more in nutritional value to digest, absorb and eliminate than they deliver. So when you read a label of ingredients and you find yourself not being able to pronounce a long list of chemicals that might as well be in super glue and nail polish, I suggest you stay far away from it. Any packaged goods that offer multi-syllable words that you have never heard of, are used to color, preserve, stabilize, emulsify, bleach and texture foods that can make us sick in the long-run. The consumption of packaged foods have become so popular in today’s culture that the FDA lists about 2800 international food additives and 3000 chemicals in normal day-to day products such as soft drinks and pre-made pasta sauces. These chemicals overwork the liver, end up in our blood stream and eventually lead to our cells. The pressure on our cells cause us to experience weight gain, skin disorders and low energy levels.

Today’s pesticides and processed foods are life threatening, alarming to our environment and unhealthy. So, the next time you are grocery shopping, ask yourself this simple question: Did that food item exist 100 years ago? Diet Coke sure didn’t.

Alcohol
Let’s face it: we were not made to drink alcohol. Even though we love to party with it, bask and wallow in it we know that it is absolutely not beneficial to our health. If we would get any benefits from alcohol, it would come from the grapes or source materials that provide iron and poly-phenols that act as anti-oxidants. In fact, there was nutritional value in beer years ago, but today, even the best beer hops are grown on the poorest of soils, assuring minimal nutritional value…unfortunately.

Statistics show that for every person that doesn’t consume alcohol, there is someone else around the corner that consumes around 74 gallons a year. So that alone, speaks of problems.

Alcohol’s simple chemical structure enables our body to easily absorb it through our stomach and small intestine, providing us with empty calories. Research shows that the metabolism of alcohol in the liver may not only disrupt the liver’s ability to produce energy, it may also drastically affect blood sugar. This may lead to hypoglycemia or hunger (this is why restaurants serve us booze before ordering our appetizer).

Alcohol also, when taken close to mealtimes, can act as a blocking agent that obstructs the passage of essential nutrients and vitamins to our body. Not only does it block the good stuff, it adds on 7 calories per each gram consumed! One night of drinks can easily add up to a full days’ food consumption! So what is the ‘healthiest’ alcoholic beverage? That would be: Red wine, for its nutritional quality and a simple vodka/soda for a low-calorie option.

Water
Simple H20 is the only thing we’ll ever need to drink. In seasonal countries it is suggested to drink an average of 8 glasses a day but in this tropical and humid atmosphere, the average person should drink up to 12 glasses a day (even more when one is active in this heat).

It is said that if the body is only 1% dehydrated, our cells start to actually shrink. Dehydration is therefore a huge stressor on our bodily functions. Without internal lubrication, it’s hard for our body to perform up to its full capacity and it will break down more easily. Aging is the process of our body actually loosing hydration. So remember, to prevent looking like a dried up prune inside and out, keep hydrated to slow the process of aging.

Milk, Juices, Sodas and Coffee
Americans today drink twice as much soda as milk and nearly six times more soda than fruit juice. This clearly demonstrates the power of advertising and certainly serves as a banner for addictive powers of both sugar and caffeine, particularly when combined. Adverse health effects from displacing water with soda pop, processed juice and caffeine include tooth decay, sugar/caffeine addiction, nervousness, insomnia and attention deficit disorder. Even though milk serves as a great calcium booster and coffee wakes us up, they are actually not natural to our evolution. Both have only become popular in the last 60 years. 8 hours of sleep and foods high in nutritional value should be the solution to a strong body and an alert mind. When it comes to sodas and juices, to get an energy boost, just eat a fruit. That’s it.

When I found out that FAR infrared Sauna’s existed in Bali, I was sure to try it and see the benefits for myself. I had heard about the countless detoxifying benefits of FAR infrared Sauna’s before but had never experienced it first hand. As we are confronted with pollution and countless health risks so intensely that the general public and the medical industry has started to stress the importance of detoxification, I was convinced to try this modern way of detoxifying. As most of our health ailments derive from trapped toxins that have clogged the natural functions of our body, it is said that sweating (as one form of detoxification) is imperative when living in today’s world. After experiencing a couple of sessions in this wooden lodge, I was sure to spread the rumor…

FAR infrared Sauna’s were discovered and used by NASA to keep the astronauts warm when in orbit. Further research by Japanese and Chinese researchers led to the discovery of the amazing health benefits from the use of FAR infrared energy. It is also the same gentle radiation used to keep premature babies warm. Unlike traditional Finnish Sauna’s, the FAR infrared Sauna heats through a process called conversion, heating your body comfortably instead of heating the air around you and leaving you drained and exhausted. What makes it vastly superior is that the energy penetrates the body’s tissues far deeper than a regular sauna. As a result, the ionic bond between toxins and tissue can be broken down, eliminating it through sweat. It has been estimated that a person sweats eight times more toxins through the use of a FAR infrared Sauna than through the use of a traditional dry sauna. Dr. Sherry Rogers from the American Academy of Environmental Medicine and author of ‘Detox or Die’ says that it’s the only way of removing man-made toxins from our bodies. She also underlines that bio-accumulated toxins are responsible of all diseases not attributed to bacteria and virus.

The FAR infrared Sauna is an effortless way of detoxifying. To best explain it- it slowly heats you from within rather than intensely cooking you from the outside (you can even bring in reading material). A session will therefore not leave you gasping for a breath of fresh air. There is something very natural about the experience, as it makes you feel like a baby in its womb. The temperature is also much lower than regular saunas. The range that the traditional saunas operate at is at around 100 C degrees (because it uses direct heat in the form of steam) while the FAR infrared sauna operates at around 50 degrees C (even though you sweat more). This comfortable environment makes it easy for people with heart conditions and high blood pressure to enjoy it as well.

FAR infrared Saunas increase the metabolism and blood circulation, reduce joint stiffness and muscle pain, help rejuvenate the skin, boost the immune system, decrease cellulite and assist in overall longevity. A 30 min session can burn 300-600 calories while leaving you relaxed, awakened and rejuvenated. Long-term effects of using a FAR infrared Sauna will dramatically lower the chances of ailments such as cancer, hyper-cholesterol, high blood pressure, obesity and any other health risks associated to pollution. This effortless detoxification method is a modern yet environmentally friendly way of taking care of our body (using about only a hair-dryer’s worth of electricity). My advice to anyone is…go try it!

Two years ago, an overstressed stockbroker came to me with endless excuses about why he hasn’t engaged in a cardio program. His problems to an unhealthy lifestyle were: having no time, no access to treadmill or workout equipment, an inconsistent time schedule and too many business trips. When I saw his weekly agenda, I realized that realistically he would only have 3-10 minute intervals of spare time a day!

Having in mind that he wouldn’t stick to any training sessions, I decided to lend him my jump rope (cost price around $3.50!). This simple cardio tool enabled him to bring it anywhere and to do cardio at home before breakfast, in his meeting room at lunchtime and in his hotel room all around the world. The convenience of having a portable gym helped him get fit and enabled him to do a quick re-vitalizer workout whenever he had a spare second!

Skipping with a jump rope is one of the most effective and practical ways of cardiovascular endurance. The jump rope is the foundation of any boxer’s conditioning program and has been used among athletes for years. The simplicity of the jump rope will never go out of fashion and is beneficial for anyone that can handle high-impact training.

According to research by fitness experts, only 10 minutes of concentrated skipping is equivalent to 30 minutes of jogging at a 5.7 mph pace. This intense and effective workout even tones up general muscle groups in your body. The lower body engages calves and hamstrings most dominantly while the rhythmic movements of the upper body also enable the deltoids, chest and the upper back.

A short engagement with the ropes can even reduce cellulite and may boost your overall energy level. In a recent sport’s study it was shown that an average of 12 calories per minute are burnt for a 150 lbs person that jumps an average of 72 times a minute! A jump rope can be incorporated into any workout plan by doing a set of endurance and strength intervals. You can alternate rounds of skipping with crunches and push-ups until you’ve completed 30 minutes or more of exercise. If you are one of these people that are extremely busy and need a bit of an energy boost, here is a sample of a ‘mid-day revitalize’ program that lasts a maximum of 15 minutes. These couple of minutes per day might just make all the difference in your lifestyle!

The mid-day Revitalize Program
(…For the busy ones)

Note: Stretches are highly advised! If any pain in the joints (especially the knees) occur…stop immediately.

How the spread of obesity affects us everywhere we go

Two weeks ago I passed through a simple Balinese village and was blown away by how many locals snacked on junk bought at common ‘warungs’. Only eight years ago I observed school children eating out of banana leafs but today, they are obsessing over empty calories like chocolate candies and cheap cookies. What is to blame? Is it the global economy, the western influences or the fact that it has become acceptable for us to be calorie-consuming couch potatoes? It has become clear that there are consequences to globalization and the growth of sugar-infested goods. Little Wayan is now also singing ‘ I scream for ice-cream’ just like little Bobby.

Obesity (also known as excess adiposity) has become an international problem. Socio-economic causes and consequences have contributed to the rising health concerns even in developing countries such as Indonesia. The World Health Organization (WHO) has indicated that obesity has become a global epidemic with over 1 billion overweight adults, of which 300 million are clinically obese. There was even a study by WHO researchers indicating that being overweight affects more people than malnutrition and hunger.

Although the US is home to the largest number of obese people in the world, obesity has become so prevalent within Asia that countries such as Japan and Korea have had the largest increase in adult obesity worldwide in the last two years. Growing obesity rates have created global problems with serious social and economic consequences. Studies have indicated that an individual’s excessive waist circumference can cause a whole line of diseases such as type II diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, certain cancers, stroke and depression. In addition, excess adiposity negatively correlates with earnings and wages, meaning many of us are not only fat but also poor.

There are many root problems of adiposity, and leaving genetics aside, current theory holds that weight-related problems are caused by the difference between calories consumed and calories expended. Though many Balinese lead a very active lifestyle, they have just recently been bombarded with an abundance of packaged foods. As the introduction of chemically infested foods in Indonesia is so recent, the physiological adaptation of individuals has yet to adjust to this new diet, making many more prone to the health related issues of obesity.

In addition to the physiological reasons listed above, excessive adiposity in Bali has also been driven by the move toward modern lifestyles and conveniences. This societal shift that now also affects the Balinese has led to increased ingestion of fast foods and soft drinks, the rising dietary intake of saturated fats and sugars, and an overabundance in caloric intake. Our need for the quick fix has also replaced home-cooked meals with tv-dinners or going out to restaurants that generally serve larger portion sizes. Researchers have also found that with technological changes and the choices that we make in entertainment, we have increasingly become inactive and sedentary. The increased food abundance and agricultural innovations have even changed in Asia, making it easier for us to have unhealthy (but very yummy) options that make us morbidly fat.

Population and consumption data reveal that socio-economic and cultural factors are affecting the spread of obesity around the world. The fight against weight problems may also require having an understanding of the sociological perspectives of cultural change and economic growth. In today’s junk food economy we truly do need to remind individuals “they are what they eat”. So whether you are consuming an American super-sized burger or eating an Asian multi-colored treat, you cannot run from the obesity epidemic. Even though you are stuck in the global village of the fat, you can still prove a point. Go back to the banana leaf diet!

The time has come when you don’t have to be a Hollywood celebrity or a sport’s star to have a personal trainer. A health advisor and lifestyle coach can help anyone, regardless of your physical condition, your goals and your age. It really is never too late! As having a personal trainer can be a huge deal to most people, it is important to understand the benefits and considerations before jumping in!

The first thing you need to decide before inquiring about a personal trainer is what goals you would like to achieve. Do you simply want to tone up? Bulk up like hulk? Recover from an injury or want to improve your athletic performance?

A good personal trainer should be able to apply a program to any type of goal and be flexible to your needs and personality. A trainer should be a coach, role model, educator and cheerleader who will customize a program to fit your health needs and time-schedule.

The next step is to establish how much time and money you would like to spend on your health. Also question your own motivation when it comes to getting your butt in gear. Do you want to use training services several times a week to stay monitored and keep your momentum? Or do you want a trainer that you meet occasionally to check in with your program and your progress?

Once you have decided to go forth and get a lifestyle coach, get ready with a list of considerations and questions that need to be answered before working out:

- Does the personal trainer have certification in personal training by a recognized organization?
- What is the trainer’s experience and can they provide testimonials and references from former or current clients?
- Is the trainer familiar with your injuries, health problems and your medical history?
- Are they able to educate you and improve your condition though proper fitness and nutrition counseling?
- What are the trainer’s fees? Are there package deals? Special offers?
- Does the personal trainer have time for your schedule?
- Do you like the trainer? Are you comfortable and confident in their skills and expertise?
- Do you need to check in with your doctor before going ahead with a fitness program?

Once you have met with your trainer and have established the ground rules, make sure that the trainer completes a full health assessment to set a benchmark for your success. Your personal lifestyle coach should be able to fill these tasks for you:

-Assess you on your health and fitness condition and be able to set a program for your needs
- Be able to do a fitness evaluation through a series of practical tests (e.g. Flexibility, strength, endurance, body fat percentage)
- Be able to educate you on any health matters, latest trends in fitness, proper technique and execution of exercise.
- Be able to give you advice on nutrition and lifestyle choices
- Be able to motivate and inspire you
- Be able to give you a personalized exercise program
- Be able to engage in supervised exercise and one-on-one attention
- Be able to explain health concepts and help you to understand your body and how it functions
- Be able to set health goals and help you achieve them

The benefits of having your own trainer are endless. Having your own motivator to good health can dramatically improve your appearance, decrease the chances of premature death and increase your motivation and joy in all areas of your life. Yeah, it might cost you a bit more than a normal gym membership but if you have no clue what you are doing and you don’t go most of the time…why not? Spending time and money on your own health is probably the best long-term investment.

Hollywood’s new answer to cardio: High Intensity Interval training (HITT)

If you are bored of the stubborn padding on your tummy and the never-ending 30 minute-or-so torture on the treadmill…then you need to read on. Cardio, as you know by now, can be repetitive and uneventful. If your cardio doesn’t turn you on, it won’t make much difference on your physique. Fortunately, there is an answer to cranking up your workout in a shorter period of time! The High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) method is the hottest new thing in Hollywood and it can certainly become your answer to weight loss and athletic performance.

HIIT is an exercise strategy that is intended to improve performance with short training sessions and exercise bouts. It can even burn fat 9 times faster because its performed at such an intense level that your body will spend the rest of the day expending energy to recover from the ass-kicking you gave it. This means that you consume a great deal more oxygen recovering from the exercise than you would from a steady-state workout. This intense workout is meant to be done in a focused 20 minute time period, 2-3 times a week and can work in with your regular program. Basta!

Firstly, I am talking about intense training. The downfall: no TV watching or ipod listening. This is serious business! You will need to push yourself out of your comfort zone. If you are willing to do this, I can guarantee that you will spend less than half the time you usually do on those machines. HIIT training has a number of benefits in addition to the reduction in training time. This type of training is far superior to steady-state exercises when it comes to increasing your VO2 max, which is the maximum amount of oxygen you can uptake during exercise. This means that you’ll be in much better shape when it comes to playing football with the guys.

Secondly, when you perform long-duration, moderate-intensity exercise, you can actually put yourself in a catabolic state in which you will start losing muscle mass. That’s right: Some of that hard-earned muscle will start degrading itself in your quest to get lean.

There is a range of activities that you can do with HIIT. However, you should not do HITT if you have major injuries or a heart disorder. It’s not for the faint of heart!

When choosing an activity try to pick one that safely uses the largest muscle groups in your body. HITT will try and tap the energy sources found inside the muscle. The absolute best for HIIT is sprinting. If however you have injuries or other problems, that prevent you from sprinting, by all means, pick something else you can manage safely. The second best would probably be a stationery bike.

HITT explained:

Start with a 5-minute steady state warm up at a moderate speed. After completing the warm-up, stretch the major muscle groups, to prepare for hardcore training. For the next 10 minutes engage in an interval training consisting of two different bouts. A 90-second moderately hard run and a 30-second full-out sprint. It’s important that the sprint is all out. Give it all you got! Repeat those bouts until you hit the 10-minute mark (you will need a stop watch to make this easier). By the end of the 15 minutes already engaged, you should be completely exhausted. For a cool down, walk it out for another 5 minutes. Do this 2-3 times weekly, and you will see what it does for you. Wonders!

(Joints, muscles and bones)

Cracking your knuckles will give you arthritis
Even though your mother cringes at your cracking knuckles, you keep doing it, right? Even though it may sound damaging, you’re not doing any harm to your joints, muscles or bones - unless you feel pain when you crack them. When a chiropractor adjusts your spine, you may hear the same sounds. Any of those painless noises your joints make are caused by the high-pressure suction of gas being expelled when your joints move apart. Sometimes, it’s a much-needed release to your joints. Don’t go over-do it but be reminded that its actually not cracking joints, but rather, releasing pressure! So yeah…it’s a definite myth.

Muscle turns into fat
This is a good one. Do your bones turn into muscle? No.

Lying down will accelerate the recovery from back pain
If you’ve ever strained your back, you know that the pain is excruciating. It can be paralyzing - making it difficult to walk, to sit, to get up of to even sleep. All you want to do is lie down and flick on sitcom re-runs and remain still. Statistically speaking, it has been shown that staying in bed for longer than 48 hours can weaken your back muscles- and increase your risk of further injury. In order to recover from a strain, your muscles need to grow stronger and stay active, and the only way they’ll do that is by working, even if its just a little bit. The best method: Walk around the house. Keep moving.

Doing crunches will save your back
It’s true. Not only will abdominal exercises strengthen your bones and the muscle of the back, but they will also strengthen your midsection - which takes weight and pressure off your back. Think of your midsection as a corset. The tighter you adjust it, the more it will affect the tightness and posture all around the band of your torso.

Training for marathons is healthy on your joints
Finishing a marathon will earn you a medal, a great physique and increased cardiovascular stamina. While we respect marathoners and admire their passion, dedication and athleticism, we can’t endorse the training it takes to complete a race like that. Constant pounding on your joints and over-training increases the likelihood that you’ll suffer from joint problems and osteoarthritis down the road. Constant pounding on your joints can actually reverse the health of your knee joints. Sure we’d love to see you cross the finish line but we’d also like to maintain your knees. To live long and young you need to be physically active. But there is such a thing called overtraining and its important that you know where it becomes an issue on your bone structure.

You’re too overweight to exercise
I have had people literally tell me ‘Maybe it’s too late for me to exercise because I am so overweight’. Are you serious? Saying you are too fat to exercise is like saying you’re too skinny to eat. Your body needs to expend energy just as much as you consume energy. No matter how fat you think you are, you can do something to start the process of losing fat, strengthen your bones and relieving your joints of the load that they’re carrying. If you are scared to jump into an exercise program because its been too long since you have lifted a dumbbell, then see a doctor first but other than that, you don’t really have an excuse. Start small: Walk five minutes a day and increase by one or two minutes every few days. Soon you’ll be fit enough to walk a whole hour. Doing simple exercises in the comfort of your own home will be enough to begin the process of kick-staring your metabolism so your body can burn fat. If you want to live longer, start today. Everyday of procratination can put you into health jeopardy. Remember: the longer you wait, the harder its going to be to start off. So start today.

It is important to pick foods that are nutritious, especially if you are recovering from an illness or have been undernourished for a long time. There are easy ways of adding extra healthy calories to everyday meals:

- Add cheese, nuts and dressings made with olive, walnut or canola oil to salads
- Eat starchy vegetables such as potatoes and corn more often
- Add brown rice or sweet potatoes to your meal
- Consume extra protein by adding chicken, turkey or beef
- Have oatmeal with added fresh or dried fruit for breakfast
- Go for dried fruits or fruit juices as healthy higher calorie snacks
- Spread Peanut butter on whole grain bread, apples or celery sticks to get a great source of protein and calories
- Stick with healthy desserts, such as a bowl of berries with whipped topping and lot of chopped nuts
- Spoon healthy homemade salad dressings on sandwiches and as a dip for vegetables
- Dip whole grain bread into olive oil, walnut oil or flax seed oil
- If you don’t care for much meat, add legumes such as black beans, kidney beans and pinto beans as protein sources
- Pick dark chocolate as a treat. Dark chocolate has antioxidants that other sweets don’t have

Carbohydrates

Your body needs carbohydrates for energy. Carbohydrates are the best fuel for your body, although your body can use fats and proteins for energy if necessary. Since you need to gain weight, you should make sure you get enough carbohydrates to fuel your body as well as add the nutrients you need. Your best sources of carbohydrates are fruits, vegetables, and whole grains.

Fats and Oils

Healthy fats include the essential polyunsaturated omega-3 essential fatty acids and omega-6 fatty acids. You can only get these fats from your diet and they are important for healthy hair, skin, neurological functions. You want to add healthy fats to your diet by eating lots of fish, flax seeds and nuts. Avoid foods that contain large amounts of saturated fats and trans-fats. Red meat, processed lunch meats, hot dogs and sausage have all been connected with higher risks of diseases such as heart disease and some cancers. Avoid fried foods as well. Fried foods such as french fries, donuts and fried fish or chicken are sources of trans fats and not a healthy way to get the calories you need.

Proteins

The protein sources you choose are important too. Your body needs protein for muscle and organ structure and for normal immune system function. Your body also uses protein to make hormones and brain chemicals called neurotransmitters. Healthy protein sources include poultry, fish, legumes, nuts and seeds. Red meat is OK once or twice each week, but red meat contains a lot of saturated fat. A diet high in saturated fat has been linked to cardiovascular disease. Processed meats like hot dogs, sausages, bologna and other lunch meats are high in calories, but also associated with higher risks of cancer.

Portions Sizes and Meals

You can either add more calories to you diet by eating more meals per day, by adding snacks and by increasing your portion sizes. If a large meal makes you feel stuffed and uncomfortable, eat small portions, but eat more often. You can add healthy snacks throughout the day.

Exercise to Gain Weight

Exercise is important for good health and the right type of exercise can help you gain muscle, which will give you more body mass. Weight-lifting exercises that are designed to build muscle should be included with your weight-gaining diet and perhaps aerobic exercise should be cut back a bit.

It’s true. If you eat a fat-soaked, sugar coated and vanilla glazed doughnut, you will certainly feel like one and maybe even look like one. Next time you decide to consume anything that looks drenched, heavy and processed, analyze if it’s going to give you enough vitality to last you throughout the day. Think of your insides: your gut, your heart and your hard working capillaries. Are they going to be able to handle it? Think of your looks: is your skin going to glow, will you look aged or are you going to look and feel young?

To prove my point, I will let you in on how the foods we eat, replicate the way our bodies respond. Foods, in their natural physical shape say a lot about how we are going to look from the inside out.

When you slice a carrot, you’ll see what looks like a pupil, iris and radiating lines. It looks just like a human eye. Science has proven that carrots increase the blood circulation and the function of the eye.

Our heart looks identical to a sliced tomato. It is red and holds four chambers. Research has shown that tomatoes are indeed loaded with lycopine, which increase the myocardial blood flow.

Kidney beans help the Kidneys function.

Bones are made of 23% sodium. Coincidentally, so are celery, bak choy and rhubarb. These foods replenish the skeletal needs of the body. If you don’t’ have enough sodium in your diet, your bones become weak- just like a celery stick left in a kid’s lunch box.

Figs are full of seeds and hang in twos when they grow. Figs increase the mobility of male sperm and increase the numbers of sperm to overcome male sterility. Enough said!

Avocadoes, Eggplant and Pears target the health and function of the womb and cervix of the female - they look just like these organs. Today’s research shows that when a woman eats one avocado a week, it balances her hormones, sheds unwanted birth weight, and prevents cervical cancers. It also takes exactly nine 9 months to grow an avocado from blossom to a ripened fruit.

Onions look like the body’s cells. Today’s research shows onions help clear waste materials from all of the body cells. They even produce tears, which wash the epithelial layers of the eyes. A working companion, Garlic, also helps eliminate waste materials and dangerous free radicals from the body.

In times of severe despair, stress and emotional hardship, we don’t always want someone giving us advice and constant lecturing. So we turn to food because it doesn’t judge and it never fails to fill that empty space. Human beings are prone to wallow and self-indulge and so, we tend to look for quick fixes as a coping mechanism.
Eating carbs and sugary foods actually do give us a boost of energy and feel-good hormones. The problem is, is that after we feel a sense of relief from our emotional pain, we shoot right down and get even more depressed. The best way to deal with emotional hardship is to eat foods that sustain our metabolism. Once our vessel is on smooth sailing, we are able to handle stress and emotions with higher rationality.

The solution to emotional eating

Step 1- Establishing that you are an emotional eater

Ask yourself these following questions on anxious eating:

1. Do I crave sugar and carbs when I am stressed or when I am dealing with emotional difficulty?
2. Do I eat even though I’m not hungry (eg: boredom, socializing)?
3. Do I feel immediate emotional relief when eating carbs or sweets?
4. Am I preoccupied with food at the first sign of stress?
5. Is food my escape?

If you have answered ‘yes’ to four of these questions, you are an emotional eater!

Step 2- Detaching food from emotion

Food is not your best friend. Stop viewing food as a reason to live. Food is actually a resource to help your body function and retain energy. Food scientifically feeds your internal system and makes sure you can live, breath, think and look your best. View food as just calories-in. View physical activity as calories-out. That’s it.

Understand that you can actually deal with stress and emotional hardships more clearly if you just feed your metabolism with fresh and healthy choices. Eating right will make you feel good long-term and stop the quick fixes. Feeding your emotions will send your body and your mind into a never-ending emotional rollercoaster. Stop now!

Step 3 – Meditative eating

Every time you consume food, put your mind into a meditative state. Eat foods with full intension. Don’t eat on the go, don’t multi-task and try to really enjoy it:

1. Never get to the stage of being ravenously hungry!
2. When you are at a restaurant, glance at the whole menu and close the menu before you order. Think of the foods that will best feed your body. When you are grocery shopping, be rational and shop on the peripheries of the store. Most emotional foods linger in the centre isles!
3. Order or prepare the food that will best feed your body and that you don’t have an emotional attachment to.
4. When the food arrives in front of you, look at the food first and don’t dig right in. Be truly grateful for the food that you are about to consume!
5. Try to eat as slow as you can and enjoy the taste of everything even if it’s just a piece of lettuce.
6. Once you have finished the meal, be proud of yourself and the choices you have made. If you have had a hard day, be thankful that you have not resorted to your general quick fix.

Give yourself a month to undue your emotional eating habit. Focus on finding other coping mechanisms to handle stress. Take long walks, workout or take up a hobby that you’ve long forgotten. Good luck!

(The benefits of a flexible, healthy body)

Flexibility equals comfort. Having a supple and malleable body means that you are freeing your body of stiffness and premature aging. It doesn’t mean that you have to attain acrobatic and contorted pretzel positions in order to feel the benefits of a limber body, it just means, stretching daily to prevent aches and pains.

In physiological terms, flexibility is the range of motion about a joint or a series of joints and muscles. Like aerobic endurance and muscle strength, flexibility provides anti-aging benefits and is in fact, one of the most important components of fitness. Losing your flexibility to days and nights of sitting in front of your laptop is probably the biggest mistake you can do to your body. Your body is made to bend, twist and turn in all directions and leaving it to only one motion like forward walking and bending your elbow to stuff a Mars bar in your mouth, is not enough!

Sitting and standing for long periods of time can shift your body’s natural stance and can in fact change your posture, your centre gravity and the way you feel. As you age, your muscles naturally tighten and your range of motion can minimize. A loss of flexibility can halt an active lifestyle and even hinder day-to-day motions such as picking up a baby from the floor. Lengthened muscles and ligaments will prevent unnecessary injuries from leaping, jumping and touching your toes. The secret to a nimble body is engaging in a daily stretching routine. Studies have shown that only a 10-minute stretching session a day, can decrease joint and muscle ailments such as arthritis, chronic back pain or general postural problems by a large percentage.

The most important component of a general stretch is that you stretch to the point of mild tension and not pain and that the muscle is held for at least 30 seconds in a holding position. Bouncing or forcing into a stretch can actually damage muscle fibers and encourage a strain. So don’t follow the stretching routines from military workouts back in the 1940’s. Make sure you stretch on a warm muscle and take your time to breath into a stretch. Breathing correctly will oxidize the muscle and make it stretch further.

The following 10-minute routine can be done daily to elongate and loosen your basic large muscle groups. Make sure to warm-up lightly before engaging in this program. This program may decrease general stresses in your body and may help you feel more agile, loose-jointed and fit!

The 10 Minute Basic Stretching Program

Shoulder Stretch. Interlock your fingers and reach above your head. Your lower back should be flat or slightly arched inwards. You can perform this exercise sitting or standing.

Triceps Stretch. Place your left hand behind your head and reach as far down your back as possible. With your right hand grasp your left elbow and gently pull it behind the back of your head. You can perform this exercise sitting or standing. Repeat for the other arm.

Chest Stretch. Clasp your hands behind your back. Gently straighten your elbows and raise your arms as high as comfortably possible. You can perform this exercise sitting or standing.

Lower Back Stretch. Lying flat on your back place the sole of your right foot on your left thigh. Grasp your right knee with your left hand and gently roll it to the left. Try to get your knee as close to the floor as possible without your right shoulder leaving the floor.

Groin Stretch. Sit down and place the soles of your feet together. Clasp your ankles with your hands so that your elbows rest on your knees. Gently push your knees down with your elbows until your fell the stretch.

Quadriceps Stretch. Standing upright hold onto a support with one hand (i.e. a chair) for balance. With your other hand clasp your ankle and pull your heel into your butt. Repeat for the other leg.

Hamstring Stretch. Sitting down, stretch your legs out in front of you while keeping your back flat and upright. Bend your left leg keeping your left foot flat on the floor. Slowly reach forward and try to touch your right toe with both hands. Bend from your waist keeping your lower back flat and your head up. Repeat for the other leg.

Calf Stretch. Stand arms length away from a wall and with feet shoulder width apart. Place your right foot about 2 feet in front of your left. Keeping both heels flat on the ground lean towards the wall by bending your right knee. Your left leg should stay straight. Push gently against the wall for a deeper stretch. Repeat for the left leg.

Achilles Stretch. This is exactly the same procedure as above except as you lean towards the wall let both knees bend. Rather than leaning forward you should feel like you are lowering yourself straight down. Remember to keep both heels flat on the floor. Repeat for the other leg.

The benefits of meditation are endless and certainly deserve our contemplation and consideration. Many successful business people, celebrities and sports professionals practice and enjoy meditation as a daily routine. Research has scientifically proven that meditation is a safe and simple way to balance your physical, emotional, and mental state, contributing countless values that have been practiced for years.

In our daily lives, we expose ourselves to many stressors. Situations such as bearing the traffic on Sunset road or being yelled at by your kids, will trigger off the stress response which enables us to act without contemplation and deliberation. When our bodies are exposed to a sudden threat or stress we respond with the characteristic fight-or-flight reaction which is known as an adrenaline rush. When adrenaline and other hormones are released from the adrenal glands, our pulse races, blood pressure increases, our breathing becomes faster and our blood flow to our muscles increase. If we would be in extreme danger these reactions are of great assistance. We have inherited this survival response from our ancestors who faced many life-threatening situations every day. The same response is now triggered in our daily lives (even though we are not a bunch of Neanderthals being chased by tigers!) and can be controlled by meditation (yes, not medication).

One of the most important benefits of meditation is how it releases stress from our bodies. Meditation, practiced regularly will lead you to a deeper level of relaxation. If you want to be free of constant worry, pressure and stress, the benefits of meditation can give you a life that is calm, peaceful, happy and relaxed. Even ten minutes of meditation a day will help alleviate stress.

Meditation isn’t so mysterious after all. Neuroscientists have found that people who mediate at least 10 minutes/day shift their brain activity to different areas of the cortex - brain waves in the stress-prone right frontal cortex move to the calmer left frontal cortex. This mental shift decreases the negative effects of stress, mild depression and anxiety. There is also less activity in the amygdala, where the brain processes fear.

Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn of the University of Massachusetts Medical School, recorded the brain waves of stressed-out employees of a high-tech firm in Madison, Wisconsin. The subjects were split randomly into two groups, 25 people were asked to learn meditation over eight weeks, and the remaining 16 were left alone as a control group. All participants had their brain waves scanned three times during the study: at the beginning of the experiment, when meditation lessons were completed eight weeks later and four months after that. The researchers found that the meditators showed a pronounced shift in activity to the left frontal lobe. In other words, they were calmer and happier than before.

Though meditation is usually recognized as a largely spiritual practice, it may be used by people of all walks of life. If you are a Type A personality, drinking ten cups of coffee to have enough energy to go off on tangents for the rest of your life, I suggest that you start looking at sitting on a pillow, silently for around 5 minutes to start with. Meditation techniques should infact be implemented in the management of life threatening diseases; in the regeneration of a healthy genetic structure; in reversal of mental illnesses and to lower your heart rate and blood pressure all together. If you are not convinced yet, here is a list of the benefits meditation might have in your life:
Physiological, Psychological and Spiritual Benefits of Meditation:
- It increases blood flow and slows the heart rate
- Increases exercise tolerance
- Leads to a deeper level of physical relaxation
- Reduces anxiety attacks by lowering the levels of blood lactate
- Decreases muscle tension
- Reduces activity of viruses and emotional distress
- Enhances energy, strength and vigour
- Helps with weight loss
- Reduction of free radicals, less tissue damage
- Decreases the aging process
- Builds self-confidence
- Increases serotonin level, influences mood and behaviour
- Helps with focus & concentration
- Increased feelings of vitality and rejuvenation
- Increased emotional stability
- Decrease in road rage!
- Provides peace of mind, happiness
- Helps you discover a deeper understanding of yourself and others
- Increases the synchronicity in your life