Weight gain is quite common during the holiday season. While it’s often linked to overeating, overdrinking, or otherwise overindulging, these aren’t always the culprits. In fact, physical inactivity and sedentary behaviors (more sitting and lying down) in general also play major roles.
A lot of exercise and weight loss enthusiasts are downright obsessed with abdominal (ab) workouts. Interestingly, over the years, I’ve found that a large chunk of these folks are quite misinformed about abdominal muscles. And, equally misinformed about how best to work them.
With all the freshly baked cookies, cakes and pies, eggnog, apple cider, and other delectable foods and drinks surrounding you during the holiday season it’s probably not the best time to start a structured weight loss regimen. But, there’s no reason why you have to pack on extra pounds.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have once again warned Americans to stay away from romaine lettuce due to its potential contamination with E. coli. This time around the warning specifically includes all types of romaine harvested from California such as whole heads of romaine, hearts of romaine, […]
We all know that food is a focal point of holiday celebrations. And, high-calorie, carb-rich side dishes are without doubt main staples in virtually every household. But, if you’re watching your weight, trying to cut back on sugar, or even just trying to make healthy choices, eating too much of these foods can certainly be […]
Over 450 million people worldwide have diabetes, a number that’s projected to double within the next three decades. Remarkably, 90-95% of people with diabetes have the form known as type 2 or non-insulin-dependent diabetes, a largely preventable condition in which inadequate carbohydrate metabolism results in chronically high blood glucose (sugar) levels (hyperglycemia).
A while back I met with a longtime client who was extremely excited about her new hobby, making “healthy” smoothies. For the sake of privacy, I’ll call her Karen. Over the course of my consulting with Karen, she’d successfully lost weight and lowered both her blood pressure and cholesterol levels—so much so that she was able to reduce her use of medications. […]
The start of November marks the beginning of the holiday season. And, I’m sure you already know that holidays and social eating go hand in hand. Problem is, with all the rich foods and sweet indulgences that surround families during holiday parties, gatherings and events, combined with those lazy days spent indoors, the threat of […]
Women often ask me what kinds of foods they should eat or what types of exercises they should do to prevent breast cancer. Not at all surprising, as breast cancer is the most feared cancer among women. Indeed, 1 in 8 will be diagnosed in her lifetime.
Quite a number of years back, one of my Facebook followers asked me to discuss some ways in which exercise, good nutrition and other healthy lifestyle behaviors could potentially play a role in inspiring people to leave domestic violence situations. Motivated by her request, I decided to share my own story in an effort to inspire […]
Time and time again I’ve seen fitness gurus and weight loss enthusiasts proudly posting images depicting tons of unhealthy foods on various social media platforms during their so-called “cheat days”. You too may have ascribed to occasional cheat days and even posted a few images yourself. This is not surprising as some of the more […]
Red meat has hit the headlines once again with controversial new guidelines suggesting there’s no longer a need to cut back on it. Needless to say, this has caused a massive uproar among leading health and nutrition scientists and experts, and, at the same time, created more confusion amongst the general public.
You can eat kale and quinoa every day, and even have the perfect workout routine, but if you’re constantly under stress and doing little to manage it, you’re still putting your health at risk. Trust me, I’m speaking from experience.
Successful recovery from any surgery is highly contingent on the body’s ability to control inflammation. This is a normal response and is essentially the body’s chief defense mechanism. Symptoms can vary from mild to severe and generally include swelling, pain, and loss of function. In spite of these undesirable effects, the inflammatory response must be […]
Wonder why you’re getting on the scale at every single doctor’s office visit? Whether for a routine medical exam or a general sick visit, your body weight is almost always one of the first things measured. This measurement is sure to be followed up with some type of height assessment. Once both your height and […]
Many people spend large chunks of their valuable workout time repeatedly performing trunk-flexing exercises like sit ups and leg raises in an effort to develop sexy, flat abdominal muscles. Generally speaking, these are the superficial muscles that people can see like the rectus abdominis (“six pack”) and obliques (those “hands-in-pockets” looking muscles underneath the love handles).
It’s Labor Day weekend—The official last holiday weekend of the summer season! For many, it’ll also be among the last of epic barbecue and grilling marathon days this year.
With every passing year, a new pool of incoming college freshmen are faced with the sudden risk of double-digit weight gain commonly known as the “freshmen 15”. While some folks call it fiction, the fact of the matter is that many students do experience weight gain during the first couple of years of college oftentimes […]
Those of you who regularly follow my blog, know that I often post images of my daily calorie burn rates as tracked by the activity app of my Apple Watch. But, what you may not know is that I actually have a love-hate relationship with activity trackers and monitors.
If you know me personally or even follow me on social media, by now you surely know that I’m an absolute sucker for salads—And, I’m not talking about those old bland, boring blends of lettuce and all-purpose garden vegetables with heaping scoops of fat-free dressing on top. There’s just no fun in eating like that.
