Did I say the bench press was “bad”? Absolutely not! But it is not a magic bullet and should not serve as a quantifier for self-esteem. Nor should it be used as an overall measurement of strength or fitness. It is just the bench press, one of a hundred exercises that involves the pecs and can help in developing “pushing” strength. And like all of those other exercises, the bench press should be carefully evaluated for use by determining your true goal and your individual anatomical structure…not because of tradition or myth.

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PMS is not a rare condition. In fact it is estimated that most women will suffer from some of the PMS symptoms at some point during their lives, with the worst times for this disorder to be between the ages of 30-45. There are certain factors which make a woman more vulnerable and prone to PMS and these include stress, hormonal changes etc. There are no tests that specifically diagnose PMS so it is recommended that a woman charts her PMS symptoms for at least 2 cycles before visiting the doctor. For your convenience you can check out the PMS Symptom Chart. This chart can be downloaded for free and used to record the symptoms during the cycle.

There are no traditional drugs or medicine that will treat PMS although the birth control pill and diuretics have been prescribed in some cases. The practitioner who will examine you will recommend some practical suggestions to help reduce the symptoms of PMS. These include reducing caffeine intake, exercising regularly, taking all the necessary vitamins and sticking to a healthy balanced diet. More over herbal PMS remedies have been proven to be extremely effective in reducing, and in some cases even eliminating PMS symptoms completely.

The Fat Resistance Diet tries to correct the metabolic defects by eating foods that prevent leptin production, or that lower circulating levels of leptin.

The Fat Resistance Diet is rich in carbohydrates, including fruits and vegetables. Fruits and vegetables are good sources of phytonutrients, which contain carotenoids and flavonoids. They decrease inflammation and improve metabolism.

The diet is also rich in omega-3 oils, from eating fish.

The Fat Resistance Diet is an all-natural diet, using lots of good, whole foods. There are no sweeteners, and no supplements or special foods.

Like a lot of other diets, the Fat Resistance Diet has three stages. Stage 1 gets you going with weight loss, and people lose 6-10# in the first two weeks. Stage 2 is the weight loss stage, where you lose about 5# per month. Stage 3 begins when you’ve reached your target weight. It involves transitioning to weight maintenance eating using the same foods.

The Fat Resistance Diet is a healthy diet. Whether you lose weight or not, eating the foods on the Fat Resistance Diet is a healthy choice.

Gittleman says that there are five “hidden factors” that keep us from losing weight. They are:

• Liver health
• Food sensitivities that lead to water retention
• Fear of eating fat
• Problems with insulin and inflammation
• Stress

Hers is a three-stage diet. The first stage is detoxification, and is very restrictive. During the second stage, some foods are added back, and the third stage is lifetime maintenance. Gittleman favors organic foods and nutritional supplements.

In addition to eating well, Gittleman’s plan includes:

• 20-40 minutes of exercise daily
• Strength training twice a week (in stage 3)
• 8 hours of sleep daily
• Journaling

There isn’t much medical evidence that detoxification diets do anything, but they do seem to make at least some people feel healthier and more energetic. The fat flush diet is a healthy, balanced reduced calorie diet, and the plan supports a healthy lifestyle. She offers online support via counselors and forums.

Phase 1 of the Fat Flush Diet is pretty restrictive, and it might be tough for people to stick with it at first. Organic foods and supplements are very expensive, and cost may make it difficult for some people to follow the program completely.

The Fat Flush Diet is based on healthy living and healthy food choices. It won’t hurt, and it might help you lose weight.

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Why is it important? It was developed to help diabetics control their blood sugar. The closer you keep your blood sugar under control, the less likely you are to have complications of diabetes. The glycemic index helps diabetics choose foods that don’t cause their blood sugar to rise as much.

What’s the big deal with the glycemic index for weight loss? High glycemic index foods make your blood sugar spike whether you are diabetic or not. Non-diabetics simply have the ability to respond more rapidly to the increase in blood sugar. This causes two problems:

• When your blood sugar rises rapidly, you send out a bunch of insulin to take care of it. Sometimes your pancreas overshoots, and you have more insulin circulating than you do sugar, and you develop low blood sugar. Which not only makes you feel terrible, but it makes you ravenously hungry.
• Some people have a tendency to insulin resistance. Even when their body responds appropriately to an increase in blood sugar, their cells can’t use the sugar and it gets converted to fat.

Eating low glycemic index foods keeps your blood sugar more even, and prevents hypoglycemic crashes and binges. It may decrease the tendency to insulin resistance.

Glycemic index lists are widely available. Remember, though, that you still have to watch how much low GI foods you eat, and the GI only applies to carbohydrates. You also have proteins and fats to worry about. They don’t affect your blood sugar as much, but they do affect your weight.

1. Nutrition. Vitamins, minerals, amino acids and phytonutrients are concentrated in sprouts. Whatever nutritional value is in the seed is multiplied in the sprouts.
2. Digestibility. Sprouting cracks the hard shell of the seed and makes it more digestible. This isn’t a big deal in something like broccoli sprouts, but it is in grain sprouts. You have to really chew and chew wheatberries, and they are still not nearly as digestible as wheat sprouts. Because they are more digestible, sprouted beans don’t form as much intestinal gas as unsprouted ones do.
3. Taste. Sprouts taste good. Adding some radish sprouts to a sandwich gives it a spicy zip. Alfalfa sprouts in a salad add crunch and zest. Sprouts aren’t only good for you. They taste good, too. You can blend up the sprouts into a delicious nutrient rich juice, or even add sprouts to a fruit smoothie.
4. Freshness. You can have the freshest fresh vegetables year round. You can grow sprouts in your kitchen year round. All vegetables lose flavor and some nutrients after they’ve been harvested. From your sprouting jar to your sandwich is about as fresh a vegetable as you can get, packed with nutrition.
5. DIY. You can do it yourself. Growing sprouts is simple, it doesn’t take any special equipment and it’s inexpensive when you compare it to buying sprouts.

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A better way has been around for hundreds of years. Native Americans used black cohosh to treat menopausal symptoms long before Europeans set foot on American soil. They dug up the bushes, dried the roots and made tea out of it. It helped premenstrual symptoms and menopausal symptoms, and was sometimes used to induce labor.

The benefits of black cohosh in treating menopausal symptoms have never really been questioned. Although there are some design problems with the studies, black cohosh has been studied extensively as a therapeutic treatment for menopause, especially in Germany. It works.

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists say that black cohosh is safe and as effective as HRT for at least six months. They do caution that long-term studies haven’t been done, so they can’t say for sure that it’s safe after 6 months. It is not known exactly how black cohosh works, but it does not seem to work the same way that estrogen does.

There are a couple of cautions about using black cohosh for treatment of menopausal symptoms:

• Be very careful not to confuse it with blue cohosh, which is a different herb altogether and is much more toxic.
• We don’t know if black cohosh is safe for women who have breast cancer, or who have a family history of breast cancer.
• Black cohosh should not be used when you are pregnant because it stimulates uterine contractions and could induce labor.
• We don’t know if it’s safe to use for nursing women.

If you’re not pregnant or nursing, and you don’t have breast cancer (or a strong family history of it), black cohosh is a safe and effective way to manage the hot flashes and other symptoms of menopause.

Each of Anne Collins’ diets is based on a different aspect of current nutrition and diet theories. She has low carb diets, vegetarian diets and low glycemic index diets. You are given guidance in choosing the diet that will benefit you the most. Each diet is based on sound nutritional advice.

Much of the success people achieve by following Ms. Collins plans comes from her focus on motivation, or changing your attitude about diet and exercise. She gives a lot of motivational tips that help you change your behavior, and that leads to success.

The other unique thing about the Ann Collins program is the support and information available. She has tons of articles on her website about exercise, nutrition and weight problems. Enrolling in the program buys you even more information, information that is targeted to keeping you on track with weight loss.

Support is a key to the Ann Collins program. She runs several forums and there are threads on everything from dieting for a wedding to smashing the 200# barrier. In addition to the forums, Ann offers personal support on her own forum.

The Ann Collins program isn’t a weight loss solution; it’s a weight loss community. It’s a community of people who support and encourage each other in losing weight and making lifestyle changes. Ms. Collins facilitates your weight loss by making sure you have information and support to help you make healthy lifelong changes in your eating and exercise habits.

According to proponents, aloe vera is a wonder food. It stimulates your immune system and protects you from disease. It reduces the inflammation in all types of arthritis. It is a digestive aid, and good for both irritable bowel syndrome and constipation. It prevents heart disease, detoxifies your liver, prevents cancer and heals AIDS. It prevents aging inside and out-renewing your cells on the inside, and reducing wrinkles on the outside.

Interestingly, many of these claims may be at least partially true. Although doctors have expressed a lot of skepticism, scientifically controlled studies are shedding new light on the benefits of aloe vera.

Topical

Applied topically to the skin, aloe has soothing and healing properties. It is used in many moisturizers and skin care products. The best way to use aloe topically is to slice open a leaf and apply the gel directly to the skin. It soothes and heals burns, cuts and other skin lesions.

Taken Internally

Aloe vera is taken internally as a supplement or as a juice or gel. 1-2 ounces a day is the usual amount. It seems to soothe digestion, stimulate your immune system and to generally stimulate your body cells to function better. There is, indeed, some evidence that aloe vera gel helps prevent opportunistic infections in people who are HIV positive.

Applied to the skin, aloe vera lives up to its reputation. Drinking aloe vera juice may have health benefits, too. Maybe it’s a miracle food; maybe it’s not. Drinking a couple of ounces a day probably will improve your health, though.

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One reason people are looking for alternative health care providers is that they often feel like they are just a number and a diagnosis at the doctor’s office. People feel disrespected at doctor’s offices. It’s hard to get an appointment and when you do, you can plan on waiting well beyond your appointment time. When you get in to see the physician, she doesn’t have time to really listen, and just gives you a prescription to take care of your problem and ushers you out as quickly as possible. And charges you a chunk of money for the visit.

Naturopathic physicians schedule significantly more time to listen to and examine their patients. Compare an initial naturopathic visit, which takes 1 ½-2 hours, with an initial visit with an internist at a big box HMO, which is 15-20 minutes. A follow-up visit with a naturopath takes 30-45 minutes; with a physician it’s 10-15 minutes. People feel more valued and listened to when they visit a naturopath.

Another reason people are becoming disillusioned with traditional medicine is the conflicting medical information we receive today. First, HRT was the answer to menopausal symptoms and if you had a family history of heart disease it was especially important to take HRT because it could prevent a heart attack. And then we found out that women who take HRT had more heart attacks. And there’s all the conflicting information about diet. And the recalled medications. And the list goes on. People do not feel like they can trust the information their physicians give to them.

Naturopathic medicine, on the other hand, is based on natural treatments that have been effective for a lot of people and have been used for a long time. Naturopaths also believe that anything that interrupts the body’s own ability to heal itself is harmful, and they don’t use as many medications as physicians do.

People are choosing naturopathic physicians because they receive better care, it is less confusing, and they feel like they are valued and treated with respect. Traditional medicine is losing the ability to do those things, so people are turning to alternative practitioners who can do them.