9 Ways to Burn Fat

Easy steps you can take

Everyone's metabolism naturally slows down with age. At 40, you could be burning 100 to 300 fewer calories a day than you did at 30, says Pamela M. Peeke, M.D., author of Body for Life for Women and assistant professor of medicine at the University of Maryland in Baltimore. That can translate into a 10-25-pound weight gain in a year. But you can counteract that slowdown and boost your body's fat-burning capabilities by making just a few tweaks to your daily routine. The following strategies will help you bust out of a weight-loss plateau and burn even more fat.
Take five
Do five minutes of exercise each morning. We all have a metabolic thermostat, called the metastat, that can be turned up or down, and morning is the best time to activate it. Each day, your metastat is waiting for signals to rev up, so the more signals you can send it, the better. Your best bet is a light, full-body activity like walking or push-ups.
 
 Fuel up in the morning
Numerous studies have found that regular breakfast eaters are often leaner than breakfast skippers. "Your metabolism naturally slows at night, but you can jump-start it in the morning by eating breakfast," says Tammy Lakatos Shames, R.D., C.D.N., co-author of Fire Up Your Metabolism. And because both your activity level and metabolism decrease later in the day, it's a good idea to make breakfast or lunch your largest meal.


Fill up on good grains
Whole grains such as brown rice, wheat germ, dark bread, whole-grain cereal, oatmeal and bran leave you feeling full because they take longer to digest than simple carbohydrates. In a study from The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, researchers at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School evaluated the dietary intake of more than 74,000 women for 12 years. Overall, women who regularly ate the most whole-grain foods — about 1.5 servings a day — gained less weight than women who ate the least.
Pump yourself up
Muscle burns more calories than fat does, and decreased muscle mass can be one of the main reasons metabolism slows. Disuse can cause women to drop as much as 10 pounds of muscle between the ages of 30 and 50. Losing that much muscle means you'll burn 350 to 500 fewer calories a day. To build and maintain muscle mass, aim for two to three strength-training workouts a week. If you don't belong to a gym, try push-ups, squats, abdominal crunches and tricep dips off a chair.

Power on with protein
Add a little high-quality, lowfat protein, such as chicken, fish and egg whites, to your meals, and you'll help your body burn fat faster. "Because protein requires more energy to digest, it speeds up your metabolism, and protein is necessary to ensure against loss of muscle tissue," says Michael Thurmond, author of 6 Day Body Makeover.

Get your vitamin "I"
That's "I" for intensity. You love to walk, but if that usually means strolling along at a snail's pace, your waistline will pay little attention. Instead, put intensity, or "vitamin I," into your stride. Pick up your pace so you're walking at 4 mph, or one mile per 15 minutes. Once you build up your cardiovascular fitness level, you can even alternate between walking and jogging. The key is to get your heart rate up and keep your workouts challenging.
Say yes to yogurt
In a recent study from the International Journal of Obesity, women who ate three daily servings of lowfat yogurt lost 60 percent more fat than women who didn't. In another study, participants who ate three daily servings of dairy lost more than twice as much fat as those who ate less than that. "Calcium-rich diets reduce fat-producing enzymes and increase enzymes that break down fat," says Michael B. Zemel, Ph.D., lead author of both studies and director of the Nutrition Institute at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. Eat three servings of lowfat dairy a day, like milk, yogurt and hard cheeses (Gouda, Cheddar and Monterey Jack).
Get active after eating
Your body's metabolic rate increases 10 percent after eating, and just a few minutes of activity could double that boost for up to three hours. Within 15 to 30 minutes of eating a snack or meal, do five or 10 minutes of light activity. Take the dog for a walk, climb stairs in your house or do some basic strength exercises.
Sip green tea
You might love your lattes, but if you switch to green tea, not only will you get a healthy dose of disease-fighting compounds, you'll also cut body fat. In a study from The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, people who drank a bottle of tea fortified with green tea extract every day for three months lost more body fat than people who drank black tea. Researchers at a health care lab in Tokyo believe disease-fighting antioxidants called catechins in green tea may help decrease body fat.

The Power of Protein

Protein is one of the building blocks of a healthy diet to fuel and repair the body. But not every protein-rich food makes a good choice

Protein is an essential element of a healthy diet. You may only think of meat when you think about protein, but this important nutrient actually comes in a number of different forms. Choosing a variety of protein-rich foods while still paying attention to your fat and cholesterol intake are the keys to healthy eating.

 

 

Why We Need Protein

Sure, protein tastes good, but why is it so good for the body? "It's an essential nutrient," says Anne Wolf, RD, registered dietitian and researcher at the University of Virginia School of Medicine. Protein serves as a critical building block for cells and tissues throughout our body. "We need it for every function in our body — for healing purposes and for building muscles," explains Wolf.
Make sure you give your body what it needs, but don't overload on protein or make it your primary food source. Remember that a healthy balance of foods is your best bet for a healthy diet. Wolf says most women only need about 50 grams of protein per day, while men may need 60 to 70 grams — that works out to between two and three servings. Athletes, seniors, and pregnant women need a little more than that. But most people, notes Wolf, eat more than 120 grams of protein a day — more than twice what we generally need!

The Lowdown on Meat

As much as the body needs protein, not all protein-rich foods are good for you. You have to evaluate sources of protein for unhealthy factors, like saturated fat (unhealthy fat) and cholesterol. The saturated fat content of many types of meat is so high, you can exceed your daily fat allowance with just a few bites.
Wolf points out that skinless chicken breasts are an extremely lean source of protein. Red meat is a great source of protein, but it also contains cholesterol and can be very high in saturated fat, so you have to be careful about which meat sources you choose.

"Find lean cuts of beef and pork," says Wolf. Ask a butcher for advice on the leanest cuts and avoid meats like steak that are marbled, since that white marbling is actually fat. Processed meats, including cold cuts and hot dogs, should also be avoided because they tend to contain excess salt and fat.

The Healthiest Sources of Protein

To work protein into your diet, opt for healthier, lower-fat options. Fortunately, there are many healthy sources of protein, including beans, nuts, fish, and low-fat dairy products (these will give you needed calcium, too).
What's considered the ultimate source of protein? "We commonly use the egg as the best source of protein," says Wolf. If people are concerned about fat and cholesterol, Wolf says, they can still get their protein by just eating the egg white — the fat and cholesterol is all in the yolk.
Other healthy sources of protein include:

• Low-fat or fat-free milk, cheese, yogurt, and other dairy products
• Whole grains including quinoa
• Lentils, beans like kidney and black beans, and dried peas
• Fish
• Fermented soy products including tempeh and miso
• Protein-fortified pastas
• Protein meal replacement bars
• Nuts and nut butters, like peanut butter

Protein-rich foods are an integral part of a healthy diet. Just be sure to go for choices that are low in cholesterol and saturated fat so that you’re giving your body protein without those unwanted “sides.”

Everything You Need to Know About Vitamins

Following all the latest news on vitamins could be a full-time job. Actually, what the average consumer needs to know about vitamins is surprisingly straightforward.

New studies and claims about vitamins are published daily, and many seem to contradict each other. What does an average consumer really need to know about vitamins?
“The fairly simple answer is, not much,” says Paul Thomas, EdD, RD, scientific consultant with the National Institutes of Health Office of Dietary Supplements. Almost everyone can benefit from taking a supplement with calcium because most people don’t get as much as they need through their diets — 1,000 mg a day for adults, increasing to 1,200 mg after age 50. Thomas notes that some vitamins become especially important at certain times in a person’s life. Pregnant women or women who may become pregnant should be certain to get enough folate, or folic acid, a B-complex vitamin — 600 units a day, rather than 400. And as you age, you should probably take a daily supplement to get additional B12, he suggests.
“You don’t have to become an expert or learn all the intricacies of all the vitamins — because you can't,” adds Dr. Thomas. There’s simply too much information to try to remember.
What you need to do is eat a healthy diet, selecting recommended foods based on the USDA guidelines. Because few of us consistently eat a well-balanced diet, Thomas says taking an over-the-counter multivitamin, even a store brand, is a good idea. “It’s sort of like an insurance policy that covers all your bases,” he explains.
Vitamins and Healthy Living: Not as Easy as A, B, C, and D
Maintaining a balance of the vitamins we need is important yet tricky. While vitamins work together in the body to ensure our health — the most obvious being the way vitamin D aids in absorbing calcium — the interaction between vitamin supplements and prescribed medications can cause health problems. For example, calcium can interact with some pharmaceuticals, limiting the body’s ability to absorb the prescribed medication. So whenever your doctor gives you a new prescription or changes one, it’s important to discuss all of the vitamin and mineral supplements you’re taking to avoid any potential problems.
Vitamins and Healthy Living: Is Taking More Better?
For people who have a healthy diet, taking a multivitamin according to package directions won’t trigger a vitamin overdose. But Thomas warns, “You run into trouble if you take vitamins and supplements where the dose is very large.”
Some people take large amounts of supplements — hundreds or thousands of times more than the recommended amount — to treat or prevent illnesses or diseases, in effect treating vitamin supplements like drugs. “That’s different from taking them to get the recommended amount,” Thomas cautions.
Using supplements as therapy should be done only with a doctor’s guidance, as side effects and complications can and do occur. As an example, Thomas points to niacin, or B3, which in very high doses can harm the liver. However, in many cases niacin is a good drug for reducing statin levels, he adds.
Even some very familiar advice isn’t yet proven medical theory, Thomas notes: “When you look at the use of large doses of vitamin C (to combat colds), the evidence to date is kind of murky.”
To evaluate any supplement as a medical treatment, consider the body of evidence supporting any health claims and seek information from a pharmacist, dietitian, or your family doctor. “The folks who sell supplements probably aren’t the best sources of information,” Thomas says.

7 Easy, Natural Ways to Protect Your Vision Even Until Old Age

Eat your carrots. Wear a visor or hat. Try lutein and zinc? What about bilberry? Eye health is vital. So how do you protect your vision?

If you haven’t had an eye exam lately, that’s essential. Many eye problems, such as glaucoma, progress slowly — with vision loss unnoticed until the disease is advanced.

In addition to having regular eye exams, changing some habits and improving your diet can enhance your chance of maintaining good eyesight well into advanced age. But it’s not a slam dunk. Millions of Americans have a visual impairment; many have chronic, age-related diseases such as glaucoma, macular degeneration, cataracts, and retinopathy.

Since 2000, rates of diabetic retinopathy have risen 89 percent — driven by an increase in diabetes, with 8 million people over 40 now showing signs of it. Some 2 million Americans 50 and older are affected by macular degeneration. Cataracts and glaucoma are also on the rise in people over 40. At the same time, funding for research into these diseases has been cut dramatically.

Taking care of your own eye health has never been more important. These tips will help you do just that:

1. Go for a Daily Walk

Regular physical activity helps you stave off cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes — two risk factors for chronic eye disease.

2. Keep Your Weight in a Healthy Zone

Being overweight or obese increases inflammation and elevates the risk of high blood pressure, arterial disease, and diabetes — all enemies of the eye.

3. Wear Sunglasses

Ultraviolet light damages the eyes. The reflective power of snow, sand, and water magnifies the effects. And yes, UV penetrates clouds. Sunglasses should block 99 to 100 percent of UVA and UVS (two bands of ultraviolet light). A hat helps, too.

4. Manage Your Blood Glucose

High blood sugar contributes to cataracts and damages small arteries, including the delicate blood vessels in the retina, leading to diabetic retinopathy.

5. Avoid Tobacco Smoke

Smoking generates free radicals (chemicals that react with membranes and genetic material to destroy cells and tissues), damages the eyes, and escalates the risk of arterial disease.

6. Drink a Glass or Two of Green Tea Every Day

Extracts in green tea protect against diabetes and heart disease and defend against damage to the retina and lens (where cataracts form).

7. Try an Eye-Protective Diet

A varied, colorful, plant-based diet keeps eyes healthy. Plants provide fiber that slows absorption of cholesterol and sugar. And they’re rich in antioxidant and anti-inflammatory chemicals. Many blue-, purple-, and ruby-colored berries (bilberries, blackberries, blueberries, cherries, and more) are potent antioxidants and blood-vessel strengtheners. A large trial called the Age-Related Eye Disease Study found that a higher intake of antioxidants, zinc, and omega-3 fatty acids (the type found in fish) may decrease the risk of developing macular degeneration in those at high genetic risk.

The recipesbelow, from 500 Time-Tested Home Remedies and the Science Behind Them, will also help preserve your eye health:

Bright and Beautiful Summer Squashes

Orange, yellow, and red plants contain fat-soluble plant pigments called carotenoids that are strong antioxidants. Lutein and zeaxanthin, two carotenoids, accumulate in the macula and seem to protect against macular degeneration and cataracts.

Ingredients
4 medium-size yellow summer squashes, sliced lengthwise
1 red bell pepper, sliced lengthwise and seeded
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 red onion, sliced into rings
Freshly ground black pepper

Preparation
Preheat the over to 425°F. Lightly spray a baking sheet with olive oil or canola cooking spray. Put the squash and bell pepper slices on the sheet. Drizzle the olive oil over the top and toss. Line up the pieces so they are not overlapping. Sprinkle the sliced onion over the top. Grind the black pepper over the vegetables. Roast for 30 minutes, turning over the veggies halfway through. Serve hot.

Strawberry-Kiwi Parfait

Strawberries and kiwis are packed with vitamin C, another important antioxidant for eye health. Sources include all fresh plants, particularly red peppers, oranges, grapefruit, kiwifruits, green peppers, broccoli, strawberries, and tomatoes. Many of those are also rich in carotenes.

Ingredients
2 cups vanilla nonfat Greek yogurt
½ cup sliced strawberries
½ cup peeled and diced kiwifruit
½ cup crushed pecans

Preparation
Divide the ingredients in half and layer them into two tall glasses in the following way: a layer of yogurt followed by a layer of kiwi, crushed pecans, yogurt, strawberries, crushed pecans, and a layer of yogurt. Add the remaining kiwi and strawberries on top.

Stay healthy!