Health Story

As a fitness and health bootcamp instructor and personal trainer in Singapore, I get really bothered by most of the “fat loss supplement” I see being sold in health stores and sports supplement stores. Most of these are expensive, quite ineffective (you could get the same effect with just a few weeks of clean eating) and have nasty side effects. Not good for fat loss, fitness, muscle gain or weight loss!

There are good fat loss “supplements” of course (fish oil, chromium, conjugated linoic acid, bitter melon, ginseng etc), but did you know there are 3 great, super-healthful, super-delicious fat loss supplements in your kitchen that do not entail spending extra cents?

1. CINNAMON
Cinnamon works as a fat loss supplement because it is able to help significantly moderate blood sugar levels and make cells more sensitive to insulin. ( High blood sugar levels and cells insensitive to insulin makes the body overproduce insulin to clear all that sugar in the blood, which will be stored at fat! Other health problems related to high blood sugar include high blood pressure, increased risk of heart disease and increased cancer risk)

Why?
- Cinnamon educes the speed at which the stomach empties after a meal, thus slowing the speed at which blood glucose rises after a meal (sudden rises in encourages fat storage).
- Cinnamon contain chalcone polymers that increase glucose metabolism in cells twenty times or more.
- cinnamon contains methylhydroxychalcone polymer, or MHCP that imitates insulin. It can increases uptake of sugar by cells and signal some cells to turn glucose (the kind of sugar you get in blood) into glycogen (the storage form of sugar).

Other health benefits:
Not just that, but cinnamon can reduce levels of bad fats in the blood and has a positive impact on cholesterol levels. At the same time, it has antimicrobial and antiinflammatory properties.

Best type: supermarket variety of powdered or stick cinnamon is fine (don’t eat cinnamon oil – it might have toxins!), go organic if it’s available.

How to enjoy (other than as an ingredient for sweet stuff) :
1. Use it in marinades and rubs for meats, curries etc (check out baharat recipes for great ideas on how to begin)
2. Make cinnamon tea by boiling cinnamon sticks till the liquid is deep brown, or by steeping cinnamon powder in hot water.

2. APPLE CIDER VINEGAR
Like cinnamon, apple cider vinegar (and other vinegars) helps with fat loss because it helps make cell more sensitive to insulin.

Other health benefits:
Apple cider vinegar and many other vinegars contain amino acids, vitamins and minerals, has anti-fungal, antibacterial and antiviral properties.

Note: Buy organic, unpasteurized vinegar. Pasteurization destroys germs but it also destroys tons of the good stuff – the heat-sensitive vitamins, enzymes, and organic acids that can fight body toxins and inhibit unfriendly bacteria.

Serving suggestions:
1. Sprinkle salads with vinegar or vinegar-based dressings.
2. Sip on diluted vinegar with your meals.

3. GREEN TEA.
Green tea is good for burning fat – drink it frequently, everyday if possible.

Why?
Green tea has a compound, epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) that appears to “increase” metabolism. Green tea also has caffeine and various studies have shown that EGCG works together with caffeine to help the body use more energy (and so burn fat etc) than either compound alone.
Best type: organic, steamed green tea.

Other health benefits:
Green tea has thiamine with helps with relaxation, has antioxidants, seems to protect the body against cancer and heart disease and reduces the amount of bad cholesterol in the body.

There you go! Use these three great tasting “supplements” to help your weight loss and muscle gain goals, as you stick to your healthy diet and personal training and boot camp sessions!

Ive been a strength and coniditioning coach for over 10 years now working with athletes and fitness enthusiasts of all levels. Over those ten years Ive used just about every new type of training and exercise under the sun.

With this type of expirience you really start to understand what works and what doesn’t.

Ufornutantley, many of the exercises that really don’t work are the very same ones that the health and fitness magazines are promoting and making popular. This ends up sending many eager exercises down the wrong path

The other isssue is that many less expirenced fitness instructors are also following the magazines and using these same un-effective exercises on a regular basis with clients who are spending their hard on money on something that they hoped  they couldn’t get on their own.

My goal with this article is to show you why one f the most poplar exercise specialy amoungst women, the kneeling push, is pretty much a watse of time.

In addition, I will provide you with a much better alternative push up exercsise fro those who cant do regular push ups. This alternative is mouch more effective at building muscle definition and strength while burning more calories.

No More Kneeling Push Ups

My issue with the kneeling push up has nothing to do with mechanics or safety, in that respect the movement is okay. My issue is one of progression, or in this case, a lack there of.

In the past, I have used the kneeling push up as a regression strategy.  I did this in the hopes that it had some progression potential and would eventually lead into normal push-ups  

Unfortunately, I have found little to no carry over from the kneeling push –up to the regular push-up.

I can’t tell you why the kneeling push-up doesn’t carryover, it could be lever arm length, it could the angle difference, I really don’t know, it just doesn’t. 

What I can tell you is that I have seen 100’s of people who could bang out endless reps of kneeling push-ups but still couldn’t even come close to performing a single regular push-up. 

The kneeling push up is what I call a “dead end” exercise. Keep doing them and you will go nowhere!

Luckily, we have found a much better regression / progression strategy.

Incline push-ups

An incline push up is performed basically like the traditional style push up except you hold onto a object like a racked barbbell in the gym or the side of your bed if your at home.

The concept here is pretty simple, because you are at an incline there’s less force on the moving muscles and torso stabilizers. Which intern makes the push-up easier?

The best place to do this is on a smith machine because it’s easy to adjust and keep track of the bar depth from session to session.

Once someone can perform 20 quality reps at one height, we simply lower the bar one or two pegs.  The lower the bar gets the harder the push up becomes.

As I said earlier, just because someone can easily perform kneeling push-ups doesn’t necessarily mean that they can do any real push-ups. 

However, I can promise you from years of experience that if someone can perform 20 reps at a low bar setting; they can definitely bang out a few good reps from the floor.

In the end, this means that your getting stronger. If you’re stronger than you have more muscle. Because muscle is the shape of your body, you will most definitely look better.

Headaches during pregnancy are very challenging as over the counter pain killers are not recommended. Read on to see what you can do to relieve the pain from your headaches during pregnancy.

First of all let’s address why some pregnant women suffer from headaches during pregnancy. Within the first 12 weeks of pregnancy the surging hormones play a part in the development of pregnancy headaches. The 40% increase in blood volume that occurs during pregnancy increases pressure within the blood vessels and this itself can cause pregnancy headaches. Headaches during the last month of pregnancy may also be caused by a condition called preeclampsia, which is associated with high blood pressure, swelling and protein in the urine.



It is normal to have headaches during pregnancy because of the above reasons plus the following:



Stress

Lack of sleep

Vomiting

Low blood sugar

Dehydration

Caffeine withdrawal

Nicotine withdrawal

Poor posture

Pregnancy related vision changes



What you can do to ease your pregnancy headaches:



Reduce stress.

Get more sleep.

Treat your early morning sickness.

Eat regularly to avoid low blood sugar levels.

Drink adequate amounts of high quality water.

Get chiropractic adjustments and advice to correct your posture.

Avoid over the counter medication especially during the first 12 weeks of pregnancy.

Consult a homeopath or an acupuncturist for treatments to relieve your pain.

Pregnancy headaches are sometimes relieved with either hot or cold compress around your forehead and on the back of your neck.

Have someone massage your shoulders and neck during acute pregnancy headaches.

Rest in a dark room and practice deep relaxation breathing.

Relaxing in a warm bath or shower sometimes reduces the stress and tension.

The fruit mangosteen is well known to support every system in the body. It is all natural and can relieve and prevent pregnancy headaches.



You tried all the above and you still have a pregnancy headache:



At this point it would be appropriate to call your doctor or midwife for advice.

Have your eyesight checked as you may need glasses or a change in glasses.

 If you experience any of these symptoms below with a headache call your physician or midwife immediately as these are signs of a severe pregnancy complication called pre-eclampsia:

Blurred vision

Right sided abdomen pain

Swollen hands and face

Sudden weight gain

Feeling very agitated or restless

 Pregnancy headaches can be very painful and very frustrating, as it is not recommended that you use over the counter medication during pregnancy. I have assisted pregnant women in the past to make their headaches a little more manageable or made them go away with a one on one coaching-healing phone sessions.

Many of my pregnant clients have experienced improvement of their pregnancy headaches by taking mangosteen juice. Mangosteen is present in different quantities in different products. For a high quality mangosteen and information on my one on one coaching-healing session visit http://www.VemmaMidwife.com

You may also be very interested in an amazing message that was telepathically dictated to me for humanity from my son when he was seven-weeks old. Yes you read correctly! I have the ability to communicate with baby’s emotions from inside and outside the womb. Down load this AMAZING MESSAGE FREE at http://www.PregnancySuccessCoach.com/Message_For_Humanity.html

If you wish to ask me a personal question about your pregnancy or an issue in your life then visit http://www.PregnancySuccessCoach.com/Ask_Hannah_Section.html

Hannah Bajor. C.N.M.,M.S.N.

Certified Nurse Midwife

Pregnancy Success Coach