We all have heard the adage you are what you eat and we understand that what we put into our bodies affects the way that it works. Look after our bodies by feeding it well. So, I know that eating cakes or piling high a plate of mash potato and steak will not be the best thing for my body but as long as I go to the gym I will be able to burn off the excess calories. But have you considered how else a bad diet can cause your body not to function as well as it should?
We have all made our New Year resolutions but now it is March 2015 and have we been keeping to the gym routines that we promised ourselves 3 months ago?
The three months leading up to Christmas I really found my groove. I was cycling to work each morning, visiting the gym three mornings a week and even eating right. In fact during those three months I lost 2 stones (34lbs/12,7kg) in weight. Then Christmas came, followed by the New Year. Continue reading “What New Year Resolution?..”→
Beer? No thanks! Cider? Not for me! I am a BIG fan of fizzy drinks!!! Coke, Fanta even dandelion & burdock. Soft drinks have been my weakness for most of my life. The sweetness of these drinks is a big draw for me and the reason that I like to drink them. In the 1980’s diet drinks containing artificial sweeteners became the popular alternative to all of the sugary drinks on offer. Words like sugar-free, lite and diet suggested that these drinks were not only low in calories, they were even good for you. That was then but now sweeteners seem to be enemy number one. But why?
So zero calories are good, right?
The product most used to sweeten our food and drinks is still sugar (sucrose) but sugar:
has no nutrients
contains no protein
has no healthy fats
contributes to tooth decay and obesity
has no enzymes
full of empty calories
This is why saccharine, sucralose and aspartame has become so prevalent. Gram for gram these sweeteners are 200 times more sweet than sugar. You use only a fraction of it to obtain the same sweet taste but it contains virtually no calories. Result!
Words like sugar-free, lite and diet suggested that these drinks were not only low in calories, they were even good for you.
Side effects?
Sounds too good to be true? Absolutely! Lets look at what the research says about these additives. Participants in a San Antonio Heart Study who drank more than 21 diet drinks per week were twice as likely to become overweight or obese as people who didn’t drink diet soda.
PepsiCo is listening.
Aspartame has been linked to headaches, nausea and abdominal pain. By late this summer Diet Pepsi and Wild Cherry Diet Pepsi will no longer be adding aspartame to their ingredients. But before you think about planning a Pepsi buying frenzy they will be replacing it with sucralose and other similar chemical creations.
But I need a sweet fix!
As part of my drive for the body beautiful, I had begun to make my own ice-tea but left the sugar behind and added “sußstöff” which, although was low in calories, it made my waistline balloon! I have now given it up and am trying to wean myself off sweets in general. But when I need my sweet fix there are many other natural sugar substitutes to choose from. Honey and fruit are great and they contain many nutrients too.
So, I’ll have a glass of sparkling mineral water instead, please.
I just did the worst thing that a person can do. I may sound dramatic but it takes a lot of courage to do this heinous act. What did I do? I took a full body nude selfie of myself. Why? Well, not for any hook-up site. It was just see if I have made any progress on this fitness drive that I am attempting.
Now, I know that everyone has a different body shape but most experts suggest that before you embark on any exercise regimen you should know the type of body you have. But what are the different body types?
Which One Are You?
There are three basic body types and most people fall somewhere within these groups. The groups are:
Ectomorph = Lean and thin. Twinks and otters
Endomorph = Larger build that carry more fat. Bears
Mesomorph = Stocky and muscular. Jocks
There are pros and cons to having any one of these body types, so you shouldn’t be jealous of the body that someone else has. For example, ectomorphs typically have a high metabolic rate which means that they burn calories quicker than most, so they remain slim. But they also find it extremely difficult trying to gain weight or add muscularity to their physique. They have to spend a lot of time at the gym lifting weights to attain the body that moves them from twink to Muscle Mary.
Bear chub to muscle bear is a goal for many furry guys.
Endomorphs are larger and heavier people. They find it very hard to lose weight due to their slow metabolism, much slower than their ectopmorphic cousins. Conversely, endomorphs have a much easier time packing on the muscle. Bear chub to muscle bear is a goal for many furry guys.
But what about the mesomorph? What issues could they possibly have? Well, not much. They have high metabolic rate (not as high as the thin and lean “ecto-machines”), it is not too difficult for them to gain muscle and they don’t carry too much fat. They tend to be shorter- that’s all I can come up with as a “con” but for some guys, this is a real problem.
Take The Test!
Most people have their favourite builds that they find attractive but do you have the physique that you want? The exercises that you choose to do should be based on the physique that you have. But do you know if you are an ectomorph, endomorph or mesomorph? Take the test at Bodybuilding.com and find out for yourself.
Masturbation and Corn Flakes are not the usual bedfellows, John Harvey Kellogg is best known for the invention of the famous breakfast cereal, Corn Flakes. But did you know that Corn Flakes were originally invented to be part of a health regimen to prevent masturbation? Kellogg believed that bland tasting foods, such as Corn Flakes, would decrease or prevent sexual excitement and arousal. Erm….no!
Even though many, many men wank themselves to completion, it’s not really something that you talk about and the details are kept private. Old wives tales still persist. Will masturbating make me blind? Will I grow hair in the palm of my hands? Will jerking off eventually drive me insane? Of course, the short answer to all questions are a resounding “NO!”
Clearly, these views on masturbation are without merit but, in fact, the opposite is true; masturbation has many health benefits.
Here are 7 benefits that masturbation has for your health.
1. Masturbation helps you sleep. That’s because pleasuring yourself lowers blood pressure and produces endorphins, the chemicals responsible for helping ease stress and increase relaxation.
2. Know your body. Enjoying masturbation, you can keep connected to your own sexual desires and fantasies, and learn what excites you…
3. Help prevent prostate cancer. Toxins build up in the urogenital tract, leading to disease but masturbation flushes those toxins out of the body, making men who ejaculate more than five times a week a third less likely to develop prostate cancer.
4. Boosts your immunity. Orgasm releases the hormone cortisol. It’s a stress hormone but, in small doses, it can help strengthen and maintain your immune system.
5. Manages premature ejaculation. Men who experience premature ejaculation during sexual intercourse can benefit from masturbation about 2 hours before sex. This enables them to have a longer duration of intercourse before another ejaculation comes on. Also, by taking yourself in hand may help you stretch your love making sessions. Train yourself by timing how long it takes you to orgasm, suggests Dr Nawal. If it usually takes two minutes solo, try for three next time. Or count how many strokes you need to get to your happy place. If you’re spurting after 50, shoot for 60. Give yourself goals. Practice , practice, practice!
6. Masturbation has been used in the management of stress, as it results in release of feel-good hormones, called oxytocin, in the body. It has also been found useful in dealing with depression.
