Workout Music - & A Bonus ipod Nano Review

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To coincide with this weeks survey we thought we’d share with you our current workout play list.

Liz - ipod nano

Liz is a Rock Chick who likes her country as well so it comes as no surprise to see Keith Urban in her top 5.

1. This ain’t a scene - Fall out boy
2. Black top ends - Keith Urban
3. Mash up - Sweet Home Alabama Vs Country grammar
4. Don’t stop the music - Rhianna
5. Run - Gnarls Barkley

Kel - very dodgy MP3 player (Because he’s not allowed to upgrade at the moment…boo hoo)

1. Welcome to the Jungle - Guns & Roses
2. Comfortably Numb - Scissor sisters
3. Good Excuse - John Butler
4. The Great Escape - Boys like Girls
5. The Hard Way - Thirsty Merc

Ok so I bitched about not having an ipod….If you, like me, are still playing around with a clunky old MP3 player and you really want to upgrade, here is a review I did on the ipod nano when I was researching them to buy Liz’s Christmas present: Read more

Caffeine & It’s Adverse Health Effects

When I read Kel’s article about the caffeine I decided I wanted to write a post about adverse health effects of caffeine. So I quickly set to work, reading and researching. (i.e. trying to come up with heaps of evidence to support my dislike for caffeine).

I consulted books such as “The Great American Detox Diet” by Alex Jamieson ¹ and also numerous internet sites including, the International Food Information Council’s website (www.ific.org) and Nutrition Australia’s website (www.nutritionaustralia.org) and what I found was quite a lot of conflicting information.

As you probably already know, caffeine is a natural substance found in the leaves or seeds or fruits of some plants. It is present in coffee, tea, chocolate, energy drinks, some soft drinks and some medications. The caffeine stimulates our central nervous system and that acts on our brains like adrenalin, increasing alertness, heart rate, respiration, basal metabolic rate and the production of stomach acids and urine. Even though it doesn’t get stored by the body (it is metabolized by the liver and excreted in urine), the effects of caffeine can last for up to 6hrs.

As Kel mentioned, excess caffeine can cause nausea, dizziness, headaches, muscle tension, sleep disturbances and irregular heartbeats. The latter is probably why the heart foundation only suggests 1-2 cups of caffeinated drinks per day and has a statement on a page in their site saying “Too much caffeine can cause problems if you tend to get abnormal heart rhythms and it can raise your heart rate and blood pressure.”

Read more

Could Caffeine Kill you?

How much caffeine have you had today?

Experts say that too much caffeine is harmful to our health - but surely it wouldn’t kill us? Would it?

Pouring that first cup of coffee in the morning is like lifting the roof off a foggy head. Liz is always trying to get me to convert over to Green Tea…(No thanks) But Coffee lovers, you’ll be happy to know I stand firm and reply with “A couple cups of coffee a day isn’t going to kill me”.

True. But how many cups of coffee in a day will in fact…kill me? I went to Death by Caffeine to find out.

Time to get specific….. Now when you head over to “Death By Caffeine” you need to “Enter your Poison”…well, I really like Starbucks Grande Cappuccino…so in she goes. Next I added my weight and Bang!

Pretty cool huh?

So check this out - A 16 ounce cup of Starbucks Grande Cappuccino contains 150 milligrams of caffeine. Mix in a bit of sugar and frothy milk and look out - your heart is doing cartwheels. Read more

7 Really Amazing Heart Facts

How much do you Really know about your heart?

1. Put your hand on your heart. Did you place your hand on the left side of your chest? Many people do, but your heart is actually located almost in the centre of the chest, between the lungs. It is tipped slightly so that part of it sticks out and taps against the left side of the chest, which is what makes it seem as though it is located there.

2. Make a fist with your hand. If you’re a child, your heart is about the same size as your fist, and if you’re an adult, it is about the size of two hands made into a fist (ie wrap your other hand around the hand that is already in a fist).

3. Your heart beats about 100,000 times in one day and about 35 million times in a year. During an average lifetime, the human heart will beat more than 2.5 billion times.

Read more

Get Rid of Obesity Once and For All?

Obesity in children is seriously getting out of control.

But where does it start? It has been suggested by some health commentators that it goes back to when you first start introducing solids to your kids diet….at an infant level. If this is true, does that mean we as parents decide (Through our own eating habits and actions) if our children will be obese or healthy? Personally, I believe that to a large degree we do.

Why are our children obese?

Parents talk about children who are fussy eaters (and I am not including any children who have food allergies or intolerances here as that is a whole different kettle of fish)….Now I’ve heard it can take anywhere between 8 and 15 attempts to get a child to eat a new food. So it makes me wonder how many parents of “Fussy Eaters” have simply given up after 2 or 3 attempts?

Having said that, We all know how difficult it can be to have to expend extra energy fighting with your children over food at the end of a 50 hour working week….but at the end of the day if you don’t do it…you run the risk of producing an unhealthy or obese child. Read more

Exercise Ball Article & Updates

Ever wondered how to get beautiful long lean muscles?

Beautiful Long lean muscles do look a lot nicer than long flabby arms right?

One way you can achieve this look is with the help of an exercise ball or Swiss ball….and of course “A Healthy Diet”

An Exercise Ball (or Swiss Ball) will not only help you create long lean muscle’s but it can add variety to a boring exercise routine & can dramatically improve core stability, strength and balance.

I’ve written an article on the subject of exercise balls for the blog “This Mama Cooks” . The article is titled “Get Rid of Flab Quickly By Using An Exercise Ball”

This is my first attempt as a “Guest Poster” - I’d love for you to go over to This Mama Cooks and leave a comment for me to tell me what you think. Read more

Berries Are Berry Good For Your Heart

We’ve all heard it said at some point - There are foods that are beneficial to changing things in relation to your cardiovascular health…and there are foods that….well, let’s just say you want find any of them in any of those “Healthy Eating Recipes” books.

So when we talk about the heart, what are healthy eating foods? What do they look like? What do they have in them that a Big Mac burger does not? Taste? (just kidding)

The answer is Polyphenols. (Good luck teaching your parrot to say that) Polyphenols are Water-soluble plant pigments also known as bioflavonoid, which encompass more than 4,000 chemically unique flavonoids.

You can find Polyphenols in things like Green Tea, Red Wine, Coco and ….Drum roll please – Berries. (Some delicious Berry recipes later) Read more

Is too much sugar causing symptoms of hypoglycemia in healthy women?

A UK study where 30 healthy (Non - Obese) women aged between 20 - 48 years who had experienced symptoms of hypoglycemia (definition & symptoms) were compared with a control group of 20 women who had not experienced the symptoms.

All women kept a diary of their diets and activities.

Generally it was found that those who experienced hypo symptoms had a diet higher in fat than the control group & it was also found that the meal proceeding the hypo symptoms had a higher percentage of energy derived from total sugars. Read more

Sleep - How Much Makes You Fat?

There have been a number of studies in the past which have associated short sleep duration with obesity and weight gain in children and young adults.

A recent study was conducted in Spain on a group of people over the age of 60 years.

The sleep duration of the 3576 people was recorded over 2001 - 2003. It has found that those who slept under 5 hours had a higher frequency of obesity (BMI >30) and severe obesity (BMI >35) than those who slept 7 hours.

It was also noticed that those sleeping 8-9 hours had a higher rate of obesity. Read more

Do you Suffer from Back Pain?

I was on the net today and came across a website owned by Malton A. Schexneider’s. Malton is a clinical Specialist ( Orthopaedic Physical Therapy)

Malton has an excellent video demonstration for those of you who are suffering from back pain. And for the professionals who are reading this post, I’d love for you to watch it and comment further. Read more

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