3 Good Reasons To Go Swimming? Heart Disease, Diabetes & Obesity

For some of us (70%, to be exact), this conversation will start off with a trip to your local YMCA to get swimming lessons. I bet you’ll want to get those lessons asaptually (new word) when you read about all the health benefits of swimming. Ladies, forget about your hair getting wet and find a protective style that will allow you to dive into the deep end without splitting your loose ends. Brothers, let go of the life jackets and come get some of this knowledge. This aerobic activity improves cardiovascular health, controls blood sugar and helps in weight loss.

Where’s Your Heart At?

According to the American Heart Association, heart disease is the number one killer of African Americans. Swimming might have an answer to this problem. Breaststrokes can help decrease your chance of having an actual stroke. When cholesterol levels are high, strokes can occur. This aerobic activity improves your cardiovascular health and lowers cholesterol levels.

It’s recommend that you swim 20 to 40 minutes at a brisk pace. You’ll want to exert yourself moderately enough to work up a nice heart rate. You can start off slowly, resting between laps. However, over time you’ll be able to work out longer, adjusting your speed and technique as you progress in the practice.

Swimming is also great because you won’t be exerting your heart too much while doing it. Unlike running and other sports, swimming places less of a demand on your heart. Your heart rate while swimming will be around 10-20 beats per second.

Diabetes

The loss of Phife Dawg at 45 and Doug Banks at 57 sent an alarm to our community, which is desperately in need of an intervention for diabetes. In addition to the many diabetes-related complications, diabetics also have a higher risk of heart disease. Swimming helps to burn calories which helps in weight loss, important for diabetes prevention and management.

Swimming helps to strengthen all the major muscles in the body which helps in lowering blood sugar. Because of the nature of diabetes and how it causes the blood sugar in the body to fluctuate, it’s recommended that you regularly swim to maintain the glucose control levels. Start off by swimming as much as possible. This can be 5-10 minute sessions, eventually working your way up to 45-60 minute sessions with 10-15 minute rest periods.

Weight Loss & Toning

Going to the pool and doing the regular lap routine is only a start. For weight loss and strengthening, you want to maximize your time in the pool by trying out the butterfly stroke, fast crawl, breaststroke, backstroke and sidestroke to burn a lot of calories. These high-impact strokes will help you lose weight and tone up in places that weren’t imaginable with your other aerobic activities. For ladies looking to lose inches around the waist, this is the perfect exercise.

I’m tired of going to pool parties in the summertime and seeing all these good looking people parlaying on the side and not in the pool. As heart disease, diabetes and obesity continue to be major life-threatening conditions in our community, we must think about new and creative ways to address these issues. Exercise isn’t only lifting weights and running. Add swimming to your list – for life.

The Truth About Fat No One Talks About

It’s no secret that fat is frowned upon. Love handles, FUPA, gut – all words associated with that excess 10 pounds of “laffy taffy” you’ve been trying to drop since last fall. In fact, the way we talk about fat, affects women of all ages — even teens.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), of 220,000 teens surveyed from Europe and North America – a fifth of whom were classified as overweight — nearly half of the 15-year-old girls believed they were “too fat.” An answer that proves to be a driving force on why eating disorders strike twice as many women as men.

However, despite the “dirty words” negative connotation, there’s one major key alert that’s gotten lost in the shuffle — fat is actually pretty important for your health. So, without further ado, let’s dive into why fat it NOT always the enemy.

What Does Fat Do?

“Fat is paramount to survival: You need it for warmth and insulation, for cushioning your bones and internal organs, for energy, and even to think,” Carl Lavie, MD, medical director of Preventative Cardiology at the John Ochsner Heart and Vascular Institute in New Orleans and author of The Obesity Paradox, reports Refinery 29.

Fat also strengthens the immunity system: “the cells that are precursors to fat cells, called preadipocytes, act like special immune cells that devour invading germs and bacteria, which helps explain why people who diet to extremes tend to get sick more often,” Dr. Lavie explains.

Not to mention, people who are classified as obese have a 6% lower risk of dying from serious illnesses. “One theory is that fat helps guard the body from damage, particularly as we age,” Dr. Lavie says. “Anytime your body is fighting an illness or dealing with a chronic disease, it requires more energy, so it makes sense that that extra fat is helpful.” This seems particularly true for those who are bootylicious, claims one Oxford University study. “The thought is this fat traps the potentially harmful fatty acids that can travel through your bloodstream to your heart,” Dr. Lavie says.

Here are three types of body fat you should know about to separate the”good” from the “bad”:

White Fat

Also called subcutaneous fat, white fat settles mainly around your hips and thighs, sculpting curves and providing cushion. It’s also the most common type found in your body.

Why it’s important: It burns energy and produces a hormone called adiponectin. Research suggests adiponectin has anti-inflammatory and “insulin-sensitizing” properties and that may help reduce your risk for Type 2 diabetes.

Brown Fat

Aka “good fat” burns energy even when you’re lounging – much like muscle. Although early experts believed this form of fat depleted during childhood, a 2009 Harvard study discovered that 7.5% of women and 3.1% of men had small amounts of brown fat lurking in their bodies. These individuals appeared to have healthier metabolisms.

Visceral Fat

This fat is the devil. Often referred to as “belly fat,” it somewhat suffocates your organs deep inside your abdominal cavity – releasing stress hormones called cortisol and inflammatory substances called cytokines. These toxins impact your body’s production of insulin. As a result, you run the risk of developing both Type 2 diabetes and heart disease.

What to Do

Develop healthy habits, like eating a balanced diet and exercising regularly.

5 Ways To Beat The ‘Stress Hormone’ For Weight Loss

If you want to win the war on stress, it is important to understand the role of cortisol and how it can be your friend or foe. If balanced, cortisol can help your body keep its immune system in check. But, left unchecked and unbalanced, cortisol can wreak havoc on your body.

Cortisol is critical to your body. Also known as the ‘stress hormone,’ it is essential to helping you regulate your blood pressure and immune system when your body is in crisis. When your cortisol levels are balanced, it protects your immune system from emotional setbacks as well as physical attacks. Cortisol also helps you to use your energy reserves to protect your body’s ability to fight off infections.

However, if your cortisol levels are always working at a high level, this hormone can cause some problems to your body. Some of these problems include sleeplessness, a non-functioning immune response, abnormal blood sugar levels and weight gain in your stomach.

Abnormal blood sugar levels and weight gain occur when you are stressed out because your body urges you to eat something high in calories. It provides a temporary boost in energy and leads to weight gain and increased sugar levels. So it’s important to strike a balance with your cortisol levels.

Here are five ways to lower your cortisol:

1. Pay attention to what you eat. Nutrition is critical and controls the production of cortisol in your body. Eating a balanced diet of fruits, vegetables and low-glycemic foods like eggs lower the cortisol levels in the blood. Whole grain products also help to control the production levels of cortisol in the body. When you add in vitamin B5 and folic acid, which is plentiful in beans, fish, whole grains, sunflower seeds and fruits to this mix, this also provides balance for your cortisol levels. Processed sugar and flours do the opposite, causing cortisol levels to increase. By paying attention to what you eat, you can balance the cortisol levels in your body helping to protect your immune system.

2. Exercise regularly. Regular exercise serves two purposes. It helps you manage your weight and also results in weight loss. When you exercise, your body produces those feel good endorphins. As endorphins are released into your brain, this helps you to combat stress and anxiety. As a result, excess cortisol production is alleviated. By exercising regularly, you also contribute to reducing excess amounts of cortisol from your system. In other words, it’s a stress buster.

3. Meditate to clear your mind. According to the National Science Foundation, we have between 12,000 – 50,000 thoughts per day. That’s a lot of thoughts! With so much thinking and continuous thought processing, it’s no wonder that our stress levels can easily get out of whack. That’s why it’s important to take a breather! Sit with your eyes closed in a silent environment so you can clear your mind. Do this for 15 minutes a day.

Mediation is helpful because our bodies have an amazing ability to create self-repair. According to the book, Mind Over Medicine; Scientific Proof That You Can Heal Yourself, our bodies can help fight cancer, prevent infection, repair wounds, and also protect us from infectious agents. But, when we stress out, the opposite occurs. The body’s ability to heal itself becomes deactivated when your body is full of stress hormones such as cortisol. 15 minutes of daily downtime will help alleviate, reduce your stress levels and regulate cortisol production in your body.

4. Spend some time cuddling with animals. Ever wonder why seeing and playing with animals provides you with a warm and fuzzy feeling? Well, there is a scientific reason this happens. When you snuggle with animals, it fills you with oxytocin, endorphins and other healing hormones that support your body’s ability to initiate self-healing. This is why pet therapy is mentally and physically effective. If you don’t have a pet, a trip to the pet store or local zoo can help elicit these same emotions.

5. Give of yourself. A South African woman was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and decided instead of focusing on herself she needed to shift this energy towards others. The medicine woman wrote the South African woman a prescription to give 29 gifts for 29 days. The woman with multiple sclerosis completed the request, and the results were astonishing. Her MS symptoms started to lessen. By giving and being generous, it activated a relaxation response that helped to bolster her body’s natural self-repair mechanism. This is not a suggestion that generosity will cure diseases. However, science is still uncovering how the mind can have a tremendous effect on the diseases we have and how we deal with them.

Cut It Out! 4 Things To Watch Out For In the Ingredients List

If you’re trying to lose weight and get in shape the first thing you will want to get in the habit of doing is reading your labels. Know what you’re consuming and how much at all times. The days of guessing are long gone and nutrition information these days is easily at your fingertips.

But what exactly should you be looking for? Here are a few things to be cautious of when reading labels:

1. Fat

Always say no to trans fats. These fats are not found in nature and are used in highly processed foods. Marketers will try to deceive you with catchy phrases like, “high in protein” or “gluten free!” printed on packaging, but labels don’t lie. Trans fats are bad fats. Period.

Small amounts of saturated fats are okay but stick to “good fats.” A general rule of thumb for good fats is fat that you can find in nature. Think foods like salmon, avocado, olive oil or nuts. Limit these to less than 10g a day. Do not eat one thing with more than 5g of saturated fat per serving.

Total fat should be limited to less than 50g per day. Again, only eat healthy fats and stay away from fried and junk foods.

2. Sugar

Small amounts of sugar also are okay but stick to natural sugars only (if you are trying to lose a large amount of weight quickly you’ll want to cut out all sugar). Find out how much sugar is in one serving of your favorite fruit and limit yourself to less than 15g of sugar per serving of fruit each day. Everything else you consume should be as close to zero grams of sugar as possible. It seems like an impossible feat but it can be done. To start, don’t eat anything with more than 5g of sugar. Drinks can sneak in a lot of sugar in a short period of time, so drink your water! Try adding Crystal Light for flavor.

3. Too Many Ingredients

Too many ingredients could mean that you are looking at something man made and highly processed. If there is an ingredient on the list you cannot pronounce, return it to the shelf immediately!

4. Serving Sizes

Portion control is one of the biggest health and nutrition issues we face in American culture. Understand the serving sizes of the foods you are eating and be honest with yourself about how much of the product you consume. If you love nuts and you know that one serving of almonds is about 15-20g of fat per serving, then that’s great! But are you eating just one serving? Labels will sometimes break down servings by ounces or number of servings per package and you can also use a food scale to measure things out to be absolutely sure. Portions may seem small at first if you’re used to eating more food but eat smaller, more frequent meals to help curb hunger pains.

Hot Sauce To Melt Your Waistline

Ok. Now that we know Beyonce wasn’t talking about carrying an actual bottle of hot sauce in her bag, what are we going to do with all these bottles of hot sauce we purchased after “Formation” snatched the Super Bowl bald?

Well, before you trade in your Louisiana Hot Sauce for a Louisville Slugger bat, take a second to consider the health benefits of the ingredients contained in most hot sauces:

Capsaicin

Capsaicin, one of the active ingredients in peppers, has antioxidant, anti-cancer and anti-inflammatory properties. According to Time.com, the hotter the pepper, the more capsaicin it may contain. But, what you pair it with could make a huge difference. Capsaicin is a fat-soluble molecule. So, pairing it with an oil, versus a raw vegetable, will draw out more of its benefits.

“The bottom line is that any kind of vegetable material you consume will improve your health… But hot peppers are really beneficial for you, if you can take the spice,” said David Popovich in a Time.com article.

Capsaicin is often used in pain-relieving creams for its analgesia properties.

Capsinoids

As crazy as this might sound, many nutritionist have encouraged their clients to add hot peppers and hot sauce (with low sodium and low sugar) to their diet. This is because capsinoids, an active ingredient found in red chili peppers (also found in Tabasco), helps to activate “brown fat,” or a healthy fat that aids in burning calories according to research.

Spicy peppers are also known to decrease the appetite and increase the metabolism.

Vitamin C

Peppers are loaded with vitamin C. One ounce of sliced jalapeño peppers contains 40 milligrams of vitamin C or 66% of your daily vitamin C requirement.  As you may already know, vitamin C works wonders for the immune system. It can also lessen the duration of colds and cold symptoms. In fact, many people use hot peppers or hot sauce in their cold remedies.

Put the right hot sauce in your bag…swag!

The ideal hot sauce contains peppers, vinegar and garlic. Try to stay away from hot sauces that are high in sugar and sodium.