So why get so excited about fruits and veggies? Because fruits and veggies are the richest sources of antioxidants on the planet, and unless some breed of space invaders lands with a recipe for antioxidant cream pie with an antioxidant soda chaser, we are stuck with them. Wait, there’s more.Fruits and vegetables are perfectly balanced sources of antioxidant created by nature to have just the right amount, in the right proportion to other vital nutrients, for maximum benefit and absorption.Many fruits and vegetables contain more than one powerful antioxidant so that eating one gives you the power of two or more free radical fighters. A good example of this combo principle is broccoli (vitamin beta-carotene and calcium), where you get the protection of three nr; antioxidant nutrients in just one food.Fruits and vegetables are nutrient-dense. Because fruits and vegetables have such a high concentration of antioxidants, water and fibre, there i room left for—you guessed it—fat. So the more you eat, the less you we’ and the younger you get. Need any more reasons? I didn’t think so.*62\323\8*
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Flexibility is a measure of the range of motion, or the amount of movement possible, at a particular joint. Improving your range of motion through stretching exercises will enhance your efficiency of movement and your posture. In addition, flexibility exercises have been shown to be effective in reducing the incidence and severity of musculo-tendinous injuries.
A regular program of stretching exercises can enhance psychological as well as physical well-being. Tai chi is an ancient Chinese form of exercise that combines stretching, balance, coordination, and meditation; it is widely practiced in the West today. Yoga, which originated in India and also combines stretching, coordination, balance, and meditation, is even more widely practiced. Both are excellent for improving flexibility. Many factory workers in the United States now begin their workdays with simple forms of flexibility exercises, a concept introduced from Japan.
Flexibility is enhanced by the controlled stretching of muscles that act on a particular joint. The primary strategy is to decrease the resistance to stretch (tension) within a tight muscle that you have targeted for increased range of motion. To do this, you repeatedly stretch the muscle and its two tendons of attachment to elongate them.
The three major types of stretching techniques are static, proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation (PNF), and ballistic. Static techniques involve the slow, gradual stretching of a muscle and its tendons, holding the muscle or muscle group at a point of mild discomfort (a burning sensation is felt within the muscle), followed by the slow return to the starting position. When static stretching is done properly, it stimulates the tension receptors to allow the muscle being stretched to relax and permit the muscle to be stretched to greater length. Proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation (PNF) techniques have been shown to be superior to other stretching techniques for improving flexibility; unfortunately, PNF techniques in their original form are quite complex and a certified athletic trainer or physical therapist may be required to help you perform them correctly. Several PNF techniques (e.g., hold/relax, contract/relax) have been simplified to the point that they can be performed with an exercise partner or even alone. With PNF techniques, a 6-second contraction of the muscle to be stretched is followed by an assisted stretch of 10 to 30 seconds’ duration. Ballistic stretching involves repeated bouncing motions, during which the muscle and tendon are rapidly stretched and returned to resting length. This process can be likened to taking a rubber band between two fingers, rapidly pulling it apart, and then releasing the tension, again and again. And just as a rubber band can snap in your fingers if you apply too much tension, the muscle fibers being stretched in this way can be torn during these rapid movements. The risk of injury with ballistic stretching is so high that this type of stretching is no longer recommended.
Of the three types of flexibility exercises, static stretches are the most commonly used. The primary goal of static stretching is to cause permanent elongation of the targeted muscle or muscle group, thus permitting greater range of motion at a given joint. With static stretching, the end position is held for 10 to 30 seconds, and each of the major muscle groups should be stretched at least four times in close succession for optimal improvement. To achieve this goal, a comprehensive stretching program must be performed a minimum of two to three days a week.
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Individual therapy is a one-on-one relationship between the patient and a therapist. The time is devoted to exploring the patient’s thoughts and feelings and looking at how she expresses those thoughts and feelings in her actions or her relationships. Individual therapy takes a deeper look at the underlying causes of her behavior, to find out why she uses food to meet her emotional needs.
Ideally, individual therapy provides a safe environment, a kind of shelter in which the patient can explore and express emotions. Therapists support this process. They help the patient to look at problems from another point of view and make connections she may be unable to make on her own.
In fact, the very relationship between the patient and the therapist can be an important tool for change. The patient reveals her characteristic ways of feeling, thinking, and relating in her interactions with the therapist. Together they can look at these patterns and see how they may be affecting her life in the “outside world.”
One key ingredient in their relationship is the development of trust. A person with an eating; disorder often mistrusts her basic feelings. She may misinterpret her hunger and suppress her emotional needs. She can be reluctant to reveal her feelings, especially regarding shape and weight, because she feels ashamed or humiliated. Mistrust of other people is also part of the picture.
Through her relationship with a caring therapist whom she trusts, a woman can reveal her innermost thoughts and feelings. With time, she feels less fear of criticism or judgment. She can then examine those feelings to discover and experiment with other ways of reacting.
In this sense, individual therapy serves as a kind of emotional dress rehearsal for life. A patient can use her therapist as a kind of emotional mirror, by playing out, through the therapist, all of her conflicts with the people in her life. When she sees that the therapist stands by her no matter how ashamed she feels or how disgusting she thinks her behavior is, she feels secure. She trusts herself more and accepts her feelings as valid.
Equipped with a new set of emotional responses, the patient returns to the “real world” relaxed, reinforced, and ready to cope with the pressures that led to her disordered eating. As expressed by Dr. Alan Goodsitt, a psychiatrist from Northwestern University in Chicago and a leading expert in eating disorders: “When one is in touch with inner feelings-what feels good and is enjoyable, what feels bad or is boring, what is satisfying, and what is self-destructive-then one is in a good position to make wise life decisions.”
Individual therapy can be handled by a psychiatrist, a psychologist, or a social worker. Each professional develops his or her own approach.
In my practice I use all the techniques I feel have a chance of working. Usually this means combining elements of cognitive, behavioral, and educational therapy. A psychodynamic approach-exploring the unconscious motivations that underlie her behavior-can often be quite helpful, especially in the later phases of treatment. Through this approach, the patient gains insight into her situation. She sees how in the past she may have had good reasons for reacting as she did to her problems. But she learns that now, in her present-day reality, those characteristic ways of reacting are misguided.
Individual therapy doesn’t replace group or family therapy.
Each strategy supports and contributes to the other.
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Laurie Slawta was the quintessential yo-yo dieter. She would lose weight—even as much as 40 pounds—only to have it come back again. But once she stopped dieting, she dropped 120 pounds. And they haven’t come back.
“I tried every fad diet and diet pill known to woman,” says Laurie, the 34-year-old wife of a dairy farmer in Newark Valley, New York. There was Dexatrim, Medifast, the grapefruit diet, the cabbage-soup diet, the high-protein, no-carbohydrate diet—you name it, she did it. But she lost more dollars than pounds. She peaked at 289 pounds.
Then, in August 1995, Laurie developed heel spurs. The pain was so overwhelming that she could barely walk. “I was told that an operation would take care of the spurs, but only temporarily,” she says. “If I didn’t lose weight, they’d come back.”
Laurie knew that this meant permanent lifestyle changes.
The following month, she joined TOPS (Take Off Pounds Sensibly), where she learned how to make healthful, lower-calorie food choices. TOPS leaders also encouraged her to exercise. Her feet still throbbed from pain, so she purchased an inexpensive, non-impact exercise machine that simulates the movements of walking and stairclimbing.
Five months later, she was down 50 pounds and she switched to low-impact aerobics. By summer, she was down 70 pounds, and she started walking outside. By winter, the heel spurs were gone, and 3 so were 90 pounds. By March 1998, she achieved her goal weight of ST 169 pounds.
Laurie has noticed other positive effects of slimming down. “I used to feel so exhausted that I’d fall asleep by 8 o’clock in the evening,” she says. “Now, I have enough energy to carry me and my family through the day.”
WINNING ACTION
Don’t fall for fad diets. As Laurie found out, there is no such thing as a miracle diet. Pills, potions, and programs that promise to take off a lot of weight in a little time sometimes work. The trouble is that the pounds almost always come back. For permanent weight loss, slow and steady wins the race.
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