The Dirty Dozen
12 Foods With the Highest Levels of Pesticides
You’ve probably heard that the fresh fruits and vegetables in your local supermarket might be tainted by pesticides. A nonprofit organization call the Environmental Working Group looked at 51,000 pesticide tests for 53 popular fruits and vegetables and then ranked them based on how much and how many different pesticides were found. The Dirty Dozen is their list of the 12 foods shown to have the highest levels.
Whenever possible, buy the organic versions of these 12 fruits and vegetables.
Dirty Dozen
Apples
Strawberries
Grapes
Celery
Peaches
Spinach
Sweet Bell Pepper
Imported Nectarines
Cucumbers
Cherry Tomatoes
Imported Snap Peas
Potatoes
Dirty Secrets
Here are some of the scary details on the levels of pesticides found on fresh food you’ve probably bought at your local supermarket.
- Every imported nectarine examined tested positive for pesticides
- One sample of strawberries contained 13 different pesticides
- Apples might be treated with 56 different pesticides
Why You Should Use Kettlebells
Even though they look a bit odd, there are a number of reasons you should use kettlebells. Kettlebells were originally used in Russia to provide a means of weighing crops. As with many different farming tasks, they became part of the contests at festivals, with farmers showing off their strength by lifting them. Eventually the Russian military realized how beneficial they were for training and used them, followed by fitness enthusiasts in the US in the 60s. Today, there are certification programs for instructors to teach kettlebell training.
Kettlebells give overall body training.
You’ll not only get your blood flowing and build your strength and endurance, you’ll work out your cardiovascular system too. The odd shape of the kettlebell makes your moves more challenging than they would be with a dumbbell. The weight is unevenly distributed, so it makes your stabilizer muscles work far harder than they would with ordinary dumbbells. You’ll be building both strength and endurance when working with kettlebells and exercising many different muscles at the same time.
Kettlebells cut your time in the gym.
Since you’re working multiple groups of muscles at once, you won’t spend extra time focusing on each muscle group. Instead, you’ll cut your time in half by working several groups at once and also working on endurance and cardio at the same time. You’ll not only build strength, you’ll also build flexibility and increase your range of motion, which helps prevent injury, making workouts safer. Kettlebells provide both anaerobic and aerobic exercise at the same time. They work the muscles to create a synergistic movement.
Kettlebells burn calories faster, making weight loss quicker.
You’ll be amazed at just how fast you’ll lose weight when you exercise with kettlebells. Kettlebells burn an average of 20 calories every minute you exercise. That’s a whopping 1,200 calories every hour. Jogging at 6 miles per hour burns approximately 700 calories. Tennis burns 450 calories per hour and rock climbing almost 700. As you can probably tell, kettlebells lead the pack. In fact, it burns over twice the number of calories as swimming.
You’ll increase your strength but you won’t develop big muscles with kettlebells. Kettlebells build leaner muscle mass with less bulk, which appeals to both sexes.
A kettlebell workout improves your functional fitness so you can perform everyday tasks better and reduce the potential for injury.
Kettlebell workouts help improve posture.
You’ll be amazed when you see how a kettlebell swing not only works on building your abdominal muscles to flatten your stomach, but also works on your glutes to lift your buttocks at the same time.
Experience the Benefits of Prenatal and Postpartum Exercise
At one time doctors discouraged both prenatal and postpartum exercise, stating it wasn’t good for either mother or child. Of course, in those days, women were restricted to bed for days and sometimes weeks after childbirth. Today, scientific studies paint quite a different picture on whether to exercise during pregnancy and immediately following, or to remain in bed. Studies show that there are many different benefits from exercising both during pregnancy and after the delivery of the child that range from regaining your figure to boosting the immune system and providing the same benefit to the baby if mother is breast feeding.
Exercising during pregnancy can make delivery easier.
Not only does prenatal exercise strengthen the muscles and make delivery easier, it also helps increase the energy level. Posture changes during pregnancy and exercise can help prevent back aches that often occur otherwise. Mothers-to-be find that exercise helps their sleep pattern, which is important when you consider that sleep won’t be as available after delivery. It also helps prevent constipation, swelling and bloating that can sometimes occur in pregnancy. If you’re pregnant and have never been active before, it’s always best to check with your doctor and use the expertise of an exercise specialist, such as a personal trainer. Even if you’ve always been active, you should check with your doctor if you have any health considerations. A personal trainer can also benefit you by choosing the right type and intensity of exercise to provide a safe exercise program.
Delivery is easier is you’re fit.
Women who are fit have shorter labor, both in the first and second stage of labor. Women who exercise regularly while pregnant also have a higher pain tolerance and increased stamina, so they tire less during labor. Studies show there are fewer caesarian births among exercising mothers-to-be and the improved muscle tone in the pelvic area also helps lower the incidence of episiotomies and tearing during delivery.
Postpartum exercise can help prevent the after baby blues.
While most people are aware that exercise produces mood enhancing hormones and burns off stress hormones, most people don’t realize that it also helps build energy. Regular exercise helps you improve your energy levels, which is particularly necessary for this busy time. It restores muscle strength and your abdominal muscle tone, besides promoting weight loss. Women who exercise often find they can cope better with the stresses of motherhood. Lactating mothers also pass benefits on to their children. Exercise boosts the immune system and that benefit goes directly to the newborn at feeding.
You’ll look better and feel better when you exercise during and after pregnancy. It also sets the stage for a healthy lifestyle for your family.
Knowing the best exercises to do both before and immediately following delivery can be tricky. Using the expertise of a personal trainer or exercise specialist during that time is quite beneficial.
Exercise not only helps improve the sense of well being and provides mood improving hormones, it also contributes to improving the self-image.
Prenatal and postpartum exercise prepares you for all extra lifting and bending necessary as a new mother. It provides functional fitness to help prevent injury, such as pulled muscles or prevent backache.
Keeping Up With Your Kids
If you’re already a parent, you know just how exhausting raising a child can be. Not only does it require a lot of work, play can be just as taxing. Keeping up with your kids in Fort Lee, New Jersey doesn’t have to be difficult if you exercise on a regular basis. In fact, people who are considering children often start an exercise program. For women, it’s a great way to prepare your body for childbirth. Studies show that fit women have shorter labor and have an easier postpartum recovery time. Exercising helps prevent constipation that often occurs. It also can help prevent the after baby blues or relieve them. For both parents, keeping in shape not only will give you vitality, it can also provide a number of other benefits.
Exercise boosts your immune system.
Let’s face it, as a parent, you can’t afford to get sick. In fact, your job has no sick days…or holidays for that matter. When you exercise on a regular basis, you’re not only staying active and maintaining stamina, you’re also boosting your immune system to help prevent both serious and minor illnesses. Regular exercise can help reduce the potential for high blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes, stroke and many other serious conditions. It can also help you fight off a cold or the latest strain of influenza.
Teach your kids good habits for life.
Exercising on a regular basis and an active lifestyle is not only good for you, it also sends an important message to your children. Kids mimic what they see. If you smoke, the chances of your children smoking increases. If you exercise regularly, they probably won’t end up as couch potatoes, but follow your lead. Just as reading to children encourages the child to read, running and playing with them encourages them to have a more active lifestyle.
Exercise burns off stress hormones.
Raising children is very rewarding, but anyone that says there aren’t frustrating and trying times in that process either never raised a child or has a short memory. When the demands of life look overwhelming, you can sit and worry about it or get moving. Doing any kind of physical activity can help eliminate stress hormones. When you workout at your maximum, your body also replaces those stress hormones with ones that make you feel good, such as endorphins. These hormones can make you feel calmer and more in charge, allowing you to handle the next catastrophe that appears on the horizon.
Regular exercise keeps you in shape for a longer healthier life. You’ll not only be the active parent, but also the active grandparent and maybe even great-grandparent.
When you exercise on a regular basis and eat healthy, you’ll have the energy to keep up with the kids during the day and still have some left for grown up activities at night, such as dancing the night away.
Exercise not only gives you strength and stamina, it makes you look good too. It keeps you feeling young and looking young.
Exercise can give you presence. You’ll speak with more authority, walk tall and feel more confident. Not only will you maintain your cool during stressful times, you’ll find your attitude and carriage brings you more respect from your children.
Golf Conditioning Can Improve Your Game
No matter what your score in golf, it can always get better. Today, more and more golfers are adding golf conditioning to their improvement program. While you don’t have to have a personal trainer to start working out, when it comes to specialized workouts, such as ones that prepare your body for a specific sport, such as golf, a Bergan County personal trainer is the only way to go. The perfect swing comes from more than just power, but also includes flexibility. Unless you’re working on both strength and flexibility, you’ll find your game won’t improve as rapidly.
The perfect balancing act is necessary.
You want to be powerful to drive that ball, but if you’re too strong, but have no range of motion, no matter what strength training you do, it won’t help. A personal trainer can design a program that not only increases your range of motion and flexibility, it also increases your strength and stamina, to help you attain the perfect drive. Improved power and flexibility will get the ball sailing off the tee for more distance.
Prevent injuries with conditioning.
Unless you prepare your body for golfing, or any other sport for that matter, you may find yourself nursing a injury instead of out on the green. Injuries can come fro the stress you place on shoulders and the lower back. They also can affect your hips, elbows and wrists. Paying close attention to conditioning and the mechanics can help prevent this. Even learning stretches can help avoid rotator cuff injuries. A personal trainer can provide you with exercises that you can do before you start your game to help prevent serious injuries on the course.
A personal trainer shows you workouts for all muscle groups.
A successful swing doesn’t just use the arm or upper body muscles, it uses a wide variety of muscles throughout your body. Your leg muscles help produce the power at the initiation of the swing, the core muscles transfer that power and important when it comes to the speed your club head achieves. You need strength in the arm muscles for accuracy and control. Personal trainers in Fort Lee and Bergen County can show you overall workouts that work all the muscles necessary for the perfect swing.
You’ll build the stamina to walk the course when you have an overall fitness program for golf. Not only does overall fitness help your game, it also improves your life and prevents serious conditions such as high blood pressure and diabetes.
A healthy diet can play an important role in your overall fitness and even in lowering your handicap. Personal trainers can show you how to make healthier choices when you eat, which can help you lose weight and become fitter.
Cardio training improves your stamina, which is especially important to keep you vigorous through all 18 holes.
You’ll be amazed at the difference golf fitness training makes, not only in your game, but in your overall fitness. Personal trainers also adjust the workouts for preseason, season and post season training.
Functional Training Prepares Your Body for Active Living
If you don’t want big muscles but do want to live healthier, functional training might just be your answer. If a person is functionally fit, he or she has the muscle development to the common daily task everyone does, but at a reduced risk of injury. Functional training uses several different muscles at the same time to simulate the activities we do each day. It also focuses on core stability, which is very important no matter what your age.
You’ll exercise many parts of your body at once.
If you’re lifting groceries, rising out of a chair or bending over to tie your shoes, you’re using several groups of muscles at one time. Functional fitness training addresses that issue by providing exercises that help the muscles work synergistically, working several at one time. Instead of just exercising the abdominal muscles, you might do an exercise that works the stomach, back, arms and legs. These types of exercises can improve the quality of life, while also helping you live healthier.
People of all ages benefit from functional training.
While seniors benefit considerably from this type of training, which can extend the length of time they can live on their own by reducing the potential for strains and falls, you don’t have to be a senior to reap rewards. You’ll improve your posture with functional training since it works out core muscles, which makes it beneficial for all ages. In today’s world where sitting at a desk or computer plays an important role in jobs, functional training is an important way to build all muscle groups at once. It works the muscles in ways they were supposed to move before the advent of labor-saving devices left us sedentary.
You’ll lose weight with functional training.
Functional fitness training in Fort Lee, NJ help you build lean muscle tissue. The exercises are great calorie burning workouts that not only provide exercise to your entire body, but also help build your endurance and strength. Just as any program of regular exercise, these muscle tissue building exercises also help boost your metabolism. The muscle tissue they build requires more calories than fat tissue does, so you burn additional calories 24/7…even when you’re not exercising.
You’ll develop core stability with functional training. It teaches the core muscles to help stabilize the spine from external force.
You can enhance a sports specific training program with functional fitness training. It helps provide training that builds the relationship between the muscles and nervous systems to decrease reaction time and improve movement patterns.
This type of exercise, as with all forms of exercise, done on a regular basis not only increases your strength, balance and flexibility, it also boosts your immune system to provide even more protection for your health.
Functional training is one method of keeping your body strong and healthy. You work muscles on a variety of planes, using various angles, which machines simply can’t do. It more closely resembles that actual workout your body has doing common everyday activities.
Enjoy Your Exercise
Probably the most frequently heard complaint about exercising is that it’s boring. It’s very important that you enjoy your exercise. If you don’t, the odds of you continuing decrease. There are a number of different reasons people become turned off to exercise. Sometimes they lack variety, sometimes they simply don’t challenge themselves and sometimes they simply don’t have a routine that stimulates them. In Bergan County, you can make huge changes in your exercise routine, when you use the services of a personal trainer.
Change is a good thing.
If you’ve had the same workout for months or years and find it’s getting very stale, you’ll benefit from getting new ideas from a personal trainer. While trainers may show you new calisthenics or weight lifting routines, they also may come up with a completely different idea, such as using kettlebells for your workout. Not only will you learn a new technique, you’ll learn to do it the right way. The personal trainer not only shows you how to exercise, he or she watches to insure you execute it correctly. Doing an exercise incorrectly can cause injury or minimize the benefits.
Make your routine more challenging.
One of the problems with exercising on your own is that you often stay at one plateau. You start a routine and fail to make it more difficult as you improve your fitness level. Personal trainers can help with this problem too. A personal trainer not only designs a workout program that challenges you now, he or she also adjusts that program to maintain the same level of challenge as your body becomes fitter. You’ll find a more challenging exercise program can take the yawn right out of exercising.
Exercise with a friend.
You can have fun and become fitter when you go to a boot camp or get semi-private training from a personal trainer. Both of these options not only give you the benefits of having a personal trainer, but at a far discounted price. Group workouts also provide socialization and comradery. In both semi-private sessions and boot camps, everyone works at his or her own personal maximum ability, so each person understands just how challenging each other’s goals can be. You’ll often hear words of encouragement and even cheering when someone makes a goal. Working out with a friend or friends can boost the energy of a workout and make it more enjoyable.
Vary your activities. You don’t always have to get your exercise in a gym. Golf, tennis, jogging and even dancing count as vigorous exercise that helps you get back into shape and become healthier.
Keep track of your progress. You may not realize just how much progress you’ve made, because you see yourself daily and the changes are subtle. However, if you keep a written or photographic record, it will be easy to see just how much you’ve improved. That always makes it more fun to exercise.
Boogie your way to fitness. Turn on the radio or put in a CD and exercise to the music. You might even make your exercise routine into a dance routine. Dancing is a vigorous form of exercise and it’s also plenty of fun.
Workout as a family or as a couple. Get everyone moving and on the road to fitness. Even though kids are active normally, in today’s world video games often replace running. You’ll bond more when you exercise together.
When It Comes to Fitness, You Have to Be Realistic to Be Successful
In the world of fitness, you must be realistic to be successful. Don’t expect to lose weight miraculously or build muscles without working. Becoming fit takes dedication and commitment to a healthy lifestyle. That doesn’t mean it can’t be fun and exciting. Anything worth having is worth working for and fitness is definitely on the top of the list. Your health and fitness makes a difference throughout your entire life. It not only adds years to your life, it adds life to those years. A fit body helps you develop confidence and look fantastic, while it also slows the aging process.
Don’t expect a miracle diet.
When you work with a personal trainer to improve your health or lose weight, don’t expect him or her to give you a miracle diet to take off pounds overnight. Instead, the trainer will provide nutritional advice to help you make better choices when it comes to selecting food. Diets don’t work. That’s because they always end, either in front of the refrigerator at two in the morning or in success. Either way, you go back to your old eating patterns that put the weight on in the first place. Learning to eat healthier is the only way to take pounds off and keep them from returning. It also helps boost your immune system while providing nutrients that are necessary for a healthy body.
Set a realistic goal.
While you don’t want your goal to be so simple you don’t have to work to achieve it, you also don’t want to set one so high that you’ll become discouraged. Even if you have to lose a hundred pounds, your trainer will show you how to break down that goal to smaller achievable goals. Nothing is as important as seeing success when you’re trying to lose weight or become fit. Setting smaller realistic goals helps you stay on target as it acknowledges the success you have.
Work hard, but don’t overdo.
The first time you workout, you’ll probably want to push yourself beyond your capacity. While that’s good, if you’re not doing each exercise correctly, it can cause muscle strain and injury. A personal trainer can identify your level of fitness and design a program that works you to your maximum, but is still within your ability.
Personal trainers not only show you how to do each exercise correctly, they also watch to insure you do them right. Doing an exercise incorrectly can minimize the benefits or cause injury.
Even if you have realistic goals, sometimes attaining them can get discouraging. A personal trainer can help you stay motivated during times when you reach a plateau. Eventually, you’ll see big results.
When you workout smart, doing each exercise correctly and to your maximum potential, you’ll start to see results relatively quickly. They may be in the form of a higher energy level, weight loss or even looser clothing.
Setting and reaching realistic goals in fitness helps you build the confidence to set goals in other areas of your life.
Improve Your Life and Health by Making Positive Changes
Making positive changes toward better health can occur a little at a time and be so minor, you may even doubt they help. However, when you add all these changes together, you start to see big differences in the way you look and feel. Bad habits creep in just as easily. Maybe you never bought soda pop or sugary treats, but one day picked up a package while shopping. The next thing you know, you’re buying them again and again. They now have become a habit. The same holds true for living a sedentary lifestyle. You can reverse all the negative changes you’ve made in your life and start heading towards the positive side of life.
Start moving
You may not be able to run 20 miles, but you probably can walk around the block. Becoming more active has to start somewhere, so do whatever you can to increase the activity in your life. Eventually, you’ll be surprised to find you have the stamina and energy to run the 20 miles, if that’s your goal.
Learn to eat healthier
In order to lose weight, you don’t have to diet. In fact, dieting doesn’t work. That’s because diets always end and you go back to eating the same way that put on the weight in the first place. Instead of dieting, learn to eat healthier. Here in Bergen County, NJ, personal trainers can help show you small changes you can make in your eating patterns that reap big rewards. Maybe the changes seem minor, such as substituting some unsweetened applesauce for some of the oil or sugar in baking, but each change makes the food you eat more nutritious and lower in calories. Individually these changes make only small differences in your caloric intake, but as a group, they make a dynamic difference that can help you take weight off and keep it off permanently.
Small changes build to big results
You need a long term goal to aim toward, but you also need to make short term achievements too. While your long term goal may be overall fitness and losing 30 pounds, exercising a half hour a day might be one short term goal you need to achieve first. Sometimes, keeping long term goals in mind can help you make simple changes in your life. For instance, rather than circling the parking lot looking for a spot close to the door of the store, you might park at a distance, saving gas and increasing the amount of exercise you get for the day. Taking the stairs, rather than the elevator, is another small change you can make that gives big dividends.
You’ll watch your blood pressure lower and improve your cholesterol without the benefit of medication when you eat healthier and get more exercise.
You’ll change your mind about difficult chores around the house when you consider just how much exercise you’re getting. In fact, some people find that when they consider these chores as exercise, they breeze through them faster and have more time for themselves.
You’ll start to feel changes within a few weeks. You’ll notice you can walk faster and further without needing to rest and start to see pounds slide off, revealing a new you.
You’ll start to feel happier and ready for the world when you increase the amount of exercise you get. Exercise stimulates the brain to create hormones that make you feel good. It also burns off the negative hormones created by stress.
Nutritional Tips in Edgewater Can Make Weight Loss Easier
It doesn’t matter whether you’re a mom who wants to make meals healthier, someone who wants to lose weight or your doctor told you to eat healthier for better health, you’ll get some beneficial nutritional tips in Edgewater when you use the services of a personal trainer with a certification in nutrition. You’ll be amazed at how eating more nutritious foods can improve your health. While doctors are experts at almost all health related issues, very few doctors have more than just one nutrition class. In fact, many doctors often tell you to eat healthier and get regular exercise, but they don’t give you any more information. You can learn how to do this with the help of a personal trainer.
Personal trainers stay abreast of the latest information on nutrition and exercise.
Many studies show that a healthy diet and regular exercise can help control or even reverse serious conditions. While a round body was fashionable at one time, today we know it may cause health issues that can shorten life or diminish the quality of life. Stick thin isn’t in either, but healthy and energetic is. Overweight is one of the leading causes of preventable illness. It’s epidemic today. While a sedentary lifestyle is part of the cause, fast food restaurants and junk foods is the other part of it. Learning to eat healthier is the best medicine for many conditions, when you add exercise to the mix; you’re creating a program that makes you destined for good health.
Exercise and a healthy diet can boost your immune system.
Not only does a healthy diet provide antioxidants, exercise also increases them. When you first exercise, your body reacts to the extra free radicals produced in your body from exercise and it stimulates the production of more antioxidants. The longer you exercise the more your body produces its own antioxidants, even when you’re not exercising, giving you an adequate supply to fight off free radicals from other places. A healthy diet also provides antioxidants that protect the cells. Exercise and a healthy diet also create longer telomeres, which protect the cell’s DNA and allow it to live and replicate longer. Cell death is responsible for disease and aging.
Your food doesn’t have to taste like cardboard when you eat healthy.
Eating healthy doesn’t mean you have to eat foods that taste “healthy.” In fact, many of the nutritional tips offered by personal trainers and nutritional experts include using herbs and spices to add extra vitamins and nutrients to your dishes. You’ll find many of the tips give you gourmet flavor but are still extremely healthy. You’ll offer dishes everyone loves and amaze them with just how nutritious they are.
You don’t have to combine diet and exercise when you use the services of a personal trainer, but the option is always available. Some people simply want to learn how to cook healthier for their family, while others want to lose weight or become fitter. No matter why you seek out extra information, a personal trainer can help with your fitness program.
You’ll have more vim and vigor when you combine a healthy diet and exercise. A healthy diet can help you prevent energy lags and give you more vitality, but so can regular exercise. Combining provides a double boost.
You’ll learn how to make substitutions that can lower calories and boost nutritional levels of your favorite recipes.
Personal trainers ask you about food preferences and then find ways to make your favorite foods more nutritious.
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