The simplest and most accessible way to better health and fitness is as easy as riding a bike… Literally!

Yes, healthy diets are good… but not on their own,  and yes, the fitness workouts are good… But how many of you keep to these regimes for long? How many exercise programs have you started, then given up on?

So many of us are struggling with weight issues or health conditions in some capacity, and something really needs to be done. So when it comes down to getting in shape and feeling better people turn to sports and exercises that they feel comfortable with.

This is where cycling comes in as people look to this familiar sport as an easy form of exercise. Most people can benefit from getting healthier and this can contribute to living a longer life that is much more enjoyable. As people start to realize that, they want to find something that will help them to quickly get in shape and still enjoy the activity while they are doing it.

Who needs the car?

Cycling for better health and fitness is a very familiar concept. If you think about it, many of us spent a good many years of our childhood on bikes so the concept is rather familiar and comfortable. This is one of those exercises that doesn’t always feel like exercise, though you do need to make a commitment to see the effects.

They say that the two best ways to get yourself in better shape and looking the better picture of health is with proper diet and regular exercise. One without the other doesn’t work and so along with the healthy eating comes the need to exercise. This is the point at which many people turn to cycling as their chosen form of getting fit and feeling better overall.

Cycling can help you to burn major calories, but in a gentle way that doesn’t wreak havoc on your body. People of all ages and walks of life can enjoy cycling and that’s what makes it so very appealing. You can find some excellent trails outdoors to practice your cycling skills and if the weather turns bad, you can find some excellent options indoors as well. Cycling is very approachable and so for those that wish to gain better health, they turn to this as a starting point.

You can go cycling on your own or with others so it makes it one of those activities that works for just about any situation. If you’re looking for an exciting form of exercise or have a vested interest in getting healthier for any number of reasons, then cycling may be just the activity that you have been looking for. Even if you haven’t been on a bike for year, cycling can offer a gentle way into the world of exercise and get you feeling better almost immediately.

Cycling is not only a fun sport to take up but is also heart healthy and stress relieving. There are so many benefits that come with cycling. You can include your whole family or go solo. You can ride through the countryside and enjoy the sounds, or instead of jumping into the car to go to the shops, get on your bike!.

You may not know this, but fat gets a bad rap… And true, fat is bad… Up to a point. Fat is also good, and necessary for the human body. Everyone needs fat in his or her daily diet.

There are certain fats that are good for the body such as mono-unsaturated fat and polyunsaturated fat. The former is a healthy fat that provides protection against such things as heart disease and a variety of cancers.

Mono-unsaturated fat is found in such things as olive oil, avocados, nuts, olives, nut butters and canola oil. Olive oil is also instrumental in lowering cholesterol. Polyunsaturated fat is necessary for the growth of body cells and it also provides the fatty acids that are needed for the health of the skin.

Another much talked about healthy fat is omega-3 fatty acids, which are found in shellfish and other types of fish, and  very important for the healthy functioning of the heart. They reduce inflammation in the arteries; help to lower blood pressure by a small amount; play a role in keeping the walls of the arteries as relaxed as possible; and help to make the composition of the blood less sticky, thereby reducing the chance that a blood clot could take place.

Other potential benefits of consuming an adequate supply of omega-3 fats…

May decrease the risk of breast cancer, prostate cancer and colon cancer

Can be useful in the treatment of Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis, rheumatoid arthritis

Preliminary research studies point to the role this healthy fat plays in treating depression. To increase your intake of omega-3 fatty acids include more fish in your diet, as well as ground flaxseed and walnuts.

One healthy way to add more fat into your diet without packing on pounds is to add a selection of nuts to your salads and to sprinkle ground flaxseed on your yogurt. It is also wise to sauté vegetables in olive oil as opposed to vegetable oil.

You can use this information to choose lower fat foods by comparing products and food brands.  Once you have a rough idea of what a healthy intake of fat is, you’ll know what you can and what you can’t have. Get YOUR Diet Solution!

From day to day, the amount of fat you eat will vary.  Some meals and some days will be higher in fat than others.  Even high fat meals can be kept in line with healthy eating as long as you balance those days accordingly.  The average fat intake over the course of weeks and months is important, not the fat intake of every meal and food you consume. Basically, just apply some good ol’ common sense to your diet, and stay healthy!

As your body ages it naturally becomes less efficient, and so vitamin supplements can be an ideal way to help your body age healthily.

There are a number of essential vitamins that the body needs to function properly and it is possible to take these in the form of a vitamin supplement. The majority of people do not have a balanced diet and they may be lacking in certain vitamins which means that they require a vitamin supplement to ensure that they do not have a deficiency of an essential vitamin. A health professional or dietary technician is the best person to give advice on any vitamin supplement that a person should take. It is important to seek professional advice before taking any vitamin supplement. This is because there are some vitamins that can be toxic if too much is consumed and a vitamin supplement may not be appropriate if there is enough of the vitamin already in the food a person eats.

Some categories of people may require more types of vitamin supplement than others. Vegetarians are often deficient in certain vitamins that are only found in animal products, for example, and a vitamin supplement is the ideal solution to this problem. Vegetarians do need to be aware that some vitamin supplement manufacturing processes involve animal products and it is important for them to read the labels. A large number of synthetic vitamin supplement products are available which will enable a vegetarian to take them without contravening their dietary beliefs or needs.

Even children will sometimes need a vitamin supplement, especially when they are extremely young. This is because a lot of children do not eat a sufficient variety of foods in their early years and a vitamin supplement can help compensate for this natural deficiency. Breast feeding has long been recommended as a source of all the essential nutrients but women who choose not to or are unable to bottle feed may be concerned as to whether their baby needs a vitamin supplement. The large majority of baby milk formulas contain additional vitamins to prevent the need for a vitamin supplement to be given. It is important to discuss any concerns over the need for a baby or child to take a vitamin supplement with a health professional to ensure that the correct solution is found.

Elderly people or those suffering from certain diseases or illnesses are other groups of people that may need to take a vitamin supplement. The body may often need a vitamin supplement to compensate for a person not being able to consume the recommended daily allowance of certain vitamins through their normal diet.

If you are experiencing back pain you might be surprised to learn that there are some natural health products available which can help you to overcome it.  Herbs are used for a number of different natural medical purposes and they have been a part of medicine for thousands of years.  If you find a proper combination of herbs that will work for you, you would probably be surprised at how quickly you can overcome problems with back pain.

One of the first things that you should do if you are experiencing any type of a problem in this area is to supplement your vitamins.  Back pain can be caused by a vitamin deficiency, particularly one of the B vitamins, B12.  Not only can a deficiency of this vitamin cause lower back pain, it can also cause a whole other host of problems for us including depression, panic attacks and a foggy mind.  That is why this a good idea to be supplementing with vitamin B12, even if you’re not experiencing back pain at this time.

One of the main causes of back pain is an inflammation of the tissue in that area.  That is why anti-inflammatory herbal medication is an excellent choice for anyone who is having problems in this area.  Saw Palmetto or bromelain are two excellent choices for natural anti-inflammatory relief.  Along with this, you might want to take some type of herb that helps to relax the muscles naturally, such as chamomile.

There are also a number of different herbs which help to overcome pain if the problem you are experiencing a severe.  Wild Lettuce has been used throughout the centuries in order to help people with pain and it also may have the added benefit of helping you to sleep at night.  Other herbs that help with pain relief include feverfew, burdock and Devils claw.

It may take a little bit of experimenting for you to find the proper herbal combination that is going to help you.  It may also take a little bit of time before these herbs really start to kick in and you begin to notice a difference.  Although pharmaceutical drugs will help with some of the symptoms, natural health products such as herbal medicine tends to get more to the root of the problem and to cure it from there.  Give it a try for yourself and see whether it does not help your back pain to ease considerably.

Keeping fit and healthy is not only for the young… Your quality of life in later years depends greatly on how you look after yourself before you get there…

From the day we are all born, we age every day. As a young person, we don’t think about the later years in our life. We live in a very fast pace world today and it causes a lot of stress in our lives and as time goes on, the stress will affect us increasingly.

Everyone young and old, we all need to take care of our bodies and minds.

By taking care of ourselves, it keeps us thinking, moving and helps prevent major illnesses such and cancer and many other diseases. We all have to work at keeping ourselves healthy and there is no better time than right now. The younger you start taking care of yourself the better it is; by starting early your catching things before they have time to progress.

So right now, start off by eating healthy. Keep an eye on that diet and make sure your not overeating, but eat enough to get vitamins you need to have.

A good multivitamin is a good way to start adding supplements to what you don’t get in your food.

Food doesn’t always have the amount of vitamins anymore like they use to, and that starts at the farmer’s level. Don’t blame the farmer for this because they are just doing their jobs the same way we all go to ours everyday. The farmer has to add fertilizer, chemicals and even water to their crops to make them grow bigger, faster and for beauty too. Adding all these chemicals eat up all the natural vitamins that you need.

Water has chemicals in it too; one reason why your water needs to be tested at least once a year especially if you have well water. Once the food is grown and ready to be shipped it is polished, coated to keep it nice and fresh looking during shipment, which is why this will take away some of the vitamins as well. Try to eat as much, homegrown food as you can and not processed foods. Fresh homegrown food is the best, since you get natural vitamins.

A good multivitamin isn’t going to hurt anyone. It is known that people who take a multivitamin everyday is in better health than someone who doesn’t.

Sometimes your doctor may want you to take extra vitamins, as we grow older because our bodies change and sometimes require more of something. In addition, as we grow older our eating habits change and we don’t eat as much or we want to lose weight and don’t eat the right foods.  Nevertheless, remember you can lose weight and still eat right.

As we grow older our bodies and mind change. All the stress we had growing up and continue through out our lives. Relieve that stress as much as possible because it can do a lot of harm to us. Stress is known to be a major factor for poor heart conditions, strokes, and it will lower our immune system, as we grow older.

A regular exercise program is good for all ages and helps relieve stress at the early ages as well.  If only families took time out maybe as a family with their children and made it a part of their lives that would help relieve it during the younger years.

A person who learns and enjoys exercising on a daily basis will keep fit doing it, as they grow older as well.  Exercising will help the older person to keep those bones more flexible so they don’t get stiff and weak. The heart gets benefit from exercising too. Exercise will cause the heart to perform naturally, by working it harder to keep it functioning properly. Exercising helps to keep our bodies toned up and helps us to lose weight, or at most keeping the weight maintained.

Remember starting early can help later in years to make your life healthier and more contented.

Get your health products shipped to your door… Visit our Natural Health Store!

Memberships to a gym can often be quite expensive and may include other things that you don’t need, such as child care or swimming pools. You also won’t need to be concerned about the latest trends of exercise gear as you most likely will be exercising by yourself at home.

Keep in mind that working out at home does require a bit of financial obligation. For example, even though you may plan to run, it is very important that you have high quality running shoes. This statement applies to any type of equipment that you may purchase to use at home. If you go out and buy cheap equipment, you’ll probably end up getting hurt or getting frustrated because you aren’t making any progress.

Along with the financial gains, exercising at home may also help those who don’t like to work out in public. If you are worried about how you look in gym clothes, it is very comforting to know that the only person who has to be with you when you exercise at home is you. Also, when you exercise at home, you don’t need to worry about time at all.

Your life as a couch potato is officially over… Have you tried Wii Fit? An innovative challenge that combines the strategy of video games with the movement of exercise. Simply step onto the Wii Balance Board and run and jump your way through energizing challenges. With more than 40 activities based on strength training, aerobics, yoga and balance, there’s something for everyone to enjoy.

Take the fun route to physical fitness with this new, active way to play on your Nintendo Wii. Start by creating your personal profile. Set up your Mii, enter your height and let the Balance Board take your weight. In just a few short seconds, you’ll know your current Body Mass Index (BMI), a measurement used to determine your Wii Fit age. You’ll also take a balance test to determine how well you can maintain your left and right balance. As you progress, you can watch these statistics improve and find the motivation to practice every day. So, exercise at home… And have FUN getting fit!

Acne is a common skin disease that results when pores get blocked and bacteria form inside them. It comes in a variety of familiar forms and affects nearly everyone at some stage, particularly in their teen years. The inflamed, red bumps that sometimes form can be painful, and even painless white pimples are unsightly.

In the surface of the skin are pores, tiny openings called a hair follicle. Deeper inside the pore, near the base of the follicle, there are sebaceous glands that produce sebum, a natural type of oil. That oil helps keep the skin flexible and protected. Hair continues to grow through the surface, while oil or sebum oozes out the side and is spread around the area. Skin cells grow and die and are sloughed off through washing, rubbing or spontaneously. But that process can be interrupted when the pores close and when bacteria form inside them. The result is acne.

The white pimples that sometimes form are usually a combination of dead skin cells, white blood cells and bacteria. The trapped pus often creates an inflamed, red area around it. The term ‘pus’ is an adaptation of ‘pustule’, a type of acne that results when the follicle wall bursts and the white blood cells rush into the area as part of a healing process.

When the tiny bumps or spots appear black they’re called blackheads, naturally enough. They’re a non-inflamed form of acne that come from the material having poked through the surface. Their dark color isn’t the result of contact with dirt on the skin. It’s a combination of dead skin cells and sebum that have oxidized. Oxygen in the air causes a chemical reaction that turns them black.

Often, however, the material doesn’t break the skin, but simply pushes it up, forming a small, white bump called whiteheads. One form are known as ‘milia’. Normally dead skin cells will get washed off or simply fall off the surface. But they can get trapped underneath the surface. This type of acne is common among infants, but can affect people at any age. All these variations go by a general medical term called ‘comedones’, and whether that formation is open or closed is part of the clinical difference between them.

As the acne develops it can variously form what are called papules, nodules or cysts. A papule forms when the walls holding the hair follicle burst near the surface. They’re small and don’t contain pus. A nodule is a hardened lump under the skin, resulting from a break at the base of the follicle. A cyst is a larger, reddened bump. They’re soft, but can be very painful.

Naturally, while it’s helpful to know what acne is, the most important thing is to be able to treat it. We turn to that next…

Only in very rare cases can acne represent a serious general health risk. But, its effects can still be severe. The unsightly blemishes, the appearance of having unhealthy skin will almost inevitably lead to mild depression or worse. One important method for keeping that outlook under control is to make reasonable efforts to combat the condition.

Not everyone can readily afford a professional dermatologist on an ongoing basis. But even one visit can provide tons of useful advice and a prescription for acne medication. That’s worth quite a lot. Even though there is a substantial amount of information available on the Internet today, it’s helpful to have someone experienced who can help interpret it.

The medicine itself is important, both to treat the disease and the psychological effects. As the patient lessens the number of lesions, and lengthens the period between outbreaks, the skin will clear. At the same time, even when acne is still present, knowing that one is doing everything possible to combat the condition
promotes a better attitude.

Passivity in the face of acne creates a downward spiral. The person feels bad about having a skin disease. They look in the mirror and don’t want to face the day, which includes other people who will see them. But passively accepting the situation only worsens it. It reinforces the mistaken belief that nothing can be done. It’s a self-fulfilling prophecy. If nothing is done, the condition doesn’t go away or at least lingers much longer, and more severely than need be. That provides false evidence that there’s nothing that can be done to make it go away.

Taking action tends to create a positive spiral. Severe acne won’t normally disappear in a day, even with the best treatment. But fighting it leads to greater confidence as the condition actually improves.

Want to discover how to PERMANENTLY get rid of YOUR acne… Click Here!

Yeah, I know… You’re going on a diet straight after the holidays… Right, I bet you said that last year… And the year before that!

Seriously though, have you tried on your “party gear” yet? Does any of it still fit? When you buy a new outfit, wouldn’t it be great if it was a size or two smaller, and you looked great in it?

It’s not hard to drop a couple of sizes, still eat plenty of food, and stop getting fat!

A good diet should have food from all the food groups.

This is made up by 2 things. The first is carbohydrates. The food that a person consumes should have vitamins, minerals and fiber. A lot of this can come from oats, rice, potatoes and cereals. The best still come from vegetables and fruits since these have phytochemicals, enzymes and micro-nutrients that are essential for a healthy diet.

The second is fat which can come from mono and poly saturated food sources rather than animal fats. Since fat contains more than double the number of calories in food, this should be taken in small quantities to gain or lose weight.

Being active will make you healthy and stronger. It is not just for people who have a weight problem but for everyone who likes to stay fit.

There is a lot you can do such as jog or walk every morning, play tennis or any other sport with friends, but if you want to have muscles and look lean, then one can always find plenty of good training programs (click here for example…)

It doesn’t take a lot of effort to stop getting fat, you just have to start doing it!

There are thousands of diet plans out there, many hard to keep to, or even understand… But you want a simple, easy-to-follow, healthy diet plan that works… Click Here!

[ Editor's Note:  Fitness author Jon Benson shared this letter with me and gave me permission to share it with you. ]

Got arm flab?

Know someone who does?

Some women I know with a healthy sense of humor refer to it as “their wings” because their arm flab flaps when they walk or jog.

It’s time to get rid of your wings ladies…

… and guys, listen up:  You are not immune to arm flab. Even if your don’t have any, the tips I’m about to give will help you build stronger arms.

Before I go any further, I have to tell you about Marty Web.

Marty looked like … well, your typical 59-year-old housewife. Actually she looked a bit worse.

She was a good 80 pounds over her ideal bodyweight. And she had her wings…

… big time wings. Loads of arm flab.

That was at age 59.

At age 61… wow. Different story.

Marty transformed her body to such a degree that even I could have never guessed she was an OUNCE overweight!

Her story and 52 others just like her, male and female, are in my first book — and my best-seller Fit Over 40.

I’d like you to read more about it here –

http://www.fitover40.com/go/betterlife <— cure for arm flab

Marty replaced her “wings” with toned, beautiful arms. And you can too.

She has two pages in Fit Over 40… too much to cover in an email… but here’s the basics to get you started:

1. You have to get your nutrition down pat. Most people think that the flab on their arms (or anywhere for that matter) can be solved by “turning it into muscle.”

This is not true folks. Fat does not turn into “anything”. It is used for energy. Period.

Muscle is muscle. Fat is fat.

You must use low-insulin nutrition like I recommend in all my books, including Fit Over 40, to lower your bodyfat. For ladies, the back-of-the-arm bodyfat is often the last bit to go.

But I promise — it will go. I can go for anyone. Marty Web and dozens of other ladies in Fit Over 40 prove that in living color… and they share how they did it.

Low-insulin nutrition means eating more protein-rich foods, foods that are not processed, and plenty of tasty veggies. But it does not mean you cannot have your pizza and burgers here and there. I do every week and my bodyfat is low.

2. You must train your triceps. The back of the arm is made of three muscles called the “triceps”. You have a long head, a medial head and a lateral head that form the triceps muscle group.

If you cannot access a gym, you can do plain-old pushups to work all three heads of the triceps. Here’s a few tips. First, if you cannot do a pushup with your legs straight, start by doing them on your knees. Work up to straight-legged pushups.

Second, do one third of your reps with your hands facing away from your body, one third with your hands facing toward your body (fingers pointing toward you) and the final third with your hands in the “normal” pushup position, facing the same direction as your body. This will work the various heads nicely.

If you have access to a gym, see the exercises for the triceps found in my book Fit Over 40:

http://www.fitover40.com/go/betterlife <— say good-bye to arm flab

3. Finally, you have to have a role model. Find someone like Marty who has lost their wings and use their success to inspire you.

Put these three things together and you too will be “grounded” — wingless, but with a lovely pair of arms that never jiggle and look fantastic.

By: Craig Ballantyne, CSCS, MS
www.TurbulenceTraining.com

Cardio fitness exercise is such a strange thing. In theory, it should work so perfectly well for all men and women, but as anyone who has tried it knows, the practicality of it just doesn’t add up.

After all, some men and women do cardio 6 hours, 9 hours, or more per week, and still have belly fat to burn. On the other hand, it works just fine for others.

British researchers wanted to get more insight into this paradox, and studied 35 overweight men and women, who weren’t previously exercising.

(Reference: International Journal of Obesity 32: 177-184, 2008).

Subjects exercised 5 times per week for 12 weeks. That’s a lot of exercise, but it helped the subjects lose an average of 8.2 pounds, which is great – I was positively surprised by the results.

So cardio will work for some people, however, in my experience, it works best in young men, who need the help the least!

Back to the study, the variance in fat loss between individuals was huge. Check this out…

The best subject lost a staggering 32.3 pounds in 12 weeks, while the worst subject actually GAINED 3.74 pounds.

The scientists think they know where things went sour. They classified the subjects into 2 groups, called the “Compensators” and the “Non-compensators”.

The Compensators were hungrier, and as a result consumed an extra 268 calories per day, all but wiping out their cardio fitness efforts.

Therefore, the Compensators lost the least amount of weight, and scientists believe that was due to the huge “compensatory” increase in appetite experienced by this group.

Does your appetite increase when you do slow cardio? If it does, research shows it will ruin your cardio efforts.

So if your cardio fitness program is not working for you, check your appetite and calorie intake to see if you are “compensating” for your efforts. If you are, you might be better off using a program of high-intensity resistance and interval training (i.e. Turbulence Training) for your weight loss efforts.

As Australian Professor Steve Boucher has shown in research, interval training increases hormones called catecholamines. And increased catecholamines can reduce appetite, among other fat-burning benefits.

In the real world, few people lose 33 pounds after 12 weeks of cardio. Heck, few even achieve an average weight loss of 8 pounds with aerobic exercise.

So again, check your appetite, and consider giving high-intensity exercise a go for your next workout program.

Beat the curse of cardio fitness with high-intensity Turbulence Training. Click Here for more information.

Craig Ballantyne, CSCS, MS
Author, Turbulence Training
About the Author

Learn about the “Dark Side of Cardio” in the free report from Craig Ballantyne at www.TurbulenceTraining.com. Craig is a Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist and writes for Men’s Health, Men’s Fitness, Maximum Fitness, Muscle and Fitness Hers, and Oxygen magazines. His trademarked Turbulence Training fat loss workouts have helped thousands of men and women around the world lose fat, gain muscle, and get lean in less than 45 minutes three times per week. For more information on the Turbulence Training workouts that will help you burn fat without long, slow cardio sessions or fancy equipment, visit www.TurbulenceTraining.com