Keeping Fit is A Daily Battle

By David Zinczenko

If some doctors had their way today, Americans would be more medicated than industrial feedlot cattle. But what most people don’t realize is that the first line of defense against stress, fatigue, depression, and so many other maladies is found in supermarket aisles, not in the drug store.

Research shows that the vitamins, minerals, and active compounds specific to certain fruits, vegetables, and even chocolate and red wine have an immediate and lasting impact on your mood, your health, your fitness — even your sex life.

Whether you have a big presentation at work, or the need to burn a few hundred extra calories a day (and who doesn’t want to do that?), why not put food to work for you? Here are seven research-backed quick cures just waiting for you in the fresh produce bins and supermarket shelves.

1. When You’re Stressed…

Eat This:
1 Cup of Low-Fat Yogurt or 2 Tbsp of Mixed Nuts

Scientists in Slovakia gave people 3 grams each of two amino acids — lysine and arginine — or a placebo and asked them to deliver a speech. Blood measurements of stress hormones revealed that the amino acid–fortified public speakers were half as anxious during and after the speech as those who took the placebo. Yogurt is one of the best food sources of lysine; nuts pack tons of arginine.

Not That!
A Can of Soda

A study from the American Journal of Public Health found that people who drink 20 ounces of soda daily are three times more likely to be depressed and anxious, compared with those who drink less.

2. When You Want to Increase Your Metabolism…

Drink This:
Green Tea

Catechins, the powerful antioxidants found in green tea, are known to stoke your metabolism, making it burn hotter and torch more calories. A study by Japanese researchers found that participants who consumed 690 milligrams of catechins from green tea daily had significantly lower body-mass indexes and smaller waist measurements than tea-totalers (i.e., they avoid the stuff).

Not That!
Nothing

Skipping meals lets your body’s calorie-burning furnace go cold. Spread out snacks throughout the day. Try a cup of yogurt with fresh fruit or almonds between breakfast and lunch, and a hard-boiled egg or hummus with vegetables in the afternoon.

3. When You’re Low on Energy…

Eat This:
A Handful of Trail Mix

Raisins provide potassium, which your body uses to convert sugar into energy. Nuts stock your body with magnesium, which boosts metabolism and improves nerve and muscle function. (When magnesium levels are low, your body produces more lactic acid — the same fatigue-byproduct that makes your muscles ache at the end of a workout.)

Not That!
Espresso-Based Drinks

Sure, the caffeine will perk you up, but the spike in blood sugar that follows — with anywhere from 16 grams (latte) to 59 grams (white chocolate mocha) of sugar coursing through your veins — will ultimately launch your own personal energy crisis. Stick to brewed coffee with one packet of sugar, max.

4. When You Need a Brain Boost…

Eat This:
Blueberries

Antioxidants in blueberries help protect the brain from free-radical damage, which could decrease your risk of Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases, and improve cognitive processing. Wild blueberries, if you can find them (or grow them!), have even more brain-boosting antioxidants than the cultivated variety.

Not That!
Ice Cream

Sugary foods incite sudden surges of blood glucose that, in the long term, cause sugar highs and lows, and make you as distractable as a toddler in the Disney store. And foods high in saturated fat can clog blood vessels and slow the flow of nutrients and blood to the brain.

5. When You’re Under the Weather…

Drink This:
Ginseng Tea, Hot or Iced

In a Canadian study, people who took 400 milligrams of ginseng a day had 25 percent fewer colds than people who popped a placebo. Ginseng helps kill invading viruses by increasing the body’s production of key immune cells.

Not That!
Caffeinated Beverages and Energy Drinks

Excessive caffeine messes with your sleep schedule and sabotages key immune agents. And insufficient sleep opens the door to colds, upper respiratory infections, and other ills. What’s more, caffeine can dehydrate you, and hydration is vital during illness: Fluids not only transport nutrients to the problem zones, but also carry away toxins.

6. When You Need to Wake Up and Go…

Eat This:
Eggs and Whole-Wheat Toast

Eggs are a great source of protein, and having them for breakfast sets you up for a perfect day of eating. Saint Louis University researchers found that people who eat eggs for breakfast consume 264 fewer calories the rest of the day than those who eat bagels and cream cheese.

Not That!
Bagel and Cream Cheese

At 500 calories and 20 grams of fat, this deli disaster is one of the worst ways to start your day. Sixty grams of fast-burning carbohydrates will cause a dip in energy and a spike in hunger, long before lunchtime. The same goes for croissants, danish, donuts, and pancakes.

7. When You Want to Get ”In the Mood”…

Eat This:
Dark Chocolate

The cocoa in chocolate contains stimulants that increase your body’s sensitivity. Chocolate also contains phenylethylamine, a chemical that can give you a slight natural high. And Italian researchers found that women who often eat chocolate have a higher sex drive than those who don’t. Make sure your chocolate has at least 60 percent cacao.

Not That!
The Third Glass of Wine

The alcohol in wine affects your prefrontal cortex, which can decrease inhibition and up your sexual appetite. But only for the first glass or two. Beyond that, the toxic affects of alcohol in your system take over and are as likely to make you sleepy as they are to make you sexy. The more pouring, the more snoring.

This news is another proof of the saying - “Use it or Lose it” :

WASHINGTON (AFP) - - Older men who have more sex will experience fewer erection problems, Finnish researchers reported in the July issue of The American Journal of Medicine.
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The five-year study of 989 men aged 55-75 in Pirkanmaa, Finland, showed that having sexual intercourse less than once per week doubled the risk of erectile dysfunction (ED), compared to having sex once per week.

The researchers of the Department of Urology of Tampere University Hospital, in Finland, checked for other factors that may affect the incidence of ED, such as age and chronic medical conditions including diabetes, heart disease, hypertension and depression.

They found that ED affected 79 out of 1,000 men who reported making love less than once per week. The rate dropped to 32 per 1,000 among men making love once per week, and to 16 per 1,000 for those doing it three times or more per week.

“Regular intercourse has an important role in preserving erectile function among elderly men,” said Juha Koskimaki, one of the study’s authors.

“The investigators advise clinicians to support the sexual activity of their patients,” the study concluded.

By AP/BETSY BLANEY

(LUBBOCK, Texas) — A slice of cool, fresh watermelon is a juicy way to top off a Fourth of July cookout and one that researchers say has effects similar to Viagra — but don’t necessarily expect it to keep the fireworks all night long.

Watermelons contain an ingredient called citrulline that can trigger production of a compound that helps relax the body’s blood vessels, similar to what happens when a man takes Viagra, said scientists in Texas, one of the nation’s top producers of the seedless variety.

Found in the flesh and rind of watermelons, citrulline reacts with the body’s enzymes when consumed in large quantities and is changed into arginine, an amino acid that benefits the heart and the circulatory and immune systems.

“Arginine boosts nitric oxide, which relaxes blood vessels, the same basic effect that Viagra has, to treat erectile dysfunction and maybe even prevent it,” said Bhimu Patil, a researcher and director of Texas A&M’s Fruit and Vegetable Improvement Center. “Watermelon may not be as organ-specific as Viagra, but it’s a great way to relax blood vessels without any drug side effects.”

Todd Wehner, who studies watermelon breeding at North Carolina State University, said anyone taking Viagra shouldn’t expect the same result from watermelon.

“It sounds like it would be an effect that would be interesting but not a substitute for any medical treatment,” Wehner said.

The nitric oxide can also help with angina, high blood pressure and other cardiovascular problems, according to the study, which was paid for by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

More citrulline — about 60 percent — is found in watermelon rind than in the flesh, Patil said, but that can vary. But scientists may be able to find ways to boost the concentrations in the flesh, he said.

Citrulline is found in all colors of watermelon and is highest in the yellow-fleshed types, said Penelope Perkins-Veazie, a USDA researcher in Lane, Okla.

She said Patil’s research is valid, but with a caveat: One would need to eat about six cups of watermelon to get enough citrulline to boost the body’s arginine level.

“The problem you have when you eat a lot of watermelon is you tend to run to the bathroom more,” Perkins-Veazie said.

Watermelon is a diuretic and was a homeopathic treatment for kidney patients before dialysis became widespread.

Another issue is the amount of sugar that much watermelon would spill into the bloodstream — a jolt that could cause cramping, Perkins-Veazie said.

Patil said he would like to do future studies on how to reduce the sugar content in watermelon.

The relationship between citrulline and arginine might also prove helpful to those who are obese or suffer from type-2 diabetes. The beneficial effects — among them the ability to relax blood vessels, much like Viagra does — are beginning to be revealed in research.

Citrulline is present in other curcubits, like cucumbers and cantaloupe, at very low levels, and in the milk protein casein. The highest concentrations of citrulline are found in walnut seedlings, Perkins-Veazie said.

“But they’re bitter and most people don’t want to eat them,” she said.

A major new study suggests that regular exercise and a healthy diet may be an effective remedy for erectile dysfunction (or commonly known as impotence) and the heart disease that often accompanies it. This is according to researchers at John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore.

Although this is not a surprising news, it’s good addition to the number of benefits of exercising. With a physically fit body, being muscular and with good cardiovascular health, normal sexual function naturally follows.

I remember when I was fat and my belly is actually covering my “thing”, I literally have to stoop down to see it, it brings down my confidence level to perform sexually. But now, being flat on the stomach, and with excellent cardio health, I can say that my confidence level shoots up and this helps me combat my own thinking of being “not able to”. As you may know, ED is almost always 50% psychological, you have to defeat your own self saying your too old or getting old. Of course, it has to do also with physical health, when your exercising or building muscle, your testosterone level normally goes up and this hormone is needed too for improved sexual performance. But for me, the way that exercising helps is mostly psychological - it gives me superior confidence that I can do it and do it longer

“If you have more than 200 orgasms a year, you can reduce your physiologic age by six years,” Dr. Oz says. — I am so glad that my wife saw this on Oprah yesterday. Hopefully someone can find a link to the Duke study that this references but, in making the argument to a woman, isn’t Oprah good enough.

Yeah, having sex enough is a proof that “it” is functioning, your body system is working well. Plus the mental and emotional benefits of being one with someone you truly love and desire. So we might qualify these beneficial sex as those “safe” sex that we had; if not, then it is really not healthy when you contracted a disease because of frequent sex with multiple partners.

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It’s possible that male goo can lower blood pressure. Another recent study found that women who gave their men oral sex, and swallowed, had a lower risk of preeclampsia, the dangerously high blood pressure that sometimes accompanies pregnancy.

That’s one study I love to share with my girlfriend

Could there be a real study on this? It could be only a ploy to encourage more girls to swallow semen, which is really a good thing for us men. Ride on!

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For many women, the correlation between sex and snoring is one of those annoying facts of life: no matter when passionate encounters occur, men always seem to fall asleep immediately afterwards. Although women sometimes feel sleepy after sex, the phenomenon does seem more pronounced in men. What is it, then, that spirals them into the land of nod?

Have you ever wondered why? The most obvious fact is exhaustion after sex. But why men are generally more exhausted? It is obvious again that Men always do ALL the work.

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