fitness for women

Why skipping breakfast could be beneficial for fat loss (experiments with intermittent fasting)

I always loved breakfast, being a strong believer that 1) breakfast provides energy for the whole day, and 2) that it allows you to indulge in one or two guilty pleasures such as a piece of dark chocolate, or bowl of cherries. However, your approach to the first meal of the day depends on your goals, lifestyle, and work-schedule. In some cases skipping breakfast could be a highly beneficial strategy for achieving fat-loss.

What sort of situations am I talking about?

People who have just started a fat-loss diet (i.e. untrained or lightly-trained individuals with a body fat percentage of over 30% in females, and over 20% in males);
People who would like to shed fat faster (but not too quickly: there is no magic bullet in holistic nutrition);
Those who have a low-to-no chance of sticking to a very strict diet due to social obligations such as business, travel, dinners out and so on;
People whose bodies have adapted and become resistant to conventional healthy eating schemes, and who have ‘plateaued’ (This actually happened to me after six competition preparation diets over a two-year period);
Those who have a good overall fitness level, but who are trying to get rid of some stubborn fat (for example legs and gluts for ladies and the abs area for men).

If any of these cases apply to you, keep reading.

There are three main ideas behind the strategy of skipping breakfast:

Intermittent fasting
Fasted cardio
Intensive but limited in-time feeding period

Let’s examine these concepts individually.

Intermittent fasting

If you are not familiar with intermittent fasting protocols, the concept can be summed up as follows: An eight hour ‘feeding period’ followed by sixteen hours of fasting. According to Martin Berkhan, author of the Leangains protocols – a system widely known in the nutrition world – intermittent fasting helps to:

Increase blood flow to ‘stubborn’ fat cells during exercise;
Make the body use fatty acids for energy instead of traditional glucose;
Suppress Insulin release (a fat-gaining hormone);
Elevate concentrations of epinephrine and norepinephrine (lipotropic hormones);
Increase the metabolic rate when resting (the body starts to burn more calories when not exercising).

Berkhan advocates the extended fast (16 hours of fasting followed by 8 hours of feeding) as a powerful tool for fat-burn. I’d like to make a remark at this point:

Usually men respond better to the 16/8 eating scheme than women, due to hormonal differences. Researchers generally believe that women need a longer feeding period (14/10 or even 12/12) in order to support healthy female sex hormone production. The length of the ‘feeding time’ for women also depends on the menstrual cycle period.

My personal experience

My personal experience of intermittent fasting was extremely positive. I first gave this strategy a try 12 years ago when I experienced sudden weight-gain due to an inability to stick to my usual dietary and exercise routine. My job was extremely demanding at the time, and I consequently tried very hard to get back on track. I followed the extended protocol, skipping dinner instead of breakfast. It worked well and I lost 12 lbs over the course of 3 months, but unfortunately my social life also dropped off.

A month ago I tried intermittent fasting again, as I had to travel a lot and I didn’t have the option of carrying on with my small/frequent meal strategy for a little while. I also felt that my body had adapted and become resistant to the latter technique, as I had been following it for the past two years. I altered the fasting protocol by skipping breakfast instead of dinner. My starting point was the 16/8 scheme, which I initially found sustainable, but within seven days I started feeling a slight lack of energy. I extended my feeding period to 10 hours for another ten days and then to 12 hours, which brought me to the final stage of my menstrual cycle – exactly one week before my period (at this time the female body requires more energy). Then I took three days off, eating clean, small and frequent meals. I started the course again when my period was over.

The overall result for one month was losing 6lbs and a decrease of 1.5% of body fat without being on extremely strict diet (I continued to eat fruits, berries and even had a glass or wine or a piece of dark chocolate occasionally).

The main principles of intermittent fasting:

*contact me for customized calculations and timing

High protein consumption*
High vegetable intake
Intense training: do resistance training 3-5 times a week and fasted cardio 4-6 times a week before your first meal.
Carb cycling: increase carbs* (sweet potato, butternut squash, whole grain bread and pasta, rise, fruit, etc.) on the resistance training day especially legs day.
Nutrient timing: eat the biggest meal straight after resistance training in order to avoid muscle brake-down and quicken recovery. If you want to increase the fat-burn effect, skip carbs after the fasted cardio.*

The easiest way to try intermittent fasting is by fasting from 9-10 PM until 1-4PM the next day, doing fasted cardio around 11am. In other words, by skipping breakfast. While you can always skip dinner instead, you may find that you end up sacrificing the pleasure of catching up with your friends.

Don’t labour under the delusion that by simply skipping a meal or two you will achieve a fitness model body. The strategy only works effectively with the right combination of meal planning, food selection, fasted cardio programme, workout plan and nutrient-timing.

Fasted cardio

Fasted cardio is another idea behind beneficial breakfast skipping. When done on an empty stomach, such cardio is a great tool to combat that stubborn fat. The secret is simply this: Your bloodstream is cleared of both glucose and amino acids at that point, so your body burns its own fatty acids for energy. I was doing my fasted cardio as a first break in work from 11am to midday. After cardio I had a balanced high-carb and high-protein breakfast.

However, some practitioners believe that fasted cardio could be catabolic: Yes, it could. To avoid muscle loss, take HMB or BCAA prior to and during a cardio session, and stick mainly to low intensity cardio such as power walking, cycling or light jogging, as you prefer. I generally opt for a long power walk in the park, followed by a 15-30 minute Hatha yoga session.

You can join me every day in St James’ park. Book your session here.

Feed your ambitions

Practicing intermittent fasting, fasted cardio and skipping breakfast could work well together with an intensive feeding period. How does it work?

First of all, your body needs energy to function and recover. Logically, you have to use your feeding period smartly and introduce a sufficient – but not an excessive – amount of nutrients into your system. Secondly, having 4-5 small frequent meals or 2-3 big meals (it’s up to you; I personally prefer the first option, but when I’m pushed for time I always have the option of the second). You will boost your metabolism, stimulating the body into burning more calories during the resting/fasting period. And last but not least, eating healthy and delicious food is always great fun.

Enjoy your diet.

Possible Day Schedule

*contact me for bespoke dosages calculation and meal planning

8:00 AM – Wake up, drink 500 ml of water with l-tyrosine and l-tryptophan powder mix* + 2 cups of green tea

9:00 AM – Drink 500 ml – 1l of water with a mix of L-taurine, threonine, choline, inositol and l-glutamine*

11:00 AM – 500 ml – 1l of water + l-carnitine short with vit C* (take alpha adrenergic receptors short-term antagonist as a pre-workout to increase fat burning effect and energy release + coffee (optional)

12:00 PM – 60 min fasted cardio + 1-1.5l of water with a mix of L-taurine, threonine, choline, inositol and l-glutamine*

1:30 PM – lunch

3:30 PM – high protein snack

5:30 PM – pre-workout meal

6:30 – take alpha adrenergic receptors antagonist as a pre-workout to increase fat burning effect + coffee (optional)

6:30 – resistance work-out (optional)

8:00 – protein shake or post-workout meal*

9:00 – dinner

Tatiana Dmitrieva

#Relaxation #food list

Which foods are able to act as natural relaxants and anti-depressants is a question I’m often asked by clients.

CALIFORNIA WALNUT COMMISSION MEDITERRANEAN DIET — Mediterranean Diet probably is one of the best combinations of ingredients with anti-depressants properties.

To begin with, an overall balanced diet is always helpful. By that I mean a clean wholefood diet with the minimum possible amount of processed food intake. Macronutrient modulation varies and depends on factors such as your:

– activity level

– overall fitness level

– body composition

– body related goals

– lifestyle

Probably the best healthy ratio is:

– up to 20% healthy fats

– 30-40% lean protein

– 40-50% carbohydrates.

We’ll talk about an ideal macronutrients’ modulation ratio in another article in more detail.

Returning to the main topic, the following is a (non-exhaustive) list of foods with calming and relaxing properties:

1) Almost all fruits and berries: They are full of natural sugar and antioxidants. Fructose is the quickest carb (source of energy) after refined sugar, and your body will automatically feel happier and more relaxed with more sugar in the bloodstream. However, do keep in mind that if you aim to become leaner you will have to pursue a diet with a low fructose content.

2) Oily fish. Fish oil is well-known nutrient that increases the brain’s metabolism. By combining fish oil with nootropics you can easily achieve a state of calm and have a clearer mind. Book aconsultation to get a list of over-the- counter nootropics.

3) Herbal tea. A blend of mint, chamomile, artichoke and lavender is one of the best relaxation options.

4) Cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and cacao are four spices that were historically used as natural mood lifters and relaxants. Adding a sprinkle of cinnamon in your coffee can help, or even simply inhaling their scent.

5) Chicken hearts and liver are perfect sources of essential amino acids, vitamin B, choline, inositol and Iron. This combination of nutrients is one of the most effective ‘cocktails’ for boosting the central nervous system.

6) Despite the negative publicity and misconceptions surrounding the consumption of egg yolks, the high concentration of cholesterol in them is designed by nature as a perfect source of nutrients. Rich in lecithin, vitamin B, amino acids, choline, inositol, vitamins A and E, phosphatidil serine and many more beneficial substances, egg yolks alone could provide your body with almost everything it needs. However, do not exceed the healthy allowance. Have 1-3 whole eggs a day, adding some separated egg whites if you need to increase your protein intake.

7) Now anyone with a sweet tooth can celebrate – Dark Chocolate!! Yes, having a piece or two of dark chocolate each day will definitely help your body to boost its ‘positive vibe’ hormones.

8) Have a glass of wine. Yes, and YES again!!! But only one, and make sure it’s a high quality wine. First of all, it’s an additional 75 kcal of quick energy that your body will be grateful for. Secondly, high quality wine contains a high concentration of bio-flavonoids and antioxidants.

Taken in a moderate quantities, wine can also act as a minor natural relaxant.

And remember; even if you eat healthily all the time and are a fitness fanatic, allowing your body a little bit of what you really love is always beneficial. By keeping your diet 95% clean, let’s say, you will have even better results than confining yourself to a strict regimen of traditional lean and mean boiled chicken breast, and rice and broccoli.

Enjoy your diet.

Enjoy your life.

Tatiana Dmitrieva

Chocolate Matcha Coconut Cupcakes

My friends are coming over for a cup of tea today, so I decided to put my apron on and bake cupcakes! Today I’ll be making chocolate flavoured cupcakes with green matcha & coconut icing. Like many of my recipes, this one is created for people who are intolerant to dairy and gluten, but nonetheless the cupcakes still taste amazing.

Yield: – 12-15 cupcakes, prep time – 30 min, baking time – 30 minutes, total time – 1 hour

Macros:

Total calories per portion: about 260 kcal

Protein – about 5g

Carbs – about 15g

Fat – about 20g

Ingredients:

Cupcakes

200ml almond milk
3 scoops of vanilla protein (optional)
2 Tbsp stevia
80ml cup rice bran oil (you can use peanut or almond butter if you prefer but the dough will be drier)
1 tsp vanilla extract
240g gluten-free flour
3 Tbsp Cocoa powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp Apple cider vinegar or lemon juice
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
½ cup roughly chopped walnuts or pecan nuts

Icing

200 ml unrefined (virgin) coconut oil
1 ½ Tbsp stevia
6 Tbsp coconut milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
5 Tbsp green tea matcha powder
3 Tbsp organic sugar-free chocolate chips (to sprinkle)

Cooking directions

Cupcakes

Preheat your oven to 180C. Line a cupcake tin with cupcake liners.
Add dry ingredients to the bowl (flour, protein, baking powder, cacao, stevia, salt) and mix well.
Pour milk, vanilla extract, bran oil into dry mixture and whisk until well combined. If the batter looks too dry, try adding a little bit more milk.
Pour apple vinegar or lemon juice onto baking soda (the two will burst into bubbles – these will give extra rise to the bake). Immediately stir into the batter. Add walnuts and mix for 20 seconds.
Fill each paper cup to 3/4 of the way. Bake for 20-25 min or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Allow them to cool completely on a wire cooling rack before frosting.

Icing

While your cupcakes are in the oven, you can start on cream.
Whisk the coconut oil until it gets fluffy
Add in stevia, matcha tea powder, vanilla extract and coconut milk and mix together until nice and smooth
Once the cupcakes are cooled, pipe the cream onto cupcakes, sprinkle on top with chocolate chips

Enjoy!

How and why to meditate. Simple techniques to start your mindful journey

There are an abundance of meditative techniques out there, ranging from ancient Buddhist practices to the latest theories of mindfulness. At heart, they share the aim of preventing the meditator from becoming locked in compulsive thinking patterns, in large part by encouraging them to fully focus on ONE particular thing at a time. This could entail simply concentrating on the present moment, or contemplating a sacred Mandala, listening to mantras, or even (as was the case with me) having a kiteboarding lesson. You can use traditional authentic techniques or create your own way to meditate – whichever best works for you. There are no rules, and everything is possible and permissible.

Our minds constantly oscillate between the past and future, and we are rarely fully present at any given moment. Even when trying to do yoga, or to meditate, we often slip into involuntary thinking patterns. Meditation is about achieving a mental stillness, about calming the mind for a period of time and creating a specific mental space. We need that quiet space to unwind, heal and recover, and to be able to create or perceive new things.

Also read Kiteaboarding as conscious evolution. Another view

How to declutter your mind

How to cope with information overload

Best time

You can meditate whenever you feel you need it – sometimes just 10-15 minutes is sufficient. It’s widely believed, however, that the optimal time (the ‘sacred period’) to meditate is when you wake up or go to bed. Morning meditation is a perfect way to start your day in the right mode, but do not confuse it with planning your day. Try to completely avoid thinking during the meditation time, clearing your mind of distracting or unnecessary thoughts. Evening meditation is a great way to unwind after a hard day before you sleep. You can also practice short “time-in” whenever you feel you need it. I meditate like this while I’m on public transport, or even during my morning run. Evening workout in the gym could also be a good time.

How to start

The idea of spending between ten to thirty minutes without thinking may sound easy, but it takes practice to truly master. How, then, can this be achieved? You can start by focusing your attention on your body. Try to feel each part of your body separately: your legs, arms and other extremities. Then switch your attention to your breathing, or try to feel the energy which flows through your body. Try to go beyond the physical, following your stream of inner energy: Don’t be afraid, just trust the journey and go with the flow. At the end of the meditation think about those ‘greater’ goals in your life, such as being kind, loving, grateful, compassionate and so on. Everyone has his or her own set of personal goals.

Practicing giving-receiving and gratitude

My current goal, for example, is to learn how to receive love, help and goodwill, and to generally be grateful for everything that comes into – and leaves – my life.

Since I am naturally a giving person, I know how to love and how to help. However I have always struggled with receiving. Psychologists believe that those who have difficulty with receiving may have deep-rooted trust, acceptance and/or self-acceptance issues. When you only give and are not open to receiving, you initially become rapidly drained, and then start to appreciate other people less. Such an imbalance could be harmful to your relationships. People around you invariably feel that they are underappreciated, and it’s painful for them and for you. That’s why it’s important to be able to give and receive at the same time.

Take a moment to think about your life goals. Perhaps your past brings back painful memories and prevents you from truly opening your heart to show your true self and feelings. Or perhaps, conversely, you actually give too much, and don’t leave space for your relationships to grow and develop naturally. It’s a very personal journey and all of us have certain things to work on.

a very personal journey and all of us have certain things to work on.

Touch your soul

Try to feel, see and talk to your soul. This probably sounds weird, but try it anyway. Eckhart Tolle, the author of the bestseller The Power of Now, describes this meditation technique perfectly. Try to see, feel and fully focus on your ‘inner body’ (i.e. your soul). It can take time to become comfortable practicing this technique. When I tried it, I found it to be a very relaxing and mind-clearing experience. Advanced yoga and meditation practitioners can further extend this technique by switching the focus of their attention from observing the soul to watching how it’s connected to the Universe. Some practitioners are able to get incredible insights during such deep meditations. Try and share what you think.

Music as a key to the door

Some people believe that ‘authentic’ meditation should only be performed in silence. It is completely up to you. I practice both ways: Listening to sounds of nature may be the best way to replenish your stocks of energy. However, hectic urban life often doesn’t afford us the opportunity to escape to a remote beach or a rural forest for an hour or two. In this case music can act as a key to open the ‘sacred door’ to the soul. Try various things, and choose what works for you the best: authentic mantras, classical music or your favourite jazz band.

Breath of life

If you haven’t decided how to start yet – try breathing. It is the easiest technique. Just breathe deeply. Inhale – exhale – and then feel the natural pause before you inhale again. Try to concentrate on your breathing, feeling how your body rises and falls. Sense the smell and taste of the air. Next, try to feel how every inhaled breath fills your body with crystal-clear Universal energy and how, when you exhale, all your worries, anxieties and fears exit your body. Repeat this breathing cycle exercise until you start feeling relaxed and reenergized.

4 elements meditation

Another way to meditate is to connect with the four elements: water, fire, air, and earth…. Interact with them one after another, fully concentrating on all the bodily feelings you will have. Start off by meditating for 5-10 minutes and then gradually extend this time. Remember, all four elements have their own energy, which you can absorb if you are open enough.

The ancient Greeks believed that Air/Wind gives us mental strength and the ability to think clearly and lucidly; that’s why it’s highly recommended to spend some time outside daily. It is precisely because of this elemental quality that, when we’re planning to take a walk, we say things like: “I have to refresh my mind”.

Water gives us flexibility, the ability to transform, and teaches us how to be more compassionate, understanding and loving. It also removes those negative energies we accumulate on an average day. To connect with water is the easiest task: just drink some (possibly while repeating positive affirmations) or take a bath.

Fire is materialized energy itself. It is warming, protective and in the same time tempering. Just put your palm next to a candle and try to absorb its energy, letting it flow through your body.

Finally, earth grounds us and imparts a feeling of stability and wellbeing. If you have the chance to walk barefoot on the ground – feeling the earth beneath your feet – fantastic. Obviously it’s pretty difficult to do so in a town or city, so just walk barefoot at home and try to imagine how the energy of the earth flows through your body, filling it with a sense of stability.

Plants are the creatures of earth. Bring flowers into your household and they will keep you connected to the fourth element. It is sometimes enough to simply smell, touch or observe them from time to time.

Good luck

Tatiana Dmitrieva

Protein-Packed Peanut Butter Cookies

These cookies are buttery and crunchy, and packed with protein. Exactly what you need to treat yourself to after a good workout! You’d have to put them away before you finish them all. These cookies are suitable for freezing.

Yield: 12-14 cookies, prep time – 5 minutes, cooking time – 10 minutes, total time – 15 minutes

Macros

Total calories per cookie: about 221kcal

Protein – about 12g

Carbs – about 6g

Fat – about 17g

Ingredients

225g organic peanut butter
1 Tbsp Stevia
1 egg, large
2 scoops protein powder (peanut, chocolate or vanilla flavour)
1 ½ Tbsp sugar-free chocolate chips (optional)

Cooking process

Preheat oven to 180C and line a baking sheet with baking paper
Beat the egg and stevia together
Add the rest of the ingredients and mix until your consistency is like cookie dough. If the batter looks runny, add a few more tablespoons of protein powder. You can add chocolate chips, if you desire. Just mix them with the batter.
Take 2 tablespoons of dough into your palms and roll into a ball. Flatten the ball and place on a baking sheet. Use a fork to create classic peanut butter cookie criss-cross marks on your cookie.
Bake at 180C for 10-12 minutes or until the edges begin to turn golden brown.
Leave them to cool for 10-15 minutes until the cookies become harden!

Enjoy!

Carrot Cake Overnight Oats

We usually share our recipes for evening deserts, but how about an overnight desert ready to be consumed for breakfast? It still has our favourite oats in the recipe! It’s an overnight oats inspired by a carrot cake. Yield: 2 portions, prep time – 10 minutes, total time – 10 minutes

Macros

Total calories per serving: about 200kcal

Protein – about 10g

Carbs – about 34g

Fat – about 3.4g

Ingredients

80g organic porridge oats
½ cup carrot, finely grated (that’s about 1 big or 1 ½ medium carrots)
½ scoop vanilla protein powder
¼ tsp clove (powder)
¼ tsp cinnamon (powder)
¼ tsp nutmeg (powder)
1 Tbsp chia seeds
2 Tbsp raisins
½ Tbsp sweetener
1 ½ cup almond milk, unsweetened
Flaked almonds, walnuts, berries (to decorate)

Instructions

Finely grate carrots
Add carrots to oats, protein powder, spices, chia seeds, sweetener, raisings and mix together
Pour in milk to the mixture and stir
Place in the fridge overnight.
If the oats look a bit too thick for your liking, you can add a splash of almond milk before serving. Top with almonds, walnuts or raspberries and have a good start to the day!

Enjoy!
*The oats could stay refrigerated for up to 3 days

5 Simple Tips to Turn Around a Bad Mood Fast

As a therapist who talks and writes about mental strength, I often hear people say things like, “I can’t control my emotions.” Occasionally, readers will even make comments like, “You shouldn’t try to control your emotions. It’s not good for you.”

Also read How to declutter your mind,

8 Questions To Ask Yourself To Feel Better,

Kiteboarding as a spiritual practice: Zen, mindfulness, universal rules of being

But it appears that people who make that assumption are confusing emotion regulation with suppression—and they’re not the same thing. Just because you wake up grumpy doesn’t mean you have to stay in a bad mood. And just because you’re nervous about something doesn’t mean you can’t calm yourself down.

What Is Emotion Regulation?

We all experience moments when our emotions control our actions. When this happens, we often regret the things we say or do and wish we had been able to keep our emotions in check. There are techniques—like meditation—that can allow you to do just that, along with various other benefits, like mood improvement and increased compassion and empathy.

Regulating your emotions is about choosing to take charge of how you feel. That doesn’t mean you should force yourself to be happy all the time. In fact, research shows that forcing yourself to feel happy all the time backfires. But it does mean that you can make choices to boost your mood when you’re down or calm yourself when you’re upset.

Here are five skills that can help change how you feel:

1. Distraction (Keeping busy)

Studies show that distraction is the best way to cope with stress. The more you think upsetting thoughts, the worse you’ll feel. So rather than rehash that mean thing your spouse said, or worry about that stressful meeting tomorrow, distract yourself with an activity: Listen to music, go for a walk, or do whatever you can to change the channel in your brain.

Do any activity which requires full concentration on the present moment. It is extremely beneficial thing and not only because it could shift your mood in a positive way but also because it helps keeping things done.

How Neuroscientists Explain the Mind-Clearing Magic of Running

It is something of a cliché among runners, how the activity never fails to clear your head. Does some creative block have you feeling stuck? Go for a run. Are you deliberating between one of two potentially life-altering decisions? Go for a run. Are you feeling mildly mad, sad, or even just vaguely meh? Go for a run, go for a run, go for a run.

The author Joyce Carol Oates once wrote in a column for the New York Times that

in running the mind flees with the body … in rhythm with our feet and the swinging of our arms.

Filmmaker Casey Neistat told Runner’s World last fall that running is sometimes the only thing that gives him clarity of mind.

“Every major decision I’ve made in the last eight years has been prefaced by a run,”

he told the magazine. But I maybe like the way a runner named Monte Davis phrased it best, as quoted in the 1976 book The Joy of Running:

“It’s hard to run and feel sorry for yourself at the same time. Also, there are those hours of clear-headedness that follow a long run.”

A good run can sometimes make you feel like a brand-new person. And, in a way, that feeling may be literally true. About three decades of research in neuroscience have identified a robust link between aerobic exercise and subsequent cognitive clarity, and to many in this field the most exciting recent finding in this area is that of neurogenesis. Not so many years ago, the brightest minds in neuroscience thought that our brains got a set amount of neurons, and that by adulthood, no new neurons would be birthed. But this turned out not to be true. Studies in animal models have shown that new neurons are produced in the brain throughout the lifespan, and, so far, only one activity is known to trigger the birth of those new neurons: vigorous aerobic exercise, said Karen Postal, president of the American Academy of Clinical Neuropsychology. “That’s it,” she said. “That’s the only trigger that we know about.”

The other fascinating thing here is where these new cells pop up: in the hippocampus, a region of the brain associated with learning and memory. So this could help explain, at least partially, why so many studies have identified a link between aerobic exercise and improvement in memory.

If you are exercising so that you sweat — about 30 to 40 minutes — new brain cells are being born,

added Postal, who herself is a runner. “And it just happens to be in that memory area.”
Other post-run changes have been recorded in the brain’s frontal lobe, with increased activity seen in this region after people adopt a long-term habit of physical activity. This area of the brain — sometimes called the frontal executive network system — is located, obviously enough, at the very front: It’s right behind your forehead. After about 30 to 40 minutes of a vigorous aerobic workout – enough to make you sweat – studies have recorded increased blood flow to this region, which, incidentally, is associated with many of the attributes we associate with “clear thinking”: planning ahead, focus and concentration, goal-setting, time management.

But it’s this area that’s also been linked to emotion regulation, which may help explain the results of one recent study conducted by Harvard psychology professor Emily E. Bernstein. Like Postal, Bernstein is also a runner, and was curious about a pattern she saw in her own mind after a run.

I notice in myself that I just feel better when I’m active.

She started to become really interested in the intervention studies that have popped up in recent years that suggest if you can get people who are having trouble with mood or anxiety to exercise, it helps. “But why?” she wanted to know. “What is exercise actually doing?”

To find out, she did a version of a classic experiment among researchers who study emotion: She and her colleague — Richard J. McNally, also of Harvard — played a reliable tearjerker of a clip: the final scene of the 1979 film The Champ.

Before watching the film clip, some of the 80 participants were made to jog for 30 minutes; others just stretched for the same amount of time. Afterward, all of them filled out surveys to indicate how bummed out the film had made them. Bernstein kept them busy for about 15 minutes after that, and surveyed them again about how they were feeling. Those who’d done the 30-minute run were more likely to have recovered from the emotional gut-punch than those who’d just stretched — and, her results showed, the people who’d initially felt worse seemed to especially benefit from the run. Bernstein is currently doing a few follow-up research projects to determine exactly why this works the way it does.

But there’s another big mental benefit to gain from running, one that scientists haven’t quiet yet managed to pin down to poke at and study: the wonderful way your mind drifts here and there as the miles go by. Mindfulness, or being here now, is a wonderful thing, and there is a seemingly ever-growing stack of scientific evidence showing the good it can bring to your life. And yet mindlessness — daydreaming, or getting lost in your own weird thoughts — is important, too. Consider, for example, this argument, taken from a 2013 article by a trio of psychologists in the journal Frontiers in Psychology:

“We mind wander, by choice or by accident, because it produces tangible reward when measured against goals and aspirations that are personally meaningful. Having to reread a line of text three times because our attention has drifted away matters very little if that attention shift has allowed us to access a key insight, a precious memory or make sense of a troubling event. Pausing to reflect in the middle of telling a story is inconsequential if that pause allows us to retrieve a distant memory that makes the story more evocative and compelling. Losing a couple of minutes because we drove past our off ramp is a minor inconvenience if the attention lapse allowed us to finally understand why the boss was so upset by something we said in last week’s meeting. Arriving home from the store without the eggs that necessitated the trip is a mere annoyance when weighed against coming to a decision to ask for a raise, leave a job, or go back to school.

Just because the benefits of losing yourself in your own thoughts are not easily measured doesn’t mean they’re not of value, and there are few ways I know of that induce this state of mind more reliably than a long run. A handful of recent studies have tried to answer what every runner, whether pro or hobbyist, has no doubt been asked by friends and family: What on earth do you think about while you’re out there for so many miles? This, as the writer Haruki Murakami noted in his What I Talk About When I Talk About Running, is almost beside the point. Sometimes he thinks while on the run; sometimes, he doesn’t. It doesn’t really matter.

I just run. I run in void. Or maybe I should put it the other way: I run in order to acquire a void.

April 21, 2016 12:51 p.m.

By Melissa Dahl

https://madridjournal.wordpress.com/2016/04/25/how-neuroscientists-explain-the-mind-clearing-magic-of-running/

How to postpone aging

I recently attended an all day event at the USC Campus, specifically at the USC Davis School of Gerontology to learn about the latest science on healthy aging from several of the world’s top aging experts. I feel inspired to share with you all what I learned. Many of you may have come across the information that I am about to share, but in case you have not, it’s never too late to learn something new!

1) One of the “hottest” question presented was “Does caloric restriction extend lifespan?” Answer: only sometimes. But if you compare a low fat diet versus a Mediterranean diet (which includes nuts and olive oil), the Mediterranean diet wins! It was shown to prevent cognitive decline and heart problems.

2) Sitting is the new smoking! Incredible to believe but the more hours you spend sitting on a daily basis decreases your health span. It is important to use your break time to get away from your workspace. And if you don’t get any breaks? Get up and take a walk to the bathroom every hour or two. Sitting can cause a multitude of heart problems, whereas smoking can cause lung problems/lung cancer. I guess you pick and choose your poison, or avoid them altogether.

3) Ovaries removed after normal menopause lessens a woman’s risk for dementia. Ovaries removed before normal menopause increases a woman’s risk for dementia.

4) A low protein, high carbohydrate diet is recommended for everyone below 65 years of age. Once you reach 65 and older, moderate (not low!) protein intake is recommended.

5) If you want to live longer and spend your later years without getting a disease or being disabled in any way, adhering to a plant based diet that includes high levels of legumes, vegetables and healthy fats (olive oil, other monounsaturated fats, nuts) is recommended. Waist goals for men to have should be less than 40 inches, and less than 35 inches for women.

6) Take care of your teeth! Get regular dental checkups! Edentulousness (having no teeth) is directly related to nutritional issues and health problems.

7) Watch the BBC video: The Men Who Made Us Fat.
8) Recommended weight loss programs are: weight watchers and TOPS (Take Off Pounds Sensibly).

9) Create your own individualized diet/meal plan that takes into consideration your age, gender, weight, and activity levels.

http://foodhabitat.com/2016/04/24/healthy-aging/

Diets and exit strategies

To lose 4lbs during a diet, yet gain 6lbs back within a few weeks of finishing it is a sadly familiar scenario. In the previous article “Why diets never work and what to do” we discussed in detail why fad diets generally have poor results. We also presented some of the best alternatives to fad dieting, with the goal of achieving desired ‘body correction’ and avoiding starving the body. This article is devoted to exit strategies for diets.

Any process embarked on should have an exit strategy.

Dropping a diet without planning is the equivalent of stopping your car in the middle of the motorway, or jumping out of the airplane before landing – not recommended!

In the previous article “Why diets do not work…” we discussed the body’s reaction to various ‘cut’ diets. Here’s a quick refresher:

A decrease in calories leads to metabolic slowdown due to inevitable negative metabolic adaptation. Being adapted to lower calories, the body burns less ingested nutrients for energy. The more you reduce your food intake, the lower your metabolic rate becomes and the lower the quantity of nutrients which are used for body maintenance. Muscle degradation occurs as a side effect of many diets. This is a result of the body using its own muscle tissue for its energy needs when it is being starved, rather than burning fat as the latter is used to store nutrient deposits for a ‘rainy day’. A final and important point is that the less muscle tissue the body has, the lower its metabolic rate. Consequently a decrease in food consumption leads directly to muscle degradation during ‘cut’ diets, resulting in a situation in which the dieter is both eating less and getting fatter.

By instead taking a path of balanced and healthy eating, you could achieve visible sustainable results and reach a desirable body correction. This, in combination with the right training strategy, is the right solution.

Now let’s imagine a situation in which you are a healthy eater and regular exerciser. You have adopted the right nutritional strategy and follow an appropriate fitness plan for your body’s needs, but you want to achieve even more.

In this instance so-called “manageable cut dieting” may be suitable.

Imagine that you achieve this additional goal; fantastic! But what next?

You always have two options: to either return to your normal eating habits, or follow a correct exit strategy. In the first case the pattern will be more or less classic. If you are a healthy eater, you will inevitably gain weight after the diet is over and your metabolism will accelerate due to an increase in calories. Super-compensation will occur and you will come back to your normal body weight and body composition with an additional 1-3% of body fat. This is the most favorable scenario. However, you have to be ready to be slightly “softer” for a while until all your bodily processes are settled. If you are not a healthy eater, you will probably fall into the vicious circle of any diet, described above.

The second scenario, which involves a smart exit strategy, is a bit more sophisticated in terms of execution but at the same time will definitely help to keep your physical achievements for longer. It may even shift your body composition permanently and allow you to be lean all-year-round. This is exactly what happened to me after 3 years of competing.

3 years of smart dieting and exercising helped me to shift my body composition towards being lean (9-12% of body fat) all year round. Taking into account my age (I’m 33) it is a great achievement and long-term health and wellbeing investment.

Exit strategy recommendations:

Increase calories gradually.

It is always very tempting to start eating all your favorite treats after a diet. However, keep in mind that your body will have become extremely sensitive to all previously excluded food sources. Be careful and conscious with carbs and fats first of all. Lane Norton (one of the most notable experts in metabolic damage) believes that the best way to smooth the transition to a non-dieting state is to increase your carbs by 10%, and fats by 1%, every week. Such moderate increases boost the metabolism and help the body to adapt to a new macronutrient modulation, without drastic changes in body composition.

Track protein intake

Protein consumption also should be trackable. In the majority of smart fitness diets (not fad diets) protein intake is sufficient at the ‘cut’ stage. Macronutrient increase usually happens on account of carb and fat intake. However, some strategies such as various “detox” programs exclude or minimize protein consumption for the entire duration of the diet. This leads to severe muscle loss and metabolic damage.

Conversely, there are some diets (Dr. Atkins and his numerous imitators) that exclude carbs almost completely. One of the biggest misconceptions behind such an approach is that the human body does not need anything apart from protein. This in turn gave birth to the following misunderstandings of the human body: One is that you can eat any amount of protein and not gain fat. In fact, any excessive amount of protein is converted into glucose by the liver via the neoglucogenesis process. Excessive glucose and fatty acids not used for energy are literally converted into body fat. So keep your protein intake attuned to your body composition, type of exercise you do and your activity level, but be careful with any extra amount consumed. If you want to increase muscle mass the nutrition strategy you follow should be allied with your training and supplementation plans to achieve desirable results. Eating mountains of protein without a smart plan will not bring benefits. On the other hand, excessive consumption of protein can even be dangerous and lead to unexpected fat gain, increased acidity and an additional burden placed on the kidney and the liver. For more details about this, read my article “How much protein should be eaten”.

Increase physical activity

It is clear that any increase in food consumption provides the body with additional energy. This increased energy should be burned up, in order to avoid undesirable body fat formation after a diet. As the metabolism is still slow after the period of reduced calories the only way to make sure you are on the right track is to increase your physical activity until the metabolic rate is normalized. The question is how we can do this in a more efficient and productive way. Obviously, we can not spend 2-3 hours a day doing low intense steady state (LISS) cardio as some so-called ‘fitness gurus’ recommend. That sort of free time is far too scarce for most of us. The best way to increase activity after a diet is to increase the intensity of your normal workout by increasing resistance (weight), or the number of receptions. Another recommended tactic is to add 15-20 minutes of highly intense interval (HIIT) cardio after your workout.

Supplementation

After any diet all bodily processes are altered. Being excluded for a while, and then re-introduced, some food sources could provoke digestion problems and cause bloating and other unpleasant consequences. You need to help the body to start working properly. Short, 2-3 week courses of digestive enzymes and friendly bacteria will be beneficial.

Metabolic boosters are another useful thing. Two of the most well-known natural metabolites are chili and black pepper. Just add a pinch of those to your meals.

The next possibility is an insulin controller. Keeping going without simple carbs for a period of time increases insulin sensitivity. Add 1-3 tablets of chromium to your meals to avoid insulin spikes. Also be careful with fruit: Those fruit with a high glycemic index such as mango, figs and other exotic fruits likely will be harmful for your six-pack.

Check your list of wellbeing factors daily

Try to get eight hours of quality sleep, fresh air (and, at least, a one-hour power walk outside) and attempt to keep your stress levels low. These three wellbeing factors should always be checked and whenever possible, observed. High cortisol levels (stress hormones) alone could ruin all your fitness and dietary efforts. Insufficient sleep, excessive alcohol consumption and smoking, and constant tissue hypoxia (lack of oxygen) will make change impossible.

Check your body composition

This is a pretty obvious point, but very often ignored. After a diet, it is essential to know what the proportion of your lean muscle mass is to your body fat percentage. Check it once every two weeks, a reasonable length of time to let your body react to new nutrients and any adjusted fitness plan. Ideally, both figures should stay unchanged or increase very slowly. Keep an eye on them. If you notice a drop in muscle mass or an increase in body fat of more than 4lbs within a two week period, your exit diet should be reconsidered and adjusted accordingly.

Tatiana Dmitrieva