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Exercise through the years

Fitness

If you're in your 20s, you should be building your aerobic capacity. It's at its peak at this time in your life, say the exercise experts at Canyon Ranch. And women in their 20s, especially, should be doing weight-bearing activities that put stress on their bones.

Already making your way through the 30s? You should be making exercise a priority even though life is getting busier. Start strength training, if you haven't already, to maintain bone and muscle mass. The Ranchers don't stop here. Check out what they have to say about those of you in your 40s, 50s, 60s, and beyond.

40s -- It takes more now to keep from gaining weight, so commit to a fitness program and stick with it. Now's the time to have your bone density checked too.

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10 Tips for finding your perfect diet

Diet & Weight Loss, Fitness, Nutrition & Supplements

It won't be long until the new year arrives, and that means many of us will be setting new resolutions for ourselves. Many people will include a diet among those, but because there dozens upon dozens, how do you even begin to choose one? Here's a great article from WebMD which outlines 10 tips for finding the perfect regimen that suits you the best.

Not all diets work. This is no news flash, but the reason may not be due to its effectiveness, but whether or not it is the right one for you. To begin, look for a diet that you know you can stick with. As the article says, "The best weight loss plan is one you can keep up." It needs to be healthy and sustainable. Look for a diet that includes exercise, one that's backed by a professional, doesn't include too many supplements, and of course is scientifically sound.

It needs to match your schedule and eating style. Even better, your perfect diet may need to be family-friendly so everyone can take advantage of it. There are some other factors to consider, but if you ask yourself "Can I do this every day?" and the answer is yes, then you may have found a diet you can live with!

Wacky diet ideas -- do they work?(click thumbnails to view gallery)

The Bagel DietThe 'ruin your food' dietLemonade DietThe Hamurger DietThe Hot Dog Diet

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Will chatting for hours on your cell cause hearing loss?

Diet & Weight Loss, Reviews & Products

A small study of 100 participants conducted by the chairman of the Department of Ear, Nose, and Throat at the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research in Chandigarh, India found long-term cell phone users who chatted on their mobile for an hour or more a day, were more likely to suffer from high-frequency hearing loss.

Users who had their phones for four years or more were most effected, while those who had only had their mobiles for two years were less likely to have problems. According to the article, those suffering from high-frequency hearing loss have trouble hearing consonants like s, f, t and z.

It's important to keep in mind though, that the study is small and the researcher who conducted it points out that a much larger study and more research needs to be done before any definitely links or conclusions can be drawn. So don't panic, but maybe try not to chat on your phone for hours on end either.

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Danica McKellar tells girls intelligence is hip

Diet & Weight Loss, Motivation, Nutrition & Supplements

When I was growing up I used to be so envious of Danica McKellar (aka "Winnie" off The Wonder Years) because she was cute and thin and lots of boys had crushes on her. Now that I'm older, well, I'm still a bit envious because she's still fit and beautiful, but I've also got to give the girl some serious respect because she's also really smart. Not only is she intelligent, she aims to let other girls know that it's great to be smart.

I think that in an age where women like Paris Hilton and Jessica Simpson flaunt the notion that they're hot but stupid (and I really wonder whether either is as clueless as they have portrayed themselves to be), it's incredibly refreshing and encouraging to have a beautiful woman not only admit that she's smart, but also make sure that young and impressionable girls know that it's possible to be both pretty and intelligent.

McKellar, who has penned a book called "Math Doesn't Suck", assures adolescent girls that it's cool to be good at math (and as an extension, most other school subjects I would imagine). So while I'm still a little bit jealous of the girl who was "Winnie Cooper", I'm also pretty darn impressed with the woman she's become.

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Exercises for the 70 years young crowd

Healthy Aging, Womens Health, Diet & Weight Loss, Fitness, Men's Health

You are never too old to obtain a positive result from exercise. Whether you are over 50 or over 70 years young, if you have not been exercising regularly, starting a daily exercise program can help you to reduce your risk for chronic disease and enhance the quality of your life. Studies have shown that regular exercise by middle aged & elderly people can set back the clock 20-40 years when compared to those who do little or no exercise.

Dr. Everett L. Smith, director of the Biogerontology Laboratory at the University of Wisconsin compared bone loss among women in their 80's. With those women that did seated exercises for 30 minutes, 3 times a week for 3 years, bone mineral actually increased nearly 3 percent, whereas in a similar group of inactive women, bone loss averaged a little over 3 percent.

Walking daily is a great exercise for the over 70 crowd. Here are a few exercises you can do while sitting down to increase your cardio muscles and overall health.

Sitting in a chair and raising your arms up and down with 1 pound weights if you are a woman or 2 pound weights if you are a man.
Sitting in a chair and raising your legs up and down.
Sitting in a chair and bending down to touch your head in your lap stretching your hands toward the floor.
Sitting in a chair and twisting your upper body back and forth at the waist.
Sitting in a chair and pulling a 2 foot piece of rope or a rolled up towel, back and forth with your arms resisting with one arm against the other.

Fat loss in a pill, truth or fiction?

Diet & Weight Loss, Nutrition & Supplements

So there's no argument that this is the single biggest time of the year for new weight loss plans and renewed conviction, but there is some argument over the many diet pills that are now lining the shelves in thicker numbers than ever before. The majority of weight-loss pills out there make some kind of promise to speed up your metabolism, because if your metabolism is going faster you'll burn more calories, right? Not really, according to this article at least.

The argument isn't so much that the theory itself is wrong, but more that it's been outrageously exaggerated. The truth? Yes, you will burn more calories in a day -- like 2 more. Who knows how many extra calories really get burned in a day as a result of a metabolism-boosting pill, but the point is that it's such an insignificant number it really won't help you lose weight.

So a new resolution to lose weight and get in shape is awesome, but when making it a reality consider steering clear of the many gimmick weight loss pills you'll see everywhere. Unless, of course, you find one that really helps you feel less hungry, or gives you extra energy for working out -- just don't count on it working miracles and burning all kinds of extra calories while you sleep!

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Want to live to 100? May depend on mom

Diet & Weight Loss, Fitness

What is the secret to a long life? It's something humans have been trying to figure out ever since we started counting years. Maybe it has something to do with geography. Or what about those cold showers? Whatever the case may be, it seems like there are a million different ways to live to 100.

Here's another radical theory to explain why people live longer than others. University of Chicago researchers have found that it could all boil down to the age at which your mother gave birth! Apparently if your mom had you before age 25, you are twice as likely to live for 100 years.

A bold claim indeed! Luckily for the rest of us, exercise and healthy eating can offset that birthed advantage that our other siblings may have. But a more plausible fact coming out of the article suggests that women could be up to five times more likely to reach that centenarian mark than us men.

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