Hot Yoga

People always seem drawn to and curious about hot yoga. There is sort of a sensationalized image of hot yoga: steamy room, sweat dripping from contorted bodies, etc. The rooms I’ve been in lacked the dramatic steam, but certainly had the sweat you would expect from this yoga practice. While not as glamourous as you may think, this yoga does have its benefits.

Hot yoga was introduced through Bikram yoga, but not all hot yoga is bikram. You can do yoga of any sort in a room with the heat turned up. Temperatures are typically 95 – 105 degrees.

The major benefit of the heat is it allows the muscles to really relax. This increases flexibility at early points in the practice — rather than the typical need to ‘warm up’ before really finding some good lengthening. I find the heat so helpful with this that I will dress in layers if I am unable to practice in a warm room.

Stress Management — Relaxation with Yoga Breathing

As I’ve said before, yoga has many benefits that relate to life — stress management and relaxation are a couple of those benefits. I have learned to find a deep relaxation with yoga breathing, even when I am not doing yoga. Of course deep breathing relaxation exercises are common for managing stress, so this should come as no surprise.

The Inhalation

You should breathe in through your nose. Rather than belly breathing, you want to expand your chest to fill your lungs. In yoga you are trying to keep your core engaged, so this does not play well with belly breathing. Yoga breathing is coordinated with the movements (in vinyasa yoga). Often when a pose is particularly challenging, the instinct is to hold your breath. It is important to keep breathing well at all times, and you will find this true in life.

Yoga for Weight Loss, Wellness, and as a Way of Life

People use yoga for various purposes: yoga for weight loss, yoga for balance, yoga for stress relief--and the list goes on and on. I have seen that the benefits of yoga are infinite. Yoga has the ability to truly change your life.

Many people have false ideas about yoga. My traditional family was concerned it was some strange religion. Some people think you just sit around an hum. Others believe it is simply stretching, and therefore could not produce any real benefit.

Yoga can be extremely intense, depending on the type of practice. It has brought me some of my most intense sweating and most lingering soreness--even beyond what I've experienced with traditional cardio and weight exercises.

Love the Run You're With

I used to hate to run. I used to think people who enjoyed it were nuts.

The problem was:

A) I was running for the wrong reasons, and

B) My mind was working against me.

I used to run in college, and back then I was weird with eating and exercise. I was way too worried about my body and weight--and that was my motivation for running. This totally ruined my enjoyment of the run. I used to dread it all day, but I would force myself to do it anyways. Then I stopped for 8 years.

When I restarted running a few years back, I still wasn't quite right with it. It was better--this time it was marathon training (read: real slow marathon training--speed walkers pass me), not weight control. Having a real purpose (and an end date) made it much better for me. But my head would tell me the whole time how much I wanted to stop. How my legs hurt and I couldn't breathe. My mind was sure my body would be happier if I would just sit down.

How to 'Heart' Your Cardio Workouts

Do you ever remember a time when you actually enjoyed your cardio workouts? You realize that it is beneficial for you heart, you have more energy, and whatnot. Then you begin to become hypnotized by the calorie counters. Pretty soon your focus becomes almost entirely about weight control. You pledge to work out every day (maybe take holidays off...maybe). You vow to continue increasing your intensity. To ensure you stick to it, you promise to suffer extreme guilt for any lapse in your routine.

This type of resolution doesn't last long. Unfortunately the gym can be quite dull. It usually means time away from the the people and the life you would rather be living. What's more, body sculpting and weight loss results are not typically as great as you thought they would be. You suddenly find yourself spiraling down into the dreaded world of...burnout.

The Foundations of Health Related Fitness

Above all else, efforts to be active should be in the name of health. Health related fitness can be added in many different ways to your current schedule. It does not have to be time-consuming or difficult--in fact, it is best if it can be included easily into your lifestyle.

You will find an overwhelming amount of information out there about all kinds of different exercise plans. Believe me, the one that works the best is the one that becomes part of your healthy lifestyle for the long haul. This means it has got to be realistic.

Many people burst out of the gate on January 1st, going to the gym 5-7 days a week. They are excited, hopeful about the implementation of health related fitness and its benefits. But then the weight loss doesn't seem to come fast enough and they become discouraged. And of course there is life to consider--it does tend to get in the way of such an aggressive exercise routine.

Boost Your Body Image

Having a good body image means starting now. Don't wait until you lose some random amount of weight before you accept your body. If you choose to wait until you feel your body is perfect before you love it... you will go through your life hating yourself.

The images in magazines are altered. We need to be aware that the images we receive constantly are so distorted. It is impossible to try to live up to an 'ideal' that does not even exist.

The problem is your perception of your body. You know how you stand in front of the bathroom mirror, twisting about to look at all your junk? So you find some imperfections--surprise! These 'flaws' translate to ‘fat’ within our heads. Who gets to decide what is technically considered fat? It is clearly a subjective classification.

The 5 Things You Need to Know About an Eating Disorder

Whether you are struggling with an eating disorder, or you know someone who is, you need to know these facts. These disorders are often not at all what you think they are. It is not about appearance or food. It is not something that can easily be turned off.

1. An eating disorder is not about food. While food provides the focus and distraction of the disorder, it is only the surface issue. This focus on food provides a distraction from deeper emotional issues -- issues the person is not even aware they have. This person is struggling with emotional regulation. He or she does not recognize emotions well and does not cope with them appropriately.

How to Cope with Emotional Eating, Stress Eating, and Binge Eating

Emotional Eating

Emotional eating is the gorilla in the room. It is a problem nearly everyone has, but hardly anyone talks about. People would rather count things (points, calories, pounds) than face the real issues they have with food and feelings.

Emotional eating is one of the most common food issues I see with my clients and in the general population. This behavior is what derails the most passionate diet efforts (which is why diets don't work ). Healthy eating advice rarely covers the most important aspect of eating...non-hunger or emotional eating.

Many people do not think they emotionally eat because they do not recognize an emotion. You may think stress eating is done when you know you are stressed and you choose to go eat because of that. The sneaky thing is, you don't usually know you are emotional. The purpose of the food is to avoid the feelings.

Phentermine Drug

How to use Phentermine drug?

Among several diseases known in this world, most of them are
generally associated with obesity or overweight. Most of the people
in this world are generally facing many problems due to their
overweight. They have generated inferiority complex in themselves
because of their increasing weight. They have stopped loving
themselves as they have totally failed to control their increasing
weight. If you are also facing the same problems and want to get
rid of your overweight then phentermine is one of the best measures
you can go for. Phentermine drug is not new to the
market and is serving the needs of many people from quite a long
time. Phentermine diet pills can surely do a world
of good in losing weight, if taken in proper amount along with some
workouts.

The Truth About Calorie Counting

Many of my clients come to me addicted to calorie counting. There is a palpable fear in them about going over a certain number. There is constant worry that maybe they got the number wrong. Maybe they should be eating even less. The result of all of this calorie counting is their worst fear of all: metabolic slowdown.

In school I learned all about how to calculate a person's daily recommended calorie intake. I heard about how many calories were in a pound. The mantra 'calories in, calories out' was pounded into my head. Even then, though, I could see this did not work out in real life. People were not reaching their goals by doing this. Not to mention that it is such a tedious way to live; people eventually just burned out and gave up.

10 Years After Katie Couric's Colonoscopy: What You Need to Know

It's been 10 years since Katie Couric courageously underwent a live colonoscopy on the "Today" show -- an effort to encourage screening after her husband died of colon cancer in 1998.

Millions watched and learned that the procedure is relatively easy and painless -- leading to a 20 percent spike in colonoscopies in the years that followed.

So where are we now, and what should we know about colon cancer a decade later?

To find out, we spoke to Michael Kreines, MD, a gastroenterologist with the Ohio Gastroenterology and Liver Institute and Member of the Medical Science Advisory Committee for the Colon Cancer Alliance.