Say ‘Thank You'

Say ‘Thank You'

Have you given any thought to how much getting there is in thanks giving?

"Thanks" is what you say when the Starbucks clerk hands your venti-latte-extra-whipped-cream through the drive-up window. Offering thanks for life's bounty is a common prelude to the turkey and pumpkin pie throughout the U.S. on Thursday.

But the thanks I'm talking about is the kind that's much more intentional than automatic. It's an act of appreciation, filled with meaning and sincerity. That's the kind of gratitude that pays back in spades, according to research by Martin Seligman, PhD, director of the Penn Positive Psychology Center at University of Pennsylvania.

Seligman, the author of the book Authentic Happiness, asked 411 people as part of a study to perform one of six tasks that supposedly would make them feel an elevated sense of well-being. Among the tasks was one that required writing a letter of thanks to someone who had been especially kind to the writer, but who had never received his or her expressed gratitude.

Part two of the assignment was to deliver that letter in person and stay while the recipient read it silently.  Seligman found that of all the positive tasks assigned, the gratitude option delivered the highest boost to the happiness of study participants and the most significant reduction in symptoms of depression. What's more, the subjects who chose the gratitude task were still enjoying the benefits after one-week and one-month follow-ups.

I decided to test the Happiness Doc's theory by trying out his gratitude experiment--write a thank-you letter to someone who has shown me kindness but never received my thanks, hand deliver it, watch him read it.

I chose my old Scoutmaster, Bryon Breese. That man taught me stuff while I was under his tutelage that I use every day and a lot of stuff I'll probably never use but that's cool to know nonetheless. I can start a roaring fire with a piece of flint and an old pocketknife, tie a bowline, a sheetbend and a timber hitch with my eyes closed. I know how powerful simple courtesy can be and the value of measuring twice before you saw. I taught one of my daughters how to keep a canoe straight with a j-stroke this past summer because Byron Breese taught me how 40 summers ago.

So, I wrote my letter of gratitude long tardy. But here's the thing: I didn't hand-deliver it. I couldn't. I tear up easily. It would be an awkward mess, and I couldn't put the old man through that. Besides, letter writing and letter reading should be an intimate affair, not a performance.

But the result mimicked Seligman's findings. I felt an incredible lift while writing the letter of thanks, handwritten, then again while licking the stamp. And then, again, a month later when I received a thank-you letter from Scoutmaster Breese.

University of California researcher Sonja Lyubomirsky, Ph.D., believes intentional acts that make us feel gratitude are powerful tools for a healthy psyche. In her book The How of Happiness: A Scientific Approach to Getting the Life You Want, she argues that 50 percent of a person's degree of happiness is genetically set, while just 10 percent is due to life circumstances--are you rich or poor, healthy or unhealthy--leaving 40 percent to be determined by behavior. That means you and I can significantly influence our own happiness by doing something, not just thinking, about it.

You've had a coach, a teacher, a good friend who did something significantly nice for you. Pick up a pen. And, man, you don't have to hand-deliver it to experience the getting in the thanks giving.

Jeff Csatari is the author of Your Best Body at 40+ (Rodale) and coauthor of Norman Rockwell's Boy Scouts of America with Joseph Csatari.

Powered by WPeMatico

The Fitness Cliche We Love

The Fitness Cliche We Love

Since I began writing for Men's Health back in 1998, I've heard just about every training chestnut there is. Some I agree with. ("The best workout is the one you haven't done.") Some I don't. (Abs aren't really made in the kitchen, and I defy anyone to show me a diet plan that produces a body-fat percentage under 10 without an accompanying training program.)

But there is one truism that's both useful and underused: "If it's important, do it every day. If it's not, don't do it at all." I heard this from Dan John, an athlete, author, and coach (danjohn.net). He attributes it to wrestler Dan Gable, one of my childhood heroes.

My version: "If it's important, do it every time you train." That might include foam-rolling, mobility drills, key lifts, and basic movement sequences (squat, lunge, hip hinge, pushup, and row, for example), but the list goes on. "The advice is common sense, but adopting it takes courage," says John, who notes that the idea can and should be expanded to include such habits as eating enough protein, drinking enough water, and logging enough sleep each night.

To this basic wisdom I would add, "Do something fun every workout." Sprint the last 20 yards of a run, pound a speed bag, do your favorite exercise from an old bodybuilding magazine--whatever puts a smile on your face. Because if working out isn't fun, you may eventually decide that it's not important either.

Lou Schuler, C.S.C.S., is an award-winning journalist and the coauthor (with Alwyn Cosgrove) of The New Rules of Lifting Supercharged.

RELATED VIDEO: Want to do something challenging and fun at the end of your workout today? Try this Abs Afterburner.

This player is set to the width of the "Simple Article" content type body text.

Powered by WPeMatico

The Dark Side of Your Brew

The Dark Side of Your Brew

Bad news: Beer can leave behind more than a hangover. People who consumed an average of 2.5 beers per day raised their body's arsenic content by 30 percent, according to new research from Dartmouth College.

You heard that right: arsenic--that potent poison worthy of murder mysteries. So what's going on? The alcohol in beer could impair your body's ability to metabolize the content present in the grains used in brewing, allowing it to linger in your system. Grossly enough, researchers discovered this by testing toenail clippings--markers of prolonged exposure to arsenic--finding that other foods including fish, rice, and Brussels sprouts are arsenic-containing culprits, too.

Arsenic occurs naturally in the environment, so it can end up in your ground water, which then works its way into your food and tap. And while you won't suffer arsenic poisoning from overindulging with a few IPAs or eating sushi every now and then, consuming a diet of foods high in the stuff can cause it to accumulate in your system over time. The World Health Organization estimates that a prolonged exposure of 5 years or more can cause serious side effects, like kidney failure, skin lesions, and various types of cancers, according to the EPA. 

Keep your system clean by eating a varied, healthy diet and don't rely too much one any one specific type of food, suggests lead researcher, Kathryn Cottingham, Ph.D. And stock up on antioxidants--a Columbia University study found that vitamins A, B, C, and E, as well as riboflavin and folic acid can help reduce your risk of arsenic-related skin lesions by up to 68 percent.

Powered by WPeMatico

5 Things Every New Boss Should Know

5 Things Every New Boss Should Know

Brand-new boss? Don't let the sudden clout go to your head: Newly powerful people are more likely to punish others, finds new research from Australia. 

When those who have never possessed power before suddenly have it, two things are at play, explains study author Peter Strelan, Ph.D.: They often think--sometimes mistakenly--that powerful people abuse their authority because they can, so the newbie leaders now have the opportunity to use the same trump card. But there's also a paranoia left over from being the low man on the totem pole that can make new bosses more defensive against a perceived threat, adds Strelan.

In charge of people for the first time in your career? Starting off on the right foot could mean the difference between earning your team's respect and being shown the door. Here are five things every new boss should know:

1. You can always learn from your employees.
"It's likely that some--if not most--of the people who report to you have been in their roles prior to your arrival or promotion," says Ken Tucker, coauthor of The Leadership Triangle. "Presenting yourself as the expert on a topic is discounting their years on the job and the experiences that come with that, and will earn you disdain and ridicule." Position yourself as a co-learner to foster collaboration and still retain your authority. Admit that you both have a lot to learn from one another: You seek their knowledge on the tasks, and you can teach them how to achieve their desired outcomes.

2. Deliver instructions, not questions.
When you switch roles, people need to perceive you as the man in charge--but some will still view you as a peer, says Jeremy Lazarus, founder of The Lazarus Consultancy in London. If a command sounds like a question, people may think you're unconfident in your role. The good news is there's a 2-second fix: Lowering your tone at the end of a sentence gives an air of authority and instruction, so no one can mistake the request as optional, Lazarus says.

3. Don't play favorites. 
Being friendly and being authoritative aren't mutually exclusive--as long as you're consistently cordial with everyone. "Playing favorites or providing exceptions to certain people--especially friends from your old role--is a big mistake and will destroy trust within your team," says Steve McClatchy, president of Alleer Training & Consulting in Pennsylvania. If your friends are looking for perks, be straight with them: Tell them bending the rules would threaten your new position. Friends should want the best for you--and that includes success in your role, says McClatchy.

4. Discover people's strengths. 
You're no longer responsible for just completing your own tasks, but managing others' success as well, says Lazarus. "People learn and are motivated in different ways," he says. "Taking the time to figure out who is motivated by challenges, or by variety, or by personal development will lead to a far more successful team." Sit down with each person individually and ask what drives them, Lazarus suggests. Then incorporate these incentives into rewards for their work goals.

5. Be available, but not overbearing. 
"New managers often think that their first responsibility is to micro-manage others, but this turns managing into mothering," says Tucker. "Effective managing today is not about ensuring everyone is on task, but instead about unleashing people to do and own their best work." In fact, when Google began to analyze their internal performance and feedback data to create better bosses a few years ago, the company found that workers most valued bosses who made time for one-on-one meetings, helped employees work through problems by asking questions instead of giving the answers, and were otherwise hands-off until an issue arose.

RELATED VIDEO: 

This player is set to the width of the "Simple Article" content type body text.

Powered by WPeMatico

The Cruelest Bar Trick Ever--Explained!

The Cruelest Bar Trick Ever--Explained!

The Surprising Way to Cook Delicious Turkey

The Surprising Way to Cook Delicious Turkey

Want to flip your Turkey Day script? Take your bird and head out to the backyard. On this week's episode of Men's Health Live, senior associate editor Paul Kita reveals how to avoid cooking a Thanksgiving turkey that tastes like cardboard: by making it in a smoker instead of an oven. 

The reason: When cooked inside a smoker, turkey meat bursts with juiciness, and the skin takes on a smoke-infused crispness. Kita also reveals an added bonus of smoking your turkey:

"If you want to escape your family, go outside, keep an eye on that temperature, have one or two beers, and you'll still look like the hero when you bring it in."

For more great conversation and useful information, click here to listen to the entire episode. PLUS: Subscribe to the Men's Health Live Podcast.

More from this week's Men's Health Live:
Smoke the Ultimate Turkey

Powered by WPeMatico

3 Tricks for a Better Relationship

3 Tricks for a Better Relationship

Why do some relationships work--while others bomb? It may come down to three critical skills, according to research in the Journal of Couple & Relationship Therapy.

In the study, most people reported that good communication, how well you know your partner, and solid life skills were most crucial when it came to increasing satisfaction. Seems simple enough, right?

Sometimes it's the simple stuff that gets overlooked. Go back to the basics and strengthen your foundation with these three cornerstones. We promise, it'll pay off.

1. Communicate
Hone your communication skills by actively listening. If your girlfriend says, "Can you pick up milk?" don't say, "OK." Instead, reflect her question by saying, "I just made a note. I'll make sure to bring it home." It shows you've understood what she just told you, says study author Robert Epstein, Ph.D.

2. Know her inside and out
Women are connectors, sa ys Epstein, so it's especially important for them to feel in tune with you. And while knowing how she takes her coffee is a plus, you need to be familiar with more than that. Ask where she sees herself in five years. Successful couples usually have more similar priorities than not, says Leslie Parrott, Ed.D., author of Saving Your Marriage Before It Starts. Discussing these important topics will help you gauge whether her priority is her career or if her main focus is starting a family.

3. Know when to raise a white flag
A lot of major arguments revolve around touchy topics--money, work, and planning for the future, says Epstein. So sharpen your "life skills" by seeking help when needed. Talking to an older colleague who's been bumped up the ladder could help your job security. Recruiting a financial planner could sharpen your money skills. Acknowledging your lack of expertise--say, by asking your partner to take over the checkbook--may be tough, but finding a balance is better than a batch of bounced checks, says Epstein.

Additional reporting from Ted Spiker

RELATED VIDEO

 

This player is set to the width of the "Simple Article" content type body text.

Powered by WPeMatico

Bolster Your Shoulders

Bolster Your Shoulders

Seeing the Big Picture

Seeing the Big Picture

Robert Thornton was sitting in his mom's kitchen in Chico, California, feeling discarded. He had lived and breathed baseball his whole life--even playing professionally in Mexico--but multiple injuries, including one to his elbow that required surgery, had derailed his playing career. 

It was 2006, and the 28-year-old didn't have a clue what to do next. Then he noticed a picture on his mom's refrigerator: a drawing that a little girl gave to Mrs. Thornton--a bus driver for children with special needs--as a gift. He couldn't stop staring at it.

"I was mezmerized by this child's imagination," Thornton says. "I know it was just a kid's drawing with made-up characters, but something about it was different." 

The next morning, Thornton decided to put the image on a T-shirt--and realized he had found his new passion.  

"These individuals with special needs have been treated like they can't contribute, like they don't have value," says Thornton. "I wanted these artists to feel like they are talented, appreciated, and important. I wanted to give them that self-esteem boost and sense of pride that they probably have never had."

So Thornton spent the next 7 years building up Paper Clouds Apparel, which made its debut in January. Every 2 weeks, Paper Clouds teams up with a different charity, enlists special needs kids from that organization to create original designs, prints and sells their tees online, and cuts the charity a check for 50 percent of the profits. In one year, Thornton has already raised more than $14,000 for 21 charities.

"The best part is when parents tell us their kids, who used to be disruptive, come home and want to draw. We gave them hope," says Thornton, who's now 35 and splits his time between Paper Clouds and bartending in Phoenix. 

And he's not just helping children. Thornton also pays adults with special needs--about 75 percent of whom are unemployed--to package all the shirts. His dream is to one day open a facility to hire them full-time.  

Want to help Thornton get one step closer? Vote for Paper Clouds Apparel to win $10,000 in KIND's "Do the KIND Thing" monthly competition. The winner will be named December 1.

Click here to meet the rest of our Every Day Heroes. 

Powered by WPeMatico

Why You Must Watch Football This Thanksgiving

Why You Must Watch Football This Thanksgiving

Kick back with the game, and kick up your heart rate? Watching others work out could jumpstart physiological responses similar to those activated during exercise, a new Australian study claims. 

When people watched a 22-minute video of someone running, researchers noted an increase in heart rate, respiration, skin blood flow, and sweat release. They also saw an increase in activity in each subjects's sympathetic nervous system--which sends blood to your limbs and prepares your body for "fight or flight."

Athletes use visualization to boost performance. Imagining a situation--kicking a field goal or sprinting the last 100 meters of a race--reinforces the same neural pathways as actually executing the behavior. When you then attempt the task, your body feels as if you've already done it. This new research shows that it's also possible to train your cardiovascular system when engaging in exercise mentally, says the study's lead author, Vaughan Macefield, Ph.D.

But watching Tony Romo break a sweat isn't going to replace the benefits of an actual workout: These responses were much smaller than those that occur during actual exercise, says Macefield.

We know: Holiday traffic, visits from relatives, and a bird that needs to be brined make it hard to find the time to squeeze in a workout on Thanksgiving. But believe it or not, it only takes 10 minutes to get an intense muscle-burning workout. With 10-Minute Torchers, a pair of dumbbells, and a few feet of floor space, you'll burn more calories and power through more sets than most guys pull off in a half hour. 

Then you can head back to the couch for that "workout."

RELATED VIDEO

This player is set to the width of the "Simple Article" content type body text.

Powered by WPeMatico

The Ultimate Total-Body Move

The Ultimate Total-Body Move

The half Turkish getup might fall into the category of "core exercise," but it's far from an isolation move. "It works everything--your shoulders, hips, back, core, arms, and so many other muscles you never even think of," says Robert dos Remedios, C.S.C.S., head strength and conditioning coach for California's College of the Canyons. "It's about as complete a full-body exercise as you'll find." That also makes it more complex than other moves with narrower target areas. Follow these tips to pull off this comprehensive muscle-builder with perfect form.

1. KEEP YOUR EYE ON THE WEIGHT
The key to the entire exercise is to push the weight straight up toward the ceiling. "If you don't keep your eye on it, it will get away from you," says dos Remedios. "You'll push it forward or let it dip backward, and then it's all over." The weight will control you instead of the other way around.  

2. ROLL ONTO YOUR FOREARM
"The biggest mistake I see people make is trying to sit straight up," says dos Remedios. Instead, fire your core and roll up onto your opposite elbow and forearm. Now you're in a position to push the weight up as you raise your torso off the floor.

3. SLIDE YOUR HAND BACKWARD
"You really want to punch that weight as high as you can, and the only way to do that is to slide your hand backward to the spot where your elbow had been," dos Remedios says. By doing this, you'll also achieve full extension of your thoracic spine, improving upper-body mobility.

4. DON'T LIFT YOUR FOOT OFF THE FLOOR
The goal here is stability. "Keeping the foot of your bent leg glued to the floor will help you distribute the load more evenly," says dos Remedios. "And by pressing your foot into the floor, you'll fire up more muslces, including your glutes and hips, giving you more strength and power."

 

Related Video: Watch the full Turkish getup, with instruction from trainer David Jack:

This player is set to the width of the body text for WoMH.

Powered by WPeMatico

The Secret Reason You Lie, Cheat, and Steal

The Secret Reason You Lie, Cheat, and Steal

Are you more moral in the morning? On this week's Men's Health Live, online editor Andrew Daniels explains why men lie, cheat, and steal more as the day goes on. 

With every passing hour, he explains, your supply of self-control dries up. You start with the most in the A.M., and as the day proceeds, fatigue and hunger combine to speed up your moral descent. When your willpower is zapped, you're more likely to give in to temptations.

Co-host Gregg Stebben wonders how this impacts common lies we often tell ourselves about working out, and if it affects his own vow to lose weight over the holidays.

"If I make that vow to myself in the morning, I really should be very aggressive about laying the groundwork to sticking with it in the morning so I have some momentum that carries me through the rest of the day. If I put off working out until the end of the day, there's a stronger chance that I'll actually break that promise. That's kind of like a lie."

For more great conversation and useful information, click here to listen to the entire episode. PLUS: Subscribe to the Men's Health Live Podcast.

More from this week's Men's Health Live:
When You're Most Likely to Lie 

Powered by WPeMatico

Make Your Holiday Health Pledge

Make Your Holiday Health Pledge

What's your holiday health resolution? On this week's episode of Men's Health Live, co-host Gregg Stebben gives an update on his recent weight-loss pledge. Stebben has vowed to skip pigging out between Thanksgiving and New Year's Day, and actually weigh less on January 1 than he does today. 

Stebben urges Men's Health Live co-host Peter Moore to challenge himself, too. Moore, who has felt the absence of a fitness goal since his and Gregg's return from Nepal, will continue using the Men's Health Speed Shred Workout program. Already 2 weeks in, Moore vows to have newly defined musculature and awesome glutes for his wife to admire by January 1. Moore also shares some insight into Stebben's recent weight gain:

"Listeners should know that in one of the rustic huts we stayed in in Nepal, I vividly remember Gregg ordering what was called a Snickers momo--or a Snickers bar fried in dough. So that could be behind your weight gain there, Gregg."

To which Stebben responds:

"Yes, a Snickers bar fried in dough in the middle of the Himalayas, thousands of miles from civilization! I mean, let's be vivid about this. And by the way, I also remember and suspect that in our 8 hours of viewing photos from the trip, we will see a photo of Peter with some of that Snickers momo on his fork."

For more great conversation and useful information, click here to listen to the entire episode. PLUS: Subscribe to the Men's Health Live Podcast.

Powered by WPeMatico

Power and Luxury--from V-Dub

Power and Luxury--from V-Dub

As the most expensive vehicle in Volkwagen's lineup, I had high hopes for the Touareg Hybrid. When it arrived, however, I initially felt a bit underwhelmed. The lines are clean as hell, and the rest of the exterior has a sharp, simple look to it, but I was expecting something that looked a little more … expensive.

I began wondering where, precisely, they put the $65,000 they were asking for this thing. That is, until I opened the door and climbed inside. Black leather everywhere, walnut detailing, chrome trim--it's plush in there. The leather-wrapped steering wheel was butter soft in my hands; I was caressing it like a pervert. It took all I had to not rub my face on it when I would stop at red lights.

The sound system delivers great highs and solid (if not 2Chainz-worthy) bass, and the touch screen--wow, that touch screen. Its matte black background with simple white writing looks like a CEO's business card. It says "you need to impress ME, not the other way around." The panoramic sun/moon roof combo lets in tons of natural light, and the one-button settings lets you open the sunroof with a twist of a dial instead of having to hold the button down. (It's a small detail, but an appreciated one.)

It's pretty swanky for whoever's riding with you, too: the back seat has plenty of legroom, and the seats are heated and recline, so your buddies won't be fighting for shotgun. Out back, there's 32 cubic feet of storage space, but if no one's hitting up the back seat, those suckers fold down for a grip of storage, 64 cubic feet to be precise. I tossed a bike in the back along with four 80-liter duffel bags with plenty of room to spare.

The 3-liter, supercharged V6 engine has a gobs of power--380 horses combined with its electric motor--and the Touareg's 8-speed transmission and solid platform (it uses the same one as the Porsche Cayenne) puts out a smooth ride. Eventually, that $65k price tag started to feel like a bargain. The driver's seat provides excellent all-around vision, and the seats felt great after consecutive hours of driving. The whole package slays the road--hills felt like ramps, and the Touareg Hybrid zipped through traffic much faster than a 5,000-pound SUV should.

This high-end Hybrid is great in the city--smooth ride, nearly silent cabin, plush interior--but its off-road performance really caught my attention. It felt wrong taking a $65k luxury-class SUV out for off-road shenanigans, but I did. I took the all-wheel-drive Touareg out on some of the more rugged fire roads that spiderweb through NorCal's Whiskeytown Recreational area. When engaged, the hill assist took all the technique out of crawling--I didn't have to brake at all on the downhills at all. You definitely feel the bumps, but I was really impressed with how much clearance the VDub had. I never bottomed out or scraped the bottom, even though I was hitting some good-sized ruts and rocks out there. And, just like on the road, hills were no issue at all.

In the end, the only thing that really bothered me about the car was the gas mileage. At 20/24 mpg, it's not hugely impressive. The hybrid merely seems to take the edge off the conventional V6, which produced 17/23 mpg's. The tradeoff comes with the power--it's all there, and it thoroughly bumps up the fun. But while the mileage doesn't do the "hybrid" label justice, but for the price, the Touareg Hybrid is as sensational a combination of luxury and balls as you'll find anywhere.

Powered by WPeMatico

The Easiest Way to Stay Slim

The Easiest Way to Stay Slim

Constantly texting usually receives a bad rap, but it turns out those mobile messages might help you keep weight off, reports new research from Duke University.

For one month, researchers sent daily text messages to 120 people who had already followed a weight-loss program and lost at least 5 percent of their body weight. Three groups received texts either focused on promotion of continued success like "keep exercising," prevention of bad behaviors like "don't overeat today," or general health messages like "brush your teeth today." 

For the groups receiving promotion and prevention communications on their phones, 95 percent and 100 percent of people, respectively, sustained their weight loss after one- and three-month follow-ups--and on average they took off an additional 15 pounds.

Here's the secret: You always have your phone around, so getting even just one motivational daily text can act as a simple remind er to focus on sustaining healthy goals like counting your steps or avoiding that extra helping of dessert, says study author Ryan Shaw, Ph.D.

Also, these messages were rarely ignored with 74 percent of people saying they looked at the text immediately and 95 percent reading the entire message. They also preferred for the text to arrive in the morning. "Participants needed it at the right time to help them start their day and to serve as a motivational nugget," says Shaw.

To make this work for you, ask a trainer or nutritionist you're working with to send you daily messages with tips on how to avoid weight-loss rebound. Flying solo on your weight-loss journey? Try an app like My Diet Coach (free, iOS and Android), which provides tips to combat food cravings or motivation to continue your exercise routine.

RELATED VIDEO

< div>This player is set to the width of the "Simple Article" content type body text.

Help Her Feel Sexier

Help Her Feel Sexier

Master the art of flattery: The way she feels about her body largely impacts her sexual satisfaction, according to a new Dutch study.

Researchers found that women who were comfortable in their skin reported more pleasure, more sex, as well as stronger orgasms, better natural lubrication, and less discomfort.

The down side: "A negative body image seems to impair the sexual response cycle, which may lead to pain and other negative experiences," says study author Femke van den Brink, Ph.D.

Female sexuality is heavily dependent on meanings, social norms, and expectations, rather than physiological responses alone, says van den Brink.

Up her confidence by speaking up. A Men's Health survey showed that 75 percent of the 1,300 women questioned gained sexual self-assurance from their boyfriends or husbands.

Compliment parts of her body that she may be insecure about--including her butt, thighs or waist--outside the bedroom, says Helen Fisher, Ph.D., author of Why We Love. Waiting for a not-so-sexy moment, like while the two of you are out grabbing groceries, only emphasizes your sincerity.

Another ideal time to shower her with praise is right after sex. If she knows you still find her hot with her makeup smudged and hair disheveled, that's a real boost.

RELATED VIDEO

 

This player is set to the width of the "Simple Article" content type body text.

Powered by WPeMatico

Say ‘Thank You'

Say ‘Thank You'

Have you given any thought to how much getting there is in thanks giving?

"Thanks" is what you say when the Starbucks clerk hands your venti-latte-extra-whipped-cream through the drive-up window. Offering thanks for life's bounty is a common prelude to the turkey and pumpkin pie throughout the U.S. on Thursday.

But the thanks I'm talking about is the kind that's much more intentional than automatic. It's an act of appreciation, filled with meaning and sincerity. That's the kind of gratitude that pays back in spades, according to research by Martin Seligman, PhD, director of the Penn Positive Psychology Center at University of Pennsylvania.

Seligman, the author of the book Authentic Happiness, asked 411 people as part of a study to perform one of six tasks that supposedly would make them feel an elevated sense of well-being. Among the tasks was one that required writing a letter of thanks to someone who had been especially kind to the writer, but who had never received his or her expressed gratitude.

Part two of the assignment was to deliver that letter in person and stay while the recipient read it silently.  Seligman found that of all the positive tasks assigned, the gratitude option delivered the highest boost to the happiness of study participants and the most significant reduction in symptoms of depression. What's more, the subjects who chose the gratitude task were still enjoying the benefits after one-week and one-month follow-ups.

I decided to test the Happiness Doc's theory by trying out his gratitude experiment--write a thank-you letter to someone who has shown me kindness but never received my thanks, hand deliver it, watch him read it.

I chose my old Scoutmaster, Bryon Breese. That man taught me stuff while I was under his tutelage that I use every day and a lot of stuff I'll probably never use but that's cool to know nonetheless. I can start a roaring fire with a piece of flint and an old pocketknife, tie a bowline, a sheetbend and a timber hitch with my eyes closed. I know how powerful simple courtesy can be and the value of measuring twice before you saw. I taught one of my daughters how to keep a canoe straight with a j-stroke this past summer because Byron Breese taught me how 40 summers ago.

So, I wrote my letter of gratitude long tardy. But here's the thing: I didn't hand-deliver it. I couldn't. I tear up easily. It would be an awkward mess, and I couldn't put the old man through that. Besides, letter writing and letter reading should be an intimate affair, not a performance.

But the result mimicked Seligman's findings. I felt an incredible lift while writing the letter of thanks, handwritten, then again while licking the stamp. And then, again, a month later when I received a thank-you letter from Scoutmaster Breese.

University of California researcher Sonja Lyubomirsky, Ph.D., believes intentional acts that make us feel gratitude are powerful tools for a healthy psyche. In her book The How of Happiness: A Scientific Approach to Getting the Life You Want, she argues that 50 percent of a person's degree of happiness is genetically set, while just 10 percent is due to life circumstances--are you rich or poor, healthy or unhealthy--leaving 40 percent to be determined by behavior. That means you and I can significantly influence our own happiness by doing something, not just thinking, about it.

You've had a coach, a teacher, a good friend who did something significantly nice for you. Pick up a pen. And, man, you don't have to hand-deliver it to experience the getting in the thanks giving.

Jeff Csatari is the author of Your Best Body at 40+ (Rodale) and coauthor of Norman Rockwell's Boy Scouts of America with Joseph Csatari.

Powered by WPeMatico

Why Your Face Turns Red When You Drink

Why Your Face Turns Red When You Drink

You probably have at least one buddy who suffers from "The Flush": After a few drinks, he looks like Violet Beauregarde just before the Oompa Loompas rolled her out of Willy Wonka's gum room. His red face might be an allergic reaction--or it could be a warning sign of impending heart trouble, finds new research from South Korea.

Among people who sip four or more drinks per week, men who became flushed from alcohol were more than twice as likely to develop high blood pressure later in life than guys who didn't turn red from booze. That means guys who suffer from skin flushing are at greater risk for heart disease, stroke, and other hypertension-related health issues, the research suggests. 

What's possibly going on? When an alcohol metabolite called acetaldehyde builds up in your system, it causes your blood vessels to constrict, which weakens blood flow and makes you look like a guy who's thrown one too many plates on his barbell, explains study coauthor Jong-Sung Kim, M.D., Ph.D., of Chungnam National University. Normally, your body can break down the metabolite.

It can be tough to differentiate between an alcohol allergy and an inability to break down acetaldehyde, Dr. Kim adds. Both can cause flushing. But if your red face is accompanied by nausea and heart palpitations--and especially if you experience flushing regardless of what type of hooch you're swallowing--all signs point to an acetaldehyde issue, the researchers explain. If that's the case, you need to bring it up with your doctor. 

No matter who you are, drinking too heavily can lead to a build-up of the metabolite and, eventually, to high blood pressure, Dr. Kim says. But for most American men it takes a whole lot of booze--roughly 14 or more drinks per week--to be in danger, studies have shown. Stay out of trouble by sticking to 1 to 3 drinks a week, the research indicates.  

Powered by WPeMatico

Smash Fat Faster

Smash Fat Faster

Not long ago I found myself in a situation you can probably identify with. My family and I were on a weekend trip with another family, and for breakfast I made myself a four-egg omelet. I fixed a bowl of fruit as a side and then sat down to eat as our friends looked on in horror. One of them asked, politely, why I ate that much. "Because I'm hungry," I said between bites. If I didn't eat this much now, I explained, I'd be crazy hungry later.

But what they really wanted to know was how I could get away with eating that much. I was the leanest adult in the room--and yet I ate more than the others. Logically, people who are lean must eat less. Right? Otherwise they wouldn't be lean. What could be simpler?

That's what Bernard Gutin, Ph.D., believed back in 2000, when he began his study of 800 teenagers. The goal was to look at the relationship of diet and physical activity to risk factors for cardiovascular disease. "We thought exercise and diet would play a role by making kids less likely to get fat and less likely to develop risk factors for these adult diseases," he says. "We assumed the kids who ate the most would be the fattest." But they weren't.

Instead, Gutin and his team at the Medical College of Georgia found that the kids who ate the most were typically the leanest. In some cases, the fattest kids actually ate less than their lean counterparts. Naturally, the researchers assumed that physical activity would explain the discrepancy. "We thought the leanest kids must be exercising a lot more; so even though they were eating more, they were also moving more," Gutin says.

But that wasn't entirely true either. Total physical activity--the amount of time the kids spent up and moving--wasn't a strong predictor of which kids would be leaner than others.

What mattered was how much vigorous exercise they did--how much time they spent running, jumping, lifting, and playing sports.

THIS SE EMED IMPROBABLE AT FIRST. BUT EVEN a few minutes a day of high-effort exercise was enough to separate the leanest teenagers from the fattest. How could that be?

But before we talk about why this matters, let's start with an important qualifier: The leanest kids didn't necessarily weigh less than the fattest ones. But they did have better body composition--that is, more muscle and bone, and less fat. And the only factor that explains it is the amount of exercise that had them moving fast, elevating their heart rate, and forcing their muscles to work hard.

Now here's why this article is billed as a weight-loss story, not a fitness piece: Sometime in the late 20th century, health and nutrition experts decided that most people weigh more than they should. An estimated 500 million adults are now considered obese, and that's just in Cleveland. (Just kidding, Cleveland; it's the worldwide estimate.) They tell us we're all overweight because we eat more than w e should. The obvious solution seemed to be: Eat less, and then weigh less as a result.

You're considered overweight if your body mass index, or BMI, is between 25 and 29.9. For a 5'10" guy, the overweight range is 174 to 208 pounds. Anything more is classified as obese. (Check yours at nhlbi.nih.gov/guidelines/obesity/BMI/bmicalc.htm.) If you're an athlete, a serious lifter, or just a guy who's active and not obviously thin, you're probably "overweight." Chances are you've been told as much by a well-meaning doctor.

And yet according to a 2013 CDC review, people who are "overweight" actually have a lower risk of mortality than people who fall in the normal BMI range. The researchers were at a loss to explain why heavier people might live longer. One possibility is that their higher percentage of lean mass helps make them stronger. And there's plenty of evidence that stron ger people live longer and have lower risks of cancer and heart disease. In fact, muscular strength is connected with reduced risks of almost every health condition associated with cardiovascular disease.

Most important, stronger people tend to have less body fat generally and less belly fat specifically. In other words, they're leaner not because they weigh less but because they have more muscle mass. Once you have that muscle, you can use it to attack the fat that covers it up.
ANOTHER REASON TO FOCUS ON EXERCISE first when managing your weight has to do with two competing systems in your brain. There's the reflexive system--the "default responder," which we share with our evolutionary cousins, the great apes. It's the "see a doughnut, eat a doughnut" portion of the brain. When we have unlimited access to high-calorie, low-nutrient food, this part of our brain would put any of us into a diabetic coma if left unchecked.

Tha t's why we need to strengthen its opposite, the reflective system. This one manages impulses, keeps us focused on our goals, and is unique to humans. Self-control is a lot like your muscular system. You can make it stronger. But like your muscles, it must be trained in a way that builds it up instead of breaking it down.

The best place to start is with a solid exercise program. "It's not fitness to burn calories," says George L. Blackburn, M.D., Ph.D., director of the Center for the Study of Nutrition Medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. "Even sleep burns calories. It's fitness to be fit."

Dr. Blackburn is one of the authors of a recent study published in Obesity Reviews that describes the many benefits of exercise beyond the modest effect it has on your weight:

• Stress reduction
• Improved insulin sensitivity and other hormonal responses to food
• An overall sense of competence and accomplishment
• Motivation to improve other behaviors

Those last two tie together the psychological and physiological benefits of exercise, both of which are crucial to anyone who's struggling to stick with a workout program. You won't reap any of the rewards we're talking about if you can't bring yourself to train in the first place.

That brings us back to Gutin, who at age 79 has spent decades studying exercise. (He's a professor emeritus at both Columbia University and the Medical College of Georgia.) And he still isn't quite sure what to make of the results of his own research. But he has a theory.

The human body is loaded with stem cells; these can become different types of cells, depending on what the body needs and what it tells them to become. In lab animals, the combination of exercise plus food triggered stem cells in the bone marrow to transform into lean tissue--muscle. Overfed mice that were given an exercise stimulus created more lean tissue. In other words, a higher number of their stem cells turned into muscle and bone. But when the mice were overfed and didn't exercise, more of their stem cells turned into fat.

We can't say this is exactly what happens in humans, especially adults. (Even in rodents, the exercise benefit isn't realized if the animals are already obese.) But with kids, something very much like this seems to take place. "Kids who do a lot of vigorous physical activity develop less fat and more lean tissue," Gutin says.

In adults, we know that satellite cells--stem cells found in muscle tissue--can become new muscle cells at any age, given the right stimulus. And one good stimulus, Gutin says, would be to work to momentary muscle failure when you lift. That way, without having to guess, you know you're generating a lot of force with your muscles. This in turn stresses your connective tissues, which then strain your bones. That should be enough to push some cells to become new lean tissue, and perhaps also prevent some cells from becom ing fat.

Strength training isn't the only way to deploy muscle in the righteous war on fat. Your heart is also a muscle, and it may be the most potent weapon you have. Back in 1990, a team of researchers overfed a group of healthy, normal-weight young men and limited their physical activity during a 100-day period. The group's weight gain averaged nearly 18 pounds--about two-thirds of it fat and a third muscle. But there were huge disparities among the results. In a recent study published in the International Journal of Obesity, the researchers analyzed the same data and determined that prior to the overfeeding, those with the highest VO2 max (a measure of aerobic power and fitness) gained the least total weight and the least fat.

The best and fastest way to improve your VO2 max is with short bursts of high-effort activity--such as sprints, calisthenics, and sled pushes. That's exactly the strategy Gutin found to be the key to lean, healthy bodies amon g the young people in his study.

BEFORE YOU SET OUT TO TRAIN HARD and fast, let's circle back to my breakfast. As I explained to my friends, I ate more than they did because I was hungrier. And I was hungrier because of the way I train and because of the metabolic demands of being relatively lean and fit.

But no amount of exercise gives you a lifetime pass to eat whatever you want. It simply allows you to eat what you need without worrying that an extra bite here or there will go straight to your gut.

And if some of it does? Well, you already have the tools you need to take it off. If you feed your muscles, they'll repay the favor by starving your fat.

Powered by WPeMatico

A Stay-at-Home Dad Survival Guide

A Stay-at-Home Dad Survival Guide

For the second time in four years, my full-time job is a stay-at-home dad. In both instances, circumstance landed me in the unpaid position. "Circumstance" is a nicer way of saying "laid off."

It's a surprisingly plum gig: I'm fortunate enough to spend all day with my two children--ages 3 and 7 months--while still being able to retreat to the basement at night to write part-time. Sure, I could do without the 5 a.m. feedings, library sing-a-longs, and the diaper bag that lives on my shoulder, but I get a front-row seat to my kids growing up--and that makes me a lucky man. 

I'd be lying if I said I was even remotely prepared for my occupation, though. The second time around has its struggles, but I've mastered many problems that threw me for a loop as a newbie. If you've just been handed a ticket to the same seat I'm in, consider this your program. Here are seven things nobody tells you about being a stay-at-home dad--until now.

1. You'll have more than a few meltdowns. 
You know that moment of panic you get when you start a new job? It usually occurs after all the initial excitement has worn off and the grim reality of your new responsibilities has kicked in. Well, during your first week at home, that feeling will take over your flesh and bones at least 100 times. It's usually in situations that seem the most dire, like when one kid is freaking out because you only put peanut butter on half of the sandwich and the other is crying because she hasn't dropped a load in two days. But understand it's a normal part of your schedule--and it gets easier over time. 

2. You're going to miss your cubicle. 
Every day I worked in an office, I wished to be anywhere but at my desk, staring at my screen, and doing the work I was being paid to do. But now I think about how much I'd kill for a long stretch of silence in a private cubicle. There will be parts of work you'll miss--the camaraderie with adults your age, the steady income--and those feelings never quite fade. But then you'll think about all the stuff you don't have to do anymore--expense reports, HR seminars--and realize watching Power Rangers with your son is a much more rewarding use of your time. 

3. Until you establish a routine, things will be tricky.
The regimen you had at your 9-to-5 was comforting. It requires some work to replicate it at home. In my first go-around, each day was left up to chance. "Maybe we'll go to the park," I thought, "and then we can figure out what we'll do for lunch. Or we can just lie around in our pajamas all day." It took a couple months to realize the flaw in my plan: First off, kids need routine. Let a tyke spend 24 hours in his Spider-Man footie PJs and he'll want that option every single day. Developing a schedule and sticking to it is much easier than living off the cuff. You don't have to arrange the same activities day in and day out, but set times for each one so the kids know the next step in dad's daily plan. 

4. You're going to look like hell most of the time.
An enormous chunk of your day involves preparing your children for theirs. Just dressing them takes an absurd amount of time--sometimes hours--and everything depends on their mood. Your rule of thumb: The better-dressed the kid, the worse the parent looks. This is also why families are late to everything. When you spend half your morning picking out an acceptable outfit for your highly critical 3-year-old, you don't give much thought to your own wardrobe. Kind-of-clean jeans? Sure. Not-that-wrinkled shirt? It'll work. Plan your outfit at night, and hope there's enough time to put it on the next day. Also: Showers occur only on the weekends. 

5. You'll make a ton of female friends. 
It used to be hard to meet women, but then I got married and had kids. Now that I hang out in public places during the day, I encounter tons of ladies--who just happen to come with adorable children. I'm an expert at talking to women now, simply because there isn't much else to do but chat with fellow parents while your kids are dancing around a library community room. The adult conversations will keep you sane, and most of the moms have a wealth of knowledge when it comes to keeping kids busy. Make them your most trusted allies. 

6. Your kids will probably hate you. 
And that's okay. Last week while we were out shopping, my son announced that he hated me and only loved his mom--loud enough for everyone in Sears to hear. What did I do to earn his vitriol? Tell him it was time to go home after only an hour at the indoor playground. Only an hour, because I'm obviously a monster. Being the only parent around means being the only person in charge and the only one--besides mall cops on Segways--to stop kids from having fun. So your child will probably tell you he hates you way more than he says he loves you--which is fine, because it means you're doing a good job.  

7. This is the best time of your life--and theirs. 
Both of my folks worked when I was growing up, which meant I got a car as soon as I received my license, and other kids didn't. But there was a downside to having employed parents: I don't really remember much about our time as a family. Sure, I recall the vacations and birthdays--the milestone events--but only because we relive them through rehashed stories at holiday parties and old photo albums. My son goes to daycare half the week, and the baby is with me every day. The kid looks forward to our time together, and I hope my daughter will, too. As hard as this job gets sometimes, I wouldn't trade these days for any office promotion or bonus. One day your kids will think back to this time and miss it just as much. 

Powered by WPeMatico

Be An Internet Super-Sleuth

Be An Internet Super-Sleuth

We all do it, though we may not fess up to it. You start out with a simple Google search, and two hours later you're browsing through your new crush's 2007 Spring Break album on Facebook, or checking out your office colleague's endless string of loony comments in some political forum.
Seriously, we're really just a bunch of junior Dick Tracy wannabes at heart.

But there's more to online stalking than Googling someone's email address or finding their semi-public Facebook page. In fact, by using a few very simple techniques, you can discover tons of publicly available information about people--without paying a dime or breaking the law. We asked some crackerjack digital sleuths to show us how to gather information, from criminal records to online profiles to ancient newsgroup flame-wars.

Now, we're not recommending you start digging for dirt on everyone you know, but there is one person you should definitely wield these tactics on: Yourself. Even if you're n ot the type to spend hours looking for incriminating details, you can bet that there's at least one person in your life--your boss, maybe, or your new neighbor--who is. Don't you want to know what they might find? We certainly do.

Make the right connections
The good news is that online stalking doesn't require any high-tech knowledge. In fact, if you can type words into a search box, you're pretty much set. But what separates the most effective stalkers from average snoopers isn't the techniques they use--it's the connections they make between different pieces of data. "An ‘advanced' stalker knows how to visualize a data map," says Brandan Geise, a security consultant for SecureState. "They can take small details and match them to other details to create a picture of a person's life."

Connections can be made everywhere, Geise explains. "If you have their non-corporate email address, you've probably got a username t hat they've used at least once before. Google that," he says. Geise also suggests checking Amazon's Wish List feature, because many people have publicly available lists that you can search by name or email address. You find their interests and hobbies, favorite sports teams, what books and music they like, and their general shopping preferences.

Twitter is another good place to look for seemingly innocuous details. The Twitter app Tweetails lets you look up any user's Tweet statistics. The app compiles stats from a user's most recent 1000 Tweets to spit out info such as their most-used hashtags, words, and user mentions.  Hashtags and frequent words tell you what they're thinking about, while user mentions will reveal their closest Twitter friends. (Note: It doesn't work with protected accounts.) 

Use Google like a boss
Once you've gathered some key details about your target, such as their favorite sports team or their hometown, y ou can use these details to fuel a more specific Google search. You probably already know that you can search for a specific phrase by putting it in quotation marks, but to really up your game, use Google's secret weapon: Search operators. These help you weed out irrelevant links. Some tactics:

1) Search within a website with the "site:" operator.  For example, to search for my articles on Men's Health, type "site:menshealth.com Sarah Jacobsson Purewal."  Use this operator if you've found a company or school website and you want to see if your target is mentioned in the archives.

2) Search for pages that link back to a website with the "link:" operator.  For example, if you want to find out what pages link back to Men's Health, type "link:menshealth.com."  Use this operator if you've found your target's personal webpage. Link-backs to their site will probably be from them promoting their website on online forums, in comment s on other websites, and on social networks.

3) Weed out irrelevant results by putting a hyphen (-) in front of a word or website.  For example, if you want to search for me, but you don't want to see my Men's Health articles, type "Sarah Jacobsson Purewal -menshealth.com."  Use this operator if your target has a common name, is a public figure, or shares a name with a public figure to help get rid of unwanted results.

4) Find specific file types with the "filename:suffix" operator. Suffix is the type of file you're looking for.  For example, if you want to find PDF files that I'm mentioned in, type "filename:pdf Sarah Jacobsson Purewal." Use this operator to find court documents and petitions, which are often saved as PDF files.

Find their weakest link
Some people lock down their Facebook profiles or make their Twitter feeds private. This makes them slightly more difficult to stalk--but only slightly. "If your target knows their way around social networking privacy settings, stop targeting them," says Mark Wuergler, senior security researcher at Immunity, Inc. "Start targeting the people around them: friends and family members."

Family members are the easiest people to target, because a quick name search on Advanced Background Checks (advancedbackgroundchecks.com) reveals a list of possible relatives. If your main target has a sibling, they've probably written on his or her Facebook Timeline at least once or twice, and you may even find a couple of untagged photos floating around. Wuergler demonstrated how effective this "target-hopping" technique was by targeting my younger brother, which enabled him to find my private Facebook account (which is under a different name) from public photo comments.

Do a reverse image search
Most social networking sites do not allow you to make your profile picture private. So if you find a social media account with your target's photo, grab that image. This is likely a photo they uploaded, which means they've probably uploaded the same image to other places, such as dating sites, forums, and other social networks. Head to TinEye (tineye.com) and upload the photo or provide the photo's URL to do a "reverse image search," or a search for all instances of that photo online. TinEye and other reverse image searches, such as Google's Search by Image, will find the photo if it's been uploaded anywhere else, even if it's been cropped or resized.

Other photos to look closely at are shots with friends (potential targets) and photos of places (landmarks are obvious, but also look for unique-looking building styles). "Most people don't realize how much their photos say," Wuergler says. "For example, if I know what city you live in and I see a photo of you at the pool, and there's a unique canopy in the background, I can use Google Maps' satellite view to search for that canopy."

Bonus tip: View uncropped Facebook images
While Facebook doesn't let you make your profile picture private, it does let you prevent strangers from seeing the image in all its full-sized glory. If you stumble across a Facebook profile picture or thumbnail that you can't enlarge, follow these steps to view it at full, uncropped resolution:

1) Open up a blank window or tab and paste the following URL into the address bar (do not hit Enter yet): https://scontent-a-sjc.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn2/

2) In another window or tab, find the image you want to see and right-click on it. Click "Copy Image URL" or "Copy Image Location."

3) Paste the URL/Image Location into a text file.

4) The end of the URL you just pasted (after the last backslash) will have a string of numbers separated by three undersc ores, and will end in the letter "a," "t," or "q."

5) Copy this string of numbers and paste it into the first window or tab, after the backslash.

6) Change the letter at the end of the string to "n."

7) Hit Enter. Boom!

Remember, no Facebook photos are truly private. If you ever want to share a "private" photo that you found somewhere with a friend, just link directly to that photo by right-clicking on the image and selecting "Copy Image URL" or "Copy Image Location."

Don't go overboard
Starting to get that weird, I'm-going-to-jail-or-Hell feeling? Relax. "There is nothing illegal about finding public information on the Internet," says Wuergler, who has consulted with the Department of Justice on this matter. "It's another story if you use that information to do something illegal, such as real-life stalking, hacking into accounts, or sending someone inappropriate messages." So no, you're not going to jail. (Hell, on the other hand--well that'll also sorta depend on how you use these tricks, wouldn't it?)

All that said, be extremely cautious about anything workplace-related. "Employers are forbidden to ask about job candidates' age, religion, etc.," says Alok Bhardwaj, CEO of privacy software company Hidden Reflex. "This is information a Facebook profile might reveal. In terms of legality, that makes this a gray area--even though many, many employers check Facebook profiles of potential employees."

Got it? Good. Now go find out what the world can see about you.

RELATED VIDEO:

This player is set to the width of the "Simple Article" content type body text.

Powered by WPeMatico

4 Ways to Stay Slim for the Holidays

4 Ways to Stay Slim for the Holidays

The eating season is upon us.

You'll see and hear statistics suggesting people gain as many as 10 pounds during the holidays. Likely you won't put on double-digit weight, but a recent study in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that devourers of turkey and Christmas cookies gain an average of 2.2 pounds from mid-November to New Year's Day. Obese people were even more likely to gain extra weight.

The problem is compounded because the bulges accumulate over the holidays and the years.

This season, though, can be different. Here are four steps to avoid the belly-ballooning this holiday season and start January 1 ahead of the game.

Exercise in the Morning
Instead of losing track of your exercise program among all the festivities, get your training out of the way well before party time. One study from Appalachian State University showed that a vigorous morning cycling workout helped average g uys burn an extra 190 calories over the ensuing 14 hours--on top of the 500 calories they burned during the workout. Researchers credit the post-exercise metabolism boost to the workout using more fat and less carbohydrates for energy. (Try this intense 4-minute cardio routine to really kick-up your heart rate.)

Need more motivation to get going Thanksgiving morning? Sign up for a local Turkey Trot. T-Day is the most popular holiday for road racing (676,000 finishers in 2011, according to Running USA, a nonprofit organization that tracks road racing trends) and it's a great addition to your holiday gameplan.

Dissect the Buffet
Whether it's a work event or a party with friends, there's usually a buffet. Rather than blindly grabbing a plate and heading to the front of the spread, survey the scene first to decide what you really want. Otherwise you'll just heap everything on your plate as you come to it.

And if you're the one putting out the food, keep the healthy options together and place them front and center. A new study from Cornell University found that when healthy foods like fruit, yogurt, and granola are offered at the head of a breakfast buffet line, only 39 percent of eaters grabbed higher-calorie dishes like cheesy eggs and bacon. When eggs, bacon, and potatoes were positioned first, 78 percent of people tossed them on their plate.

Snack Smart  

You have to set yourself up for success by having the right food to nosh on while waiting for the main events. I personally love Wonderful Pistachios, especially the salt and pepper variety. You get a little salty flavor and crunch, while also providing your body the protein, fiber, and nutrients needed to keep you away from the less-than-ideal snacks. And according to a 201 1 Eastern Illinois University study, munching on in-shell pistachios can help decrease the amount of calories you consume by more than 40 percent. Why? Researchers say opening the shells is a reminder of how much you've already eaten.   
 
Pomegranates can be a great snack as well, and their deep, red color makes them festive this time of year. The problem is until recently they were a pain to eat. You had to open the fruit, remove the seeds, and discard the excess. Now, POM POMs are easy, conveniently packaged pomegranate arils (the technical name for the seeds) that are great for munching. Plus, these antioxidant-rich fruits have been shown to fight inflammation, boost immunity, and suppress the growth of prostate cancer cells. 

Keep Each Holiday to One Day
Thanksgiving to New Year's is called the Holiday Season, but the key is to avoid a six-week vacation from healthy eating.

Enjoy the food on the holiday, but return to your normal routine the next day, including an easy run or gym workout. A recent review in the British Journal of Sports Medicine found that the longer it takes you to get back to your usual workouts, the more your enthusiasm to reach those regular physical highs is dulled--meaning one day won't hurt you, but taking a week off can completely throw you off. If you stay inactive until January 1, entering the gym could be daunting.

Following these tips will surely help you stay on track. Don't beat yourself up when you do enjoy a splurge--or two--in the coming weeks. But if you focus between all the shopping and feasting, you won't have to make another resolution to find that disappearing six-pack.

Sports nutritionist Dr. Christopher Mohr, PhD, is a registered dietitian and nutrition consultant to the Cincinnati Bengals, the Discovery Health Channel and The Dairy Council. Through his company Mohr Results, Inc., he helps all types of individuals and athletes achieve their diet and nutrition goals.

RELATED VIDEO

This player is set to the width of the "Simple Article" content type body text.

Powered by WPeMatico

Advantages of Online Nail Technician Courses

Advantages of Online Nail Technician Courses

Becoming a nail expert is not a basic or straight forward assignment. On the other hand however, turning into a nail craftsman or specialist is agreeable and fun in spite of the fact that it could be unpredictable. One must be decently trained and should study distinctive styles in the event that they need to turn into an exceptional nail craftsman. There are numerous programs on the net that offer an extensive variety of courses in regards to nail courses.

One may ask, are online nail expert courses enough? Is your objective to turn into a master in your field? Will these online courses give better comprehension and expertise in one's specialty? Can it even make a nail tech surely turn into an expert? These are only a percentage of the inquiries that one may experience when selecting or captivating a nail tech course on the web.

In today's focused time, making the right instructive choices can mean a huge contrast in your and your family's future. Acquiring nail courses online will help harden one's standing as a qualified nail professional. Online nail courses are sought after. You could be your own supervisor as an enrolled nail tech. You can take a shot at your own particular hours, and you can work in somebody's salon or you can open your own.

One of the profits by consuming an online nail specialist course is that one can do and carry it anyplace they need. What's more obviously, studying in the home is dependably an in addition to. You can relax and unwind your style a tad. You don't dependably must be legitimately prepared the same way any other person in a classroom must be on the grounds that regardless of the fact that you are in the midst of some recreation or wherever it is you may be, inside a spot, or close to the beach, and whatever you are wearing, be it your night robe or a robe, you can even now study and get a charge out of the craft of outlining nails.

An alternate entrancing profit of enlisting in a nail tech course from home is the way that you can go at your own pace. You don't need to stress over getting abandoned and that takes a ton of weight off. There is no compelling reason to pack simply to get up to speed and get prepared for a test, on the grounds that with most online nail specialist courses, you are not getting your permit, yet unfolding your learning and aptitudes as it comes to different sorts of nail configuration. You get to set your own calendar and truly get a handle on and comprehend the data of the course. You can don't hesitate to make inquiries to educators through their messages or through the site's gathering.

Practice as much as you can; so provided that you are not kidding about stretching your abilities and learning in an expert way and building a gainful nail vocation, get yourself prepared and enlisted in online nail courses.

Powered by WPeMatico

5 Body-Weight Exercises You're Doing Wrong

5 Body-Weight Exercises You're Doing Wrong

As a strength coach, I love body-weight exercises. They challenge your muscles and kick your heart into high gear. You can do them for free--anywhere, anytime. They're as wonderful as unicorns, puppy dogs, and Kate Upton.

But what I don't love is when I see guys performing them wrong. Just because you're moving sans iron, doesn't mean you can use poor form or perform an exercise variation that puts you at an increased risk for injury. Here's my list of five popular body-weight exercises most guys are doing wrong--and the best way to fix them.

1. Triceps Dip on a Bench
Your triceps make up more of your arms than your biceps do, but most men pay their triceps less attention. At most, they may head to an empty bench and knock out a few triceps dips at the end of their workout. Unfortunately, that's one of the worst moves you can do to build fuller, stronger arms. The exercise puts your shoulder joints in an unstable position, overloading the small muscles of the rotator cuff. And if you injure your rotator cuff, it'll be painful to lift your arm above your shoulder, making even the most minuscule tasks--like washing your hair, grabbing the milk from the fridge, hang ing up your coat--difficult and awkward.

THE FIX
The alternative body-weight solution is a move called the plank-to-triceps extension. Start to get into a pushup position, but bend your elbows and rest your weight on your forearms instead of on your hands. Your body should form a straight line from your shoulders to your ankles. Without allowing your lower back posture to change, contract your triceps, press your palms into the floor, and lift your elbows off the floor until your arms are completely straight. You should now be in a pushup position. Slowly lower to the start position. Do 15 to 20 repetitions with perfect form.

2. Mountain Climber
The mountain climber is a stability exercise that trains your entire core, including your abdominal, lower-back, and hip muscles. But most bootcamp instructors treat the mountain climber as a conditioning drill, directing their clients to crank out reps as fast as possible. I hat e to break it to you, but only exceptional athletes can do that while maintaining perfect form. For the average gym goer, a fast pace usually leads to sloppy form, including piked hips and rounded lower backs. These mistakes can compress your spinal discs and increase your risk of back injury.

THE FIX
To get the full core-hammering effect of the mountain climber, perform each rep slowly and deliberately until you can master the exercise. Here's how it's done: Start in a pushup position with your arms completely straight. Brace your abs, and hold them that way for the entire movement. Without changing your lower-back posture, lift your right foot off the floor and raise your knee as close to your chest as you can. Touch the floor with your right foot, and then return to the starting position. Repeat with your left leg. Alternate back and forth for 30 reps total.

If you perform a cross-body mountain climber, raise your right knee toward your left elbow, lower, and then raise your left knee to your right elbow. Minimize the rotation in your lower back as you alternate back and forth.

3. Prisoner Squat
If you have zero equipment, you can't work the muscles in your back. But the prisoner squat is a simple way to make a lower-body move work double duty as a back-building exercise. Instead of holding your arms out in front of your body,  place your fingers on the back of your head (as if you had just been arrested). I witness most guys using"lazy hands," however. After only one or two reps, their elbows creep toward their face and their hands cover their ears. When this happens, you can forget about working your back.

THE FIX
In this squat variation, your arms should be working just as hard as your legs. After you place your fingers on the back of your head, stick your chest out and pull your elbows and shoulders back. Contract your back muscles hard and hold them that way for the entire movement. Every time you return to standing, squeeze your shoulder blades together again to create maximum tension. If you do this, you'll burn more calories and correct poor posture.

4. Pushup
Quit doing pushups the same way you were taught as a youngster (think: flared elbows). That version will eventually cause immense pain in your shoulder joint and rotator cuff. Refer back to the triceps dip on a bench for the many reasons you don't want to injure your rotator cuff.

THE FIX
Keep your elbows at a 45-degree angle from your body when you're in the bottom position. This slight change in position will dramatically reduce the stress on your shoulders.

However, just as with the barbell bench press or the dumbbell chest press, bringing your elbows closer to your body slightly reduces the amount of work your pecs have to do. To make your chest work harder, use this rest and pause technique. Perform as many pushups as you can, and then rest for 20 seconds. Repeat once more. Finally, finish with one last round of pushups to failure. The result: a pumped-up chest and healthy shoulders.

5. Box Jumps
Box jumps suddenly saw a surge in popularity with the advent of CrossFit. Nowadays, men pound out rep after rep during their workouts. While the plyometric exercise improves your vertical jump and lower-body power, it can also lead to injury when not done properly. When you jump straight up off the floor, you typically land with hips pushed back and your weight behind your heels. But when you jump backward off a box, you tend to land with your weight forward for balance. The problem: This stretches your Achilles tendon. Do this over and over again, and you have a good chance to join Dan Marino and Kobe Bryant in the torn Achilles hall of fame.

THE FIX
Instead of jumping backward off the box, simply step down. Sure, you'll do less reps in the same amount of time, but they will be higher quality and much safer.

You can also try total-body extensions. Do this: Stand with your feet slightly wider than hip-width apart, toes forward. Push your hips back as if you're about to sit in a chair, and lower your body. Let your arms hang by your hips with your palms facing behind you. In one swift motion, swing your arms straight overhead, and explosively stand up by thrusting your hips forward and rising up on your toes. Immediately return to the start position. Continue to do as many reps as possible for one minute.

Craig Ballantyne, C.T.T., is the author of Turbulence Training and a pushup fanatic.

RELATED VIDEO

This player is set to the width of the "Simple Article" content type body text.

Powered by WPeMatico

Going Deep with Andrew Luck

Going Deep with Andrew Luck

In the long line of iconic athlete facial hair, Andrew Luck's neckbeard sits squarely at the end, miles behind Rollie Fingers' handlebar ‘stache and a few rows back from Apolo Ohno's soul patch. Unkempt and unruly, there's no rhyme, reason, or Movember motivation for Luck's scruff. 

Instead, the beard was bred out of something much simpler: "I just grow a terrible mustache, so I try to use my neckbeard as a substitute," the Indianapolis Colts quarterback admits. "And when I get lazy, I don't shave that often."

Let the record show that Andrew Luck allows his own grooming to slide--because you won't find evidence of him slacking off anywhere else. Especially the football field.

In his second year leading the Colts, the 24-year-old continues to fulfill his NFL fate. Scouts were so sure he'd be the best QB prospect since Peyton Manning that in 2012, Indianapolis drafted him out of Stanford to immediately replace Manning. All Luck did in his rookie year was lead a previously hapless 2-14 squad to an 11-win record punctuated by late-game victories and an appearance in the playoffs. This season he's at it again, surprising NFL prognosticators by beating the league's behemoths, engineering wild comebacks, and clearing the calendar for more January football in Indy.

We last talked with Luck on the eve of his professional debut, when he was battling a few butterflies but staying even-keeled during the biggest week of his life. Fourteen months later, the jitters are gone--and the composure has only grown. In our follow-up conversation, Luck dishes out more leadership secrets, reveals his old-school technology habits, and fantasizes about his perfect night. (Spoiler: It's super nerdy.)

Men's Health: Before you really took the reins of the team, you said you weren't going to have to alter your personality to be a leader. Has that changed in the year since?

Andrew Luck: No. I think in any situation, so much of effective leadership is when it comes from your own personality. And I feel very fortunate to be comfortable in the Colts locker room, where people can be who they are, and they don't have to change it when they show up to work that day.  

MH: You've already carved out this legacy as a comeback king. ESPN'S Bill Simmons recently tweeted: "Andrew Luck has reached ‘I'm not giving up even though he's down 28' status for me." What is it about crunch time that brings out the best in you?

Luck: I don't know, but I do know for one thing that it's not just me. Any victory where we've been able to come back is because special teams made a huge play, or the defense forced a turnover, or the offensive line did something great. We also practice end-of-game situations, and the culture that Coach [Chuck] Pagano has built here is one of "never give up."

MH: There are a lot of reports that say you gave a pretty impassioned speech to your teammates in last week's game against the Titans, when you were trailing 17-6 at halftime. How do you pump up your guys in situations like that?

Luck: That was a bit overblown. A lot of guys say a lot of things for a lot of games. I think I just reiterated the fact that we were down, there was a lot of football left, and we just had to take care of our jobs. It differs from game to game and situation to situation. But when you're a professional athlete, I don't think you should need motivation to go out and do your job. It's a very self-motivated group in our locker room. We go out there and try to work as hard as we can every day, and win games. It's not a bunch of pump-up speeches every day. 

MH: Wait, you mean it's not like it is in the movies?

Luck: [Laughs] It can be a bit sensationalized. Like everything in this culture, you know?

MH: Sure. Well here's another stat people love to throw out when they talk about you: You're a perfect 8-0 following a loss in the NFL. That's kinda good.

Luck: It's really this team that has done it so well. We're lucky to have guys like Robert Mathis and Reggie Wayne in our locker room that are proven winners, and they make sure when we come back from a loss that you're working hard to right your wrongs, or atone for your sins. We've been glad it's worked out so far. 

MH: How do you shake off a loss and put it behind you?

Luck: It sticks with you until you watch the film, see where your mistakes are, and try to take out the emotional attachment to it. Ask yourself, "Hey, what did I do wrong? I'm here now. How can I fix my mistakes?" Once you understand where you need to improve, that loss gets behind you and you start focusing on what's next. 

MH: It seems like you always get compared to someone else, no matter what the scenario is. It was John Elway, the last great Stanford quarterback. It was Peyton Manning, the last great Colts quarterback. Then it was Robert Griffin III and Russell Wilson, the two other great quarterbacks from last year's class. When will that end?

Luck: I don't know! [Laughs] I don't pay attention to it, though. I was told by a coach long ago that when you start comparing people, it always ends up devaluing someone along the way. I take that to heart and try not to listen, read, or talk about it. But I also realize it's part of our culture, and part of fandom, and the media always wants to compare and contrast. It creates great dialogue, and it's great for the game, but maybe it's not great for the player involved. I sort of view it as part of the job. People will say what they will, and you just have to keep your head down and move on. But hopefully they're good comparisons, not bad ones. [Laughs]

MH: On the flip side, who do you want to be compared to?

Luck: Well, I loved watching Peyton and Steve McNair growing up. But my dad, like most kids would say, is my hero.

MH: That's a good segue. Quaker Oats brought you on to be a role model for kids, and to work on a campaign that encourages children to move around. Explain the "Make Your Move" contest.

Luck: It's a contest where a teacher or parent can submit a video online of their students or kids moving around, whether that's dancing, throwing a football, skiing, fishing, or whatever else. You have a chance to win a $15,000 grant for your school. So it's a pretty good deal.

MH: And then you're judging the videos. What sort of criteria are you looking for?

Luck: Well, I'm a terrible dancer, so I'll be judging the dancing videos very critically. But no, I just want to make sure people are having fun. For me, it was always about getting outside. My favorite memories were with my dad, throwing a football around when he came home from work. As long as kids are having fun, that's the biggest deal at the end of the day.  

MH: There's this rumor about you that says you still carry around a flip phone. There's no way that's true . . . right?

Luck: [Laughs] It's true.

MH: No way. You've never been tempted to upgrade to a smart phone?

Luck: I've definitely been tempted to upgrade, but I'm comfortable with the phone. It gets the job done. I think it's nice sometimes not to be plugged in 24/7 to email and the Internet and everything else. It's nice to get away.

MH: Man, that's some good discipline.

Luck: Yeah, I don't know if it's discipline as much as it is laziness. [Laughs]

MH: You're an avid reader. What books have you read this year?

Luck: I recently read Condoleeza Rice's accounts of her time in office during the Bush administration, which I found very interesting. She was a professor at Stanford while I was out there, so I got to talk to her a couple times. I was very impressed with her. But during the season it's hard to read. I try to get a couple pages a night, just to give my mind a break. 

MH: So what's the perfect night for Andrew Luck like?

Luck: Hmm, that's a good question. Well, I've been playing a lot of the board game Settlers of Catan lately, so that has to be involved somehow. Especially if it's with my little brother. He's been beating me the last couple times I've gone home, so I need to get back on the winning side.

RELATED VIDEO:

This player is set to the width of the "Simple Article" content type body text.

Powered by WPeMatico