Blog

The Benefits of Daily Physical Activity

Posted: 02/29/2012

●      Reduces the risk of heart disease by improving blood circulation throughout the body ●      Keeps weight under control ●      Improves blood cholesterol levels ●      Prevents and manages high blood pressure ●      Prevents bone loss ●     ...

Oatmeal! The Ultimate Power Breakfast.

Posted: 02/18/2012

You’ve heard it before: oatmeal protects the heart. And rest assured, the man on the Quaker oatmeal box isn’t lying — oatmeal is a whole grain, a type of plant food and complex carbohydrate that makes up the backbone of the heart-healthiest Mediterranean style of eating. Choosing whole grains as your main form of carbohydrate nourishment has been scientifically...

Go Outside Your Comfort Zone

Posted: 02/16/2012

Convinced you “can’t” run a marathon, or sprint at level 10 on that treadmill? … Are you sure about that?   Even if you have a physical challenge or condition that limits you in some way, most of us also create false boundaries for ourselves — “no-can-do’s” that are only in our heads. And more and more studies are showing...

Add Strength Training to Your Stretching

Posted: 02/15/2012

Let’s face it: Stretching feels good. It is relaxing, and getting all the kinks out of scrunched-up muscles can be liberating. Unfortunately, improving flexibility through a stretching class is simply not enough, either as a therapeutic approach, or to protect your body from future damage. Strength training is a necessary companion to your stretching class.As we age, the...

Nutrition Tip of the Week

Posted: 02/09/2012

Ode to CHOCOLATE, "food of the gods!" It is well known that Giacomo Casanova was the most insatiable womanizer of all time. It is said that he called chocolate his “elixir of love,” drank it religiously before every love making tryst and used it in his seductions—the  first love pro to tap into the timeless attraction...

Getting older? Get in some S-T-R-E-T-C-H-I-N-G!

Posted: 01/30/2012

Why stretch? Stretching increases flexibility, a key component of physical fitness that is often neglected. A greater degree of flexibility is believed to help prevent injury (and low back pain) and improve sports performance. We lose flexibility as we age, so practicing a regular program of stretching the major muscle groups can help prevent loss of flexibility and its associated...

The 10 Commandments for Losing Weight…and Keeping it Off!

Posted: 01/23/2012

Success breeds success. What exactly, in terms of lifestyle changes, do people who have been highly successful at both losing weight and keeping it off over the long term do? That’s just what researchers at the University of Pittsburgh and the University of Colorado set out to determine when they began their on-going study called the National Weight Control Registry (www.nwcr.ws). ...

3 Ways to Kick the Habit of Skipping Workouts

Posted: 01/10/2012

Trying to get into an exercise habit, but finding you’re more in the habit of making excuses? You can break out of that pattern with these tips from fitness experts on staying motivated and sticking to your fitness routine. Our Fitness Together trainers and studio owners recommend these three strategies to help you stay inspired to work out regularly. 1. Keep your...

Detox Diets - Good or Bad?

Posted: 11/08/2011

When it comes to the world of diet and fitness, there are many ideas out there about what is good for our bodies.  When it comes to weight loss and dieting, there is a new fad in detox, or detoxification, diets, but they are not scientifically proven.  Detox diets are marketed as a way to remove toxins from the body.Specific detox diet plans differ, but the basic idea...

Grass-Fed Beef and Heart Healthy Benefits

Posted: 11/01/2011

It is becoming more common to see new terms being used in the meat department- "grass-fed" beef being the most prominent.To be specific, grass-fed beef comes from cows that were fed primarily grass and other foraged foods, such as unprocessed grains.Typically beef and dairy cows are fed a diet of processed grain, like corn, but now the difference in diets is known to change the...