Do you think cravings indicate a lack of certain foods in your diet? "People think their cravings are significant, but studies show no link between cravings and nutritional requirements. If people craved what the body needs, we would all eat more broccoli and less chocolate." Wouldn’t that be so much simpler? Have our brain control our appetite in a good direction?  However, that’s not the truth

Many research studies suggest that mental imagery may be a key component of food cravings – when people crave a specific food, they have vivid images of that food. Results of one study showed that the strength of participants’ cravings was linked to how vividly they imagined the food. Mental imagery (imagining food or anything else) takes up cognitive resources, or brain power. So, when the subjects of the study imagine something, they have a hard time completing various cognitive tasks. In one experiment, volunteers who were craving chocolate recalled fewer words and took longer to solve math problems than volunteers who were not craving chocolate. These links between food cravings and mental imagery, along with the findings that mental imagery takes up cognitive resources, may help to explain why food cravings can be so disruptive: As we are imagining a specific food, much of our brain power is focused on that food, and we have a hard time with other tasks.

 

So, what’s the solution? Distract yourself! According the researchers, these findings indicate that “engaging in a simple visual task seems to hold real promise as a method for curbing food cravings.”

 

Some cravings for food are actually thirst in disguise. Since most of us walk around dehydrated, half the time what we perceive as hunger is really thirst. You can test that by drinking a couple of glasses of water, wait a few minutes to let the craving pass.

 

Another way to curb unhealthy cravings: Eat breakfast every day (skipping breakfast can make cravings worse; see my article on breakfast) and get plenty of exercise.

 

Control your cravings by:

 

·         Ask yourself why you are eating it? Many cravings are in fact due to psychological causes (such as stress, and anxiety) and not actually as a result of a nutritional deficiency. Try to become aware of your emotional triggers for eating so these triggers can be avoided, or at least addressed. If you know that stress causes you to crave and overeat, then try to find an outlet to relieve the stress. Try yoga, exercise or anything else that will reroute your mind from thinking about it. Our brains are pretty powerful, but we have the power to control them J

·         Are you craving because you are bored? Find an activity to occupy your time.

·         If you notice that the craving is always linked to a certain activity (such as reading the newspaper or watching television), try changing your routine. Something as simple as reading a book may help.

·         Try changing the activity altogether. Try something like exercising. Exercise stimulates the feel-better chemicals called endorphins and improves your mood. Try taking a warm bath, call friends and family, or just wait it out for 15 minutes. Very often you'll find that the craving has lost a lot of its strength by the time the waiting period is up.

Yes, I consider yoga is a sport (or at least a very important addition to a sport). Yoga is a sport of balancing, energizing and elevating mind, body and spirit. I noticed a lot of men are intimidated of practicing yoga due its popularity with the women. Even though women are bendier than men and are more open in the hips, men have the advantage of upper body strength, which serves them well in arm poses.
 I’ve been practicing yoga for well over 8 years and when I showed a very difficult upper body pose to my boyfriend that I’ve been trying to do for years, he did it in 5 minutes.

Some might argue that it’s a “chick sport” because it’s just “stretching”, but those people obviously haven’t taken astanga or bikram yoga classes (see descriptions below).  Oh, and if you REALLY want a workout, there is a also a boot-camp yoga class. You will be BEGING for savasana (final relaxation pose).

Below are a few reasons for men (and women) to at least TRY a yoga class (and soon enough I’ll be teaching yoga myself, so you can take it with me J and I’ll show you all the reasons and you will start noticing the benefits soon after)

·         Yoga is an AWESOME workout that covers every muscle, joint, and organ. It works every system: cardiovascular, skeletal, muscular and endocrine.

·         Yoga decreases muscle soreness. Yoga is a great way to alleviate muscle tension from other sports. It releases soreness by decreasing lactic acid build-up in the muscles. This helps performance and prevents injuries.

·         Yoga helps boost stamina. Instead of feeling depleted after you work out yoga actually increases your energy and revitalizes you. Stretching your muscles oxygenates your blood and deep breathing distributes oxygen throughout your body as energy.

·         Yoga relieves back pain and improves posture. After years of strenuous exercise tendons can shorten and eventually pull you out of alignment leading to chronic back pain. Yoga brings fluid back into stiff joints which helps correct alignment relieving back pain and even helps you appear taller by improving your posture!

·         Yoga reduces blood pressure. The deep extended breathing practiced in yoga helps reduce blood pressure. High blood pressure is one of the many causes of heart attack, and fatigue for many men.

·         Yoga helps you focus. Many famous athletes including NFL stars swear by yoga. It has helped them heighten their performance levels. By increasing mental clarity they became better athletes in their chosen sport.

·         Yoga detoxifies the body. Yoga helps flush the body of toxins. It stimulates digestion and enhances the immune system.

·          Yoga calms the mind. After practicing yoga you feel a deep sense of wellbeing. It greatly reduces stress levels enabling you to feel calmer and more grounded. With renewed energy and mental clarity all activities and areas of your life are sure to benefit

·         Yoga will get you the hard rock six packs you’ve always wanted. Your abs are your core, and if it’s not exercised regularly, your back will suffer. In yoga, almost every posture activates the core and not just what your regular sit ups do, but deeper, making your abs leaner.  Even if you are body builder, you will feel muscles that you didn’t know existed. 

Now, hopefully this will motivate you to start practicing yoga. There are a variety of styles that you can choose from and try ALL before you settle on your favorite might be a good idea. Below are two of my favorite, both really physically demanding and are considered “power” yoga styles:

·         Ashtanga - For those who want a serious workout; it’s physically demanding. Participants move through a series of flows, jumping from one posture to another to build strength, flexibility and stamina.

·         Bikram - This is hot, hot, hot, so be prepared to sweat, sweat, sweat. In class, they crank the thermostat up high, then perform a series of 26 asanas designed to "scientifically" warm and stretch muscles, ligaments and tendons.

Namaste,

Masha

In my recent travels to the other side of the world, I noticed how different the cultures are and being an immigrant myself, I remember the very first day of us coming to the States … it was like smiles central; everybody would greet us with a friendly smile. It was a huge culture shock for me, but I got used to it after a while and now wouldn’t have it any other way. So, as I landed back in my home country, that was the very first thing I noticed … nobody was smiling, in fact people were frowning. I knew I had to adjust in order not to be perceived as weird and a tourist. However, that got me thinking how detrimental it is for us to constantly frown, so here are all the reasons you should fill your life with smiles and laughter :)

 

• When we laugh every organ in the body is affected in a positive way
  • Our breath quickens, which exercised the diaphragm, neck, stomach, face and shoulders
  • Increases amount of oxygen in the blood 
  • Helps healing
    • Laughter stimulates the body’s natural painkillers and “feel good” enhancers, known as endorphins, helping relieve stress and heal the body
  • Improves circulation
  • Expands blood vessels close to the skin’s surface (that’s the reason you get red after a laughing hard for a while)
  • Lowers the heart rate
  • Dilate the arteries
  • Stimulate the appetite
  • Burn up calories
  • 1 minutes of solid laugher provides up to 45 minutes of subsequent relaxation
  • 100 laughs will give your body an aerobic workout equal to that of a ten-minute session on a rowing machine.
  • Improves overall health 

 

Medically speaking, the reasons above are why a damn good laugh is damn good for you! :)

•  Science has proved that the more you smile, the more positive reactions others will give you
  • Smiling attracts friends
  • In business, smiling at appropriate times during negotiation such as during the opening stages where people are sizing each other up, produces a positive response on both sides of the table = more successful outcome and higher sales ratios
  • Laughter in love is the top of women’s priority list of what they look for in a man.
  • Smiling and laughter are a way of bonding and building relationships
  • In advertising, humor sells

 

Research shows that people who laugh or smile, even when they don’t feel especially happy, make part of the “happy zone” in the brain’s left hemisphere surge with electrical activity. So, even if you don’t have anything in particular to laugh about, make time to smile for no reason at all, because it moves brain activity toward spontaneous happiness :)

 

 

In my recent attempts to become a vegetarian (yes, 7 consecutive days of absolutely no meat for someone who used to eat meat for breakfast, lunch and dinner is a BIG DEAL! That’s like 18 meals AND I turned down a FREE turkey sandwich earlier, plus BEEF (National Cattlman Beef Association) is one of my clients, so it’s going to be a challenge for sure! I will have to tease myself with all the meat recipes for a while (until the cravings vanish), but I have faith in myself and I smell (pun intended) success!) I’ve learned some interesting things that I wanted to share with the world.

First and foremost, I want to dedicate this post to four people who have inspired me (Jory Hoffman, the most dedicated vegan, who planted this seed of thought in me originally, then there is Olga Bernfield, my favorite source for anything related to food and nutrition. Just by looking at Olga’s body, I want to become vegetarian, but beyond that, it’s about FEELING great and cleansing out your system from all the toxins that the industrial meat industry has become. Ilya Tsorin, who was the last push for this bold move on my part, to test out the newly acquired boundaries. Last but not least, the author of Food Rules and the Omnivore’s Dilemma, Michael Pollan. I think he did a wonderful job explaining very basics of America’s industrial food industry and the reason America, in the most derogatory term, is … FAT!

So, as I explore this new world of pesco-vegetarianism also known as Pescetarianism (meaning I’m still planning on eating eggs, dairy and fish, because I need my Omega-3s plus I LOVE Ahi Tuna ),  I will share my experience as I go. We’ll see how I do! NOTE: Am I gonna be obsessed with being a strict semi-vegetarian (that's an oxymoron as it is), of course not but I will be sure to get the vegetarian option when possible. HOWEVER, let's not be ridiculous and say that if I'm stranded on an island called BEEF (aka Russian restaurant or grandma's house), I will still honor my commitment to vegetarianism.

So here is my top PROs (and CONs) list of why I decided to make the change:

Pros:

• $$$ –  It’s cheaper to be vegetarian, because meat typically costs more

• Soy – You get to eat soy products such as tofu and tempeh, are used to provide isoflavins, such as genistein and daidzein, which help to diminish bone loss, inhibit tumor growth and lower cholesterol

• Cancer – By following a plant based diet, we limit our chances of cancer, according to the World Cancer Research Fund.

• <3 – Vegetarians have lower rates of heart disease, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes and cholesterol levels – According to The American Dietetic Association

• Weight – Vegetarians have lower body mass index and nine times less likely to be obese. You feel lighter! No more feeling of bloating and stuffiness from the 16oz steak you HAD to devour

• Chemical-free – By eating meat, we retain the chemicals, hormones and antibiotics that are fed to cattle to accelerate growth and cause weight gain. For example, the E.Coli strain associated with raw beef

• Live longer – Vegetarians and vegans live, on average, six to 10 years longer than meat-eaters.

• The environment – You get to feel good about saving the environment. Animal production consumes an amount of water roughly equivalent to all other uses of water in the United States combined. Also, The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has estimated that direct emissions from meat production account for about 18% of the world's total greenhouse gas emissions

• Save animals – Many people do not morally approve of killing animals, or object to the ways in which animals are kept, treated and killed for food.

Cons:

• Lack of minerals and vitamins if people don't eat a wide variety of foods (i.e. Vitamin B12 is found in meats and not in a vegetarian diet, however depends on the type of vegetarian you are, you can obtain B12 from dairy products and eggs) NOTE: see a list of foods you SHOULD definitely include to your diet in order to have an adequate intake of the essential amino acids

• Personally, I feel hungry more often (but maybe it’s just because I’m a beginner and my system is used to the feeling of meat proteins, however I’m looking forward to this feeling disappearing soon and the long-term benefits J)

8 types of essential amino acids:

• Lupin, soy, hempseed, chia seed, amaranth, buckwheat, and quinoa. 

Other plant-based food that are necessary:

• Food rich in iron include black beans, cashews, hempseed, kidney beans, lentils, oatmeal, raisins, black-eyed peas, soybeans, many breakfast cereals, sunflower seeds, chickpeas, tomato juice, tempeh, molasses, thyme, and whole-wheat bread
• Food rich in Vitamin D: milk, soy milk, cereal grains and mushrooms. Also, make sure you expose yourself to the sun

Whatever your reason is for giving up meat, whether it’s a selfish one like feeling and looking healthy, animal welfare, religious, environmental concerns, weight loss etc., do your research, so you do not end up without the essential minerals and vitamins that the vegetarian diet is usually criticized for.

We all love this bitter sweet combo, we cannot escape it at parties or indulge in it after a rough day (as I write this, my mouth is already watering and I might have to get some), but do we actually understand the benefits? Is red wine better than white and why? Is dark chocolate better than milk and why? Those are the questions that I’ve been floating in my head for some time and now it’s time to get to the bottom of it!

 

With the arrival of spring brings more than flowers, fresh grass, and birds chirping, it also means spring cleaning.  While many may think of cleaning windows and shifting into a spring wardrobe, why not freshen up your dinner recipe rotation – and fire up the grill? 

This heavily debated topic has recently crossed my mind as I incidentally confused my roommate’s margarine for my butter.  I’ve always known to eat butter due to its low levels of trans fats and she has always eaten margarine due to its low levels of saturated fats. We both have our reasons, but I thought it was worth delving into the pros and the cons of these two very delicious and necessary but foible staples in our refrigerators. There are even a few Facebook groups dedicated to this apparently juicy topic.  Being Russian and coming from a heavy-bread-user family, I always have the urge to butter my bread and the cravings I have for bread are quite often, so this information was not only very informational but useful. Hope it will serve a purpose in your eating habits as well.

 

An interesting and funny conversation with a friend got me thinking about the health benefits of spicy foods. Some people hate it, some people love it and some people are not sure how to feel about it. Regardless of which tip of the scale you fall under, keep reading for all the benefits to make your decision. Capsaicin compound is what makes chilies spicy and has antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties that are beneficial to the body, providing three times more vitamin C than oranges.

1)      Brain function – Capsaicin along with his best friend curcumin compound decreases the risk of developing degenerative brain and nervous system conditions. Alzheimer's leads to the growth of harmful plaques in the brain, and curcumin may be able to slow this process.

2)      Sniff Sniff –Eating spicy foods promotes sweating, opens the sinuses, and encourages expectoration, making spicy foods a good thing to eat if someone has a cold.

3)      Ouchy Ouch – Spicy foods also appears to be beneficial for pain management and inflammation when used topically on the skin. Capsaicin works by first stimulating and then decreasing the intensity of pain signals in the body. WebMD states: “Capsaicin stimulates the release of a compound believed to be involved in communicating pain between the nerves in the spinal cord and other parts of the body”. Capsaicin cream offers pain relief for many conditions including arthritis, nervous system problems such as shingles, skin conditions like psoriasis, pain caused by surgery, and mouth sores caused by chemotherapy or radiation.

4)      Loose it – Eating spicy foods also increases the metabolism, encouraging people to process food more quickly, leading some researchers to suggest that spicy foods may help with weight loss. Red peppers suppressed appetite and led people to reduce their fat, protein, and caloric intake. Now I know why the lemonade diet uses cayenne pepper as one of its three ingredients. As a side note, this diet will make you loose a few pounds and sure make your tummy look flat, BUT will make you drowsy and tired, BEWARE!

5)      <3 Health – Eating chili peppers may also improve circulation and lower blood pressure, which reduces strain on the heart

6)     SMILE – Eating chili peppers boosts the production of endorphins, "natural opiates" that dull pain and promote a sense of wellbeing.

7)      Spice up your sex life – We all know about the great benefits of sex, and chilies can help you heat up your sex life, due to capsaicin. Capsaicin stimulates nerve endings to release chemicals, raising the heart rate and possibly triggering the release of endorphins giving you the pleasurable feeling of a natural high. Spicy foods get the heart pumping and induce sweating.

Note to all the sensitive folks out there … to lessen the pungency

a)     the seeds can be discarded
b)     if you eat bananas along with the peppers, you may reduce the burning sensation!!! (as a side note: bananas are also known to be an aphrodisiac, because they contain chemicals that reportedly have a mood-lifting effect on the brain and raises self-confidence)

Eating LARGE amounts of chili peppers may cause stomach ulcers! Everything is moderation is key.

To warm up on a chilly winter night, try some of these recipes, all courtesy of Healthy.Lifestyle

• Curried Pumpkin Soup
• Tandoori Chicken Breasts
• Spicy Fish Cakes

Have a spicy day

As 2010 rolls around, we all want to change/improve something about
ourselves, but we might be overwhelmed by the amount of things we want
to add/delete to become the new us. However, MJ Ryan author of
AdaptAbility says "Making ONE change enables you to see the
possibility for more significant change in other areas of your life”.
Here is a list of "little" changes that can make a big impact on your
overall well-being

1) Changing up our daily outine can really do wonders for our psyche.
I like to play the “negative energy scavenger hunt” game where you
find all the things that drive you crazy and work to get rid of it.
This "cleaning out" process gives you an instant lift

2) Our thought patterns create neural pathways in our brains. You can
TRAIN your brain to think positively. Constantly reminding your brain
to think positive can become your natural way of thinking. Negative
thoughts consume a lot of our energy, so list three things you’re
grateful for every day

3) Little things add up: small changes can really make a big
difference when it comes to the shade of green! Switch to online
bills, use a reusable tote for groceries instead of plastic, don’t
waste water and turn off the lights when you leave the room

4) Save a life: give blood

5) Meditate in the morning. Starting with a daily dose of peaceful
practices will set a much better tone for your day than watching the
news, which usually tend to make you depressed. This may seem like
such a drag for a lot of us, but if you don't think of it as a chore
and think of the benefits that go along with meditation or just
setting a positive tone for the day, then you'll be more likely to get
out of bed early and actually look forward to it.

6) Turn down the noise: don’t answer every email the second it
arrives, watch less TV. Write down what you really want to do, because
writing bridges the subconscious with the conscious.

7) Meet new people: bringing new people into your life leads you to
new experiences and new ideas. You never know who might be of help in
the future. Keep in contact with everybody. Remember their birthdays
(or write it down if you are like me with no memory), their likes and
dislikes, memories you had together, inside jokes etc. It feels great
to receive a birthday or a holiday card from someone you haven’t
spoken to in a while, especially if the card includes a personal
message, a memory, an inside joke. Brings back good memories.

8) Hug someone every day. “Hugging decreases levels of stress hormones
and lowers blood pressure”. For all you animal lovers, cuddling with a
pet counts! But pets do the magic by their mere presence.

9) Fidget-cise: Keep moving throughout the day: squats while you brush
your teeth, push-ups on the counter while waiting for your toast or
tea kettle. This boost circulation throughout your body and you get a
mini workout!

Don't forget change is eternal, perpetual, immortal. You can't escape
it, so just roll with it and have a FABULOUS 2010!!!

After a long and torturous kick-boxing class, I realized that this is happening more and more throughout the gyms everywhere - multitasking your workouts. Americans have gotten so used to multitasking on the daily routines: operating a vehicle, cell phone to their ear, coffee in their hand, trying to have a simultaneous conversation with a clerk lady through the drive-thru window. It's insane how much brain power we need to fuel two conversations at once and think about which road we are going to turn on next or which train we need to catch. So, why not apply the same concept when it comes to toning your body?

We strategize throughout the day without even realizing it ... how to get the most value out of the least amount of time. We want to accomplish so much in a day and still have the energy to come home and be able to cook dinner, talk to our significant others/roommates or/and friends.

Multitasking usually keeps you fired up throughout the day, but you may be drained by the evening. You might think a lot gets done when you multitask, but a study conducted by Stanford researchers Eyal Ophir, Clifford Nass and Anthony Wagner says it isn't so.

The researchers are still studying whether chronic media multitaskers are born with an inability to concentrate or are damaging their cognitive control by willingly taking in so much at once. But they're convinced the minds of multitaskers are not working as well as they could.

"When they're in situations where there are multiple sources of information coming from the external world or emerging out of memory, they're not able to filter out what's not relevant to their current goal," said Wagner, an associate professor of psychology. "That failure to filter means they're slowed down by that irrelevant information."

So even though when it comes to texting, reading a book, watching TV and trying to pay attention to a conversation might be a bad idea, when it comes to exercising, it's beneficial to multitask throughout your workout. The multitask workout includes the moves that combine muscles in the upper body and lower body simultaneously, while putting you a little off-balance for core strengthening. Then you can add cardio intervals between moves for a total body workout.

These moves will cut your work-out time in half.

1) Leg Lunges and Bicep Curls

Start with 15 right leg lunges forward (be sure to step far in front, landing heel-then-toe and keeping the right knee directly over the ankle as you lower.) It becomes a multi-tasker by adding front bicep curls when you come back to a standing position. Use weights heavy enough for you to feel challenged after 15 reps. Keep your abs tight. Lower the weights as you lunge forward again.

2) Leg Lunges and Tricep French Press

Do 15 left leg lunges forward while lifting one or two heavy weights overhead into a tricep french press. You do this by bringing your weights together overhead and bending the elbows. The weight is now behind your neck. Lunge forward. As you bring the left leg back to stand tall, lift the weight back overhead by extending the elbows. Be sure to keep the arms right next to your head and elbows pointing forward, not out to the sides.

3) Plea Squat Shoulder Press

Assume a plea squat position by standing with feet wider than shoulder width apart and toes pointed out to the sides. Bend knees at a 90 degree angle so that your knees are directly over the heels and your waist is almost at knee level. Engage your abs, start a shoulder overhead press with the weights in your hands, palms facing forward, in line with your ears. Straighten the elbows and press weights to the ceiling as you straighten the legs. Bring weights back down and end at your ear level, as you squat back toward the floor, taking care not to bounce weights into your shoulders. Do the plea squat shoulder press for 15 reps.

Do one minute of jumping jacks or simulated jump rope between each numbered move. Repeat 1-3 for a total of 3 sets. You will work quads, glutes, triceps, biceps, shoulders, inner thighs and abs.

4) Outer-Thigh Lift and a One-Arm-Outside Bicep Curl

The first move is an outer-thigh lift and a one-arm-outside bicep curl. Balance on your right leg, lift the left straight leg to the side, this gets the hip abductor working.

At the same time, lift the right hand holding a heavy weight to the side for an outside bicep curl. Feel the abs engage. Do 15 reps and repeat on the other side.

5) Upperback, Abs and Outerthighs

The next move works upperback, abs and outerthighs. Get down on your hands and knees. Use medium-sized weights and balance on them. Lift your right arm out to the side while lifting your bent left leg out to the left side (we call this the hydrant, get it?).

Do 15 this way, then switch and lift the left arm and right leg at the same time. Notice how your abs have to contract as you lift.

6) Bench Press

Finally, lay on your back with heavy weights in your hands, elbows bent at 90 degrees. Align your wrists directly over your elbow, getting ready for a bench press. (Your arms should look like goal posts.) You'll simply straighten the arms to lift the weights towards the sky, and then bend the elbows back to 90 degrees, keeping the wrists above the elbows. At the same time.

Bend the legs and put your feet flat on the floor. As you lift the weights for a chest press, you will engage your glutes, quads and abdominals to lift the hips as high as you can off the floor. Lower hips and hands at the same time. Do 15 reps.

Finish with another set of jumping jacks or jump rope!

You can really get creative and strategize your workout to fit your needs. If you have your own favorite upper body exercises, mix them in with you not-so-favorite lower body moves, so the good will offset the bad. By the end of the workout, you might realize you actually LIKE what you didn't before. Your brain will not be so focused on the not-so-favorite while you are mixing in the fun moves.

Have a blast!