AN ORANGE A DAY…..
An Orange a Day Keeps Stroke Away
and Dorothy Caputo, MA, RN, BC-ADM, CDE, Nurse Planner
A compound found in oranges, grapefruit, and other citrus fruit may modestly reduce stroke risk among women, an observational study determined.
Women with the highest levels of flavanone in their diet were 19% less likely to have an ischemic stroke during 14 years of follow-up than those with the least flavanone intake (P=0.04), Aedín Cassidy, PhD, of the University of East Anglia in Norwich, England, and colleagues found.
As the main source of these antioxidants, citrus fruit and juice showed a similar trend (relative risk 0.90, 95% CI 0.77 to 1.05), they reported in the April issue of Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association.
Vitamin C has gotten most of the praise for the protective effect of citrus found in prior stroke studies, but in Cassidy’s analysis of the Nurses’ Health Study, the vitamin didn’t correlate with total or ischemic stroke or attenuate the link to flavanones.
Most of the flavanones consumed by women in the study came from orange and grapefruit juice (63%). But eating the whole fruit would likely be a better way to boost intake, the researchers suggested.
“Given the higher flavanone content of citrus fruits and the sugar content of commercial fruit juices, public health recommendations should focus on increasing citrus fruit intake,” they recommended in the paper.
Flavanones are one of six types of commonly consumed flavonoids, which various studies have linked individually to different benefits — hypertension risk reduction with anthocyanins, lower stroke risk in some studies of flavonols — but never looked at all simultaneously.
Cassidy’s group broke down food frequency data from nearly 70,000 women participating in the Nurses’ Health Study for total flavonoid intake and for each component.
With dietary reports every four years over a total 14 years of follow-up, the researchers found big variations in total flavonoid intake, ranging from an average 761 mg per day in the top quintile to 97 mg per day in the bottom quintile.
Tea was the biggest contributor to those levels, followed by apples and oranges or orange juice.
However, total flavonoid intake didn’t predict ischemic stroke risk in the multivariate-adjusted model (P=0.36 for trend).
These results suggested “that flavanones may be another important cardioprotective constituent of citrus fruits,” Cassidy’s group wrote. “However, in a population-based study like ours, it is impossible to disentangle the relative influence of all the constituents of citrus fruits.”
An impact from flavanones is plausible, they noted, pointing to experimental evidence that two flavanones, naringenin and hesperetin, act on neuroprotective pathways with effects on nitric oxide release. Naringenin was the strongest anti-inflammatory of all the flavonoids tested in one study.
A trend appeared for the flavones at the highest intake level of more than 3 mg per day compared with the lowest at less than 1 mg per day, but the difference wasn’t statistically significant (adjusted relative risk 0.88, 95% CI 0.72 to 1.08).
The same was true for anthocyanins (blueberries were the main source) and flavan-3-ols (predominantly consumed from tea).
None of the compounds impacted hemorrhagic stroke risk.
Individual flavonoids are likely to differ in benefits because of different mechanisms through their specific structural characteristics, the researchers noted.
They cautioned that residual or unmeasured confounding was possible despite the detailed adjustment used in the study.
Another limitation is that the actual flavonoid content in foods consumed may have differed from levels recorded because of wide variability based on where the food was grown and during what season and how it was cultivated and processed.
Randomized trials are needed to test flavanone and citrus foods for reduction of ischemic stroke risk, the group concluded.
The study was supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health.
Cassidy and a co-author reported having received funding from Unilever Research and GlaxoSmithKline to conduct trials and experimental studies on flavonoid-rich foods in the past.
From the American Heart Association:
Primary source: Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association
Source reference:
Cassidy A, et al “Dietary flavonoids and risk of stroke in women” Stroke 2012; DOI: 10.1161/STROKEAHA.111.637835.
6 Reasons Why Pilates Will Rock Your Body
Here are the top six reasons why I believe Pilates would rock anyone’s body.
- It gives you a deep internal core strength that is really pretty much impossible to find anywhere else. I believe yoga is great but I do not think that it gives you the same sort of core strength that Pilates does.
- Pilates increases your flexibility. It can be painful at times to increase your flexibility, but it is one thing that will help anyone as they start to grow older to have a healthy movable flexible body.
- It gives you long, lean-looking muscles as opposed to bulky ones that you see from going to the gym and lifting heavy weights. But the wonderful thing about Pilates is you’re working with such little resistance and small weights so that your muscles actually appear to be longer and leaner.
- Pilates actually makes you taller. It makes you taller and improves your posture at the same time by doing the extension exercises that we touched upon previously. The Swan was one was one of them in Pilates for Dummies. That’s a great extension exercise which will help improve posture. Everything just kind of stretches and strengthens while you’re working out.
- It strengthens your back muscles; all the erector spinae muscles that support your spine. Pilates gives tons of strength to those areas which a lot of people are lacking because of the way we live life these days; driving cars, working at desk to name a couple. Everyone’s backs are most of the time pretty weak.
- It gives you an overall workout. You’re working from head to toe, you’re getting arm workout, stomach, legs. It’s great for women but also really important for men because a lot of them lack with flexibility and core strength.
Pilates for Life – The Ultimate Lifestyle
As you may have already discovered Winsor Pilates is one of the most popular and growing fitness trends of today. With this growth Winsor Pilates has achieved substantial base of people looking for a healthier lifestyle.
The goal of this article will be to review the Winsor Pilates advantages of the lifestyle Pilates for life.
One of the key advantages of the lifestyle of Pilates for life is that it introduces a -D Training and the Win-in-10-Meal Plan and is devised to allow for a 20 minute workout for those who are Pilate’s junkies.
The Winsor Pilates 20-Minute workout is actually a key focal point in the fitness videos produced by the Pilate’s fitness program and introduces low impact high result exercises and kinesics.
Pilates for life junkies the Winsor Pilates 20 minute workout is perfect, but it can be a little difficult for newbie’s of Pilates. The workout is totally for beginners but getting use to it can take some time.
You will find as a beginner the more you work with Pilates the more you will lean to Pilate for life lifestyle. The main workout can start out hard, but it is critical for building the body control or the “core” of the body which is commonly known as abdominal muscles.
Most people who start the Winsor Pilates 20 minute workout find it is easier if done in a full length mirror. Having a mirror in front of you will help you hold your abs in place without becoming unsteady on your legs. It is definitely challenging.
Furthermore, the Winsor Pilates 20 minute workout is where most Pilates for life junkies started with Pilates. It is critical to reshape their bodies with great speed with primordial Pilate’s exercises.
In reshaping the body the Winsor Pilates 20 minute workout is made up of about seven basic movements which include: Pilates 100, Roll-Up, Single Leg Circles, Rolling Like a Ball, Single Leg Stretch, Double Leg Stretch, and Spine Stretch Forward.
In addition to these seven major Winsor Pilates exercises, the Winsor Pilates 20-Minute workout also is made up of workout exercises like Single Straight Leg, Double Straight Leg, Criss Cross, Saw, Side Kick Series, Leg Lifts, and Seal. But before you get full force into these various exercises you must start with breathing which is a key foundation to Pilates.
In the end the key to a Winsor Pilates 20 Minute workout, is the challenge and that is what keep junkies coming back. You will find yourself becoming a Pilates for life junkie focusing on spotting every portion in your body with monitored and orchestrated kinesics.
For further information on Pilates, visit Jack’s comprehensive website on Winsor Pilates Review.
Maria Rangel
MARIA RANGEL
Age: 43 Year Old
Profession: Actress/Model/Photographer
Regimen: 21 Day LBL Refresh Cleanse plus pilates 2 X’s per week.
Weight Lost: 10 pounds
Inches Lost: 2.5″ around her hips, chest, waist and thighs
“Lindsey changed my life. She helped me lose 15 pounds in 21 days and I was focused and committed to working out with her and on my own. Here is a before and after of my body in 21 days!” – Maria Rangel
Pilates For Dummies-The Basics
Pilates strengthens your core unlike any other exercise and also increases your flexibility. It’s one of the most important things that anyone can do to maintain a healthy, flexible body that feels good.
If you have a flat surface and any sort of yoga mat, you can do Pilates. The mat workout is the most basic, but is actually the hardest type of Pilates workout (Later on you can add things like rings and balls and bands, but we’re just going to stick with the basics here).
The first most important exercise is called The Hundred exercise. To begin, lay down on the mat on your back and bring your knees toward your chest but above your hips with your stomach pulled in. Think about keeping the small of your back connected to the mat. Lift your head up into an upper body curl and keep your legs at a 45 degree angle (If you have a strong back you can extend your legs upward with your heels upward and your toes out like a V). Then you would reach your arms straight out, reaching through your fingertips, and start to pump just your arms up and down. Do five counts on an inhale and five counts on an exhale. Do this until you’ve done 100 pumps. You want to do this before you do any other Pilates exercise as it gets your blood flowing. The number one benefit of The Hundred is core strength.
The second exercise I would recommend is the Roll Up. Your legs lie long on the mat with your arms reaching up to 90 degrees. You then lift your head up and peel your spine off the mat similar to how you do against the wall, but this time you’re working against gravity. You have to use your core to come up. You stretch over while reaching your arms out over your toes and then as you are pulling your stomach in, move backwards into a C-like position. Then roll down back to the mat one vertebrae at a time.
The third most important exercise for Pilates for Dummies would be Rolling Like A Ball. Sit up in a seated position and then take your feet off the ground, wrapping your arms around your legs. Then, as you are putting your head right between your knees, you would roll back and roll up. Do this five to eight times. Have fun with feeling like you’re massaging your spine, down on to the mat as you roll back, and when you come up, you’re using your abdominal muscles (As I discussed before, this is the number one benefit of Pilates). Rolling Like A Ball should just be fun. You could also do this one any time if your back is feeling tight.
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Grow Taller – Three Easy Pilates Exercises
Pilates was invented by Joseph Pilates who was born in Germany in the 1800′s. Pilates was a sickly child and as a result of his predisposition to illness dedicated his life to making himself a stronger, healthier individual. As a result, he came to be an avid belief that bad posture and poor breathing was the cause of many illnesses. He developed a system of breathing and stretching exercise called Pilates which became popular in the dancer and gymnast community, but then spread to the overall community. Today, there are Pilates studios all over the world.
Although not scientifically proven, many who practice Pilates are convinced that it has given them an inch or more of additional height. This is because Pilates works a lot on posture. As we age and especially if we have bad posture, our posture tends to suffer making us appear shorter than we are. Through constant stretching and focus on posture, proponents of Pilates find that they stand taller and therefore measure as taller on the growth chart. It therefore appears that you have grown taller.
Here are three exercises that will make you grow taller:
1) Forward Bend: Stand with feet more than hip-width apart. Raise your arms above your head and overlap your hands. Bend at the hips and touch the floor with your hands while keeping a straight back. This exercise elongates the spine and therefore stops your vertebrae from collapsing on top of one another.
2) Warrior Pose: Although this pose comes from Yoga, some Pilate’s studios incorporate it also. Stand with feet 4-5 feet apart and raise your arms over your head. Turn your left foot 90 degrees left and right foot by 45 degrees also to the left. Bend your left knee. Make sure that the knee is directly above your foot. Raise both hands – palms should be facing inward and fingers are outstretched. Repeat. This exercise will make you grow taller.
3) Breast Stroke Prep: This exercise prepares you for the full breaststroke. Lie down with your belly to the belly down to the mat. Bend your arms so that the hands rest just above the shoulders. Your head and chest should be extended off the mat. Arms may also reach upward while head and chest are lifted.
These three simple exercises can add height. There are a myriad of ways to add height besides exercise. Click here if you are tired of being short and want to grow!
Amazing Benefits of Pilates
Most people, regardless of age and physical activity level, can benefit form Pilates exercise programs. These programs not only have amazing health benefits, but also increase self-confidence and over all well-being. Why do Pilates exercise programs have such amazing benefits?
First, Pilates strengthens the core of the body. It works the muscles in the back, tummy and rear end. This core affects your entire body. You will be more stable when standing, walking and sitting. You will also have better posture when your core muscles are strengthened. And, of course, a strong core results in a smooth, toned belly!
Once you have your core strengthened, it is actually more comfortable to sit properly. When your posture improves as a result of a Pilates exercise program, you will find that your back is more comfy. If your back is starting to arch, it is likely do to a compression of the spine. This is helped by Pilate’s exercises, because they lengthen the spine and encourage you to sit and stand with a straight spine. If that sounds like torture, rest assured that with Pilates, it will be comfortable to sit and stand properly.
Pilates increases your mind body connection. In order to successfully perform a Pilates exercise program, you must have your mind engaged in the activity. You must concentrate on your breathing, which is an important part of Pilates. Some moves require inhaling, while others require exhaling. Proper breathing requires a mental focus that many other exercise programs do not require. Proper focusing abilities are tools you can use in any area of life, not just your exercise program.
Pilates exercises create long muscles. Why is this a benefit? Because instead of working just one muscle group with your exercise, you work the entire body with just about every move. The focus is on controlling your body, not working it to death. This results in a pleasing look that is long, rather than bulked up around large muscle groups. This is a major benefit of Pilates over most other strength training exercise programs.
Because Pilates is a low impact workout, anyone can participate. Those with joint pain and other muscle issues can do the movements to their own level of control. They do not have to worry about impact on those sore muscles and joints, because there is little to no impact with Pilates. From senior citizens to growing children, all can benefit from Pilates exercises.
Finally, working a Pilates exercise program greatly increases your flexibility, while strengthening muscles at the same time. Many strength training programs only focus on strengthening, not flexibility. This creates muscles that are easily injured, because the tendons are so tight that they can easily snap. Pilates provides flexibility training in conjunction with strength training.
If you are ready to take advantage of these amazing health benefits, it is time to start Pilates. Get a DVD that you can use at home and start your exercise program as soon as possible. Pilates DVDs are affordable and easy to find. You can even check one out from your library! When you start working out with Pilates, your body will thank you and you will love the improvement you find in your appearance!
Michael Russell
Your Independent guide to Pilates
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Michael_Russell
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