For Healthy Weight Loss You Need it All

When it comes to healthy weight loss, it is not nearly enough to just exercise. You must also eat properly to have a chance at success. It is also not enough to just eat right, you must still stay active and exercise regularly. One or two things will not help you achieve healthy weight loss to any significant level, however combining multiple high-quality methods will ensure you great results. This is not meant to scare you, nor is it meant to overwhelm you, rather this is a simple fact that most people completely ignore.

It amazes me how many people work out hard for an hour or so everyday and then hit up McDonald's for lunch. The philosophy "I worked it off in the gym" just does not work in the real world. You can burn some extra calories through exercise, but you are throwing all that away if you continue to eat garbage. Sorry, but that's the reality. Working out does not earn you the right to eat however you want, that is unless you want to stay in your current physical condition and put your health at risk.

Similarly, you can not expect to achieve healthy weight loss if you simply eat right and do not exercise. How do you expect to build muscle and improve you metabolism if you do not exercise? How do you expect to improve your physical condition if you do not exercise? You can't expect either of these things because they simply cannot happen without exercise.

To achieve healthy weight loss, not only to you need to eat right and exercise right but you also need to exercise at both high and low intensities. You must take advantage of high intensity resistance training and interval training; and also low intensity resistance training and aerobic cardio. The combination is what ensures success and what makes sure your body does not adapt to exercise. The combination is necessary for true healthy weight loss.

One final thing that you must implement into your healthy weight loss routine is rest. You must properly periodize your workouts and rest appropriately to make sure your body recovers from the stress of exercise and responds optimally to your efforts. For example, when you perform a resistance training workout, your muscle tissue is actually breaking down. In order to get the most out of your next workout, you must allow this tissue to fully recover and rebuild. In addition to this type of rest, sleeping 6-8 quality hours each night will also help with recovery and aid in your weight loss goal achievement.

Some people just do traditional aerobic cardio to lose weight. Others simply eat right. However, the people who actually achieve lasting healthy weight loss success are the ones who exercise using different training methods, eat right, and rest properly. The combination of all these factors is not an option if you want to be successful when it comes to healthy weight loss, it is necessary. Don't slack in any of these areas. Focus all of your efforts on the ultimate prize. By doing this, you will significantly increase your odds of getting it.

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How to Fight Hair Loss

What causes male hair loss?
Ninety-nine percent of men who lose their hair lose it from genetic causes. That means they've inherited the pattern from somebody in the family. There's not a one-to-one relationship: Your parents may have full heads of hair and you may be balding. Or, you may have a full head of hair and your father could be bald and your grandfather could be bald. It comes from both sides of the family, the male and female side, about equally — contrary to the common myth that you inherit it from your mother.

And female hair loss?
About 45% of women in their lifetime will end up having some form of hair loss, and it's mostly genetic in that 45%. The rest are related to a variety of medical conditions: iron deficiency, thyroid disease, changes in hormones. When a woman passes into menopause, for example, the estrogen, which supports hair, is withdrawn. You get some genetic holdover like a man would have, where the male hormones that are present in women without the estrogen counterbalance will cause hair loss.

What is the average age when men start losing their hair?
It starts in their twenties. And for the men who have the most severe hair loss, they have a very clear indication of that well before they're out of their twenties.

And the average age for women?
It's mostly post-menopausal. A small handful of women will have genetic hair loss in their late teens and early twenties or thirties. These women almost always have a mother and sister or grandmother who has a similar presentation.

How do you assess a patient's condition?
For a woman, you have to go through a very extensive evaluation, checking out the medicines she is on — birth control pills can induce hair loss. You also do a series of blood tests looking for thyroid disease, iron levels. Dietary causes are amazing causes of hair loss. So women who diet or are bulimic or very thin women who don't have much meat on their bones may very well be nutritionally deprived, vitamin deprived, and they will end up with hair loss as well.

If I see a man, I almost naturally fall into the mindset that this is male pattern balding. In a woman, I say, my goodness, of the plethora of things that can cause it, what is affecting the hair loss in this woman? It may be more than one thing at a time.

The pattern of loss is different in men and women, isn't it?
Right. In men, there's a wreath of hair around the side and back. We call that permanent hair. There is no such thing as completely bald unless they have a disease. That hair will literally last most of the lifetime of the man. Of course, the hair transplant business takes advantage of that. It moves that hair to other parts of the head and the hair continually will always grow no matter where you put it. If you put it on the edge of the nose, it will grow a ponytail.

Unfortunately, that same model doesn't exist with women. Women can end up with a diffuse hair loss, so the source of donor hair is not going to be there for women. Most women, eighty percent of women, don't have that wreath.

What's your opinion about toupees and wigs? Do those exacerbate the problem?
Well, they can. They are good solutions for some people — women who have had chemotherapy, for example. Some women with thinning hair will put on wefts or attachments. It does make the hair look fuller, but it also pulls on the existing hair. That pulling will produce [medical problems] and make a woman balder. So while getting the cosmetic benefits of the weft or attachment, they get the negative side, which is the pulling, and then the exacerbation of hair loss.

Are there any medicines that people commonly take that are factor in hair loss?
Birth control pills are commonly a cause of hair loss. Many psychiatric drugs have hair loss [side effects]. Prozac has that as a side effect. Almost every one of them, if you read the literature. Unfortunately, the amount of ignorance among physicians in dealing with hair loss is massive, so there are very few doctors who really understand the process and they tend to evade the questions that are posed to them.

Are there medicines one can take to help prevent hair loss?
Propecia [finasteride] is a DHT blocker. The body converts testosterone into DHT and it's DHT, when it's combined with the genetics of hair loss, that tends to produce balding. So if you can block the DHT, you can literally stop the hair loss as it's ongoing. In very young men, sometimes you can reverse it. That's a male-only drug.

Are there any natural remedies?
Not really... Minoxidil [Rogaine] is the only [over-the-counter] medicine that seems to work, and the only medicine really available for females. It does work. But the hair becomes very dependent upon the Minoxidil. If you stop, all the effects are lost.

Is transplant surgery becoming more popular?
Yes, I think it is. I think it's much more acceptable. You literally cannot tell a patient who has had a hair transplant today. Unlike fifteen years ago, [when] you could always tell because they looked like they had a doll's head or a cornrow on their head.

Who makes a good candidate for transplant surgery?
There is an issue of supply and demand. If patients have a supply of hair in the wreath, then they can get whatever they want. If they don't have the supply, then compromises are made. You'll end up with thinner hair than you would with a full head of hair. But if you're not balding very greatly, if you've only lost the first three inches of hair in the front, for example, that hair could almost always be put back.

Unfortunately, because the wreath of hair is not healthy in many women, there is no place to take normal hair from. So a transplant, for many women, just doesn't really cut it. Of every hundred women who come to my office with hair loss, less than twenty will be candidates for a hair transplant. It's almost discriminatory, unfortunately, because of the physiology.

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8 Tips for Reading Food Labels

Reading the label

Learning to read foods labels is the most important thing. Keep in mind that not all "100% natural" means organic.

1. 100 percent organic: means containing only organically produced ingredients.
2. Cage-free: means animals are not kept in cages, and the USDA has no regulation on what the animals are fed or time spend outside.
3. Farm fish: means fish raised in pen, and the USDA has no organic standards for seafood.
4. Free range: means the animals spend at least half of their lives outside and is regulated by the USDA.
5. Grass-fed: means farmers' food sources is grass, and not regulated by USDA.
6. Made with organic ingredients: means having at least 70 percent of organic ingredients.
7. Natural: means no artificial ingredients, or added colors.
8. Organic: has at least 95% organic ingredient.


Tips for Making the switch
If you are new to eating organic foods, start slowly. Read labels. If you don't recognize or can't pronounce ingredients, don't buy it, it is most likely not working for your health! One of the reasons manufacturer's put artificial ingredients in products is because it increases their shelf life. Unfortunately, this preservation has a different consequence in our bodies, essentially rusting us from the inside out. Making a gradual switch by adding a new organic food choice each week into your shopping routine will make the process simple and easy.

* Week 1: start with dairy products such as milk, cheese, and egg.
* Week 2: fruits, and vegetables.
* Week 3: meat, chicken, and nuts.
* Week 4: pasta, rice, and bread.
* Week 5: beverages.

Get inspired about healthy eating! Many people have this notion that eating healthy doesn't taste taste good, or taste as good, I promise I can help you find your inner chef. No bland or boring foods. Sign up for my free e-newsletter and learn to fall in love with healthy eating.

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The 5 Kinds of Headaches

It's critical to identify which type of headache you suffer from—tension, cluster, sinus, rebound, or migraine—so that the correct treatment can be prescribed. In one 2004 study, 80% of patients with a recent history of self-described or doctor-diagnosed sinus headache—but none of the signs of sinus infection—actually met the criteria for migraine. And two-thirds of those patients expressed dissatisfaction with the medications they were using to treat their headaches. Here's a cheat sheet to help you put a name to your pain.

Tension headaches
Tension headaches, the most common type, feel like a constant ache or pressure around the head, especially at the temples or back of the head and neck. Not as severe as migraines, they are not usually accompanied by nausea and vomiting, and they rarely stop someone from continuing their regular activities. Over-the-counter treatments, such as aspirin, ibuprofen, or acetaminophen (Tylenol), are usually sufficient to treat tension headaches, which experts believe may be caused by contraction of neck and scalp muscles (including in response to stress), and possibly changes in brain chemicals.

Cluster headaches
Cluster headaches, which affect men more often than women, are recurring headaches that occur in groups or cycles. The headaches appear suddenly and are characterized by severe, debilitating pain on one side of the head often accompanied by a watery eye and nasal congestion or a runny nose on the same side of the face. During an attack, sufferers are often restless and unable to get comfortable and not likely to lay down the way someone with a migraine usually does. The cause of cluster headaches is unknown, but they may have some genetic component. There is no cure, but medications can reduce the frequency and duration of attacks.

Sinus headaches
When a sinus becomes inflamed, usually through an infection, it can cause pain. It usually comes with a fever, and can—if necessary—be diagnosed by MRI or CT scan (which can both detect changes in fluid levels), or by the presence of pus viewed through a fiber-optic scope. Headaches due to sinus infection can be treated with antibiotics, as well as antihistamines or decongestants.

Rebound headaches
Overuse of painkillers for headaches can, ironically, lead to rebound headaches. Culprits include over-the-counter medications like aspirin, acetaminophen (Tylenol), or ibuprofen (Motrin, Advil), as well as prescription drugs.

"Most of the patients we see in a headache center with daily headache have medication-overuse, or rebound, headaches," says Stewart Tepper, MD, director of research at the Center for Headache and Pain at the Cleveland Clinic Neurological Institute.
"They are on a merry-go-round and they can't get off," says Dr. Tepper. "They keep taking more medicine, they keep having more headaches, and so the patient becomes more and more desperate. That's when they end up coming to headache specialists to kind of reset the whole system."

One theory is that too much medication can cause the brain to shift into an excited state, triggering more headaches. Another is that the headaches are a symptom of withdrawal as the level of medicine drops in the bloodstream.

Migraine headaches
Migraine headaches come from a neurological disorder that can run in families and are defined by certain criteria.

* At least five previous episodes of headaches
* Lasting between four hours and 72 hours
* Having at least two out of four of these features: one-sided pain, throbbing pain, moderate-to-severe pain, and pain that interferes with, is worsened by, or prohibits routine activity
* Having at least one associated feature: nausea and/or vomiting, or, if those are not present, then sensitivity to light and sound

An oncoming migraine attack may, for some, be foreshadowed by an aura, which can include visual distortions (such as wavy lines or blind spots) or numbness of a hand. It's estimated, though, that only 15% to 20% of migraineurs experience this.

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