Lipstick, Foundation and More

More than 50% of people in the US take dietary supplements to enhance an aspect of their health. Maybe you take supplements on a regular basis…

You see, as a nation we spend an absurd amount of money on supplements, to the tune of billions per year.

The main issue here, however, is that lot of these supplements are sold with downright deceptive advertising, and in extreme cases, can cause serious health issues.

Thus, here are 4 dangerous myths about supplements:

1. Dietary supplements are 100% safe: Absolutes don’t exist and supplements are no exception here. In fact, just because a supplement is natural is no guarantee that it’s completely safe. The reality is that many things exist in nature that are deadly.

2. They are backed by valid studies: Most of the sexy charts and graphs you see on the labels and advertisements are made up. You see, the bulk of the data is performed by biased entities that are directly related to the supplement companies themselves.  Read more...

There used to be a time when women only ate what was available in nature. I suspect that arm flab was probably not an issue back then.

Then came along the food industry and the marketing of magic-bullet diets.

Once big businesses caught wind of the profit to be made by selling food and diets, all the lies and misinformation starting hitting the air waves. Eating became very confusing for the average woman.

Perhaps one of the most influential fad diets of all time has been the high protein diet because it produces the fastest short-term weight loss of any other type of diet.

Nevertheless, consider the following 5 arm flab pitfalls of high protein diets before buying all those steaks:

1. Massive drops in energy: You can expect a significant decrease in mental output, and once in ketosis, the need to frequently sleep. Why does this happen? Because your body can produce energy 300% faster when being fed carbohydrates.

2. An inability to exercise hard: Without carbohydrates, exercise will be extremely painful and your ability to recover will virtually vanish. Your body needs carbs to efficiently produce its energy currency, ATP.  Read more...

There is no doubt here: excess fatness is eroding the health of our country. Even worse, excess fatness is directly related to a wide range of extra diseases.

And the facts don’t lie: a lot of the leading causes of death in our country are associated with being overweight. So getting in shape is vital for a healthy life.

And the key to getting in shape the right way is to have a balanced exercise plan. After all, if you go too far in any single direction, you can get diminishing returns.

So here is how to balance your exercise routine:

1. Cardiovascular conditioning: Working your cardiovascular system is a great way to maintain and even increase the health of your heart. You see, working your heart with cardiovascular exercise makes it bigger and stronger. And a bigger and stronger heart will lower your heart rate and blood pressure.

2. Resistance training: But don’t worry, you don’t have to become a power lifter in order to see benefits. In fact, the best approach here is to pick a program that fits with your type of personality. After all, if you enjoy what you are doing, you are more likely to stick with it.  Read more...

Your body requires a continual stream of new challenges or it will stop changing. Your body is simply too smart to keep on changing if you keep on providing it with the same challenges.

Now a major problem here is that constantly challenging your body is not an easy undertaking. In reality, it can become a very big chore if you are not mentally prepared. And most people simply do not have what it takes to always be pushing the limits of their performance.

So without further ado, here is how to set your mind in the right mode to obtain peak training:

1. Bust out of habits: Constantly try new things. By doing this you will train your mind to do something counterintuitive: venture into the unknown. And venturing into new territory is key if you want to keep on getting results.

2. Quantify the risk: If you’re afraid to try out a new combination of exercises or a new class that is very intense, write down the worst case scenarios. In other words, quantify the risks and make a pro and con list of sorts. More often than not, you will notice how exaggerated your fears are.  Read more...

Do you know what the best arm exercises for toning are? Ask a couple fitness buffs and you’ll get a different answer from each one. Could this get any more confusing?

If the experts have different opinions, how are you supposed to form an opinion? As you can see, this can get very very challenging to say the least.

So to help you out, I am going to be reviewing a bunch different arm exercises for toning. This should help clear up some of the confusion.

My analysis of different arm exercises for toning should save you a substantial amount of time. Today I will be reviewing dumbbell curls:

1. Fast-track description. This exercise works the biceps which is the first muscle people see on your arm when greeting you from the front. Its strength lies in the ability to use full ranges of motion. This gives you a better bang for your buck.

2. Exercise technique. Grab a dumbbell with each hand and stand erect with your palms facing inwards. Rotate one hand and bring the weight up in a controlled fashion. Slowly lower said weight and do this for the other arm.  Read more...

Is this a flabby upper arms joke? Nope. The truth is that you can lose arm fat without having to touch a weight.

The secret lies in spontaneous fat loss. This method of losing the flab is the easiest one out there, I promise.

Instead, it focuses on manipulating the tools you eat with (spoons, bowls, glasses), the environment you eat in and the types of foods you eat. And the arm fat melts away without any conscious effort on your part.

How do you spontaneously lose fat? Well, here are 4 things you can start doing today so that the flabby upper arms are gone by tomorrow:

1. Buy foods with labels from not-so-cool places. Studies have shown restaurant goers will unconsciously eat up to 500 fewer calories at dinner if they are presented with wine that comes from an undesirable wine-producing area. You have to be creative here, but it’s worth it.

2. Stick with slow digesting carbohydrates. Studies have shown that obese teenage boys will eat 621 fewer calories per meal if they’ve had slow digesting carbs earlier in the day. The slowest digesting carbohydrates on the planet are legumes and vegetables.  Read more...

Having bingo wings is not fun. And lots of nutrition companies know this. Thus, the market is flooded with sleeveless snake oil that really doesn’t help.

However, there are certain supplements that can make your bingo wing mission easier. Now they won’t do all the work for you, but they will lighten the load.

Thus, here are 5 supplements that can help you get rid of bingo wings:

1. Loose leaf south American tea. Specifically, yerba mate. This is the best tea for getting rid of bingo wings. Why? Because it can completely block out any cravings and give you boundless energy for an entire day. The catch? You have to start slow to assess tolerance.

2. Green tea. But not all green tea is created equal. Stay away from bags and stick with loose leaf forms. Be careful if you’re taking any blood thinners like aspirin or fish oil since green tea is also a blood thinner.

3. Glucosamine sulfate. Although glucosamine won’t have a direct and immediate impact on reducing those bingo wings, it will help you prevent joint damage. And once joints wear out there is no way to replace them.  Read more...

Are you trying to get rid of arm flab? Have you been drinking energy drink upon energy drink to keep you active and to burn more fat? Well, there are downsides to drinking these caffeine-laden concoctions.

Unfortunately, energy drinks are extremely seductive. They can curb hunger when you’re trying to lose weight, they can help you overcome a massive sleep debt and they can put you in a good mood.

But here is why you should think twice about taking energy drinks to help you get rid of arm flab:

1. Worsened digestion. Caffeine, the main ingredient in energy drinks, can wreak havoc on your digestive system. When taking in excess, it can compromise your digestive lining.

2. The covering up of poor sleep habits. Even though you may not feel the consequences of sleep loss because of the energizing drink, your body definitely feels it. And sleep loss is toned arms enemy number one.

3. Disturbed sleep. Everybody wakes up while they’re sleeping. The awakenings are so short, however, that you don’t remember them. Caffeine increases the amount of awakenings without you being aware of it. You’ll wake up, be super tired and not know what happened.  Read more...

Broadening your knowledge on exercise science is a great way to win the war on flabby arms. After all, even though this is not a requirement, knowing more will prevent you from falling prey to fly-by-night programs.

The main issue here, however, is that once you start to read some dense text, you may get a little lost with all the different exercise terms. You see, as knowledge becomes more precise on a subject, the vocabulary must become more complex to describe difficult concepts.

So without further ado, here are some common exercise phrases that you may encounter in your flabby arm mission:

1. The positive portion of a movement. Whenever a muscle contracts, is must become shorter. There are certain proteins on your muscle fibers which handle the job. When you push during a push up, for instance, your chest muscles are shortening.

2. Negative, eccentric contractions. This portion of the exercise is considered a crowned jewel for many bodybuilders. Why? Because it causes a lot of muscle damage which translates into a lot of muscle growth. When doing a shoulder press, for instance, slowly bringing the weight back down after pushing it up is the negative or eccentric portion of the movement.  Read more...

When it comes to supplements for weight loss, the selection is quite varied. And the risks are varied as well. And the supplements that can really damage your health can be bought by virtually anybody with an internet connection.

How is it that these things are so readily available? Well, first, the US government decided to deregulate the supplement industry over a decade ago. And, second, there are multiple websites that can get you the goods with little chance of detection.

Thus without further ado, here are some weight loss hormones exposed:

1. Steroids. Many doctors would have you believe that steroids do not work. The truth is that they do work. They are extremely effective at building muscle mass and burning fat. But they can also have permanent consequences.

2. Androstenedione. This supplement was made popular by Mark McGuire and Sammy Sosa back when they were hitting countless homeruns. A less powerful form of a steroid, this supplement can have the same negative side effects. Considered a powerful aid, many companies can sell similar substances with little regulation.  Read more...