London, Nov. 28: Skipping breakfast will be of no help if you want to stay fit, instead, a bowl of wholegrain cereal first thing in the morning can ensure a trim and healthy body, concludes a study.

Researchers have found that porridge or muesli in breakfast not only helps shed pounds but keeps them off too.

They have found that it stops people turning to fatty and sugary snacks later in the day.

One in five Britons has admitted that he or she skips breakfast, but researchers claim they are simply fooling themselves because the “starv­ation behaviour” makes them more likely to eat biscuits, sweets and cakes during the day.

In fact, people who tuck into cereals packed with wholegrain and fibre in the morning are less likely to binge eat, said the researchers.

Studies have found these cereals protect against many diseases and help maintain the heart and healthy blood sugar levels and body weight.

One study has shown that a bowl of cereal for breakfast could reduce the risk of heart disease by a fifth.

Being low on the glycaemic index, wholegrains help to reduce the risk of Type 2 diabetes, which is linked to obesity.

They also have a major role in keeping people feeling full.

“Those who skip breakfast generally have an overall less healthy diet. This means they eat snacks and tend not to eat enough fruit and veg,” the Daily Express quoted Chris Seal, Professor of Food & Human Nutrition at Newcastle University, as saying.

Scientists at King”s College London found that although people who eat cereals take in more calories overall than those who don’t, they are more likely to have a normal body mass index, the indicator for obesity.

“We found evidence to support that those who skip breakfast have the highest intakes of fat and increased consumption of high-fat snacks,” said Dr. Katrina Campbell from King’s.

The report found evidence that skipping breakfast on a regular basis was associated with a 4.5 fold increased risk of obesity.

People who eat breakfast were found to eat more vegetables and tended to be leaner and less likely to gain weight over time.

Other studies reviewed, of more than 17,800 men, found that those who consumed breakfast cereals, regardless of type, consistently weighed less than those who ate them less often.

“There is good evidence that skipping breakfast or consuming an inadequate breakfast may contribute to an inadequate dietary intake. These dietary deficits are rarely replenished by other meals in the day.

“To take advantage of the potential benefits of breakfast it is important that a distinction is made between promoting a nutrient-rich, healthy breakfast choice, such as breakfast cereal, as opposed to simply promoting breakfast.” Another study by researchers at Oxford Brookes University found that simply eating breakfast cereals for at least one meal a day led to significant and sustained weight loss,” concluded the report’s authors.

Washington, Oct 30 (ANI): A new study has revealed that teenage girls’ weight or perception of their weight might play a role in their participation in risky sexual behaviors.

The research team from University of Pittsburgh showed that those girls who were both sexually active and overweight, or who thought they were overweight, were less likely to use condoms than normal-weight sexually active girls.

Moreover, underweight girls were also less likely to use condoms.

“This study will contribute to sexual health education prevention efforts, which can be tailored to address how cultural norms regarding body size may influence adolescent sexual decision making,” said lead researcher Dr Aletha Akers, M.P.H., assistant professor of gynecology and reproductive sciences at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.

“Knowing how a girl perceives her weight may be just as important as knowing her actual weight,” Akers added.

The study involving nearly 7,200 high school girls from 2005 Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance survey, half reported ever having sex suggested variability in the girls” sexual activity and sexual risk-taking behavior based on their ethnicity and actual or perceived weight.

The study results are published in the journal Pediatrics. (ANI)

Washington, Oct 25 (ANI): When it comes to maintaining a healthy weight after shedding extra pounds, predictable factors like exercise and control over eating play a role, but so do factors at home like fewer TVs, fewer high-fat foods, and more exercise equipment, says a new study.

“The home environment really came out as a stronger factor than we would have anticipated,” said lead study author Suzanne Phelan, an assistant professor of kinesiology at California Polytechnic State University.

For the study, Phelan and colleagues examined surveys of 167 people in different areas of the United States who had managed to lose 10 percent or more of their body weight and keep it off for five years or more.

Two other groups — one in Providence, R.I. and one in Philadelphia — were overweight or obese and had a history of dieting.

The researchers wanted to understand those who successfully had lost weight and “see what really set them apart from other obese people who haven’t lost,” Phelan said.

They found that the weight-losers were 3.95 times more likely than the heavier individuals in the Rhode Island group and 2.85 times more likely than those in the Philadelphia group to exercise.

Weight-losers were also 1.63 times more likely than that first group and 1.41 times more likely than the second group to engage in what the researchers called “dietary restraint.”

The successful weight-losers also had fewer TVs, more exercise equipment and fewer high-fat foods in the home.

The findings appear in the October issue of the Annals of Behavioral Medicine. (ANI)

If you’re dining with overweight friends, beware. A small US study had found that overweight children and teenagers eat more when they have a snack with an overweight friend rather than with a thinner peer.

Researchers from the State University of New York at Buffalo studied a group of 9- to 15-year-olds and found that all youngsters, regardless of their weight, tended to eat more when they snacked with a friend rather than a peer they did not know.

But the biggest calorie intakes were seen when an overweight child snacked with an overweight friend.

The findings, reported in the ‘American Journal of Clinical Nutrition’, highlight the role of friends’ influence in how much children eat and, possibly, in their weight control.

Researcher Sarah-Jean Salvy, an assistant professor of pediatrics at the state University of New York, said it was not surprising that children eat more when they are with friends instead of strangers.

She said that the same pattern has been found in adults which can be partly explained by people being more self-conscious around strangers.

But this can also be partly explained as friends act as “permission-givers.” “They set the norm for what is appropriate to do, or in this case eat,” said Salvy.

For the study, Salvy and her colleagues had 23 overweight and 42 normal-weight children and teens spend 45 minutes with either a friend or an unfamiliar peer.

Each pair was given games, puzzles and books for entertainment, along with bowls of chips, cookies, carrots and grapes.

Overall, the researchers found that pairs of friends downed more calories than did unacquainted pairs and overweight friends consumed the most — 738 calories, on average, versus 444 calories when an overweight child was paired with normal-weight friend.

Normal-weight kids consumed an average of about 500 calories when paired with a friend, regardless of the friend’s weight.

Salvy said a recent study of adults found that people were more likely to gain weight over three decades if their same-sex friends were overweight or obese, suggesting a role for “social influence” in body weight.

When it comes to children and teens, it’s known that many follow their friends’ lead in deciding whether to smoke or drink. Salvy said the current findings suggest that children’ eating habits are also “largely determined by their social network.”

The good side of that, according to Salvy, is that helping one child make healthy changes may end up influencing his or her friends as well

We all know it’s important to detox our lives from time to time, but how many of us directly connect our toxic load with how much fat we carry, especially
And how many of us directly connect the toxic load we carry with our ability to get up in the morning, goto the gym orfora run, feel happy and generally make of life what we want each and every day
stubborn fate.

The chances are that unless you’re reading this from a remote island enjoying natural, local and organic food, fresh clean water and air, plus a relatively stress free life then your body is topping up on toxins pretty much every day — and that can store up big trouble in your vital organs.

So how do I detoxify effectively

Detoxifying effectively is one half of the equation, the other half is introducing the right exercise, nutrition and lifestyle choices into your life, but for now lets just talk about getting the bad stuff out.
Here are some of the top detoxifying strategies you should be following for long term energy, vitality and fat loss:

Remove as many toxic sources in your life as possible
Reduce all consumption of processed foods
Install quality water filters (e.g. reverse osmosis) and air filters (many plants are great for this) into your home
Buy natural and safe home products (especially those used to clean) and personal goods including toothpaste, make-up and so on Replace aluminum and Teflon cookware with cast iron, ceramic, glass or a safer alternative
Wear a helmet while riding a bike

Drink plenty of clean filtered water
Being optimally hydrated is essential for all aspects of health but especially for facilitating the chemical reactions that produce energy and sweep out those toxins. Start the day with 2 big glasses of water with a little bit of fresh lemon juice to help your liver and sip water outside of meal times throughout the day.

Exercise regularly
Use a combination of strength training, cardio and flexibility which will help move blood, fluid and oxygen throughout your body, cleansing it in the process. Yoga is great for detoxifying as it uses all three components and also focuses heavily on breath, which moves a lot of toxins out of your body

Breathe deeply
Breath is one of the major ways of detoxifying. It’s your personal exhaust system – block your car exhaust pipe for a while and see what happens: the combustion chamber will get backed up and the engine will shut down pretty quickly. Take some time Out to breathe deeply each day and it will go a long way to relaxing and energising you

Take asauna
Particularly infrared sauna’s which are considered one of the most effective and safest ways of increasing circulation and removing all kinds of harmful toxic substances.

Get a colonic
This may sound a bit hardcore for many of you but cleaning out all the waste products in your colon is one quick way to flatten the abs, skyrocket your energy levels, boost your immune system, your overall health, and give you great skin.

Start scrubbing your skin
Your skin is the largest organ in your body – regular scrubbing will allow the process of detoxification to be more effective, and will help you achieve a vibrant healthy glow too

Get plenty of rest
Did you know that between 10pm and 2am your body performs many physical repair processes? For instance gall bladder activity, which plays a major role in detoxification by releasing bile to digest fats and also cleanse your body of toxins and heavy metals, is at its peak during these times. Aim to be asleep by 10pm, particularly in winter when there’s more stress on your body.

Regularly take time out
Taking time out means different things to different people, but try to take a little bit of time out each day to catch your breath and deal with mental stresses. Additionally, have at least one full day off all work each week and do those things that rejuvenate your body, mind and spirit
There it is, if you want to lose fat and turn up the dial on your energy levels, you need an effective detox. Start by cutting the inflow of toxic substances, increase the outflow, and at the same time start putting some good clean stuff in.
In no time at all you’ll feel the difference, and that can have a massive impact on what you get out of life, every day. I hope you decide to reduce your toxic load, lose some stubborn body fat and boost your energy and vitalit

Being slightly overweight is good for health, according to a United States federal research. According to the research results published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, overweight protect us from some causes of death. Researchers analysed death data of 2.3 American adults.

Overweight people are at low risk for deaths from tuberculosis, emphysema, pneumonia, emphysema and Alzheimer’s disease. According to the researchers, the extra fat in these people may provide additional vital energy to fight against these diseases. 5 to 8 kilogram extra weight is not as harmful as many thinks off.

Overweight: Body Mass Index (BMI) -25 to 30. 65% of Americans are obese. According to World Health Organisation, more than 400 million people are overweight around the world.

Obesity: Body Mass Index – above 30. 30% of American adults are obese.

Obesity increases mortality from diabetes, cancer, heart disease and kidney diseases. But overweight is not associated with excess deaths from cancer and heart diseases. Overweight increases death risk from diabetes and kidney disease. Obesity especially increases risk for some cancers like Colon cancer, breast cancer, pancreatic cancer and kidney cancer. People with BMI of more than 30 are at high risk for obesity related disorders.