“We’ve seen research on every age group, from children to men and women in their 90s, and it’s clear that you can get stronger at any age,” says Lou Schuler, co-author of the new book The New Rules of Lifting for Life.

This intriguing new book draws out long known truths about muscle strength and longevity. Simply put, the book explains how the strongest people live longer. Additionally the book explains smart and healthy ways for anyone to get in the weight room and get an effective workout.

The authors call-out some common problems seen by many who frequent the gym. For instance, they dispel the myth that women don’t need to lift heavy weights.

“Middle-aged and older women think their bones will shatter if they pick up a weight that’s heavier than their purse. There’s nothing stranger than seeing a woman do a bench press or bent-over row with a dumbbell that’s smaller than her forearm,” Schuler says.

Schuler explains how another common error to be found in the weight room is that of overweight individuals.
Read Full Post >

Actress and author Suzanne Somers has released a new book called ‘Bombshell: Explosive Medical Secrets That Will Redefine Aging.” Of her 23rd book, Somers says what she’s trying to do is ‘make aging aspirational.’

“I turned 65 this year and on my birthday I thought, ‘When I was a kid, 65 used to be when people either retired or died, and I’m so nowhere near those scenarios,” the star said during a recent interview on The Today Show. ‘And I started really assessing what it was that I do and thought I’d pass that on.

Somers say she’s chosen to use this part of her career to gather the brightest minds in the kind of health she’s interested in – including Western doctors and those offering breakthrough medical treatments - and share that with the world.

While some may be skeptical as to whether or not ‘Bombshell’ truly holds the promise of eradicating some cancers and making some diseases obsolete as it claims, Somers says she stands behind all of the information she’s gathered and that she’s never been more proud of a book in her life.
Read Full Post >

If you knew that lifting heavy weights wasn’t necessary to build muscle, would you drop those 50 pound dumbbells and swap them for 25s?

Well according to a new study published in the Journal of Applied Physiology, you don’t have to lift heavy weights to build muscle strength – that light weights can be just as effective at building muscle if you do it correctly. Plus, you’re much less prone to injury that way. So you might be able to lighten your load after all.

This is important news for people seeking to remain healthy and active we’ll into their later years because it makes the task of maintaining muscle tone far less daunting. While cardiovascular exercise is important, it’s simply not enough to maintain muscle mass – some resistance training is required.

So just how much light lifting do you have to do to meet the goal? Based on prior studies, about 30 percent of your maximum effort until you reach fatigue.
Read Full Post >

By Gale Tern

Can arthritis be cured through diet? Is there such a thing as an anti-arthritis diet? Science and our own government have shown that almost every chronic degenerative disease acquired by Americans is the result of a nutritional deficiency. Many years ago, while researching the effects of nutrition on health, I ran across a stunning newspaper article with a heading that read, “21-Year Cover Up: Suppressed 1971 U.S. Report Linked Diet, Disease”.

This article explained how our own government through the USDA had suppressed a U.S. government report that had been released way back in 1971. The report was called Human Nutrition, Report No. 2, Benefits from Human Nutrition Research. This report was the culmination of $30 million worth of federal nutrition research and it revealed for the first time that all major health problems and killer diseases were the result of poor diet and nutrition.

The upshot of all this is that arthritis, like many other diseases, has its roots in nutrition. So what diet works for those who suffer from arthritis? Well arthritis is an umbrella term. The word arthritis literally means joint inflammation, but is often used to refer to a group of more than 100 rheumatic (inflammatory) diseases that can cause pain, stiffness, and swelling in the joints. These diseases may affect not only the joints but also other parts of the body.

Thus, an anti-arthritis diet must be tailored to the condition you suffer. However, in the main I can tell you what has been found to work for most sufferers of arthritis.
Read Full Post >

Superfoods afford us many health benefits, including healthy hair, glowing skin and potentially even weight loss. But scientists now believe that they may also help fight memory decline – namely berries.

A study that was published in the Annals of Neurology, looked at more than 160,000 women over the age of 70. The women who consumed the most berries per week were found to have up to a 2.5-year advantage in showing signs of memory loss.

Beginning in 1980, the participants were surveyed about their diet every four years, also having their memory tested every two years between 1995 and 2001. Researchers found that the women who ate at least one half cup of blueberries per week, or one cup of strawberries, showed the greatest benefits.

Berries are thought to have such restorative powers as fighting free radicals throughout the body, including ones found in the brain that cause Alzheimer’s disease. It’s namely the flavanoids found in berries that act as antioxidants and combat the damage fee radicals do to our body.

The study’s lead author, Elizabeth Devore – a researcher at the Channing Laboratory at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston – also pointed out that these results apply to men as well, since there’s no reason to think berries affect males any differently than females.
Read Full Post >