A couple of quick hitters to start the week off. These came from prevention magazine.
Shrink Your Waist
by Frank Claps
Diet and exercise are a dynamic duo - only the combination will shrink abdominal fat cells, too many of which raise your risk of diabetes and heart disease.
Wake Forest University researchers asked 45 obese women to start a diet; two thirds of them walked three times a week at either a slow pace for 55 minutes or a slightly faster one for 30 minutes. After 20 weeks, everyone had lost about 25 pounds. But the walkers also reduced the size of their abdominal fat cells by 19%. The diet-only women had no such change. This isn't power walking, either: The faster group kept a very manageable 3 to 4 MPH pace; the slower ones walked half that fast.
The Secret to Staying Sharp
by Rachel Meltzer
Grow up to be the sharpest 90 year old on your block by making sure your living fit right now. In one of the longest running studies so far on mental decline, scientists at the Karolinka Institute in Sweden assessed the cardiac health of more than 1,000 50 year olds. Twenty years later, all the tests were repeated, plus the men and women were screened for Alzheimer's. The 4% who developed dementia had started with the highest blood pressure, cholesterol, and weight. To find out if your lifestyle is mind healthy, go to www.prevention.com/links for a quick, easy quiz.
