Diet and Health for Life

Wait! What IS your perfect weight? I know you�ve heard people talking about getting down to their ideal weight, but do they really know what it is? Do you know yours?

One�s weight is a highly personal matter, and many of us have no idea how low we should go.

So what is it that makes a weight perfect? Is it the image in your mind or do you have solid facts for determining your magic number? Those are but a few of the questions to consider when dropping pounds, but truth be known, there�s only one true answer: Weight doesn�t matter!

Your body -- and its needs -- is unique and highly stylized. Simply grabbing a �perfect weight� out of thin air does not equate to a healthy body. After all, you may not be built like your best friend or the person on the magazine cover, so to pick their weight as your own could be hazardous.

Many of my clients insist that they want to weigh a certain number, and yet usually the chosen digits fail to take into consideration their muscle-to-fat ratio.

You may be surprised to learn that many people actually weigh more than we�d ever imagine for the simple reason that their bodies boast more muscle than fat. Others might have a layer of fat that obscures any muscle, and yet the scale still offers only a number -- a gauge, if you will -- but nothing that gives the true picture.

If you really want the perfect body, don�t think pounds � think measurements. The clothes you wear and the way they fit should determine where you need to lose fat, add muscle, or curb cookie cravings.

According to the World Health Organization, over one billion adults in this world are overweight (and 300 million of those are considered obese). Those are astonishing numbers. How do you get rid of fat? The race is on to burn calories and lose weight, but if we don�t understand where the added weight and calories come from, we might be burning muscle instead of fat.

Exercise for fat loss is different than exercise for weight loss. Losing fat is achieved by a hormonal response, or an after-burn effect, that continues working 24 to 48 hours beyond the actual workout.

The best method for fat loss, therefore, is intense resistance training and aerobic bursts followed by a period of rest. While traditional aerobic exercise performed over long periods of time burns fat, the hormonal effect produced reduces valuable muscle. Because muscle is a key component of one�s fat-burning metabolism, it�s best to perform activities that build muscle to enable the shedding of fat.

My Visibly Fit exercise program allows for the natural building of muscle. What�s more, they are exercises that can be done anywhere, anytime, because your body becomes the only gym you need.

Studies have shown that the fat-related hormones leptin and insulin positively affect people who workout at a high intensity for less time (e.g., 20 minutes) than those who workout for 40 minutes or longer at a steady pace. Studies prove that it is not the quantity of exercise that makes a difference in your overall health, but the quality.

Squeezing in a few Visibly Fit exercises throughout your day offers a short, intense form of exercise that allows optimal results.

Obviously, nutrition is a big part of the equation if you desire results. My advice is to eat 5-6 small meals daily. Stick with "living foods" such as fresh fruits and vegetables, lean protein, and whole grains. Remember, the goal is to look and feel good. With Visibly Fit as part of your daily regimen, you�ll be perfect in no time!

WENDIE PETT is a mother and fitness expert, the author of Every Woman�s Guide to Personal Power and co-author of The Miracle Seven. She�s a personal trainer/coach and conducts seminars to corporate groups to help teach others how to maximize their wellness through the balance of mind, body, and spirit. For more information on Wendie visit www.wendiepett.com.

The family is coming over for a festive spring dinner but you don�t want to serve yet another casserole� so how about lamb? It seems so elegant, but it really is easy, especially if you are armed with the basics.

What To Look For When Purchasing Lamb

Lamb is widely available in grocery stores and gourmet food retailers across the country. When shopping, look for American lamb as it typically yields more meat on the bone than imported lamb.

Also, most American lamb is fed mixed grains and grasses giving the meat a milder flavor than its European counterparts. When shopping for a cut, look for meat that has a soft pink to red coloring with white marbling.

How to Store/Freeze Lamb
Fresh lamb should be stored in the refrigerator or freezer immediately after purchasing. Refrigerate fresh lamb at 40 degrees or below. Ground lamb or stew meat should be used within 2 days. Lamb chops and roasts should be used within 3-5 days.

If you plan to freeze lamb for long periods of time, be sure to wrap the original packaging with airtight freezer wrap or place in an airtight freezer bag to prevent freezer burn. To maintain optimum quality, frozen lamb should be used within 3-4 months.

How to Thaw Frozen Lamb
In the refrigerator: once frozen lamb has thawed in the refrigerator, lamb roasts and chops should be used within 3-5 days and ground lamb or stew meat should be used within 1-2 days.

In cold water: leave frozen lamb in its packaging, making sure it is air tight. If not, transfer it to a leak-proof bag. Keep the lamb submerged in cold water, changing the water every 30 minutes to continue thawing. Cook lamb immediately after thawing. It should not be re-frozen unless cooked first.

In the microwave: as with the cold water method, when frozen lamb is thawed in the microwave, it must be cooked immediately. It should not be re-frozen unless cooked first.

Cooking Lamb
For those that don't have a lot of experience cooking with lamb, determining when it is done is the biggest challenge. An overcooked rack of lamb is an expensive mistake and carving into an undercooked roast can be an embarrassment at a dinner party.

Don't rely on guesswork. A good meat thermometer will provide reliable results. DO NOT cut into a roast or chop to check doneness. Use an instant read thermometer to give you a quick, accurate reading.


Lamb, like any cut of meat, always benefits from rest before serving. The rest allows the meat's juices to settle. Give thin cuts like chops 5 minutes before serving and allow 20 minutes before carving roasts.

Keep in mind, as the meat rests, its internal temperature typically rises 5-10 degrees. Remove lamb from cooking heat when the thermometer reads 5-10 degrees less than your desired temperature.

To ensure lamb remains safe throughout cooking, the USDA makes recommendations for safe cooking temperatures.

Grilled American Lamb Loin Chop with Tomatillo Chutney
For four people

8 6-oz. loin chops
1/4 cup olive oil/canola oil blend
coarse salt and cracked pepper

for chutney
12 tomatillos husks removed and quartered
1 medium white onion fine dice
1 serrano chile minced
1 tablespoon of roasted garlic chopped
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tblespoon olive oil
1/4 cup chopped cilantro or mint if you prefer mint essence

for the chops
Bring chops to room temperature before starting.

Heat grill to at least 400 and no hotter than 800 degrees.

Brush room temperature chops with olive oil and season liberally with salt and pepper.

Place on the hottest part of the grill for 45 seconds to 1 minute and then quarter-turn and cook another 45 seconds to one minute.

Then flip and cook for 45 second to 1 minute and quarter-turn and cook again.

Remove chops from grill and let rest for at least 10 minutes.

Place back on the grill on the warm part of your grill and close lid or place on top rack and close lid.

Remove chops from the grill when they are hot. This produces medium rare. If you prefer a more well done chop just leave on the rack until desired doneness.

For the chutney
Heat olive oil on medium high heat in a cast iron skillet.

When the oil begins to smoke, add every ingredient except sugar and the herbs.

Saute while stirring frequently until vegetables are soft.

Add sugar and herbs and continue to cook until all the sugar is dissolved.

Season with salt and pepper.

Serve the lamb chops warm with warm chutney on top.

Do most guys want thin women? They make fun of overweight women, and drool over emaciated actresses, so what kind of a chance do mere mortals have?

Well, thin may be in (at the moment), but I believe there may be a difference between what looks good and what feels good to men.

Let�s face it, very few of us in the real world resemble television or movie stars, but men still want to get some lovin'... if ya know what I mean.

Many people are turned off by extremes: extremely heavy, extremely thin, or extremely tall and extremely short. This seems to be human nature, but nature is often self-correcting. For instance, a very short guy may find a very short woman attractive, so who cares what the masses think?

There is certainly a culture of men who believe large is lovely, and feel secure wrapped in the physical and psychological comfort of a large body. Latino and black men seem to lust after ultra curvy (dare we say meaty) mates. Certainly there are women who feel safe in the arms of big men.

Many men may admire models, but may not like to squeeze a bag o� bones. In fact, many men would probably be happy to accept a few extra pounds on their women if they just stopped complaining about their weight, or talking about what they ate, wanted to eat, will eat or shouldn�t have eaten! I think they�ve heard enough about your huge thighs and fat butt!

Confidence, kindness and sensuality create more attraction than a particular body weight. Good sexual techniques make men forget about your cellulite! Initial appearances wear thin rather quickly. Who cares how much you weigh if you're annoying to be with, because deprivation makes you cranky?

A fit body works best, and healthy living produces a vehicle with which to enjoy all the wonders of life. Too many people don�t realize that healthy bodies come in all sizes, and that can feel good to you as well as him.

So you want to lose weight? And you have tried many diets: Caloric restriction, carbohydrate cutting, low fat, high fat, low protein, high protein... and on and on.

None of the popular current diets are superior to another.

According to the New England Journal of Medicine, by the end of a two-year period the same amount of weight was lost and maintained regardless of the particular diet followed and the best recipe for success takes into account an individual�s personal and cultural preferences.

So if there is no magic diet, then how does a person secure a positive outcome once the decision has been made to lose that excess weight?

Certainly healthy food choices in the correct portions for your ideal size and weight combined with physical exercise is ideal, but it is well known that this is often challenging to implement and sustain.

It is likely the behavior that caused the current overweight has been gradually repeated over time to become a deeply ingrained habit reinforced by classical and operant conditioning and unconscious forces at play.

Have you tried using the power of sound to effect the desired change in your life?

It is well known that controlled, deep breathing, progressive relaxation, affirmations and visualization have positive physiological and psychological effects, and the combination of these elements serve to help in the manifestation of desires and achievement of weight loss goals when combined with right action.

Listening to the combination of specifically engineered sound consisting of:

1. carefully chosen words and affirmations spoken with caring and focused intention

2. soothing original musical tones and sounds from nature

3. binaural audio synergistically blended provides you, the listener with an effective and readily available tool to enhance your desired behavior

Did you know that the eye has its own special defense system? It's true. But you've got to feed it this: salad.

Research suggests that people age 65 or older could preserve the health of their retinas by getting lots of vitamin C, zeaxanthin, and alpha-tocopherol (a form of vitamin E). Luckily, a veggie-rich salad bar can load you up on all three.

The Antioxidant Ante
A study of older people revealed that low levels of key antioxidants were associated with higher rates of a certain kind of macular degeneration, a sight-robbing disease. To up your intake of sight-saving veggies, try these recipes:

* Make this recipe with orange bell peppers, an excellent source of zeaxanthin: Bruschetta with Roasted Peppers and Mozzarella.
* Get a dose of alpha-tocopherol with the almonds in this salad (bonus: the spinach is rich in zeaxanthin): Warm Spinach Salad with Chicken, Apples, and Toasted Almonds.
* Dose yourself up with vitamin C using this recipe: Chicken, Charred Tomato and Broccoli Salad.

More Ways to Watch Out for Eyes
Hats and sunglasses can help guard your eyes. Keep your eyes looking -- and feeling -- fine with these tips, too:

* Parched peepers? 5 ways to fight dry, irritated eyes.
* Tired eyes? Give your eyes this do-it-yourself spa treatment.
* Blurry vision? Here's what is a normal part of aging, and what is not.

Researchers found that participants who had atrial fibrillation (AF) at the start of the study were 61 percent more likely to die from any cause, 77 percent more likely to die from cardiovascular causes such as a heart attack or stroke, and 68 percent more likely to develop heart failure or other problems such as stroke.

But the study also found that the risk of developing complications or dying was lower if doctors gave more aggressive treatments to diabetic patients with AF. In this study, treatment involved a combination of the blood pressure lowering drugs perindopril and indapamide.

"Active treatment produced similar relative benefits to patients with and without AF. However, because of their higher risk at the start of the study, the absolute benefit associated with active treatment was greater in patients with AF than without. We estimate that five years of active treatment would prevent one death among every 42 patients with AF and one death among 120 patients without AF," noted study leader Professor Anushka Patel, director of the Cardiovascular Division at The George Institute for International Health at the University of Sydney in Australia.

The researchers also found that the association between AF and deaths from cardiovascular disease was much stronger in women than in men. Women with AF were twice as likely to die as women without AF, while men with AF were 50 percent more likely to die than men without AF.

The findings were published March 12 in the European Heart Journal.

"This study informs clinicians that AF is a marker of greater risk of cardiovascular events and mortality among diabetics, both men and women. Such patients should have their cardiovascular risk factors, such as blood pressure and cholesterol, controlled more aggressively," Patel advised.

"This is a separate issue from rate and rhythm control [or the use of anticoagulants to prevent thromboembolic events], which is the usual therapeutic focus in patients with AF. These issues are important, but we believe our data suggest that heightened awareness and management of overall cardiovascular risk is also important."

Besides recommending that you get enough bone-building vitamin D and calcium in your diet, the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons offers these exercise recommendations:

* Walking and jogging.
* Hiking.
* Cross-country skiing.
* Stair-climbing machines, or climbing stationary stairs.
* Dancing and jumping rope.
* Sports such as soccer, volleyball, basketball, field hockey and softball.