Ingredients:

• 1 cup low-fat vanilla yogurt
• 1/2 cup crunchy low-fat cereal or granola, divided
• 1/2 cup fresh fruit, sliced (such as strawberries, blueberries, pineapple)

Preparation:
1. To assemble parfait, begin with yogurt in the bottom of a bowl or tall glass.
2. Add 2 tablespoons cereal and 1/4 cup fruit. Repeat.
3. Top with the remaining 2 tablespoons of cereal.

Yield:
1 serving

Nutritional Information:
Per Serving: 380 calories, 15 g protein, 71 g carbohydrate, 5 g fat (2.5 g saturated fat), 10 mg cholesterol, 40% Daily Value of calcium, 260 mg sodium.

The study, published in the Journal of Pediatrics, shows that children who on average consume two or more servings of dairy per day end up with significantly stronger bones in their teens.  The dairy food group includes milk, yogurt, and cheese. One serving is a cup of milk or yogurt, 1 and 1/2 ounces of natural cheese, or 2 ounces of processed cheese.

The researchers also looked at the consumption level of dairy in combination with other food groups such as meats and other proteins, grains, and fruits and vegetables. Children who consume four or more servings of meat or other proteins also have stronger bones than those who don’t. The strongest bones belong to the teens who consume at least two servings of dairy and four servings of other proteins.

Researchers from Boston University School of Medicine analyzed data from the Framingham Children’s Study. Families enrolled in the study were given food diaries to complete for the child and asked to record everything the child ate for several days each year. As the child got older, he or she took more responsibility for recording his or her own eating habits. Researchers looked at information from 106 children, 3 to 5 years old at the start of the study, for 12 years. They measured bone strength based on bone mineral content, bone area, and bone density.

“The findings of this study confirm the importance of a diet rich in dairy and other protein sources on adolescent bone mass,” the researchers write.

The study was funded by grants from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute and the National Dairy Council. The sponsors were not directly involved in the study.

The U.S. Olympic swimmer told ESPN that he eats roughly 8,000-10,000 calories a day, including “lots of pizza and pasta.” In addition to stuffing down carbs, he’s said that he routinely eats foods like fried egg sandwiches.

So exactly how do all those calories help fuel the most decorated Olympic athlete in history? Here are some questions and answers about the Michael Phelps diet.

How can Michael Phelps eat 10,000 calories a day and still be so lean?

There is no doubt he packs away a ton of food, but it is unlikely that he actually eats that many calories a day, an expert believes. University of Pittsburgh Director of Sports Nutrition Leslie Bonci, MPH, RD, says eating 10,000 calories a day is almost impossible. “To consume 10,000 calories a day, he would need to be eating all day long.”

Bonci estimates that to support his 6-foot-4-inch, approximately 190-pound frame, Phelps’ rigorous training regime requires roughly 1,000 calories per hour while he is racing or training; she suggests he probably eats closer to 6,000 calories per day.

What does Michael Phelps eat for breakfast?

NBC commentator Bob Costas rattled off Phelps’ breakfast menu, which includes three sandwiches of fried eggs, cheese, lettuce, tomato, fried onions, mayonnaise, an omelet, a bowl of grits, three slices of French toast with powdered sugar, and three chocolate-chip pancakes.

Without knowing the exact details of the portions, recipes, and ingredients, this meal probably contains roughly 3,000 calories, about half from carbohydrates, a little less than half from fat, and 15% from protein. It’s not a bad distribution of major nutrients for competition, according to dietary recommendations, assuming the breads are whole grain, the cheese is low fat, and the fats used to fry the eggs are healthy. The addition of fruit would improve the nutritional profile of this meal, Bonci says.

Is it bad to eat high-fat foods even if you don’t gain weight?

Athletes need a diet rich in healthy carbohydrates and fats to provide the necessary energy to compete. “Athletes need fat but, they need to be selective about the type of fat and whenever possible choose unsaturated fats such as olive or canola oil, avocados, nuts, and seeds,” says Bonci. Fried and greasy foods are generally not recommended for athletes — or anyone else.

Wouldn’t Phelps feel bloated during a race?

Managing food intake is a huge challenge to all athletes to be sure they have enough calories to fuel their event without being bloated. Bonci advises athletes to take advantage of nutrient-dense liquids like smoothies that empty from the stomach more quickly than solid foods. “We encourage athletes to eat foods that are high in calories and small in volume — so granola with fruit and yogurt would be a better choice than flake cereal with milk.” Timing of meals and snacks is an important issue for athletes to help them get the calories and nutrients they need without feeling stuffed and interfering with competition.

If you’re not an Olympic athlete, how much should you eat?

Compared to Olympic athletes, most of us need to follow the general guidelines of approximately 2,000 calories per day, adjusted for age, sex, and physical activity levels. The average weekend athlete burns about 200-700 calories an hour running on the treadmill, whereas Phelps probably burns 3,000 calories a day swimming. Most athletes need three to four times as much as the rest of us to keep their bodies strong and energized for competition.

How does Phelps balance eating, sleeping, and recovering so he is ready for the next race?

It is a delicate balancing act, and sometimes Phelps has had only one hour to rest between races. Keeping muscles fueled and ready for record-breaking races requires a regime of eating enough to provide readily available energy, and then resting and repairing the stressed, overworked muscles to prepare for the next race. “Within 15 minutes of finishing a race, Phelps should eat a small meal of two-thirds carbs and one-third protein, with a little healthy fat to start and optimize the recovery process,” says Bonci. Recovery is critical to repairing muscles and getting them ready for the next event. Bonci advises athletes to think of recovery as the appetizer — followed by a meal within an hour or two — and then rest. She warns that eating too much can interfere with the body’s ability to sleep or get a good rest.

To get dust, an eyelash, or other small particle out of your eye without injuring yourself, follow these suggestions from the U.S. National Library of Medicine:

• Wash your hands thoroughly, and examine your eye in a mirror in a well-lighted room. Look up, down, and side to side, and try to locate the particle in your eye.
• Do not rub your eye.
• If you can’t find the particle, gently pull down the skin beneath your eye and look under the lower lid. Also gently grasp the upper lid and look underneath there, as well.
• Try to gently rinse the eye or eyelid with water when you find the particle.
• If you can’t easily remove the particle or it looks like it’s already damaged the eye, seek immediate medical attention.

In a park somewhere in Moscow, not many years ago, a pudgy teenager happened upon an abandoned 53-pound kettlebell (loose kettlebells seem as common to Russia as stray dogs).  Elated with his new find, he tried to lift it to his shoulder–no dice.  Undeterred, he dragged the weight home, flattened a piece of metal tubing in the center, and hung the bell over it by the handle to do jerks and push-presses with his make-shift barbell.  Eventually he grew stronger:  his shoulders broadened, his waist narrowed; and his skill improved as well, as he began to incorporate cleans, presses, squats, and snatches into his routine.  Daily practice with the kettlebell completely changed his body’s composition–from fat to muscle–and it cost him not a single ruble.

If your current weight has become too easy, or you’ve transitioned to a weight that was too big a jump, you have options.

Has that two-hand swing gotten too easy with your 20-or-35-pound starting bell?  Switch to one-hand swings and transfers, and you’ll add definition in your obliques,  to the multiple muscle-development benefits of this drill–and, if you haven’t tried it already, it’s a good time to move up to the swing, the press, the high pull, and the snatch.  And don’t tell me you haven’t been doing those Turkish get-ups yet!  Sure, they’re hard–but  start with one TGU per each side, and you’re off to a good start;  the good news is, we’re not training to failure here–we’re training to success!  (Make that your motto the next time some gym rat hassles you about your low reps:  never, ever do more than you can accomplish unless it’s in perfect form, and then no more than five times in a set–unless it’s the ballistic stuff, like the swing or the snatch; but again, in perfect form).

Now that you’ve gotten comfortable with that entry-level weight, you can do some even cooler stuff that’ll work some muscles you didn’t know you had: like the bottom-up clean and press (Dave Whitley can do TGU’s with this technique!).  You can beef up your military presses with the waiter’s press:  lay the ball in the palm of your hand, and punch it to the sky–but watch your head!  Finally, there’s the circus strong man’s personal favorite that works every muscle in your body, and the only press that works the latissimus dorsi; those V-shaped things that run from behind your armpits and taper down to your waist:  the Bent Press.  (Dave Whitley demonstrates this better than anybody I know.  You can see it on his “Full  Body Power” DVD, available from www.irontamer.com).  You’re only limited by your imagination.

I have a 35-pounder I can do most things with, a 53-pounder I can do a few things with, and a 70-pounder I can do fewer things with.  For me, it’s cleans, push presses, jerks and squats with the 53-pounder (not to mention some low-rep snatches), and mostly only swings with the 70-pounder.  Obviously, as the weight increases, the choices decrease.  But don’t look at it as a disadvantage:  if all you can start out with is a single exercise, you have no choice but to get stronger!

A consumer group has ranked 20 U.S. cities for restaurant health. Austin, Texas, and Boston rank worst, while Tucson, Ariz., and San Francisco rank best.

But it’s not at all clear whether diners are dirtiest in Austin and Boston, or whether these towns simply have the toughest inspectors — or if inspectors in Tucson and San Francisco are more lenient.

The report, “Dirty Dining,” comes from the consumer group the Center for Science in the Public Interest. CSPI food-safety attorney Sarah Klein, JD, is co-author.

The CSPI ranking considers how often city inspectors found five major health hazards and five less critical concerns in 30 high-end, medium-range, and fast-food eateries in each city.

The major health hazards:

• Food held at an unsafe temperature. According to a 2004 FDA report, 65% of restaurants don’t fully comply with federal Food Code guidelines on food temperature. Perishable foods should be cooled to 41 degrees Fahrenheit. And bacteria multiply in warming pans if the temperature is not high enough and if foods are left there long enough.
• Hand washing. According to a 2007 CDC report, 20% of food-borne illnesses caused by bacteria come from infected workers.
• Improper cooking. The 2004 FDA report estimated that about 16% of full-service restaurants don’t fully cook their food. Two of the most harmful food-poisoning bacteria - salmonella and E. coli  — lurk in undercooked meats.
• Contaminated food-contact surfaces. The FDA report found 56% of full-service restaurants were not were not compliant.
• Food from unsafe sources. The FDA report suggested that 13% of full-service restaurants don’t comply with food-source guidelines.

Less serious concerns include:

• Substandard employee cleanliness and hygiene
• Rodents and insects
• Improper use of wiping cloths
• Presence of sick restaurant workers
• Bare-hand contact with raw food

Dirty Dining Cities Ranked

Here’s the CSPI’s ranking of restaurants in 20 U.S. cities. It’s not an entirely fair contest. Some cities were more reluctant to report than others were and did not provide routine reports on all 30 restaurants requested. Baltimore, for example, did well in the rankings but withheld the requested information on 16 of 30 restaurants.

The ranking here lists cities according to a weighted value assigning demerits for major and minor violations as reported by city health inspectors. The “best” cities may, in reality, simply have the most lenient inspectors; the “worst” cities may have the strictest inspectors.

The CSPI’s city rankings, from “worst” to “best”:

• Austin, Texas: 58 violations in 30 restaurants
• Boston: 63 violations in 30 restaurants
• Milwaukee, 27 violations in 20 restaurants
• Colorado Springs, Colo.: 46 violations in 30 restaurants
• Kansas City, Mo.: 41 violations in 30 restaurants
• Pittsburgh: 40 violations in 30 restaurants
• Denver: 35 violations in 30 restaurants
• Las Vegas: 30 violations in 25 restaurants
• Washington, D.C.: 27 violations in 25 restaurants
• New York: 32 violations in 30 restaurants
• Atlanta: 19 violations in 20 restaurants
• Portland: 25 violations in 27 restaurants
• Baltimore: 14 violations in 14 restaurants
• Minneapolis, Minn.: 31 violations in 29 restaurants
• Chicago: 22 violations in 30 restaurants
• St. Louis: 17 violations in 27 restaurants
• Seattle: 16 violations in 30 restaurants
• Philadelphia: 16 violations in 23 restaurants
• San Francisco: 15 violations in 30 restaurants
• Tucson, Ariz.: 14 violations in 29 restaurants

“Age-adjusted death rates have reached record lows and life expectancy has reached record highs in recent years, likely due to a combination of behavior and societal changes as well as improved medical and surgical therapies,” the authors write as background information in the article. “With the rise in life expectancy, it becomes necessary to focus on improving the quality of life and functional abilities as people reach older ages. Regular exercise, including running, may contribute to improved health among older adults.”

Eliza F. Chakravarty, M.D., M.S., and colleagues at Stanford University School of Medicine, Calif., surveyed 284 members of a nationwide running club and 156 healthy controls who were recruited from university faculty and staff. All participants were age 50 or older when the study began in 1984. They completed a mailed questionnaire annually through 2005, providing information on exercise frequency, body mass index and disability level.

At the beginning of the study, runners were younger, leaner and less likely to smoke than controls. After 19 years, 81 runners (15 percent) had died compared with 144 controls (34 percent). Disability levels were lower in runners at all time points and increased in both groups over time, but less so in runners. At the end of the 21-year follow-up, in terms of disability, “the higher levels among controls translate into important differences in overall daily functional limitations,” the authors write. “Disability and survival curves continued to diverge between groups after the 21-year follow-up as participants approached their ninth decade of life.”

Regular exercise could reduce disability and death risk by increasing cardiovascular fitness, improving aerobic capacity, increased bone mass, lower levels of inflammatory markers, improved response to vaccinations and improved thinking, learning and memory functions, the authors note.

“Our findings of decreased disability in addition to prolonged survival among middle-aged and older adults participating in routine physical activities further support recommendations to encourage moderate to vigorous physical activity at all ages,” they conclude. “Increasing healthy lifestyle behaviors may not only improve length and quality of life but also hopefully lead to reduced health care expenditures associated with disability and chronic diseases.”

(Arch Intern Med. 2008;168[15]:1638-1646. Available pre-embargo to the media at www.jamamedia.org.)

Editor’s Note: This study was supported by grants from the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases and the National Institute on Aging, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Md. Please see the article for additional information, including other authors, author contributions and affiliations, financial disclosures, funding and support, etc.

There’s a method to the madness
The sale cookies aren’t next to the expensive coffee by accident. A lot of strategic marketing goes into food placement to get you to make impulse purchases and buy more. Stick to the perimeter, and you’re more likely to get healthy, fresh stuff. The higher-priced items—snacks, cookies, beverages—are often in the middle.

It’s fresher if you ask
Grill your grocer about when fresh fish, meat, produce, and dairy deliveries come in.

Avoid the end-caps
In-your-face displays build business. There are prime spots at the end of each aisle where stores entice you with stuff that isn’t all that healthy or cheap.

Convenience costs
You’ll dish out top dollar for paper, health, and personal-care products at the grocery store. Brand-name toothpaste, for example, costs about one third more than at a discount store. Pet food is 33 percent less at pet supermarkets.

“Sale” is just a word
A supermarket will slap a sale sign on a dime reduction just to get your attention. Good sales are 50 percent off, or buy one, get one free. Add a coupon, and you can save as much as 80 to 100 percent. Coupons, by the way, aren’t just for junk food. You can save on the latest food trends—including organic and health foods like egg substitutes, veggie burgers, and low-sodium, low-fat soups.

Here’s the good news – you can achieve outstanding results by spending less time at the gym! Just follow these simple tips:

Everything Is In The Preparation
The time you spend at the gym is not limited to those minutes when you’re actually working out. Getting your gym kit ready, driving to the gym, getting dressed, getting undressed, showering afterwards, driving home – all this stuff adds up. Get in the habit of considering your total gym time, which includes all of these things plus the actual workout itself. Now, consider what you can do to shave off some precious minutes before and after your workout.

For example:
Join a gym that is close to home.

• If possible, only visit the gym at off-peak, or less busy times
• Prepare your gym bag the evening before your workout.
• Consider showering when you get home, rather than at the gym.

Lift Weights No More Than Three Times A Week
As a new gym user, it’s easy to want to get the most value out of your expensive membership, and it’s not uncommon to see people hitting the gym five, six or even seven days a week! Even for a veteran this is counter-productive – your muscles need rest and recovery. By overtraining them you will encourage atrophy. Not only will they not grow, they might even shrink!

For the first 4-6 months of your membership, three visits to the gym each week is more than sufficient to obtain great results without risking damage to your health. It’s also a regimen that is easy to maintain.

Don’t Worry If You Miss A Workout
Life has a habit of putting things in your way, particularly when you’re trying to do something productive. From time to time something will happen that will mean you will have to skip a workout.

Here’s the thing – don’t worry about it. Just make up the workout the next day, or as soon as you can. One great method I’ve used to ensure I get to workout three times per week is to not plan my days off in advance. Many people like to take the weekends off, or only go to the gym Monday, Wednesdays and Fridays. That sounds great on paper, but what if life gets in the way?

While it is essential that the body gets sufficient rest (see below), if you don’t plan your days off and attempt to go to the gym whenever you possibly can, you will find that you miss very few workouts. Think of your gym visits and recovery periods as constantly ongoing – by taking a day off in between each visit, you’ll automatically hit your target of three sessions each week.

Do A Full-Body Workout
None of us are professional bodybuilders, so why do so many of us attempt to follow their workouts? Bodybuilding magazines are notorious for this, endlessly publishing the routines of modern pros that are far too advance and strenuous for regular people.

A full-body workout is a great time-saver but also a regimen that offers the most benefits for beginner and intermediate gym users. Many new gym users concentrate entirely on the so-called ‘beach muscles’ – chest, shoulders and particularly biceps. This is counterproductive, as the largest muscle groups – back and legs – are often completely ignored. The body likes to grow proportionately, so by favouring some muscle groups over others you won’t see the best results.

Focus on the larger muscle groups through compound exercises. These move the body through multiple joint movements and provide complete muscle fibre stimulation, as opposed to isolation exercises, which focus on a single joint.

Example compound exercises include barbell squats, pull-ups, dead lifts, bent-over rows, bench press, military press, dips and lunges. (Tip: search YouTube for working examples of all of these exercises.)

Each full-body workout should contain six or seven of these compound exercises, performed in reverse-order of muscle size, i.e., legs, back, chest and then shoulders. (See example workout below).

Workout For No More Than 40 Minutes!
Your total time at the gym should take no more than 40 minutes, which includes preparation. Ideally, you should be lifting weights for no more than 30 minutes in total, which includes all exercises and rest between sets. Keep the intensity high.

To achieve this, it’s important to look at your workout program intelligently. Each exercise should be broken down into ‘warm-up’ and ‘working sets’ – the former prepares the muscle for the more intensive shock of the latter, which should be heaviest possible weight you can lift while maintaining proper form.

The size of the muscle group will determine the number of sets and repetitions necessary. Additionally, as a muscle group is warmed up there is less of a need for ‘warm-up’ sets with each new exercise.

Here’s an example workout:

LEGS
Barbell Squat: 2 x 10 (warm-up sets), 2 x 8 (working sets)

BACK
Pull Ups: 2 x 10 (weight-assisted), 1 x 8
Dead Lifts: 1 x 10, 1 x 6-8
Bent-Over Rows: 1 x 6-8

CHEST
Bench Press: 2 x 10, 1 x 6-8

SHOULDERS
Military Press: 1 x 10, 1 x 6-8
Total Exercises Performed: 6
Total Sets: 15
Each set, with rest, should last about two minutes, which makes 30 minutes in total.

Superset
A superset involves performing two exercises back-to-back without rest. For best results you should use opposing muscle groups. For example, one could superset back with chest by doing one set of pull-ups immediately followed by one set of dips. This counts as one superset. Then rest and repeat. It’s a great way to save time and produces great results. Consider using the superset method on alternate months, as the impact on the body, particularly with compound exercises, is significant.

Rest!
Rest is essential to muscle gain. If you visit the gym too regularly or don’t have sufficient rest between sets, your progress will suffer.
A good rule of thumb is to rest 45-60 seconds between each set. Consider resting an additional 30 seconds between exercises (i.e., 90 seconds). Be mindful of your total workout time!

If you plan to workout three times per week, you need a minimum of 48 hours of rest between workouts. This is essential. Your body needs the recovery time, and trying to do too much will lead to poor results.

Don’t Waste Time
Increasingly gyms have become places for people to meet and chat with their friends. Don’t waste time chatting at the gym. Leave your mobile phone in your locker and if you workout with friends, keep it as professional as possible.

By following the advice above, you can ensure that your gym sessions will be as productive as possible. Because you’ll be spending less time there but still seeing great results, you’ll also have a strong motivation to keep going.

Provided to Healthy & Fit Magazine by PeopleJam.

• Arriving unprepared: Cooper recommends writing down questions in order of priority, keeping a pain diary and having medication refill needs on hand.
• Failing to keep track of their long-term treatment: Patients should keep their own medical file at home with copies of lab reports and doctors’ notes. These should be updated and reviewed regularly.
• Not being candid: Patients are sometimes afraid to disappoint a doctor if they have made little or no progress. They are embarrassed about certain symptoms or about their failure to take medication as directed. They need to be forthcoming.
• Not being an active participant: Patients should think of themselves as being a part of the solution. They’ll benefit from educating themselves on the ins-and-outs of their condition and treatment options, and by finding support in others who are fighting the same battles. “Doctors respect patients who take ownership of their own care, who show that they are actively engaged,” says Cooper.
• Burning their bridges: Leaving a doctor’s practice in anger or haste can cause ill will and prevent cooperation in the future for medical care with another provider.