Kraft Dinner Crackers Original

I love to snack – well sort of, I like snacking but tend to crave carbohydrates more than more sensible items like fruit or veggies.  At Wal-Mart the other day I saw Kraft Dinner Crackers on the shelf and 2 for $5.00 (CDN) thought it was a good deal so I picked up two boxes.

Nutrition Facts

27 grackers or about 20 grams contains 100 calories, 4.5g of fat of which 1.0g is saturated and 5mg of cholesterol.  There is a lot of salt, 180mg and 12g of carbs with 1g coming form sugars and 2g of protein.

Very little calcium (2%) and Iron (6%) but no other vitamins as shown on the package.

Overall I thought that the taste was OK – definately not like the Macaroni and Cheese but a lot like those fish shaped crackers some kids like to eat.

Because of the salt, you may feel thirsty after having a few of these – which is good, just down it with water and not something else.

Don’t ask me about texture since I don’t pay a lot of attention to that but they do like macaroni as in KD Mac and Cheese.

The problem with these is that counting out 27 and sticking to it might be hard – they are filling and it is a good snack but may not be enough to hold you back from devouring the entire box!  You may want to pick-up the individual serving sized packages – that way you get the feeling you’re having a lot when in fact you are having just the right amount.

Something else that I liked about these crackers is that there is no after-taste — as I sometimes find with other crackers.

An alternative to these might be regular crackers with light cream cheese on them or any other type of light cheese.  In fact you could make a mini-tray out of some simple ingredients:

• Whole wheat or other high fibre crackers
• Lite cheddar cheese
• Mixed pickled vegetables
• Turkey slices

Eventhough 27 crackers may not be all that satisfying the fat content is relatively low and calories are low to make this a great snack.

You can read more about this Kraft product by visiting the page for this item at http://www.kraftcanada.com/en/Products/J-L/KraftDinnerCrackers.aspx.

Here is the spot that they ran for the crackers, courtesy of YouTube.

Enjoy!

Mohamed

Obese Exposed as Swine Flu (H1N1) Collides With Fat Epidemic

As if overweight people didn’t have enough to deal with, new reports from the WHO suggests that the swine flu affects obese people more! Here is a snippet from Bloomburg followed by links to several stories over the net. No doubt this will gain more coverage over the next few months and more so once the peak flu season hits in November.

People infected with the bug who have a body mass index greater than 40, deemed morbidly obese, suffer respiratory complications that are harder to treat and can be fatal.

Resources

• http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601124&sid=a0DakJmBpgrc
• http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/19/AR2009051902609.html
• http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090710/ap_on_he_me/us_med_swine_flu
• http://bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601124&sid=aPUbdh6sLlb0
• http://www.naturalnews.com/026602_pandemic_swine_flu_health.html (registration required to read the full article)
• http://www.gate2biotech.com/origins-of-the-swine-flu-virus/ (added 7/13/09 @ 2:47pm PST)

Mohamed

Can Nintendo Wii Help You Lose Weight?

Since the Nintendo Wii came out a few years ago, a lot has been written about it – whether it aides in fitness and weight loss, or is it just another gimmick.  There are many articles, both positive and negative.  Here is a round-up of a few stores related to the Nintendo Wii and its health and wellness benefits, or how it is being used by the health/fitness and medical community.

Each snippet is followed by the URL of the post.  All links open in new windows, so ensure you pop-up blocker is turn off.

Wii Fit A Promising Tool For All Ages, Though Game’s Health Measurements Are Flawed

ScienceDaily (Jan. 8, 2009) — While some emerging technologies can create environments that require very little physical effort, one Kansas State University researcher thinks games like Nintendo’s Wii Fit can help promote physical rather than sedentary activities for people of all ages.

URL – http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/01/090106181733.htm

Nintendo Wii May Enhance Parkinson’s Treatment

ScienceDaily (June 12, 2009) — The Nintendo Wii may help treat symptoms of Parkinson’s disease, including depression, a Medical College of Georgia researcher says.

URL – http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090611120744.htm

Nintendo Wii With A New Mission: Wiimote As An Interface Bridging Mind And Body

ScienceDaily (Mar. 9, 2008) — The Nintendo Wii is an immensely popular source of videogame entertainment, but more recently, it has been adapted for a number of different uses, such as a tool for physical therapy and as a form of exercise for geriatrics. New research from the University of Memphis has found another use: psychological experimentation. By integrating the Nintendo Wiimote with a laboratory computer, psychologist Rick Dale and his student collaborators were able to extract rich information about a person’s reaching movements while they performed a learning task.

URL – http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/03/080304200905.htm

 
Popular Gaming System May Offer Radiologists An Alternative Way To View Patient Images

ScienceDaily (Apr. 26, 2009) — The popular Wii gaming remote may offer radiologists a fun, alternative method to using a standard mouse and keyboard to navigate through patient images, according to a study performed at the New-York Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center in New York, NY. The remote may also offer radiologists relief from repetitive motion injuries as a result of using a mouse and keyboard.

URL – http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/04/090423132649.htm

_{»crosslinked«}

Men – Strengthen Your Mind, And Body

Unconventional Ways to Strengthen Men’s Bodies and Minds

Author: Joshua

When yoga comes to mind, most men get images of flower painted rooms, women humming chants, and soft nature music in the background. But what a lot of men don’t know is that they actually have the most to gain from yoga.

Yoga alleviates sore muscles, loosens stiff backs, and clears the mind of daily stresses from work. Yoga stretches increase oxygen flow to the muscles, allowing your muscles to stay active longer. This gives men long lasting boosts of energy that help increase focus and productivity in their careers and daily lives.

Millions of men who have already tried yoga report having a better night’s sleep after a few yoga sessions. Once men master their breathing, they are more able to relax before going to bed and their paced breathing gives them a deeper, more rejuvenating night of sleep. Think this is crazy? Ask the Tennessee Titan’s and other athletes from the NFL who have already reported a decrease in fatigue and an increase in energy after incorporating yoga stretches into their daily warm-ups.

Yoga has also been reported to decrease the pain and side effects of many ailments. For example, yoga benefits asthma sufferers by decreasing or completely eliminating asthma attacks. Yoga also tremendously decreases blood pressure by allowing participants to relax and concentrate on their own self-awareness. In a recent study, five out of twenty high blood pressure patients who participated in a daily yoga experiment stopped taking their blood pressure medication completely. Yoga also decreases blood sugar and increases joint movement, which is a huge benefit to those that suffer from diabetes and arthritis, as well.

Yoga is beneficial to men and women, but men usually shy away from yoga because of their stereotypical view of the exercise. It is important that all men are encouraged to try yoga. The benefits to their health are enormous.

Along with the proper balance in your exercise routine, a healthy diet is also important. Try an easy, on the go solution. Many products are available over the counter or online for purchase that can help with everything from joint flexibility, memory, prostate health, and hair loss.

About the Author:

Get more information about Mens Supplements and Natural Prostate Health, please visit www.GoProsTect.com.

Article Source: ArticlesBase.com – Unconventional Ways to Strengthen Men’s Bodies and Minds

Yoga for Weight Loss?

Found an interesting article on WebMD entitled “Yoga for Weight Loss?”

It can help you find your bliss, and some say yoga may also help you shed those extra pounds.
By Colette Bouchez

WebMD Weight Loss Clinic-Feature
Reviewed by Louise Chang, MD

Jennifer Aniston does it. Reports are that Liv Tyler, Halle Berry, Madonna, David Duchovny and supermodel Christy Turlington do it, too. Many professional athletes are said to be doing it in an effort to improve their games.

The “it” is yoga, a sophisticated mind-body exercise many believe can do everything from tighten your buns to change your outlook on life.

But can this no-strain, work-at-your-own-level exercise really help you lose weight?

It’s true most types of yoga don’t have anything near the calorie-burning power of aerobic exercise. A 150-pound person will burn 150 calories in an hour of doing regular yoga, compared to 311 calories for an hour of walking at 3 mph. But it is exercise, after all, and many practitioners believe yoga can indeed help people take off extra pounds.

“Yoga is a phenomenal way to put you in touch with your body the way nothing else can, and yes, it can help you lose weight,” says instructor Dana Edison, director of Radius Yoga in North Redding, Mass., and a certified personal trainer with the American College of Sports Medicine.

Celebrity yoga trainers Ana Brett and Ravi Singh, who have worked with such hotties as Madonna and Gwyneth Paltrow, also believe in yoga’s weight-loss powers.

“We have seen it in ourselves, we have seen it in our clients – yoga can give you a real workout even if you are a beginner,” says Brett, who, with Singh, created the best-selling DVD program Fat Free Yoga.

How Does It Work?

In 2005, medical researcher and practicing yogi Alan Kristal, DPH, MPH, set out to do a medical study on the weight-loss effects of yoga.

With funding from the National Cancer Institute, Kristal and colleagues at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle led a trial involving 15,500 healthy, middle-aged men and women. All completed a survey recalling their physical activity (including yoga) and their weight between the ages of 45 and 55. Researchers then analyzed the data, teasing out other factors that could influence weight change – such as diet or other forms of exercise.

The end result: They found yoga could indeed help people shed pounds, or at least keep them from gaining weight.

“Those practicing yoga who were overweight to start with lost about 5 pounds during the same time period those not practicing yoga gained 14 pounds,” says Kristal.

For the study, he says, practicing yoga was defined as at least one 30-minute session per week for four or more years.

Kristal says it’s not clear just how yoga might help people keep off the pounds, at least from a scientific standpoint. His own opinion is that the effects are subtle, and related to yoga’s mind-body aspects.

“The buzzword here is mindfulness — the ability to observe what is happening internally in a non-reactive fashion,” he says. “That is what helps change the relationship of mind to body, and eventually to food and eating.”

Adds Edison: “Yoga makes you more susceptible to influence for change – so if you are thinking you want to change your lifestyle, you want to change the way you think about food, you want to get over destructive eating patterns, yoga will help give you the spiritual connection to your body that can help you make those changes.”

Another idea is that yoga forges a strong mind-body connection that ultimately helps make you more aware of what you eat and how it feels to be full.

“Essentially, in yoga you learn your body is not your enemy, and the conscious awareness of the body that you gain translates into better appetite control,” Edison says.

Power Yoga: The New Attitude

While some say yoga is too tame for extreme weight loss, many devotees of the practice known as “power yoga” disagree.

Power yoga is an Americanized version of traditional Kundalini techniques. Instructors like Singh and Brett believe it can offer all the fat-burning potential – and heart benefits — of an aerobic workout.

While traditional types of yoga are based on breathing techniques paired with static poses, Singh says, power yoga combines meditative breathing with faster, more active movements. The result, he says, is a workout that can be more aerobic than . . . aerobics!

“Aerobic means to exercise in the presence of oxygen, so when you are doing the traditional yoga breathing along with the more active exercises, you’re doing exactly that,” he says. “Our ‘breath of fire’ technique, for example, is one of many we use to help you burn calories while you breathe.”

Edison concedes power yoga may help some people lose weight, but she questions whether it could work for the yoga novice, or the average out-of-shape dieter.

“Can yoga build muscle? Yes. Is a fast-paced, power class aerobic? Sometimes. And can you sweat out water weight in a 105-degree room? Sure. But can the average overweight person effectively shed pounds through a one-size-fits-all physical yoga practice? Not realistically or safely,” Edison tells WebMD.

What about using power yoga to jump-start a weight loss plan? Kristal says even the most forceful power yoga techniques won’t equal the health benefits of a cardiovascular workout — nor will yoga ever burn calories quickly at a significant level.

“It’s just not medically feasible – it’s not going to happen,” he says.

Still, Brett and Singh say they’ve seen firsthand that it can work, even for beginners.

“People come to yoga for many different reasons, but we have seen many success stories in terms of losing weight and learning to control weight,” says Brett. “Active yoga, even for the novice, can change your body and your life.”

Making Yoga Work for You

One thing all our experts agree on is that yoga can be a terrific introduction to the world of fitness.
To help get you started, they offer these tips:

1. Practice in a room without mirrors, and put the emphasis on your internal experience rather than your outer performance.
2. Learn to experience the sensation of movement, down to the tiniest micro movement.
3. Always try to find your “edge” — the place where your body feels challenged, but not overwhelmed. When you achieve this, keep an open, accepting state of mind.
4. Give yourself permission to rest when you’re tired.
5. Combine your yoga session with positive self-talk. Appreciate your efforts and praise your inner goodness.
6. Go to class faithfully. If you work out at home, set a specific day and time for your yoga session and stick to it.
7. Recognize that you are not only working on your body, but are also working to develop qualities like patience, discipline, wisdom, kindness and gratitude.
8. Look for a teacher (in a class or on video) who you feel offers a balance between gentleness and firmness, and who inspires you to practice.
9. Recognize that simply buying a yoga DVD or attending the class is a step toward creating a better you. Use it as momentum to keep going.
10. Realize your efforts are not just inspiring you, but also inspiring others as you become more attuned to who you are, inside and out.

SOURCE URL – http://www.webmd.com/fitness-exercise/features/yoga-for-weight-loss

Radiance Magazine – For Large Women

Ladies – just found this site, they offer quite a bit of great information for larger women. I was searching for some other information, and found the site and this article: http://www.radiancemagazine.com/issues/1999/summer_99/summer_99_surviving_summer.htm

Natural Skin Care Products For Men

Natural Skin Care for Men is More Important Than You Might Think

Author: Dr Danny Siegenthaler

Generally, men do not take especially good care of their skin. Mostly they shave their stubbles off in the morning, apply some aftershave and that’s just about it.

Some take it a step further and apply a moisturiser or toning gel after completing their shaving routine, but very few realise that taking good care of their skin is much more important than that.

You see, the integrity of the skin is vitally important to prevent harmful substances and micro-organisms from penetrating through the natural barrier of the skin. Few men realise that the integrity of the skin is compromised by shaving. Shaving removes the natural barrier function of the skin and allows potentially harmful ingredients and micro-organisms to pass through the skin, while nicks and cuts open the pathway into the blood stream.

Even when using an electric shaver, the skin is inflicted with microscopic nicks and cuts (they don’t have to bleed), which compromises the integrity of the skin. The process of shaving removes not only the protective acid mantel of the skin, but in addition, shaving removes several of the most superficial skin layers including some living skin cell layers and this renders the skin vulnerable.

This vulnerability is not just limited to attack from micro-organisms either. Once the natural barrier of the skin has been compromised, molecules that would otherwise have been excluded are now able to penetrate the skin and enter into the deeper layers of the skin and potentially the bloodstream.

Natural skin care products for men that only contain safe, effective and 100% natural ingredients such as essential oils and herbal extracts will reduce this risk. Essential oils are known to have very powerful antiseptic effects, which help to keep micro-organisms from penetrating through the compromised skin and thus prevent infection and inflammation of the skin. Together with herbal extracts, these types of ingredients soothe, nourish and protect the skin and prevent bacteria and other micro-organisms, etc., from entering the deeper layers of the skin.

In addition, using only safe and natural ingredients insures that potentially toxic ingredients, commonly found in men’s skin care products, are not a threat – simply because they’re contained in the products.

One also has to be mindful of the fact that no matter what type of razor is used, a range of bacteria and other micro-organisms will always be present on the blade, even a brand new blade. It is therefore very easy to introduce these organisms into the bloodstream. In most cases, the body’s immune system will handle this quickly and effectively, but by adding dangerous chemicals, contained in most commercially available skincare and shaving products, into the equation the skin can be adversely affected.

We are seeing an increase in skin sensitivities being reported by men that on closer examination frequently turn out to be allergic reactions to ingredients in the skin care products they are using. We have seen that once they start using 100% natural skin care products and follow a systematic skin care approach, these sensitivities tend to become less and their skin generally becomes healthier.

Specifically formulated natural skin care products for men are not jet commonly available, however, it is worth the effort to identify such products in order to avoid causing unnecessary skin problems and potentially dangerous skin infections.

About the Author:

Danny Siegenthaler is a doctor of traditional Chinese medicine and together with his wife Susan, a medical herbalist and Aromatherapist, they have created Natural Skin Care Products by Wildcrafted Herbal Products to share their 40 years of combined expertise with you.

Take a look at their 100% natural skin care products for men.

© Wildcrafted Herbal Products 2009

Article Source: ArticlesBase.com – Natural Skin Care for Men is More Important Than You Might Think

Low Calorie Diet May Slow Aging

Reuters – A 20-year study of monkeys shows that a reduced-calorie diet pays off in less disease and longer life, U.S. researchers said on Thursday, a finding that could apply to humans.

Read the full article – Low-calorie diet slows aging in monkeys (Reuters)

« Previous Page — Next Page »