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Weight Loss Lies We Tell Ourselves

5 weight loss lies we tell ourselves.

By Jim Gerard- Author

 

Weight loss is an American cultural obsession. The national conversation about it has become a cacophony of claims and inducements for products and diet programs, and promises from their providers. Information from experts—real and self-proclaimed—flows forth on a daily basis, with each new “discovery” or study contradicting the one preceding it. In such a chaotic environment, many distortions, half-truths and total falsehoods have become repeated so often that far too many people accept them as gospel. We asked some of the nation’s leading nutrition and weight-loss specialists to debunk what we consider the top five weight-loss myths.

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9 Things We Learned About Health and Fitness in 2014

The end of the year is a great time to review and reflect on areas of growth or achievement. For those of us interested in fitness, whether as professionals helping others achieve their goals or as die-hard enthusiasts who enjoy working out, this is a chance to see if we’ve actually achieved the objectives we’ve been working toward all year long.

Centuries ago, Greek philosopher Heraclitus stated that “the only thing that is constant is change.” This is especially true of our understanding of the human body and how it is affected by exercise. As 2014 draws to a close, it is worth taking a few minutes to review the research to see what we have learned about how exercise and physical activity can help us stay healthy and achieve our fitness goals.

Following are nine pieces of information that were either realized or validated during 2014. While some of these items are simply research-based evidence of what is common gym folklore, others are important findings that may cause us to fundamentally change how we use physical activity in our daily lives.

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Smartphone Use for Business at Night Not So Smart?

Late evening use disrupts sleep and may hurt productivity, study suggests.

By Alan Mozes- HealthDay Reporter

 

FRIDAY, Feb. 7, 2014 (HealthDay News) — As smartphones have become the must-have technology for millions of Americans, the opportunity to call, text or email is often just an arm’s length away — day or night. But new research cautions that using smartphones to attend to work after hours can actually disrupt sleep and undermine overall productivity, leaving workers tired and unfocused during the day. “What we have is a double-whammy effect,” said study co-author Russell Johnson. “On the one hand, when people are using their phones to conduct work late into the night then they’re less able to detach and disassociate from their job, which makes sleeping more difficult and can lead to mental fatigue.

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