Probiotics and Weight Loss - What is the correlation?

So one of my favorite websites to get GREAT information about taking care of yourself is www.realage.com from Dr. Oz and the other YOU Dr.

It is great because you can take a very long questionaire and find out what your "REAL AGE" is. When I took it 1 year ago, my real age was "24." I would have been 22, but I had more than 4 major stressors at the time - new baby, moving, and a couple more.

The cool thing is they send you emails with GREAT information on the latest findings, tips - many of them weight loss related - all in pursuit to make YOU the healthiest version of yourself. I really love it. Here was one I found today that I thought was great because I have TOTALLY seen a difference in health in my kids (especially my asthmatic son) with the addition of probiotics in his diet.

Who knew they could help you LOSE WEIGHT? Here is the rundown:

A Legitimate Pill That Makes You Skinny?
You don’t have to be a celebrity with three chefs, two nannies, and a big-name personal trainer to emerge from pregnancy even more svelte and glamorous than you started. A little pill that boosts your health may help prevent pregnancy weight gain from hanging around.

The little pill is a probiotic supplement. Technically, probiotics are bacteria, but they’re a good type of microbe that we recommend taking daily to keep your digestive system running smoothly, beef up your immune system, and reduce damaging inflammation. You have 10 trillion bacteria in and on you, so you might as well choose to have the good bacteria that help keep bad microbes in check.

A new study from Finland found that pregnant women who started taking probiotic supplements during the first trimester -- and kept up the regimen throughout the term of their pregnancies -- had a lower percentage of body fat after delivery than women who ate the same diet but didn’t take the supplements. Probiotic takers were also less likely to have dangerous fat around their waists than the pill-free women were. (And researchers saw no harm to the supplement takers’ babies; in fact, other studies show that women on these pills had infants with less diarrheal and other early-childhood diseases.)

What’s the magic? It’s possible that good bacteria control inflammation, which somehow also helps control obesity. Or it’s possible that there’s something about balancing the bacteria that keeps fat in control (though it’s not clear how).

Either way, the probiotics that kept new moms svelte were the easy-to-find ones called Lactobacillus GG, and Bifidobacterium. Of course, you can still hire the nanny and the trainer, but we’d try these little bacteria first -- they can cost about $14- $20 a month and might slim your waist without liposuctioning your wallet.

Do you take probiotics? Have you noticed any health differences? You can actually get a CUSTOMIZED probitic based on the 4 strains of good bacteriea that should be on your body. OUr Chiropractor hooks us up. They have to be refrigerated all the way home - so we have to bring a cooler. Pretty cool.

The pitfalls of PILATES

I LOVE Pilates - and so you must read this post KNOWING that. Pilates has become the IN and the ALL for many people - especially women.

One thing to understand is that the pilates that we do is ADAPTED Pilates. The original work of JH Pilates was mostly on machines.

One other thing to point out - JH Pilates was a MAN.

In the perspective of a Personal Trainer who specializes in helping Pregnant and Postpartum women LOSE and AVOID a "MUMMY TUMMY" I modify ALL, I repeat, ALL of the BACKYLYING Pilates exercises so they don't increase the size of their split stomach muscles (DIASTASIS).

How must these exercises be modified? Very simple - if you keep your shoulders GLUED to the floor, and keep your belly button PLASTERED to your spine, you will be fine.

What happens if your shoulders come OFF the ground? Your transverse (innermost abdominal muscle) bulges forcefully forward. It is a forward forceful motion or pressure that CREATES a diastasis.

So for the pilates 100 - you may either keep your head glued to the floor if you are not as strong, or tuck your chin and lift your head like you were nodding YES. Also, my other problem with the teaser, is that your legs are at a 45 degree angle. If you cannot keep the small of your back on the ground for this, your transverse muscle is not strong enough, and you will have another BULGE OUT.

I frequently meet women who do pilates that have very large diastasis. This is because their instructors do not have that missing puzzle piece about the diastasis, the transverse, and how the two must be considered with every exercise taught.

The other PILATES NO-NO for pregnant or POSTPARTUM WOMEN (no matter how long PP) is no JACK-KNIFES!!!!! This creates a big bulge out and is one of the prime sources or prolonged split stomach muscles. Most people go in and out of bed this way. Once those shoulders come off the ground, that transverse bulges forcefully forward and widens your split.

About 10 to 30 minutes AFTER the classes I teach are spent modifying people's pilates moves to accomodate their POSTPARTUM bodies (even if it has been TENS of YEARS since having a baby).

FAST RULES TO MODIFY PILATES FOR WOMEN:
1) keep shoulders on the ground at all times
2) keep small of the back on the ground while doing back-lying pilates
3) keep your belly button GLUED to the spine (we call this 5th floor in my classes)

Do you do Pilates? Are there any exercises that haven't felt right to you? Have you ever modified your OWN Pilates? What Pilates exercises do you love?

The misconceptions of....HONEY?!?!

After a comment from Mary the other day, I did some research on honey of all things. I found that a whopping 82% of people eat REFINED honey.

I did not even realize there was a difference between RAW and REFINED honey.

One is good for you and can help you maintain a figure.

The other - BAD BAD news...because it is all the good stuff taken out (like refined sugar, which is all most of us ever taste) and leaves us with a high-fructose corn syrup MIMIC that is 100 on the glycemic index.

What is RAW honey? Only a 60.

One benefit Mary pointed out on her comment was that if you eat locally produced honey it helps you build up antiodies towards local pollen which help eliminate your local pollen allergies.

Here are some other distinctions:

Raw honey is used by many cultures as a remedy for many health ailments, including ulters, digestive problems, and even seasonal allergies. Studies have shown honey to have antibacterial, antimicrobial, and antibiotic properties. MAny people use honey topically on cuts and bruises to help fight infection.

Raw, unprocessed honey is a superfood that provides antioxidants, minerals, vitamins, amino acids, enzymes, carbohydrates, and phytonutrients. According to the National Honey Board (NHB), (http://www.honey.com) , 82 percent of households currently use processed honey, which has been heated and pasteurized, and can contain botulism and High Fructose Corn Syrup, (HFCS). Processed honey is not as antibacterial, as raw honey, and is dangerous for diabetics and infants under 12 months old.

May Berenbaum, Ph.D., a University of Illinois entomologist, shares that "Honey has been used for centuries to treat a wide range of medical problems like wounds, burns, cataracts, skin ulcers and scrapes," Various researchers worldwide are finding strong antimicrobial properties in some honeys. Raw honey is used by many cultures as a remedy for ulcers, digestion, bronchitis, and as an energizer, as well as many other answers to health problems. Recently, the Australian Therapeutic Goods Administration, the equivalent of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, approved Manuka Tree honey as a medicine.

For more info on honey, check out www.naturalnews.com/022859.html

What kind of honey is in YOUR pantry? Were you aware of the difference between raw and refined honey?

If your supermarket sells raw honey too expensively, Farmers market usually has a person that sells raw honey that is comparable to the supermarket price for infintely better HEALTH and WAISTLINES!