Walk this way... and lose 10lb in four weeks! How simply putting one foot in front of the other can beat the bulge

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2326637/Walk-way--lose-10lb-weeks-How-simply-putting-foot-beat-bulge.html
 JOANNA HALL

*  Sports scientist Joanna Hall teaches a way to walk that aligns the body 

*  The technique can help alleviate back pain and help shed the excess pounds

Next time you are out on a busy street, look around you. There will, no doubt, be people walking and going about their daily business. So far, so ordinary. 

But stop for a moment to really watch. Hunched over, shoulders tense, arms unmoving, heads often bowed – the simple act of movement seems a struggle for many. 

And that is because they are not walking correctly. I admit it sounds ludicrous – starting to walk is a milestone most of us pass shortly after our eighth month of life, usually with the help of our parents. But, typically, bar a little self-taught fine-tuning, there ends the lesson. 

As adults, a life spent sitting at a desk, struggling around with heavy bags and wearing all kinds of lovely-looking but unforgiving footwear takes its toll on our posture. 

Just as we often sit incorrectly, we also walk incorrectly. The knock-on effect? An epidemic of joint pain – in particular bad backs – affecting millions of us. 

About eight in ten of us have one of more bouts of lower-back pain at some time in our lives. One Department of Health survey suggested that 15 per of adults are in continuous pain from a bad back.

With this in mind, I first set about researching efficient and posturally correct ways of practising the everyday activity of walking.

I studied sport science at Loughborough University, so I have a strong research background – and I drew from studies in the world of physiology, biomechanics and fitness disciplines such as Pilates. I now teach a simple way to master walking that is, I believe, the most beneficial way of moving. 

I became my own guinea pig after having my first child. I didn’t want to do the same level of exercise I undertook previously – I used to jog for miles. Just from walking, my thighs got leaner, my waist tapered in, my bottom was lifted and I eradicated my saddlebags. 

I can promise it will do for you what it has for hundreds of my private clients: walking daily will help you shed up to 10 lb in less than a month. Even if you don’t lose that much straight away, you will look slimmer, dropping more than a dress size.

You must make one diet tweak: no starchy carbs after 5pm. There’s no need to go to a gym, use expensive equipment or even to get sweaty.

This isn't power-walking, which involves all kinds of strange hip wiggling. Read this guide for everything you need to master the technique: your new walking style will look fast, smooth and fluid – and you’ll feel dynamic and buzz with energy.

'I TONED UP THE RIGHT WAY'

Karen Walsh, 42, lives in West London with her husband Richard, 46, a photo editor, and their two children, aged six and three. 

She says: ‘I started walking two years ago. I was playing tennis with a friend in Battersea Park when I caught sight of a leaflet advertising Joanna’s method. 

‘At the time, my daughter was just a year and a half old and I was desperate to get back some energy. 

‘I’ve never needed to lose weight but I wanted to tone up. Joanna was an inspiration – amazingly fit and toned, and she glided rather than waddled along. It was great fun – and everything was explained to us on a one-to-one basis. 

‘After just two weeks I could feel a difference. My bottom and upper thighs were much firmer. 

As a freelance projects manager – I work for milliner Philip Treacy – I need a regime that works with a busy life and children. Now, I try to walk twice a week with a girlfriend. 

‘I lost 10lb and have kept it off, but more importantly I stand taller and my body feels honed from top to toe.’

HOW DOES IT WORK?

The principle of my method is simple. It is based on correctly aligning the fascia – the connective tissue in the body, which starts just below the skin. In the 1990s, anatomists discovered that the fascia encases, separates and envelops every part of our physiology – muscles, organs and blood vessels. It’s like a net that holds us together. 

The theory is currently supported by many chiropractors, podiatrists and sports scientists. 

So by holding the body correctly as you exercise, you are effectively shrink-wrapping the muscles within the fascia and working the body from the inside out. 

By aligning the body properly, posture is corrected and movement becomes fluid while discomfort –such as back pain – lessens. The body benefits from correct postural alignment in three ways:

• Cosmetically: by targeting the fascia, body shape is streamlined.
• Functionally: back, knee, hip and neck discomfort are alleviated as joints are correctly aligned.
• Posturally: as movement quality increases, you look more agile, stand taller and look younger. 

WHY WALK?

The NHS scheme Live Well recommends that ideally we all walk 10,000 steps a day (about five miles), which burns up to 450 calories. But on average we walk only about 4,000 steps a day. 

It takes about ten minutes to walk 1,500 steps. Professor Tudor Locke, an American academic specialising in physical activity, suggests that walking fewer than 5,000 steps a day indicates a sedentary lifestyle. 

A 2010 Government report about sedentary behaviour showed that it is associated with higher mortality overall, heart disease, diabetes and some cancers. 

WALK TO BEAT DIABETES AND BOOST MENTAL HEALTH

Aside from improvements in posture, higher calorie expenditure and protection for the joints, there are a host of other health benefits to be gained from walking. 

CANCER

Ten thousand cases of breast and bowel cancer could be prevented each year if more of us took a brisk walk every day. Just 45 minutes of daily activity at a moderate level could prevent about 5,500 cases of breast cancer a year in the UK. 

DIABETES

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the US produced a fact sheet called The Relationship Of Walking To Mortality Among US Adults With Diabetes, which states that those with diabetes who walked for two or more hours a week lowered their mortality rate from all causes by 39 per cent.

HIGH CHOLESTEROL

A study was published suggesting that low-intensity exercise such as walking improves insulin sensitivity and blood lipid levels better than an hour-long high-intensity workout.

MENTAL HEALTH

Charity Mind advocates walking to relieve stress, improve sleep quality and fight depression, since physical activity causes the brain to release endorphins – chemicals that improve mood.

DEMENTIA

Researchers from the Boston Medical Center who studied people in their early 60s found that those with a slower walking pace were one-and-a-half times more likely to develop dementia.

Joanna Hall’s Walkactive Programme: The Simple Yet Revolutionary Way To Transform Your Body, For Life is published by Piatkus on June 6. joannahall.com

6 exercises to target love handles

http://uk.lifestyle.yahoo.com/pinch-inch-6-exercises-target-love-handles-090000304.html
Can you pinch more than an inch? Check out our top tips to banishing love handles

Ditch that pesky spare tyre and get the bikini body you've always wanted with this love handle battle plan.

But before embarking on a stomach crunch marathon be aware of the facts - unfortunately there is no way to target weight loss. We know, gutted.

Fat stores will be used up through cardiovascular exercise and by following a healthy diet.

Avoid sugars, salts and unhealthy fats, and incorporate more fresh fruits, vegetables,and lean clean proteins into your diet instead. 

Make this your priority and then supplement that with these love handle blasting moves to sculpt the muscles and define your newly trim torso. 

1. Cardio
Your first weapon against any form of belly fat. Try doing 20-40 minutes of cardio 4-5 times a week – like brisk walking, running, cycling or swimming. 

Mix this in with calisthenics like lunges, squats, dips and push-ups twice a week and you'll be on your way to success. 

2. The mega crunch

Lie on your back with you feet straight up in the air. Cross your arms over your chest and then crunch like your life depended on it! You are aiming to bring your elbows up towards your knees. Remember to focus your attention on your stomach muscles doing the work and minimise the strain on your back or neck. 

Feel the burn!

3. The sideways shifter

Lie on the floor with your left arm out straight on the floor. Lay your knees down to the side on top of each other, also pointing left. Supporting your head with your right hand, lift your shoulders off the ground towards your hip. Feel the crunch in your side.

Do as many reps as you can and then switch it over and do the other side. 

3. The walking plank

Ramp up your plank. Start in a normal plank position, then where your right elbow is resting on the floor, move your right hand there and push up. Do the same with your let arm – so now you supporting your body up on your arms. Lower your arms back down the way they came, returning to the plank position. 

Do it again alternating leading arms. Remember to focus on keeping your core and hips stable. Your arms should be moving, you body should keep in a line. 

4. Backwards bum crunch 

Start in a standard crunch position on the floor, but this time leave your head and shoulders firmly on the ground and instead raise your knees and bum off the ground, bringing them up towards your chest.

Keep the movement slow and controlled, focusing on your ab muscles. 

5. The ball twist

In a seated position on the floor, sit with your knees bent in front of your chest. Now lean back slightly lifting your feet off the floor, but keeping your back straight. Your body should be in a V shape with your bum being the only bit touching the floor. 

Holding a ball (or any object really!) twist your waist from side to side nearly touching the ball to the floor. Begin to build up the pace. Keep your back and legs in position – all the movement should come from your waist. 

6. Running man plank

Another variation on a plank. Get into position and then bring your left knee up towards your right elbow and put it back in position. Then bring your right knee up towards your left elbow. Keep your abs tight and control the movement. 

Measure of a Mother’s Love: How Early Neglect Derails Child Development

http://healthland.time.com/2012/05/24/the-measure-of-a-mothers-love-how-early-deprivation-derails-child-development/
Maia Szalavitz

Most people don’t need science to appreciate the importance of a mother’s love. But to understand how early maltreatment can derail a child’s development requires careful study — and is fraught with ethical peril.

Such research is therefore often conducted in animals. A new analysis of data on 231 rhesus macaque monkeys explored the effects of three early-childhood conditions on the animals’ later lives. About half of the monkeys were raised normally by their mothers, living in social groups with other monkeys — a condition similar to their natural environment.

One quarter of the monkeys were reared in a nursery without their mothers until day 37, when they were placed in groups of four other monkeys of a similar age.

The final group was also nursery-raised at first, but then these babies were transferred to a cage, where they spent most of their time, with a hot water bottle covered in terrycloth. (Two hours a day, these monkeys were allowed to interact with other monkeys their age.) The condition was similar to that used in the well-known “cloth mother” primate experiments by Harry Harlow, which had previously demonstrated that proper psychological and physical development of infants requires nurturing and attention from a parent, not just the provision of food and water. In that research, socially isolated monkey babies that were removed from their mothers were found to prefer clinging to a cloth-covered surrogate mother for comfort, rather than a harsh wire sculpture, even when only the metal mother provided bottles of milk.

While such experimentation sounds cruel, this type of research has been critical in helping change policies in human orphanages that had for centuries treated infants equally inhumanely. Despite early evidence that orphanage infants were far more likely to die than others, proponents argued that it didn’t matter whether children had “parents” specially devoted to them at the orphanage, claiming that simply feeding and changing them appropriately would be adequate until adoptive parents were found. Babies, they said, couldn’t remember anyway.

The harrowing consequences of these theories were most vividly brought to light in Romania in the 1980s and ’90s, when a ban on abortion led to a surge in orphanage babies. The longer these children were left in their cribs, simply being fed and changed without individualized affection, the more damage was seen, even if the orphanage was clean and well-run. Many children developed autistic-like behaviors, repetitively rocking or banging their heads. Some were cold and withdrawn or indiscriminately affectionate; some alternated between these extremes. And they simply didn’t grow like normal infants: their head circumferences were abnormally small and they had problems with attention and comprehension.

Still, orphanage advocates blamed pre-existing problems that had led parents to give up the children in the first place, not institutional conditions. This debate continued until researchers were allowed to randomize abandoned infants without clear birth defects to either usual orphanage care or foster care from birth. (To mitigate the thorny ethics of the study, adoption was encouraged as early as possible for the orphanage-assigned kids, even though that could have potentially weakened the findings.)

Nonetheless, the study showed that the children who were placed in foster care developed normally, with appropriate head sizes, and less distress, better attentional skills and a 9-point higher IQ on average, compared with children sent to orphanages. Follow-up studies found that the orphanage-raised group was more than twice as likely to develop mental illness, compared with those who’d been in foster care. More than 50% of the orphanage group was diagnosed with at least one mental illness.

Only after this research was published in 2007 did Romania change its policies, though there are still some countries that continue to place abandoned infants in these dangerous settings. Because the problem persists, and also because other early child abuse and neglect can replicate such situations, ongoing study of what harms children in early childhood and what helps their recovery is needed.

In the new research, the monkeys remained in the various rearing conditions — with their mothers, with peers or mainly isolated — until they were about six months old. That’s the human equivalent of age 3 — when the brain is developing at a faster rate than at any other time in postnatal life.

After the 6-month period, the monkeys were placed in a mixed social group, comparable to the normal conditions for their species. They were studied when they were about 1 year old.

The results differed by gender, an effect also seen in humans suffering from child maltreatment. Male monkeys reared in isolation were nearly twice as likely to come down with physical illnesses as those reared by their mothers or with peers. They were also more than five times as likely to show stereotyped behavior, the repetitive motions similar to the rocking or head-banging seen in some cases of autism and in orphanage-reared infants. The peer-reared males were about three times more likely to engage in stereotyped behavior, compared with those raised by their mothers.

In females, surprisingly, the peer-reared group did worse than the monkeys raised in isolation. They were far more likely to be wounded and to suffer hair loss than monkeys raised by their mothers or in isolation. The researchers found that the peer-reared females were more aggressive than other monkeys, suggesting that the wounds may have resulted from fights and the hair loss from hair-pulling by others.

While the males had high levels of a stress hormone known as cortisol and low levels of the metabolite of the mood-related neurotransmitter serotonin, this difference was not seen in females. Lead author Gabriella Conti of the University of Chicago suggests that this may be because in the womb, female fetuses are also more resilient than males.

High levels of stress hormones can increase risk for both mental and physical illnesses, including depression, which also can involve low levels of serotonin.

The authors conclude: “[T]he lack of a secure attachment relationship in the early years has detrimental consequences for both physical and mental health later in life, with long-lasting effects that vary by sex. The persistence of these effects after the end of treatment emphasizes the need to intervene early in life to prevent long-term damage.”

Another of the paper’s authors, the Nobel-prize-winning economist James Heckman, has long argued that investing in early childhood education provides a greater return for society than virtually any other type of spending, not only because of increased educational success and productivity, but also because of reduced crime, addiction, distress and disorder. This study, he says, “shows that early life conditions critically affect adult health. Maternal attachment plays a fundamental role  in shaping who we are; remove it and  the harm is great.”

Indeed, research on early interventions for at-risk families, such as the Nurse Family Partnership and the Perry Preschool Project — which, respectively, provides care for low-income mothers and babies, and offers high-quality preschool education for poor African American children — has shown significant reductions in crime and teen pregnancy, along with gains in education and employment when the children involved in the programs grow up.

It may seem obvious that an isolated, parentless toddler — with or without social contact with peers — will suffer emotionally from lack of parental love. What’s not obvious is that without devoted, repeated acts of love, a child’s brain doesn’t make the growth hormone needed for proper mental and physical development and numerous other imbalances are also created.

While we must try to spare all children, and even other primates, from being subjected to these dysfunctional early life environments, we still need to study how to best overcome them. Fortunately, children overcome troubled childhoods all the time: many children who are adopted out of harmful settings do manage to adjust and ultimately thrive. The earlier they are reached, the better they do. Comparing them with those who do not do as well — and in nonhuman primates, focusing on the resilient animals — could provide important insight into how to help.

The research was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.