Fuhrman's nutrient density index

Kale Collards Bok Choy Spinach Cabbage Red Pepper Romn Lettuce Broccoli Cauliflower Green Peppers Artichoke Carrots Asparagus Strawberries Tomatoes Plums Blueberries Iceberg Lettuce Orange Cantaloupe Flax Seeds

1000 1000 824 739 481 420 389 342 295 258 244 240 234 212 164 157 130 110 109 100 44

Tofu SweetPotatoes Apples Peaches KidneyBeans GreenPeas Lentils Pineapple Avocado Oatmeal Mangoes Cucumbers Soybeans Sunflower Seeds Brown Rice Salmon Shrimp Skim Milk White Potatoes Grapes Walnuts

86 83 76 73 71 70 68 64 64 53 51 50 48 45 41 39 38 36 31 31 29

Bananas Chicken Breast Eggs Low Fat Yogurt Corn Almonds WWheat Bread Feta Cheese Whole Milk Ground Beef White Pasta White Bread Peanut Butter Apple Juice Swiss Cheese Potato Chips American Cheese Vanilla Ice Cream French Fries Olive Oil Cola

30 27 27 26 25 25 25 21 20 20 18 18 18 16 15 11 10 9 7 2 1

7 Minute Abs? 8 Minute Abs? What About 6 Minute Abs?

DIRECTIONS:

1. Lie on your side with your right hand on the ground or use an exercise mat. For beginners, it is recommended to begin this exercise on your elbow.
2. Lift yourself up to form a plank with your right arm straight and your left arm on your side.
3. Remember to keep your body in a straight line, tightening your abs and butt muscles. You might want to start in front of a mirror to learn the technique

Have you ever seen the movie, There's Something About Mary? My favorite scene is where Ben Stiller picks up a psychotic hitchhiker who pitches him on his business idea, 7 Minute Abs. The guy tells him "You walk into video store, you see 8 minute abs sitting there and then you see 7 minute abs on the shelf right beside it. Which one are you gonna pick man?". Then Ben tells him he would go for the 7. He then says it is a great idea until someone comes up with 6 minute abs. The guys freaks out a bit and his face twitches. It is a great scene! This article is about a very effective ab routine I have been doing the past month. It takes a little less than 10 minutes. I'll be safe until someone comes up with a "9 minute abs" routine!

["We guarantee it…If you're not happy with the first 7 minutes. We are going to send you the extra minute free!"]

Planks…A Simple, Yet Effective Ab Exercise

Anyone who has been reading the posts on this site for a while knows I'm a HUGE fan of the plank exercise. I really enjoy doing the plank exercise, because it is the perfect ab exercise in my opinion. It has been proven to promote good posture and is a good exercise to do to protect against back injuries. Planks also promote even ab development. What I mean by that, is that this exercise seems to work the upper lower and mid part of the abdominal wall evenly. Planks also works all the "detail" muscles well that surround the abs…the obliques, intercostals, etc.

*Here's a site that has a diagram of both the side plank and regular plank: http://www.abs-exercise-advice.com/plank.html

Why I Prefer Planks Over Other Ab Exercises

Other ab exercises generate contractions by shortening and curling your spine to a certain extent. Over time I believe this shortens the hip flexors and can create bad posture along with back problems for a lot of people. Planks, on the other had, generate strong contractions in a neutral position. Think about this…don't you want to display defined six pack abs when you are standing or just lying in the sun? Well…planks are teaching your abs to contract hard in this same neutral position. You are basically training your abs to look sharp when your spine is in a natural position (which is most of the time).

Isometric Exercises Are Perfect For the Abs

The last thing you want to do when working your abs is to get puffy and bulky muscle surrounding your mid section. The abs are like any other muscle, they will increase in size if worked in a typical bodybuilding manner. You could do the 3-5 reps that I normally suggest to increase muscle density, I just don't think it is practical or safe for your spine. Isometric exercises like the planks accomplish the same effect as low rep training…hard contractions without the breaking down of muscle. You will increase muscle density without an increase in muscle size. This is the secret to getting amazing looking abs.

Planks Are an Extremely Time Efficient Way to Work Abs

When you do a 2 minute plank, your muscles are contracting hard the entire 2 minutes. If you did a crunching movement for 2 minutes straight, your abs are only contracted for a portion of that time. I would bet that your abs are in a contracted state for less than 1/3 of the time when doing typical ab exercises. If you look at it this way, planks are about 3 times more efficient. You could do in 10 minutes what it would take you 30 minutes to do in a typical ab workout. Yes…I know this is WAY over simplifying the way exercising affects the body, but you get the point.

My Simple Yet Effective Ab Workout

1) Two minutes doing a right side plank
2) Two minutes doing a left side plank
3) Rest 30 seconds
4) Two minutes doing a regular plank
5) Rest 30-60 seconds
6) Two minutes doing an exercise ball plank

Note: You won't be able to do this your first time out. You may have to cut it down to a minute for each set if you are a beginner. Once you get more advanced see if you can hold the exercise ball plank for over 2 minutes. Once you get really advanced, see if you can string all of this together without rest. If you don't have an exercise ball, just do a regular plank on the floor again for 2 minutes. One last thing…2 minutes is going to feel like a lifetime on that last exercise!

Source

Vitamix is the best blender

Consumer Reports rates the Vitamix as the best blender but balk at the price. Their suggestion: Live with a few chunks of ice in your icy drinks and save hundreds of dollars. they obviously don't drink the amount or type of smoothies some of us do.

Vitamix 5000 (85),
Blendtec (79),
Breville (75).
Oster Counterforms (72),
Braun PowerMax (72 and is their Top Pick),
George Foreman Brainstorm (70)
Oster Fusion (70)
KitchenAid KSB580 ( 69)
KitchenAid KSB560 (66)
Villaware Moderno Pro ( (65)
Cuisinart Smarrt power Premier ( 64)
Oster 6878 (62)
Hamilton Beach Wave Power Plus (60)

Would you like heart disease with your coffee?

Issue 1, Sept 2002.

Recent articles in university and medical school-affiliated newsletters have proclaimed that drinking coffee is safe "in moderate amounts" and that coffee is not a "major" risk factor for coronary disease. That should be good news for coffee drinkers. Unfortunately, these reports are misleading because the research behind them was very narrowly focused, looking only at single issues, such as incidence of heart attacks. They ignore the fact that people face a variety of other risks and concerns.

What does it matter if coffee is not a "major" risk factor for heart attack, when its minor risk factors can add up to be substantial contributors to others diseases? Granted, one cup of coffee per day is not likely to cause any significant risks, but the more you drink over this one-cup maximum, the more likely it will interfere with your health.

Research clearly has shown that excessive consumption of caffeinated beverages is dangerous. Caffeine addicts are at higher risk of cardiac arrhythmias, which can precipitate sudden death. Coffee raises blood pressure, and it also raises both cholesterol and homocysteine, two risk factors for heart disease.

Besides the slightly increased risk of heart disease, there are other problems. First, caffeine is a stimulant. The consumption of caffeine gives you the false impression that you can get by with less sleep. It also reduces the depth of your sleep. Such sleep deprivation results in higher levels of the stress hormone cortisol and interferes with glucose metabolism, which leads to insulin resistance, and subsequent higher baseline glucose level, further promotes aging, blood vessel disease, and other problems. In other words, caffeine consumption promotes inadequate sleep, and less sleep promotes disease and premature aging. There is no substitute for adequate sleep.

The second issue is that drinking coffee boosts estrogen levels. Higher levels of estrogen worsen problems like endometriosis, breast pain, and menstrual disorders. Increased estrogen levels also are associated with higher risk of breast cancer, so it is possible that in the future we may discover that coffee is more dangerous than anyone thought. Of interest is a recent study that showed that women who consumed more than 500 milligrams of caffeine per day (4 to 5 cups of coffee) had nearly 70% higher estrogen levels during the early part of their menstrual cycle than women consuming only one cup or no caffeine. Keep in mind that coffee, which has 40-175 mg of caffeine per cup, is not the sole cause of America's caffeine addiction. Tea has 30-110 mg. per cup and colas have 40-90 mg per 12 oz.

Thirdly, it has been found that drinking even moderate amounts of decaffeinated coffee can quadruple a person's risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis. Since these studies involved decaffeinated coffee, the researchers speculated that organic solvent in the decaf coffee might be the culprit.

Salad absorption

You increase the absorption of the nutrients by adding a fat to the dressing.

Raw salad, 15% absorption
Blended salad, 85% absorption
Salad with fatty dressing, 50% absorption

Avocado, cashew butter, pecan dressing,
15% up to 50%. Dramatically more than without a dressing.
Add acidity to the dressing, a vinegar, pomegranate juice, spices, herbs, onion, garlic
Raisins, goji berries, dates, etc.

Something fatty
Something juicy
Something sweet
Something biting