Dear Sarah,

Sometimes I have trouble getting myself to the gym after work (which truly is my only time to exercise). I spend 20-30 minutes on cardio and then do a circuit of weights. I make myself go because I think it will make me feel better, but sometimes it makes me feel worse -- grouchy and wishing I hadn't bothered. Why does this happen? I thought exercise was supposed to release endorphins or something?

Becky

Dear Becky,

Chances are at the end of a long day at the office you are tired more mentally than physically. The good news is that doing something physical can help you combat your mental fatigue. Keep in mind, you're not necessarily going to reach a runner's high (an extreme rush of endorphins, the feel-good hormones) every time you step into the gym. However, you can elevate your mood at least a couple of notches.

When endorphins are released, they increase your body's threshold for pain and improve how you feel emotionally. While it's perfectly natural to feel tired and perhaps a little grouchy due to the hunger you built up exercising just before dinner, if you truly feel worse for wear, then you most likely have not achieved your endorphin rush.

Find out how to ensure your workout rush after the jump.

Dear Sarah,

My summer wardrobe includes a lot of cute, cap-sleeved blouses and tank tops. I love them, but I don't love how my arms look in them, particularly the backs of my arms. What is the best way to make them prettier and more toned? (Obviously, I don't want to look like a vein-popping body builder)
Thanks,
Wanda

Dear Wanda,

The key to nicely-shaped arms is to use a variety of exercises that tone and strengthen the muscles. Please note that no amount of focused arm work will eliminate excess fat in this region. Fat loss cannot be targeted, and a mixture of cardio and weight training along with a healthy, whole foods-based diet is the only way to ensure fat loss.

Natasha Turner, N.D. is a Toronto-based naturopathic doctor. She is the founder of the Clear Medicine wellness boutique and author of the bestselling book The Hormone Diet. Each week in her column for That's Fit.ca, Dr. Turner advises readers on how to remedy common health issues and improve their overall health.

Proper diet and nutritional supplements can benefit everyone suffering from allergies by boosting immunity and optimizing health. Allergies, ranging from sinus congestion and hay fever to asthma, dermatitis and hives are all symptoms of reduced immunity. Presented here are some recommended supplements and dietary advice to keep you sniffle-free!

Multivitamin/Mineral
A full-spectrum multivitamin and mineral product in a highly absorbable form is essential to ensure the foundation of health. Vitamins and minerals are necessary for proper growth, metabolism, digestion, immune system function, muscle and nerve function and detoxification processes in the liver. Scientific studies have shown that the majority of us are deficient in many essential nutrients because of poor dietary habits and other factors which may deplete nutrient levels such as caffeine, drugs, stress or pollution.

Acidophilus/Probiotics
Studies have proven that taking acidophilus helps to reduce the frequency and severity of infections. Acidophilus is the friendly bacteria that live in our digestive tract. This bacteria balance is affected by the use of antibiotics, the birth control pill or excess sugar and carbohydrate intake. Everyone can benefit from the use of probiotics for healthy digestion and immunity. Acidophilus has also been found useful in the treatment and prevention of skin conditions, allergies and thrush. Be sure to follow any course of antibiotics with supplements of acidophilus for double the length of time you took the antibiotics.

There is an old adage in the weightlifting world that goes: "Everything works, but nothing works forever."

If you're brand new to weightlifting, then even a moderately spastic, untrained, half-assed effort is going to get you some results (as long as you don't injure yourself in the process). Weightlifting is a form of stress on the body, and the physiological reaction to this new and unknown stress is adaptation, growing your muscles larger and stronger. Hoo-rah.

Then, after a while, adaptation is achieved and you reach a plateau. To make your muscles stronger and larger yet again – to chase a higher plateau – you need to introduce a new form of stress. Then you reach a new plateau, and you do it again until you either reach your genetically-predetermined plateau (where you simply can't get any more muscular or stronger without taking anabolic steroids, no matter how hard you try), or you get to the point where you're happy with what you've achieved and just want to maintain it.

Just FYI, achieving your genetic plateau is what Olympic athletes do. They train endlessly and have exceptional nutrition to reach it. For us normal folks, we're just trying to reach a "limited plateau" and then sustain it in a valiant delaying action against age until gravity finally wins.

Natasha Turner, N.D. is a Toronto-based naturopathic doctor. She is the founder of the Clear Medicine wellness boutique and author of the bestselling book The Hormone Diet. Each week in her column for That's Fit.ca, Dr. Turner advises readers on how to remedy common health issues as well as improve their overall health.


Don't let stress get the best of you. Use these simple tips for taming tension and increasing weight loss success.

Researchers have known for years that physical stress is detrimental to our health and well-being. However, it is only recently that psychological stress has become linked to a number of health complaints. In fact, a study conducted by researcher Paula Rhode, PhD and her colleagues revealed that higher stress and depression were linked with weight regain, typically due to seeking comfort from food, especially calories from fat.

How we handle stress is up to us, but it could make a difference in weight loss success. "Incorporating stress, and mood-management techniques into future weight-loss programs may help to prevent or delay weight regain that occurs as a result of poor coping and/or increased high-risk or unhealthy behaviours," Rhode revealed in the study.

How Stress Affects Us
Most of us are all too familiar with the feeling of being stressed: Your heart races, your breathing becomes rapid and shallow, your blood pressure rises and your hands become cold or clammy as blood flow is directed to your arm and leg muscles in preparation for escape. This is our initial response to stress, otherwise known as an adrenalin rush. The relaxation response is just the opposite: Breathing rate slows and deepens, muscles relax, blood pressure lowers, pulse rate slows down and more blood flow is directed to the organs of digestion. It is this state that is best for our mind and body.

Three Tips on How to Handle Stress Effectively after the jump

Getting in shape usually isn't free.

There could be a way to make it free, or even turn it into a revenue generator. You could get a paper route and wake up at five every morning running from house to house throwing the daily news into people's flowerbeds. I'm not sure how much paperboys get paid, but I think it would more than offset the cost of running gear. It's just a thought.

Gym memberships cost. Healthy food costs. Workout clothing and running shoes cost. Personal music players cost. Good personal trainers cost a lot. So does yoga.

It's all worth it.

I'm not saying you should let your kids starve or send them to the lost and found bin for new clothes, but this is a financial investment that you won't regret.

Think of it this way: Exercise is your hobby, and hobbies cost money. This is not some pain-in-the-ass endeavour that is going to just suck dollars out of your wallet; it is something awesome that you like spending money on. Do you play golf? Think about how much that sport costs. Or how about owning a boat? Those things cost a fortune to buy, run and maintain. I once heard that a boat is a hole in the water that you pour your money into.

Personal Trainer Kathleen Trotter explains how using a kettle bell can help you build power and strength.

Q: What is kettle bell training?

A: A kettle bell is a cast iron weight. It looks somewhat like cannonball with a handle attached. There are two main differences between kettle bell training and traditional dumbbell training. One is that the majority of kettle bell training involves using momentum and using one's hips to generate power. The second is that a kettle bell is designed so it can swing. This swinging motion creates an environment where the body has to use its inner stabilizing muscles to make micro adjustments while performing the exercise in order to maintain proper form. There are kettle bell exercises that are unique to this piece of equipment (for example the Turkish get up or the swing), as well as exercises using the bell that are purely modifications on old dumbbell and power lifting favourites (cleans, clean and jerks, overhead squats).

Q: Why is it beneficial? Can it help train the body for anything in particular?

If you're trying to lose weight, you're going to have to start paying attention to your calorie intake. Large quantities of them can be hiding in places you don't expect and you probably aren't burning as many of them as you think you are.

Reality sucks.

This reality, however, doesn't mean that you need to be really anal about your diet and exercise regime to lose weight. For most people, keeping a meticulous ledger of all the calories you consume and burn in a day is unnecessary.

For a short period I counted calories. I lost about 25 pounds of fat then plateaued for a few years. Although I had a mild desire to be slimmer, I wasn't really trying to lose any more weight. Then about four years ago I decided that seeing my abs might be a cool thing and was determined to lose another 20 pounds. The process took five months and I counted calories for the first two. Over those two months I was able to get a feel for things so that eventually I could just sort of tell if I was over, under, or had hit the perfect balance between calorie intake and burning for the day. This approach has kept me hovering between a two-pack and four-pack abs ever since then, without writing anything down.

Good enough.

Enough about me; let's talk about you.

Dear Sarah,

I am eight weeks pregnant. My workout partner and I meet three mornings per week to exercise. We warm up and then do weights, hitting all the major muscle groups. Is it safe to continue working out in the same way as my pregnancy progresses? What modifications should I make?

Serena

Dear Serena,

Yes it's safe, as long as you have the green light from your health care provider. In fact, a regular weight/muscle strengthening exercise regime can get your body ready for delivery and child-rearing (think all night rocking sessions), while keeping you healthy and strong during the pregnancy.

Lifting weights is a great way to help maintain your muscle mass during pregnancy. A strong, balanced body will not only help you support your ever growing front load, but will keep your metabolism (the rate at which your burn calories) running at a healthy rate.

Me man. Man lift heavy thing. Put heavy thing down. Lift heavy thing again. Man grow big. Impress woman. Mmmm... man like woman.

This type of thinking is more common than you might expect, with some adopting a "Captain Hardcore" mentality that free weights rule all and weightlifting machines are filled with suck and fail. These are the same types of guys that don't mind dropping several dollars on a single serving of Mega-Plex-Whey-Protein-Isolate-Muscle-Blaster-Sludge-Shake.

I don't pay much attention to them, and neither should you.

Yes, free weights are the best type of weightlifting to engage in because their use reflects a more natural human movement, but that doesn't mean that weightlifting machines don't have uses. Whether it's for exercising your chest, back, arms or legs, there are a lot of good weightlifting machines out there and you shouldn't let some over-muscled "bro" intimidate you out of using them.

Seven Reasons to Use Weight Machines after the jump

I consider myself to be pretty from the neck down.

The genetic lottery didn't give me anything close to one of those Brad Pitt type faces, so I work hard to try and look like I've got something of a Fight Club physique to help keep my wife happy.

There are many reasons why you should engage in weightlifting, and my next post is going to elaborate on that in detail, but for this one I wanted to address the issue of how building muscle affects metabolism.

Speaking of Brad, he was pretty ripped in Fight Club, and many believe that having extra muscle mass burns a lot of extra calories, getting you closer to that coveted six pack. The most commonly quoted numbers are that one pound of muscle burns 50 calories a day while at rest. Using that math, if you happen to build ten pounds of muscle through weight training then you would burn an extra 500 calories every single day just by having that muscle hanging around on your body.

I wish it was true, but it isn't.

Achieving that coveted six pack in virtually no time at all sounds like a good deal, right? Well, I will bust the first myth right here. You cannot get a flat belly "fast," but you can get a flat, fit belly over time and sustain it. Everyone wants a washboard stomach -- in fact, this is easily the most exercised area of the body because people work on what they can see in the mirror when they jump out of the shower. Nothing says health -- or for some, a "hot body" -- like a waist smaller than your hips. In fact, the waist to hip ratio is a very good indication of your risk for heart disease and your overall health.

Not only are the abs the most talked about muscle group, but they also suffer from the most misconceptions. Here is the truth behind some of the most common ab myths, and some facts to help you get you best abs ever.

Myth: Crunches and sit-ups will remove your "Buddha belly"

Fact: You cannot spot-reduce fat on your belly (unless, of course, you want to have it sucked out of you via liposuction!)

Natasha Turner, N.D. is a Toronto-based naturopathic doctor. She is the founder of the Clear Medicine wellness boutique and author of the bestselling book The Hormone Diet. Each week in her column for That's Fit.ca, Dr. Turner advises readers on how to remedy common health issues as well as improve their overall health.

Many people, myself included, think one of the most attractive parts of the opposite sex's body is their stomach-and maybe a nice set of shoulders...In any case, the last place you want fat hanging around is at your waist. It seems this is the first place it goes when you gain a few pounds and it is the last place to leave.

Believe it or not, those pesky fat patches have more to do with hormonal balance than a pregnant woman eating pickles and ice cream!

Love handles aren't just unattractive, carrying weight around your abdomen is bad for your health-worse than carrying weight on your hips or thighs. Excess fat around the waist, or an apple body shape, is suggestive of insulin resistance, a condition that is linked to the development of heart disease and diabetes. It is also indicative of an imbalance in cortisol levels. Cortisol is a stress hormone, which, if chronically high, can result in increased deposition of fat around the abdomen. To further complicate the situation, feeling stressed out or depressed may worsen the problem.

Insulin resistance

Insulin is the chemical signal that allows sugar to enter your cells to be used as fuel. Insulin levels also have a direct impact on body composition, as these sugars are later stored as fat if they are not consumed as a source of energy. Insulin resistance causes levels of insulin in the blood to increase. This increase is related to a reduced sensitivity of the body tissues, like muscle, to normal levels of the hormone. As a result, the body tries to overcome this by secreting more insulin from the pancreas. Type 2 diabetes ensues when the pancreas fails to sustain this increased demand for insulin production.

It is currently estimated that one out of every four Americans has insulin resistance. A primary cause is excess intake of sugar or carbohydrates typical of many diets today. This includes foods such as pop or candy as well as cakes, muffins, pastries, chips, crackers, pizza and many other processed foods. Insulin resistance may also be attributed to lack of exercise, overindulging in alcohol, stress, a family history of diabetes, high blood pressure and excess body fat, especially around the abdomen.

Six sure-fire ways to lose "the handles":

Apparently you can weight train just by wearing your shoes. Well, not any shoes, but these athletic numbers from NGR (No Gym Required), which are fitted with weighted midsoles. Why should you be interested in a gimicky pair of sneakers? Well, the claim is that this fitness product will help wearers burn 50 percent more calories than they normally would doing every day activities or running and walking all the while improving their core and toning leg muscles.

Here, Winnipeg-native Jennifer Cohen, who is the founder of NGR, explains her "2 in 1" sneakers.

Q: You've essentially invented a shoe that allows people to lift weights while they walk. Tell me about them.

A: I launched them because [I thought] it would be easy for people to incorporate them into their lives as all you need to do is walk and you'll not only get a cardiovascular workout, but also the weight resistance that's necessary for a full fitness program. Whatever you do normally when you're wearing the shoes is intensified. There's also a booklet that comes with the shoes that gives you a few different exercises -- I put together some leg work and floor movements.