Nutrition and health science is constantly evolving, and it often seems as if the latest study contradicts earlier ones. It's hard to know what to believe. But, over the last few decades, a wide array of independent studies has tended to confirm some conclusions about the relationship between excess body fat and associated health risks.

The basic conclusion is that anyone who is considerably overweight is at higher risk for a number of potential health problems. These include various forms of heart condition, high blood pressure, diabetes, colon cancer, liver damage, gallstones and others.

But what is 'considerably overweight'?

There's no static, ideal weight for any given individual, though there are various factors that provide a healthy range. One measurement that is a good starting point is BMI (Body Mass Index). To calculate it, just divide your weight (in kg) by your height (in m) squared. The following table is a rough classification:


•Under 18.5 = Underweight
•Between 18.5 and 24.99 = Normal Weight
•Between 25 and 29.99 = Overweight
•Between 30 and 34.99 = Obese (Class 1)
•Between 35 and 39.99 = Obese (Class 2)
•40 and above = Extreme Obesity

For those on the lower end of the BMI scale, health risks are no more (or at most only moderately higher) than for anyone. Genetic and other environmental factors will outweigh any body fat or weight issues. But for those nearer the higher range, there is strong evidence that health risks are higher.

For example, abdominal obesity (having large fat deposits around the stomach and abdomen) is associated with increased risk of cardiovascular disease and insulin resistance syndrome. For women, a waist circumference of 35 inches or more (40+ in men) is an indicator of abdominal obesity. Among other conditions, high blood pressure, high triglycerides and high cholesterol are all common factors associated with that condition.

Narrowing of the arteries, atherosclerosis, contributes to the possibility of a clot which can cause a stroke. Excessive body fat is one factor in producing that condition. At the same time, it plays a part in increased blood pressure (hypertension).

Rapid weight gain, from 10-20 lbs for the average person, increases the odds of developing Type 2 diabetes. Genetic factors are fundamental, but weight gain plays a role, according to most studies. The risk is double that of an individual who has not had a weight gain, when other factors are held constant.

Liver disease, apart from that associated with excessive alcohol consumption, can be caused by insulin resistance. That resistance is much more likely among those who are obese. There are many studies which have correlated BMI with the degree of liver damage. The higher the BMI, the greater the odds of liver trouble.

Gallstones are more likely to form in those who are obese, and may be correlated with a rapid rise in BMI. Sleep apnea (interruption of breathing during sleep) is another condition commonly linked to obesity.

In short, though no single study is definitive, and there are many genetic and other environmental elements, excessive body fat is a substantial factor in health issues. Being overweight is not merely an issue of acceptable appearance, it's a health risk.

You're feeling under the weather. Coughing, stuffy nose, itchy eyes and a sore throat. You're thinking you can exercise it out of you, but is that in your best interest?

Whether you're a novice or a pro, knowing when your body needs rest is an important component of training. Sometimes you just don't know which will make you feel better, resting or moving. When you come down with an infection or contagious condition, you need to decide how exercise will affect your health, performance and the health of others around you.

Should you work out or sit it out?


Ask yourself if you really need to push it this time. When your body is fighting an infection, your performance and fitness benefits will likely be less than optimal. So why go to the trouble?

Missing a few exercise sessions is not going to affect your overall fitness status and resting may just be a better option for you and the guy next to you in the gym.

Sometimes, though, physical activity helps you feel better. For example, working out can sometimes temporarily clear a stuffed-up head. So if you think exercise might help, or if you can't bear to miss a workout, do a check of your symptoms.

If your symptoms are located "above the neck" -- a stuffy or runny nose, sneezing, or sore throat, for example -- exercise is probably safe. But keep it slow. If you feel better after 10 minutes, you can increase your speed. If you feel miserable, stop. Use common sense.

If your symptoms include: muscle aches, hacking cough, fever of 100°F or higher, chills, diarrhea, or vomiting, avoid exercise. Exercising when you have these symptoms will leave you feeling weak and dehydrated at best. Worse, you may risk such dangerous conditions as heatstroke and heart failure.

As much as we admire your spunk, resume exercising when the symptoms subside. Also, when recovering from an illness that prevented you from working out, it's important to ease back into activity gradually. A good rule of thumb is to exercise for two days at a lower-than-normal intensity for each day you were sick.

Keep your cooties


If you're on a team or have a workout partner, an additional concern is whether you will infect others. And if you're healthy, you may wonder about someone else infecting you. For common illnesses like the cold, practice common-sense hygiene like washing your hands frequently and directing coughs and sneezes away from others.

Stronger viruses like measles or herpes can be transmitted via skin-to-skin contact. If you may have such an infection, see a doctor for treatment and information about when to resume activity.

Other conditions can also spread readily. So in addition to regular hygiene, refrain from sharing water bottles and towels. You should also be properly immunized against diseases such as measles, mumps, tetanus, and rubella. And you may benefit from an influenza vaccine. Ask your doctor what immunizations you need.

Nutritional Support

Ideally you want to keep your body balanced and well and avoid sickness in the first place. A multi-vitamin and an immune booster are recommended to avoid colds. You can take a quiz to see which supplements are right for you to help you maintain your healthy and avoid sickness.

Exercise Common Sense

As is often true, deciding to exercise when you are sick largely involves common sense. Taking precautions about spreading infection and listening to your body can go a long way in getting you back into action without serious problems.

Online training has become a popular and effective option to get fit. The technology age is going to continue to reach into all area's of our lives including our fitness. The major obstacles to hitting the gym are cost, convenience, cleanliness, overcrowding, location, and time. Online training in various forms overcomes all of those obstacles (or excuses in some cases). Online training offers a convenient, affordable, progressive way to get in shape and it comes in many forms from downloading a workout to your PDA or iPod to having customized workouts sent to you by a certified fitness professional. But the question looms, is it really effective?

Published in the March 7 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, Deborah Tate's study lays the groundwork for research on the best methods to help people lose weight online.

The Internet appears to be a good way to deliver structured behavioral weight loss programs, according to a Brown study, the first to examine the use of information technology to aid weight loss. Dieters who received weekly advice from behavioral therapists on the Internet lost three times as much weight in six months as those who just had access to information about diet and exercise on the Internet - 9 pounds compared to 3 pounds.

Participants in both groups followed the same pattern: They lost weight during the first three months, when they most frequently logged on to the study's Web site, and they maintained their weight loss during the next three months, when their Internet use declined. "Logging on more frequently was associated with better weight loss in both groups," said lead researcher Deborah F. Tate, assistant professor of psychiatry and human behavior in the Medical School. "But more importantly than just logging on to a Web site is what type of program you tap into. Our study shows that a structured program with continued contact works better than just giving people access to information online."

Ninety-one people ages 18 to 60, who were on average 30 pounds overweight, began the study; 65 participants completed it. Half were assigned to the "behavior therapy group." They received feedback from a trained therapist through e-mail and had access to an electronic bulletin board for support from their fellow participants, and to information resources about diet and exercise. Half were assigned to the "education group" and had only the Internet information resources about diet and exercise.

Many participants achieved a standard weight-loss benchmark. Forty-five percent of those in the behavior therapy group and 22 percent of those in the education group lost at least 5 percent of their initial body weight - a loss that has been shown to produce measurable health benefits.

Although the weight losses in the study do not appear to rival clinical face-to-face programs, which typically produce 20-pound losses in six months, the Internet may help reach people who otherwise would not participate in those programs, said Tate, who is based at The Miriam Hospital.

"It is especially important to look for new methods to help people with weight loss given that more than 54 percent of U.S. adults are overweight or obese," said Tate. "There are a lot of people who do not choose to attend face-to-face programs for any number of reasons, from embarrassment to schedule constraints. The Internet appears to provide people with an alternative - not necessarily a better alternative, but an alternative."

The Internet combines the ability to disseminate written information with the opportunity to interact through e-mail, bulletin boards or chat rooms. Dieters can also access the Web on their own schedule. Rapid increases in access to the Internet have made it a logical mode for intervention: The number of adults who use the Internet has surged from 9 percent to 56 percent in the past four years, Tate said.

Tate collaborated on the study with Rena R. Wing, professor of psychiatry and human behavior at the Medical School, and Richard A. Winett, professor of psychology at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. The study was supported by a grant from the Weight Risk Investigators Study Council, a research division of Knoll Pharmaceutical.

Online training can be used in combination with working with a live trainer or coach. You can also incorporate phone coaching with online training. In my experience, the greater the accountability and contact the better the results and the longer lasting. The only way any exercise program is going to work is if you participate in it regularly and intensely.

Most people will try a hundred different fad diets, at least as many nutritional supplements and even all sorts of wacky alternatives. But, getting them to exercise can be a real challenge.

Nevertheless, it's an inescapable fact that proper diet has to be accompanied by an age-appropriate, regular exercise program - if the goal is good health and an attractive body. Diet is essential, but exercise is its essential partner. Diet provides the proper fuel, but exercise uses that fuel to generate health and fitness.

There's no need to become a fitness fanatic, but there are several simple exercises you can begin today. Start a daily stretching routine of at least 10 minutes before doing any vigorous training. A 20-minute walk every other day is a great beginning for those not used to exercise.

Work up to more effort slowly. Most of those new to exercise get discouraged and quit too soon because they try too hard at first. This produces soreness and sometimes injury. That reduces the motivation.

Instead, start with some light weight training, using 5lb, 10lb, then 20lb weights. Curls, squats and other exercises are simple and you'll soon graduate. Then add a 10-minute jog, a 20-minute jog, then 30-minutes. Once you hit an hour-long run, you're into the serious workout category.

If you can, invest in equipment that may help you get motivated. Others will need the social stimulus of a gym to keep their willpower up. But in either case, don't let your money go to waste. Make a commitment to regular workouts, whether at home or away. If you do join a gym, don't be shy. Take advantage of the expertise of more experienced fitness enthusiasts and the staff.

In order to lose weight, you want to be sure to include some cardiovascular exercises in your routine. That can be running, cycling or any number of alternatives. To tone muscles and tighten the slack skin that will result from major body fat reduction, you'll need to add resistance and weightlifting exercises. You can use stretchers, rope and pulley or other equipment to supply the resistance. Weight machines are great for lifting exercises.

As you get into the routine, you may or may not actually lose weight. If you're not obese but merely overweight, you may not see much loss. As you reduce fat deposits the difference can be made up by gains in muscle mass. Don't pay much attention to early losses, they may well be due as much to water loss as anything else.

But as you reduce excess body fat and tone muscles you'll experience many side benefits beyond a more attractive body. You'll feel better overall, be more energetic and should experience a heightened mood.

Feel good about it. You worked hard for the results.

Anyone who has ever suffered from a major backache knows how central the back is, even in times you might think it isn't important. Even something like squeezing a tennis ball, an action that involves a focus on the fingers, forearm and bicep will involve the latissimus dorsi and other back muscles.

The lats are the large 'side' muscles that make a man triangle-shaped. To demonstrate how they are used during squeezing a tennis ball, try it! You'll quickly feel a tensing of the muscles on the side of the arm you use. It's especially noticeable if you have back pain.

Any sport will require strong back muscles, for speed and coordination, for balance and movement and for providing a strong 'pillar' for all the limbs to move off of.

Here are some simple exercises to help stretch and strengthen those all-important back muscles. Most of them are better performed on a firm, but not hard surface. While you work the muscles, you don't want to cause undue, painful pressure on bony parts of the body. MyNutritionStore.com concurs that muscle stretches are a very important part of your exercise program.

Knee to Chest

Lie on your back and clasp your hands behind one thigh. Pull slowly toward the chest, keeping the other leg flat on the ground. Vary the action by flexing the ankle - first pointing the toe, then pulling it back toward the knee - at the same time as you stretch the leg.

Hold each position for 5 seconds, then switch legs and repeat. Do 10 reps.


Rotations

Lie back, knees raised and together, feet flat on the floor. With your arms extended and near the body, and your palms flat on the floor, lift the feet off the ground slightly and rotate your trunk by moving the knee. Move the knees slightly left, then right.

Over time, as you become more flexible and build strength, you can increase the range of motion. Ultimately, you should be able to touch your knee to the floor.

Alternate the action by crossing your arms over your chest, then repeat.


Pelvic Press

Lie down on your back, knees raised and feet flat on the floor. Push the small of the back into the floor, feel the tension in the lower abdominals. Vary the action by moving your feet together and performing the exercise, then slightly apart and repeat.

As you press into the ground, hold for 5 seconds, but continue to breathe slowly and normally.


Pelvic Lift

Lie on your back, knees raised and feet flat on the ground, arms crossed over your chest. Keeping the legs and knees together, raise the buttocks up slightly and hold for 5 seconds. Lower slowly, count to two, then repeat.

Remember to breathe normally through the exercise, in and out slowly.


Dog Stretches

On all fours, raise your head, eyes forward. Lower your arms and arch your back, hold 2 seconds, then resume the starting position. Slowly extend one leg, as near parallel to the floor as you can. Hold 3 seconds, and then put the leg back into starting position. (If this produces back, hip, or leg pain stop immediately.)

Switch legs and repeat. Vary the exercise by extending the leg with toe pointed, then flex the ankle perpendicular to the leg. Hold for 2 seconds and repeat. Do 10 reps for each leg.

Never perform these exercises if they produce back pain. Mild discomfort from inactivity is natural. Pain is a signal that something is wrong. Consult your physician. MyNutritionStore offers proprietary products like Whey Protein for muscle repair and growth and Joint Science for Joint Health.

There is no argument that strength training has many benefits and is indeed the fountain of youth, however there are many opinions when it comes to the number of sets and reps you should do, how much you should rest in between sets and how much resistance you should use. One guy in the gym may swear by six to 10 sets of each exercise, another says three sets is all he needs to put on muscle. One trainer may tell you to rest for 30 seconds between exercises and another up to three minutes.

So, who's right? It comes down to personal goals. We'll take a look at four different training goals.

The first is muscle endurance. This person may be a long distance runner or cyclist who wants to improve the muscle endurance fibers. In this case, he or she would choose 65 percent of their one repetition maximum. They will engage in more than 12 repetitions for two to three sets, resting only 30 seconds between sets and exercises.

The idea is to keep the resistance light, the reps high and the rest time low. That regimen keeps the endurance demand up with the lower intensity and longer duration routines. This type of strength routine is one of the best to enhance an endurance athlete's performance.

The second goal is hypertrophy, otherwise known as increasing muscle size. This is the goal of body builders. To increase muscle size, choose a resistance that is 65 to 85 percent of your one repetition maximum. Perform six to 12 reps for three to six sets, resting from 30 seconds up to 90 seconds. This high intensity, short duration training will increase the size of the muscle fibers.

To train for muscle strength, you should select a resistance that is 85 percent or higher than your one repetition maximum. Repetitions are six or less for two to six sets, resting from three to five minutes between sets. Because the intensity is so high, the rest between sets has to be longer. Many athletes who need to increase their strength to perform on the field will use this prescription.

Finally, there are routines for those looking to increase muscle power. Think of an Olympic power lifter. These athletes use resistance that is 75 to 90 percent of their one repetition maximum, performing only one to five reps. They repeat each exercise for three to five sets and rest up to five minutes between each set. Plyometric exercises are used when training for power.

If your routine is going to include some combination of the above goals, you should work the power moves first because they are explosive and require the most energy burst. Second, perform multi-joint exercises also known as compound exercises along with all of your ab and lower back work. Lastly, finish with your single joint and smaller muscle group exercises like bicep curls.

Keep in mind that genetics is a big factor in the results we can expect to see regarding muscle size. We are born with a certain amount of strength and endurance muscle fibers and one does not convert to the other, regardless of how much we train. Folks like Arnold Schwarzenegger are genetically blessed with a majority of strength fibers. Someone like Lance Armstrong is blessed with a lot of endurance fibers. Most of us have a 50/50 mix of both.

In addition to your genetics, your age, diet and the amount of sleep you get will have an effect on your training results. Typically, as we get older we lose muscle, but that can be reversed with regular and intense strength training. To give you an example of a ratio of meals, consider 20 - 25 percent protein, 20 - 25 percent fat and 50 - 55 percent carbohydrates. Finally, you should strive for seven to nine hours of sleep nightly. It's when the muscles are resting that they will grow in size and strength. If you are having difficulty with sleeping, consider a natural sleep aid.

Regardless of your training goals, be sure to get into the gym two to three times per week to experience the many benefits of strength training (these guidelines are provided by the American College of Sports Medicine.) Exercise is both an art and a science and therefore leaves room for interpretation and variation. As long as you are challenging your muscles you will see results!

Few subjects in health or diet ever get put to a final rest. Present studies often contradict earlier ones, until no one knows what to think. One of the few areas that almost all serious studies seem to agree on is the relationship between exercise and the immune system.

No reputable researcher will claim that exercise will repair a weakened or diseased immune system. Nonetheless, a broad spectrum of studies confirms that moderate exercise can help sustain and strengthen it, even when the effects are indirect.

The role of exercise in helping to lower stress - and the subsequent beneficial effects on health - has been widely studied. Here the studies are less clear, contradicting one another in some details. But overall the conclusion is the same: moderate, regular exercise helps the immune system by moderating the effects of stress.
Most studies carried out over the last 30 years agree: a continual high level of stress has a number harmful effects on overall health. People who experience high stress get more colds, suffer more digestive tract problems and have more frequent bouts of fatigue. Part of the latter is indirect, since it tends to lead to lowered amounts of restful sleep.

Regular exercise helps relieve stress. It does so directly, by providing an outlet for, and consuming much of, the nervous energy produced by stress. It also helps indirectly by shifting one's focus away from the external factors producing the stress.

Exercise can help the cardiovascular system, which in turn improves blood flow, carries away toxins from muscles and organs, and helps keep the kidneys and endocrine system working well. It helps remove germs and circulate antibodies.

All those promote a healthy immune system by lessening the body's susceptibility to disease, while increasing the robustness of the immune system itself. MyNutritionStore offers strong antioxidant protection in Whey Science and Immune Stress Support to boost immune response and reduce toxic buildup.

Exercising increases the body temperature slightly. This, as anyone who has suffered from a cold knows, is the body's natural response to colds, flu and other diseases. The increased temperature helps kill the infecting organisms.

A study at the University of Colorado, Boulder suggests that moderate exercise helps prevent colds as well. It showed that individuals are less likely to get sick after stressful situations when they had engaged in a regular program of moderate exercise. Those that began exercise only on the same day as the stressor didn't enjoy those benefits.

The study was carried out on rats, but one of the reasons those mammals are used is the similarity in some systems, and their responses, to humans.

Exercise programs, undertaken consistently and correctly, help improve body image - that's one of most individual's primary goals in making the effort, after all. That improved body image often leads to higher levels of confidence and relaxation in social situations. That in turn helps reduce stress and enhance the immune system...a strong immune system reduces the likelihood of colds and certain illnesses.

Whether the effects are direct or indirect, exercising and using the proper supplements can help you support and enhance your immune system. That leads directly to better overall health.