Fitness Flops Part One

Fitness was once considered a fad. While fitness is no longer considered a fad, there have been many fitness products that have been sold to consumers wishing to get into shape quickly.

It can be hard to tell the difference between fitness products that work and fitness products that flop.

Today, I’m going to talk about fitness products that did not live up to their promises.

Fitness Flop 1: Electronic Muscle Stimulators/The Electronic Ab Toner.  Cost $50-$250.00

This is a machine that sends electric currents to your abs, making them contract and release. This peroduct is supposed to cause you to burn off body fat.  Losing body fat requires a combination of cardio exercise and a reduced calorie diet. You can’t lose weight or fat by spot reducing or without moving your muscles. The only way to lose fat is to do the work yourself.

Fitness Flop 2: Ab Lounge/Ab Rocker.   Read more...

Listen to our guest this week RN Jeff Breslin of the Michigan Nurses Association on The Safe Patient Care Act “Every Michigan resident deserves to receive safe care at every hospital, every time. Michigan’s nurses are simply asking for our leaders’ support to make that happen.” Jeff will talk with us about this important initiative that is sweeping the country. Read more...

THE TOP 10 FITNESS MYTHS

OK, I don’t care if you’ve been hitting the gym and working out for years, chances are you’ve fallen for a few fitness myths. While some myths may contain half truths, many of these exercise induced myths have largely been debunked by current research, but surprisingly the following 10 are still in circulation.

MYTH ONE: YOU CAN SPOT REDUCE.

No matter how many crunches you do, it’s not possible to melt fat off just your midsection. You have to work the whole body–weights for muscle strength and endurance, cardio to utilize fat as fuel combined with healthy diet is the only way.

MYTH TWO: AEROBIC WORKOUTS BOOST YOUR METABOLISM FOR HOURS AFTER YOU STOP.

The myth that working out in the morning will keep your body burning calories at a higher rate all day is only partially true. You do end up burning more calories after you get off the treadmill, but only about 20 over the course of the day, not the several hundred extra many people seem to expect. Read more...

RN Betty Sparks joins us. RN Betty Sparks joins us. Betty is a nurse at Newton Wellesley Hospital and is trained to provide care and treatment in the wake of all types of disasters.

Betty, who was on the ground to help victims after Hurricane Katrina and in Haiti after the devastating earthquake, was working at the medical tent at the finish line of the Boston Marathon. She was there to respond and care for the victims when the bombs exploded. She is trained to do this and she has seen horrific scenes before, but this time it was different; she knew her son was at the finish line with a camera getting ready to photograph her daughter-in-law as she finished the race. Betty is with us to share what it was like to be at the horrific scene. Read more...

Betty is a nurse at Newton Wellesley Hospital and is trained to provide care and treatment in the wake of all types of disasters.

Betty, who was on the ground to help victims after Hurricane Katrina and in Haiti after the devastating earthquake, was working at the medical tent at the finish line of the Boston Marathon. She was there to respond and care for the victims when the bombs exploded. She is trained to do this and she has seen horrific scenes before, but this time it was different; she knew her son was at the finish line with a camera getting ready to photograph her daughter-in-law as she finished the race. Betty is with us to share what it was like to be at the horrific scene. Read more...

Welcome to Nurse Talk, where laughter is the best medicine and random acts of unconsciousness can (and do) occur. This week, live from our studio atop the beautiful U-Haul storage warehouses in Corte Madera CA, we gather to take Casey and Shayne’s blood pressure as well as talk to Dr. Elson Haas, the Founder of the Preventive Medical Center of Marin, and Sandra Evans, the organizer of the 1st Annual Marin Healthy Palooza. If you are in or around the San Francisco Bay Area on Saturday May 11th, you must stop by and visit this unique health fair. All the info is on our website or you can visit www.marinhealthypalooza.org.

And we always joke about our nurses at National Nurses United and how busy they are. Even though we do like to have fun with that, its true! RN and Co-President of National Nurses United, Jean Ross will be with us to talk about H.R. Read more...

Bay Area health and fitness expert Joanie Greggains joins Casey and Shayne this week on Nurse Talk. Joanie is now a regular on Nurse Talk with her weekly segment “Fit Happens” and her monthly house calls to the Nurse Talk studio to answer listener questions. Wow, does she know what she’s talking about! In just the 45 minutes she was with us I learned so much, including that if I don’t trim down it’s not only bad for my health (of course we all know that), but soon my airline tickets will cost more because they are starting to charge by the pound! Can you imagine?

“Well, sister, I am so sorry I can’t make it to the family reunion this year but my airfare would be over $5k one-way!”

And….a little combination of world news with an oh-so-slight medical twist. While Kim Jong Un, the 28-year-old petulant third generation dictator of North Korea, struggles to find his “inner and outer” power, our crack research team at Nurse Talk decided to check into his country’s healthcare system. Read more...

Fat Holds The Key To Your Health.

Everyone has stubborn fat you just can’t shift, whether its love handles or back fat. Maybe you obsess over bingo wings, or know your stomach will never be flat, no matter how much you diet and exercise.

Until recently, it was thought our body shape and fat deposits were due to our genetic makeup – turns out this is only part of the story. According to new research, the way fat accumulates around our body reveals far more about our health and diet than we thought, and the key to getting rid of those wobbly parts forever is to understand why you pile on the pounds in certain places.

The wrong foods, hormonal imbalances, stress and toxins can also determine where we store fat. Weight doesn’t go on evenly all over, and while it’s largely genetic there are certain lifestyle factors that determine where fat is deposited. Read more...

First of all, the concept of vibration to help you lose weight is not a new one. Vibration machines have been around for decades. Dr. John Kellog (of corn flake fame) designed some of the earliest mechanical vibration massage machines. These “Vibro-Therapy” contraptions included a mechanical massage bed and a wooden vibrating chair which Kellog claimed could clear out the intestines, dissolve backaches and improve muscle tone.

Even though people think of vibrating belt machines as products of the 50′s, they were first introduced in 1928 by Dr. Kellog at his health facility in Michigan. Women wanting to lose weight hoped to vibrate their fat away. Vibrating belt machines became even more popular after World War II. Women put away their work clothes and tried to look more like the glamourous actresses of the times by shaking their fat off.

When vibration wasn’t enough, women turned to the next logical step: electric shock. Read more...

Experts weigh in and it’s unanimous, laughter is the best medicine.  Marcia Singer, MSW, a certified Hypnotherapist says play is a natural medicine. Marcia leads workshops for adults on how to play. And, there is scientific evidence that laughter is healthy for you. The World Health Organization says stress is America’s number 1 health problem. Alleviate some of that tension and lead a healthier life! Tune in. Read more...