The keto diet isn't for everyone. In fact, the high-fat, low-carb eating pattern has been ranked as one of the worst diets by US News & World Report year after year.

"As a dietitian, keto is not the go-to diet that we would recommend for someone who's trying to improve their overall health," Alyssa Pike, RD, manager of nutrition communications for the International Food Information Council, told Insider.

Critics say the keto diet is too restrictive, "nutritionally incomplete," and lacks evidence of how it can affect health in the long run. On the other hand, some anecdotal evidence suggests the diet could help people manage diabetes.

Read more: Keto is good for controlling blood sugar, but a low-fat vegan diet is better for weight loss, study finds

While the keto diet principle of eating mostly fats and almost no carbs a way to force the body into ketosis, a state where it burns fat for energy instead of glucose may feel too extreme for most people, some aspects of the diet can be applied in more moderate ways.

Plus, we could all benefit from choosing higher-quality carbs, Gabby Landsverk previously wrote for Insider.

Insider spoke with nutrition experts about how to incorporate keto-like eating patterns without going all in.

Nutritionist Wendy Bazilian said the first step of starting any diet is to cut out processed foods.

"In a keto-style eating pattern like any really I would start limiting the ultra-processed foods, bakery goods, 'indulgent' carbs (donuts, cookies, cake), look at added sugars and focus on limiting those," Bazilian, author of "Eat Clean, Stay Lean," wrote in an email to Insider.

Eliminating sugary beverages is another way to cut down on unnecessary carbohydrates, Bazalian said. That includes the sweetener you may usually add to coffee or tea even one tablespoon of honey comes close to the 20 grams of carbohydrate per day allowed in some keto guidelines.

Read more: Eating processed foods can increase your risk of early death from heart disease by 58%, study finds

If getting rid of sweets works for you, the next step would be to ease away from bread. The keto diet would prescribe not eating whole grains, either, but other low-carb eating patterns may permit you to eat something like quinoa or farro in moderation.

The true keto diet involves not eating fruits, most vegetables, grains, potatoes, sweets, or any kind of carb-rich foods, Pike told Insider. But so much restriction can be hard for people to keep up in the long term.

Bazilian said while she would encourage someone who is keto-curious to be "selective" about which fruits and vegetables they eat, she wouldn't recommend eliminating them entirely.

"I think it's possible to ease into keto, but I know there are plenty of people who would suggest otherwise," Bazilian said. "But, it's not really keto either if you have a lot of carbohydrates still in the mix."

Strawberries and blueberries are both low in sugar and high in antioxidants, and tomatoes and olives can work as savory snacks that are relatively low-carb. Just make sure to avoid eating so many fruits and vegetables that you blow past your carb limits most keto eating plans will cap carbs at 20 to 50 grams per day.

Read more: 6 science-backed benefits of blueberries, according to nutritionists

Since the keto diet consists of mostly fats and proteins, it's possible to eat keto and become less healthy. Low-carb diets where people rely on saturated fat and cholesterol have been linked to a higher risk of some diseases.

If you do cut back on a certain macronutrient, like carbohydrates, it's important to make sure you're eating high-quality foods from the remaining groups, Bazilian said.

Read more: An early keto advocate says the diet has gone 'too far' and we need to stop demonizing carbs

Make sure your fat intake includes heart-healthy, anti-inflammatory foods like avocados, nuts, olive oil, and flaxseed.

Many people who try the keto diet increase their intake of animal protein, Pike told Insider. But eating two or more servings of meat per week has been linked to a higher risk of heart disease .

Adding a plant-based protein, like pea protein powder, can help preserve lean muscle mass without causing bad cholesterol levels to get out of control.

If cutting back on carbs and eating more healthy fats and proteins works for you, you could work your way up to more strict keto guidelines.

"There are a few different distributions of macronutrients that you could follow if you're on the keto diet, but one common distribution is eating 5% of your total calories from carbs, 20% from protein, and 75% from fat," Pike said, adding that such a low amount of carbs doesn't meet the dietary needs of most people.

Read more: A nutrition journalist dieted his whole life and still gained weight. Then he tried the keto diet, and 'it was like a switch being flipped.'

Bazilian said she recommends that her clients evaluate how they feel not just physically, but also mentally throughout the first month of any diet. And if you're looking for weight loss or to control blood sugar levels, make sure to track those metrics from the start to see if you're getting results.

See the original post:
4 ways to cut back on carbs without going full keto - Insider - INSIDER

Hall of Famer Shannon Sharpe retired from the NFL after the 2003 season. Now, hes 52 old enough to join the AARP but Sharpe still has an intense fitness and diet regime. He could run circles around many guys half his age, even some current NFL players. One reason the Fox Sports personality can stay in such great shape: His day starts when most people are still asleep. Here are all of the details.

RELATED: Michael Jordan Left Skip Bayless Breathless With Gambling Games After Practice

Sharpe went to college at Savannah State. Even though thats not a major football school, he played well enough for the Broncos to pick him in the seventh round of the 1990 NFL draft. After that, he outperformed his draft position considerably.

In 14 seasons, the tight end caught 815 passes for 10,060 yards and 62 touchdowns. His reception and yardage totals are both the fourth-most in NFL history among tight ends. In 18 postseason games, he added another 62 receptions for 814 yards and four scores. His postseason success helped him win three Super Bowl rings, two with the Broncos and one with the Ravens.

RELATED: Just How Bad Was Skip Bayless High School Athletic Career?

Sharpe talked withGQabout his health and fitness routines. He changed his workout routine a bit in retirement. But it is still rigorous and more than what many people 20 years younger than Sharpe do. This work ethic was instilled in him at a young age when he worked on Georgia tobacco fields when he was a kid. Being an athlete helped, too. Sharpe says as an athlete, I had conditioned myself to stay on a strict schedule, whether thats for work or even finding just a few minutes to relax. So I kept that.

He says its about quality of life, not quantity of life, which is why he gives everything he does 100% effort. Hes in such good shape that he says he is crushing guys in their 20s and 30s at the gym. Sharpe also gets the motivation to work out fromhis co-host, Skip Bayless, who wouldnt let Sharpe hear the end of it if he ever skips a day of workouts.

Sharpe detailed his diet and workout routine in the interview, saying he tries to exercise at least three or four days a week, with a couple of days with two workouts. He does free weights, then takes some time to rest which includes eating and spending time with his dogs. Then after his break, he does CrossFit, including kettlebells, the row machine, and bikes. He says he likes to mix things up to keep from getting bored and to confuse his body, which helps him stay fit.

As for his diet, his breakfast varies depending on the day, but usually includes something along the lines of egg whites, oatmeal, and fresh fruit. For lunch, Sharpe usually has some grilled chicken, bison meatballs, brown rice, and steamed vegetables. And he ends his day with dinner, which typically includes turkey, pork, a salad or steamed vegetables, with broccoli being his go-to for steamed veggies.

He admits that his fitness routine isnt as structured as it was during his playing career, and he tries to enjoy [himself] a little more. But the older he gets, he doesnt have the advantage of youth or the ability to spend hours a day exercising, which is why he tries to monitor what he eats, which includes lean proteins, egg whites, and vegetables. He does have some indulgent foods, though, which include pancakes, French toast, and chicken tenders.

Original post:
Shannon Sharpe Credits His Strict Diet With Helping Him at the Gym: Im Crushing Guys in Their 20s and 30s - Sportscasting

We include products we think are useful for our readers. If you buy through links on this page, we may earn a small commission. Heres our process.

Seniors, or older adults, may wish to use a meal delivery service for convenience and ease. Some brands cater to older adults by specifically considering their health requirements.

Older adults may only need meals for one or two people and may be unable to shop for ingredients or cook meals easily.

Using a meal delivery service can help save time and effort. There are many brands available online, but some may be more suitable for an older persons health and lifestyle requirements.

This article looks at five meal delivery services that are suitable for older adults. It discusses how they work and looks at their menus. It also looks at potential health benefits and drawbacks of meal delivery and some alternatives that people can consider.

Meal delivery services offer either ready-made meals or meal kits.

Meal kits include ingredients and a recipe, which a person can use to prepare meals at home.

Some older adults may prefer the convenience of heating up a ready-made meal. Others may enjoy cooking but like not having to source recipes or shop for ingredients, in which case they may prefer a meal kit.

Brands that deliver meals for one or in smaller portions may suit older adults. Additionally, some older adults may have health conditions or need to eat special diets, so they may prefer services that provide meals to suit them. Depending on their health, some older adults may need to eat pureed food, and some brands offer this.

Older adults may prefer to use a service that is easy to order from and has the flexibility to skip weeks or vary the number of meals they choose.

With these points in mind, the following meal delivery services may be suitable for older adults.

Please note that the writer of this article has not tried any of these products. All information presented here is purely research-based.

Magic Kitchen offer a menu of preprepared meals specifically for older adults and their health requirements. These meals simply require heating up before eating.

Customers can choose to enroll in the senior meals program for regular meal deliveries, or they can opt for one-time deliveries.

Magic Kitchen prepare meals that are suitable for conditions such as diabetes and kidney disease. They also offer vegetarian, low sodium, and gluten-free options.

Dietitians formulate these complete meals, which contain around 300500 calories each.

The a la carte menu has options for:

The following are some examples of menu options:

Some available desserts include:

Magic Kitchen meals are available for order online.

Silver Cuisine deliver meals to meet the nutritional needs of people aged 50 years and over. Customers can order their meals online or by phone.

They offer breakfasts, lunches, and dinners that people can filter with the following preferences:

The following are some meal examples from the menu:

Silver Cuisine also offer shakes and snacks.

Silver Cuisine meals are available for order online.

Learn more about Silver Cuisine here.

For older adults who enjoy cooking their meals, Home Chef offer weekly meal kits to prepare at home.

People can select calorie-conscious or vegetarian meals and customize them to double up on protein or swap ingredients. People can choose meals that they can prepare in 5 minutes or meals that take longer.

Home Chef also offer oven-ready or grill-ready meals that people do not need to prepare, only heat up.

The following are some examples from the menu:

Home Chef meals are available for order online.

Learn more about Home Chef here.

Moms Meals deliver ready-made meals. People can store them in a refrigerator for up to 14 days.

According to their website, Moms Meals work with over 500 health plans providing access to meals for people with Medicare or Medicaid coverage.

Moms Meals offer the following meal preferences for older adults:

Examples of meals include:

Moms Meals meals are available for order online.

Learn more about Moms Meals here.

All the meals that Real Eats deliver serve one adult. They contain 600 calories or fewer and work for lunch or dinner, according to the companys website.

Real Eats serve their meals in bisphenol A-free pouches that people can either heat up in boiling water or empty into a container and put into the microwave. People can choose from gluten-free, plant-based, or high protein options.

People can order breakfasts, brunches, and snacks from Real Eats.

Example meals include:

Real Eats meals are available for order online.

Some older adults may be eligible to use services such as Meals on Wheels America or arrange meal delivery through their health insurance provider.

Some restaurants also deliver meals, but people should make sure that they are healthful if they eat them often.

Some people may offer to take friends or relatives home-cooked meals when they can. They could batch cook an extra portion and freeze it for someone who needs it. People may also be able to find local groups or communities offering food or meal sharing.

Meal delivery services can cater to a persons health conditions and help them remain independent. Consuming meals designed by chefs and dietitians helps ensure that people get the essential nutrients they need.

According to one 2017 review, some of the health challenges that older adults may face include:

The review suggests that all people can reduce the risk and impact of age-related disease by paying careful attention to their nutrition and diet.

Some research indicates that eating a healthful diet enhances cognitive function and may delay unhealthy aging.

It is essential to choose a meal delivery service that suits the individual.

People with cognitive challenges may not be able to communicate their preferences adequately and may not like to eat meals that someone else has ordered for them. Other individuals may find it difficult to eat certain foods or textures.

People should choose a service that follows nutritional guidelines for older adults. Also, the regular variation of meals will help people consume a variety of nutrients.

Older adults may also have an increased risk of dehydration, so they must be sure to drink enough liquids. Some meal delivery services also provide soups, smoothies, and drinks for this purpose.

Meal delivery services are a convenient way for older adults to eat a healthful diet. This arrangement may suit people who find it difficult to plan and prepare meals.

People can choose a delivery service that fits their health and dietary needs. Costs and plans vary, so people should try to research what suits them best.

Some older adults may be able to access meal delivery through their health insurance provider.

Learn about Medicare and meal delivery here.

Read the original:
Meal delivery for seniors: Options and services - Medical News Today

Today, Dave Asprey is well-known as one of the leading figures of the biohacking movement and the founder of the Bulletproof empireif you've ever put butter in your coffee, he's the reason why. But it wasn't always this way: In his 20s, he was working as a computer hacker while tipping the scale at around 300 pounds. He was fed up with feeling awful all of the time and dealing with arthritis and chronic fatigue. Despite doing all of the standard right things his doctors advised, including exercise and counting calories, he was stuck.

So he began experimenting himself, first with a low-carb diet that resulted in a 50-pound weight loss. From there, he was hooked. So hooked that Asprey says he has spent more than $1 million building a better body, experimenting with everything from red light therapy to cold exposure, with the goal to live until at least 180.

Last week, The New York Times bestselling author released his latest, Fast This Way, which reviews the latest thinking on how to turn eating restrictions into better health. GQ chatted with Asprey to find out what his day-to-day looks like while running his business from a 32-acre organic farm on Vancouver Island, off Canada's Pacific Coast. It indeed involves fasting and drinking coffee with butter in itbut also the occasional bite of dairy-free ice cream.

GQ: What time do you usually get out of bed?

Dave Asprey: I usually get out of bed around 6:45 or 7 a.m. I used to go to bed much later and wake up later, but it's just less convenient. So I used a combination of light and fasting to shift my circadian windows. Now, I go to bed earlier than I ever have in my life. And I do it naturally, which is super cool.

I wake up, and I definitely make a shot of espresso. I usually turn that into an Americano. I also make one for my wife and one for my kids to split because yes, my kids do drink coffee. It's good for you. It's a superfood, screw kale. Sometimes I make it Bulletproof (using MCT oil and grass-fed, unsalted butter). Others, I just do a black, depending on what I feel like for the day.

Talk to me about your morning supplementsI've seen the photos, and there are a lot of them.

I take a handful of the supplements that I put together the night before that are mostly mitochondrial stimulators or other anti-aging things, peptides, etc. We're talking like 40 or 50 pills. Some of them are ones that I formulated for Bulletproof. I also take all of my probiotics in the morning when I wake up, because I have found in recent research that if you take probiotics at night, they disrupt your sleep. If you take them in the morning they seem to work better. I usually take some prebiotic fiber at some point, which feeds the good bacteria. My goal lately has been to make bacteria in my gut the manufacturer of as many of the things that I want in my body as possible. I also take all my minerals and stuff like that.

[In a follow-up email, Asprey clarified that his current morning supplement lineup includes, from Bulletproof, vitamins A, D, and K, glutathione, Eye Armour, copper and zinc, and Smart Mode, along with amino acids and calcium d-glucarate.]

Anything else thats important to your morning routine?

When I wake up, I do just a brief gratitude practice. I just lay there for a minute or two and I have two things that I'm grateful for. One is that I say to no one in particular, Thank you for using me today. I don't say what for, I'm just going to assume things work out the way they're supposed to happen. The second gratitude is, Thank you for making things happen the way they're supposed to happen.

I don't pray to a specific deity. I don't pray to nature. I just figured there's some energy out there that does that. When I do it right, I get a little bit tingley. I think that a lot of times people are way too specific, and you'll probably ask for things that aren't even the right things for you. So for me, that's where I've evolved.

After I drop my kids off, I will usually set aside about 45 minutes on my calendar for some sort of biohacking. I could do red light therapy. I could do neurofeedback. I could just do some squats on a vibrating platform. I could do a resistance band workout with blood flow restriction. I mix it up instead of doing the same thing every day. Then, I go to work.

When's the first time that you typically eat during the day?

I have lunch around 1:30 p.m. with my wife. It's usually a grass fed lamb, grass fed beef, or maybe pastured pork. The lamb and pork comes from animals on our own farm. Same with the vegetables. I'm really fortunate to be able to do that. We actually feed our local community with our farm as well, which is super cool. I will have some extra butter on that as well.

Do you do the same kind of meal structure for dinner?

Dinner is similar, but with dinner, I might have some white rice or something like a sweet potato, some, some carbs. I am not keto all the time, not by a long shot. Sometimes I'm keto. Sometimes I'm not. Lately I've been using a continuous glucose monitor from a company called Levels Health, where I am an investor. That really allows me to see what I do, what I eat, even what exercise I do, how it affects my blood sugar. My goal is to keep my blood sugar within a relatively narrow range, even after I eat. I've been pretty successful at that. When you do that, you'll live longer and you feel a lot better.

Do you have any snacks ever between lunch and dinner?

Almost never. Dinner for me is around 5:30. When I was writing Fast This Way, I experimented with the length of time between dinner and going to sleep. If you can get more than three hours of time after your last meal and your bedtime, you will sleep a lot better. So an earlier dinner has made a big difference for me. If I'm having lunch at 1:30 and dinner at 5:30, if your lunch was effective, you shouldn't need a snack. If I was going to snack, it's probably because I walked through the garden and thought Oh, look, the grapes are ripe. I'll eat a couple of grapes.

Do you ever deviate from this diet?

Yes, and you should deviate from your diet. If you're too rigid, you won't be too happy. What I don't do though, is eat things that make me feel like crap. So there are some things like you go and eat, for example a bunch of deep fried gluten bombs at a restaurant. They will cause more inflammation for longer than smoking a cigarette. If I dont smoke, why would I eat like that? It's just not OK.

That said, I have a healthy metabolism. Am I going to have some sugar every now and then? Sure. It's not the end of the world. So the idea that some nights I'll have more carbs than others, some nights we might have a dairy-free ice cream with 10 or even 18 grams of sugar in it.

Is there ever alcohol in your diet?

On rare occasions I will have either a French red wine or I'll have a high-end sake. One of these days, I'm going to start a sake brand just because I like it, but make no mistake: Alcohol is bad for you. Even one drink is bad for you. There's no benefit to drinking alcohol, even though we desperately want there to be.

How Bridgertons Martins Imhangbe kept in shape over 2020

Top Boys Ashley Walters wants British men to be more open about their struggles

The real-life diet of Usain Bolt

See the original post:
The real-life diet of Dave Asprey, who thinks coffee is a superfood - British GQ

A recent study that simulated a tailgate party found that eating foods high in carbohydrates while consuming relatively lower amounts of alcohol was associated with increased liver fat.

Tailgating refers to a social gathering where people serve and eat food from the back of a parked vehicle, often in the car park of a sports stadium.

Although this tradition has not been possible during the pandemic, some have continued the tradition virtually.

While tailgating can energize fans, it can also lead to excess eating and drinking, negatively affecting a persons health. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommend not drinking, or sticking to two alcoholic drinks or fewer a day for males.

To study the effects of overconsumption on the body, researchers from the University of Missouri studied bodily changes after a tailgate party. Their results appear in the journal Alcohol.

The researchers had several criteria for inclusion in the study. They focused on males aged 2152 years with a sedentary lifestyle, which involved fewer than 3 hours of aerobic exercise per week.

The participants all had overweight or obesity, with body mass indexes (BMIs) of between 25.1 and 51 kilograms per square meter, and a waist circumference of fewer than 55 inches.

Participants were nonsmokers, did not have diabetes, and had no preexisting thyroid or kidney conditions.

For safety reasons, participants needed to report greater than moderate alcohol consumption, which the study defined as consuming alcohol regularly in the past year.

However, people who drank heavily, such as more than 16 alcoholic beverages a week, were excluded from the study.

A total of 18 males completed the research study.

To prepare for the tailgate experiment, the researchers instructed the participants to swallow deuterium oxide, also known as heavy water, twice daily for 3 days before starting the study.

This allowed the scientists to assess rates of lipogenesis, the metabolic process of forming fat.

The scientists also told the participants to follow their regular diet but avoid alcohol the night before the study.

On the morning of the simulated tailgate, scientists checked each participants vital signs. They then took blood samples before providing them with a light breakfast.

The researchers also used dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry to measure body composition.

Around 11:00 a.m., researchers took another blood sample and then encouraged participants to eat and drink for the next 5 hours. The foods ranged from hamburgers to cupcakes. The team collected blood samples every hour and measured participants breath alcohol content every 30 minutes to ensure they reached the desired level of intoxication.

In addition, 14 of the 18 participants underwent magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) of the liver. This allowed the researchers to glimpse the level of fat in the liver.

After the 5-hour experiment, the participants stayed overnight in the research center. The scientists took a final blood sample in the morning, and each participant was given breakfast and discharged once their breath alcohol content was zero.

Before the experiment, 8 of the 18 participants kept a food diary for 3 days, which showed an average intake of 2,748 kilocalories (kcal) each day. On game day, people ate well beyond this, consuming an average of 5,087 kcal.

When broken down into food groups, 32% of the total calories consumed came from carbohydrates, 35% from fat, 10% from protein, and 23% from alcohol.

Alcohol consumption resulted in an average breath alcohol content level of 0.08 meaning participants were legally intoxicated in the United States.

When looking at changes in the body, the group showed a higher level of plasma insulin after eating and drinking. Lipogenesis also increased, but overall, the group showed no changes to liver fat.

Interestingly, in the present group as a whole, only the amount of alcohol consumed during [the 5 hours of eating and drinking] was found to be significantly related to the increase in percent [lipogenesis], write the authors.

However, when looking at each participant who completed the MRS scan, they found different responses.

Surprisingly, we found that in overweight males, after an extended duration of eating and drinking, metabolic responses were not uniform and revealed significant individual variation in the ability to protect the liver from nutrient toxicity, the authors write.

Nine participants showed increased liver fat, five participants showed lower liver fat, and one participant experienced no changes.

The individual responses prompted the researchers to divide participants into two groups based on liver fat changes. Those with lower liver fat were less likely to have gained their calories from food and needed more alcohol to reach the specified breath alcohol range.

Lipogenesis was the only predictor of the differences in liver fat between the two groups.

A potential explanation of these findings is that high carbohydrate consumption may have a greater impact on liver fat than alcohol in some people, says corresponding author Dr. Elizabeth Parks.

Given the high prevalence of overconsumption of food and alcohol in the U.S., further studies are needed in a larger population. Our goal is to understand differences between people in how they respond to excess food and alcohol. It may be that limiting meal carbohydrates may protect the liver.

Dr. Elizabeth Parks

A major limitation of the study was that it only included males. Not including females excludes a good portion of people that go tailgating.

Including females in the data analysis may have affected the results, as alcohol is processed differently in females than males. According to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, females have proportionally less water in their bodies, leading to higher blood alcohol levels following drinking.

As a result, females may become more intoxicated than males who consumed the same amount of alcohol.

Also, due to safety concerns, the researchers regulated how much participants could drink during the tailgating simulation. The authors acknowledge this may not reflect drinking behavior at tailgate parties.

For instance, a survey by the American Addiction Centers found that people watching American football consumed between 6.2 and 8.4 alcoholic drinks on average, well above the level that would result in legal intoxication, with the highest number of drinks consumed in the stadium parking lot.

The researchers wanted to understand the effects of excessive food and drink consumption, using a protocol that mimicked real-life. However, there are no prior academic studies that show the average food and alcohol intake of spectators before and after sporting events.

Also, there is a possibility that the researchers interpretation of excess eating was no different from the average diet of an individual participant.

The researchers findings suggest that where participants received their calories from influenced liver fat production.

Eating many carbohydrates appeared to have a greater impact than other food groups and alcohol on increasing liver fat.

Given the high prevalence of overconsumption of food and alcohol in the U.S., further studies are warranted to understand better the interactions between personal consumption habits and individual metabolic variation in handling excess nutrients, conclude the authors.

See the original post:
How do binge eating and drinking impact the liver? - Medical News Today

The workout that melts fat fastest is also one of the quickest, typically taking less than 20 minutes from start to finish. Known as high-intensity interval training or HIIT, it requires you to move fast, very fast for a very short period of time. One researcher goes as far as calling it the "one-minute workout," because one version of this training method amounts to just 60 seconds of intensely strenuous exertion, 20-second bouts broken up by periods of rest, a sequence that's repeated multiple times.

You probably recognize this exercise techniqueas it has been written about here and elsewhere many times. But have you tried it? And, if so, have you done it correctly and endured this rigorous style of exercising long enough to notice results?

HIIT works. A number of studies have shown that short, vigorous workouts improve markers of good health like aerobic fitness, lower blood pressure, and more stable blood sugar. Workouts like HIIT can also burn more calories and reduce more visceral fat than typical endurance exercises like walking, running, and cycling at a moderate pace will when done for an hour or more.

How so? The science is complicated; strenuous exercise triggers certain changes on the molecular level that result in what's known as excess post-exercise oxygen consumption or EPOC. In other words, after exercise, you get a metabolic after-burn for about 24 hours where you burn more calories than normal.

More important than weight loss are the aerobic fitness benefits derived from quickie exercise sessions, say researchers. In a groundbreaking study from McMaster University in Canada published in PLOS One, researchers demonstrated that just one minute of intense effort in a 10-minute workout was enough to reap the rewards. In the study, 14 sedentary overweight men and women were asked to do a 10-minute workout on stationary bicycles, pedaling as hard and fast as they could for three 20-second intervals with 2-minute rest periods of slow pedaling in between. With a warmup and cool-down, the entire workout took just 10 minutes, 60 seconds of which was intense effort. After six weeks of these 10-minute workouts done three times a week, the cyclists significantly improved their aerobic capacity by 12% on average, lowered blood pressure numbers, and enhanced other markers of aerobic and muscular fitness. (Related: Simple Ways to Keep Your Heart Healthy.)

That's good news for people who blow off exercising because they say they don't have time to fit it into their busy days. This study proves it takes just one minute of hard work in 10 minutes of your precious workout time.

And it doesn't have to be performed on a stationary bike. Martin Gibala, PhD, professor of kinesiology at McMaster, and one of the lead researchers of the study, says almost any type of exercise can be performed as sprint-style intervals. He wrote a book The One-Minute Workout: Science Shows a Way to Get Fit That's Smarter, Faster, Shorter detailing several ways to incorporate HIIT training into your busy life.

One caveat: Sprint intervals are super, super difficult. People who don't get results most often aren't pushing themselves hard enough, trainers say. It's physically and psychologically challenging. You have to be OK with feeling discomfort.

"I tell people to imagine a bloodthirsty Rottweiler is chasing them and trying to take a bite out of their hamstring run like your life depends on it," says Denver-based personal trainer and fitness writer Eric C. Stevens. He makes another critical point: "To stay motivated at that level of exertion choose an exercise that you love doing. For me that's boxing and martial arts because of the skill set required and the sense of community." (Related: 10 Easy Ways to Burn Fat in 30 Minutes)

But it can be any activityrowing classes, cycling, brisk walking, even resistance trainingany activity where you can push yourself to near exhaustion for short bouts.

Stevens suggests two basic types of sprint intervals to try if you want to sample this super-fast way to get fit. But first, a critical step to avoid injury: Begin each HIIT workout with a total-body dynamic warm-up for three to five minutes, he says. Do arm circles while marching in place, jumping jacks, jump rope, inchworms, anything that gets all your limbs involved and raises your heart rate.

Use a stopwatch or clock with a second hand to keep time. After your warm-up, begin running, cycling, or rowing for 30 seconds at a light intensity. Next, do 20 seconds at a high intensity where you find it difficult to talk in complete sentences. Without resting, go right into a 10-second segment of maximum "rottweiler-in-pursuit" effort. You'll know you're pushing hard enough if you're too winded to speak. Repeat the 30-20-10 sequence four more times, followed by a three-minute cooldown of walking and stretching.

Always begin with a dynamic warmup for three to five minutes. Tabata training follows a 20-10 sequence. You begin with 20-seconds of high-intensity, all-out effort, followed by 10 seconds of rest (very slow pedaling or walking). Repeat the pattern seven more times for a total of four minutes. End with a cooldown.

"You can play with those interval times as long as you are getting the intensity," says Stevens. "Anerobic training takes a monstrous effort. It also feels terrible at times. But if you want the body of a dancer, a gymnast or sprinter, you have to train like one."

Since HIIT is so physically taxing, be sure that you are healthy enough before trying this exercise strategy. Visit your physician for a full physical exam.

Also, note that trainers like Stevens and researchers like Gibala stress that the most effective and efficient way to lose weight and maintain the weight loss is not through exercise but by reducing calories through a healthy diet. If sucking wind isn't for you, you may be interested in Lazy Ways to Lose Weight All Year Long.

For more healthy eating news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter!

Go here to see the original:
This One Exercise Melts Fat Faster Than Any Other, Says Science - Eat This, Not That