Unique Hoodia

Search the web using just the term ‘hoodia’ and you’ll soon be bombarded by an assortment of companies all claiming to offer you the ‘genuine’ article.

Now to the average surfer this is just the news they have been looking for: easy access to a range of Hoodia products readily available to buy. But here is the thing: 80% of the Hoodia products you are browsing through are fake.

Yes that’s right, all 8 out of 10 of them. And these unfortunately are just the ones that were willingly sent to Alkemist pharmaceuticals for testing.

In truth there are probably hundreds more out there that too are not the real deal.

So why are so many of them considered to be fake? Doesn’t the ingredient list say it contains real Hoodia? In most cases this is true, but there is more to this story than just reading the ingredients list.

Let us explain.

Point one: Which Hoodia plant has been used?

If you spot a Hoodia product that doesn’t identify what type of Hoodia plant it is, then more than likely you are looking at a supplement that contains the wrong type of Hoodia.

You see there are 13 types of Hoodia plant, but of them all only the Hoodia Gordonii plant contains the active ingredient P57 that can effectively suppress your appetite.

Point two: What part of the Hoodia Gordonii plant has been used?

Now to those who don’t know much about how Hoodia Gordonii works, then here is a quick lesson.

Of the Hoodia Gordonii plant itself, only its aerial stem (the core) of the plant contains the active molecule P57. The rest of the plant – its leaves, flowers and roots, essentially offer nothing in terms of weight loss.

So even if a company is claiming to be using 100% pure Hoodia Gordonii, this might not be strictly true if they are using the whole of the plant to make the supplement. If they are, you are probably only getting 60% of the plants active ingredient.

Point three: Are there any other ingredients?

This is where it gets complicated. Why? Because companies can claim to be using 100% Hoodia Gordonii on their label, whilst still not giving you a pure supplement.

As an endangered species with limited exportations and harvests, many companies have chosen to incorporate other ingredients such as caffeine to save on costs and supplies.

The problem here is that they are reducing your chances of achieving real weight loss, by reducing the effectiveness of the supplement. But by law they are not actually doing anything wrong by claiming to contain pure Hoodia Gordonii.

So what does this mean? Well you need to make sure you check its ingredient list thoroughly before investing.

The only ingredients you should be seeing on your packaging is the core of the Hoodia Gordonii plant, and the ingredients used to make up its capsules: gelatib. Spot anything else on the ingredients list and you are not getting 100% pure Hoodia Gordonii.

Point four: Is it an extract?

No company who is honestly selling genuine Hoodia Gordonii is selling it as an extract. Why? Because all ‘extract’ exactly means is that you are receiving only 60% of the plants core. The rest is a combination of fillers, caffeine or other inactive parts of the Hoodia Gordonii plant that will do nothing to suppress your appetite.

See what we mean? There is a reason why so many Hoodia supplements fail these tests – they have scrimped on much as they can in order to cut down on their costs. But the problem is, many of them are able to get away with it because they do contain small quantities of the plant.

With this at their side, they are able to keep on lying to you whilst still charging you big.

So what do you do? Well the answer to this one is to keep these four points in mind, and make sure that your thoroughly check your chosen products ingredients list before you invest.

Do that and you can ensure you are always receiving the genuine article, each and every time.

One such product is UniqueHoodia. Clinically tested and backed by Alkemist pharmaceuticals, in one neat compact package, consumers can benefit from:

• Using 100% pure unaltered Hoodia Gordonii
• A 2,000 calorie reduction every day
• 10,000 times the productivity of glucose at suppressing your appetite
• Increased energy and self esteem.

With results like these it is no wonder that it is so popular. It works.

Order your packet of UniqueHoodia today.

Lose Belly Fat

Belly fat is usually the first sign of obesity. When a person begins to develop protruded abdomen, obesity has already set in-medical experts call it truncal obesity. There are several names for this; others say it is cellulite accumulation. What ever you call it, belly fat is the most obvious sign that tells us when a person becomes obsessed. Most people don’t like the site of truncal obesity or belly fat. There is an ugly thing to it and creates flaps at the sides of your abdomen especially when sitting down.

Do you want to get rid of the fat in your abdomen? Then you have to read on. There is a lot of advice out there in books and web pages on how to successfully burn the fat in your belly yet I keep coming across people who have done all that to no avail. The reason for this may be that, you got the wrong kind of counsel, or you applied the advice wrongly. If you fall in this category of people, there is something to smile about. That of course, will be true if you adhere to what you will learn here. Remember that your ability to lose belly fat will depend mostly on you and not really what anyone must have told you-if the best strategy is wrongly applied, you can be sure it won’t

What then do you need to do to lose belly fat?

The strategy involves proper healthy diet plan and exercise. Now that sounds familiar right? Make no mistake that you can loss your belly fat by the application of one. Both are mutually inclusive and can not be effective in isolation. I am sure you must have heard this before. But people fail to understand that belly fat requires specific type of type of exercise that is targeted at that area. For example, running will help you stay fit but will do little to burn the fat in your abdomen.

Interval Training

This is a High Intensity Interval Training. The idea involves some kind of cardiovascular exercises that are done in a period of lower intensity followed by a period of higher intensity. This is called exercising in ‘fits and starts’.

This kind of exercise helps to burn more fat that the typical kind of cardiovascular exercises. Also, with respect to belly fat in particular, research has shown that High Intensity Interval Training can produce more fat loss in the abdomen than in any other parts of the body. A recent study shows that, people involved in High Intensity Interval Training have been found to loss about 3-4 times more fat especially belly fat than those practicing the regular steady-state cardiovascular exercises, despite exercising for longer periods.

Secondly, in order to target the belly specifically, it is very important to include sit-ups as an important aspect of your exercise program.

Belly-Fat-Losing Diet

The simplest way to put it is to say, reduce your calorie intake to a maintenance level. That is, take in only the amount of calories that just enough to help maintain your body without storing any more energy. This is the most-effective way of shedding pounds of fat from the body. In place of carbohydrate food, eat fruits, fish and vegetables.

Fiber is mostly polysaccharides composed of glucose units, but human digestive enzymes cannot break the bonding of these units. We can think of fiber as non-starch polysaccharides. These include cellulose, hemicellulose, pectin, and some other types of fiber. That might sound like Greek to you, but fiber is an important part of our daily diet, and a high fiber diet might be perfect for your body.

Depending on their solubility in water, there are of two main types of fiber: soluble fiber and insoluble fiber. Both of these types are important for optimum health. Fiber has a number of health benefits and hence is highly recommended in daily food. Some of its health benefits are:

• It promotes the feelings of fullness and reduces energy consumption.
• It prevents constipation, hemorrhoids, and other intestinal problems.
• Fiber helps prevent bacterial infection of the appendix.
• It reduces the risk of colon cancer.
• It stimulates the muscles of the digestive tract and helps them retain their health and tone.

To keep the digestive tract healthy and prevent other disorders like hemorrhoids and intestinal problems, people normally need 20 to 35 grams of fiber daily. These can be obtained from a variety of plants, vegetables and fruits. Fibers are especially abundant in whole foods. All fruits are rich in fiber. For just 2 grams of fiber, you could eat 1 small apple, 1 peach, 1 small banana, 2 prunes, 16 large cherries, or a number of other fruits. Grains also contain fiber. For 2 grams of fiber, simply try 1 slice of whole wheat bread, 2 slices of cracked wheat bread, 1 cup of cooked oatmeal, 2 cups of popped popcorn, or ¼ of a cup of corn bran.

If you are on a low-carb diet, you can try eating cooked vegetables to provide your body with adequate fiber. For 2 grams of fiber, eat ½ of a cup of broccoli, 1 cup of celery, ½ of a cup of carrots, 1 small potato, 1 large tomato, or a variety of beans. Beans, or any type of legume, are the real powerhouses for fiber. By only eating ½ of a cup of kidney beans, 1 cup of dried peas or lentils, or ½ of a cup of canned baked beans, you can provide your body with a whopping 8 grams of fiber.  If all else fails, small amounts of fiber can also be found in peanuts, walnuts, and pickles, so there is really no excuse for not getting enough fiber in your diet!

Food Pyramid

An overwhelming variety of both natural and highly processed foods is available at the market. To guide people in picking healthy food items, the US Department of Agriculture has designed the food pyramid. It is a labeled illustration, shaped like a pyramid, which demonstrates groups of essential food types and the quantity in which a normal individual requires each of these foods.

At the base of the food pyramid are such food items that serve as ready sources of energy. These are rich in starch, low in fat, and include cereals, pasta, bread, and different types of grains. By the specifications of the food pyramid, a normal adult individual needs 6 to 11 servings of these items daily. Whole grains are the best and healthiest food of this group. In a single serving of these foods you can include a slice of bread, a cup of cereal flakes, one flat tortilla, and one ounce of rice or pasta.

As the geometry of the food pyramid shows, vegetables and fruits are required in less quantity than carbohydrates. Normally, a grown person would need 3 to 5 servings of vegetables and 2 to 4 servings of fruits daily. The high fiber content of vegetables and fruits make them ideal food items as fiber keeps the bowel movements in order. In addition, they are both rich in vitamins (required for immunity and general health) and minerals, which ensure the proper functioning of various body organs. Among vegetables, go for more dark green vegetables and try to pick fresh fruits instead of fruit juices.

Next upper chamber in the food pyramid is occupied by proteins and dairy products. You need 2 to 3 servings daily of each of these foods. Protein comes from lean meat, eggs, fish, beans, and nuts. It is advisable to remove the visible fat on the meat so as to make it a low fat item. Be moderate in using nuts, since they also hold fats. Among the dairy products, milk is the complete diet with most of the required vitamins and minerals like calcium, phosphorus, and magnesium. Cheese and yogurt are also recommended dairy foods. Try to abstain from high intake of ice cream and cheese that is high in fat.

Lastly, at the top of the food pyramid lie fats, including oils, and sweets. The recommended quantity of these items is limited to sparing use. Butter, cream, oils, candies, margarines etc., are all foods that are not easy to digest and hence should be used in minimal amounts.  However, it is an important part of our diet, just as all the other parts of the food pyramid are important as well.

Fad diets are a sort of diet plan or aid that aims at losing weight, usually in a relatively short time. Fad diets attract a large number of people who suffer from weight problems and are helplessly looking to some way of arriving at a shapely physique. The problem with fad diets is that their fat-reducing effect is temporary and results in quick regain of weight. What is worse is that most of these diets are harmful to health.

Fad diets are not as new as they might seem at first. These date back to the mid 19^th century when an obese Londoner was prescribed such a diet on experimental basis. Now, after a century and a half, fad diets have become popular among people with weight problems. Teens and young adults especially flock to fad diets for answers to weight problems.

Fad diets are usually centered on a higher consumption of fats or proteins while stressing to go easy on or, in some cases, completely cut out carbohydrates. It is the low intake of carbohydrates that brings about rapid weight loss. In fact, this rapid loss is the loss of water that glycogen has stored. With loss of glycogen, the large amount of water stored in it is also lost and body weight drops. The fats are still there and as the fad diets are given up, the body regains its proportion of water lost. Weight is put back on as fast as it was lost.

Normally, carbohydrates remain the source of energy for work. With fad diets, the carbs are no longer there so the body starts using the stored fat, breaking it down. This may appear beneficial but in fact it is not. In the absence of carbs, fats cannot be completely oxidized and put to work. Hence, the body feels fatigued and weak. In addition, the ketone molecules resulting from the fat-breakdown accumulate in the blood and are excreted out via urine, causing dehydration.

Given the harmful health effects of fad diets, it is important for us, especially the weight-conscious people, to recognize and beware of these diet plans. Watch out for diets that:

• Promise quick weight loss
• Publicize before and after pictures
• Present weight-loss testimonials
• Tend to limit natural food choices
• Require a large sum of money

Fad diets may be popular, but they can greatly hurt your body. Be careful with any diet or exercise program and ask your doctor to be sure it is safe.

To say that Americans are obsessed with dieting is an understatement! Pick up any magazine, tune-in or turn-on any source of advertising and you’re bombarded with the latest diet schemes and food fads. More often than not, they are endorsed by some familiar Hollywood celebrity, or promoted using some other
cleaver technique.

It’s no mystery that the weight-loss industry has built a thriving empire. In America, for example, we spend about 35 billion dollars every year on an assortment of weight loss products and plans. In addition, we spend another 79 billion dollars for medication, hospitalization, and doctors to treat obesity-related problems. Even with this, the obesity epidemic continues to spread. Sadly, we have become the heaviest
generation in our Nation’s history.

The National Center for Health Statistics reports that we havesome very good reasons to be concerned about our weight-gain. Americans, for example are packing-on the pounds faster than ever before and weight-related medical problems are taking center stage. Diseases like heart disease, diabetes and yes…even
certain forms of cancer have all been linked to obesity.

Here are a few of the surprising statistics about our weight:

• A whopping 64 percent of U.S. adults are either overweight or obese. That’s up approximately 8 percent from overweight estimates obtained in a 1988 report.

• The percent of children who are overweight is also continuing to increase. Among children and teens ages 6-19, 15 percent or almost 9 million are overweight. That’s triple what the rate wasin 1980!

• Nearly one-third of all adults are now classified as obese. At present, 31 percent of adults 20 years of age and over or nearly 59 million people have a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or greater, compared with 23 percent in 1994.

(The BMI is a number that shows body weight adjusted for height.For adults, a BMI of 18.5 - 24.9 is considered normal. A BMI of 25.0 - 29.9 is overweight and 30.0 or above, is considered
obese.)

Modern life both at home and at work has come to revolve around moving from one “seated” position to another: whether it’s television, computers, remote controls, or automobiles, we seem
to be broadening the scope of our inactive endeavors.

At times, life seems to have gotten almost too easy! For entertainment, we can now just sit-down, dial-up our favorite TV program or DVD movie and enjoy hours of un interruptedentertainment…
And all those simple calorie burning activities that were once anormal part of our daily routine not so long ago? Long gone! You know the ones I’m talking about…activities like climbing stairs instead of using escalators and elevators. Or, pushing a lawn mower instead of riding around on a garden tractor. And what
about that daily walk to school? Now, our kids complain when the school bus happens to be a few minutes late getting to the bus stop!

Along with the convenience of our affluent lifestyle and reduction in energy expenditure, have come changes in our diet. We are now consuming more calorie rich and nutrient deficient foods than ever before.
Here are a few examples of what we were eating in the 1970’s compared to our diet today (information is taken from a recent U.S. Department of Agriculture survey):

• We are currently eating more grain products, but almost all of them are refined grains (white bread, etc.). Grain consumption has jumped 45 percent since the 1970s, from 138 pounds of grains per person per year to 200 pounds! Only 2 percent of the wheat flour is consumed as whole wheat.

• Our consumption of fruits and vegetables has increased, but only because the U.S.D.A. includes French fries and potato chips as a vegetable. Potato products account for almost a third of our”produce” choices.

• We’re drinking less milk, but we’ve more than doubled our cheese intake. Cheese now outranks meat as the number one source of saturated fat in our diets.

• We’ve cut back on red meat, but have more than made up for the loss by increasing our intake of chicken (battered and fried), so that overall, we’re eating 13 pounds more meat today than we didback in the 1970s.

• We’re drinking three times more carbonated soft drinks than milk, compared to the 1970’s, when milk consumption was twice that of pop.

• We use 25 percent less butter, but pour twice as much vegetable oil on our food and salads, so our total added fat intake has increased 32 percent.

• Sugar consumption has been another cause of our expanding waistlines. Sugar intake is simply off the charts. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, people are consuming roughly twice the amount of sugar they need each day, about 20 teaspoons on a 2000 calorie/day diet. The added sugar is found mostly in junk foods, such as pop, cake, and cookies.

• In 1978, the government found that sugars constituted only 11 percent of the average person’s calories. Now, this number has ballooned to 16 percent for the average American adult and as much as 20 percent for American teenagers.

The days of the wholesome family dinners so near and dear to our hearts, where we all sat around the kitchen table to discuss events of the day, are now a part of our sentimental past. They have been replaced by our cravings for take-out and fast-food. We have gradually come to accept that it’s “OK” to sacrifice healthy foods for the sake of convenience and that larger serving portions mean better value.

And, since I have been throwing-out statistics, here’s one more: Americans are consuming about 300 more calories each day than we did twenty years ago. We should actually be eating less because of our decreased activity level, but instead are doing the opposite!

Decide TODAY that healthy eating and exercise habits will become a permanent part of your life!

Begin to explore your values and thoughts and other areas of your life where change may be required, and then take action. Begin slowly, but deliberately to make improvements in the areas you identify. And remember, it has taken a very long time to develop your habits, and it will take some time to undo them so be patient!

The information contained in this article is for educational purposes only and is not intended to medically diagnose, treat or cure any disease. Consult a health care practitioner before beginning any health care program.

About the Author
Emily Clark is editor at Lifestyle Health News and Medical Health News
where you can find the most up-to-date advice and information on
many medical, health and lifestyle topics.

Generally people confuse weight loss with fat loss from the body. This is a serious misunderstanding. Well-being of a person depends on a certain amount of fat in the body. Fat is emergency storage of energy in your body. Indiscriminate fat loss from the body can be dangerous.

Clinically men are considered obese if their body fat level is over 25% and women are considered obese if their body fat level is over 30%; by this reckoning about 60% of population can be categorized as being obese.

A program for fat loss basically has two components; first, cutting down consumption of excess calories which cause a build up of fat in the body and secondly gradually burning off the excess fat the body has acquired in the past. Cutting down on intake of excess calories is a matter of observing healthy diet in a disciplined manner; burning off excess fat from the body is generally done by suitable exercises and it can be supplemented by some dietary practices. Some fat burner preparations are available on the market, but it is advisable to avoid them as far as possible.

Any program for fat loss must incorporate appropriate routine of exercises. Exercising you will undertake is not for building a six-pack body but to help burn the stored fat and at the same time maintain your health. Aerobic exercises and jogging are the barest minimum that you must include in your routines. Exercises increase the rate of metabolism which helps burn off the fat; muscles burn more calories than fat.

Healthy dietary practice would require consumption of appropriate amount of “good” proteins, “good” carbohydrates, and “good” fats. I have used the word “good” deliberately, to be able to clear certain notions people have regarding desirability of certain components of diet.

As I mentioned earlier, exercises are essential for general well-being and also for burning calories. Protein is essential in building muscles. Low fat milk products such as skimmed milk, cottage cheese, yogurt as well as fish are rich in proteins but are low on fat. So they are good proteins.

Similarly carbohydrates are essential for the body as source of energy. Beans, fruits, vegetables, and whole grains not only supply carbohydrates to the body but they are natural hunger-suppressants because body can consume them slowly. They are also moderate on calories and fats.

Contrary to popular belief certain fatty foods are very helpful to the body. Fatty acids the body can get from eating fish such as Salmon, Mackerel, Sardines and Herrings help regulate blood pressure, they can lower risk of heart failures, and they prevent blood clotting.

Fiber foods hardly contribute any calories, and they are filling. They are natural hunger suppressants. Moreover they are not digested by the body and while passing through the body undigested they help in carrying away some fats and proteins. Apples, beans, broccoli, brown rice, nuts and bran are good fiber foods. Eat adequate fiber food.

While trying to lose fat from the body, drink plenty of water - especially ice cold water. Water is a natural appetite suppressant and it is essential in the process of burning up the stored fat. It helps natural weight loss.

You will see it is possible to achieve fat loss if realistic practical steps are taken.

Did you know that you can be ‘just a little bit diabetic’? The condition is technically called ‘pre-diabetes’, and it is characterized by persistent high blood sugar levels. Pre-diabetes is a serious condition, though its symptoms may be so subtle that you don’t notice them affecting your life. More importantly, it’s an indicator that there is something seriously wrong with your body. Left untreated, over 50% of those diagnosed with pre-diabetes will develop Type 2 diabetes within ten years.

If your doctor has told you that you are one of the more than 16 million Americans who has pre-diabetes, the American Diabetes Association has some very good news for you. In March 2005, the ADA released the results of the multi-year Diabetes Prevention Project. In a study that followed thousands of patients across the nation who had been diagnosed with pre-diabetes, the Diabetes Prevention Project found that patients who lost a ‘moderate’ amount of weight reduced their risk of developing full-blown diabetes by over 58%. Even more encouraging, many of those patients had managed to reverse their condition, and their blood sugar levels were well within normal ranges.

This was a result that the researchers had not expected. Diabetes (and pre-diabetes) is the result of changes to cells in the pancreas that reduce the amount of insulin that they can produce. Doctors have always believed that those changes are irreversible. Now however, the research seems to suggest that losing weight with a healthy balance of exercise and diet can actually heal those early damages caused by diabetes.

Here’s the even better news. Those results were achieved by people who lost ‘moderate’ amounts of weight - from 5-7% of their total body mass. In other words, if you weigh 200 pounds and have been diagnosed as pre-diabetic, losing just 10-15 pounds can more than halve the risk of developing full-blown diabetes, and may reverse your condition entirely.

Here are some healthy weight loss tips from the American Diabetes Association:

1. Keep your diet balanced. Eat a variety of foods in all food groups, with an emphasis on grains, starches andfresh vegetables and fruit.

2. Learn to eyeball portions. Portion control is far more important than restricting what foods you eat. A ‘portion’ of raw vegetables may be considerably larger than a portion of the same vegetables cooked. There are some handy reference guides on their web site at www.diabetes.org

3. Add one half hour daily of moderate exercise to your daily routine five days a week. This one single lifestyle change seemed to be the key to both weight loss and the beneficial effects derived from it. It was the single significant difference between the two groups in the study.

The results of the Diabetes Prevention Project only confirm what has been the best advice in dieting circles for years - losing weight with a balanced diet and exercise is the healthiest way there is. For more information on the diet recommended by the American Diabetes Association, visit their web site at www.diabetes.org

]]> http://www.diets-ok.com/diabetes-and-weight-loss/feed/ http://www.diets-ok.com/no-excuses-exercises/ http://www.diets-ok.com/no-excuses-exercises/#comments Sat, 13 Sep 2008 09:09:17 +0000 admin http://www.diets-ok.com/?p=57

It’s old news that exercising is the single best way to spark up your weight loss efforts. The activity perks up your metabolism, and eats up more calories. In addition, the more you exercise, the better the effect. Exercising builds muscle mass, which is denser and more compact than fat. That means your body has to expend more effort to pump blood through it, and it requires more nutrients to keep it healthy. The end result? Even at rest, your body naturally burns more calories.

Unfortunately, the prospect of exercising tends to elicit groans from most people. There’s all the logistics to work out - the time,equipment, expense and the sheer, utter boringness of it all. Negative thinking about exercise can sabotage all your good intentions. Here’s a list of answers for some of the most commonly used excuses not to exercise.

I don’t have time to exercise!

Exercise could be one of the most important things you’ll do for your health today. MAKE time to exercise. If you’re doing traditional workouts - move those weights and mats right out into the family room and make use of your television time. Instead of flopping down in a chair while you watch the news or your favorite show, be active. Run in place, do leg lifts or heft weights. Use time in your car to tighten and tone muscles with isometric tummy tighteners. Walk up the stairs instead of using the elevator. Exercise doesn’t have to be a solid hour at the gym. Anything that revs up your motors is great for your body.

I don’t have the right equipment at home.

You don’t need equipment to exercise. A brisk walk around the block is good for you - and burns over 200 calories. Vacuuming your carpets can burn nearly as much. Flip on your radio or pop in your favorite high-energy CD and dance. Don’t fool yourself into thinking that your ‘exercise‘ has to be a carefully planned workout to work all the right muscles in the right order with the right tension. Exercise means being active. Just do it.

I can’t afford a membership to the gym.

If you’d rather exercise at the gym (and have access to their fitness machines, whirlpools, swimming pool and trainers), there are a lot of ways to make it more affordable. Check with your health insurance company to see if they offer incentives. Most of the major health insurance companies, including Blue Cross, cover part or all of fitness club memberships as part of your benefits. If yours doesn’t, or if you don’t have health insurance, call your local YMCA or YWCA. Most offer ’scholarships’ or sliding fee scales for memberships to their facilities.

But exercise is such a chore!

Says who? Make getting your daily exercise fun. Play a game. Go dancing. Grab a few friends for a weekend hike in the state park. Exercise doesn’t have to be routine. Stop thinking of it as a chore and start thinking of it as recreation. You’ll be amazed what a difference it makes.

The active-play phenomenon started by Wii Sports now spreads to your whole body thanks to Wii Fit and the pressure-sensitive Wii Balance Board, which comes bundled with it. Used together players will experience an extensive array of fun, dynamic and surprisingly challenging activities, including aerobics, yoga, muscle stretches and balance oriented games. The focus of these activities is towards providing a “core” workout, a popular exercise method that emphasizes slower, controlled motions, but it’s the fun approach to fitness of Wii Fit that will keep players hooked on fitness for years to come.

The Wii Fit Balance Board

The primary tenet of Wii Fit is balance. Your center of balance, the point between your left and right sides when you stand upright, has a lot to do with your health. Those without an even center of balance will be unnaturally compensating for this imbalance, which causes their posture to become misaligned, increasing the possibility of putting unnecessary strain on their bodies. This is where the Wii Balance Board comes in.

Similar in appearance to a step aerobics board, the Wii Balance Board is much, much more. Easily capable of supporting weights up to a maximum of 300 pounds, it is sturdy and precise, able to measure weight and register pressure accurately when placed on a variety of flat surfaces. This advanced level of sensitivity allows for both the wide range of activities found in the Wii Fit software as well as the board’s amazing ability recognize individual players by their weight alone.

Getting Started: Create a Profile

Before you jump into doing exercises and activities, you’ll start by creating a profile. This is done easily and intuitively by simply choosing a Mii, entering your height and age information, and doing a few quick tests that will serve as a baseline for your new Wii fitness regimen. These tests are:

* BMI Check: BMI, or Body Mass Index, is a measure of body fat based on height and weight that is the standard used by agencies such as the World Health Organization and the National Institute of Health. To check your BMI, you’ll enter your height then stand on the Wii Balance Board and let it read your weight.
* Wii Fit Age: After you’ve checked your BMI, you’ll do a basic balance test and find out your current Wii Fit Age. This basic balance test measures how well you can control your left and right balance. Based on the results, you’ll be assigned a Wii Fit Age.

Four Categories of Fun

Once you have created your profile it’s time to have some fun. Wii Fit features four main categories of exercises to choose from: Strength Training, Aerobics, Yoga and Balance Games. Wii Fit will guide you through the first three with the help of your own virtual personal trainer, while the balance games offer variety and fun to help keep you engaged and excited about your fitness goals. In addition, as you spend time exercising, you’ll earn Fit Credits that unlock additional exercises and activities within your favorite categories that will allow you to continue to push yourself. See more detail on the four categories below:

* Strength Training: Put your strength to the test with muscle-toning exercises like Single Leg Extension, Sideways Leg Lift, Arm and Leg Lift, Single-Arm Stand, Torso Twists, Rowing Squat, Single Leg Twist, Lunge, Push-Up and Side Plank, Jackknife, Plank and Tricep Extension. Challenges include Push-Up Challenge, Plank Challenge and Jackknife Challenge.
* Aerobics: Get your heart pumping with fun, interactive Aerobic exercises like Hula Hoop, Basic Step, Basic Run, Super Hula Hoop, Advanced Step, 2-P Run, Rhythm Boxing, Free Step and Free Run.
* Yoga: Work on your balance and flexibility with Yoga poses and activities like Deep Breathing, Half-Moon, Dance, Cobra, Bridge, Spinal Twist, Shoulder Stand, Warrior, Tree, Sun Salutation, Standing Knee, Palm Tree, Chair, Triangle and Downward-Facing Dog.
* Balance Games: Get into the action with fun, balanced-based games like Soccer Heading, Ski Slalom, Ski Jump, Table Tilt, Tightrope Walk, Balance Bubble, Penguin Slide, Snowboard Slalom and Lotus Focus.

Keep Track of Your Progress

Because keeping fit is an ongoing process, Wii Fit also tracks the activities you do the most and puts them into your Favorites category. With this information players can note exercises and activities that they are strong in, as well as others that may need to improve at. Some of the ways players can use this information for are to:

* Keep tabs on your daily progress with easy-to-understand graphs and charts. Using your personal profile, you can set goals, view a graph of your BMI results over time, see how many Fit Credits you’ve earned, check your Wii Fit Age and even enter exercise time you’ve done outside of Wii Fit. It’s all about coming back and exercising a little every day, and the personal profile makes tracking your daily progress simple and easy.
* Quickly check your Wii Fit Age and BMI without even putting the game in the console by going directly to the Wii Fit Channel.
* Allow up to eight family members can create their own profiles in Wii Fit. On the profile-selection screen, everyone in the family can see each other’s recent BMI progress and Fit Credit total. This will allow families to have a friendly competition to exercise and get fit.

Variety, fun and progress tracking; Wii Fit has it all. So, Wii owners if you ready to reclaim your balance and get fit all you need is Wii Fit, a few minutes a day to play and the urge to have fun. Get on board today.

Product Description

Get a great workout right in your home without going to the gym. Nintendo Wii Fit with Wii Balance Board turns your living room into a fitness center for the whole family. Family members will have fun getting a “core” workout, and talking about and comparing their results and progress on a new channel on the Wii Menu. Aerobic Exercise - 10-minute exercises that are designed to get your heart pumping Muscle Conditioning - Controlled motions using arms, legs and other body parts Yoga Poses - Classic poses that focus on balance and stretching Balance Games - Fun activities, such as ski jumping and heading soccer balls, that challenge the player’s overall body balance