4 Things That Always Come Before A 6 Pack Abs

Sometimes all it takes to get caught up in the hype of the
latest ab machine or miracle pill is a simple photograph of
a stunning set of 6-pack abs. Just about everyone wants six
pack abs, or at least a trim waistline, if not a muscular
one, so all the glory these days has gone to exercising the
abdominal muscles. But this has caused some serious
problems, and falling for the latest gimmick is not the
least of them.

When you become so focused on abs and abdominal exercises,
you tend to completely forget that there's much more to
seeing your abs than doing crunches and other exercises for
the rectus abdominis. By focusing only on the 6-pack
muscles, not only do you fail to learn about the complexity
and importance of the entire core region and the deeper
muscles that aren't so "glamorous," you also tend to
completely forget the other things that absolutely must
come before 6-pack abs ever arrive.

If you fail to do these other 4 things first, it doesn't
matter how much abdominal exercise you do, you will never
see a six pack.

To See A set of Six Pack Abs, First, Your Body Fat Must Be
Low enough

The biggest reason most people can't see their abs is
because most of the population is overweight or even obese
today. For your abdominals to show through, you need a low
enough body fat percentage.

For men to see a clearly defined set of six pack abs, it
usually requires getting down to about 10% body fat or
less, and for the women, it's usually about 16% body fat or
less. It's not possible to tell you exactly what body fat
you will have to reach to see your abs because it also
depends on your individual genetics. For example, one man
can see a six pack at 11% body fat, while other men say
they don't see their abs until they're 7% or 8% body fat.

Reduction of body fat is the first and most important thing
that must come before a 6-pack. And that leads you to the
question, "what is the best way to reduce body fat?"

The first priority in reducing body fat is nutrition,
because the easiest way to create a caloric deficit is with
a reduction in food intake, but few people think about the
quality of the food they're eating, only the quantity.
Proper hydration is also critical, but often forgotten.
Exercise is the final key, but ab and core exercises alone
just won't do it. It takes a certain combination of
exercise for optimal results.

The Other 3 Things That Come Before A 6-Pack

1. Eat Organic I preach organic so often that to my regular
readers, I probably sound like a broken record. However,
it's not without reason: if you want your liver to process
body fat efficiently, then you'd better have this important
organ working efficiently and kept in good health. Refined
foods and alcohol harm the liver and give it no chance to
process body fat the way it was designed to do because it's
too busy dealing with all the toxins you've consumed. So
eat as organic as your budget will allow. If you can't
afford organic, be sure to wash all of your food items
(produce) with a natural food cleaner. Eating organic,
fibrous foods will also increase improve the functioning of
your digestive system and create for regular movements. You
should have a bowel movement 2-3 times per day. If not, you
are putting a lot of unnecessary stress on your digestive
system. If this happens, then losing fat and keeping it off
becomes much more difficult.

2. Drink and Be Hydrated! I urge every one of my clients
and readers to drink more water. Many people understand the
importance of avoiding dehydration, but they don't realize
how important water is in helping remove fat from the body.
Most of us are dehydrated and do not even know it. Here's a
simple hydration test – pinch the skin on the back of your
hand. Pull is up as high as it can go, then let it go. Does
it go back to normal immediately? If not, then you're
dehydrated. The rule of thumb is to drink a minimum of a
half an ounce of water for every pound of body weight. So
if you weigh 200 lbs, you drink at least 100 ounces (Also,
if possible, avoid tap water or plastic bottled water as
plastic contributes to estrogen and that encourages
stubborn fat)

3. Exercise right! If you give body fat a reason to "hang
around" (pun intended), then it will. Give body fat a
reason to leave and it will do that just as easily. Some
kind of activity every single day is just what the doctor
ordered for fat loss. Rather than focusing on one type of
exercise like bodybuilding or aerobics or yoga or pilates,
or just strength or flexibility, I recommend a combination
of cardio training, strength training and specific core
conditioning exercises. While I recommend exercise such as
walking very highly, I also recommend at least some
vigorous and intense exercise such as interval training as
well. It's this combination of strength and cardio
training, plus an active lifestyle in general, that will
help you reduce your body fat enough for your abs will show.

Before you jump the gun and go ballistic with "abdominal
exercises," remember, that there is more to seeing your abs
than just crunches. Seeing "6 pack abs" is first a function
of low body fat. Achieving low body fat is in turn a
function of what you eat, what you drink and how you move.
That makes 4 things that come before a 6-pack. You can "ab
roller" and "crunch" until the cows come home, but if you
haven't done these four things first, then you're
approaching it backwards and will be disappointed

----------------------------------------------------
David Grisaffi is a Sports Conditining Coach and holds
multiple certifications including three from the
prestigious CHEK Institute. Plus he is also the author of
the popluar selling e book, "Firm and Flatten Your Abs,"
which teaches you how to develop a ripped abdominal region.
Lean how to shead bodyfat and eliminate low back pain and
recieve his free newsletter by visiting:
http://www.flattenyourabs.net

A Brief History of Braces-Are Americans Stuck in the Dark Ages?

Braces, in one form or another, have been around since
400-500 BC. According to the AAO (American Association of
Orthodontists), archaeologists have discovered mummified
ancients with crude metal bands wrapped around individual
teeth1.

In the hundreds of years since those first braces, there
have been some enhancements both to the braces themselves
and to who has access to them. In the years B.C. and long
after, dental care was reserved for aristocrats. And the
first "orthodontists" used catgut rather than metal bands
to slowly tighten and move misaligned teeth into place.
Much later, in the late 1800s and early 1900s,
orthodontists traded in catgut for wood, brass, copper and
even silver and gold. While they were large and cumbersome,
braces began to look more like what we see today. And, for
the most part, anyone with access to a dentist and with the
money to pay for them could get them. Still, braces were a
luxury for the elite, because a relative few had enough
expendable income to pay for them.

By the 1950s in America, orthodontists were using stainless
steel braces laced together with tiny rubber bands (that
all-to-often slipped or snapped off and flew out of an
adolescent's mouth into an embarrassing spot). Teenage
embarrassments aside, dental plans covered much, of the
cost. And suddenly, straight teeth were available to
virtually every youngster with an overbite in America.

In the late 1980s, Dental HMOs (Dental plans that levy
heavy restrictions on what they call "cosmetic" dentistry)
took root in America. And while orthodontics made amazing
strides with ceramics and "invisible" braces, fewer
Americans were able to pay the price to get them
(approximately $5,000 for two years). It seemed as though
the evolution of braces and who had access to them had come
full circle. Only the wealthy aristocracy could have them
once again.

Fast forward to today, and the evolution has become a
revolution! In the 1990s, something called "Consumer Driven
Dental Plans" emerged to fill the gaps left by HMOs.
Consumer driven dental plans (or dental discount programs,
as they are often called) give the ordinary working
American the means to purchase braces for their children
AND themselves at truly affordable rates. On average, a
patient supported by a consumer driven dental plan receives
a dental discount of 56% -- which means they pay less than
half the standard rate. And payments can be made over time,
making braces accessible to virtually anyone who needs them.

Who knows what the future holds in orthodonture. But let's
hope consumer driven dental plans are there to make it
affordable.

----------------------------------------------------
Jim Martinez is a National Sales Director for AmeriPlan USA
offering discount dental, health, vision, prescription and
chiropractic benefits plans starting at only $19.95 per
month for your entire household. Sign up today for discount
dental benefits plans at

http://www.familydentalhealthplans.com/dental-benefits.html

History Of Enhancers

The tremendous success of Viagra created a market for
erectile dysfunction treatment: Cialis and Levitra have
since come along, with more, similar treatments possibly to
come. Viagra's success also created another niche market:
intimacy enhancers. It's a good bet that Viagra was never
intended to provide inspiration for an enhancement niche,
but inspire it did, and today an entire market, filled with
dozens if not hundreds of products, exists as a result.

Interestingly enough, intimacy enhancers certainly owe
their existence to a misuse of Viagra. Millions of men
were, and perhaps still are, using Viagra as some form of
aphrodisiac. The thinking went, apparently, that if Viagra
treated erectile problems it must work as a male intimacy
enhancer additionally. So some men -- lots of men actually
-- gave Viagra a try as an enhancer. This sort of
underground usage of Viagra became a phenomenon: it also
indicated the presence of a market -- for male enhancement
at the least and perhaps for all types of enhancers -- and
someone somewhere, prudently, was watching and listening.

Every early intimacy enhancer was produced and marketed
similarly: they were specifically made for enhanced
intimacy and not for the treatment of enhancement
dysfunction; and they were nonprescription. Enhancers were
sold exclusively through mail order, and became a
considerable presence on the Internet as the Internet
developed and grew. A number of the nonprescription
enhancers would probably claim themselves as the "first"
enhancer on the scene. Perhaps the distinction belongs to
MagnaRX; perhaps not. MagnaRX is certainly one of the older
of the enhancers being sold today.

Early versions of intimacy enhancers were just about
universally taken in some sort of oral form: capsules
often. As time passed, however, topical enhancers were
introduced, and today the topical enhancers seem to be the
most popular enhancers used. The enhancement market has
also expanded: beginning enhancers were for males only.
There are enhancers now that are exclusive to women, though
the majority of product continues to be made for men.

The marketing for enhancers is growing, to the point where
a popular enhancer, Orexis, is now advertised on cable and
late night television. Still, the majority of enhancer
marketing occurs in online form, with some print media
publicity as well. The almost overwhelming television
marketing presence of the prescription erectile dysfunction
treatments raises some question about why nonprescription
intimacy enhancers don't have more of a television
presence. Perhaps it's because of the cost of television
advertising, or perhaps it's because commercial enhancers
aren't oversight regulated, or perhaps it's due to
something else altogether.

Like most everything else, the cost of enhancers has
achieved a common baseline over time: nonprescription
enhancers now typically cost between $49 and $59 for what
is generally considered to be a month-long supply.

----------------------------------------------------
Zinn Jeremiah is a freelance writer. Read additional work
by Zinn at http://www.hubonline.biz/website-content.htm .
Find intimacy enhancement products at
http://www.hubonline.biz/more-satisfaction.htm .

Lutein and Zeaxanthin For Healthy Eyes

"Carotenoids" is the term which describes the large range
of more than 600 phytochemical pigments from which many
plants derive their characteristic red, orange or yellow
colourings. Those most commonly found in modern Western
diets are alpha-carotene, beta-carotene, lutein,
zeaxanthin, and lycopene.

Alpha and beta-carotene have traditionally attracted most
attention as they can be synthesised by the body to form
vitamin A, one of the body's most powerful anti-oxidants,
immune system boosters and infection fighters. More
recently lycopene has won substantial publicity as a
possible weapon in the battle against cancer, particularly
that of the prostate.

Like lycopene, neither lutein nor zeaxanthin are
"pro-vitamin A" active substances in the way that alpha and
beta-carotene are, but the evidence now indicates that they
also function as valuable fat-soluble anti-oxidants within
the body, and as such may be particularly important in
preventing free radical damage to the delicate but vital
fatty structures of the body's cells such as the membranes.
These fat-soluble anti-oxidants also help to prevent the
oxidation of low-density blood lipids (LDL), the so-called
"bad cholesterol", which is implicated as a major factor in
the development of cardiovascular disease.

But in addition to sharing the general health giving
anti-oxidant properties of carotenoids, lutein and
zeaxanthin have been highlighted for their role in
maintaining visual health, and particularly in protecting
against the principal causes of loss of vision in later
life, ie age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and
cataracts.

The macula is the centre of the eye's retina, and its
degeneration is the main cause of visual deterioration and
ultimately even blindness amongst the elderly in affluent
Western societies. Since lutein and zeaxanthin are the
only carotenoids found in the retina, particular attention
has been paid to their possible role in eye health, and it
appears that both may play a role in preventing oxidative
damage from blue and ultra-violet light, ie sunlight, in
the macula. Like every other structure in the body, the
cells of the retina are vulnerable to free radical damage
in the absence of sufficient anti-oxidants and research
published in the Journal of the American Medical
association in 1994 suggests a 43% reduced incidence of AMD
for those following a diet rich in lutein and zeaxanthin
anti-oxidants as against those whose diet was poorest in
these foods.

Lutein and zeaxanthin are likewise the only carotenoids
found in the lens of the eye, where ultra-violet light and
oxidative damage can cause the growth of the cataracts that
frequently obscure the vision of the elderly. Several
research studies have demonstrated that diets rich in
lutein and zeaxanthin, particularly dark green, leafy
vegetables, may reduce the incidence of cataracts by as
much as 25-50%.

Conventional medicine nevertheless continues to insist that
these findings may be due to elements in a lutein rich diet
other than lutein and zeaxanthin themselves, although
commonsense would seem to suggest that as these are the
only carotenoids present in these vital structures of the
eye, nature has probably put them there for a good reason.

The consumption of ample lutein and zeaxanthin requires the
consumption of a wide variety of vegetables, particularly
the dark, green leafy varieties which are the best dietary
source. So a cup of cooked spinach, for example, will
provide up to 30,000 mcg, kale around 25,000 mcg, collards
or turnip greens perhaps up to 20,000. Squash, peas,
sprouts, pumpkin and broccoli, amongst others, may also be
useful sources, but will provide rather lower quantities.

As with other carotenoids, the optimum absorption of lutein
and zeaxanthin requires the presence of dietary fat. But
this is not too tough to achieve so long as the required
vegetables are taken as part of a meal also including some
meat, particularly red meat.

Supplements containing either lutein, zeaxanthin, or a
combination of the two are readily available as an
alternative, the combination supplements normally
containing significantly more lutein than zeaxanthin. But
whilst conventional medicine has largely accepted the value
of a diet rich in these carotenoids in helping to ensure
continued eye health, it remains sceptical as to the value
of such supplementation. Alternative practitioners, of
course, admit to no such doubts and urge the benefits,
particularly for those with particular reason to fear the
onset of age related optical health problems.

And although such practitioners tend to recommend
supplements in quantities which ought to be easily
achievable through the consumption of a selection of the
foods listed above; it appears that many people are still
not managing to consume such a diet. This is evidenced by
the sad fact that around 25% of the over sixty-five age
group show some signs of AMD, and that several hundred
thousand people are blinded by it each year.

So as ever, the sensible and cost effective precaution
appears to be to combine supplementation with a normal
daily diet already well supplied with foods rich in lutein
and zeaxanthin.

----------------------------------------------------
Steve Smith is a freelance copywriter specialising in
direct marketing and with a particular interest in health
products.
Find out more at
http://www.sisyphuspublicationsonline.com/LiquidNutrition/In
formation.htm