The 4 Biggest Breakup Mistakes

Posted on May 17, 2013 by admin

Dealing with a breakup always sucks, but recently more people seem to be seeking out advice on how to get through it. Google searches for how to get over a breakup increased 41 percent from 2011 to 2013, according to recent data from the search engine.

So why the spike in post-split searches? Experts say it’s because we’re more connected online than ever before. “The more social media there is, the more access you have to what your ex is doing,” says relationship therapist Rachel Sussman, LCSW, author of The Breakup Bible. “People have been dealing with Facebook for a couple of years, but now it’s Twitter and Instagram and as time goes on there will be five others like that.” And since most people only share the good stuff going on in their lives, it can be easy to assume that your ex has totally moved on while you’re still a mess. Plus, the convenience and anonymity of searching for advice online makes it even more tempting to turn to Google for help.

Sure, search engines are great, but it can be a mistake to rely on them for relationship advice. Not all information online is reliable—or even accurate—so we asked Sussman for the biggest mistakes most women make after a breakup, as well as how you can avoid these sucky pitfalls:

Mistake #1: You demand closure
“A huge mistake women make is reaching out to an ex to try to get validation and closure,” says Sussman. First of all, you have no idea how they’ll react to seeing or hearing from you. If your ex wants nothing to do with you or has already moved on, you might end up feeling worse than you already do, says Sussman. And while she admits that some of her clients have gotten constructive feedback from an ex, they often still don’t feel satisfied. “It’s like an addiction, like your brain is withdrawing from a drug, and you can feel very obsessive at this time,” says Sussman.
Another reason to cut ties is to give yourself—and your mind—time to heal. The more you’re talking to or seeing him, the more your brain is engaging with your ex, says Sussman. The bottom line: It’s worth the trouble to delete him from your phone, Facebook, Instagram, etc.

Mistake #2: You try to go it alone
You may be single, but that doesn’t mean you have to deal with the breakup on your own. Letting your friends, family, and even a few close coworkers know what you’re going though can be a huge help, says Sussman. Just make sure you’re not venting to everyone who will listen, or you’ll burn through friends fast, she warns. The key is choosing people who will also tell you when you’re being too obsessive or doing something destructive.

Mistake #3: You blame your ex—for everything
Sure, it feels great to call your ex a few expletives and list every cringe-inducing quality that you definitely won’t miss. But even when all your friends are chiming in to say “I never liked him,” it’s crucial to take your fair share of the blame. “In order to really recover from a breakup in a healthy way, you have to understand what part you played in it, even if it was a small part,” says Sussman. So even if your ex was a cheating commitment-phobe, consider why you stayed with him or if there were any red flags you ignored so you can learn from your mistakes.

Mistake #4: You try to work through it too much
It may seem like a cop-out, but a little distraction is totally healthy during a breakup. “I want people to process their breakup, but you don’t need to be in that state of processing 24/7,” says Sussman. For the other times when you’re tempted to call your ex or check his Facebook, do something that takes a ton of focus or energy—like yoga or volunteering. They’ll take your mind off the temptation. Bonus: Both activities have been proven to boost your mood.

photo: iStockphoto/Thinkstock

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4 Steps to a Successful Beach Workout

Posted on May 17, 2013 by admin

Sure, you hit the beach to relax. But you don’t have to spend the entire trip in a lounge chair: In fact, you can burn more calories in less time if you exercise on sand, according to a study recently published in the Journal of Strength Conditioning and Resistance.

Researchers found that your heart beats about 1.1 times faster when you work out on the sand—yet it doesn’t cause any more muscle damage or inflammation than easier workouts performed on grass. It makes sense: On sand, your feet sink into the surface instead of propelling off it. So your whole body works harder to accomplish the same movements you’d breeze through on solid ground. Sand is also easier on your bones and muscles since it absorbs about two-thirds of the impact, says study author Martyn Binnie, a PhD student at the Western Australian Institute of Sport in Australia.

Translation: You burn almost twice as many calories as you’d torch by doing the same workout at a gym—and you don’t suffer any more for it the next day, he says.

Ready to take your sweat sessions to the beach? Most workouts translate well to the sand, says Binnie—especially those that incorporate jumping (sand makes a good cushion!). Check out these tips from Chris Clark, certified beach boot camp trainer and co-founder of Tiger Athletics, a fitness studio based in Plymouth, Minnesota.

Lace up
As tempted as you might be to put your toes in the sand, you need sturdy running shoes to ease foot fatigue and protect your soles from anything sharp that may be on the ground. This isn’t the place for a minimalist sneaker.

Prevent sand-burn
Sand in your socks and sneakers may be unavoidable, but it doesn’t have to be uncomfortable. Clark smears petroleum jelly directly onto his feet and—get this—over his socks to prevent the friction that causes blisters. It won’t ruin your sneakers—it actually protects the soles from wear and tear, he says.

Shield your skin
Apply water-resistant sunscreen right before your workout to protect against sun damage. Then reapply it afterward since you may have sweated a lot of it off (and it’s a good idea to lather up every 40 to 80 minutes, anyway).

Soothe muscles with a post-workout dip
Cold water soothes your muscles and boosts recovery—an added advantage of training at the beach, says Binnie. Stretch, then jump into the water after your workout for maximum benefits.

photo: iStockphoto/Thinkstock

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Restaurant Food is Even Worse Than You Think

Posted on May 17, 2013 by admin

If you’re under the impression that only fast-food chains are guilty of super-sizing their meals and piling on the hidden calories, think again: The average meal from independent restaurants and small-scale chains contains a whopping 1,327 calories—more than twice the recommended amount—according to a new study published in JAMA Internal Medicine.

Researchers at Tufts University analyzed 157 of the most popular meals (including side dishes) at 33 restaurants in the Boston area. While the average meal clocked in at 1,327 calories, some types of food were worse than others. Italian (1,755 calories per meal on average) and American (1,494 calories) were the worst. Even Vietnamese, which was the best, averaged 922 calories per meal. To put this in perspective, though, the average woman only needs about 600 calories per meal, says senior study author Susan B. Roberts, PhD, co-author of The “I” Diet. And 1,327 calories is more than double that—not to mention about 66 percent of the total calories the average adult needs in one day.

You can thank huge portion sizes and unhealthy ingredients for the excessive calorie counts, says Roberts. Even something as benign as tandoori chicken, which is typically grilled and should be relatively healthy, can come soaked in oil that cranks up the calorie count, she says.

What’s worse is that you have no way of knowing what the calorie counts are at these types of restaurants. Unlike major chains, small restaurants aren’t required to list nutrition info on their menus or websites. And Roberts says humans tend to be pretty bad at guessing how many calories are lurking in a large dish. “When restaurants are serving these gross, obscene portion sizes, we don’t know what we’re eating,” she says.

This doesn’t mean that you have to give up on dining out altogether, though. Roberts suggests immediately setting aside half of your order and asking your server to put it in a to-go box, as well as asking for condiments on the side. Both of these steps can help keep your meal under control.

photo: iStockphoto/Thinkstock

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Get This: You’ll Probably See More Bikers Tomorrow

Posted on May 16, 2013 by admin

Check out the list of links that should be on your radar today:

Tomorrow is Bike to Work Day! Make sure you wear a helmet if you’re taking part. [ABC News]

Creative outlets like music, art, and dancing may help make cancer patients feel less anxious, according to a new study. [Reuters]

PBS has confirmed that Diddy’s Tweet about being on Downton Abbey was a hoax. Phew. [People]

Intensive care unit admissions spiked 50 percent between 2002 and 2009—but researchers aren’t sure why. [UPI]

Something doesn’t add up here: Locks of Love receives 104,000 hair donations each year. That’s enough for more than 2,000 hairpieces—but they made only 317 in 2011. [ABC News]

As many as 20 percent of U.S. children have some kind of mental disorder, according to the CDC. [Reuters]

From 2007 to 2012, only 28 percent of the speaking roles in films belonged to women. [The Frisky]

More than half of the pools in a recent study tested positive for feces. Kinda puts a damper on bikini season, huh? [USA Today]

In totally sickening news, a man in Florida has been accused of tricking his girlfriend into getting an abortion. [Medical Daily]

photo: Fuse/Thinkstock

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Some Birth Control Linked to Pain During Sex

Posted on May 16, 2013 by admin

Birth control pills come with a whole lot of perks. But, as with any medication, women on the pill may also experience some side effects, including this potential one: Low-dose birth control pills may put you at higher risk for both chronic pelvic pain syndrome and pain during sex, according to new research presented last week at the American Urological Association’s annual meeting.

Lead author Nirit Rosenblum, MD, an assistant professor in the urology department at New York University Langone Medical Center, noticed a number of young women coming into her practice over the years who complained of varying pelvic pain symptoms—vaginal pain, pain in the lower part of the abdomen, “anything sort of below the belly button,” says Rosenblum. The common thread with these patients: Many of them were on low-dose birth control pills.

So Rosenblum and her colleagues set up an anonymous survey of more than 900 women ages 18 to 39 to investigate. The women on the low-dose pills were significantly more likely to fit the criteria for chronic pelvic pain syndrome than the women who weren’t on birth control pills or even those who were on normal-dose pills. And they were also much more likely to report pain during or after orgasm than either of the other two groups.

This survey only showed a link between the low-dose pills and pelvic pain, not causation. But if the low-dose pills are behind the pain, Rosenblum says it might be because of a dose-dependent mechanism: Women on low-dose pills have especially low levels of estrogen (women on normal-dose pills also have lower estrogen levels than those not on the Pill, but not quite as low as women on low-dose pills), so those low estrogen levels might somehow be coming into play here. The bottom line: More research needs to be done to understand why this higher incidence of pelvic pain may be happening, says Rosenblum.

If you’re currently on a low-dose pill and experiencing these symptoms, Rosenblum says the first thing you need to do is talk to your doctor, who will work with you to rule out other explanations for the discomfort. If the signs are pointing toward your pill, alternative options include going off of it, trying a higher-dose pill, or switching to a different birth control method.

Rosenblum says she doesn’t think these pelvic pain symptoms are dangerous, but that it’s important for patients to be aware of the link. “When you’re given any medication, you have to understand the potential side effects so that you can be a self advocate,” says Rosenblum. “You have to decide if the benefit of taking the medication is worth either the risk involved or the potential side effects, which may not be risky, but can affect quality of life.”

photo: Wavebreak Media/Thinkstock

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Report: Sodium Guidelines Need to be Reconsidered

Posted on May 16, 2013 by admin

Keeping your sodium intake as low as possible may not be so smart after all: Although the current Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommend limiting yourself to between 1,500 to 2,300 mg of sodium a day, there’s no proof that consuming less than 2,300 mg a day is actually beneficial—and in fact, it may even be harmful, according to a new report from the Institute of Medicine (IOM).

The federal guidelines were set back in 2005, after an earlier IOM report concluded that 1,500 mg of sodium was the lowest possible intake that allowed people to still get all of the other nutrients they needed—and that 2,300 mg of sodium was the maximum daily intake that didn’t negatively impact blood pressure. Based off of these findings, the federal guidelines suggested that those at risk for high blood pressure (people 51 or older, African Americans, and people with hypertension, diabetes, or chronic kidney disease—a group that, combined, makes up more than half the population) limit themselves to 1,500 mg of sodium a day. The guideline for everyone else was set at 2,300 mg. The American Heart Association actually took it a step further and recommended that everyone try to cap their daily sodium intake at 1,500 mg.

“Blood pressure is very important, but it’s important because it’s closely linked to heart attacks, to strokes, to heart disease, to kidney disease to lots of other problems—and to death,” says Brian Strom, MD, MPH professor of public health and preventive medicine and executive vice dean at the School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. “In the interim years, new data have come out that studied those actual heart outcomes.”

So the CDC asked a committee from the IOM chaired by Strom to investigate how recent research has shown sodium intake to affect health outcomes like heart disease and death—rather than hypertension, an intermediate marker.

What they found: While lowering excessive salt intake can improve health outcomes, the committee didn’t find any evidence that health benefits are associated with lowering consumption to below 2,300 mg a day. This suggests that, while blood pressure is important, it’s not the only factor that affects health outcomes. What’s more, the committee found evidence that indicates going under this level—whether you’re at risk for high blood pressure or not—might lead to problems. Why? Likely because it’s difficult to get all of the other nutrients you need if you’re not taking in that much sodium, says Strom.

“You can’t change just sodium without changing your entire diet,” says Strom, pointing out that it’s extremely difficult to take in less than 1,500 mg of sodium a day; less than 1 percent of the population successfully limits themselves to this level.

“There are two studies that show benefit of going down to 2,300 mg, but there’s not one showing benefit going below that,” says Strom.

That said, the committee didn’t make any specific guideline recommendations. A different committee will take this report into consideration when assessing whether the federal guidelines should be updated; the next time the committee is scheduled to meet is in 2015.

The American Heart Association, meanwhile, is sticking to its recommendation of 1,500 mg of sodium a day or less, even in light of this new report.

“While the American Heart Association commends the IOM for taking on the challenging topic of sodium consumption, we disagree with key conclusions,” the association’s CEO Nancy Brown said in a statement.

Strom says that the IOM generally agrees with the American Heart Association, but that he hopes its leaders will reconsider their stance.

“The central point here is that people who eat diets that are too high in salt should lower it,” he says. “We don’t disagree with that at all—our only disagreement is that the target of 1,500 isn’t founded in science.”

photo: CollectionNameTK/Thinkstock

More From Women’s Health:
Surprisingly Salty Foods
Don’t Pass the Salt
How Sweet Is Your Breakfast?

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The Truth About the 7-Minute Workout

Posted on May 16, 2013 by admin

Last week, the New York Times published a story about a “new” miraculous 7-minute workout that burns fat fast and helps you boost your metabolism. The news of the workout went viral—perhaps you saw several friends sharing it on your Facebook newsfeed.

Here’s the thing: The workout was just an example of a high-intensity circuit training (HICT) workout—a circuit of exercises performed back to back to back with little to no rest in between. HICT workouts have been around for a long time now, and their fat-torching, metabolism-boosting benefits have been widely lauded (such as in many issues of Women’s Health). In fact, the famed 7-minute workout you’ve been hearing about all week was just an example of an HICT, used in an academic article published in ACSM’S Health & Fitness Journal. That article reviewed 18 prior studies about HICT workouts, with the purpose of laying out guidelines for the most effective HICT workout routines—because HICT training has become so popular. And while the article authors offered the 7-minute workout as an example of a workout that matched their guidelines, they clarified that it’s certainly not the only workout that meets the requirements.

So, yes, the 7-minute workout is going to bust your butt. But you can do any good HICT workout to see similar fitness and cardiovascular benefits.

Want to know if HICT is worth your time? According to the study authors, it should involve these 7 components:

It targets all your muscles equally
The purpose of the exercises should be to build strength in all major muscle groups, and to create a balance of strength throughout the body—all body parts get worked on equally.

It alternates between major muscle groups
One of the reasons that HICT is such an intense and speedy fat-blaster is because many HICT workouts alternate moves between major muscle groups. This means that you don’t need to take long rest periods between moves, because while one muscle working, another is resting. Jumping from move to move to move with little to no rest in between guarantees that your heart rate stays elevated (and it helps you finish the circuit faster, because there’s no resting in between moves). And if you have one move that jacks up your heart rate (like jumping squats), you can lower your heart rate with the next move that’s less intense (like a stationary plank).

It targets each major muscle group with intensity
Old circuit training protocols called for 9 to 12 individual exercise stations, but the article authors say that the exact number isn’t as important as it is to make sure that all muscle groups are hit.

It keeps the intensity up throughout
The key to making an HICT workout work is to keep the intensity really high throughout. But the longer you do one move (push-ups, for instance), the harder it is to do that move at the same intensity as when you began. The article authors recommend that you give yourself enough time to do 15 to 20 repetitions of any particular move before switching to the next—30 seconds ought to be enough.

It minimizes rest time
Long rest time undermines the benefits of HICT workouts. You’re not supposed to recover completely between exercises, but you should be able to perform each exercise with proper form and technique. The best bet is to keep rest periods to 30 seconds or less—the authors say 15 seconds or less is ideal.

It actually lasts about 20 minutes
If you push yourself at 100%, you can achieve the health benefits of HICT in as little as seven minute (some studies have even found four minutes to be effective). But most people can’t push themselves at 100% for that long, so considering your own limitations, you’ll actually get the biggest boost from doing two or three circuits total, for a combined time of about 20 minutes. Seven minutes will help you see results, but twenty minutes will be even better.

It’s adjustable, based on your physical ability and limitations
If you are overweight or obese, previously injured, or have other physical limitations, the authors recommend caution before trying an HICT workout. If you have high blood pressure or heart disease, avoid isometric exercises (like wall sit, plank, and side plank), and substitute them for dynamic exercises.

So. About that famous 7-minute workout. To try it, perform each of these exercises for 30 seconds with less than 15 seconds of rest/transition time between moves: jumping jacks, wall sit, pushups, crunches, step ups, squats, triceps dips, plank, high knees, lunges, push ups with rotation, and slide plank.

And if you’ve already given the lauded 7-minute workout a try and are looking for something new, try one of these workouts from the editors of Women’s Health for similar results in very little time:

Lean and Fit in 7 Minutes

The 15-Minute No-Equipment Workout

Turbocharge The 8-Hour Diet In Just Eight Minutes A Day!

The Total Body Workout You Can Do Anywhere

15-Minute Workout: Total Body Toning

Fry Fat in 15 Minutes

photo: Ryan McVay/Digital Vision/Thinkstock

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“Should I Worry About Arsenic in Chicken?”

Posted on May 16, 2013 by admin

Every week, the Scoop examines alarming new claims to help you make sense of the latest health research.

When you eat a grilled chicken sandwich, you expect it to pack a lot of protein and some fat. But recent research suggests it might have another, more sinister ingredient: Conventional chicken may contain inorganic arsenic, according to a new study from Johns Hopkins University.

Researchers bought chicken from grocery stores in 10 different U.S. cities and tested each of the samples for roxarsone, a drug sometimes added to chicken feed to encourage weight gain. Why? Previous research suggest that it may degrade into toxic inorganic arsenic during cooking. (Arsenic also occurs naturally in water, air, soil, and food, but is less toxic when it’s organic.)

Roxarsone was detected in 20 of the 40 conventional samples and none of the 25 USDA-certified organic samples—which might help explain why the conventional chicken contained about four times the inorganic arsenic of the organic chicken.

Scary, right? Well, not exactly. The cooked conventional chicken contained about two parts per billion of inorganic arsenic, while the cooked organic chicken contained about half a part per billion—and both levels are way, way under the FDA standard that allows for 500 parts per billion. “I don’t think there is any reason to limit chicken consumption on the basis of this study,” says Melina Jampolis, MD, an internist and board certified physician nutrition specialist based in Los Angeles.

In fact, lead researcher Keeve Nachman, PhD, director of the Center for a Livable Future’s Farming for the Future program at Johns Hopkins University, says the study was conducted to encourage the FDA to ban the use of roxarsone and the similar animal drug nitarsone—not to discourage consumers from eating chicken.

While exposure to this amount of inorganic arsenic could, over time, very slightly increase the risk of diseases like lung and bladder cancer, the levels found in the chicken tested were so small that they’re unlikely to cause problems, says Jampolis. What’s more, the poultry used in the study was purchased before July 2011, when the drug company Alpharma voluntarily suspended sales of roxarsone. So while the FDA has not gone as far as to ban the use of roxarsone, it’s also not in any of the poultry you’d buy today. Nachman and Jampolis say they hope that this study encourages the FDA to keep potentially detrimental animal drugs off the market.

The verdict: There’s definitely no need to stop eating chicken or limit your consumption—only very small amounts of inorganic arsenic were found in the samples tested, and the likely cause of it is no longer being consumed by chicken.

photo: iStockphoto/Thinkstock

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Get This: Fish Oil Protects Your Brain From Junk Food

Posted on May 16, 2013 by admin

Check out the list of links that should be on your radar today:

Another reason to love fish oil: A new analysis of existing research suggests it could help minimize the damaging effect of junk food on the brain. [ScienceDaily]

ABC picked up three pilots created by women for its fall lineup! [Jezebel]

Women’s immune systems age slower than men’s, according to a new study. [Huffington Post]

In most cases, having a healthy weight is a good thing. But recent research suggests that it might make you more likely to develop endometriosis. [Medscape Today]

U.S. airlines made $ 3.5 billion in baggage fees in 2012. These tips will help you save cash the next time you travel, regardless of whether you’re checking bags or not. [USA Today]

The average IQ today is 14 points lower than it was 140 years ago, according to a new study. [Metro.us]

Diddy Tweeted that he’s going to be a regular on Downton Abbey. Please, please let this be a (not at all funny) joke. [Twitter]

Burger King is adding a knockoff McRib to the menu. Just what the world needed: another patty made of mystery meat and drenched in barbecue sauce. [Newser]

New research suggests that pedophiles are born that way—so they can’t help their urges. That still doesn’t make it OK… [kspr.com]

photo: iStockphoto/Thinkstock

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The Best Protein Sources

Posted on May 15, 2013 by admin

Quick—which has more protein: an egg, or an ounce of mozzarella? Believe it or not, the cheese actually has about 16 percent more protein. You might want to write that down, especially if you’re one of the forty-three percent of women who say they eat a protein-rich diet to help prevent weight-gain, according to a new study in the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior.

It’s a smart strategy: In the study, amping up protein intake was related to self-reported weight loss. There’s only one problem. If you don’t know how much of the nutrient is in the food you’re eating, then you can’t be sure that your diet actually packs as much protein as you think.

The Dietary Reference Intake (DRI) for protein is .8 grams per kilogram of body weight, says Lisa Young, PhD, RD, a nutritionist in New York City, and author of The Portion Teller. If you’re trying to lose weight, she recommends upping your intake to 1 gram per kilogram of body weight (that comes to 59 grams a day for a 130-pound woman) and consuming a variety of different protein sources. And, of course, you’ll still need to exercise.

To increase your protein know-how—and manage your weight more effectively—make this your go-to guide:

Photo (top): iStockphoto/Thinkstock

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Athens Java Hut

Serving Jittery Joe's Coffee, Cecilia Villaveces, Cakes and Italian Gelato

The 4 Biggest Breakup Mistakes

4 Steps to a Successful Beach Workout

Restaurant Food is Even Worse Than You Think

Get This: You’ll Probably See More Bikers Tomorrow

Some Birth Control Linked to Pain During Sex

Report: Sodium Guidelines Need to be Reconsidered

The Truth About the 7-Minute Workout

“Should I Worry About Arsenic in Chicken?”

Get This: Fish Oil Protects Your Brain From Junk Food

The Best Protein Sources