Do you hate your boney shoulders? Frightened to take your top off at the beach or at the pool? Sick and tired of the way that shirts just seem to “hang” off your shoulders?

Boney shoulders can be an extremely frustrating thing to deal with. I remember that no matter how many shirts and t-shirts I tried, I just couldn’t seem to find one that wouldn’t show up those pointy bits where my arm joins my shoulder.

Getting rid of boney shoulders is simply a case of building muscle to cover them. If you look at most people who are considered to have a great body, you may notice that their “boney shoulders” are still somewhat visible…it’s just that the muscle does a great job of covering them up.

The shoulders are actually made up of a group of 3 muscles known collectively as the deltoids (or “delts” in gym-lingo). In order to see great muscular development and cover your boney shoulders you should look to incorporate exercises that cover and emphasise all 3 muscles.

Here are some great weight training exercises that you can perform to cover your boney shoulders.

Front Deltoids – Seated Barbell Shoulder Press (also known as the Military Press)

Seated with your back supported upright by the bench, and your hands a little more than shoulder-width apart, lift the bar off the rack and above your head, and then lower it in front of you to the point where it is just above the line of your shoulders.

Then explode the bar back up above your head. Ideally get someone to spot you so that you can put maximum effort into the exercise.

Repeat and perform 3 sets of 8-12 reps.

Middle Deltoids – Dumbbell Lateral Flyes

Stand with your arms by your sides and a dumbbell in each hand; elbows slightly bent and palms facing inwards.

Lift both dumbbells at the same time imagining that your are trying to touch your elbows to the ceiling. At the top of the exercise your elbows should be parallel to the floor…hold this position for a second, then lower to the start position.

Take care to keep a tight back and focus your effort on your shoulders. Don’t cheat by bending your back or using momentum to lift the weights. Also, by “squeezing” (tensing your muscles) at the top of the exercise you’ll get greater benefits from this exercise and begin to cover those boney shoulders with solid muscle mass.

Perform 3 sets of 8-12 reps.

Rear Deltoids – Bent Over Cable Deltoid Raises

Stand next to a cable pulley machine at the gym with feet a little less than shoulder-width apart, and reach across your body to grab one of the lower cable handles. Bent at your waist so that your back is almost parallel with the floor and place your other hand on your hip for support.

Now, keeping a slight bend in your elbow, pull on the cable so that the back of your hand moves in the direction of the ceiling. Your arm should stay locked and arc through this motion. Likewise the rest of your body should stay still, with total focus on your rear shoulder muscles.

Lower the pulley back to the start position and repeat. Make sure that you don’t curl your back at any point during the exercise as this could cause injury.

Perform 3 sets of 8-12 reps.

If you have just been diagnosed with a candida infection, you may feel that the prescribed diet is one that will make you feel miserable. The good news is that this does not have to be the case, there are still plenty of tasty foods you can still enjoy each day. By checking out the following information, you should understand exactly what type of meals you are still allowed.

Though regular bread is not part of an anti-fungal diet, this does not mean that all breads need to be removed. There are yeast free alternatives you can purchase, and which are not made from refined flour, for example, soda bread and spelt bread are two nutritious options. There are also various flat breads that can be included with your meals such as chapati and roti. Rice-cakes and oatcakes may not be as appealing as freshly baked chocolate cake, but they are a healthy alternative.

Milk is an important component of most diets, but when diagnosed with a fungal overgrowth, all dairy products should be cut back. There are various alternatives to regular cow’s milk that can be used, for example rice or hemp seed milk. Though the taste of these products may come as a shock, they do become quite additive after a while.

Natural yogurt should form an essential component of an anti-candida diet. Low fat, unsweetened, and unflavored yogurt can quickly reduce a fungal overgrowth, it is a great product to use with healthy muesli or granola cereals. What’s more, yogurt is an excellent accompaniment to use with various brown rice dishes.

When suffering from a candida infection, you do not have to dramatically change the volume of meat that you eat, though an excessive consumption of red meat is not healthy. If you are to reduce the amount of carbohydrate you consume due to its high glycemic value, you can still provide the energy your body needs through protein. It is better to find a supplier of organic meat, as then you can be sure you are not unwittingly consuming antibiotics. Fish is also a great food to eat regularly, primarily due to its high omega 3 content.

Eggs can still be enjoyed when diagnosed with a yeast infection. There are many ways to cook eggs, and lots of meals that they can be added to, they make a perfect snack at anytime of the day, and are another great source of protein. Try to eat no more than six or seven eggs a week, as otherwise your cholesterol levels may rise.

There is one group of foods that can be ate in abundance when on a strict anti fungal diet, this is vegetables. All kinds of vegetables can be enjoyed, apart from potatoes. By boosting your intake of fresh vegetables, you would also be providing your body with more nutrients and vitamins.

When combating a candida infection through diet, it is useful to follow guidelines set out by a professional nutritionist. If you were to cut out the wrong foods, this can have a negative impact on your ability to fight the yeast overgrowth.

Beer and dieting don’t mix, right? But sometimes, you just have to have a brew. When the craving strikes, be sure you know the healthiest beer to drink on a get thin program.

Whether or not you can have beer while you’re dieting and still keep losing weight depends on why you want the beer in the first place. If you’re drinking to get drunk, you’re pretty much out of luck. Every reasonable diet program severely limits alcohol consumption because alcohol lowers your leptin levels.

Leptin is the substance in your body that tells your body whether to burn fat or hang onto it. If the levels are low, it signals your body to store fat. You don’t want to do anything that will lower your leptin levels if you want to get skinny.

So going on a bender and having a six-pack or two isn’t possible if your goal is to become thin. You can, however, enjoy the taste without it hurting your dieting efforts.

If the reason you want the beer is because you just like the taste of it, you have an option that will not only taste good so you feel like you’re having a treat, but it’s also one of the ways to burn fat. There’s one brew on the market that is pretty good for you: O’Douls.

O’Douls has lots of carbs, which help raise leptin levels, and unlike many processed sources of carbs, O’Douls doesn’t have any no-nos like high fructose corn syrup. So it’s a relatively healthy beverage choice.

You still need to think about calories of course. Too much of anything, whether it’s healthy or not, will block weight loss progress. But in moderation, O’Douls isn’t a bad choice.

And if you absolutely must have the alcoholic version of a brew, will it totally blow your diet?

Not if you’re careful about your choice. You want to pick a light version obviously, but be careful about which one you pick. The calorie levels vary quite a bit and so does the carbohydrate content. You want the one with lowest calories and carbs.

The number one brew that meets this requirement is Bud Select 55. But you can find others if you poke around and read labels.

As with O’Douls, you still can’t go crazy with the light brews. Too much of anything, especially alcohol, will mess up your fat burning efforts.

Even though beer and dieting don’t usually go hand in hand, you can still enjoy a cold one when you’re on a get thin program. Just be sure you pick the healthiest beer you can and enjoy it in moderation.

If you’re wondering what to eat to improve a fatty liver, then take just a few moments to read to the end of this article. I’ll share with you what I’ve learned about fatty liver disease (FLD) and what foods you should and should not eat to reduce fat in your liver.

A fatty liver simply refers to having too much fat (specifically triglycerides) accumulated in your liver. So what exactly is “too much” fat? Generally speaking, a liver is considered “fatty” when fat makes up between 5-10% or more of the liver by weight. Fat builds up in and around the spaces of hepatocytes (liver cells), causing the liver to enlarge and grow heavier.

In the early stages of FLD, often referred to as simple steatosis, the condition is often benign and asymptomatic. Many patients don’t even know they have FLD. It is often found when doing blood work or other tests for entirely different reasons. The only way to definitively diagnose the condition is through a livery biopsy, but factors such as elevated liver enzymes often clue physicians into the problem.

A diet plan for fatty liver is most often centered around balance, moderation, regulation, and reducing fat intake to less than 30% of the total daily calories. In other words, if you’re eating a 1200 calorie diet, then fat calories should make up no more than 360 of those calories. This is equivalent to about 40 grams per day. Since fatty liver is often associated with obesity, losing weight can have a significant impact on improving liver function and liver health.

So that brings us to the question of what you should and should not eat. Complex carbohydrates should make up the bulk of your energy source. These can be found in things like whole grains, brown rice, and pasta. The simple carbohydrates found in sweets should be avoided.

Diets for fatty liver patients are also generally high in fiber and include an abundance of fruits and vegetables. Fats, particularly saturated fats, should be carefully monitored. Protein can be obtained from vegetables or from leaner white meats such as chicken or turkey instead of beef or pork. Here is a brief run down of some of the things you should and should not eat if you want to reduce fat in your liver.

Foods You Should Avoid And/Or Carefully Monitor

• White bread and white rice
• High fat butters
• Sweets containing simple carbohydrates (candy, doughnuts, etc.)
• High fat foods (pizza, ribs, pot pies, etc.)
• Eggs and other high cholesterol foods
• Sugary and/or carbonated drinks such as soda
• Fast foods and/or processed meats such as hot dogs
• Fried foods
• Alcohol (particularly if you have alcoholic fatty liver (AFL))
• Salad dressing and other high fat condiments (look for low-fat or non-fat alternatives)
• Red meats (beef, pork)

Foods To Eat To Improve A Fatty Liver

• Vegetables (greens, leaves, legumes, tomatoes, and especially broccoli)
• Fruits rich in vitamin E and vitamin C (oranges, papaya, kiwi, mango)
• Beans (these are a great alternative source of protein)
• Whole grain breads
• Milk in moderation (substitute whole milk or 2% milk with either skim milk or 1% milk)
• Brown rice and pasta
• Lean white meats (chicken, turkey, tuna)

Just because something is hard to do and is more involved, does not mean it is necessarily more fruitful. For example, a 10-kilometer run will burn significantly more calories than running for half the distance. But why run 10 kilometers when you could do two 5-kilometer runs instead? It is much better to fit two 5km runs in your weekly schedule than it is to aim for a herculean effort on Sundays with a 10k jog. Not to mention there are long-term issues with long distance running, but that is beside the point.

The same applies to diet and nutrition. Just because something is harder to achieve – not to mention you must be very careful with what you do when it comes to your diet, there are many ideas that could have dangerous results. You need to steer clear of extreme diets.

Let us consider an individual Matthew, who wants to lose weight more than everything else. Matt is a 45-year-old diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes. His doctor has told him for years his weight is an issue. But the best he has been able to do is make a little progress in the right direction, before stalling, and inevitably returning to old ways.

Matthew is sick of calling himself fat and feeling out of shape. He knows he deserves much better. It is a delicate period in his life and the cardiovascular risks are becoming real. The last thing he needs is to suffer the same fate as someone close to him, who is also dealing with Type 2 diabetes. He has tried what his doctor advised but it just has not worked for him. He needs to try something new…

• perhaps he will search and stumble with an online fad or crash diet.
• a friend may tell him about a crash diet, claiming it worked for them.

No matter what, he needs to be careful because some diets will do more harm than good. Such is the case with a diet that proposes…

• severe caloric restrictions,
• complete avoidance of carbohydrates, or
• too much of one food such as protein.

The first on the list especially – it has become quite popular nowadays to attempt extremely low-calorie diets for a “temporary” period. Temporary in this sense should be a matter of a day or two. There is no physiological issue with going a short period with minimal eating. Your body finds a way to cope. But when you go several days or weeks, consuming an intake of just over 1000 calories or even less – we are talking about a serious concern. Add diet pills to the equation, and we have a more significant problem.

Not only are these diets extreme, but so are the repercussions. The consequences are rarely talked about, while the potential benefits get all the attention. Even if you can apply your willpower to achieve these feats, it does not mean you should.

But why not apply the same motivation for something less extreme? Something that is proven to work? A balanced diet is all you need to follow. The progress may be slower, true. But the benefits are guaranteed and come without a price.

That is a famous quote from the eastern European country of Georgia (formerly of the Soviet Union) relating to the long life of the people in that region. They have traditionally consumed large amounts of fermented foods, including yogurt, but this is not very realistic in many areas of the world today, including the United States. Many people are lactose intolerant, but you can still eat fermented foods!

Today the benefits of fermented foods are really catching on, but did you know that the fermentation process was originally used to improve the keeping and storing of foods? It’s thought that camel, buffalo, goat, sheep and cow milk were initially fermented naturally into yogurt. The hot temperatures (110 F) of the North African deserts were ideal for lactic acid-producing bacteria to ferment the milk carried by camels in goat bags. Almost every region in the world has developed fermented foods in their quest to acquire new tastes and improve shelf life. Farmers, rather than scientists, used their ingenuity and imagination. They were thinking in terms of how to best provide for their families, not realizing that thousands of years later, scientists would be examining the potential health benefits of fermented foods.

Elie Metchnikoff, a famous Russian Nobel prize-winning Bacteriologist looked into the possible health benefits of fermented foods in the early 1900’s. He noticed that Bulgarians had an average life span of 87 years-that was much longer than the 50 year life expectancy in the US at that time and almost 10 years longer than even today’s average life expectancy of 78 years! One of the most significant differences in their lifestyle was the consumption of fermented milks! Since Metchnikoff’s original study, researchers have found that many populations use fermented foods. Georgians, from what was formally known as the Soviet Union, live over 100 years and are playing polo and working in the farm fields! They attribute their long lives to fermented or “sour” milk, which is where the quote from the title of this blog came from! I’m not sure I would want to be working in the farm fields at 100, but I’d love to still be riding my horses at that age!

I know that my family has greatly benefited from fermented foods. My husband and I are in our 50’s, feeling and looking better than we did in our 30’s! CJ’s intestinal issues are healed, his mind is clear and his body is healthy. In fact, all our children are healthy. I KNOW that we would not be where we are health wise today without the benefits of raw organic fermented probiotic foods.

There are so many benefits of eating fermented foods and researchers just keep adding more things to the list. Here are some of the benefits of fermented foods:

• Improves digestive function
• Improves bowel function
• Improves mood
• Improves liver function
• Decreases wrinkles
• Improves circulatory function
• Improves joint and muscle function
• Improves sleep function
• Improves resistance to allergies
• Improves vitamin absorption
• Improves lactose tolerance
• Improves gluten tolerance
• Improves appetite
• Improves skin quality
• Improves metabolism
• Improves mental clarity (gut-brain connection)
• Decreases your digestive ailments
• Decreases your stomach ailments
• Decreases incidence of heart burn
• Decreases incidence of constipation
• Decreases incidence of diarrhea
• Decreases the presence of yeast infections
• Decreases incidence of oral cavity infections
• Decreases gas and bloating
• Increases nutritional absorption
• Increases energy
• Increases hydration

Sometimes we are so overwhelmed with modern technology that we forget the benefits of simplicity. Today there are so many genetically modified refined and processed foods polluting our bodies. They were designed to make our lives easier, but that does NOT mean healthier! Our ancestors were onto something by fermenting their foods to keep them edible for longer periods of time. Our bodies cannot handle the chemicals it takes to keep foods stable/fresh on our shelves for years. I’d much rather have the “good” bacteria from my fermented foods in my gut, rather than subject my body to the harmful toxins in processed foods. It’s a “no brainer!” So if you haven’t tried Real Food Real Life’s raw, organic fermented probiotics yet, please do-you’re going to notice a healthier, happier you, not to mention looking physically better! Educate yourself on what cultured/fermented foods are available (such as miso, kimchi, sauerkraut and kefir, to name a few) and how you can add them into your daily diet. A fun family adventure would be to do a quick Internet search on what fermented foods YOUR ancestors ate! Mine made and ate fermented meats and cheese like salmon and parmesan.

Eat Fermented Foods!

Eat Well, Be Well, “Live Longer“