Dark chocolate – my miracle drug of choice.

Researchers at Johns Hopkins have discovered that a compound in dark chocolate may protect the brain after a stroke by increasing cellular signals already known to shield nerve cells from damage. They found that mice given the compound suffered significantly less brain damage after induced stroke – even when given to them hours afterward.

OMG! Is there nothing dark chocolate can’t do?!

It seems the more research is done on the miracle drug, dark chocolate, the more amazing things they find it will do for you.

I’d write more about it now, but I gotta get down to the See’s Candy Store. I gotta replace my emergency supplies. You never know when I might have a stroke and need it! And, of course, it’s only reasonable that I test for quality before I have to use it for real – don’t want the EMTs stuffing BAD chocolate down my throat at the moment I need the good stuff!

Be right back…

And what was that about my weight-loss regime? Hey! You know what they say? A pound of prevention……..

Changing lanes requires only the slightest lateral movement of the wheels.

Of course you know what you are thinking about right now. Maybe you are thinking about your lunch or the kids or a project you are engaged in. Or maybe you are totally focused on my words right here as you read them. The ability to focus on one train of thought to the exclusion of others is the illusive commodity of which I write.

It’s called a scotoma – a thought that blinds you to other thoughts you may be having simultaneously to this one. You are always employing a kind of scotoma. That is, you are focusing on one or two trains of thought to the exclusion of others you are having simultaneously. If you entertained every thought simultaneously, you’d go mad in a hurry. Why? Because you are always in the mode of action upon thought. Every thought in one direction is simultaneously thought of in the opposite direction – just not acted upon as much.

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The June 8th, 2009 issue of Life & Style Magazine reveals that Matt Hoover (Season 2 Winner of NBC’s The Biggest Loser) gained back most of the weight he lost on the show!

Perhaps you, too, read the article revealing that Matt Hoover (Season 2 Winner of NBC’s The Biggest Loser) gained back most of the weight he lost on the show!

My guess is that without the isolation, the cooks, and the drill sergeant personal trainers, he couldn’t keep up the strict regimen.

“When I got home, I quickly realized I wasn’t equipped to deal with the temptations of the real world.”

In January 2009, Matt discovered a 4 CD Hypnosis Program created by Dr. Roberta Temes, who is on the Department of Psychiatry at the SUNY Health Science Center Medical School and the editor of the first hypnosis textbook used by thousands worldwide in medical schools.

A meta-analysis published in The Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology (1996) reveals that hypnosis with a credible practitioner, “can increase weight loss by an astonishing 146% over the long term.”

Matt’s story certainly confirms this:

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Thinking about HOW to exercise works better than thinking about WHY you should exercise.

A recent study by Laura L. Ten Eyck, PhD, Dana P. Gresky, PhD, and Charles G. Lord, PhD, involved 61 college students who did not exercise on a regular basis or exercised inconsistently. Researchers asked students to think about either the reasons why they should increase the performance of a target cardiovascular exercise they had previously selected, such as to be healthier or lose weight or to list actions they could take to increase exercise performance, such a joining a gym or working out with a friend.

Over an eight week period, students who brought to mind a list of actions they could take to increase exercise performance showed an increase in exercise and improved cardiovascular fitness. However, students who repeatedly brought to mind the reasons why they should do the target exercise did not increase time spent exercising.

Conclusion: if you want to lose some weight by increasing your level of exercise – particularly if you are prone to couch potatoing, think about HOW specifically you can increase your level of exercise rather than WHY you should.

Comments?

Watching TV news late at night can cause you to gain weight.

No surprise – “People want to consume more of all kinds of foods, both healthy and unhealthy, when thinking about the idea that they will die some day,” write the authors Naomi Mandel (Arizona State University) and Dirk Smeesters (Erasmus University Rotterdam, the Netherlands).

The theory – “When people are reminded of their inevitable mortality, they may start to feel uncomfortable about what they have done with their lives and whether they have made a significant mark on the universe. This is a state called ‘heightened self-awareness.’ One way to deal with such an uncomfortable state is to escape from it, by either overeating or overspending.” Read the rest of this entry »