Posts Tagged ‘Humor’

Losing weight the American way means easy breezy and versatile.. The one thing about research is the ludicrousness of the study doesn’t matter. It seems any study can come up with potentially accurate information. The one thing is I am hoping is the studies didn’t cost a fortune. There is no reasonable price for these studies.

The Large Fork Study

The first one is hard to be discrete when practicing. Researchers from the University of Utah in the Journal of Consumer Research found the larger your fork and the bigger you bite when you eat, the less you will probably end up eating when you are in a restaurant. They used two sizes of forks in a popular Italian restaurant to measure how much people ate, and found that the participants (who used a pitch fork) ate less than those with smaller ones. I am not sure what size folks were used but if you are going for results the bigger the better.

Further testing showed that when the participants were presented with plate loaded with food, those with large forks ate considerable less than those with small ones. The amount of food consumed was not influence by fork size when they were given small serving.

This means when you use a large fork always order a super sized plate of food. This will help at buffets where you can load your plate to overflowing.

Remember this doesn’t work for all settings. When this was tried with volunteers in a laboratory, the results were the opposite; the participants with the small forks ate less than those with the larger forks. So when you eat in a laboratory leave the pitch fork home.

The Neat Method

The next innovative way to lose weight has been put into practice by millions of people. It is often called Non Exercise Activity Thermogenesis (NEAT), simply put, it is the movement you do outside structured physical activity.

This is wonderful news to those that don’t like to move around much. All you have to do is start to fidget, with such activities as pacing, if lying on the couch chewing gum will do, and talking even if to yourself will burn some of those nasty calories.

At work drum your fingers against your desktop, while bobbing your foot under the desk. This is called incidental physical activities. On plane flights the person that squirms and shakes his legs may be annoying, but he is burning more calories than you. Your best bet is to emulate his movements, instead of complaining. .

To lose weight you have to mean business, so if you are right handed, shove food in with your left hand. Expect some misses, so wear old stained outfits. When you test these methods you will be doing it blindly, there isn’t much information on how long you have to do it to see results. Because the researchers care so much about your health, they didn’t bother to tell you the best foods to eat, or how to make fidgeting a lifestyle. I am sure there is another expensive study in the future, which will address those issues.

The disclaimer, check with your health care provider before embarking on losing weight with these methods. These are meant to bridge the gap, when simple calorie counting is too much trouble.

Is laughter the way to health? Could be, he who gets the last laugh may be the last man standing. This should be a tradition passed down through generations. The trend today seems to be more of gloom. Laughing now has to be politically correct, with no room for some sophomoric humor.

Something To Smile About

Health wise laughter is something to smile about. Laughter is considered a positive stress that involves complicated brain activities leading to a positive effect on health. Norman Cousins ground-breaking work, documented the use of laughter when he treated himself for an autoimmune disease. His research results were published in the New England Journal of Medicine and are considered one of the best original pieces on mind-body medicine.

Dr. Lee S. Berk, a preventive care specialist and psychoneuroimmunology researcher at Loma Linda University’s Schools of Allied Health (SAHP) and Medicine, and director of the molecular research lab at SAHP, Loma Linda, CA. and Dr. Stanley Tan have picked up where Cousins left off.

Since the 1980’s, they have been studying the human body’s response to laughter, and have found that laughter helps optimize many of the functions of various body systems. First they optimize the hormones in the endocrine system, including decreasing the levels of cortisol and epinephrine, which then leads to stress reduction.

The Power of Laughter

They also have shown that laughter has a positive effect on modulating components of the immune system, including increased production of antibodies and activation of the body’s protective cells, including T-cells and especially Natural Killer cells’ killing activity of tumor cells. Their studies have also shown that “mirthful laughter,” which they call Laughercise ©, causes the to body to respond in a way similar to moderate physical exercise. Laughercise © enhances your mood, decreases stress hormones, enhances immune activity, lowers bad cholesterol and systolic blood pressure, and raises good cholesterol (HDL).

They have also shown that laughter has a positive effect on modulating components of the immune system, including increased production of antibodies and activation of the body’s protective cells, including T-cells and especially Natural Killer cells’ killing activity of tumor cells. Their studies have shown that repetitious “mirthful laughter,” which they call Laughercise©, causes the body to respond in a way similar to moderate physical exercise. Laughercise© enhances your mood, decreases stress hormones, enhances immune activity, lowers bad cholesterol and systolic blood pressure, and raises good cholesterol (HDL).

As Berk explains, “We are finally starting to realize that our everyday behaviors and emotions are modulating our bodies in many ways.” His latest research expands the role of laughter even further.

Congradulation You Are Master Alchemist

It seems between attitude, frame of mind, and diet you are the designer of you’re your health. Are you ready to deliver health and wellness to your residence. It’s time to make a change, we all have the capacity to be joyful, and laugh our way to health. You are the maestro of your life, and when your doctor writes a prescription instead of awkward silence, burst out laughing. Believe me, you will be trading up not down by using laughter as a drug of choice.

Humor’s healing power is well know through the writings of Norman Cousins. Medical researches including academic medical researcher Dr. Lee Berk found that “laughter” had a significant effect on hormones. Two hormones-beta-endorphins (a chemical that elevates mood) and human growth hormone (HGH; which helps immunity) – increased by 27% and 87% in study subjects who told they were going to watch a humorous video.  The controls that were not told that were going to see a humorous film did not have that reaction.

Studies have shown that the anticipation of laughter reduces the levels of stress hormones. These are cortisol the steroid stress hormone, epinephrine known as adrenaline and dopac the major catabolite of dopamine. These are stress hormones that can be detrimental to immune function. From raising good cholesterol (HDL) and lowering inflammation humor healing power seems to be potent.

We believe that without laughter healing is much harder. Humor’s healing power is so potent that it can cure what ails you. We thought this is a good place for our disclaimer.

The information provided through yourhealthupdates.com website is for general informational purposes, and is not intended to replace a qualified healthcare provider. Before you use laughter for healing purposes consult your healthcare provider.