We often take the modern marvels of technology for granted. In many cases we don’t care how something works just that it does. When talking about heart rate monitors, however, the how of their functioning is pretty interesting. These little tools can have a big impact on the quality of your workout so learning just how do heart rate monitors work can be useful in reaching your fitness goals.

There are two basic kinds of heart rate monitors, those with a chest strap and those without. While there are numerous monitors on the market, we will talk about the Reebok monitors we carry here for purposes of this review.

The Reebok Heart Rate Monitor with Chest Strap features a wrist band and a chest strap. If you are wondering how do heart rate monitors work and are specifically concerned about the variety with a chest strap, this one is for you. Chest strap heart rate monitors work similarly to EKG’s in the hospital. Small electrodes located in the chest strap sense electric signals that your heart creates with each beat. This information is relayed to the wrist band via a radio signal and displayed on the screen.

Strapless heart rate monitors work slightly differently. Because they are not able to sense the signals from the heart, these monitors require you to place your fingers on them. The Reebok Heart Rate Monitor has two sensors where you place two fingers. The computer within senses your pulse through your fingertips and provides information this way.

“How do heart rate monitors work?” is a completely rational question. When you are looking to invest money in fitness equipment, it is important to understand what you are paying for. Using a heart rate monitor to ensure you get the most out of each workout is a great way to maximize your results.

On top of all this you aren’t giving your body all of the nutrients you need.  Foods that contain refined sugar, processed flour, chemicals, preservatives, and additives have almost no nutrient value.  Even though you may be eating large quantities, if you are eating mostly “bad carbs” your body still craves more food to try to get the nutrients it requires to function properly.

I recommend choosing organic low-glycemic carbs like raw, green leafy vegetables, sweet potatoes, whole fruits, nuts and seeds, along with whole grains that are never refined like barley, brown rice, buckwheat, oatmeal wild rice.  As far as your fats go choose healthy saturated fats such as virgin coconut oil, and get your fiber with flax meal.   Also try to drink water instead of carbonated soda and sugary drinks which will also make your body work harder than it should.

Try to stay away from white breads, and processed snacks, foods that have refined sugar and white flour.  Instant foods like instant rices, and oatmeal are also not a great idea while caffeine when drunk stops healthy blood sugar control

So please don’t cut carbohydrates out of your diet completely.  Just be smart about what typ of carbs you eat.  Get a good balance of good carbs, proteins,and fats.

There are carbs that are good for you, and these are carbs that are low-glycemic foods that gradually increase your blood sugar levels over time.  This is much less stress for the pancreas.   Unlike bad carbs, they are whole foods packed with nutrients that the body needs to function.  Good carbs are best when eaten in their natural, raw state.

Another great thing is that good carbs tend to have less calories than bad carbs so you can actually eat more food, which surprises many people trying to lose weight.  For example you can eat a whole apple or banana as opposed to one bite of a white bread dinner roll.  Which makes sense when you think that most bad carbs are defines as non-nutritive, high-glycemic foods that spike your blood sugar too rapidly.  These include heavily processed foods that contain refined sugar, refined white flour, additives, chemicals, and preservatives.

Bad carbohydrates, in the end, will cause you to gain weight.  When you put to many empty calories in your body you are giving your body too much energy from high-glycemic carbs and the energy has to go somewhere.  Any idea where it goes?  It is stored as fat!  Yuck!  These excess fat stores put you at increased risk for heart disease, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, stroke, and many other chronic conditions.

There are so many different theories about whether carbohydrates are good for us or not and it’s a pretty hot topic when it comes to nutrition.  The high-protein, low-carb diet fads like the Atkins Diet, have produced desirable results for many who have been unable to shed unwanted weight in the past.  However, this temporary result has fooled many people into believing that severely restricting carbs is the answer to weight loss.  While initially it may work, most people can’t keep up with the severe carb restriction.  Once they reintroduce carbs into their diet, they gain the weight back, and add on more pounds than ever before.

A strict, high-protein diet is only a quick fix the problem.  Restricting carbs is not the answer. It’s actually unhealthy in the long run to severely restrict carbohydrates from your diet.  A  healthy balance is best as optimal nutrition and an ideal body weight require good fats, good proteins, and good carbohydrates.

That in itself is the problem.  It’s not carbs in general.  It’s the type of carbohydrates that most Americans are ingesting.  Most Americans diets are overloaded with non-nutritive carbohydrates, such as refined sugar, white flour, and heavily processed foods that have been stripped of their nutrition.  As a result, the calorie consumption of many Americans has gone up dramatically, while the nutrient value has gone down.  The unused calories that are not burned up by the body are stored as fat.  As a result, many people feel hungry, have more cravings, and eat more and aren’t getting adequate nutrition.  This sets the stage for chronic problems with obesity, diabetes, hormone imbalances, and significant nutrient deficiencies that lead to chronic conditions.

Overtraining is defined by Wikipedia as a “physical, behavioral, and emotional condition that occurs when the volume and intensity of an individual’s exercise exceeds their recovery capacity. The term is defined differently depending on where you look, however. Overtraining basically amounts to is working harder than the body can keep up with. If your body can’t recover from workouts you will eventually hurt your progress or injure yourself. Because P90X is a tough workout program, we have heard that some are concerned if P90X and overtraining go hand in hand. The short answer: no.

Overtraining is much more than working out hard. Elite athletes workout consistently day in and day out and seldom, when trained properly, do they suffer from overtraining. The intensity of your workout doesn’t always increase your chances of overtraining. P90X and overtraining is not any more common than overtraining from running, in that regard.

The key to preventing overtraining in any fitness program is listening to your body and resting when appropriate. Every good training program should have easy days or rest days built in. P90X does this with occasional days off. For some people, believe it or not, rest days are punishment. For others, they are a blessing! When the P90X calendar tells you to take a day off, do it. The days off aren’t just to give you a chance to relax—they are there to prevent overtraining and injury.

Another way in which P90X prevents overtraining is through muscle confusion. If you were a weight lifter and did heavy squats day after day, you would likely overtrain your quads. They would stop responding to the workouts and possible even decline in health. You may even injure them more easily. By switching up the routines from day to day, P90X ensures maximum progress and minimal risk of overtraining.

Overtraining is possible with nearly any workout system. However, by sticking with your P90X calendar and recognizing when your body needs a break, you will find P90X and overtraining to be an extremely rare occurrence.

Whole, simple, pure, and natural, I think these are the words to eat by, and when I think more about it live by.  Why is it that when it comes to material things, we take better care of what we use on them or put into them.  For example when it comes to our cars we try to keep them clean use a good grade oil, have regular check ups and put into them whatever they may need to keep them going and looking good.  We tend not to skimp on our cars.

Yet, when it comes to our bodies we eat things with additives in them that we don’t  know what they are or what they could be doing to our bodies.  Lets take a simple example with simple ingredients.  Ice cream is made from milk, cream, sugar and then depending on the flavor vanilla or other natural ingredients.  Yet when you read most labels these days you see high fructose corn syrup and other additives some of which you can’t pronounce let alone know what they are.

I understand that this isn’t the healthiest example but it is a simple one to understand.  All I want to suggest is that we start as a society to read the ingredient labels on the foods we buy.  If you can’t read or pronounce the ingredients, you don’t know what they are made of, they are only additives to increase the shelf life of a product, and you don’t know what they will do to your body, don’t buy them.  Only buy products that are whole, simple, pure, and natural.  Do the same for yourself and family that you would do for some material thing.

Most of us know how to take our own pulse. Depending on your age, you likely learned it in elementary gym class, where everyone would stop, place their fingers on their neck (carotid artery) and quietly count as the teacher timed you. While this is a great method for checking your pulse, it isn’t the most convenient in the middle of a workout. One of the main benefits of exercise with heart rate monitors is being able to track your heart rate mid-workout without stopping.

Heart rate monitors track how many times your heart beats per minute. Known as your “heart rate”, this number can tell you just how hard your heart is working to pump blood throughout the body. Obviously, the higher your heart rate, the harder your heart is working. As your workout becomes more strenuous, your heart rate increases. So, how does knowing this benefit you? Well, the benefits of exercise with heart rate monitors are many but they all boil down to how the data is used.

Exercise physiology, or the science of the effects of exercise on the body, has shown us that the body reaps different benefits from exercise depending on just how hard it is working. For instance, working out in a certain range can bring maximum weight loss benefits. One of the best known and most utilized benefits of exercise with heart rate monitors is keeping your workout within this range, increasing the your heart health and your potential for weight loss.

Here’s a great post that details just how to find your target heart rate for weight loss. Using a high quality heart rate monitor to ensure you stay within this range is one of many ways to get the most out of your workouts. Heart rate monitors are far from an eye-pleasing workout accessory, they are a high tech way to really give each workout your all.

So why do people use heart rate monitors?  In summary people use a heart rate monitor to protect their most important organ, their heart. With these monitors you can not only improve heart health, but also prevent yourself from putting your heart in danger due to over exertion.

A few good options for heart rate monitors are the Reebok Heart Rate Monitor and the more commonly used type of monitor Reebok Heart Rate Monitor/Strap.  It is more common just because most people think that most heart rate monitors require a chest strap to get an accurate reading, but the Reebok Heart Rate Monitor does not, and you have the convenience of wearing it like a watch, around your wrist. Just press the touch sensors and this Reebok Heart Rate Monitor provides the most accurate heart rate readings.
It’s Features Are:

• Anytime heart rate
• High and low target limits with alarm
• Time of day and calendar
• Night vision
• Daily alarm
• Easy-to-read, large displays
• Simple to use
• Accurate ECG heart rate

So if  you think these are good reasons for people to use a heart monitor look into purchasing a good one that works well for you in your lifestyle.  With these good reasons and if it could make a difference in your workout and the results you get, along with possibly keeping your heart safe, why wouldn’t you?

Why do people use heart rate monitors?  The main reason that people use them is that when combined with an exercise regimen, they have a significant impact on improving your health and specifically in helping to ensure that your heart stay healthy.
The areas of benefit can be divided into 2 main areas.

• Improved exercise routine
• Ensuring safe exercise

But how does a heart rate monitor improve existing exercise?
As people exercise, their body gets used to the level of exercise that they are performing. For some this can happen relatively quickly. Using a heart rate monitor is one easy way to tell whether or not the exercise routine you are using is still challenging your aerobic levels. Whether you are training for a marathon or just looking to lose a few pounds this can be extremely useful in helping to determine the optimal exercise routine.

Some useful questions that can be answered by a heart rate monitor.

• Length of the exercise timing
• Maximum and minimum heart rates during exercising.
• Average heart rate during exercising
• calories burned during the exercise session.

Can a heart rate monitor really save my life?
I am sure we have all done it once it a while where we get caught up in the heat of the moment whether running or playing sports and push ourselves too far. Whether you are in perfect shape or recovering from a heart injury a heart rate monitor can help you stick within the desired range to ensure you do not put yourself in risk of heart attack.  Without using a heart rate monitor it is difficult to determine whether or not you may be overexerting yourself which is a very big risk to take.

How can you take some of your favorite recipes  that may not be the healthiest and try to tweak them to make them better for you?  It’s not as hard as you may think. The key is to incorporate healthier alternatives into your daily eating routine.

The following suggestions can help you lower fat, salt, sugar and calories and increase fiber in your recipes.

All-purpose (plain) flour

• Whole-wheat flour for half of the called-for all-purpose flour in baked goods           Note: Whole-wheat pastry flour is less dense and works well in softer products like cakes and muffins.

Bacon

• Canadian bacon, turkey bacon, smoked turkey or lean prosciutto (Italian ham)

Butter, shortening or oil in baked goods

• Applesauce or prune puree for half of the called-for butter, shortening or oil              Note: To avoid dense, soggy or flat baked goods, don’t substitute oil for butter or shortening.

Butter, margarine, shortening or oil to prevent sticking

• Cooking spray or nonstick pans

Creamed soups

• Fat-free milk-based soups, mashed potato flakes, or pureed carrots, potatoes or tofu for thickening agents

Dry bread crumbs

• Rolled oats or crushed bran cereal

Eggs

• Two egg whites or 1/4 cup egg substitute for each whole egg

Enriched pasta

• Whole-wheat pasta

Evaporated milk

• Evaporated skim milk

Fruit canned in heavy syrup

• Fruit canned in its own juices or in water, or fresh fruit

Fruit-flavored yogurt

• Plain yogurt with fresh fruit slices

Full-fat cream cheese

• Fat-free or low-fat cream cheese, Neufchatel or low-fat cottage cheese pureed until smooth

Full-fat sour cream

• Fat-free or low-fat sour cream, plain fat-free or low-fat yogurt

Ground beef

• Extra-lean or lean ground beef, chicken or turkey breast (make sure no poultry skin has been added to the product)

Iceberg lettuce

• Arugula, chicory, collard greens, dandelion greens, kale, mustard greens, spinach or watercress

Margarine in baked goods

• Trans fat-free butter spreads or shortenings that are specially formulated for baking       Note: If ingredient lists include the term “partially hydrogenated,” it may have up to 0.5 grams of trans fat in one serving. To avoid dense, soggy or flat baked goods, don’t substitute diet, whipped or tub-style margarine for regular margarine.

Mayonnaise

• Reduced-calorie mayonnaise-type salad dressing or reduced-calorie, reduced-fat mayonnaise

Meat as the main ingredient

• Three times as many vegetables as the meat on pizzas or in casseroles, soups and stews

Oil-based marinades

• Wine, balsamic vinegar, fruit juice or fat-free broth

Salad dressing

• Fat-free or reduced-calorie dressing or flavored vinegars

Seasoning salt, such as garlic salt, celery salt or onion salt

• Herb-only seasonings, such as garlic powder, celery seed or onion flakes, or use finely chopped herbs or garlic, celery or onions

Soups, sauces, dressings, crackers, or canned meat, fish or vegetables

• Low-sodium or reduced-sodium versions

Soy sauce

• Sweet-and-sour sauce, hot mustard sauce or low-sodium soy sauce

Syrup

• Pureed fruit, such as applesauce, or low-calorie, sugar-free syrup

Table salt

• Herbs, spices, fruit juices or salt-free seasoning mixes or herb blends

White bread

• Whole-wheat bread

White rice

• Brown rice, wild rice, bulgur or pearl barley

Whole milk

• Reduced-fat or fat-free milk

Massage therapy has long been thought to be for relaxation and pampering, and I’m not disputing that.  What I want people to know is that it has so many more health benefits than just relaxation.  It increases blood circulation, lymphatic drainage and also gets rid of toxins in the body.  It helps people with sleep disorders and is great for people who work there muscles frequently at the gym or with a good home workout.   Researchers are confirming what serious athletes have long believed: Swedish massage immediately after intense exercise helps muscles recover.

To test the validity of this common practice in the sports world, a study was done on a group of athletes.  After an intense exercise one leg was massaged and one was left to rest.  The massaged muscles recovered significantly more function and strength after the four-day trial. Also, the muscles that were not massaged had more damaged muscle fibers and more white blood cells, which can indicate inflammation. The massaged muscles weighed less than the rested muscles, suggesting the massages prevented swelling.

So doesn’t it make sense if we are working hard to get our bodies in shape with a good workout that we would let our muscles know afterward that, although we do want them nice and tight and toned that we also want them to be nice and flexible and recover more quickly.  So make sure you stretch after your workout and make massage a part of your monthly routine.

I am often asked how I keep my immune system running strong during the cold and flu season. Interestingly enough, the answer is relatively simple and easy.

I firmly believe eating a diet rich in organic foods is an excellent form of prevention, particularly in a western world where medical treatments can be extremely expensive! If you think organic foods are costly, think about the expenses associated with future doctor visits, prescriptions and pain management-and the list goes on if you don’t take 100% responsibility for your health and become prevention-proactive now!

So the number one secret is prevention.  Eat a diet that is rich in antioxidants to boost your immune system. This means eating as many bright colored fruits and vegetables (of course choose organic!) that are rich in antioxidants so your immune system can do its job – protect you against common colds, flues and serious illnesses. In fact there is one thing that health officials agree on: the common cold, flu and serious diseases can not take a hold of a healthy immune system. And why choose organic? Science is proving that organic foods are healthier for you and contain higher counts of vitamins, nutrients and antioxidants.

Incorporating things like raw garlic can help if you feel yourself start to get sick because it is an all natural antibiotic.  Also drinking lots of fluids will help flush things out of your system.  Since it is recommend that we get lots of antioxidants into our system every day and an average person doesn’t eat enough of those organic fruits and veggies to get them, try adding a superfood or some kind of powdered greens to your diet to help supplement what you aren’t actually eating.

• Does exercise affect milk supply or nutrient content?

No. Studies have shown no difference in the volume or composition of the milk or babies’ weight gain. One study showed a slight increase in milk supply for the women who exercised regularly, but because of the small size of the study this increase may not be significant.

• Does lactic acid increase in breastmilk after exercise?

Research has not shown a noticable increase in lactic acid buildup after moderate exercise (50% & 75% intensity). The lactic acid in breastmilk does increase somewhat if mom exercises to maximum (100%) intensity, also described as exhaustive exercise. This increase may be present up to 90 minutes post-exercise. There are no known harmful effects for the baby.

• Will baby refuse the breast after mom exercises?

Most studies have found no difference in acceptance of the breast, even after maximum intensity exercise.  Although a highly publicized 1992 study indicated that baby might fuss or refuse expressed milk from a mom who had been exercising at 100% intensity, the results were questionable because the babies were fed the milk by dropper (unfamiliar to these babies), and the mothers reported that the babies had not had problems with nursing after exercise in the past. A more recent study showed no change in infants’ acceptable of mom’s milk an hour after exercise, even for the moms who exercised at maximum intensity (and thus did have a slight increase in lactic acid in their milk).

Exercise guidelines for breastfeeding mothers

• For your own comfort, you may wish to nurse before exercising and wear a good, supportive bra (especially during strenuous exercises such as running, jumping, etc).
• Some babies don’t like nursing when mom has been sweating (due to the salt on mom’s skin) so you may wish to rinse your breasts or take a shower before nursing.
• If you regularly lift weights or do other exercises involving repetitive arm movement and you develop plugged ducts, cut back and start again more slowly.
• Keep yourself hydrated.

Though eating right is easy, learning how to eat right is extremely difficult for most people. And taking the time to properly prepare food rather than pop in a microwave dinner, an impossible challenge. Just because it’s in the health section or it has a green wrapper or is “made with organic ingredients” doesn’t mean it’s healthy. Learning to eat for the sole purpose of nourishing the body at its cellular level is such a paradigm shift for most people, the hard part is not what to do, but how to do it.

Medications are toxic chemicals that suppress symptoms while damaging the body at a cellular level. Many of them damage the immune system. This is a foreign concept if you’ve taken a pill for every ache and pain for thirty years.

Instead of investing in disease with your time and money, why not invest in health? Instead of medical insurance and over the counter and prescription drugs, co-pays, and sick days, what if you invested your time into learning about the best supplements? What if you spent your money on healthy food? What if you spent time preparing food and truly being involved with what fuels and nourishes you? What if what went into your body to nourish and heal you was one of the most important things in your life?

Does it seem like a radical concept? It is for most people. But consider this – would you rather take the time to learn about nutrition now? To gain the knowledge and the appreciation of how our bodies actually work? Or would you like to spend even more energy later on in life learning about your new disease and all of the drugs and allergies that come along with it?

A new tool has recently been released allowing people to see just how their community measures up to neighboring counties and other counties across the country. As seen here on the County Health Rankings website, visitors can select their state from the map or input their info on drop down menus. We all like a little competition and being able to see if your neighbors make healthy living a priority is a fun way to motivate for change.

As the official website and this CNN Health story reveal, the healthy living rankings relied on numerous factors including obesity rate, crime rates, smoking rates, poverty, and access to doctors and healthy foods.

While my county ranks #32 in a state of 100, the more urban county to my north is #1 on the state’s list. Why is that? Urban centers often have more access to doctors, fresh markets, and money while outlying areas tend to traditionally lag somewhat behind. Also, being near Duke University and several other colleges known for their research tends to elevate the counties around me as well.

So, what does the healthy living factor of your county tell you? Consider the culture of your community. Is fitness a priority, not only to the citizens but to local government? Cities that put money into bike trails and family fitness centers will obviously rank higher than those who leave their citizens to make their own way.

Healthy living is about more than diet and exercise, it is a culture that affects an entire community. When the people of a county are taken care of, they feel better. And when they feel better, they take better care of themselves and those around them.

While your 40 minute P90X workout may not seem like a community effort, remember that what you do to keep your own health and the health of your family a priority may inspire others around you to do the same.