Health and Fitness: February 2010

7 Reasons You're Still Overweight and How to Get Slim Fast

Why do some people pack on the pounds effortlessly? It’s not always genetics and it’s not always gluttony, and you can’t always blame it on lack of exercise. Indeed, becoming overweight is often a result of some simple—and easily correctible—bad habits, especially when it comes to dining out.

Should I use hormone replacement therapy (HRT)?

Introduction
Over the past decades, menopausal women have been encouraged to use hormone replacement therapy (HRT) for its apparent health- and youth-preserving benefits. It is true that HRT lowers the risk of osteoporosis and possibly colon cancer. But, compared to women not taking hormones, women taking HRT have slightly higher rates of breast cancer, ovarian cancer, heart attack, stroke, blood clots, and Alzheimer's disease as well as other forms of dementia.

90 seconds to slim

Tired of countless sets and reps? Make "one and done" your workout mantra. With this get-lean routine you'll do each move only once, which will leave you twice as much time to enjoy your sleek new physique!

Slow down to firm up. You can tone all over with a single rep. The key? Stretch out each exercise over a full 90 seconds. "Stop-and-hold training is more effective than traditional strength training because it maximizes muscle tension throughout the total range of motion," says Pete Cerqua, author of The 90-Second Fitness Solution (Atria Books), who created these slow-mo moves exclusively for SELF.

Busted! 5 Major Eating Mistakes

By Holly McCord, RD, with Gloria McVeigh, Prevention
Ever get the guilty feeling that you're being watched as you toss the double fudge brownie mix into your grocery cart? Well, you are! We checked with some of the top US nutrition experts, who admitted they secretly spy on the rest of us as we make real-world choices in restaurants and grocery stores. Here are their top five gripes.

ReloraMAX

Natural proprietary blend of a patented extract of Magnolia officinalis and a proprietary extract from Phellodendron amurense. Relora® was developed as an ingredient for dietary supplements and functional foods that could be used in stress management and for stress-related appetite control. This patented blend of plant extracts is the result of screening more than fifty plant fractions from traditional plant medicines used around the world. Relora® has excellent stress management properties without causing sedation.