Philadelphia Youth make a difference

PUFFA is truly grassroots with a strong collaboration made up of residents, block captains, youth, community-based organizations, schools, libraries, recreation centers and gardeners. All come together in PUFFA to make the places where they live and work healthier and safer.

The W.K. Kellogg Foundation selected Philadelphia Urban Food and Fitness Alliance (PUFFA) to as a grantee in its Food & Community Program effort. The $1.2 million grant, over three years, is one of nine awarded by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation to community and non-profit groups that are working together to transform how food moves from the farm to the table in Philadelphia and how our communities can have access to safe places for fitness and play. The Health Promotion Council (HPC) administers and staffs PUFFA.

PUFFA’s work focuses on:

* Improving healthy food available for our children at school
* Increasing access to safe and pleasant places for play and physical activity
* Increasing healthy food in our communities




What is PUFFA?



PUFFA (Philadelphia Urban Food & Fitness Alliance) is part of a national movement funded by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation to shape how we feed our children and create safe places where they can be physically active. PUFFA has partners who are community residents and youth; experts in how food moves from the farm to our schools, our grocery stores and our tables; those who transform vacant land into places for safe play and gardening and those who provide opportunities and places for fitness such as dance, yoga and martial arts.



What does PUFFA mean to Philadelphia?



During the Planning Phase, community residents and youth surveyed four Philadelphia communities looking at how easy it was to buy affordable and healthy food or to find safe places for play and fitness. Now PUFFA partners are working with The Enterprise Center CDC in West Philadelphia and the Southeast Philadelphia Collaborative to improve access to healthy food in our schools and our communities and to create safe places for play and fitness.

3 Vegetables That Fight Abdominal Fat

A unique way that a few specific vegetables can actually stimulate the burning of abdominal fat...

Chemicals that force your body to hold onto belly fat

Something you may have never heard about is that certain chemicals in our food supply and our environment, such as pesticides, herbicides, and certain petrochemicals from air and water pollution, household cleaners, cosmetics, etc can react with your body and make your body store excess abdominal fat.

These chemicals are known as xenoestrogens.

Xenoestrogens are chemicals that you are exposed to (and are hard to avoid in the modern world) that have an estrogenic effect in your body. Excess exposure to these can cause hormone balance disruptions for both men and women. So these can wreak havoc in the body for both guys and gals.

These estrogenic chemicals that we are exposed to on a daily basis can stimulate your body to store belly fat, along with many other problems (including cancer risks in the long term).

So here's where this specific class of vegetables comes in handy...

One of those cool tricks that I teach my clients that hire me for nutritional counseling is the use of cruciferous vegetables to help fight against stomach fat.

Cruciferous vegetables such as broccoli, cauliflower, brussels sprouts, kale, cabbage, etc. contain very specific and unique phytonutrients such as indole-3-carbinol (I3C) that help to fight against these estrogenic compounds...

And by fighting against these belly fat stimulating estrogenic chemicals, this is just 1 more step in helping you to win the battle against abdominal fat!

So there you go... just another excuse to do what mom always told you and eat more broccoli!

I've really learned to like brussells sprouts in the last year too... Melt a little grass-fed cheese on them and some garlic and they're great!

Lose unwanted body fat- 5 simple proven ways to burn fat fast in less time.

1. Drink more water throughout the day


Water is used in every physiological process your body undergoes, including vitamin absorption, digestion, and waste removal. In order to make sure these important processes are not disrupted, you want to drink enough clean water.

Drinking water will also help you feel more full throughout the day, so you’re less likely to be hungry and less likely to snack.
One trick to help you eat less during your meals is to drink a tall glass of clean, cold water before you eat. This will help you feel less hungry, so you’ll eat less during your meal.

Try to drink at least a gallon of water each day. Keep a bottle of water at your work desk, in your car, and one handy at home. The importance of water for good health cannot be overstated. You can live weeks without food, but only days without water.

2. Eat five to six smaller meals each day

This will keep your metabolism running smoothly and efficiently. Eating a smaller meal every 3 to 4 hours will help speed up your metabolism so that it burns through food quicker.

Eating one or two larger meals each day will cause your metabolism to slow down. If it’s not presented with food more often, it doesn’t burn fat fast.

Skipping meals altogether will cause your body to hold onto stored fat as a defense mechanism. Your body isn’t sure when it’s going to get its next meal, so it conserves stored fat to use in case of future calorie needs.

Each meal should consist of high protein (builds muscle), moderate carbohydrates (fuel for the body), and low fat (used for energy and organ protection).

Foods like chicken, turkey, fish, eggs, and milk are good sources of protein. For quality carbohydrates, eat complex sources like whole grains, cereals, breads, vegetables, and beans. Fats should be kept to a minimum and they should come from sources like fish oil, olive oil, flax seed, and whole fish.

3. Do three to four cardiovascular workouts each week

This is how you’ll burn the majority of your daily calories. Cardio increases your metabolic rate, so that you’ll burn more calories throughout the day, even while resting.

30 minutes of cardio, three to four times a week, is enough to raise your metabolism and help burn calories. Any more than that could lead to overtraining.

Choose cardio machines that get more of your body moving. the more you move your body, the more calories you burn. The Stairmaster, biking, and running on the treadmill are all good examples of intense cardio that will move more of your body.

4. Weight train three to four times a week

Weight training will not burn a sufficient amount of fat while you’re doing it. Weight training will help you burn more calories and fat in the future.

When you add more lean muscle tissue to your body, you have to expend more energy (burn more calories) just to maintain that lean muscle tissue. So when you’re at rest, even sleeping, you’ll burn off more calories with this additional lean muscle. The more calories you burn, the more body fat you will lose.

That’s why weight training is an important part of the weight loss equation. The more lean muscle tissue you have on your body, the more calories you will burn off as a result.

5. Begin to slowly reduce your calorie intake

In order to lose body fat, you need to expend more calories than you consume. Or simply put, burn off more calories than you eat.

Begin by reducing your daily calorie intake by 150 to 300 calories. Start cutting out extras like butter, cream, mayo, sugar, and any high-calorie dressings or condiments.

Instead, use spices or low-calories sauces to add flavor to your food.

As you reduce your daily calories, begin to observe in the mirror what effect it’s having on your body composition. This will help you decide whether or not you should reduce your calories again or if you’re making progress where you are.

If you don’t see results after a couple weeks of reducing your daily calories, reduce them again by 150 to 300 calories.

This slow, methodical drop in calories will allow you to find the number you need to keep losing fat, without sacrificing lean muscle tissue. If you eat too few calories, your metabolism will slow down and you’ll also stop adding lean muscle tissue.

Over time, you’ll find the number of daily calories you need to keep losing body fat, without losing lean muscle tissue.

There you have five simple, proven ways you can burn fat fast in less time. The more of these tips you use, the quicker you’ll begin to see positive changes in the mirror.

Exercise and Electricity Generation

A California Fitness Center in Hong Kong, a subsidiary of 24 Hour Fitness Worldwide, is using manpower to generate electricity in its gym. In other words, energy burned off by exercisers is diverted and converted to power lighting fixtures, while excess energy is stored in a battery. The program is called Powered By You. Thanks to French inventor Lucien Gambarota, entrepreneur Doug Woodring and the Hong Kong's California Fitness center we will all soon see a lot of healthier people in a much more sustainable world.

The project works like this: there are 13 step, cycling, and cross-training machines to use, plenty of volunteers and batteries that will store the energy that then turns on the lights. According to California Fitness president Steve Clinefelter, "someone running an hour each day on a machine can generate 18.2 kilowatts of electricity and prevent 4,380 liters of CO2 from being released each year."

When all 13 exercise machines are in use the power generated amounts to about 300 watts. 300 watts is about enough to run three 27-inch television sets or five 60-watt lights. The initial investment cost of this project was $15,000. The center is planning to expand the idea throughout the gym if the project is successful and "economically viable".

Don't like the gym. How about dancing or walking to power up? Two projects under development are The Sustainable Dance Club and The Facility:Innovate. The Sustainable Dance Club, a nightclub in Rotterdam, is a dance club/project where you can dance and power up the floor all at the same time. It is a project created by the Dutch environmental group Enviu and the architecture firm Döll. The Facility:Innovate, a London design firm, harvests power from footsteps to light up things like iPods or even street lamps.

It is amazing what can be done with our bodies to spark a little electricity and I don't mean it in a dirty way, but rather in a clean renewable way. It is a rational and simple solution to long time problem of obesity and high electric cost. Did I mention it makes exercising a lot more appealing and motivating?

4 Tips For Effective Treadmill Weight Loss

1.Nutrition
"A good diet will account for about 80% of an individual's success or failure..."

Nutrition is the cornerstone to any weight loss program. In fact, a good diet will account for about 80% of an individual's success or failure when it comes to shedding body fat. The proper foods in the right combinations can make time spent on a treadmill extremely effective by setting up the body hormonally for weight loss. The key to this is to limit complex and simple sugars and to focus on eating lean protein and fibrous fruits and vegetables. Keeping carbohydrate intake to a minimum and increasing lean protein will create an environment that will literally force the body's metabolism into burning fat for fuel. This is because carbohydrate is the primary fuel source for working muscles. The body will always choose to burn carbohydrate over fat because of its ease in making it readily available energy. If a limited amount of carbohydrate is available through proper diet partitioning, the metabolism must increase the consumption of fat stores to meet the fuel demands of any given treadmill workout. By increasing protein intake, the ability to recover from work outs is increased and new muscle tissue may be created that in turn will require more calories and fuel.

2.Treadmill Workouts


"An individual needs to bring his or her heart rate up to between 55%-80% of it's max and keep it there for at least thirty minutes."
Daily workouts on the treadmill are very strait forward and consist of more coherence than anything else. An individual needs to bring his or her heart rate up to between 55%-80% of it's max and keep it there for at least thirty minutes. Thirty minutes is the absolute the minimum required, but if physical activity is something new to the individual at hand, it would be good to keep it light for a few weeks to condition the body and prepare it for more vigorous activity. Intervals, or small bouts of intense exercise every few minutes during the duration of time on a treadmill can really boost overall calorie consumption. For more advanced users, the incline can be raised to provide greater stress and faster results. The key is to raise the metabolic rate and keep it there for a length of time that really allows the body to dig deep into its fat stores and release energy for fuel. If the diet recommended above is followed, this can make way for a very effective work out routine.

3.Water
"The amount of water in an individual's system can have dramatic effects on it's ability to metabolize and burn body fat."


The amount of water in an individual's system can have dramatic effects on it's ability to metabolize and burn body fat. Water is needed for nearly every single bodily function and weight loss is no different. Water helps shuttle fat from stores on the body to hard working muscle cells and also aides in the transportation of oxygen from the lungs. Water even works as an appetite suppressant that can help avoid overeating at a meal. Simply drink 8-12 onces before sitting down to eat and the amount of food consumed can often be cut in half. Don't overlook this vital nutrient in your weight loss program. Also, drinking more water helps to reduce water retention by stimulating the kidneys. Numerous studies have shown that if an individual is overweight, they should add at least 1 glass of water to their daily intake for every 25 pounds over their recommended size.

4.Sleep
Studies have shown that not getting enough sleep can actually inhibit the body's ability to burn fat. The reason this happens is because sleep deprivation can lead to a hormonal imbalance which may throw the metabolism out of whack. As a result, fat burning is greatly diminished and work outs become far less effective and can make results far harder and longer to achieve. If an individual is going to take the time and energy to work out and eat correctly on a regular basis than he or she should strive to get the most out of each exercise session by getting plenty of sleep. 8 hours a night is the recommended amount of sleep by most experts. In recent years however, that number has been reduced somewhat and now many are stating that between 6-8 hours is plenty. Whatever the case may be, make sure to get plenty of rest during any physical fitness program.

So there you have it. Four tips, that if followed correctly will help aide in fat loss. Always consult your physician before beginning strenuous physical fitness program and always be sure to build up your time on the treadmill.

Anti-Inflammatory Diet.To supplement anti-inflammatory nutrients while continuing to ingest pro-inflammatory substances is counter-productive.

1. Decrease or eliminate red meat and dairy products. Some arthritis patients also appear to react to poultry.
2. Decrease or destroy refined sugar.
3. Eliminate caffeine (including coffee, black tea, cola drinks, and chocolate).
4. Eliminate any expected food allergens during the initial three or four weeks such as gluten grains, citrus fruit, and dark shade vegetables (tomatoes, white potatoes, red and green peppers, eggplant, paprika, and tobacco). These foods can be added fund into the diet one at a time (one new food every third day) while obligingly observing the effect. Forms are available to variety it easier to monitor the effect of these foods.
5. Drink plenty of pure water. Chlorine is an antibiotic and can diminish our friendly gut flora. Studies enjoy associated chlorine in drinking hose down with increased risk of some types of cancer. It is probably best to drink at smallest a half hour in the past the meal and no sooner than a hour after so the digestive juice won't be diluted.
6. Increase your consumption of fresh, raw or insubstantially steamed fruits and vegetables. Good fruit choices include apples, bananas, grapes, mangoes, papayas, peaches, pears, prunes, kiwis, and other sub-acid fruits. Use discretion if the patient have blood sugar problems although fruit often does not raison d`être a problem if the diet is low fat and soaring fiber. Good vegetables include asparagus, spinach, zucchini, parsley, artichoke (without the butter), kelp and other sea-veggies, okra, snow peas and many more. Cruciferous vegetables such as cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower as all right as onions, chives, and peppers are terrifically nutritious but may create digestive difficulties for some people. The solution is repeatedly simply chewing the food better and possibly adding supplemental digestive enzymes such as Metazyme or Beano. Spices such as garlic, tumeric, etc. are also unbelievably healthy and should be used regularly if okay tolerated.
7. For snacks, consider raw vegetables, fruit, nuts and seed. The fruits and veggies contain lots of enzymes, bioflavonoids, and other phytochemicals, while the raw nuts and seed are rich in essential fatty acids, especially flax nut, pumpkin and sunflower seed, walnuts and almonds (almonds can be allergenic to some people). Raw seed like sesame and flax necessitate to be ground for proper digestion. An electric coffee grinder works well.
These on top form snacks can be combined e.g. raw vegetable sticks dipped contained by tahini (ground sesame seeds) or almond butter.

Am I a fitness softy?

The opposites are "extreme": Smoker or non-smoker, too fat or too thin, fit or unfit (since 2002) or fitness softies! In our modern society of lazy, fat, idle and (sooner or later) ill people for whom the others, including myself, will eventually have to foot the bill, I sometimes cannot help but making my point clear in an equally "extreme" way! Remember the saying from the bible? "You shall love your neighbour as yourself". Then what's so bad about trying to encourage people to do something beneficial for themselves, for their body and for their health? Nothing! Granted, I do sometimes go a bit overboard verbally – but that's only because nobody will listen to nice, well meant advice anymore.

Even politicians are now increasingly advocating the use of tougher educational methods, including at schools. Many things have gone wrong and it is hard not to notice the indifference and lack of concern exhibited by some parents – many youths roam the streets, bored, often looking for a fight, with no respect for people and their property. Looking for some sort of "support" they easily get tied to dubious gangs. And all this is happening just because their parents neglect their duty of care towards their children.

Fat parents = fat children, lazy parents = lazy children, athletic and fit parents = athletic and fit children. We – you and I – are the role models for our children and our society. Softies exist everywhere, but people who own or manage a gym and instructors in our fitness industry must be fit.