Our study showed no dose-response effect of walking exercise on weight loss over diet alone. Both lower and higher volume metabolic fitness prescriptions resulted in similar and significant beneficial changes in several HRV. This data suggests that 30 min of walking on most days of the week may be as beneficial as 60 min (in combination with diet) in promoting numerous additional healthful outcomes over diet alone following a 12 week weight loss program.

The Mediterranean diet has long been celebrated as the gold standard of healthy diets for its highly palatable nature and favorable impact on the prevention of chronic diseases, promotion of greater longevity, and quality of life. A large body of scientific evidence has accumulated over the past several decades showing that Mediterranean-type diets are highly protective against the development of cardiovascular disease, metabolic disorders, and certain cancers. A single definition of the Mediterranean diet is difficult because of the diversity of dietary habits of more than the 18 countries with coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea. There are, however, general food patterns that unify the variable diets of the Mediterranean people and reflect the more traditional eating pattern of the southern Mediterranean region during the early 1960s. Dr Ancel Keys wrote of this diet in his first book on the topic, titled How to Eat Well and Stay Well the Mediterranean Way, as a diet that provides clues for why the health profile of the Mediterranean countries was more favorable than the rest of the world during that period. The Mediterranean eating pattern warrants attention because this eating style has been repeatedly associated with protection against several chronic degenerative diseases and disorders. Although it is not clear yet which components of the diet provide the greatest health benefits, likely candidates have emerged in the literature that, when consumed collectively, provide a dietary pattern that is highly protective. Several potential explanations and biological mechanisms of action against the pathogenesis of chronic disease that these foods provide are reviewed.

This study described the prevalence of supplement use by 309 male and female competitive bodybuilders. Participants completed a comprehensive survey detailing their supplementation patterns with respect to frequency of product use, spending characteristics, and reasons for use. Supplement use varied with training phase. Protein powder was more popular in the bulking phase, ammo acids and fat burners in the cutting phase. Fifty-nine percent of respondents spent $25-100 per month; 4.9% spent over $150. The most popular reason for supplement use was “to meet extra demands of heavy training.” In the bulking phase, both weight gain and anabolic supplements were reportedly consumed more frequently by men than women. In the cutting phase, “fat burners” were reportedly consumed by a greater percentage of females than males. The information provided by this study can help sport nutritionists identify supplements most often consumed by bodybuilders and can aid counselors as they guide bodybuilders towards more healthful nutrition practices.

Therapeutic BP-lowering lifestyle strategies, ideally practiced simultaneously, are indispensable in the clinical management of individuals diagnosed with either prehypertension or HTN (as an adjunct to medication) and for the prevention of new-onset HTN. Abstract: Hypertension (HTN) is an extraordinarily common progressive cardiovascular syndrome in the United States, afflicting approximately one third of the adult population. HTN is a powerful and unequivocal independent risk factor for cardiovascular and renal diseases, including coronary heart disease, stroke, and renal failure. Despite major advances in the understanding and treatment of HTN over the past several decades, the disease remains the most common primary diagnosis in the United States and is a major public health concern. Adoption of healthy lifestyle modifications has proven to be highly effective in both the prevention of new-onset HTN and in the treatment of those diagnosed with HTN. In view of the continuing epidemic of HTN and blood pressure (BP)-related diseases and the invaluable role of applying nonpharmacological therapy in the prevention and management of HTN, a review of current therapeutic lifestyle strategies appears warranted. This review will define 6 well-established nonpharmacological lifestyle modifications for preventing and managing HTN in addition to 3 novel lifestyle interventions that show promise as effective adjunct strategies for lowering BP. A healthy lifestyle prescription ideally comprising a number of these BP-lowering lifestyle intervention strategies should be dispensed by all primary care physicians for both the prevention and treatment of elevated BP, an action that would have major, positive public health ramifications.