HIIT your limit. Hight Intensity Interval Training for fat loss, cardio, and full body health, by Dr. Len Kravitz

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Len Kravitz

I received a copy of the book to review

Maybe you don’t know this about me, but I worked in a gym as a fitness instructor for almost nine years. Back then, in my classes, I never thought about working smarter, but harder: I was basically focused on getting my clients the sweatiest they could be within an hour of aerobics, steps, cycling, etc. That’s what they demanded, too, feeling their time was worthy by achieving that sweaty goal. Only some guys at the weight-lifting room would try different techniques to improve their muscle gain by controlling their sessions at the gym and their food intake to crazy-to-me levels.

But it turns out if you want certain results, you have to educate yourself and work smarter, right?

Back then I was working out for 20 hours per week. The time I was not exercising, I would eat insane amounts of every food available, including ice-cream, pastries and junk food. I was thin, lean, as hard as a rock. And perpetually exhausted.

That should have told me something, but there are things you can only acknowledge in retrospect. When I left that job, I couldn’t dedicate all that time to exercise anymore, so I did (and still do) what’s recommended -three to five sessions a week- while trying to eat less even though I was −and I am– hungry all the time (spoiler alert: when you stop exercising you are as hungry as before; your stomach is an independent entity altogether).

And, while all the blood and cardiovascular tests show I am an extremely healthy person, I am overweight. And it’s not that I say so; the doctor has told me I should lose some weight. But I can’t. And it’s kind of frustrating when you swim three times per week, run two times per week, go everywhere by foot, eat less than your stomach would like to… and still you don’t look good. The only thing that comes to mind is “maybe I should eat even less or run for 15 minutes more”, coming back to what I said about focusing on quantity instead of quality.

A few months ago, YouTube “recommended” me a HIIT (High Intensity Intervals Training) video. I tried it out and was amazed: I could only do half of it and I felt that my body couldn’t have been worked more intensely in those 20 minutes. That was when the book I am reviewing today (yes, all this was only the prelude of a book review) came into the picture to help me understand this kind of training better and schedule my own routines.

In my opinion, this -and a park- is all the equipment you’ll ever need to get fit

The first half of the books is dedicated to biology and physiology and includes data and research to better understand how the body works during and after exercise, focusing on HIIT in particular and what the benefits of this training are. For those of you who have already tried it, you would have noticed that you can do much more in less time, but it also helps improve cholesterol levels, blood pressure, and cardiorespiratory fitness faster than other kinds of training.

There is a section dedicated to help you stick with your exercise program, for which I really recommend you read James Clear’s Atomic habits in order to better approach a change in your daily routines either to include exercise or any other new habit. There are also frequently asked questions that I found very informative –“Can I reduce the number of fat cells in my body? No.” I’m still crying over this–. And, at the end of the book, there is advice on how to cut calories with small changes – I can’t apply the majority of them, since I hardly ever eat out, I don’t drink sodas or alcohol, nor do I have sugar with my coffee, etc.

Finally, we have the HIIT workouts. I like that the author recommends reducing your normal workouts and add HIIT ones instead of increasing the total amount of weekly exercise, which was what I had in mind when I started reading the book, and had an exponential increase in anxiety because you don’t really know if you will ever find the time to do it all.

Regarding the workouts themselves, I found them very beginner-like, thought to be done only with a certain exercise mode instead of creating different exercises for every interval, which is what I have been trying lately and found more enjoyable. Don’t get me wrong – I truly believe they are good workouts, but doing running work and recovery intervals is what I have always called “Interval Training”, but not “High Intensity Interval Training”. I know you can increase the intensity, of course, but I guess I was expecting something more like this.

I think the book is primarily targeted towards people who hasn’t developed a steady habit of exercising, so they can start by including these short but effective workouts in their weekly routines and get fast results. For the rest, the book will make you aware of those intervals you only did from time to time and how it is better to focus more often on them without increasing the total amount of time devoted to exercise, in order to achieve your aimed weight and fitness level.

In any case, it is a matter of adapting your routines. I will sure change more of my steady-state running, swimming and walking workouts to intervals, and I will also keep an eye on including different high intensity exercises a couple of days per week.

And now it’s time to start exercising!

HIIT your limit. High Intensity Interval Training for fat loss, cardio, and full body health
Dr. Len Kravitz
Apollo Publishers
216 pages

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21 days to happiness, by Ingrid Kelada

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Ingrid Kelada

I received this book in exchange for a honest review
thanks to iRead Book Tours.

I would like to start this review by saying that Ingrid Kelada, the author, is a psychologist and happiness expert (how well it sounds, a happiness expert!) and she has gathered all the information available in research studies about what makes people live a happier life, and put it together in simple, fun and approachable chapters to try every “method”, one at a time.

In the last years I have become an avid reader of non-fiction books, especially about learning and productivity, and I have to say that I have read a number of the authors Ingrid mentions in her book and I have come across all the topics discussed at one time or another, but I had never related all these behaviours to happiness itself – perhaps to wellbeing and health, but it had never occurred that this is a way which also leds to happiness, and of course it does!

That being said, I don’t think many of the readers that are usually keen of books about these topics will find something new in 21 days to happiness, but the appeal of this particular book comes from the way the tips are presented: each chapter talks about one topic (body language, time, relationships, optimism, etc.) and offers data and research about how happiness is affected by them, ways one can introduce them in your everyday life, tips to start doing it right now, and a brief comment about how the author actually does it to increase her own happiness. She includes links to Youtuve videos and TED talks about the topic and, at the end of the chapters there are also questionnaires, so you can test yourself about your thoughts on implementing this new behaviour in your life, and see if it works for you. It really makes the read enjoyable and addictive, and actually makes you “do” something to implement what has been discussed.

The thing is I have found that I do most of the things Ingrid recommends every day and, while I understand the value of the other stuff, I still haven’t worked out the way some things could “do good” to me. For instance, I see Ingrid is an outgoing woman who talks about the importance of relationships with others, suggesting one can join clubs or start conversations with people in your neighbourhood – there’s no way I can do such thing without dying from anxiety! She also talks about the joy of cooking a healthy meal, and here is one person that only finds joy in cooking a lot of food, knowing I won’t have to cook again in many days. Maybe I should try other approaches to these contingencies (this is also taught in the book), but I consider myself a happy person anyway!

Well, this is a book you could talk about forever, analyzing yourself and trying out what Ingrid suggests. As I said, I have been practising many of these suggestions throughout the years, and now I’m working on some of the new-to-me tips, like “happy body language” and the chunks of time when working. I’m even in the mood to try again the cooking stuff! So yes, this is a book I would recommend to anyone who wants to improve their approach to the days ahead.

Book on Goodreads
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www.21daystohappiness.com

A fistful of love, by Om Swami

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Om Swami

I received this book in exchange for a review
thanks to Virtual Authors Book Tours.

The reason I requested this book was the description of the author, which was fascinating: a successful man from the western culture who owned a software business and decided to leave this way of living in pursuit of spirituality at the Himalayas. Wow.

In A fistful of love, Om Swami talks about every aspect of our relationships with others and with ourselves, giving the book a structure with short chapters talking about one issue each in which the author explains his point through stories and tales as examples of what he wants the reader to understand, and then discusses the matter and gives advice and ideas to think about.

Well, it sounds really simple, but the fact is that every chapter resonates with oneself in a way or another, pushing you into an analysis of your own behaviors towards other people and also towards yourself, because sometimes it looks like we go through life punishing ourselves instead of making peace with what we are and being open to give and receive love.

As it happens, while I was reading this book I was also listening to an audiobook by Kelly McGonigal titled The science of compassion (GoodReads), and both fitted perfectly, intertwining their messages and taking all the advice and wisdom from Swami into a deeper -and more scientific- level thanks to McGonigal.

In summary, I think that this is a book to help us pause and reset ourselves into a search for compassionate and non-judgmental relationships, enjoying every step of the way instead of looking for salvation in our ultimate destination, whatever it may be. It is one of those books you can pick up and open at a random chapter for a daily dose of knowledge and inspiration. I am glad I have read it.

If you want to have a glimpse of what this book is about, you can read Om Swami’s posts, for they are very similiar to the chapters of the book, at omswami.com

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Your daily brain: 24 hours in the life of your brain, by Garth Sundem

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Garth Sundem

I received this book from Netgalley for review.

Your daily brain shows us how our brain works and why it does it that way as it makes us go through a typical working day. Because let’s be honest: your brain is in charge.

The book addresses the different brain functions stopping by certain hours in the day in which we have different needs, from the first chapter at 6:30 am, “Should you hit the snooze button?”, to the last at 9:00 pm, “Why you should stop reading and go to sleep”, passing by many daily tasks and routines and the way we approach every one of them.

The author talks about memory, multitasking, willpower, positivity, etc. To be honest, I knew a lot about some of these subjects thanks to the previous books I have read on these matters, some by authors mentioned in Your daily brain. Besides, the book talks briefly about every topic (about 5-6 kindle pages per chapter), so you won’t get a profound scientific knowledge by reading it, but the format (many subjects, summarized) is approachable because it is easy to follow, avoiding scientific nomenclature, and keeps your interest.

I went over many things I already knew about, like multitasking (the ability to switch fast between two or more tasks, NOT about doing two things at once), and I also found new information: I liked to learn, for instance, about creativity; the special needs of the teenage brain; the different studies about willpower (I only had read about one of the theories about this skill); or the changes in parent’s brains – they get a different circuit when they hear a baby crying that tells them to worry about the baby’s needs (even if it’s not their baby!), whereas for we, the childless, it goes directly to the “annoying noises” neurons  😛

Altogether, this is an interesting book written for the public with humor, examples on everyday life anybody can identify with, and topics I’m always keen to learn about; after all, we’d love to understand this bossy organ we have in our heads!

Your daily brain
Garth Sundem
Ebook, 194 pages
Collection: Marbles: The brain store
Published by Three Rivers Press
Book on Goodreads

 

Informative books about Type 2 Diabetes by Zeena Nackerdien

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Zeena Nackerdien

I think all of us are aware of the raising of Type 2 Diabetes in the modern world due to our new not-so-healthy habits regarding the food we eat. This week, for instance, I watched a video in which a Dutch young man stopped eating processed sugar and he, at first, had symptoms similar to the drug addicts when they cut off drugs!

Perspectives on Type 2 Diabetes explains a little about the disease according to data from different countries. Apparently, there are differences among the different human races and other factors, but all of them are more likely to suffer from Diabetes thanks to their lifestyle, being the number of diabetics increased in countries that are growing economically.

In HIV/TB/Diabetes Resource Kit, the author talks about AIDS, Tuberculosis and Diabetes in her country, South Africa. I had no idea, but these three illnesses are connected, so people with AIDS have a high risk for Diabetes and Tuberculosis, being the latter the main cause of death in that country. The diseases are explained briefly, and the author proposes an educational approach in order to fight them: thanks to education at young ages, people would be more aware of the risks of unprotected sex, unhealthy lifestyles, etc., which is the main step to prevention.

These books are short, filled with data, and very informative, written to the public, not for people in the scientific or medical field. I think the aim of the author is to open our eyes about the increase of these conditions in the first world in order to take the necessary steps to prevention, because it is obviously easier than treatment. However, I would have been interested in more information about the diseases themselves – I know a little because I studied them in the university, but I think it would be benefitial for other people who don’t know much about medicine.

I received the books thanks to Virtual Author Book Tours.

• Zeena Nackerdien’s web.
• Follow the tour.
• Perspectives on Type 2 Diabetes on Goodreads and Amazon.com
• HIV/TB/Diabetes Resource Kit on Goodreads and Amazon.com

Travel the world in books: South Africa
Non-fiction reading challenge

Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain, by John J. Ratey

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John J. Ratey

Short review:

Buy this book, borrow if from the library or a friend, download it illegally… Whatever, but grab a copy and read it immediately.

Normal review:

OK, so by now you all have heard about how good exercise is for your heart, lungs, muscles, joints, etc., BUT have any of you heard about what exercise does to your brain functions? Don’t worry; you can learn it with this book.

Spark begins explaining the biochemical process of exercising regarding your brain, but it’s not exactly about the “runners’ high”; it’s about the neurotransmitters released in the neurons, the factors that make neurons create new receptors, and the process of producing new brain cells in order to increase your brain functions. I had only heard about getting more oxygen in the brain thanks to exercise, and therefore making your brain work better, but the fact that you can increase the number of neurons and their connections between each other ONLY by exercising has blown my mind.

So well, the author explains this, and then he goes throughout a series of chapters where he talks about a specific matter, including normal situations as well as psychiatric conditions, and how exercise affects that situation or disease. The chapters include anxiety, depression, dementia, ADHD, chronic pain, pregnancy, menopause, learning and education, etc.

I could talk to you about every one of these chapters, but I think it’s better if you read the book. However, here are some random ideas from the book that I want to share:

• Exercise changes your pain threshold so you don’t feel as much pain as if you don’t practice any exercise.
• Stress makes your brain work slower and your neurons die.
• Women over 30 who don’t exercise loose 1% of their bone mass per year.
• Overweight people are more likely to suffer from dementia at old ages.
• Exercise is now beginning to be used as a treatment for some conditions. Not as something to do besides the treatment: as the treatment itself.
• To get benefits from exercise you only have to do 30 minutes every day, which I think it is something everybody can commit to do.

So I really want all the people I know to read this book and began doing something about it. After all, we are responsible for our own mental and physical health, and to me, the idea that you can increase both at the same time is terrific.

Summarizing: read this book right now!

PS: I would like to talk about the first chapter, in which the author tells about a new program in some schools in Florida where students do exercise every day first thing in the morning and they have increased their ratings in the rest of the subjects. Besides, the Physical Education class in these schools is not the one we once knew and suffered: here the students have heart monitors and they can choose among a wide variety of sports, being rated only by how hard they had made their hearts work.

I was very surprised by this way of focusing PE in children, because I have always been rated for my performance in different sport tasks, and I had a good average in everything except for running. As an adult I began running with a heart monitor and I noticed that I run above the maximum of my heart rate according to my age, so I didn’t get good grades at running in school, but I was probably working harder than any other of my classmates.

I think that PE has to change and become the subject which teach us how to live healthily for the rest of our lives.

What are you hungry for? by Deepak Chopra

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Deepak Chopra

To be honest, I had always wanted to read something by this author, but I wasn’t interested in his books about success, which was the only ones I knew, until I saw this one. I got it via Blogging for books, being this the first time I request a book from this web.

The thing is – I’m not alone in the world 😀 I wanted to know why I eat like a horse when I’m in the exams period, and why I can be comfortably reading for hours without thinking about food in the relaxing weekends after the exams.

Chopra says we are naturally programmed to seek comfort, so when we have a gap to fill we try with the most available and easy one: our stomachs. What he proposes is a way to act in a different way, being aware of our decisions regarding food in this case, without forgetting the rest of your unhealthy habits. This is not about dieting, on the contrary, the author explains throughout the book why dieters never get results on the long run.

As you may know, Chopra is fond of Ayurvedic medicine, so he explains his point of view through this discipline: in the book he talks about the six flavours you have to eat in every meal to satisfy your hunger; about the best foods, mainly vegetables (this is nothing new, though) to fit your needs, and the best habits when it comes to the table, which are simple things like making an effort to think about what you are doing – eating – and what the food you are about to nourish your body with is. Besides, I think this book is also an introduction to a new way of life, I mean, we read about nourishment, not eating, about being aware of our choices and feeling good about ourselves.

Regardless of this, let’s say, spiritual approach, Chopra also explains the scientific reasons why he is telling you all those things. He is an endocrinologist, after all, so I also liked to read about the hormones in control of our appetite and the rest of body functions, as well as our brain function when food is involved. That’s why I think that this book will satisfy the scientific-minded readers as well as the ones who want to know about other exotic ways of life like Ayurvedic medicine.

In my opinion, the book explains perfectly well all the emotions we experience with food in times when you don’t eat just for pleasure, but for stress, and I found that the solutions Chopra claims will work are the same ones I have read in other books about similar matters, like The willpower instinct, by Kelly McGonigal (my review): both, scientific and more spiritual explanations, say that you have to practice self-awareness and what I call self-kindness if you want to change any habit. McGonigal says you will change your bad habits and live healthily and Chopra says you will also experience joy and lightness of soul, but I think they are talking about the same thing.

I’m sure What are you hungry for? is a book I’ll read again and recommend often.

PS. This is not a recipe book, so there are only a few recipes based on Ayurveda at the end of the book. However, the internet is filled with recipes which follow this discipline. I still haven’t tried any of them, but I made a start getting used to drink a ginger beverage with 2-3 of slices of ginger in boiling water with also a slice of lemon. It doesn’t taste bad and it’s supposed to suppress hunger if you drink it before meal times.