What yoga exercises must you do for a flatter tummy?

So here I am, flat tummy and all, and I'd say, it's all the Wailana yoga I've been doing. Sarah at Health.com has been talking about just how certain yoga exercises can definitely help you firm and flatten your stomach.

Get a Flat, Toned Tummy With the Yoga Bicycle
By Sara Ivanhoe

I love combining the physical benefits of classic exercise with historic yogic tradition. One of my favorite hybrids is the yogic bicycle. Usually reserved for ab classes, bicycle crunches are a nice complement to the typical yoga session. Yoga has very few abdominal strengthening poses, other than the dreaded Boat Pose—and even that doesn’t do much for the obliques, or side abdominal muscles. And bicycle is actually a Vinyasa, or “breath and movement sequence.”

Just because you may have done bicycle before doesn’t mean you can just throw it in a yoga sequence without thinking twice. You want to be very conscious of your breath—something you may not normally do when you do bicycle crunches at the gym. When you practice yoga, your energy is open, and the way you breathe really affects your level of energy. How you breathe in any given sequence can have some pretty dramatic effects!

Begin on your back with your knees bent together and touching your chest. Keep the knees here as you interlace your fingers behind your head and sit up slightly. This is the inhale position. As you exhale, squeeze the outside of your right arm to the outside of your left thigh and straighten your right leg. Inhale to come back to center with the knees into the chest and sitting up straight. Exhale to twist to the other side. Repeat for at least a minute, up to 5 minutes for best results. This can be practiced every day.

Yogis have a system of energy channels, called nadis, and they believe that the right side of the body represents the sun channel, or the masculine, extroverted side of the body, while the left side is the moon channel, the feminine or receptive side. It may sound incredible, but if you are always inhaling on the left and exhaling on the right, you’ll drain yourself of energy—this can leave you introverted and depressed. On the contrary, if you are always inhaling on the right, you can agitate your system and develop a nervous condition.

The bicycle sequence not only helps balance your energy, but regular practice also will leave your tummy toned and taut. Plus, paying attention to your breathing will help you reap the rewards.

Oh and hey, Wai Lana supplements are on 50% off sale!! :) Great stuff for flu season! Stay healthy everyone.

Yoga and me

I've been doing yoga for quite a while now. Some of my favorite tapes are Wai Lana's toning series. Why? Because they're simple, easy, and yet challenging still.

I've toned up a bit since I've started practicing yoga with her. I also love Wailana Yoga Mats. There are so many designs now and I love the green yoga mats she's come up with.

Currently I've been learning some other exercises as well, such as rowing, bowling, and walking. I hope to slowly increase my strength and start jogging. I'd say two more weeks or so and I'll be out going jogging. Health is such a nice thing to have. :)

A Tropical Alternative to Almonds

This is interesting news aside from the fact that Macadamias are actually native to Australia, and not Hawaii:

A Tropical Alternative to Almonds

Have you grown tired of walnuts and almonds? Try this tasty nut Hawaii is known for: macadamia nuts.

Turns out they’re on the heart-healthy list -- even though they contain saturated fat. In a study, a diet enhanced with macadamias significantly lowered both total and LDL cholesterol.

Heart-Friendly Fats
The fact that macadamias are so rich in unsaturated fats -- more than almost any other nut -- appears to make up for the fact that they also contain some saturated fat. And here’s the heart-healthy proof: When people with moderately high cholesterol ate an average American diet for 5 weeks, then a diet with a handful of macadamia nuts mixed in daily for another 5 weeks, the nut diet lowered total and LDL cholesterol about 9 percent more than the nut-free fare. Check out how macadamias rank among other nuts when it comes to heart-healthy fats.

The Nuts and Bolts
But keep in mind that although the study diets were controlled so that they both had the same amount of total fat, the nut diet had less saturated fat and more monounsaturated fat. So if you eat macadamias, use them to kick out a source of unhealthy fat in your diet -- don't just add them to what you already eat. For example, use them in a healthier version of the classic shortcake dessert -- like Roasted Pineapple Shortcakes.

I LOVE macadamias.