Better body, better planet

 

It takes a lot of energy to process, package and transport food -- organic or not -- and it takes a toll on the environment. In honor of Earth Day, NutritionData.com offers five ways to make your diet healthier for your body and the planet.

1. Eat locally. The average American meal travels 1,500 miles to reach our plates, guzzling fuel and releasing CO2 emissions all the way. Consistently choosing foods from growers close to where you live can significantly reduce the environmental impact of your diet. To find farms and growers near you,
visit www.LocalHarvest.org.

2. Eat seasonally. When you eat foods that are not in season where you live, they have either been stored from another season or transported from another climate. Both consume energy and degrade the nutritional quality of the food. To find out what's in season where you live, visit www.SustainableTable.org.

3. Eat fewer packaged and preprocessed foods. Even when they are organic or all-natural, processed foods consume energy and water, add cost, and create waste at every step of production, packaging and distribution. To lower your food bill, improve the nutritional quality of your meals and reduce the negative impact of your diet on the planet and buy whole, unprocessed foods whenever possible.

4. Support small farms. Large industrial farms (whether organic or conventional) generally end up cultivating just one or two crops because it is more efficient for them. But a monoculture is tough on the environment, stripping the land of certain nutrients and overloading it with particular waste products. Small farms are more likely to grow a diverse mix of crops and raise a variety of animals, which creates a healthier, more sustainable ecosystem.

5. Choose organic. Organic foods preserve healthier soil, air, and groundwater by eliminating or strictly limiting the use of pesticides, drugs, hormones, and artificial fertilizers. Organic practices are healthier for farmers, neighbors of farmers, consumers, and the planet than industrial farming practices. But buying organic is not enough to maintain a healthy environment: Choosing foods that are local, sasonal, unprocessed, and sustainably grown is just as important.

Comments

[Nick]

If you want to discover 3 flat belly exercises which can shape your abdominal muscles and additional body regions simultaneously, then you've found the right article. Because among the most effective ways to form the abdominal muscles is to perform resistance training of separate body parts with workouts which work on the abdomen indirectly.

What do I mean by working the stomach indirectly? With each exercise, you have the primary muscles and you have supporting muscles. E.g., when you do press-ups, you are more often than not working your pectoral muscle, yet your shoulder muscles and triceps act as supporting muscles and also get pumped up. The stomach acts as a supporting muscle for numerous exercises. Doing these exercises means that you are flattening out your stomach simultaneously whilst you're working other body parts. And it is frequently more efficient than doing conventional stomach exercises.

Here are 3 workouts for a flat stomach which I recommend you start doing now:

1. Pull ups - the pull up is a solid exercise. It generally works the back muscles, except whenever possible get a friend to place his or her hand on your abdominals while you are doing it, they will tell you that it is solid as steel. That's because the abs are tensing like mad. Even doing 5 pull ups is more of an effective method than ,for example, a stomach exercise routine of 50 sit ups .

2. Push ups - whilst you're doing push ups you must make certain that your stomach is tucked in. That way, your abdominals are working hard every throughout the push ups. Regardless of the type of push up that you try: horizontal, elevated, or counter elevated, the abdomen is still shaping. Push ups work your total upper body and they are a major exercise to flatten out your stomach.

3. Pull down - this is executed by pulling down the pulley cable and is actually an easier variation of the pull up (yes I realize it sounds strange but they do similar things). Whilst you pull the cable down from above your head down to your waist, you upper body goes through a whole extension which means that your abdomen muscles are tensing. Once again, the abdomen acts as the supporting role, However it does not mean that it is not straining.

Practise these 3 flat belly exercises and you'll witness results throughout your upper body, not just your abs.

To read more about how to get flat abs, and the 5 facts you MUST understand if you're ever going to see yourself with a fglat stomach and sexy six pack abs, check out my website, http://www.secretsixpackabs.com/truthaboutabs

Ultimately, and if you've read the facts over at my website, you'll

understand that although these exercises might do some good for getting a flat stomach and possible six pack abs, there is no way that you'll get to that point with these exercises alone, and the good news is that it's not all about doing more exercises! It's ultimately about doing things smarter, not always harder...

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