Not sure what the difference between aerobic and anaerobic activity is? In our Get Fit For 2012 group , FitSugar reader meetcasey explains what each term means and why we should be doing both. Aerobic exercise requires the body to utilize oxygen to create energy. With anaerobic exercise, the body creates energy without extra oxygen - your body relies on its natural chemicals to create energy. Learn the benefits of each, after the break!

Being obese can be a very isolating experience, and losing weight can be difficult for anyone, particularly for a teenager.  A new study, funded by the National Institutes of Health, finds that teenage girls gained less weight, ate less fast foods, improved their body images and had more family interaction over meals, after participating in a six-month program designed especially for teenage girls. The program involved weekly peer meetings, consultations with primary care providers and separate meetings for their parents. Conducted by Kaiser Permanente, the study is the first to report long-term results from a weight management program designed specifically for this age group.  In previous programs, younger children, teens and family members were included. This one was designed for teen girls only. "Nearly one-third of teenage girls [between the ages of 12 and 17] are overweight or obese, and many of them are likely to become obese adults," said Dr. Lynn DeBar, lead author and senior investigator with the Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research. "Our study shows that intervention programs can help these girls achieve long-term success managing their weight and also learning new habits that will hopefully carry over into their adult life." The study focused on 208 girls, ages 12 to 17, who lived in the states of Oregon and Washington during 2005-2009.  All of the girls were classified as being obese. Half of the girls were assigned to the program and the other half got usual care.  Girls assigned to the usual-care group received information on changing their lifestyles along with a visit from a physician at the start of the study. The girls in the program, however, met weekly with other teenage girls as well as with a behavioral counselor during the first three months, and then every other week after that for the remaining three months. The teens were asked to keep food and activity diaries, along with charting their weight. At each meeting, they discussed their journals and their progress. The program was designed to focus on cutting down portion sizes, watching what types of foods they were eating including the reduction of fast food and sweetened beverages in their diets. Doctors in the program also suggested the girls have more meals with their families, instead of on the go or with friends. The girls were also encouraged to exercise at least 5 days a week for 30 to 60 minutes and were introduced to yoga classes. Their parents were asked to attend separate weekly meetings to learn how to support their daughters. Although the program was intensive, researchers say they found it made all the difference. "Many teenage girls are still growing taller, so for them, maintaining weight or slowing weight gain is an acceptable goal," said Dr. Phil Wu, a pediatrician who leads Kaiser Permanente's effort to prevent and treat childhood obesity and is also a co-author of the study. "Girls in the program gained less weight than those who weren't in the program, and they reduced their overall body mass index, improved their self-image and developed healthy lifestyle habits, so all of these are successes." After the six months, both groups health and weight were assessed and then again at 12 months. The girls started out with an average weight in the 190 pound range, and an average body mass index in the 97th percentile, which by CDC standards is considered to be obese. At the end of the study, girls who participated in the Kaiser program were in the 95th percentile, while girls in the usual-care group were in the 96th percentile. Although the weight loss was not drastic, researchers noted the girls who participated in the program continued to lose modest amounts of weight as the months went on, helping them to better cope with their weight issues. Filed under: Body Image , Children’s Health , Families , Obesity Tagged: Val Wadas-Willingham – CNN Medical Producer

Watch "Dr. Sanjay Gupta Reports: Big Hits, Broken Dreams " Sunday, January 29 at 8 p.m. and 11 p.m. ET. One day late in the summer of 2010, I was sitting in my backyard with my oldest daughter. We had just finished cutting the lawn when my neighbor and his oldest son stopped by. His son, a football player at one of the powerhouse local high schools, had grown nearly an inch over the summer and weighed more than 200 pounds. He was already in practice for the upcoming season. He asked if I had time to speak to a friend of his who also played football and had suffered a concussion the previous season. They were asking me in my capacity as a neurosurgeon, but also in desperation, as this young man was still having tremendous difficulty nearly a year after his injury. Most of the patients I see in the hospital visit me at the time of their injury, and I hardly ever get to see the longer term impact of a severe concussion on an otherwise healthy young person. What he shared with me was stunning, and also formed the basis of the year long project, "Big Hits, Broken Dreams ." This young, physically robust, handsome man couldn’t remember the details of the hit in a mid-season practice that led to his concussion, but he was able to describe in awful detail how much his life had changed since. Once a nearly 4.0 student, his grades had dropped to “mainly Cs,” he told me. His memory was affected, and even during our discussion I could tell that his ability to retrieve words spontaneously had been impacted. “The headaches are the worst,” he said, and no one had been able to help him. Doctors had recommended everything from hyperbaric therapy to cervical spine surgery, as well as a laundry list of medications. In short, there were no good answers or solutions. “Tincture of time,” was the common refrain he heard, and with post concussive syndrome or PCS – most times that is all medicine can legitimately offer. Near the end of our conversation, the dad in me came out as I asked him: “Do you have any regrets about playing football?” He didn’t hesitate. “Not at all,” he quickly answered. If baseball is our national pastime, then football is our national passion. And, I love football as much as anyone. Over the last year, however, I have learned there are ways to play football more safely, and still have football be… football. There are ways to play football more safely, and still win. Whether it is the mandatory presence of athletic trainers who can diagnose concussions and are empowered to sit a player out, or it is fewer practices with full gear and repeated drills involving hits to the head – there are so many simple things that can be done to preserve the game, and the men who play it. The young man in my backyard was just a teenager, but based on national statistics had been averaging 650 hits to his head every season he had been playing football. Fortunately, none of them led to the most catastrophic outcome of death, usually due to second impact syndrome – a second concussion before the brain had healed from the first. Unfortunately, however, he was neurologically impacted, and there was no end of his misery in sight. I offered as much advice as I could, but also promised to tell the story of players like him, and the latest science to try to reduce these tragic situations. If you are a player, a parent or a participant in the fanfare of football, I hope you get a chance to see "Big Hits, Broken Dreams." Filed under: Brain , Concussion , Dr. Sanjay Gupta , Mental Health , Traumatic brain injury Tagged: Dr. Sanjay Gupta – CNN Chief Medical Correspondent

Maintaining a workout routine can be mostly about having the motivation to get up and get out. Even so, you should also have a plan for what you should watch out for while you’re sweating. To get the most of your workout, make sure that you’re monitoring these stats while you exercise. Heat rate: You should monitor your heart rate so that you are reaching your cardio goals, such as the right level of intensity in your workouts. It also helps to know what your max heart rate is so that you don’t continuously overwork yourself – you should normally be working out at 60 to 90 percent of your heart rate unless you are sprinting or otherwise doing interval training. If you don’t want to invest in a heart rate monitor, you’ll have to do the math to find out your heart rate manually. Just make sure you’re using the newer formula for determining your maximum heart rate; the old school “220 minus your age” formula isn’t optimized for women. Learn how to calculate your maximum heart rate more accurately . Read on for more stats you should be monitoring with every workout.

Lisa asks… How do you deal with anxiety and panic attacks during pregnancy? What is the best way to deal with anxiety and panic attacks ,especially during pregnancy ? Jonjune answers: Quit whining and take your Midol Scott! Ken asks… Is it normal to have panic attacks during pregnancy? i’m 17 weeks and i had a panic attacks before a got pregnancy before but this time it was different. i was dizzy to the point of falling out. Jonjune answers: Negative emotions (like sadness, stress, anger, etc.) causes your Serotonin production to be low; when your Serotonin level is low, you are more prone to getting Anxiety, Panic Attacks, Depression, etc. Medication like Antidepressants (SSRI – Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor) helps to boost Serotonin level. But there are natural ways to do it without medication. There’s this strange herb called “St John’s Wort” – it is said to be more effective than Prozac. No, it is not for mild depression only and ignore those sayings. In fact, it does help anxiety and panic-attacks as St John’s Wort works like prozac. Other natural ways will be exercise, diet, more exposure to light, etc. The problem is that, even if your Serotonin is balanced… You have that “learned behavior” in your mind. You need to break that initial cycle to destroy that learned behavior – Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) does this. A technique that you can use without CBT will be Distraction… There are several other techniques to help cope them! Ok, to use Distraction: Firstly, try to…. Extracted from Source. Maria asks… Are panic attacks during pregnancy harmful to the baby? I am wondering if the rapid heart rate that can accompany a panic attack is harmful to the baby during pregnancy ? Jonjune answers: Possibly. You should avoid anything that would put any additional stress on the fetus. Sharon asks… what to do about panic attacks during pregnancy? To put a long story short… I’m 20 weeks pregnant, keep having panic attacks and just want relief! I’d like to know how to prevent them, but the problem with that is that I’m not sure what triggers them! They pretty much come out of no where. I don’t think I’ve met anyone else that has random panic attacks , is this common? I’ve had anxiety/ panic disorder for about five years, so it’s nothing new. Anyone else have this problem? How did you deal? Jonjune answers: I’ve also just begun learning how to deal with my random panic attacks! I’ve been having them for about 8 years or so, and I always thought it was a social anxiety disorder, but I just started getting them randomly for no reason about 2 years ago. Just recently started using breathing techniques, and convincing myself that there isn’t anything wrong, talking to someone/getting your mind off it. First thing I do is close my eyes, and take deep, relaxing breaths and then I get up an walk around, or take a nice walk outside, or talk to someone if there is anybody around. The best thing is to just not think about it, and it will generally go away. Also, the chocolate and caffeine thing is also a smart idea. Excess sugar and caffeine in your diet can trigger them. I’ve had them a lot less episodes since I stopped eating chocolate and drinking pop/consuming simple sugars. Also, I know if your blood sugar has spiked, or fallen quickly in a short period of time, sometime that can cause your body to go into fight or flight mode. Good luck with your situation, you just gotta figure out what works for you! Laura asks… Did any of you develop panic attacks during pregnancy? If so, how did you get them to stop? I can’t control my hormones this pregnancy . They are out of whack big time. The smallest annoyance can send me into a huge panic attack where I can barely breathe. Today I could swear it caused a few contractions. I’m just over 18 weeks along. I never experienced this with my pregnancies for my 3 boys. I plan on bringing it up at my midwife appointment next week, but I thought I’d ask on here to see if anyone else has gone or is going through the same thing. Jonjune answers: Yes, I have them now that I’m pregnant and they are annoying and scary! I know EXACTLY how you feel… Though this is my first pregnancy… All I can suggest to you is what I do – I just sit down, drink some water, try to breath calmly through it and rub my belly. I do this where ever I am at the time… Good luck to you!! Xx Powered by Yahoo! Answers Related Blogs

Start your day off with this smoothie recipe from FitSugar reader AllieNic , who shared it in our Healthy Recipe group . The sun is out; the breeze is warm - it’s definitely Summer out there! My favorite breakfast on a warm Summer morning is a nice, brain-freeze-inducing smoothie packed with spinach and berries. There’s just something about getting a green veggie in the a.m. that makes my day 100 percent better! Summer Solstice Smoothie Ingredients: 2 handfuls of raw spinach 1/2 cup frozen blackberries 1/2 cup frozen raspberries 1/2 frozen banana 1-2 cups So Delicious unsweetened coconut milk Check out the rest of this post on my healthy living blog, Frisky Lemon Nutrition Have a great recipe to share? Don’t forget to post it in our Healthy Recipe group . It might end up on the FitSugar home page.

In case you aren’t already in love with strawberries, I have some reasons to get the love fest with this berry started! They are a low-calorie food loaded like a billionaire with antioxidants known as phenols . Phenols not only give strawberries their irresistible red color, but they also fill this berry with heart-protective, anti-cancer, and anti-inflammatory properties. A veritable trifecta of benefits. Strawberry season is here; so the cost of a pint should be falling and they should be abundant at your local farmers market. You want to load up on strawberries because they are loaded with vitamin C. One cup of strawberries provides well over 125 percent of the daily RDI of vitamin C, and having high amounts of vitamin C in your blood results in burning more fat. You might recall that organic fruits contain more vitamin C than conventional, so I think it is well worth it to splurge a bit on organic berries. Another reason to go organic with these strawberries is they have one of the highest amounts of pesticide residue when compared with other produce. You can make some lovely strawberry muffins or mix the berry with balsamic vinegar for a new taste sensation. My favorite way to eat them, however, is straight up – not sliced, no extra sugar, no cream, I just pop them straight into my mouth – after giving them a good rinse of course. Source: Flickr User Manchester Monkey

Simply put, a mammogram is an X-ray picture of a woman’s breast or breasts, that are used to check for the presence of cancer or other abnormality. While a mammogram can help by detecting breast cancer early on and helping to initiate treatment earlier and more effectively, and studies have shown that mammograms may help reduce the numbers of deaths from breast cancer among women over 50, an abnormal mammogram can be a scary and alarming thing. So what does an abnormal mammogram mean? This means that some calcifications and small specks are detected in the breast tissue. It could also mean that cysts (fluid filled sac) or other irregular growths and lumps or even tumors have been detected in the breast tissue. However every abnormal mammogram does not indicate cancer and neither is it necessarily any cause for worry. If a woman has undergone a mammogram and there has been some irregularity or abnormality detected, then it means that further investigation is needed. Even if a woman find that she has had an abnormal mammogram, this is not automatically cause for concern – it is important to remember that 80% of all breast abnormalities are actually not cancerous . An abnormal mammogram could mean one of several things – it could mean calcifications caused by milk ducts that were dilated, it could be the presence of a benign cyst, or the remnants of an injury that shows up as scar tissue. Even vigorous exercise, which can cause indirect trauma to the breast, and not wearing the right kind of bra during exercise, that can damage breast tissue, can result in a mammogram that is not fully normal. Infection, aging and inflammation could also result in abnormal mammograms . What happens after an abnormal mammogram? Something has been detected in a mammogram that indicates that there could be a problem; not that there is a problem. So the next step after anything untoward is detected in a mammogram is to find out more about it – what was detected in the mammogram and what does it mean. A biopsy is usually the next step after a mammogram. This involves the taking of a sample from the tissue of the breast that appears to be affected. The nature of the tissue has to be examined to determine whether there is any cancerous presence there. A biopsy is not necessarily a surgical procedure that involves sedation, incisions, scarring and possible bleeding; in recent times image guided biopsies are also possible that are minimally invasive and which take very little recovery time. Image guided biopsies use MRI and ultrasound to create an image and using a core needle a vacuum assisted biopsy is done. The needle penetrates minimally and there are no stitches or scarring. In recent times mammograms have come in for a lot of censure since abnormal mammograms can throw up false positives , which can have very significant negative psychological impact on women. Abnormality detected in a mammogram is known to be stressful and may cause depressive symptoms and anxiety.

Researchers have discovered that more than just viruses and germs can be transmitted through the mouth -  cavities can be added to this list , yes . . . cavities. According to Dr. Margaret Mitchell, the cavity-causing bacteria is commonly transferred between caregivers and children because a mother will taste her child’s food to see if it’s too hot, therefore directly exposing her child to the germs in her saliva. Dr. Mitchell also discusses an instance where a woman had started developing cavities and gum disease after starting to date a man who had gum disease and hadn’t been to a dentist in over 18 years. Her remedy? You don’t have to go cold turkey on kissing - phew – but what you do have to do is make sure you maintain your oral health by flossing and brushing regularly and chewing sugar-free gum, which helps produce more saliva and wash away bacteria. And for all the parents out there, I suggest blowing on your child’s food rather than tasting it; that way you’ll decrease the amount of bacteria transferred.

With swimsuit season right around the corner, what better time to step up your fitness routine? If you need a little extra motivation, we want to help. PopSugar City and FitSugar are giving away a fabulous Spring Into Fitness package , which includes a one-year membership at Equinox and $500 worth of Zella athletic apparel. Equinox’s swanky digs and endless fitness options are sure to make trips to the gym all the more exciting. And a pair of Zella’s Live-In leggings and a Radiance Racerback Tank make the perfect wardrobe for Equinox’s famed Yoga Power Hour class. All you have to do to enter is sign up for PopSugar City – the ultimate source for the best places to eat, drink, shop, work out, and more in your neck of the woods – between now and March 31. Seriously, that’s it. Good luck!