A regular stretching program will loosen muscle tissue, allowing an increased range of motion at joints, which in turn helps prevent microtears at muscle-tendon junction. Almost 90% of all injuries from muscle strain occur at muscle-tendon junction (that is, where muscle attaches to bone near joints) and repeated injury at this junction leads to a build up of scar tissue which impedes your range of motion, adding stress on joints. The sooner waste products from exercise (lactic acid) are removed from muscle tissue, sooner muscle begins to heal. Stretching not only speeds removal of waste but increases muscle's ability to bring in more nutrients. Keeping muscles and tendons loose results in an increased range of motion, which helps to maintain integrity of joints.

How will I benefit from stretching? Stretching lengthens muscle fibers, extending your range of motion and helping you move with ease, power, and grace. Besides being extremely relaxing, it can relieve some symptoms of conditions such as arthritis. At work, regular stretch breaks help counteract harmful effects of slouching in front of a computer all day. And keeping muscles pliable makes them less likely to tear during quick or strenuous movements, such as throwing a baseball or lifting a child.

So, benefits of regular stretching include:

- Decreased risk of injury of exercise - Increased range of motion and overall flexibility - Increased rate of recovery from exercise - Increase in strength (studies have shown that after a muscle has been stretched it recruits more fibers to perform a given task) - Faster removal of waste products

How does stretching work? Muscles get sore when their fibers remain partly contracted, from either overuse (such as too many rounds of racquetball) or underuse (too much time in car). Tight muscles also trigger body's stress response, which prompts them to tighten even more. By systematically lengthening those fibers, stretching helps ease muscles out of this semicontracted state. That makes it a great way to "cool down" after exercise. And act of stretching itself builds body awareness: In slowing down to focus on each movement, you become less apt to use your muscles in harmful or inefficient ways.

1.) Processed soy (actually, ANYTHING processed) is indeed bad. But, why soy? Three reasons: (a) contains chemicals that 'pull down' thyroid (leads to hypothyroidism); (b) contains phyto-estrogens that block important minerals like Zinc and Magnesium from being absorbed into body (2 VERY important minerals especially for women since having a deficiency in either one can cause numerous problems due to an estrogen/progesterone imbalance); and (c) does not contain essential amino acids. Soy products are commonly linked to weight gain and other hormone imbalances for these very reasons. It's also among top allergens in this country, (the other top allergens include wheat, corn, dairy, chocolate, eggs, shellfish, and citrus). Many people have food allergies to soy and don't even know it.

2.) Zeno-estrogens (environmental estrogens commonly found in heating plastics and pesticides) are very bad. Why? They create an estrogen imbalance which leads to too many problems to list here. The scariest include: female puberty beginning at ages 7 or 8 (or earlier), irregular menstrual cycle, impaired liver function, fatigue, depression, weight gain, water retention, headaches, loss of sex drive, mood swings, inability to handle stress, irritability, low metabolism, symptoms of hypothyroidism (with even normal T3 and T4 levels), unstable blood sugar, cravings for caffeine, sweets, and carbs. And that's just scraping surface.

3.) Excess Caffeine. Why? Leads to decreases in bone density, unstable blood sugar levels, causes hypocalmus to produce higher levels of cortisol (the 'stress hormone' which leads to A LOT of other issues), adversely affects hypothalmus's ability to stimulate thyroid, and causes us to ignore healthy sleep patterns which also leads to hypocalmus producing higher levels of cortisol. Excessive levels of caffeine have also been noted for bringing on more severe PMS.

4.) Zinc deficiencies and copper toxicity is common and leads to severe mood swings. The body needs 8 times more zinc than copper, however, most of us have exact opposite in our body due to high amounts of copper found in our environment (pesticides, pipes, chemicals in pool water, etc.) and low levels of zinc in our diets.

5.) Mg deficiencies lead to carb carvings. Most women are Mg deficient, which is why a lot of women crave carbs, particularly around menses (sweets to be exact).

6.) Women are most likely to gain weight late in their menses, since their metabolic rate jumps during luteal phase and body wants more energy (i.e. women eat more food later in their cycle). Also, body becomes more deficient in Mg and Iron due to blood lost (for why that's bad, see #5 above).

7.) Aspartame destroys cells in hypothalmus (and that's bad because it's hypothalmus that's responsible for controlling hunger). So, avoid artificial sweeteners or artificial anything, as they cause numerous problems for body.

Female hormones can influence weight management tremendously. Imbalances between estrogen and progesterone causes numerous challenges: 1. Estrogen dominance leads to sodium retention, leading to water retention, particularly in week prior to onset of menses, and in menopausal women this can be an issue throughout monthly cycle.

2. Loss of magnesium week prior to onset of menses often leads to carb cravings (particularly chocolate and/or other sweet cravings) and mood disorder.

3. Loss of iron during week of menses often leads to cravings for other foods.

4. Increased fat deposition can be due to influence of LPL enzyme, an enzyme triggered by estrogen dominance.

5. Estrogen dominance causes weight gain in hips and thigh area (the 'pear-shaped' women).

6. PMS influences weight gain --