Moms-to-be, listen up.  Prenatal yoga is not only good for your health – new research suggests it’s also good for your baby’s heart.

A new study indicates that exercising during pregnancy might be the earliest intervention strategy there is for mother to improve their child’s heart health after birth.

“It is my hope that these findings will show that efforts focused on improving health need to start during pregnancy rather than in childhood,” said Linda May, an exercise physiologist and anatomist at Kansas City University of Medicine and Biosciences who has led a series of studies on fetal heart development for the past four years, in a press release. “Most of the focus today is on school-age children, but interventions should be focused long before that.”

A pilot study in 2008 found that pregnant women who exercised at least 30 minutes three times a week had fetuses with lower heart rates during the final weeks of development.

Now, the team has found that the fetuses’ healthy heart rate is maintained one month after pregnancy, which they say indicates that the mothers’ efforts to exercise have lasting effects.

The study involved 61 expectant mothers and monitored maternal-fetal and infant heart function four separate times. The mothers’ aerobic activity ranged from power walking to running. Some participants also lifted weights and practiced yoga.

“Not only did the mothers’ exercise help maintain and improve their own health, but it set their babies up for a healthier start,” May said.

*Pregnant women should consult their doctors before starting any exercise regimen.

One recent survey of Americans on body image found that more than half of all men and women would rather lose their job than gain an extra seventy-five pounds. And nearly 20 percent of the population would give up, or consider giving up, 20 IQ points to have the perfect body.

Obviously, weight and the way we are perceived is an important factor in our daily lives. It’s not surprising then that dieting is on the minds of so many people these days, particularly as people get on in their forties, when the metabolism begins to slow and the pounds begin to add up. So which diet is best? I’ll tell you.

First, let’s look at some of the big blockbuster diets that have appeared over the past decade or so—the South Beach Diet, the Atkins Diet, the Mediterranean Diet, and so on. Each one of these diets has simply incorporated a different method of teaching you about nutrition in order to get you to lose weight. Each one gives you something to focus on, a behavior to motivate you, which is great because, after all, to lose weight you have to change your thinking.

But if you look at the fundamentals, the underlying theme of each diet is calories. Whether you do Atkins, South Beach, or Dr. Phil, it’s really all about calories.

When reviewed carefully, most diets are really nothing more than low-calorie nutrition plans disguised by clever marketing gimmicks. Scientific-sounding “facts” and hocus-pocus “research” are just ornaments on the diet tree. Diet-plan marketers go to great lengths to explain how their diet can work for everyone, or claim that it is carbohydrate intake or fat intake—or whatever the bad intake of the day is—that’s the culprit.

However, the bottom line is that the only way to lose weight is to have a caloric deficit, which occurs only when you burn more calories than you consume.

The average American today consumes 300 more calories per day today than did the average American of 30 years ago. Today’s average American also burns 260 fewer calories each day due to increased automation, technology, and sedentary occupations. Put those numbers together, and it becomes rather obvious why America’s waistline is growing at an alarming rate.

Check Your BMI

The BMI can tell you if you are underweight, normal, overweight, or obese. Adults 20 years old and older can calculate their BMI with this formula:

BMI = your weight/pds divided by height/in x height/in x 703

You are UNDERWEIGHT, if your BMI is below 18.5.

You are of NORMAL WEIGHT, if your BMI is between 18.5 and 24.9.

You are OVERWEIGHT, if your BMI is between 25.0 and 29.9.

You are OBESE, if your BMI is 30.0 or more.

So here is Dr. Manny’s Freedom Diet. If you really want to lose weight, you have to do two things: eat fewer calories and burn more calories. This is not an optional “either/or” plan but an “and” plan. Of course, the calories you eat should be healthy calories. That’s all. Eat less. Exercise more. It really is that simple.

Fight obesity. Spread the word.

Exercise

People spend an enormous amount of time trying to find the perfect exercise, and while they’re doing that, their clock is ticking. Any physical activity is great, though the best kinds of exercise for you are those like walking, swimming, running, hiking, and skiing—all of which have a “global” impact on your body and mind.

Most important, you should stick to the exercise of your choice and do it regularly. If you adhere to those two principles, you’re going to burn calories, feel better, improve your metabolism, and benefit your health.

Any activity you do during the day—from climbing stairs, to housecleaning, to watching TV—will, of course, burn calories. But those activities don’t provide the necessary continuity, and I think the essence of getting into shape and having a good metabolism has to do with a continuity of exercise.

In other words, it’s better to burn 120 calories a day, seven days a week, doing your favorite exercise, for example, than to burn 800 calories doing the housework once a week. It’s the exercise regimen that has an impact on your health, not necessarily the intensity.

Burn, Baby, Burn

Estimated number of calories burned per minute based on an individual weighing about 150 pounds:

Sitting: 1

Talking on phone: 1

Sleeping: 1

Driving: 2

Housework: 3

Cooking: 3

Washing dishes: 3

Stretching: 4

Sex (active): 5

Walking (3 mph): 5

Calisthenics (moderate): 5

Ballroom dancing (fast): 6

Gardening: 6

Swimming (moderate): 7

Aerobics (low impact): 7

Hiking: 7

Jogging: 8

Stair step machine: 8

Bicycling (12 to 14 mph): 10

Basketball (full court): 12

Running (10 mph): 20

To easily calculate how many calories you burn in a day, go to www.healthstatus.com and click on “Calculators” then “Calories Burned.”

It is also very important to drink adequate amounts of fluid when you exercise. You need to drink about a half cup of water for every fifteen minutes of vigorous exercise. People think that muscle cramps during exercise are caused by a shortage of electrolytes, but that’s not true. You get muscle cramps because of water loss and dehydration. Drink that water!

Forget the personal trainer.  Your dog can give you a workout for free.

Several studies, including a recently published one from the University of Michigan, show that dogs can act as powerful motivators to get people moving, the New York Times reported.

Dog owners are both more likely to take regular walks and be more active overall compared to people who do not have dogs, according to researchers.  Some studies even indicate that dogs are better than humans as walking companions, so far as motivation is concerned.

Michigan State University researchers surveyed the habits of 5,900 people, including 2,170 dog owners, and found that two-thirds of the dog owners took their dogs for regular walks.

Of those who took their dogs for regular walks, 60 percent met federal criteria for moderate or vigorous exercise and nearly half exercised an average of 30 minutes a day at least five days a walk.

Meanwhile, only a third of people without dogs got that much regular exercise.

Dog owners were also more likely to take part in other leisure-time physical activities such as sports and gardening.  On average, dog owners exercised 30 minutes more than people without dogs.

However, owning a dog did not guarantee physical activity.  The owners in the study who did not regularly walk their dogs reported less exercise than dog walkers and people who did not own dogs.

Click here to read more from the New York Times.