By Bonnie Huang Translated by Yvonne Chen

      With the arrival of a brand new year, there's no better time consider creating a brand new, in-shape you for the year of the monkey. Read on for some tried-and-true weight-loss and dieting advice that will help you look and feel great. It will definitely take a bit of sweat and watching what you eat, but the end results are well worth it.
Great ways to exercise Recently, a new indicator, the "body activity pyramid", has become available to help us assess the activity levels of our bodies while, at the same time, offering people not accustomed to exercising a great way to begin regular exercise. Based on the body activity indicator (a 20-minute exercise performed three times a week) proposed by the sports physiologists at American universities, this pyramid is an extended application of the FIT formula. It divides body activities into four levels:
Level 1: Routine activities, including everyday activities like substituting walking for driving, taking the stairs, and housekeeping work.
Level 2: Aerobic or leisure exercises, including less-frequent activities that promote elevated heart rate. This achieves the same health benefits as in Level 1. Common Level 2 exercises include aerobic workouts, weight training, basketball, tennis, cycling and volleyball.
Level 3: Flexibility and muscle training exercises, which include stretching. Repetitive stretches can develop the motion range of specific joints with a focus on muscle endurance.
Level 4: Cease exercising. This level stresses the importance of rest. After exercising, everyone must rest.
Before exercising, one must also choose an activity level of suitable intensity and length of time. First, one's sustainable maximum heart rate (MHR) must be calculated: MHR=220 minus your age. Multiplying the MHR value by 0.6 is the minimum heart rate requirement; the maximum heart rate requirement is obtained by multiplying the MHR value by 0.8. An exercise that results in a heart rate within this range produces the highest exercise efficiency without overloading the heart.

      To measure if you are exercising at the right intensity and amount of time, it is best to measure your heartbeat while you are exercising. Wear a watch with a seconds counter and take a pulse count every 5-10 minutes of exercise. While measuring the pulse count during a vigorous exercise, do not come to a full stop; instead, switch to a milder walk, then place your forefinger and middle finger on your neck artery and count the number of beats per 10 seconds. Multiply that number by six and you will get your pulse count. If that number is below or above the recommend range, adjust your intensity to within the suggested range. Please be sure to do one to two minutes of cool-down exercises at the end to allow your heart rate to return to normal.

      The greater Taipei area houses many fitness clubs, each with different fitness courses targeted at different exercise groups, plus professional staff to advise you on your workouts. With the concept of "dance-form" exercises and "exercise-form" dances and a focus on healthy female figures, JiaChi (02-2773-0646) is also actively promoting its aerobics-engineering concept. Currently, there are 21 JiaChi gyms in the greater Taipei area.
Presently, there are 15 Alexander Gym (02-5558-8888) locations in the greater Taipei area. Their exercise space and facilities are designed with a sense of metropolitan chic. In the future, the gym plans to bring in even more advanced exercise gear and equipment.

      The renowned professional fitness center, California Fitness (http://www.californiafitness.com), offers members million-dollar cardiovascular training equipment and resistance training equipment, plus the latest and the most professional courses taught by a world-class aerobics team. Currently, there are three locations in the greater Taipei area.

Chinese-style weight loss

      Acupuncture is a national treasure of China. Through studies by acupuncture specialists, the method of combining ear needles with body needles is used to treat patients with obesity. Acupuncture, on the one hand, suppresses appetite to reduce food consumption and, at the same time, suppresses intestinal absorption to reduce the intake and storage of energy. On the other hand, acupuncture also enhances metabolism to increase energy consumption and promote body fat movement and degradation.

      Appropriate Chinese herbs can also be used in conjunction with such methods. "Yin" body type dieters should consume kidney-nourishing herbs such as aconiti lateralis, dried gineger, and ephedra. "Yang" body types should use heat reducing and detoxifying herbs such as rhubarb, coptis japonica, herba junci setchuensis, and dandelion. Chinese medicine also offers liquid medicines such as the ledebouriella prescription, bupleurum soup, and hawthorn roselle slimming tea, which are medicinal diet soups prepared by Chinese medicine specialists. With perseverance, a loss of two to three kilograms can be achieved in about a month.

Here are two such medicinal diet soups for interested readers to try:

      Hearty flowery knotweed tea Ingredients: 3/10 tael of flowery knotweed, 3/10 tael of hawthorn, 3/10 tael of semen cassiae, 5/10 tael of pearl barley, 2/10 tael of raw licorice, and small amount of rock sugar
Instructions: Soak all the ingredients for 30 minutes, bring to a boil, reduce to a small flame and simmer for an hour.
Hawthorn roselle slimming tea Ingredients: 1/10 tael of hawthorn, two roselle flowers, five chrysanthemum flowers, a teaspoon of Pu-er tea leaves, and two teaspoons of rock sugar.

Instructions: Quickly rinse all the ingredients, except for the chrysanthemum, with water and then dry; place hawthorn, roselle flowers and tea leaves into a tea pot. Add boiling water and then rock sugar to mix; when a fragrance is emitted, sprinkle with the chrysanthemum flowers and serve. For more diet soups, consult with Chinese medicine specialist Huang Yen-Chih at Shiang-De Chinese Medicine Clinic (02-8941-1568).

After hearing about these weight-loss exercises, diets and tips, are you tempted? Now is the time to act, so take the initiative and make this a slim, healthy and invigorating year.