Showing posts with label healthy lifestyle. Show all posts
Showing posts with label healthy lifestyle. Show all posts

Monday, July 9, 2012

How to lose 5 to 10 pounds in less than 14 days.

Follow three simple rules for 14 days, YOU will feel great and lose those unwanted pounds.  Get ready to FEEL amazing!

1. Don't eat white bread, pasta, sugar, white rice, tortilla's and most milk products. 

2. Don't eat anything with the word wheat in the ingredients list. Even if it's whole wheat, absolutely no Wheat Products ZERO, ZIP!  It's only 14 days you can do this.

3.  Only drink water, and herbal teas without sugar or dairy products added. You create a total imbalance in your body when you use these empty calories.
Stop Drinking Soda Pop and unhealthy energy drinks!
You know that soda pop isn't good for you...and yet you still drink it. I understand that plain water gets boring – especially when you're having a party or gathering.


Use the recipes for "Spa Water" below and quickly turn plain water into an exciting and refreshing treat without added sugar or chemicals:
  • Citrus: Slice an orange, lemon, and lime into a large pitcher of water. Add ice, allow to chill for 1 hour before serving.
  • Raspberry Lime: Slice a lime into a large pitcher of water, add a handful of raspberries. Add ice, allow to chill for 1 hour before serving.
  • Strawberry Basil: Slice 10 strawberries into a large pitcher of water, add 5 leaves of basil. Add ice, allow to chill for 1 hour before serving.
  • Watermelon Rosemary: Place 1/2 cup of small watermelon chunks into a large pitcher of water, add two sprigs of rosemary. Add ice, allow to chill for 1 hour before serving.
  • Pineapple Mint: Place 1/2 cup of small pineapple chunks into a large pitcher of water, add 15 mint leaves. Add ice, allow to chill for 1 hour before serving. 
Guilt-Free Strawberry Ice Cream
Here's a recipe that allows you to indulge in something sweet, cold and creamy without the sugar rush. Non-fat Greek yogurt is packed with protein, which makes this delicious snack even more beneficial. Feel free to add Stevia In The Raw to increase the sweetness as described below.
Servings: 4

Here's what you need...
  • 20 organic strawberries
  • 2 cups non fat Greek yogurt
  • optional *1/4 cup Stevia In The Raw*
  1. Wash and hull the strawberries. Mix in a blender until smooth.
  2. Add yogurt (and Stevia In The Raw, if using) and blend well.
  3. Pour into an ice cream maker and run until yogurt is frozen and creamy.
Nutritional Analysis: One serving equals: 87 calories, 0g fat, 53mg sodium, 9g carbohydrate, 1g fiber, and 13g protein. 
Saying “Sugar is bad for you” is an understatement.


Sugar is considered empty calories because it doesn't have any vitamins and minerals. It is no wonder you feel so sluggish and heavy all the time when this lifeless ingredient is found in so many of the foods you eat.

Sugar is rapidly converted in the blood to fat (triglycerides), which increase obesity, risk of heart disease, and diabetes. Sugar greatly increases the risk of dental decay. It is devoid of vitamins, minerals, or fibre; it is an empty food.

Here's what happens to your body when you eat sugar:  First the body goes into a "sugar shock" spiking insulin levels and creating a brief energy rush. After the body recovers from the shock, it starts working furiously to recover its internal balance by the raiding of vital nutrients in order to process sugar. This can lead to our bodies becoming acidic. In other words... sugar can alter our entire blood chemistry research shows that just two teaspoons of sugar can throw off your chemical balance.


Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Stress Can Cause Weight Gain & Effect Your Health Here's How.




Today’s life is faster than ever, filled with constant change, uncertainty and stress.





Because of the constant demands placed on us at work, at home, or we may really be in danger, our bodies respond like we're about to be harmed and need to fight for our lives. Our bodies respond to this need with a burst of energy, shifts in our metabolism, blood flow, and other changes.


STRESS not only affects your weight, but your health.



The stress hormone called cortisol is one of the reasons. While under stress, the fight or flight response is triggered in our bodies, leading to the release of various hormones.




We've known for a long time that depression and chronic pain are closely related in many ways. Both conditions share some of the same underlying biochemistry (related to stress hormones such as cortisol and inflammatory compounds such as cytokines) and people with depression tend to experience more episodes of chronic pain (and vice versa). Indeed, physical pain can undoubtedly make psychological pain (depression) worse - likely due to the finding that inflammation is known to worsen and perhaps evencause depression in many people. You might find it interesting to know that cytokines (inflammatory hormone-like chemicals produced in the body)



Conventional wisdom would suggest that controlling depression might also help to control pain - and that reducing pain would help to alleviate depression. However, the research findings in the PNAS article suggest that painkiller drugs may actually interfere with the activity of antidepressant drugs - potentially making depression worse.



4 ways Chronic stress can raise cortisol levels which contribute to weight gain and effect your health are:

Metabolism -- Too much cortisol can slow your metabolism, causing more weight gain than you would normally experience. This also makes dieting more difficult.

Blood Sugar -- Prolonged stress can alter your blood sugar levels, causing mood swings, fatigue, and conditions like hyperglycemia. Too much stress has even been linked to metabolic syndrome, a cluster of health concerns that can lead to greater health problems, like heart attacks and diabetes.

Fat Storage -- Excessive stress even affects where we tend to store fat. Higher levels of stress are linked to greater levels of abdominal fat. Unfortunately, abdominal fat is not only aesthetically undesirable, it’s linked with greater health risks than fat stored in other areas of the body.

If you remain in the state of chronic stress for a long period of time your health becomes at risk. One being high blood pressure, a potentially dangerous health condition.
“Stress can actually cause weight gain, particularly around the tummy,” Why? Because physical and emotional stress activates the release of cortisol, a steroid that slows metabolism


When your body is under the stress response, your cortisol and insulin levels raise. These two hormones tend to track each other, and when your cortisol is consistently elevated under a chronic low-level stress response, you’ll likely notice that you have difficulty losing weight or building muscle.


Food Cravings -- People experiencing chronic stress tend to crave more fatty, salty and sugary foods. This includes sweets, processed food and other things that aren’t as good for you. These foods are typically less healthy and lead to increased weight gain.

Other Ways Stress and Weight Gain are connected.

Emotional Eating – Not only can increased levels of cortisol make you crave unhealthy food, but excess nervous energy can often cause you to eat more than you normally would. Have you ever found yourself scouring the kitchen for a snack, or absently munching on junk food when you’re stressed, but not really hungry?

Fast Food -- One of the big reasons we’re seeing more obesity in our society today is that people are too stressed and busy to make healthy dinners at home, often opting to get fast food a the nearest drive-thru instead.

Too Busy to Exercise -- With all the demands on your schedule, exercise may be one of the last things on your to-do list. If so, you’re not alone. Americans live a more sedentary lifestyle than we have in past generations, yet our minds seem to be racing from everything we have to do. Unfortunately, from sitting in traffic, clocking hours at our desks, and plopping in front of the TV in exhaustion at the end of the day, exercise often goes by the wayside.

Today’s so-called solutions including prescription drugs, energy drinks, coffee, etc. aren’t combating the problem, they’re compounding the problem.
Fortunately, there are things you can do to reverse the pattern of weight gain and actually reduce your stress level and waistline at the same time. I recommend you take a yoga class 3 times a week, meditation on a regular basis and lots of good deep breathing.

A natural solution without side effects, Eleviv is NOT A DRUG
Learn more about Eleviv click here.

Eleviv is a combination of 4 herbs that work synergistically together to bring your body back into balance. Not a false energy, like many energy drinks or stimulants Under Stress Your Cortisol and Insulin Levels Raise.

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

3 things to include in your fitness to Slow Down the Aging Process.


You can't stop yourself from growing old,
but you can keep your body in great shape as you get older!


Studies have now proven that the natural aging process can be slowed and even reversed under the right conditions. 




People between the ages of 30 and 70 with many of the symptoms; conditions that were traditionally associated with normal aging are in fact the result of sedentary lifestyles.  

Our life expectancy in this day and age is much longer.  50 is the new 30, and while you may be eligible for some senior citizen discounts, you don't have to think of this stage of your life as the beginning of the end.



Researchers at Harvard Medical School have finally proven that when you are over the age of 50 you can continue to exercise with great benefits to your health.  In fact, many of the effects of aging can be slowed down through a good exercise program and balanced diet taken in combination.   



1.  Cardiovascular exercises:  take a brisk walk in the park, go swimming, dancing, jogging, recumbent bicycles  and even a few jumping jacks.  Try a fun dance class, Zumba is so popular and burns lots of calories.



2.  Strength exercises:   are an effective way to build muscle mass and maintain your body’s weight. Did you know that there are roughly 300,000 cases of broken hip bones due to elderly people losing their balance and falling over? 




Doing a few balance exercises can help to strengthen those muscles responsible for supporting you body and keeping you mobile.  It’s important that you work with a professional that can help you to put together a strength training program designed for you.

3.       Stretching and flexibility exercises are needed to keep your joints working smoothly and stop them from ceasing up. These particular exercises help to increase the amount of movements that your body can perform. Warming up the muscles and joints should be done before any workout to prevent injury and decrease the amount of pain you feel in your muscles.







It’s important along with exercise to have a Healthy Diet.  What you are putting into your body has a great effect on your health.   Many people believe that they don’t need to eat healthy or watch their diet because they don’t need to lose weight. This couldn’t be further from the truth! 
You should put only the best foods in your mouth no matter how much you weigh, what size you wear, or how fit you look.

Gaining muscle fast cannot be achieved if you continue to lift the same weights each workout.


91-year-old bodybuilder Charles Eugster is proof we can continue to be healthy and strong into our 90’s and it doesn’t end there.



At 85 Charles had a crisis. He looked at himself in the mirror, and saw an old man who was overweight, his posture was terrible and there was skin hanging off of him.  Charles said “I looked like a wreck’ Read Charles inspirational story here:


You can read Charles entire story by clicking here.





If you are starting an exercise program, I recommend you consult your doctor first to make sure you are of sound body. This is especially true for seniors who may have weaker bodies. When exercising, start out slow and gradually build up to a long and more intense workout as you gain strength. If you have pre-existing medical conditions, you should definitely make your personal physician aware of you decision to start working out.

"It's never too late to begin"  here's another great article about  Charles Eugster 90-year-old bodybuilder  by Hugh Esling a fitness professional he shares more tips on senior fitness  http://he123.solobis.net/yes-sir-charles-eugster-90-year-old-bodybuilder

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Why Starvation and Yo Yo Dieting Doesn't Work!

STOP STARVATION AND YO YO DIETING
Here's why:
The body reacts to weight loss as if it were starving, in response, slows our metabolism.
When your metabolism slows, you burn fewer calories -- even at rest. So it makes it almost impossible to lose weight.


If you continue to take in fewer calories, you will either stop losing weight as quickly as you have been, or you'll stop losing weight altogether.


After starvation diets, eating under 1400 calorie per day diets, when you increase your calorie consumption, you may actually gain weight more quickly than you have in the past.  The most devastating effect of a very low calorie diet is the loss of muscle tissue. Once the starvation alarm is triggered, your body begins looking for ways to conserve energy. Muscle is metabolically active tissue. Getting rid of it is the body's way of decreasing energy expenditure.


The solution is to increase your physical activity and eat 5 small nutritious meals a day. (Skip sugar, white flour and empty calories that don't fuel your body)


Doing so will counteract the metabolic slow down caused by reducing calories. A regular schedule of exercise raises not only your energy expenditure while you are exercising but also your resting energy expenditure -- the rate at which you burn calories even when the workout is over and you are resting.


With each repeated bout of dieting, your metabolism becomes less and less efficient and you can actually become progressively fatter while eating less food.

Thursday, September 15, 2011

Don't be fooled by miracle weight loss, magic pill, etc. No Quick Fix to Weight Loss,

“There is no quick fix”.


Overeating brings fat and fat brings regret and makes us feel less about ourselves. Feeling this regret can then bring extra efforts and most possibly over training with all its consequences. It's a kind of a vicious circle.  Learn to control your food intake.

The most important thing you can do is to "believe in your self, believe in the process, stay the course, and you will look the best you ever looked before!"





8 important things you can do daily for your good health.

1. Drink plenty of water.

2. Don’t skip breakfast.

3. Eat more foods that grow on trees and plants, eat less food that is processed and manufactured.

4. Live with the 3 E's -- Energy, Enthusiasm and Empathy

5. Sit in silence for at least 10 minutes each day

6. Sleep for 7 hours.

7. Take a 10-30 minutes’ walk daily.

8. Smile more!