Add Some Play Time to Your Life!

Add Some Play Time to Your Life!
I am a member of the American Counsel on Exercise and
recently I have helped a few people get their personal
training certifications through this great organization.

I know daily aerobic activity is a must and I understand
that for a larger portion of the population getting off the
couch is something that takes effort.

Therefore, when I read a section in the manual on aerobic
activity that gardening for 20 minutes burns X amount of
calories it kind of got me revved up a little. My
grandmother gardens every day in the spring, summer and
fall. A little trimming here and watering there. She is
in her 80's and I understand that an hour of that may be
just what she needs to get the blood flowing.

BUT C'MON... if you are in your twenties, thirties,
forties, and even fifties and sixties gardening should not
be a form of exercise for the day.

Don't get me wrong. As I write this article, I can hear
crews of landscapers outside my window. They are climbing
trees, mowing grass, lifting, pulling, heaving and working
hard. That is exercise.

Getting out a flowered knee pad cushion and pruning the
azaleas is not exercise.

This brings me to the topic at hand. ADDING A LITTLE PLAY
TIME TO YOUR LIFE.

Occasionally, I am asked by my clients if they can
reschedule an appointment or choose a different time of day
for their group training because they need to be a sub for
their doubles tennis team or they have a golf outing.

My first questions are always:

If you are going to reschedule, 1) Will you still get in a
workout today? AND 2) If you can't fit in a workout, will
you make the activity worth your while?

Let me explain.

Regular aerobic activity should be included in everyone's
daily routine to strengthen the heart and lungs and make
them work more efficiently.

Activities like running, walking, stair climbing, swimming,
or any number of other activities can get the heart working
harder for a continuous period of time. We won't get into
intensity here as I have written about it before. But
remember I asked "Will you make the activity worth your
while?"

The benefits you get from aerobic activity are numerous,
and people of all ages should engage in regular exercise.
Even if there are health conditions present, regular
aerobic activity can be tailored to fit the individual's
needs as long as you are evaluated by your doctor or a
health care provider first.

It's good to start out slow and gradually increase aerobic
activity as tolerated because any amount of aerobic
activity is better than nothing. But you need to get
moving and make it worth your while.

Now back at the ranch I have to deal with the substitution.
If you are going to get in a training session with me or
by yourself, I don't care how you play tennis, when you go
golfing or make it to that business meeting.

However if you need to skip the workout entirely, then that
should be one heck of a doubles tennis match. You better
go for every serve, make every point count and run like the
wind for every ball. You see, I understand that tennis can
be social and I even admire everyone who uses it as an
activity to get together with friends. But all too often I
have seen 2-3 point volleys and then the point is done. I
even watched a match once that didn't have any points other
than the serve.

I don't want to pick on tennis only. So let's go at the
golf outing.

You skip your workout and then you go have a few drinks on
the front nine, then a huge and fattening lunch at the turn
with a few more drinks on the back nine all while riding in
a cart.

First of all, if you skipped your workout for this activity
and blow off exercise completely, why make it worse by
adding 3000 calories worth of food and liquor?

If you skip an exercise session for a golf outing, then you
need to at least walk the course. Let the cart guy drive
your clubs on the course, but walk as much as possible.

Finally let's try another group of people I deal with: The
basketball leagues. This tends to be a little more
aggressive. These guys sometimes get out of control with
fouls and stuff but all too often I watch half-hearted
efforts at fast breaks and rebounds.

If you are there to play... Why not really try hard?

I myself play in a lacrosse league and tend to run with
guys in their twenties. I am no longer in my twenties.
But I do try to keep up and usually do. I run hard for
every ground ball, I sprint up the field on transitions and
I sub out when it is my turn because I am convinced that if
I run hard for 2 - 4 minute shifts, I help the team more as
opposed to half running for 8 minute shifts.

So I want you to think about joining a program that has a
little level of competition. Some place that is
appropriate for your level of play in any sport and where
you can be pushed when you get involved.

It gets the juices flowing and lets you remember what it
was like to be a kid. You did play outside when you were
young. Why not do it again?

Tag, you're it.

----------------------------------------------------
For over 17 years Bobby Kelly has taken his passion for
coaching to a level not reached by many in the fitness
profession. Bobby has been interviewed and featured as an
expert adviser on CNN, Fox News, ABC, NBC, and CBS as well
as local affiliate stations in numerous markets. Bobby
knows the success of hard work and determination. He'll get
you where you want to be. Visit Bobby today at
http://www.resultsonly.com or email support@resultsonly.com

Omega 3 Fish Oil

Omega 3 Fish Oil
Chances are, if you have not heard about the health
benefits of omega 3 fish oil yet, you will soon. Omega 3
fish oil is the dietary and nutritional health supplement
that has taken the industry by storm in the past few years.
Typically referring to the omega 3 fatty acids
eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid, omega
3 fish oil is a naturally occurring nutritional super food
that is found in the tissues and organs of fish. While more
prevalent in some species than others, the optimum levels
can be found in fatty fish like herring, mackerel, trout
and sardines. Omega 3 fish oil can also be ingested through
numerous types of dietary supplements.

The benefits to the human mind and body are nearly
limitless, and the area which seems to prosper the most is
cardiovascular health. Omega 3 fish oil begins
strengthening the heart from the outside: reducing
triglycerides, lowering cholesterol levels, and even
contributing to weight loss. The miracles continue into the
inner mechanics of the heart, as omega 3 fish oil helps to
maintain our body rhythms. In fact, omega 3 fish oil can
even help to discourage irregular heartbeats. In addition
to maintaining vital processes, it also helps to prevent
sudden cardiovascular occurrences, such as heart attack and
stroke. This is due to the way that omega 3 fatty acids
help to prevent dangerous blood clots. Omega 3 fish oil is
highly recommended by the American Heart Association for
both patients with cardiovascular risks and healthy
individuals.

Part of the magic of omega 3 fish oil is in its wide range
of uses. In addition to assisting with heart health,
supplementing ones diet with omega 3 fish oil can help
combat diabetes. This is because the omega 3 fatty acids
increase the body's ability to process glucose.
Essentially, your body will become a more efficient machine
from the first day you add omega 3 fish oil to your diet.
Omega 3 fish oil has also been linked to helping prevent
certain age related disorders, such as macular degeneration
and even Alzheimer's disease.

In addition to the many benefits related to one's physical
health, omega 3 fish oil also enhances the mental well
being of its users. Studies have linked low levels of omega
3 fatty acids to depression and fatigue. In addition,
recent European studies have even suggested that omega 3
levels affected the positive behavioral characteristics of
inmates. Imagine, a single food supplement that possesses
all of these health benefits and is completely natural.
Omega 3 fish oil is all of this and more.

It is available as a dietary supplement at your local
grocer or on line. Of course, it is also present in every
fish that finds its way onto your plate at your favorite
restaurant. Just think, your next meal could save your life.

----------------------------------------------------
Thomas Budd has a special interest in fish oil, as he takes
the supplement everyday. He believes in practicing good
nutrition through natural, scientifically proven methods in
order to promote overall health. For more information on
fish oil, please visit http://www.Fishoil-pro.com

How to Exercise When Exercising Hurts

How to Exercise When Exercising Hurts
You know you need to exercise. Maybe your doctor has told
you, "You must start exercising!" You know how important it
is, yet every time you try, you hurt. Maybe you hurt for a
little while or maybe you hurt for days and you get
discouraged from exercising at all. Exercise does help
people in pain, but it needs to be the right kind and the
right amount of exercise.

Some important things to remember:

1. Start slowly. If you exercise too much, too hard or too
fast you will feel worse and it will be harder to make
yourself exercise the next time. If your body is in pain,
fatigued or weak, it will respond best to a gentle, slow
approach.

2. Believe in your ability to get better. Wherever you are
in terms of fitness level, you can increase balance,
strength, muscle tone, endurance and range of motion if you
work with your body rather than against it.

3. Treat your body like a good friend. this means
exercising in a kind, enjoyable way. No bullying or forcing
yourself!

4. Little bits count! Start exercising in short segments,
maybe even three to five minutes, and very gradually add
time. When I was very sick with chronic fatigue and
fibromyalgia, I had to rest after walking up a flight of
steps. Exercising at first for me meant walking slowly
around my yard. Today, I climb mountains, hike, dance, lift
weights and lead a vibrantly active life.

5. Just notice. Trust what you notice.Let your inner
noticing, and your trust of yourself, guide you toward your
best exercise.

You are the one who lives in your body. You are the one who
can notice from the inside. When you notice and trust what
you notice you become your own best teacher.

* Which activities and types of exercise make you feel
better and which make you feel worse?

* What are the voices inside your head saying about
exercising? Which voices are helpful and which ones are not?

6. Breathe!

* Move with the breath flowing freely in and out. No need
to push the breath--just relax around it and give it room
to flow all through the body.

* Breathe through the nostrils, not the mouth, whenever
possible. (This calms the mind and prevents strain on the
body.)

* Let your breath remind you when you are doing too much.
When you are gasping and out of breath, slow down a bit so
that you can work within your breath, As you gain stamina
and lung capacity you will be able to exercise more and
more vigorously while breathing easily and without strain.

* Let each exhale be a Letting-Go-Breath. Release tension,
strain and discomfort as you breathe out: ahhhhh...

7. Work within your range of motion. Gradually this will
extend and you will do more with ease. If you force muscles
beyond their range of motion they will contract in fear and
self protection.

8. Practice Relaxation-in-Action. Notice muscles that are
unnecessarily tight and let them relax. How easy can you
let each action be? Cats are fabulous movement teachers.
Watch a cat move and imagine your own body: sleek relaxed,
supple and powerful, moving with no extra tension exerted.
10. Avoid repetitive movements: especially when there is
weight or pressure on the joints.

9. Have fun! Find a type of exercise that feels like fun to
you. Use the buddy system and regularly walk with friends,
meet friends at the pool, sign up for a class with a friend
or make new friends in a class. How can you help exercising
be more fun for you?

10. Choose an exercise class or DVD that has a gentle,
therapeutic focus.

11. Go at your own speed. Sometimes in a group, or even
watching an exercise DVD, you may be tempted to over-ride
your own body wisdom to keep up or compete. When you are
recovering from illness or dealing with chronic pain, it is
vital that you listen to your body and work gently.

12. Use your powerful imagination wisely. Imagination can
work for you or against you. Use yours to work for you by
imagining what you want (strength, muscle tone, balance,
energy and beauty) and by imagining yourself gradually
gaining the ability to exercise more fully and more easily.

13. Warm your muscles. Warm muscles exercise more happily
than cold muscles. Exercise in a comfortably warm room.
Wear layers so you can adjust your body temperature. Use a
heating pad on sore muscles before or while stretching
them. Stretch gently in a warm bath or shower.

Remember-- your body is made to move! So, get moving-
gently and kindly.

Start where you are right now; soon you will see
improvement.

Don't give up! There are forms of exercise that can be
helpful and enjoyable for you!

You will feel better with regular, gentle, intelligent
exercise.

----------------------------------------------------
Mind-body consultant and wellness coach, Lea Houston, MA,
helps people with fibromyalgia, chronic pain and fatigue
create lives of health, vitality and well-being. Get her
free five part e-course, Relieve Your Pain and Reclaim Your
Life Now! and a free subscription to her popular ezine,
Self Care Celebration!, rich with soulful and practical
resources, tips and inspiration at
http://www.SelfCareCelebration.com

Is Steroid Therapy Right For You?

Is Steroid Therapy Right For You?
Steroid therapy is the use of steroid medications, also
known as corticosteroids, to treat many types of autoimmune
disease, including myasthenia gravis, lupus, and multiple
sclerosis, and other disorders, such as asthma. Steroid
medications include medications like prednisone and
cortisone. Corticosteroids can be prescribed to be taken
orally or in other ways, such as by inhalation.

According to Western medicine, steroid medications are
medically necessary to treat many conditions and diseases.
It is important not only to follow the recommendations of
your medical professional regarding steroid use, if you
have decided steroid therapy is right for you, but also to
explore other medical options if you have second thoughts
about steroid medications.

Is steroid therapy right for you?

Steroid medications have major effects on the metabolism of
calcium and bone. Steroid therapy can result in severe bone
loss, osteoporosis, and broken bones. High dosage of
steroid medications can cause rapid bone loss, up to as
much as 15 percent per year. If you are on steroids, you
are more than twice as likely to have a spine fracture as
compared to a person not taking steroids. Fracture risk
increases as the daily doses of steroid medications
increases. The major impact of steroid medication on bone
is fractures (broken bones) that occur most commonly in the
spine and ribs. There are different rates of bone loss
among individuals on corticosteroids. Bone loss occurs most
rapidly in the first six months after starting oral steroid
medications. After 12 months of chronic steroid use, there
is a slower loss of bone. However, not all patients who
take steroid medications experience bone loss.

Other adverse side effects of steroid medications are
elevation of blood pressure, weight gain, decreased
resistance to infection, indigestion, thinning of skin, and
potential development of cataracts and glaucoma.

Let me relate my own experience with steroid therapy.

I was diagnosed with myasthenia gravis several years ago.
Myasthenia gravis is a chronic autoimmune neuromuscular
disease characterized by varying degrees of weakness of the
skeletal (voluntary) muscles of the body. The hallmark of
the disease is muscle weakness, which increases during
periods of activity and improves after periods of rest.
Certain muscles, such as those that control eyes and eyelid
movements, facial expression, talking, chewing and
swallowing are often involved in this disorder. In
addition, the muscles that control breathing, neck, and
limb movements may also be affected.

Due to myasthenia gravis, I had developed ocular symptoms,
such as ptosis (drooping of eyelids) and diplopia (double
vision), and weak neck and limb muscles. Fortunately, I did
not have weakness of the pharynx muscles, which could cause
difficulty in chewing and swallowing, as well as slurred
speech in many cases of myasthenia gravis.

I was prescribed steroid medications and had been on a
steroid therapy for three years. In addition, I was also
given medications to deal with bone loss and other side
adverse effects associated with the use of steroids.

In my case, there was some improvement, but not significant
enough to make me decide to continue the steroid therapy
after three years of treatment. I had to balance the risks
of steroids and the symptoms of myasthenia gravis.

My rude awakening came when I realized that my immune
system, which was the cause of the disease in the first
place, is not only an integrated network of cells that
would protect me in times of an infection, but also a
system with many regulatory mechanisms that, if
uncontrolled, would become my enemy instead of my friend.
More importantly, these steroids may control the symptoms
of myasthenia gravis, but they may also impair my immune
system with lasting effects on my overall health and
wellness further down the road.

I recognized that the human body has a natural mechanism
for self-healing, if given the appropriate environment.
Accordingly, I ttok matters into my hands, and made a
drastic decision to stop my steroid therapy without
consulting my physician (Warning: I do not ask anyone to do
the same.) I stopped the medication very slowly and
gradually. Meanwhile, I did everything to improve my immune
system through a thorough detoxification program, and a
change of diet. I did not gain weight, my blood pressure
became normal and, most important of all, my myasthenia
gravis conditions did not deteriorate. Up to this day, I
still have some double vision, which I have learned to cope
with (I can still drive), but my other symptoms have
disappeared. I have been off steroid therapy for several
years already.

Hippocrates, the father of medicine, once said: "No man is
a better physician than himself, who knows his own
constitution." No one can decide for you what is best for
your health. A doctor can only give advice, but you are the
one who makes the decision on whether steroid therapy is
right for you.

----------------------------------------------------
Stephen Lau is a researcher, writing medical research for
doctors and scientists. His publications include "NO
MIRACLE CURES" a book on healing and wellness. He has also
created several websites on health and healing, including
the following:
http://www.longevityforyou.com
http://www.rethinkyourdepression.com

Calorie Shifting for Maximum Weight Loss

Calorie Shifting for Maximum Weight Loss
The biggest reason why most people can't lose weight is
because their bodies have adapted to a certain amount of
calories, and when this process happens it causes your
metabolism to slow down significantly and weight loss is
almost impossible. This is the problem with most of the
available weight loss programs.

It is for this reason that people who go on starvation
based diets only lose pounds for the first couple weeks,
and then they get to a point known as a "plateau" which is
a where their body adapts to the severely low amount of
calories and all the weight loss comes to a complete stop.
The other big problem with this type of dieting is that
your metabolism will be alot slower after dieting and you
will gain all the weight back eventually.

To lose weight permanently you mustn't allow your body to
adapt to a specific level of calories daily, otherwise your
metabolism will begin to slow down and you will cease
losing weight. This also applies to eating a certain amount
calories at the same time each day, so in order to avoid
this problem you must never consume the exact same size
breakfast, lunch and dinner each day.

To better understand this idea of dieting, you should
always keep your body off-balance by doing these two simple
things:

1. Always eat a different total amount of calories daily.
As an example, one day you might consume 2000 calories,
then the next day you will only consume 1800 calories. The
third day you would consume 1600 calories. On the fourth
day you would consume 1400 calories and on the fifth day
you would cosume 2000 calories again.

2. You also need to change the total amount of calories
consumed at each meal (This is so that your body won't get
used to eating the same size breakfast, lunch and dinner).

For example, one day you might decide to eat a large
breakfast and then a medium sized lunch followed by a small
dinner. Then, the day after you might decide to eat a small
breakfast, a large lunch followed by a medium sized dinner.

As you can now see, your body won't be allowed to adapt to
eating a certain number of calories at any one meal, as
well as not allowing your body to adapt to any one amount
of total calories each day.

To further illustrate this important part of any successful
weight loss plan, we have drawn up a sample of how you
might eat for the next one week period:

Monday: 2000 Calories Total - Breakfast = 700, Lunch = 650,
Dinner = 650

Tuesday: 1800 Calories Total - Breakfast = 600, Lunch =
700, Dinner = 500

Wednesday: 1600 Calories Total - Breakfast = 700, Lunch =
500, Dinner = 600

Thursday: 1400 Calories Total - Breakfast = 450, Lunch =
450, Dinner = 500

Friday: 2000 Calories Total - Breakfast = 700, Lunch = 650,
Dinner = 650

----------------------------------------------------
Fat Loss 4 Idiots is the #1 weight loss diet available
online that enables you to lose up to 9 pounds every 11
days, plus you are provided with additional tools to help
you succeed including an online diet generator. To Learn
more about the Fat Loss 4 Idiots program visit:
http://www.fatloss4idiats.com

Effective Body Detox Program

Effective Body Detox Program
The first thing to do in order to begin a body detox
program is to get rid of all the chemical based toiletries
and household products you have been using. So, it is time
for all those cleansers, shampoos and deodorants to go.
Replace them with nature based products instead. Also
strictly abstain from the temptations of alcohol, caffeine,
cigarettes, unsaturated fat and refined sugars.

Stress is another silent enemy. A temporary pumping up of
adrenaline is very good to meet that extra deadline, but
regular stress causes your liver to slow down the
detoxifying process.

Before embarking on any body detox program it is best to
know which one is best for you. The duration of the program
may vary from 7 days to more than 2 weeks.

There are quite a few other popular and useful detox
methods from which to choose. Here are a couple of body
detox plans and the benefits they have to offer:

1) Body Detox Program #1: Cleaning supplement packages,
which are easily available in the market. They usually
contain fiber, vitamins and minerals, and are good for
cleansing.

2) Body Detox Program #2: There was an ancient practice in
many cultures of following the regimen of drinking only
water one day of the week. Needless to say, it is extremely
effective as a body detox program.

It is, however, important to remember that after a detox
program is over, you have to follow it up with an overall
healthy lifestyle. Here are some post body detox program
diets that you should follow:-

a) Eat brown rice and organically grown fruits and veggies
with plenty of fibers. Also include cabbage, broccoli,
radishes, seaweed etc in your diet.

b) Drink green tea and eat dandelion roots, burdock and
milk thistle to cleanse your liver.

c) Remember to take plenty of Vitamin C to produce
glutathione to maintain your liver.

d) It is advisable to drink 2 quarts of water everyday and
inhale deeply to cleanse and regulate oxygen in your body.
Also, think positive thoughts. It helps reduce stress
levels.

e) For Hydrotherapy, take a very hot shower for 5 minutes,
and follow it up with a cold shower for 30 seconds. Then,
lie down for 30 minutes, and you will be fresh and cleansed.

f) In order to remove toxins through your pores, you can
dry brush your skin or try detoxifying patches and foot
baths. Perspiring in a sauna to get rid of toxins through
sweat is another great idea.

g) Exercise regularly. Go for daily walks and practice yoga
or qigong.

A word of warning though; There may, however, be certain
side-effects to all this. Some of these include:-

i) Bad breath
ii) Headaches
iii) Body odor
iv) Fatigue
v) Skin rashes
vi) Mucous discharge
vii) Abdominal gas and rumbling.
viii) Cold feet and hands
ix) Joint pains
x) Sleeplessness

But remember that not everyone suffers like this. In my
first body detox program, I had terrible headaches and body
pains for the first two days. But I did not give up. And
now, I am extremely proud of myself.

After my first body detox program, which continued for 6
weeks, I have continued living a healthy lifestyle. I
exercise regularly, and try to detox at least twice a year,
you should too; it really works!

----------------------------------------------------
John Khu is a health enthusiast and author of a new eBook
titled "Body Detox Tips". He is devoted to educate others
on the benefit of body detoxification. He is also the
owner of the website called http://www.bodydetoxtips.com
which provides complete and up-to-date information.

Skin Care Tips for Beautiful and Healthy Skin

Skin Care Tips for Beautiful and Healthy Skin
There is no secret in achieving good and healthy skin and
there are some people who are fortunate to have their skin
really appear healthy and glowing. Anyone of you can get
gleaming and beautiful skin only by following some
necessary steps concerning skin care and spending only a
few minutes daily to accomplish your purpose.

In the recent past years, people used to adopt cosmetic
surgery as a method to get beautiful skin. However, with
the passage of time, women are leaning towards the natural
techniques which are made out of natural extracts, safe to
use and free from side effects. These advantages increased
the popularity of natural skin care products over cosmetic
surgery or cosmetic enhancement process. The time of
customary cold creams are replaced by the modern
formulations facial creams that are particularly made for
individual skin type. Ignoring the importance of skin care
is really impossible because this is the most exposed area
of our body and therefore, is more susceptible to
accumulate pollution, germs and dust on it, making it
looking dull and lifeless.

The first move in skincare is ensuring a clean and clear
skin, free from all pollution and foreign bodied present on
its surface like make-up, bacteria, and dust. Use a good
quality milk cleanser to remove the external material
present on your face with the use of a soft cotton pad.
Massage your face gently with the cleansing pad till the
dirt finally gets removed from it followed by a wash with
warm water. It is really important not to disrupt your PH
balance; therefore, use a toner after your face is cleaned.
Moisturizers and lotions applied on the skin help to reduce
the appearance of wrinkles and make the skin suppler.
Applying moisturizers ensure that the procedures you have
just gone through, cleaning, toning and conditioning your
skin, do not go waste.

In order to have more cleansing skin care experience, you
require exfoliating your skin and removing dead cells from
it with the use of peel up twice a week. This procedure is
followed by the application of toner after cleansing your
skin otherwise the present dead cells will not get fully
removed from it. The area around your eyes is very soft and
delicate; therefore a special care should be given to it.
There are some effective natural care products available in
the market by which you can lessen the dark circles around
the eyes and alleviate the puffiness and makes you look
fresh and younger. Water intake is much necessary component
so as to keep your skin healthy because it helps improve
the tone of your skin and also helps detoxify it. Ensure a
hale and hearty skin with intake of good diet, regular
exercise and fresh mind.

Skin covers almost the entire portion of our body, i.e.,
from head to toe, thus maintaining the health and life of
this important organ and to protect it, we must give extra
care and attention to it.

----------------------------------------------------
For all of the reader who looking for tips and knowledge
about the beauty well being, please visit
http://www.proactive-skin-care-fix.com
http://www.beauty-salons-fix.com

Can "Combat Conditioning" Improve Your Appearance?

Can "Combat Conditioning" Improve Your Appearance?
Occasionally in life, someone will blurt out something that
verbalizes your exact thoughts at nearly the precise time
you're thinking them. I experienced this one afternoon when
I was twenty years old and undergoing the most physically
demanding military training ever devised (at least it was
then; I can't speak for it now). It was spring of 1984. I
was in U.S. Navy, Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL Training
as I stood shirtless in front of the bathroom mirror on the
first floor of the beach-front barracks in Coronado,
California. I felt slightly disappointed from a standpoint
of pure vanity when a fellow trainee blurted out to his
buddy:

"Damn... my body has hardly changed a bit since I've been
in this training."

Oh, wow; my sentiments about myself exactly. I looked
around to see that a group of them had stormed into the
other end of the room and this guy had pulled off his shirt
to see whether the inhumanly arduous training had sculpted
something better out of his physique. It hadn't. He was
visibly bummed.

Did we have a lot of "functional strength"? Oh... you bet.
I was able to run up a steep hill of jagged terrain on San
Clemente Island while holding a heavy pallet on my
shoulders. A lot of what we did was impressive feats of
endurance and strength.

Yet I'm actually stronger now, sans some of the endurance.
And believe me; my current gym-built strength is fully
functional. The term "functional strength" is oftentimes
meaningless, esoteric jargon. You're either fully
functional or something's amiss. You're either relatively
strong or you're not. There's not a special kind of muscle
strength that's "functional".

Can you "master your own bodyweight" from this type of
training? Uh... well, this might be more jargon. When I
started the training, I was probably capable of six
pull-ups. When I was well into the training, I could do
thirty. I'm not sure at what number I would have been
considered a master of my own bodyweight. But if you'd
compared me to the guy who could only do two, I guess I was
a master of it all along. HOOYAH! (That's a BUD/S saying)

Yet... how come my physique didn't appear much better?
There are really three simple reasons:

1) Very high-rep exercise (bodyweight stuff) most
effectively burns body fat with eating habit improvements.

2) Very high-rep exercise ("mastering" bodyweight) hardly
adds any muscle size.

3) We're obviously limited in scope of exercises we can
perform with the bodyweight, combat conditioning stuff
(unless we start military pressing our buddies, like the
U.S. Marines do). This can cause whatever miniscule muscle
gains we can acquire from it to be aesthetically unbalanced.

Let's face the facts: It's really only some visually
noticeable muscle added to the body along with major drops
in body fat that significantly augments one's appearance.
You can make an improvement with just one or the other
(some additional muscle or some reduction of fat), but it's
both together that creates exciting, head-turning physique
results.

'Combat conditioning' (i.e. training the body purely for a
combat situation), using only one's body weight for
resistance, will build the mitochondria fibers of the
muscles. These are the slow-twitch fibers that possess the
least potential for growth. With only negligible increases
in muscle size, it's pretty difficult to improve the shape
of one's body very much.

Yet this type of training will also cause the body to
deplete the energy stores of the muscles. This effectively
creates a repletion process that includes the breaking down
of triglycerides that can be drawn from fat stores within
the body. What you're doing, in effect, is taking energy
from stored body fat and converting it to stored muscle
fuel. That's a good thing.

But this positive effect can easily be negated if one's
eating habits aren't controlled. What happened to us within
the combat conditioning context of BUD/S Training is that
we became hungrier and simply ate more carbohydrates and
dietary fat to compensate for the intense training. So,
although we were capable of incredible endurance feats (the
utility of which off the combat field can be debated), we
didn't possess the "hard body" appearance some of us were
expecting from such rigors.

Would I ever go back to using 'body weight exercises' as my
fitness regimen? Let's face it; they're convenient ' right?
A travelling person can do them right there in the hotel
room after rolling their groggy butt out of bed.

Yeah, I'll go back to them when some wacko blows up every
gym in the world. You see, most people engage in natural
bodybuilding in a time-wasting and ineffective manner. I've
discovered a way to do it that keeps me getting exciting
(and thus motivating) results while not having to live in
the gym.

What's more, regardless of the controversy surrounding "how
many BMR calories are burned by a pound of muscle", I've
noticed my body fat is much easier to keep down since
putting on appreciable amounts of natural muscle. A picture
speaks a thousand words ' and anyone can see the contrast
at the very top of my web site.

----------------------------------------------------
Scott Abbett is the author of HardBody Success: 28
Principles to Create Your Ultimate Body and Shape Your Mind
for Incredible Success. He is a certified fitness trainer
and a Master Practitioner and Trainer of NLP. To see his
personal transformation visit http://www.hardbodysuccess.com

How To Break Up The Plaque In Coronary Heart Disease

How To Break Up The Plaque In Coronary Heart Disease
Coronary Heart Disease or (CHD) is the prerequisite to a
fatal massive heart attack. I unfortunately have had to
deal with the aftermath of such an unbelievable killer.
Chances are that you either have suffered from (CHD) or you
know someone who has experienced this disease. Millions of
people shouldn't have to suffer from (CHD), if they receive
the proper knowledge about it. In this article, I reveal
the definition of (CHD), the risk factors, the indirect
risk factors and oral chelation.

What Is (CHD)?

Atherosclerotic Heart Disease, Coronary Heart Disease and
also Coronary Heart Disease is the end result of the
accumulation of a atheromatous plaques within the walls of
the arteries that supply the muscles of the heart with
oxygen and nutrients. Did you know that the most common
cause for death of men and woman over 20 years of age is
(CHD)? Coronary Heart Disease also progresses for decades
in people without any sign or symptom, which helps to
enable it to be the most common cause of sudden death.
Artherosclerotic heart disease consists of streaks that do
not block the flow of blood. Through an angiogram test
there may be no evidence of (CHD) because the lumen of the
artery hasn't changed in shape.

Through the years the streaks of plaque may increase in
thickness. Moreover, these streaks can expand into the
walls of the arteries and through time will grow in the
lumen of the vessel. The plaque actually rupturing and
causing an accumulation of thrombus material causes plaque
burden. Did you know that an individual could develop
symptoms of obstructive coronary heart disease after the
plaque blocks more than 70% of the diameter of the vessel?
In contrast, arterial plaques that cause a blockage of less
than 70% of the diameter of the vessel rarely cause
symptoms of (CHD).

What Are The Risk Factors?

Hypertension

Smoking

Hyperglycemia (due to diabetes mellitus or otherwise)

Type A behavioral patterns

Hypercholesterolemia (LDL concentrations)

Hereditary differences in such diverse aspects as
lipoprotein structure and that of their associated
receptors, homocysteine processing/metabolism.

What Are The Indirect Risk Factors?

Diet low in antioxidants

Stress

Lack of exercise

Diet rich in saturated fats

What Is Oral Chelation?

Chelation is based on the observation that when a certain
amino acid complex called EDTA comes into contact with
certain positively charged metals and other substances such
as lead, calcium, zinc, copper, magnesium, plutonium, iron,
and manganese it grabs them. The EDTA actually grabs
metallic cations such as calcium or lead (calcium and
cholesterol form plaque within the blood vessels) and forms
a compound that is then excreted from our system. As a
result, oral chelation can break up plaque, which in turn
can help to lower triglyceride levels and probably reduce
(CHD) related problems.

As more information on coronary heart disease is
discovered, I will update this article accordingly.

DISCLAIMER

The information provided herein should not be construed as
a health-care diagnosis, treatment regimen or any other
prescribed health-care advice or instruction. The
information is provided with the understanding that the
publisher is not engaged in the practice of medicine or any
other health-care profession and does not enter into a
health-care practioner/ patient relationship with its
readers.

----------------------------------------------------
The author holds a degree in Biological Sciences and has
spent countless hours researching health information. For
even more information on heart disease check out the
authors website at
http://www.born-again-health-and-fitness.com

How Do I lose Body Fat?

How Do I lose Body Fat?
Natural weight loss is a big subject today for many people
who do not understand the principle of eating only the
amount they need for the amount physical activity they
perform; advice like this is for the most part ignored. You
would think this simple set of instructions should be easy
to follow; with the number of overweight American citizens
increasing, this advice obviously doesn't work. The
conflicting aspect is that a large percentage of overweight
people are desperately trying to lose those pounds whether
it is because they are tired of the looks they receive or
for health reasons.

What most people do not realize is keeping at the right
weight is much, much easier than losing it. Even though
many people know this subconsciously very few actually plan
to ensure that weight gain doesn't happen to them.

Studies have shown that it is more likely a person who has
lost weight using a calorie controlled diet, even if they
actually enjoyed it, are more likely to go back to their
old eating habits at some point. Natural weight loss is
about losing weight for good and requires switching to
healthy eating habits and implementing lifestyle changes to
stay healthy.

The truth is there is a huge price to pay with your health
when you are overweight and in particular, clinically
obese. The annoying part is that natural weight maintenance
is not difficult to understand but overweight people choose
to ignore this.

Natural weight loss requires a balanced approach which
means a diet that contains quantities of complex
carbohydrates, fiber, reduced fat and not too much protein.
A meal containing this group would be something like a
baked potato, vegetables and some meat, lean of course but
it would not contain gravy or sour cream.

Unfortunately, dietary fat contains higher amounts of
calories than ordinary food which when consumed will just
be converted to body fat more readily. Despite the number
of either low fat or zero fat foods on the market, it's a
surprise that the American people continue to put on
weight, but there is a very good reason for this.

The misconception is if you are eating something fat-free
then you won't be adding extra fat to your body but all
food contains calories, just not always in the form of fat.
If you really want to lose weight through a program you
will need to dump the fat free products and eat small
healthy snacks that are high in nutrition.

Some health care specialists believe that a good method is
to eat smaller meals and healthy, nutritious snacks every 3
or 4 hours. When combined with regular exercise, this
natural weight loss plan offers a way to lose unwanted
pounds in the long run.

----------------------------------------------------
Article by Rachel Harding. Are you struggling to lose
weight I was to till now. Go to http://offto.net/io0whp/ to
find out what I did.

Silicosis Litigation on the Rise

Silicosis Litigation on the Rise
In the early 1930s, a mining scandal in Hawk's Nest, West
Virginia rocketed the country, calling attention to the
dangers of an industrial mineral called crystalline silica.
A construction company asked its workers to mine the
mineral using dynamite, but did not give them breathing
masks to prevent them from inhaling the thick dust that
resulted. Nor were the workers told of the dangers of the
silica dust, which collected so heavily on their skin and
clothes that they tracked it home at night. As little as a
year later, they began dying of a severe respiratory
difficulty that we now know was probably silicosis, a
disabling and incurable lung disease.

The Hawk's Nest scandal resulted in a slew of lawsuits and
a new, strict set of workplace safety standards from the
Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)
mandating ventilation, protective gear and limits on how
long a worker may be exposed to silica. Since the Great
Depression, the number of U.S. silicosis deaths has
steadily declined, and personal-injury suits related to the
disease have dwindled that is, until now.

In the past four years, the number of silicosis-related
lawsuits filed in the U.S. has skyrocketed. U.S. Silica,
one of the nation's largest makers of industrial silica
sand, reported a tenfold rise in personal-injury suits
against it between June of 2001 and June of 2002. The state
of Mississippi saw 76 new silicosis suits statewide in
2001; by the end of 2004, that figure was more than 20,000.

Part of that rise can be attributed to simple probability.
Silica is the second most common mineral on Earth, found in
hundreds of industrial materials such as concrete, cement,
sands, paints and pavement. And despite the well-known
danger of silicosis, which was identified in European stone
cutters as early as 1705, some employers still fail to
adequately protect their workers or warn them to avoid
silica dust. OSHA reports that 1.7 million U.S. workers are
exposed to silica dust each year; 250 of those workers die.

But another part of the increase in silicosis litigation
has to do with its similarities with asbestos litigation.
Like silica, asbestos is an industrial mineral that was
once widespread in construction and manufacturing,
potentially exposing millions of Americans to a
debilitating disease. Like silica, asbestos can be inhaled
but not exhaled, causing lung scarring and crippling
respiratory damage. The same industries and many of the
same companies were involved in the manufacture and use of
both minerals.

Unlike silica litigation, asbestos litigation has passed
its peak, with many lawsuits either finished or slated for
a general settlement fund put together by Congress. With
awareness of silica dust's dangers rising, asbestos
attorneys are now lending their experience and expertise to
silica litigation.

Like asbestosis and other asbestos-related diseases,
silicosis is caused by the human body's inability to
breathe out fine particles that reach toxic concentrations
with repeated occupational exposure. Once silica finds its
way into the body, it lodges deep within a part of the
lungs that can't be cleared by coughing or mucous. Over
time, this causes inflammation, scarring, and a tissue
buildup called pulmonary fibrosis — all of which leave the
victim short of breath after even light exercise. Other
symptoms include fatigue, extremities turning blue, loss of
appetite and a persistent cough. In more severe cases,
silicosis can weaken the heart and cause respiratory
failure, leaving patients dependent on a respirator to
breathe. It has no cure. And because silicosis is caused
only by occupational exposure, it is 100 percent
preventable.

----------------------------------------------------
To learn more about silicosis lawsuits, visit
http://www.LegalView.com/ . Readers can also learn about
the latest mesothelioma jury verdicts, which is a disease
similar to silicosis. Or learn about the Heparin recall at
http://baxter-heparin.legalview.com/ .

Health in the workplace

Health in the workplace
The workplace has, in recent years for some become one of
the unhealthiest environments in which to operate.
Employees find themselves in pressure situations where they
may be unclear of their job definition other than to appear
busy and create a positive impression.

Motivation levels are very low and workers do what is
necessary by agreeing, smiling and nodding heads in order
to climb the corporate ladder. Employees in the United
Kingdom work on average the longest hours per week in their
main job (compared with the rest of the EU) and this holds
for both men and women. Men's hours range from 39 per week
in Belgium and the Netherlands to 42 in Greece and 45 in
the United Kingdom. Women's hours all fall in the range 36
hours (Italy) to 41 hours (United Kingdom).

This issue needs to be addressed in order to improve the
state of "corporate health". According to statistics, over
2 million people are suffering from an illness or injury
which they believe is caused or made worse by their current
or past work (Health and Occupation Reporting Network).

An overwhelming 97% of senior HR professionals believe that
stress at work is the biggest threat to the future health
of the UK workforce.

Stress and musculoskeletal injuries are the most common
cause of absence in business, and according to the
Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, staff on
average cost an employer £567 EACH per year in lost
earnings through absence, although this figure could
actually be tripled when the indirect costs of sickness in
loss of sales, reduced customer service and lower
productivity are taken into account.

Some 32.9 million working days are lost annually from
people taking time off due to their illnesses.

The Cost of Back Pain: Over 1.1 million people in the UK
experience musculoskeletal disorders caused by work, with
an estimated 12.3 million days lost annually because of
this.

The Cost of Work Related Stress: Stress is a natural
reaction people have to excessive pressures placed upon
them. While not an illness itself, if it is prolonged or
intense it can lead to mental and physical ill health. This
can include depression, back pain or heart disease.

In the United Kingdom as many as one in five people are
suffering form high levels of work related stress (that's
around 5 million workers). Around half a million
individuals report experiencing stress at a level they
believe made them ill. This results in approximately 13.4
million working days lost per year.

What Can Be Done? Studies have shown that not only does
exercise keep you looking and feeling your best, it helps
boost energy and concentration, therefore making you much
more productive at work. According to an MSNBC report, 60%
of workers that participated in a recent British study
indicated that taking an "exercise break" during the day
boosted their time management, mental performance, and
ability to meet deadlines. Researchers found that exercise
provided a performance boost of up to 15%. It also improved
worker's overall mood at the end of the day. The type of
exercise, the duration, and the intensity didn't seem to
matter. The effect was observed over a wide range of
activities including yoga, strength training, and aerobics.
We recommend taking a couple of small 15-30 minute breaks
during the day is a great way to renew your focus,
concentration, and energy. This is especially true for
creative knowledge workers who have to concentrate
intensely for long periods of time over the course of a
typical workday. Exercise is a great activity for break
time because it not only gives you an immediate energy
boost, but it also helps you release stress and deal with
job pressures. Some activities to consider during your
breaks include light stretching or talking a stroll
outside. If you'd rather not sweat too much while at work,
you can save more intense physical activity for lunchtime
(when you can shower) or after work.

"Corporate wellness" programmes are a growing sector within
many businesses to promote the physical health of employees
for the purposes of increasing productivity and reducing
absenteeism.

The format of most programmes usually involves health
checks, seminars and cut priced gym memberships. This
service is a huge step in the right direction and should be
promoted to all businesses. Although this alone may make an
employee feel upbeat about their job for a little longer it
doesn't really address the real issues.

Research has suggested that nearly half of all Brits blame
the demands of the workplace for preventing them from
getting to the gym, so what use is a cut price membership
if you can't find the time to exercise??

----------------------------------------------------
David Osgathorp Owner, All About You Performance &
Wellbeing. Unit 3 Broadbent Close, Highgate, London, N6
5JW. Tel: 020 8348 9706, Mob: 07779 729122. If you would
like more information then pleas contact us via the
website: http://aayou.co.uk/default.aspx

GPP - Stands for Get Phat off Phast - Part 1

GPP - Stands for Get Phat off Phast - Part 1
This is the time of year when everyone has made his/her New
Year's resolution that "this year is going to be
different." If you are one of those people, that is
awesome. Even if I did not have a calendar, I would always
be able to tell that it is this time of year due to the
exponential growth of joggers/runners I see on my short
drive to and from work. I kind of feel sorry for them as
they relentlessly pound the pavement, likely for several
miles at a time, traumatizing their joints and burning off
precious amounts of muscle. The phenomenon of running to
lose weight never ceases to amaze me because
jogging/running long distances at a slow pace is far from
optimal in terms of achieving desired body composition
results. The good news for those of you who may have
already started or are contemplating jogging/running is
there are better ways to make "this year different." I am
going to introduce you to a more desirable training method
that not only addresses fat loss more effectively but also
addresses the issue of time efficiency. This training
method is referred to as GPP. It stands for General
Physical Preparation. In basic terms, this type of
training is intended to increase your capacity to do
generalized work (i.e., to be "in shape").

In my estimation, 90% of the American population is
deficient in this type of physical preparation, athletes
included. Therefore, everyone can benefit by adding a bit
of this training to his/her regimen. Not only will it help
you drop some body fat, it also will help you function as a
human being. I don't care who you are. You are going to
be required to do some sort of physical labor in your life,
whether it is carrying boxes of files up four flights of
stairs, lifting and carrying several bags of cat litter or
food to and from your car, or just chasing your young one
around in the backyard. Not only will performing some GPP
help to prepare you for these events, it will also help
prevent injuries (fatigue and injury go hand in hand), and
it will help you keep from being totally wiped out after
such work.

I would like to relate a quick story about my experience
with GPP. I have been an athlete for the better part of my
life and lifting weights for physical preparation has been
an accepted norm during that entire time. However, during
my high school years I rarely touched a weight. It was not
because of a lack of desire, but more because I lived 45
miles from my high school weight room and there was always
plenty of work to be done on the farm. Well, during the
summertime when everyone else was going to the gym, I would
be in the mountains with my family hauling 50-200 lb. logs
all around the forest for the better part of an eight hour
day. I didn't realize it at the time, but I was doing some
serious GPP. It crossed over to my athletic endeavors and
allowed me to perform at optimal levels on the playing
field in the fall. Needless to say, I am a big fan of GPP
both for athletes and non-athletes alike. We are all human
beings and we all have to do physical work at some point in
our lives, so why not be prepared.

----------------------------------------------------
Troy M. Anderson is the owner of Anderson Training Systems,
LLC, a fitness coaching business based in Tempe, Arizona.
Troy is often referred to as "the MacGyver of coaching" for
his unique ability to build effective fitness programs
using only the most basic equipment.

Fitness Ain't Pretty-RESULTS ARE!

Ho'oponopono For Stress Relief

Ho'oponopono For Stress Relief
At some point or other, everyone experiences stress. Stress
is essentially an emotional and physical reaction to some
stimulus. Though people tend to categorize stress as an
entirely emotional or mental reaction, the response caused
by stress ultimately causes a physical reaction in the
body. The physical reactions caused by stress, if such
reactions occur regularly over time, can lead to a number
of physical ailments. Fatigue, back pain, muscle soreness,
and even heart dysfunction have all been linked to chronic
stress reaction. It's understandable then why many people
seek ways to reduce the stress in their lives.

While stress can result in physical outcomes, the notion of
a stressor is a mental response. That is to say, what a
person does or does not consider a stressor results from
individual perception. What may seem to be a stressful
circumstance to one person isn't considered stressful to
someone else. Treating stress conditions then almost always
involves attempting to alter how a person views stress, and
then how they respond to it. A number of treatments
subscribe to this sort of mind over matter approach, and
for some people it's proven successful.

There are increasingly alternative approaches to treating
stress and other forms of emotional distress. One method
that some people advocate is the practice of ho'oponopono.
Ho'oponopono is an ancient technique that originated in
Hawaii and was used as a conflict solving measure. It's
worth noting that ho'oponopono is still used in Hawaii
today as a means of solving conflict. Another form of
ho'oponopono emerged however as an individual approach to
problem solving. Self Identity Through Ho'oponopono is a
form developed by a revered Hawaiian woman named Morrnah
Simeona. This updated version of ho'oponopono allows a
single individual to solve problems and improve life
outlook.

Though ho'oponopono is not universally accepted as some
form of healing method, it has a growing number of
practitioners who swear by its results. One benefit to
ho'oponopono according to some is stress reduction and an
overall sense of serenity. The ultimate goal of
ho'oponopono in many ways is to surrender and be guided by
a positive force. This of course is quite different from
many proactive treatment approaches, and as such is seen
skeptically by some. There are those who have even equated
ho'oponopono to a form of fantastical magic. This is
refuted however by regular practitioners of ho'oponopono
who say the ho'oponopono method is not magical but
spiritual, and has been documented to work besides. Agree
or disagree about whether ho'oponopono works, there's no
denying a growing interest in the method.

----------------------------------------------------
Zinn Jeremiah is a freelance writer. Find more ho'oponopono
resources by visiting http://www.hooponoponohelp.com or
http://www.hooponoponohelp.com/god-help-me.htm .

How Can I Lose Fat?

How Can I Lose Fat?
Many companies and individuals want you to believe that
natural weight loss is difficult to achieve but it's just a
case of not eating as much, and having enough regular
exercise; this guidance is lost on many! This advice should
be easy to comprehend - at least you would think it was;
with the number of overweight American citizens increasing,
this advice obviously doesn't work. Despite this, most of
these overweight people want to be trim again although it
is probably more for cosmetic reasons than those related to
their health.

The strange thing is though that it is so much easier to
stay trim than it is to lose weight because as soon as you
start putting on weight, many things become more difficult.
If there is one thing we all know, it is that weight gain
is likely to happen if we do not take forward-looking steps
to stop it.

For some reason even when dieters who have become used to,
and enjoy, a low calorie diet, they eventually drift back
to old habits and start piling the pounds back on again.
You can maintain your weight through natural weight loss
methods and even if being at the centre of unwanted
attention doesn't convince you, surely your health should.

The truth is there is a huge price to pay with your health
when you are overweight and in particular, clinically
obese. The annoying part is that natural weight maintenance
is not difficult to understand but overweight people choose
to ignore this.

Some people worry about what foods they will eat on a
natural weight loss program but it is just a case of having
a combination of, protein, carbohydrate and fiber. If you
were looking at a meal then this would be a baked potato
(carbohydrate), the vegetables would be the fiber and a
little meat, is the protein.

Dietary fat is a problem because it is full of calories
which will be converted into body fat unlike calories that
are consumed in food from other sources. Food manufacturers
have been quick to react and have provided a huge range of
low or no fat foods but despite this the American people
are getting larger, the simple reason for this may surprise
you!

Whilst completely false, the perception is that you can
basically eat exactly what you want provided it is fat-free
but there are still calories in the food which can easily
be converted to body fat. Where this goes wrong is with
overweight people who think that if it's fat free they can
eat more of it instead of eating a healthy snack.

Schools of thought differ on this subject but many
nutritionists agree that eating smaller meals with a snack
every 3 to four hours or between meals could be beneficial
providing main meals are not missed. Natural weight loss
and body maintenance is a way of living, something we all
did rather successfully not that long ago; it is not a
craze that can be forgotten about when the next one comes
along.

----------------------------------------------------
Article by Rachel Harding. Are you struggling to lose
weight I was to till now. Go to http://offto.net/io0whp/ to
find out what I did.

Tune Your Body with Your Voice

Tune Your Body with Your Voice
What is it about the human voice that gives it healing
qualities or abilities? It boils down to two things. One is
frequency and the other is intention. Your entire body is a
symphony of many different frequencies.

The smallest building blocks of matter are atoms and their
parts. At this level, everything is in vibration.
Vibrations occur at different frequencies, measured in
Hertz. Frequency measures how quickly a vibration is
moving. For example, your brainwaves are divided into
different categories by frequency. All of them are present
at any given moment. One of the categories will most likely
be predominant depending on what you are doing. If you are
busy at work, your brainwaves will register mostly in the
beta range from 14 to 20 Hertz. If you close your eyes and
relax for a few moments your brainwaves will slow down to
predominately alpha waves from 8 to 13 Hertz.. Even
individual cells resonate with the combined frequencies of
their parts.

When something in your body goes out of tune imbalance,
dis-ease or illness can settle in. To assist in returning
your body to balance there is one thing that carries all
the frequencies of your body. That is your voice.

So, how do you find the frequency, for example, of a tight
muscle in your shoulder? When you were a child, did you
ever play with making siren sounds with your voice? The
lowest sound you can make, the highest sound you can make
and all the sounds in between as you slide your sound up
and down carry every frequency of your body. To find the
frequency the tight muscle in the shoulder, first, create
the intention that you want to find the sound that will
help to bring that muscle back into tune. Next, make the
siren sound up and down. Listen carefully to the sound.

Is there a tone or sound in the siren that seems louder or
softer than the others? As you slide your voice up and
down, is there a sound that you seem to be drawn to or that
you keep returning to? Allow your intuition and body wisdom
to find the sound. Once you have found the frequency or
sound, sing or hum it to the tight muscle. You can use a
vowel like ahhh or ohhh or any sound that feels
appropriate. Imagine the sound massaging the muscle fibers
and relaxing the tension. Combining visualization with
sound is extremely effective. Always remember to hold a
clear intention for the sound you give to your body.

----------------------------------------------------
The combination of Sharon Carne's expertise in music and
sound, spiritual transformation and her inner guidance has
led Sharon to her soul work. In her workshops people learn
how to dissolve stress and experience how sound heals. Her
CDs offer support for those who are removing negativity and
old patterns of thought and behavior from their lives.
http://www.mountainrosemusic.com

Strength Training versus Aerobics - what is the difference?

Strength Training versus Aerobics - what is the difference?
If you are looking for a total body workout, you want to
combine strength training and aerobics. These are two very
different types of exercise but the work together to turn
your body into a finely tuned machine. Weight training will
tone your muscles, making you stronger while aerobics will
make your heart and lungs stronger, giving you more stamina
while burning the fat. These two disciplines of exercise
work best when you combine them with a sensible, sound
nutritional plan. When you combine good nutrition, strength
training and aerobics you can get the body you have always
wanted.

Strength Training

Strength training is typically weight bearing exercise or
resistance training. It does just what the title suggests,
it builds strength. Weight lifting and exercise machines
are examples of strength training devices. However, pilates
and yoga can also be methods of strength training. You
don't necessarily have to hold free weights to use a
machine to strength train. You can use the weight of your
own body to provide resistance and increase your strength.

It is a good practice to strength train one set of muscles
(such as the upper body) one day and another set (such as
the lower body) the next. Most muscle groups need time to
rest and recover after exercise. So while you can work out
every day, you should work out different muscle groups each
day to give worked muscles time to rest and repair. This
will give you optimal results.

Aerobics

Aerobics is a cardio exercise that gets your heart rate up
and keeps it up. This can be anything from walking to
riding a bike. You can run on a treadmill or take an
aerobics class. If it gets your heart rate up, it is an
aerobic activity. You generally move a lot during aerobic
exercise.

You can do aerobic exercises every day because they do not
focus on specific muscle groups. Where strength training
makes you strong, aerobics makes you lean. It also
strengthens your heart and respiratory system, giving you
increased stamina. With regular aerobic exercise, you will
find that you can run faster and longer as well as perform
better.

Interval Training

Interval training is a combination of weight training and
aerobics and is attributed to effective weight loss and
conditioning. During interval training, you do your
regular weight training, but intersperse with brief spurts
of aerobic exercise. For instance, you do a set of curls,
then walk on the treadmill for five minutes. Next, you do
a bench press and then ride a bike for seven minutes. In
short, you do an aerobic activity such as jumping rope,
walking on the treadmill, running or riding a bike for
short bursts in between each set of weights or nautilis
machines.

Interval training is very popular among athletes because it
builds stamina and strength. With people who want to lose
weight, it can bring about fantastic results. Interval
training utilizes the best results of strength training and
aerobics.

What is a Total Body Workout?

A total body workout involves both strength training and
aerobic exercise so that your entire body is worked. You
get the benefits of being stronger as well as having
enhanced endurance. A typical total body workout consists
of working one muscle group (such as the upper body) for
thirty minutes or so a day three times a week - Monday,
Wednesday and Friday, then the other muscle group (such as
the lower body) for thirty minutes or so three times a week
- Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. Aerobic activity is
practices every day for about thirty minutes. Some workouts
differ in times, some go longer and some are shorter, but
that is the basic total body workout.

Nutrition

If you are working your body with strength training and
aerobics, you need to have the proper nutrition to fuel
your body so that is can perform at an optimum level. You
should eat plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables, whole
grains and lean meats. You need a lot of protein to fuel
your muscles, muscle growth and loss of fat. The various
fruits and vegetables give you the vitamins and minerals
that you need. Whole grains like brown rice and quinoa also
offer protein, fiber and minerals. If you are training
intensively you may find that you need nutritional
supplements. This is very common for people who train
vigorously.

There are specific differences between strength training
and aerobics. Actually, these two types of exercise work
together to form a total body workout. When you combine the
two you will find that you body is stronger, leaner and
have better stamina. If you want to tune your body to an
optimal level, strength training and aerobic activity are
the way to accomplish it.

----------------------------------------------------
Ron Godlewski has written many articles on health,
wellness, and maintaining vitality as we manage our weight
through lifestyle diets. You can read more about the
importance of nutrition while strength training or doing
aerobics in his articles library at
http://www.pillfreesupplements.com and even receive your
own complementary quart of a leading nutritional supplement.

Top Secret: How The Easter Bunny Stays Fit

Top Secret: How The Easter Bunny Stays Fit
With all the Easter eggs this bunny has to deliver, it's
hard for him to find the time to stay fit.

And for the Easter bunny he's got to stay fit to be super
efficient on his big day (Easter).

But today I'll share with you an important type of training
Mr. Bunny does to prepare for Easter.

It's called High Intensity Interval Training or HIIT.

HIIT consists of a warm-up, several short,
maximum-intensity efforts separated by moderate recovery
intervals, and then a cool down.

The sessions should lasts about 15 minutes. But that's the
minimum that you can do. Now that might seem like a really
short period of time to do exercises and still see results,
but there's been numerous studies that prove short high
intensity bouts of exercise, burn fat, maintaining and
building lean muscle, increase your resting metabolic rate,
and also improves you're your max Vo2 (the maximal amount
of oxygen you can intake).

Not bad for just 15 minutes huh?

Now although this type of training is a lot shorter than
traditional training sessions, it does take a great amount
of effort and discipline to perform the short burst of
effort.

I'd recommend you start off doing your high intensity
intervals by incorporating it first into your cardio.

For example: if you're going for a jog you can jog for 1
minute and then sprint your heart out for 15 seconds.

Think of the jogging part as your rest and the sprinting
part as your high intensity portion.

Once you feel comfortable you can use this same approach
with different exercises in your routine.

Here's a quick program to get you started.

Before you try them out, here are a couple guidelines you
must follow.

Before you start an exercise program consult your family
physician.

Start slow and build up to a higher level of intensity.

If you feel uncomfortable, stop what our doing and recover.

Do an exercise for 20 seconds and then take 10 second
before starting a new set.

Based on 4 minute rounds, broken down into 8 sets for 30
seconds.

Do a quick warm up, 5-7 minutes.

Your Quick Workout

Squats: 30 seconds

Rest: 10 seconds

Push Ups: 30 Seconds

Rest: 10 seconds

Lunges: 30 seconds

Rest: 10 Seconds

Dips: 30 seconds

Do all these exercises twice so you've completed 8 sets of
exercises in total. Try to go for 3 rounds.

----------------------------------------------------
Marci Lall is a Womens Weight Loss & Body Sculpting
Specialist. visit his website to get his FREE report "16
tips on how to get maximum weight loss and fitness results
in minimum time" --> http://www.lallpt.com

What Every Woman Over 40 Should Eat For Breakfast To Lose Weight

What Every Woman Over 40 Should Eat For Breakfast To Lose Weight
Want to burn fat, feel fuller longer, stay energized,
reduce calorie intake, prevent snacking between meals and
stay satisfied on busy days when you aren't able to eat?

Then you must include eggs for breakfast.

Research has shown that when overweight and obese people
simply ate eggs for breakfast their appetites were
satisfied longer and they eat fewer calories for the rest
of the day.

Eggs are considered to be the highest quality protein of
any food you can get which helps preserve lean muscle
tissue and increase in fat loss.

Eggs also contain every vitamin and mineral except vitamin
C. Nutrient dense foods help you to get the nutrition you
need without the excess calories and eggs are about 70
calories.

Not only are eggs one of the easiest ways to lose weight
but you will improve your memory (choline), have healthier
eyes (lutein and zeaxanthin easily absorbed by the body
through an egg than from other source), have stronger hair
and nails (sulphur and b12), and 6 or more eggs consumed
per week could lower your risk of breast cancer by 50% (as
shown in one study).

And did you know with so many people being vitamin D
deficient (another reason for overweight) eggs are one of
the few foods that naturally contain vitamin D.

So all together now...

"I love eggs from my head down to my legs oh yeahhh!!"

...oh sorry got carried away now where were we...?

Bottom line, eggs need to become your meal to start the day
and lose that excess weight effortlessly.

Oh and here is one more tip: Whip up some stir fry veggies
in some olive oil and mix in the eggs and you have the best
veggie scramble ever and talk about a power meal besides
being so satisfying and yummy.

Hey how about 1 more tip to help with shedding those excess
pounds, burn the fat, feel fuller longer, stay energized,
reduce calorie intake, prevent snacking between meals and
stay satisfied on busy days when you aren't able to eat?

Here are 7 natural weight loss supplement ingredients to
look for, that work synergistically and do just that:

7-Keto will help you lose 3 times more weight then diet and
exercise alone.

Chromium is a natural fat burner.

ATP is a source of energy for the body. The mitochondria in
our cells use it to fuel the cell.

Cassia is a glucose stabilizer. It is a natural way to help
with extremes in the fluctuation of blood sugar. Too
little, we eat.

Gymnemia is a "feel good" mood stabilizer.

5-HTP is a feel good chemical. This enhances serotonin, we
feel better; eat less and this decreases sugar cravings.

Evodiamine is a natural energy enhancer.

----------------------------------------------------
Debbie endeavors to encourage women to take care of their
bodies and feed their minds with good positive thoughts.
She shares her expertise on quick weight loss for women at
her blog http://weonadiet.com .

What is Corrective Exercise?

What is Corrective Exercise?
Do you suffer from any kind of back pain, knee, hip, ankle,
shoulder or neck pain? Do you suffer from low energy or
persistent headaches? Do you want to look, feel and perform
better in you life? If you are one of these people, a
corrective exercise programme is around the corner waiting
to change your life!

Corrective exercise is the precise training method that
will keep your body in balance by addressing exactly what
the body needs. Through resistance training, stretching,
breathing and movement coaching you will discover what it
really is like to feel physically good!

Unfortunately we live in a society that encourages various
habits and lifestyles that create muscle imbalances. These
imbalances pull our posture and joints out of position and
leave our bodies open to aches and pains. Our faulty body
positions and subsequent movements lead to a number of
problems including:

- Altered breathing patterns
- Impeded blood flow
- Compression of nerves and muscles
- Inflammation and pain

Corrective exercise training addresses these imbalances. It
counteracts your daily movements and bad habits that are
causing your body harm by stretching out the overworked
muscles and strengthening the weak under-used ones to bring
physical balance back to your life.

Benefits of corrective exercise include:

- Ideal posture
- Stronger muscles
- Increased energy & fitness
- Improved blood flow
- Greater sense of well-being

There are no generalisations when it comes to corrective
exercise training. Each body is unique and tells a
different story. We therefore each require a different
training routine to bring the balance back.

Corrective exercise can benefit everybody, simply because
very few people in the world are in perfect physical
balance. The majority of us that perform jobs where sitting
for long periods is required are some of the most in need
for corrective exercise, but others can benefit too.
Examples include:

- Athletes often develop muscle imbalances through training
patterns & movements that emphasise particular muscle
groups.
- Manual workers that perform repetitive movements every
day will often complain of aches and pains.

Pain is not a necessary presence in our lives. It is
something that can and should be eradicated through
Corrective Exercise Training. Go ahead and change your life
today!

By discovering how your body really should work you will
become more balanced, have improved posture, improved
health as a result and become pain free. Your body wants to
be healthy, happy and able to respond to any challenge you
put in front of it. Give it the chance to do that!

----------------------------------------------------
David Osgathorp Owner, All About You Performance &
Wellbeing. Unit 3 Broadbent Close, Highgate, London, N6
5JW. Tel: 020 8348 9706, Mob: 07779 729122. If you would
like more information then pleas contact us via the
website: http://aayou.co.uk/default.aspx

Training For Your Mind That Will Dramatically Reshape Your Body And Your Mind

Training For Your Mind That Will Dramatically Reshape Your Body And Your Mind
Training Report: What if I told you there was a tool so
powerful and so helpful that it can almost put your quest
for fitness here on auto-pilot....

Well, I would be telling you the truth, all possible
through training.

Without sounding like an infomercial for some miracle pill
or magic juice, what is this mystery force. Simply put, it
is your mind! Training for your mind!!

Like Albert Gyorgyi says, "Whatever a man does he must do
first in his mind."

I wholeheartedly agree with that statement, it's the truth.
You can't write without thinking about what you are going
to write about first, you can't say anything unless you
think of it first, well at least anything meaningful.

Training Concept: Every single thing that you do originate
in your mind. Whether that be an easy task such as writing
your name, (hopefully easy for you), or a harder task -
when you may not know the path to your goal.

Apply this process to training and fitness - and we can say
that you have to see yourself thin and an ultimate outcome
of weight loss in your mind first - before you can even
begin the process.

Why is it for some people that being heavy is a frame of
mind rather than just a temporary condition. I have to say
as a Fitness Coach - if you are going to be fit and healthy
you have to start thinking like a fit and healthy person.
This can be summed up by a quote from Mike Todd.....

Training Concept # 2: "I've never been poor, only broke.
Being poor is a frame of mind. Being broke is only a
temporary situation." You must believe it yourself before
you can actually do something. You are never going to be
able to do something if you don't think you can or don't
believe you can't.

If you are stuck in a "heavy mindset", your body will stay
the same accordingly.

Planning is indeed a guarantee for reaching your Fitness
goal. When you go grocery shopping do you have a plan?

Or do you go around the isles letting your stomach decide
for you what you will buy at the time. I always advocate
shopping with a list when you are full. If you plan out
your grocery shopping trip you are much more likely to get
only what's on your list.

Then you don't have those extra boxes of twinkles or bag of
cookies sneaking into your shopping cart - which would be a
very bad temptation to have lurking in your house - unless
you eat everything on the way home in the car.

The title of a great book, "Battlefield Of The Mind", says
it all in the title.

Training Concept #3: Why have a battle take place in your
mind each time you need to make a decision. You are tempted
to dive into that freshly baked double-triple fudge cake at
the office party, are you going to sit their staring at it
and try and decide what you should do, weighing the pro's
and con's in your mind.

Or are you going to let your goals decide for you. You say
to yourself I already thought this out, and this won't help
me reach my goals, so you happily reject the temptation and
move on to the delightful broccoli casserole.

Let your mind decide what your future will be rather than
your stomach and rely on your Training.

Plan out and determine what you want to happen in the
future, and how you are going to go about getting there. If
you don't decide yourself - your circumstances will shape
what happens.

Go for some training and set your mind to create the right
circumstances in order for you to succeed on your journey
to fitness.

----------------------------------------------------
Zach Hunt is a training expert, personal trainer and owner
of Physzique, a fitness coaching service in Spokane, WA. Go
here: http://www.spokanefitnesscoach.com/index.html
or you can go here for more training tips:
http://www.spokanefitnesscoach.com/articles/spokane-training
-in-spokane.html

Killer Heels? Why women need to rethink their high heels and 21 tips for better foot health

Killer Heels? Why women need to rethink their high heels and 21 tips for better foot health
We all have them, those adorable, had-to-buy-them, high
heel shoes hiding in our closet. In fact, many of us have
hundreds of pairs! They are torture devices made by men for
women because they make our butts look good. We also like
the way they make us feel tall, in charge, and yes, sexy!
High heeled shoes are seen as a career woman's six-gun, but
what are we doing to our feet?

High heeled shoes have been linked to many foot ailments
like bunions, hammer toes, neuromas, metatarsalgia,
Achilles tendonitis, ingrown toenails, and corn and
calluses. Chronic knee pain and back pain can also be
linked to high heeled shoes. Is this the price we have to
pay for cute shoes? What is a fashion conscious woman to do?

As a podiatrist, I see twenty-something-year old women
every day complaining of pain in their feet. Often, they
attribute their pain to their exercise regimen or running
shoes. After a thorough history examining their pain, we
often realize that the shoes they run in are not the
problem. It's the shoes they wear to work everyday.

Wearing high heels changes the biomechanics of walking and
can have an impact on the entire structure of the foot and
the relationship of the knee to the ankle, as well as your
lower back. But there are steps (so to speak) you can take
to minimize the damage from your killer heels!

1.Buy shoes that fit! Sounds like a no-brainer, but most
women wear shoes at least a half a size too small. Measure
your feet every time you buy shoes, even just a few extra
pounds can make your shoe size larger. Remember that the
number is just a suggestion, different brands can size
completely differently.

2.Wear a wider shoe than you think you need. The shoe is
not going to stretch that much when you "break it in". Most
women also but their shoes too narrow!

3.Always buy shoes in the afternoon or at the end of the
day. Your feet swell throughout the day, so you will get a
better, realistic fit if you buy in the afternoon.

4.Buy leather shoes, not synthetics. Leather is more
forgiving.

5.Beware of the pointy-toed, high heeled shoe! These are a
double-whammy! Try to avoid the severe point and go for
more of a taper or square toe box.

6.If you have bunions and hammertoes, a silicone protective
sleeve can help your pain from rubbing in your shoes. Make
sure your toe box is wide enough to accommodate the padding.

7.If you have two different sized feet (and most people
do), shoe stretchers can be used to stretch the toe box if
one foot is only a little bigger than the other. If you
have significantly different sized feet, some stores and
websites will sell you two different sized shoes.

8.Try to avoid really high heels. Your feet (and knees)
will thank you if you adjust your heel height to lower than
3 inch heels.

9.Try to wear a consistent heel height. Going up and down
in height can be quite a pain in your Achilles tendon.

10.Chunky heels are much more stable than stilettos. Try to
wear a wider, more supportive heel or even convert to
platforms!

11.If you have to wear heels and have a flexible flat foot,
try "Insolia" insoles. They are relatively inexpensive and
can make a 3 inch heel feel like a 2 inch heel by
distributing stress from your forefoot to the middle of
your arch.

12.If you have constant knee pain, avoid heels all
together! One study showed a 26% increase in stress on the
knee joint in heels higher than 2 inches. Osteoarthritis in
the knee has been linked to chronic wearing of high heel
shoes.

13.Always have a pair of running shoes or casual shoes in
the car or in your desk. You never know when you need to
make a mad dash for the airport or get stuck running
errands. Always have a pair of comfortable shoes on hand
for emergencies.

14.Applying lotion to your feet daily can help with corns
and calluses. An emollient lotion with an exfoliant can
help with thick, hard skin caused by shoe pressure.

15.Get a regular pedicure. Having a regular pedicure and
keeping your toenails in tip top shape can help with
ingrown toenails, also caused by shoe pressure. Make sure
your pedicurist is using sterile instruments and never let
them cut your corns and calluses with a sharp blade!

16.Never perform bathroom surgery on your corns and
calluses. Also, never use those over-the-counter corn
removers; the acid plaster in these products does not know
when to stop and can cause nasty sores and infections!

17.Get a regular massage. Massage can really help with
delayed muscle soreness and fatigue from the abnormal
stress from high heeled shoes.

18.Toe stretching exercises can be very helpful after
taking off your shoes. This helps increase the circulation
to the poor little tootsies that are cramped in your shoes.

19.Stretch your Achilles tendon and calf muscles at least
every day if not twice a day. Regular stretching can help
combat the shortening of the Achilles tendon that occurs
from chronic wearing of high heel shoes. This shortening
can lead to tendonitis and heel pain!

20.Core strengthening exercises can help stabilize your
feet and decrease the stress from high heeled shoes. Every
woman should do core exercises at least three times a week.
They help with back pain, knee pain and foot pain caused by
instability.

21.See your podiatrist if you have any pain that last more
than five to seven days. A few aches and pains are normal
from high heeled shoes, but if you have pain, numbness or
burning that persists for more than 5-7 days, you have an
injury. Simple solutions are available at your podiatrist
if you seek help early. A delay in treatment can lead to
needing surgery or worse......

Women have been wearing high heeled shoes for centuries,
but there are a few things we can do to make our feet more
comfortable if we are slaves to fashion....and aren't we
all?

----------------------------------------------------
For more information on foot and ankle health, visit our
website at http://www.faant.com or my blog at
http://www.myrundoc.com . For a podiatrist in your area,
visit the American College of Foot and Ankle Surgeons
consumer website at http://www.footphysicians.com .

3 Steps To Lose Weight Successfully

3 Steps To Lose Weight Successfully
Are you fat? Are you frustrated? Have you come to the
conclusion that there is no reliable solution to lose
weight. Well, you will be happy to hear that you are
wrong. Fortunately, there is almost a solution for every
problem and weight loss is no different.

The secret here is that everything depends on you. How
much are you willing to commit yourself to this problem.
Your determination will be the deciding factor in how
successful you will be in your weight loss endeavors.

Truthfully, not all weight solutions will be appropriate
for you. There are some solutions that have adverse
effects on your health. Obviously, you should stay away
from these solutions.

The facts are as follows. You simply cannot expect to lose
those unwanted pounds overnight. Becoming fat does not
happen in a vacuum. Nor does it happen overnight. Just as
you gained that extra weight over time, you can only lose
it after a considerable amount of time and effort.

However, it is crucial that you lose those extra pounds.
Yes, having that extra weight does cause unnecessary health
risks. Of course, you want to look and feel better.
Losing weight is a quality of life issue. Losing that
extra weight will have a profound impact on every aspect of
your life.

Here are a few things to keep in mind.

1- Home cooked meals are one of the best ways to lose
weight. It's just common sense. Home cooked meals, when
prepared properly, will contain less fat and more
nutrition. Because of this, you will be doing yourself
more good than harm.

It is important to include whole grains, vegetables, beans
and fruit. Ideally, your food should be fresh as opposed to
canned or frozen.

2- You should avoid fast food restaurants at all costs.
These foods are highly processed and will only contribute
to your weight and harm your health.

3- You should not rely on weight loss pills to lose weight.
The only real way to lose weight is to eat a healthy diet
and combine it will regular exercise.

Natural weight loss supplement can be helpful. They can
help kick start a weight loss program. They should be used
in conjunction with a good diet and a daily exercise
program.

If you do decide to use natural weight loss supplement,
choose something that is all natural and mild. Chinese
herbs have proven to be very effective in weight loss
programs.

Slow and steady wins the race. If you change your diet and
exercise regularly, losing one to two pounds per week is
ideal. If may not seem like much but it is a realistic and
healthy approach. Before long you will achieve your target
weight. Along with that accomplishment, you will look and
feel better.

----------------------------------------------------
Kathryn Soloff wrote a special report to help you lose
weight. Get "7 Steps To Lose Weight" here FREE=>
http://www.7waystoloseweight.com/7Steps.html
Learn more about Natural Herbal Weight Loss here=>

http://www.natural-remedy-dot-com.com/

7 Super Foods You Should Be Eating

7 Super Foods You Should Be Eating
There are actually many "super foods".

Foods that are super nutritious, low in calories, improve
your overall health and help you succeed with your weight
loss plan.

The next time you're at the market, stock up on these...

Cabbage

This vegetable is a heavy component in Asian cooking and
has tons of nutrients. It contains a chemical that
increases your body's creation of enzymes that combat
damaging free radicals and can reduce your risk of cancer.

One cup of cabbage has just 72 calories, making it a fiber
rich, health food that won't expand your waistline. One
easy way to incorporate cabbage into your diet is to add it
to sandwiches and salads, replacing iceberg lettuce.

Swiss Chard

Another leafy green, this slightly salty, slightly bitter
vegetable comes from the Mediterranean. Swiss chard
provides lutein and zeaxanthin, which protect retinas from
becoming damaged.

The more lutein and zeaxanthin you consume, the more
protected your eyes will be. You can easily prepare chard
in a sauté pan or wok, adding garlic for flavor.

Guava

High in potassium, this obscure fruit is native to the
tropics. A guava actually has 63 percent more potassium
than one medium size banana. It's also high in fiber, with
nearly 9 grams of fiber to each cup of guava.

This super food is easy to prepare, you just eat it ' the
entire fruit is edible. Not every grocer will carry guava,
so try higher end grocery stores or markets that cater to
the Latin population.

Cinnamon

This is a yummy spice that can be added to your diet in a
variety of ways. You can sprinkle a little on top of your
low fat latte, add it to your cereal, or oatmeal.

Cinnamon actually helps to control blood sugar, and helps
your cells to metabolize sugar. Adults with type-2
diabetes, who consumed an average of ¼ teaspoon of
cinnamon each day for 6 weeks, experienced a decrease in
their blood sugar and their cholesterol, making cinnamon a
super healthy addition to your diet.

Pomegranate Juice

This juice has actually been linked to decreasing blood
pressure. It is high in Vitamin C and because it's a
powerful juice, you don't need much. Look for brands that
offer no added sugar.

Pumpkin Seeds

You don't have to wait for Halloween to enjoy these yummy
treats. Eat them shells and all. They are high in magnesium
and low in calories, offering a healthy form of fiber. You
can find them at the market, close to other nuts and seeds.

Prunes

They aren't just for old people. Prunes are actually dried
plums and in recent years have been marketed as such. They
are extremely high in antioxidants that help prevent cell
damage and reduce your risk of some cancers.

These super foods can easily be incorporated into your
weight loss program without sacrificing your calorie
conscious ways.

So take a few extra laps around the market next time and
throw some of these into your basket for better health!

----------------------------------------------------
Debbie endeavors to encourage women to take care of their
bodies and feed their minds with good positive thoughts.
She shares her expertise on natural weight loss and
radiantly healthy living at her blog http://weonadiet.com .

A Simple Walking Weight Loss Program

A Simple Walking Weight Loss Program
It's a fact that walking for weight loss has to be one of
the most effective, and healthiest ways to lose weight.

While all kinds of exercises produce all kinds of
different, yet positive, health benefits, walking is a
natural form of exercise which stands out from all the rest.

A walking weight loss program is simple to start, easy to
keep going, and can be incredibly effective. While no
single exercise is perfect, and many can provide a range of
health benefits similar to walking, it is very hard to find
a weight loss program of more value when taken as a whole.

No exercise is perfect, and walking is no exception.

It does not build much muscle, does not directly increase
flexibility to any great degree, nor does it necessarily
prepare someone for any specific activity other
than...well...walking.

However, this last point is not necessarily a bad thing.
Many people who started out walking to lose weight or get
healthy have moved on to hiking, running marathons, and a
wide range of other activities. However, it was getting up
and moving, getting fit, losing weight, improving health,
increasing energy, and creating a better self image through
an initial walking weight loss program that got them
started.

Some more great things about walking is that it needs
little in the way of equipment, other than a good pair of
shoes; it requires little space and no real training at
all. Additionally, walking is a natural function of our
lives, and most of us can find ways to simply incorporate
more walking in our lives without creating some formal
workout routine.

In fact, I came up with the bare bones of this article
while lying in bed this morning. Later, while watching
CNN, I saw a story by Dr. Sanjay Gupta, in which he focused
on a woman who had lost 40 lbs and was able to stop taking
her blood pressure medication simply because she started
riding the train into Atlanta and walking several blocks
from the station to her office instead of driving in and
parking nearby!

However, many people are just not sure of what to do, or
what to expect, and want what my wife refers to as a
"recipe". They want to be told how often to walk, how far
and how fast to walk, and what they can expect from
following that recipe. A failure or breakdown in any of
these aspects often leads to the individual dropping out of
their walking weight loss program or not starting in the
first place because it all seems too complicated or too
difficult.

Any exercise program, and walking is no exception, is often
at risk with people new to exercise simply because of
expectations being to high, and knowledge on the part of
the exerciser being too low.

Let's cover the expectations and knowledge part up front
before we get to the subject of establishing a personal
walking weight loss program.

While researchers in a lab environment can establish
averages and baselines for weight loss, burning fat, and
the use of calories, these figures are based on data
obtained from several different participants. This data in
its final form can only represent an overall average of
these many different subjects performing specifically in
the parameters of the trial.

You are one individual whose sidewalk may be different
from the research facility's track and whose parents are
different from those of the subjects in the study. Not
only is your genetic makeup different, but what you had for
breakfast and how long ago you had it is different, as is
your personal level of health and fitness.

Do you see my point?

You cannot directly compare your activity or results to
those of the studies themselves.

On the other hand, the data DO definitely show that regular
walking can help you lose weight and increase your health.
Just because you cannot duplicate the results of a study
exactly, or even perform the program followed by the
participants exactly, does not mean that you should give up
on the idea of creating your own walking weight loss
program.

Additionally, many such studies have produced the same
basic results, using slightly varying walking programs, so
it is not absolutely necessary to follow any one specific
program to the exclusion of all other. In other words,
when it comes to your walking weight loss program, yours
has as good a chance as being effective for you as theirs
do!

How much weight will you lose and how fast will you lose it?

That is going to depend on many factors as well.

For example, your age, sex, weight, physical condition, and
diet will be just a few of the factors which will come into
play. How often you exercise, how intensely you exercise,
and your long term commitment (extending over many months
or even years) to your walking weight loss program will all
have an impact on your final results.

Is walking the only exercise you need to lose weight?

Not necessarily. While many people can lose all the
"weight" they need to lose through walking, using
resistance exercises to build muscle tissue can cause you
to lose weight more effectively and during periods when you
are not specifically exercising. Walking will build a
small amount of muscle tissue if you are not in shape at
first, but once built, that's all you're going to get and
you will have to walk farther, faster, or more often in
order to burn more calories.

In fact, some people will only be able to burn fat or
calories to a certain level, and may find themselves at a
new, though healthier, level of weight and fitness without
having reached their goals.

This is why you see many people who walk a lot who are
still overweight.

In most cases, they have not modified their eating habits,
they have not added resistance training to their exercise
program, or they have not increased their walking program
by going farther, faster, or by adding hilly terrain or
having challenged themselves to reach a new level.

The good news is, however, that if, like the lady in
Atlanta, you simply begin by finding a way to add some
additional walking to your daily lifestyle, it will not be
immediately necessary to take on the demands of a formal
fitness program. Keep finding ways to add more walking to
your daily activities, however, and you will see a definite
loss of weight and improvement in many health areas.

If you have hesitated to get started because of issues with
time, equipment, and/or because you think you must have
some particular goal or structured process to guide, you,
get over it. You just need a few minutes somewhere in your
day, a good pair of shoes, and an area to walk in, and you
can start your own highly effective walking weight loss
program.

----------------------------------------------------
Donovan Baldwin is a freelance writer currently living in
central Texas. He is a University of West Florida alumnus,
a member of Mensa, and is retired from the U. S. Army after
21 years of service. He has published many of his articles
on diet and weightloss at
http://nodiet4me.com/articledirectory .