Fitness Success: Small Daily Decisions

Fitness Success: Small Daily Decisions
A man I once knew would ask his son "how do you eat an
elephant?" The son would look up in a daze and ask "how?"
The wise dad responded "one bite at a time." I believe it
is our human nature especially in our fast paced society to
want everything right now!

Billions of dollars are spent every year on weight loss
pills and "quick fix miracles." We struggle as a society
with patience especially with ourselves. Think of someone
in your own life who excels at something they do. For
example I have one friend who plays the piano flawlessly.
While I watch him play it is my human nature to think;"They
are so lucky to be so good at that." What I would forget is
the behind the scenes the work that it took to develop that
talent. He didn't just sit at the piano and begin playing
Mozart. He spent countless hours practicing, and
practicing; studying music and the notes on the page until
one day he put it all together to produce beautiful music.

Our health and fitness can be applied the same way. It is
the small decisions we make everyday that literally form
who we become over time.

Make a choice to park a little farther away. Make a choice
to take the stairs instead of the elevator. Make a choice
to drink water instead of the cola. Make a choice to split
a meal at a restaurant with your spouse of friend. Make it
a habit to stop eating when you feel full.

We are faced with small choices everyday and we do have the
power to choose. We are the one bringing the spoon or fork
to our mouth. We are the ones choosing what is on that fork
or spoon. We are the ones deciding to watch TV for 30
minutes instead of getting off the couch and doing some
physical exercise.

Take responsibility for the choices you are making and
remember that you are a reflection of all those small
little choices that you are making every single day.

Although it might take many days, weeks, or even months
reach our health and fitness goals...

Remember the saying; "How do you eat an elephant?" "One
bite at a time." "How you reach your health and fitness
goals?" One small, daily, decision at a time.

Do something everyday to get you one step closer to the
person that you want to be!

Think back over your life to a time that you felt the best
you have ever been. Can you remember that feeling? I want
you to really feel again how that felt! You can feel that
way again! You have to believe that! Don't settle for just
being, but strive to be the best you you can be!

Be excited about this new journey you are taking.

Be excited to discover new potential you have that you
never even realized was in you!

Participate in activities that get you excited about
fitness.

Be excited about your potential.

Remember that the change has to come with in you... you
have to believe in yourself first!!!

You can become who ever or what ever you want to be as long
as you want it bad enough, and that is exciting. You are
your own sculptor. You are the Michelangelo of your own
body and together we are going to make a masterpiece.

All the Best! Chelsie Mecham eFit Today Total Fitness Team

----------------------------------------------------
Join our Revolutionary Fitness Community that is committed
to bringing you the exact cutting edge fitness tools that
you need to Finally Succeed. Are You Ready to Lose Your
First 10 Pounds?
http://www.efit-today.com

Why Refined Carbohydrates Are So Damaging To Weight Loss Plans

Why Refined Carbohydrates Are So Damaging To Weight Loss Plans
While a common weight loss recommendation is to reduce
carbohydrate intake (primarily foods like breads, cereals,
pastas, and sweets), for many people it is unclear why this
is so important. In fact, even some doctors and scientists
insist that weight loss is a simple matter of burning more
calories than one consumes and it doesn't matter what kind
of foods those calories come from. This may seem logical
at first, but with a greater understanding of how the body
processes carbohydrates, it becomes readily apparent that
certain kinds of calories are much easier to burn than
others and consuming large amounts of carbohydrates, even
in the context of a relatively low-calorie diet, most
definitely predisposes the body to storing fat.

At the heart of the matter is the hormone insulin. The
function of insulin is to stimulate the cells to take up
sugar from the bloodstream (when blood sugar is high, as it
typically is shortly after eating) and store it for reserve
energy.

This extra blood sugar is first stored as a compound called
glycogen in the muscles and liver. Glycogen can be quickly
converted back to blood sugar when needed for energy to
fuel sudden bursts of activity. The available storage
space for glycogen is pretty limited, and when insulin has
caused the glycogen storage to be filled up, the remaining
excess blood sugar is stored as fat.

There is considerably more storage space in the body for
fat than there is for glycogen. There are billions of fat
cells in the body, each of which can enlarge to over 100
times it's original size to accomodate extra fat storage.
As an aside, this is why it is possible to get fat again
after liposuction - even if you remove many of the body's
fat cells, those that remain can enlarge considerably to
store fat.

Insulin is extremely powerful in its fat storage effects.
In fact, not only does it stimulate fat storage, high
levels of insulin block the effects of the body's fat
burning mechanisms. This is where the importance of
limiting carbohydrate consumption comes into play.

High carbohydrate intake (and it really doesn't need to be
very high) stimulates the release of large quantities of
insulin. This high production of insulin effectively
prevents the body from burning fat - for 24 to 48 hours!
In fact, a single meal containing 20 to 25 grams of refined
carbohydrates (about the amount in a slice of sandwich
bread) can completely block your ability to burn fat for 1
to 2 days - regardless of what you eat and how much or how
hard you may exercise during that time.

Now, that last point is sometimes confusing to people
because many people eat relatively high amounts of
carbohydrate and still manage to lose weight - at least in
the short-term. Notice that I said that high carbohydrate
intake causes high insulin production that blocks FAT
burning. You can still lose water weight through various
methods (if you happen to be eating a low protein and low
fat diet, you will typically lose a lot of water weight),
and you can still burn calories, but what you burn will be
glycogen and lean body tissue (protein from your muscles)
and not fat. As you may be aware, lean body tissue
(muscle) is highly metabolically active, and if you burn
that tissue, ultimately your metabolism will slow down,
making it harder and harder to lose weight.

Because of the effects of insulin, minimizing carbohydrate
intake is strongly recommended for sustainable fat burning
and the most efficient and lasting natural weight loss.
This is not to say that everyone will benefit from being on
a high protein diet such as Atkins. Excessive protein
intake can create its own problems that can ultimately
interfere with ongoing weight loss due to detrimental
effects on the liver. Instead, the best diet program in
most intances involves eating plenty of fresh or frozen
vegetables and fruits, nuts, seeds, and moderate quantities
of protein from lean meats, fish, eggs, and dairy. The
carbohydrates you do consume are best obtained in
high-fiber forms from vegetables, fruits, seeds, and nuts,
rather than from refined grains.

A few diet plans will recommend a low carbohydrate intake,
yet suggest allowing yourself a "reward" of some
high-carbohydrate food like a cookie or other sweet as
often as once per week. I disagree with this recommendation
as it can sabotage your natural weight loss program on two
levels. First, as we've been discussing, the carbs will
trigger a high insulin release which will shut off your
ability to burn fat for up to two days. So, at once per
week, you could lose as much as 8 days per month of
potential fat burning - decreasing the effectiveness of
your diet by as much as 25%! The other problem is that
eating carbs tends to set you up for carb cravings. At the
very least, such cravings will test your will-power, and
they could cause you to cheat on your diet repeatedly.
This could ultimately doom your diet to total failure. My
advice is to save your carbohydrate consumption for special
occasions only - which should be limited to once per month
or less.

Hopefully you now have a better understanding of why high
carbohydrate consumption is so damaging to a natural weight
loss plan. If you commit to a healthy diet and avoid the
carbs for 2 to 3 weeks, you will likely find that you don't
really miss them after that period of time and so avoiding
them becomes much easier. With a little extra effort early
on, you'll find that eating a healthy diet becomes natural
to you and you'll be able to reach your long-term weight
goals.

----------------------------------------------------
Dr. George Best has been in private practice as a holistic
healthcare provider in San Antonio, Texas since 1992. For
more information, to obtain a free natural weight loss
guide, and/or to access his E-Book, "Training Your Brain
For Weight Loss", please visit
http://www.TrainYourBrain4WeightLoss.com .

The Permanent Diet - Why Fitness Is A Lifestyle

The Permanent Diet - Why Fitness Is A Lifestyle
Have you ever tried to diet your way to a better body? I
have a slight hunch that you have, and I'm willing to bet
that at some point you terminated that diet. Any mention of
the word "diet" will leave most people with awful memories:
restrictive, boring, and painful sound accurate.

Why I ask? Why? Simply put, a diet is not a solution, it's
a marketing gimmick. They're all temporary and short
sighted, setting you up for failure.

If you think about it, in order for someone to gain weight,
you have to live a lifestyle that caters to gaining weight
- whether that be from excessive eating or lack of physical
activity. The weight doesn't just jump onto you overnight.
It may take years of poor habits to get to your current
level.

If it took you 10 years to accumulate the excess weight,
it's not going to come off in 1 month or even 6 months in
some crash diet. There lies the answer, if it took a
certain lifestyle to gain weight, it's going to take a
different lifestyle to take it off. It's a change in
lifestyle, not a quick fix diet. Being in shape should be
the result of how you live every day.

If you fix the habits or actions that have caused the
weight gain, you can cause the weight to come off
automatically. Cleaning up some daily habits will often do
the trick. For example if you drink 1 can of soda every day
with your lunch - exchange that for water. Just that one
simple change added up over 1 year will result in a 16
pound difference. Add 30 minutes of physical activity 3-4
times a week and there's at least another 12 pounds each
year.

Maybe it's the glazed donut at work 3 times a week - 12
months later there's another 11 pounds. These are simple
conscious actions that you take throughout each day to make
a difference in the long term. A great habit is to just
drink water all day long - not only will you get the
benefit of hydration you'll also skip the extra calories
from soda, fruit juices and coffee mocha delights.

How about switching to skim milk instead of 2%, while that
may not be for everyone, it's just an idea of how simple
taking away a few calories here and there can be. Take 1
year, and week by week, improve upon your current habits
with nutrition or physical activity. By the end of the year
you will have seen significant results, all from those very
slight changes. Losing weight doesn't have to be
restrictive or obsessive in any sense of the word. It all
comes back to what your lifestyle is like, that's what will
ultimately determine what your weight will be. You've
probably heard of someone getting liposuction or another
form of weight reduction surgery. Often times they just
gain every bit of the weight back, they got their quick
fix, but in the end their lifestyle just puts the weight
back on.

Lottery winners get their "get rich quick" scheme, but in
the end, many of them are just as poor as they were before
they had won their money. They're original lifestyle
catered to that style of living. Although they got a lucky
break with the winnings, their habits of spending,
attitudes toward money and no savings ultimately put them
right back at where they started.

So if you are looking for that "get thin quick" scheme, I
urge you to reconsider your perception on how you view
weight loss. Weight loss is a process and not a one time
event - as I'm sure you would like to maintain your ideal
body weight once you reach it. The word diet alone implies
that you will at some point quit the behavior and quite
possibly gain all the weight back. This continues in a
cyclical fashion, just like a yo-yo, going up and down and
up and down. Weight loss is more than just a temporary fix,
it's a lifestyle change. Be like a rock, when a rock is
dropped it just drops, and stays down.

----------------------------------------------------
Zach Hunt is the owner and head fitness coach of Physzique,
a high-end personal fitness coaching service in Spokane,
WA. He helps his clients to quickly and permanently drop
unwanted fat and transform their body with a proven system
that takes less than 3 hours of exercise each week. Go now
to http://www.SpokaneFitnessCoach for immediately usable
health and fitness tips.

Don't Change Comfort Foods Into Diet Foods

Don't Change Comfort Foods Into Diet Foods
A colleague asked me to contribute to a project she is
doing for her job. She works on a web site for people who
are going through illnesses or caring for their loved ones
who are ill. The site provides a space for these folks to
share their stories and offer (and receive) support and
encouragement.

As a nutritionist, her suggestion was that I discuss how to
make comfort foods more nutritious. I remember we
mentioned what our comfort foods were, including a specific
brand of vanilla ice cream, mashed potatoes, macaroni and
cheese (for some reason, at least for me, my comfort foods
are all white-except chocolate, of course). Macaroni and
cheese seemed to be a popular item, and she suggested that
I come up with a way to modify it to make it more
nutritious.

After my colleague finished telling me about this idea, I
found myself immediately saying "I would never touch
anyone's comfort food." And I wouldn't. I can't imagine
telling someone, going through a difficult time in their
lives, to change the food that brings them comfort. There
are many types of nourishment; emotional and psychological
may be more important at this time in your life than
physical nourishment.

If you changed your macaroni and cheese to whole-wheat
macaroni and low fat cheese, it would be an entirely new
food. I would never tell a person who loves brand name
vanilla ice to switch to fat free frozen yogurt-not at this
time in their lives. Mashed potatoes with plain yogurt and
fat free margarine? Perhaps, when watching your weight,
this is an appropriate choice, especially if you like it.
But changing one's comfort food creates an entirely new
food with entirely new associations. And one of those might
on a subconscious level say, "you weren't doing this right,
you should have done it this way." Where is the comfort in
that?

The whole idea of comfort foods is that they fill you with
a memory, a feeling of safety, perhaps a reminder of a time
when a parent made this food to take care of you. And now
you are making it to take care of yourself. You are not
eating the food for any particular nutritious reason, but
rather an emotional, psychological reason. It takes you to
a time when you felt safe and secure, and for a small time
during this particularly chaotic period in your life; you
need a small island of comfort.

So I told my colleague I'd be happy to write for her, but
not on the subject of changing recipes for comfort foods.
My advice in this area? Perhaps you don't need to eat the
whole bowl of mashed potatoes, or the entire box of
macaroni and cheese. But during illness, stress, it is not
time to worry about the "right" foods, the low calorie
versions, the low fat cheesecake. While this may not be
the most nutritious advice, my primary concern is to help
you take care of yourself. And taking care of yourself
doesn't involve making changes to anything (including food)
that has worked for you in the past.

I can be your nutritionist another time.

----------------------------------------------------
If you would like more information on becoming At Peace
With Food™, as well as access to interesting articles and
links to nutritional resource websites, visit=>
http://www.AtPeaceWithFood.com/freetips.html

Meditation Techniques - Learn How To Perform Meditation

Meditation Techniques - Learn How To Perform Meditation
There are many different types of meditation and the
techniques can vary from being very simple to being quite
complex. The benefits of meditation can be great as many
studies have been done outlining many of the potential
health benefits from reduction in stress to less symptoms
of disease. Here are a few different techniques to help you
learn meditation.

Breathing Exercise:

This is a very simple technique and simply requires that
you put your mental attention on your breathing. Simply
turn your mental focus to your breathing as you breathe in
and then out. Try to only think of your breathing, if you
find other thoughts entering your mind then simply return
your focus gently back on the breath.

Do this for five to ten minutes a day or whenever you feel
you need to get rid of some tension and stress. Over time
you will experience fewer distractions and you will be able
to slip into that quiet frame of mind quicker and
experience the peace and tranquility that it brings.

Guided Meditation:

This kind of meditation is usually accompanied by music
usually sounds of nature or other non verbal music that is
slow and gentle. It is also best to do this in a quiet room
without any other kinds of distractions. You can light an
incense that you like to help to relax you further.

Now focus on a pure space inside of your heart and see a
light there. Then envision this light spreading slowly
throughout your body and then see the light extending
outside your body to the space around you. Maintain your
focus on this light and avoid external thoughts. The idea
is to get to that state of a quiet peaceful mind that is
also potentially the least stressful and thus may offer
great health benefits.

Chakra Meditation:

Chakra meditation is based on concentrating on the various
energies that lie within us and by simply paying attention
to different regions of our body we have the potential to
get great health benefits in those particular regions.
There are seven chakras that you need to learn when
performing this type of meditation.

They are the root chakra, feeling chakra, personality
chakra, heart chakra, throat chakra, knowledge and crown
chakra. There are indeed a few things to learn so be
patient and take your time to learn this type of
meditation. When performing this type of meditation make
sure that your focus is on one chakra at a time and you
need to clear your thoughts.

You can also add some relaxing music to the background if
you like and make sure that you are in a room that is free
of distractions so be sure to turn the television or radio
off. The main idea is to feel a connection with everything
around you. There are many books and tapes written that can
show you in detail how to do this type of meditation as it
can get complex.

Zen Meditation:

Zen meditation is also defined as the study of the self. It
is best to do this in a seated position called the burmese
position. Make sure to keep the back straight as this will
make deep breathing occur much more naturally. The deep
breathing that occurs during this type of meditation can
offer many health benefits as by introducing more oxygen
into your system you help to cleanse and energy your body.

One of the things you do in zen meditation is to stay in
the same position for fifteen to twenty minutes. This will
help you to develop a quieter mind by restricting your
physical movements. Often a scattered mind is what causes
significant stress in the lives of many so learning to
reduce your thoughts can be very stress relieving. Pick a
meditation approach you feel comfortable with and learn all
you can about it and most importantly do it on a regular
basis to reap the benefits.

----------------------------------------------------
Jitender is an online researcher, author and a regular
contributor to site that shows people how to attain better
health and wellness. Please visit
http://www.superhealthy.org and learn how to improve your
health.

The Season of Excuses

The Season of Excuses
We have officially entered the 'Season of Excuses.'

That's right, even the most dedicated fitness enthusiast
will skip workouts and eat too much junk this month.
Because it's Christmas, after all... Be aware that excuses
quickly turn into a slippery slope. You miss one workout
this week and then two next week, before you know it you
haven't exercised for a month. Once you fall out of your
routine it will take focused effort to get back on track.

Here are the more popular excuses...maybe they sound
familiar:

* I Don't Have Time: Holiday parties, shopping trips, and
house guests all seem like valid excuses as to why you
can't exercise today, but don't believe it. The fact is
that you can find the time to exercise, even in the busiest
season of the year. Simply sit down and schedule exercise
time into your calendar.

* I Don't Have Anyone to Exercise With: Your spouse or
friend committed to exercise with you three times a week,
only to quit a week later. Now you are left to workout on
your own...or to quit right along with them. Let's be
honest, the easy thing to do is to quit rather than go it
alone, but where does that leave you? Right back where you
started-out of shape and unhappy with your body. Don't let
someone else's laziness get in the way of your success.

* Another Day Won't Make a Difference: By skipping your
workout today you may not wake up one size larger tomorrow,
but you also won't wake up in better shape. The fact is
that your current body and health are the direct result of
all the little choices that you make each day. Resolve to
make each choice a healthy one, and watch how your body and
health are transformed.

* I'll Never Reach My Goals Anyway: It's been years since
you've been in shape and the number on the scale is so
large that you don't even know how long it would take to
lose it all. It's easy to give up when the task at hand is
overwhelming. However, I am here to tell you that you can
do it. What you are facing is simply a fear of failure.
What if you start exercising only to gain it all back? What
if you don't have what it takes to lose the weight?
Remember this: You only fail when you allow excuses to stop
your progress.

Examine the why: An important step in conquering your
excuses is to determine their source. Are the holidays to
blame or is there a deeper issue at hand? Excuses are often
an indication of lowered motivation. Have you forgotten
your reasons for getting fit? Another common reason is
boredom. Have your workouts gotten stale?

Conquer each excuse: Don't let excuses derail your goals
any longer. Use these three tips and get the results that
you deserve:

* Focus on the benefits. We all need a reminder every now
and then as to why we started exercising in the first
place. Make a list of the benefits you enjoy most and read
them before your workout.

* Keep it interesting. Do you do the same thing over and
over? No wonder you've started to come up with excuses.
Throw your old routine out the window and try something
totally new. Always keep your routine fresh-it will give
you something to look forward to.

* Treat yourself to Personalized Health Coaching. Sometimes
a little help goes a long way. My personal coaching
programs are designed with one goal in mind: to get you in
the best shape of your life as quickly as possible. Get
started now before the New Year's rush and together we can
get you on your way to the results you deserve.

----------------------------------------------------
If you are ready to admit you need help keeping on track,
consistently progressing, and maintaining a positive
attitude, please visit
http://www.healthyhappyweightloss.com for more information
on innovative trainings and caring, sincere support.

Is the south beach diet safe? What every dieter needs to know.

Is the south beach diet safe? What every dieter needs to know.
On quick glance, the south beach diet seems fairly safe and
overall, pretty healthy cuisine. It does offer a way to
eat healthy for life which is not the norm for fad diets.
Support is also available through online communities and
direct advice from the doctor who formed the diet and his
nutritionists. Sounds good, right? But look a little closer
and you'll see its pitfalls.

The biggest pitfall of the south beach diet is found right
at the beginning. The first two weeks of the south beach
diet are excruciating. Absolutely no fruit, bread, rice,
potatoes, pasta, sugar, alcohol or baked goods are allowed.
If the dieter is accustomed to eating these things, this
will be extremely difficult to get through. This fact
alone makes the south beach diet a potential failure.

In addition, the south beach diet in the first two weeks
puts the body in a state of ketosis. Ketosis occurs when
adequate carbohydrates are not taken in and ketone bodies
are produced. If ketosis continues, then ketoacidosis can
occur leading to coma and death. This will be amplified in
anyone with kidney problems, but is certainly a problem
even in healthy people. Moreover, the majority of weight
lost in a state of ketosis is water weight and it will be
regained when normal eating resumes. Lowering calories to
this extreme also reduces metabolism thereby making weight
loss more difficult in the future.

Designed for lowering cholesterol in heart patients and
also for diabetics, the south beach diet is basically a low
carb diet. After the initial two weeks, healthy
carbohydrates such as whole grains, fruits and vegetables
are gradually added back in. The potential for gaining
back pounds lost in the first two weeks is high at this
point. It's very difficult for a person to deny themselves
of something and not go overboard when the item is
reintroduced. Again, a great deal of self-resolve will be
needed.

Another pitfall to the south beach diet is rather
subjective, but nevertheless, an issue. The south beach
diet offers books and advice by the ton creating somewhat
of a complicated plan. A lot of people will simply not
make it through learning the diet and become frustrated
when things become too complicated. If a person has a
difficult time understanding a diet, he or she will have an
even more difficult time sticking to it.

The south beach diet, overall, is just too strict. Eating
healthy for life doesn't have to mean giving everything up.
There aren't many allowances for occasional indulgence.
This, in and of itself, will make it difficult for a person
to stick to the south beach diet.

Though it's not the worst fad diet ever, the south beach
diet just isn't the best way to achieve healthy weight loss
and keep it off for life. The best way to achieve healthy
weight loss is by learning the basics of nutrition, some of
which we learned quite simply in kindergarten with the food
guide pyramid. Seems a bit simpler than memorizing the
Glycemic Index, doesn't it?

Rather than following the south beach diet, try a more
straightforward approach. Make a list of all the items you
eat that are high in fat and sugar. Eliminate most of
these from your daily intake and only allow a small amount
now and again. Read food labels and try to understand
portion sizes. You may be surprised at what you find. For
instance, a serving of ice cream is only half a cup for a
total of about 300 calories. Can you see how easy it would
be to serve up a cup or even a cup and a half? Now that
"serving" of ice cream is 600 to 750 calories! Try to get
at least 60 minutes of physical activity every day. This
could be a standard exercise such as running mixed up with
some fun like dancing.

Remember the key to a healthy diet: Everything in
moderation! The south beach diet may work for some people,
but it certainly won't work for everyone. Following a
generally healthy diet and exercising regularly is a less
complicated approach to weight loss.

----------------------------------------------------
From a sickly little girl to a healthy chef to the stars,
Darlene Nicholson transformed herself into The "Kick in the
Butt" Healthy Lifestyle Expert and creator of the popular
DVD "The Healthy Grocery Store Tour". Visit her website
http://www.lifechanginghealthysoutions.com or grab a copy
of her free ebook "4 Steps to Permanent Weight
Loss"...guaranteed to open your eyes to how easy weight
loss can be with the right plan of attack.
http://free-weightloss-book.com/