Here is written a brief explanation of each of the 4 paths of yoga. All the paths lead ultimately to the same destination - to union with Brahman or God (Yoga) - and the lessons in each path need to be integrated if true wisdom is to be attained.
Yoga will develop man as a whole - his heart, intelligence and hand. All these 4 paths can be combined into a single spiritual process (ensuring balance is always present), because the ultimate objective of all of them is the same.
Raja Yoga - (Royal Yoga) - The Yoga of physical and mental control - Meditation is the focal point of this branch of yoga. It focuses on controlling the mind in order to attain enlightenment. Hatha Yoga is the physical branch of Raja Yoga - which teaches control of the body. The word hatha means willful or forceful. Hatha Yoga refers to a set of physical exercises (known as asana’s or postures), designed to align your skin, muscles, and bones. The postures are also designed so that energy can flow freely. Hatha is also translated as ha meaning “sun” and tha meaning “moon.” Hatha yoga is a path toward creating balance and uniting opposites. In our physical bodies we develop a balance of strength and flexibility. We also learn to balance our effort and surrender in each pose.
Compiled by the Sage - Patanjali - in the Yoga Sutras, the following 8 Limbs of Raja Yoga are a progressive series of steps which purify the body and mind, ultimately leading the yogi to enlightenment.
Yamas - or restraints (Don’ts) are divided into five moral injuctions, aimed at destroying the lower nature. They are - Ahimsa or non-violence , Satyam or truthfulness , Brahmacharya or moderation in all things (control of all senses), Asteya or non-stealing , Aparigraha or non-covetousness.
Niyamas - or observances (Do’s) are also divided into five and complete the ethical precepts. They are - Saucha or purity - this internal and external cleanliness, Santosha or contentment , Tapas or austerity , Swadhyaya or study of the sacred texts , Ishwara Pranidhana which is constantly living with an awareness of the divine Presence.
Asanas - Physical yoga Postures.
Pranayama - control of the breath.
(Asanas & Pranayama form the part of Raja Yoga known as Hatha Yoga)
Pratyahara - withdrawal of the senses in order to still the mind.
Dharana - concentration. When Dharana is achieved, it leads to the next step:
Dhyana - meditation. When mastered Dhyana leads to the last step:
Samadhi - the superconscious state. In Samadhi - oneness is experienced. This is the deepest and highest state of consciousness where body and mind have been transcended.
Karma Yoga - (action) - is the path of service, and none of us can escape this pathway. The principle of Karma Yoga is that what we experience today is created by our actions in the past. So if what goes around comes around - we will be inclined to live a less selfish life. It teaches us to detach ourselves from the results of our actions, lets us let go of the ego, and purify the heart.
Bhakti yoga - (devotion) - the path of worship. Seeing the divine in all of creation - it provides us with an opportunity to cultivate acceptance and tolerance for everyone we come into contact with. It is the yoga of the heart. This is the most popular path in India, and it involves surrendering yourself to the devine through prayer, worship and ritual.
Jnana Yoga - (wisdom) - the yoga of the mind, the path of inner enquiry. This path requires development of the intellect through the study of the scriptures and texts of the yogic tradition. It involves serious study and will appeal to those who are more intellectually inclined.
Lorna Littlewing is the Webmaster of http://www.yogabhoga.co.uk, http://www.ompixels.com, and http://www.rawfoodhomepage.com
March 4, 2009
The Best Carbs For Low Carbers
With the popularity of low carb diets such as Atkins, The Zone, and South Beach, more and more people are becoming aware of the bad effects to the body of too much carbohydrate consumption. As people try to cut down on their carb intake, it should be noted that not all carbs are created equal.
In a nutshell, there are two kinds of carbohydrates, simple and complex. Some refer to them as bad and good carbs, fast and slow digestion carbs and other possibly confusing lingo. Here?s the scoop.
SIMPLE CARBS are those carbohydrates that are most often have low nutrient content and have high glycemic index such as white bread, cookies, pastries, candies, and sodas. They are quick to digest and can cause blood sugar to soar then fall dramatically within a short span of time. In order to keep the body running more healthy and stable, health advisors recommend that these types of foods be limited.
COMPLEX CARBS are those that contain many nutrients and have a low to moderate glycemic index. Higher fiber content in these foods means slower digestion, which is healthier for the body. And these foods are considered good choices by health advisors. Examples of these complex carbs are whole grains, most fruits and vegetables. Legumes, plants of the pea or bean family, are also in this category.
While studies like one from the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in January of 2004 show that low-carb diets can help with weight loss; the carbs need to be of the complex, low glycemic type.
It would be best to avoid simple carbs altogether. But if you just can’t stay away, you should at least eat them in moderation or in accordance with the advice of your dietary advisor or health practitioner.
Jun Lim manages a website called Low Carb Options that could show you exactly where you can get all your premium quality, low carb products so affordably that you’ll be able to afford a new wardrobe to match your new, super-slim figure by your summer vacation.
In a nutshell, there are two kinds of carbohydrates, simple and complex. Some refer to them as bad and good carbs, fast and slow digestion carbs and other possibly confusing lingo. Here?s the scoop.
SIMPLE CARBS are those carbohydrates that are most often have low nutrient content and have high glycemic index such as white bread, cookies, pastries, candies, and sodas. They are quick to digest and can cause blood sugar to soar then fall dramatically within a short span of time. In order to keep the body running more healthy and stable, health advisors recommend that these types of foods be limited.
COMPLEX CARBS are those that contain many nutrients and have a low to moderate glycemic index. Higher fiber content in these foods means slower digestion, which is healthier for the body. And these foods are considered good choices by health advisors. Examples of these complex carbs are whole grains, most fruits and vegetables. Legumes, plants of the pea or bean family, are also in this category.
While studies like one from the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in January of 2004 show that low-carb diets can help with weight loss; the carbs need to be of the complex, low glycemic type.
It would be best to avoid simple carbs altogether. But if you just can’t stay away, you should at least eat them in moderation or in accordance with the advice of your dietary advisor or health practitioner.
Jun Lim manages a website called Low Carb Options that could show you exactly where you can get all your premium quality, low carb products so affordably that you’ll be able to afford a new wardrobe to match your new, super-slim figure by your summer vacation.
Yoga for Kids: What Yoga Poses are Best for My Child?
Yoga indeed has become a popular, mainstream alternative for exercise and fitness. Here in Los Angeles, hardly a day goes by that I don?t see people walking by with their Yoga Mats rolled up underneath their arms coming from or going to their Yoga class.
Most stay-home moms have picked Yoga up as well as their method of keeping fit and maintaining physical, mental and emotional balance. Upon seeing the apparent results most naturally wonder how their children might be able to benefit form using Yoga for kids. Well, it is my hope that as a Yoga enthusiast myself, you will find this article much helpful in choosing the yoga poses that could be incorporated into your child?s recreational endeavors.
Yoga for Kids: Recommended Poses.
1. Sun Salutations:
These are a group of poses that serve as a warm up to a yoga session or class. For staying fit, keeping obesity at bay and fun (especially when performed at a high speed), the Sun Salutations will be an immense source of enjoyment for kids getting introduced to Yoga. Do you know in India, they actually hold contests of how many rounds of Sun Salutations kids can do in one go? Yeah, they are that much fun.
2. The Shoulder Stand:
Trust me, behind your back, kids already try this pose. You probably did as a kid without knowing you were actually doing Yoga. So in your use of yoga for kids, make sure the inclusion of this pose is of priority. Executed with the bridge pose and fish-poses as counter poses, for kids doing yoga, the shoulder-stand will reap many benefits.
3. The Forward Bend Pose:
This teaches your kids self-dependence and aids immensely at curbing digestive disturbances as an added bonus. I?ll have you know, some authorities of Yoga have said that these three poses mentioned thus far are enough for humans-although this may be slightly erroneous or incomplete as the execution of their counter-poses for a specified amount of time is also of great importance as well.
4. The Wheel Pose:
Okay, I was walking through the park the other day and saw a kid who couldn?t have been more than 8 years of age executing this pose for literally 90 seconds. Yes, I counted this out of amazement and intrigue. It?s been hailed as the ?forever young pose?, consequently when using yoga for kids; this has got to be included. Co-incidentally it is the counter-pose to the third pose above.
5. The Relaxation Pose:
Of course this is a must-do for everyone. When introducing your kids to yoga, this will be a good time to show them how to relax with its use as a secret for relief from school stress and the little challenges they may face in their young lives. Yes, they do have some demands placed on them parents. Moreover showing this to them now will go a long way with laying the foundation on how to deal with the daily demands of life.
Other great poses to consider are the Bow, Triangle, Spinal-Twist, Inclined and Diamond Poses. Kids should also be shown proper breathing exercises with emphasis on Abdominal Breathing.
Other factors to be included when using yoga for kids are the use of a proper, nourishing diet of Fresh Fruits and vegetables-(emphasis on leafy ones) and positive thinking techniques. On the subject of diets, you can add some celery juice to their fresh fruit juices if you have one of those popular juicers such as the juiceman. This is one way of sneaking in a good source of powerful minerals into their bodies, tastefully. Oh, before I forget, they love BARHI dates! Moms, these are just like their rather harmful counterfeits (candies at the store) but of course are sources of great nutrients.
Yoga for kids is best begun around the age of seven, however, kids-being-kids, they of course will emulate what they see you doing, so as long as you know they are not in harm?s way, it?s okay to let them dabble a bit into Yoga.
Indeed using Yoga is both fun for kids and beneficial for as the book of Prov. 22. 6 states, it is one effective method of ?Training your child in the way he should go…? as the discipline and confidence that comes from Yoga (and Martial Arts too-just a hint)
may only be attainable from this ancient form of physical culture.
So Moms and Dads, go on and get your kids started on yoga. You?ll be glad you did.
Foras Aje is an independent health researcher and founder of Bodyhealthsoul.com. For more Yoga tips and information on Yoga Apparel choices, feel free to stop by his website today.
Most stay-home moms have picked Yoga up as well as their method of keeping fit and maintaining physical, mental and emotional balance. Upon seeing the apparent results most naturally wonder how their children might be able to benefit form using Yoga for kids. Well, it is my hope that as a Yoga enthusiast myself, you will find this article much helpful in choosing the yoga poses that could be incorporated into your child?s recreational endeavors.
Yoga for Kids: Recommended Poses.
1. Sun Salutations:
These are a group of poses that serve as a warm up to a yoga session or class. For staying fit, keeping obesity at bay and fun (especially when performed at a high speed), the Sun Salutations will be an immense source of enjoyment for kids getting introduced to Yoga. Do you know in India, they actually hold contests of how many rounds of Sun Salutations kids can do in one go? Yeah, they are that much fun.
2. The Shoulder Stand:
Trust me, behind your back, kids already try this pose. You probably did as a kid without knowing you were actually doing Yoga. So in your use of yoga for kids, make sure the inclusion of this pose is of priority. Executed with the bridge pose and fish-poses as counter poses, for kids doing yoga, the shoulder-stand will reap many benefits.
3. The Forward Bend Pose:
This teaches your kids self-dependence and aids immensely at curbing digestive disturbances as an added bonus. I?ll have you know, some authorities of Yoga have said that these three poses mentioned thus far are enough for humans-although this may be slightly erroneous or incomplete as the execution of their counter-poses for a specified amount of time is also of great importance as well.
4. The Wheel Pose:
Okay, I was walking through the park the other day and saw a kid who couldn?t have been more than 8 years of age executing this pose for literally 90 seconds. Yes, I counted this out of amazement and intrigue. It?s been hailed as the ?forever young pose?, consequently when using yoga for kids; this has got to be included. Co-incidentally it is the counter-pose to the third pose above.
5. The Relaxation Pose:
Of course this is a must-do for everyone. When introducing your kids to yoga, this will be a good time to show them how to relax with its use as a secret for relief from school stress and the little challenges they may face in their young lives. Yes, they do have some demands placed on them parents. Moreover showing this to them now will go a long way with laying the foundation on how to deal with the daily demands of life.
Other great poses to consider are the Bow, Triangle, Spinal-Twist, Inclined and Diamond Poses. Kids should also be shown proper breathing exercises with emphasis on Abdominal Breathing.
Other factors to be included when using yoga for kids are the use of a proper, nourishing diet of Fresh Fruits and vegetables-(emphasis on leafy ones) and positive thinking techniques. On the subject of diets, you can add some celery juice to their fresh fruit juices if you have one of those popular juicers such as the juiceman. This is one way of sneaking in a good source of powerful minerals into their bodies, tastefully. Oh, before I forget, they love BARHI dates! Moms, these are just like their rather harmful counterfeits (candies at the store) but of course are sources of great nutrients.
Yoga for kids is best begun around the age of seven, however, kids-being-kids, they of course will emulate what they see you doing, so as long as you know they are not in harm?s way, it?s okay to let them dabble a bit into Yoga.
Indeed using Yoga is both fun for kids and beneficial for as the book of Prov. 22. 6 states, it is one effective method of ?Training your child in the way he should go…? as the discipline and confidence that comes from Yoga (and Martial Arts too-just a hint)
may only be attainable from this ancient form of physical culture.
So Moms and Dads, go on and get your kids started on yoga. You?ll be glad you did.
Foras Aje is an independent health researcher and founder of Bodyhealthsoul.com. For more Yoga tips and information on Yoga Apparel choices, feel free to stop by his website today.
Anorexia - a Game of Control!
Low self-esteem produces a game of control. It causes a person to suffer in silence ? suffering that can lead to anorexia.
Do you struggle with painful feelings about yourself, as a person? We can have so much in our western world, but lack the one thing we most desire ? acceptance and a feeling of self worth!
Tania was a beautiful teenage girl. She was given compliments, but felt unable to accept them. Her distorted image of her body led her to become anorexic. This article is not primarily about the signs and symptoms of anorexia. It’s purpose is to help the reader discover what lies behind the eating disorder called anorexia nervosa.
First of all, we need to understand how low self-esteem and anorexia are related.
The Link Between Low Self-esteem and Anorexia
A sense of low self-esteem can be caused through inadequate nurturing as a result of emotional, physical or sexual abuse as a child. Abuse is when a person uses their power or position to force another person to perform in order to meet their needs.
Emotional abuse is the subtlest form of abuse. Most of us at some time or other, whether to a greater or lesser degree, have been victims of emotional abuse. It could come from anyone who has a position of authority who requires you to perform in order to have his or her needs met.
Tania was a victim of emotional abuse. Her self-rejection grew as her parents were not able to meet her emotional needs even though she lacked nothing materially.
Emotional abuse usually begins as a generational problem. Tania?s parents did not know how to meet her needs as they themselves had unmet needs. They were what we call an ‘adult child’, searching for someone to nurture them and fulfil their needs.
Tania sensed these needs and subconsciously sought to fulfil them by ‘being there’ for her parents. As opposed to the adults ‘being there’ to meet her emotional needs! Tania listened as her parents shared their challenges but neither of them were able to spend quality time with her to allow her to open up and share her concerns. Tania had a false sense of security because she felt needed, but lacked someone to care for her own needs. This left her feeling abandoned and abused because she was not being affirmed.
As Tania did not have her own emotional needs met she was left with feelings of low self-worth, emptiness, loneliness, self-hate and depression. To compensate for her feelings of low self-worth she grew up putting more emphasis on `doing’ rather than being’. This set the scene for Tania to become anorexic!
Can you relate to Tania in some way? Do you feel empty inside wishing someone would meet your inner needs? Keep reading and you will discover how you can become all you can be.
Low Self-Esteem Is the Root of All Addictions- including Anorexia Nervosa
It has been said that addictions are an attempt to hide the real ?me? from the outside world. Addictions can come in many forms to help you feel better, change your mood and avoid painful feelings. In an attempt to avoid pain one can subtly be led into deception, lies and denial. Anorexia Nervosa was Tania?s way of changing her perception of herself ? her intense, irrational fear of being fat kept her in a cycle of deception and control. Let?s look at how this cycle works.
Low Self-Esteem produces a Game of Control
Those with low self-worth often convey a sense of control. To avoid others seeing the real person, and in fear of falling victim again, they may either control others by being assertive, or control themselves by being non-assertive.
Tania?s mother?s commented to me that from her perspective she felt Tania used her eating disorder to control and manipulate her. It was like Tania was, consciously or subconsciously, trying to control both herself and her mother.
The non-assertive approach of control
The person with a non-assertive approach sees self-worth as being based on what people think about himself/herself: it is important at any cost to gain the approval of others. Sufferers of anorexia go to extreme lengths to achieve their goal of acceptance.
It is important to note that in endeavouring to deal with low self-worth, a person can swing from being non-assertive to assertive, or visa versa. One can start out as an assertive achiever, as we will discuss in the next section, and swing to become a non-assertive, non-achiever or “loser”.
The non-assertive approach produces a cycle, which begins with denial and a desire to please because of fear of rejection. These people become resentful and angry with themselves and others when their goal is not achieved, which leads to depression and increased feelings of rejection of self or others. Then in order to feel better about themselves, they begin the cycle of control again.
The assertive approach of control
The person with an assertive approach strives to feel good about himself/herself by meeting certain standards. Feelings of never doing well enough or being good enough can create a fear of failure, which results in both a drive for perfectionism and control of self and others.
Life becomes a problem to be solved for anorexia nervosa sufferers. They are constantly caught up in ?doing? rather than ?being? content, restful and enjoying life. If you have feelings of never doing well enough or being good enough you will know what I mean!
The perfectionist has inflexible rules on how people should act or think. Deep down, it is felt that self-value is only obtained through achievement; therefore new challenges or other people’s opinions are threatening, as the perfectionist feels that mistakes are to be avoided at any cost to prevent shame.
The assertive approach also produces a cycle, which begins with denial and a desire to control self and others through fear of failure. To achieve this goal the assertive person is legalistic and critical of self and others. These people become defensive and angry when their goal is not achieved, which leads to feelings of loneliness and depression. To feel better about themselves they begin the cycle of control again to achieve their goal.
Life becomes a game of control! How do we get out of this cycle we get ourselves into through low self-worth?
For all who struggle with low self-esteem, I invite you to see a cartoon presentation on our website (www.ydyc.org) that will give you hope and freedom from the cycle of deception and control. It will help you make a fresh start and become all you can be.
As a trained nurse I strongly recommend that you seek professional help if you are suffering from anorexia nervosa.
Wilma Watson is a trained nurse and producer of the website http://www.ydyc.org. She has a passion to help people reach their maximimum potential.
Do you struggle with painful feelings about yourself, as a person? We can have so much in our western world, but lack the one thing we most desire ? acceptance and a feeling of self worth!
Tania was a beautiful teenage girl. She was given compliments, but felt unable to accept them. Her distorted image of her body led her to become anorexic. This article is not primarily about the signs and symptoms of anorexia. It’s purpose is to help the reader discover what lies behind the eating disorder called anorexia nervosa.
First of all, we need to understand how low self-esteem and anorexia are related.
The Link Between Low Self-esteem and Anorexia
A sense of low self-esteem can be caused through inadequate nurturing as a result of emotional, physical or sexual abuse as a child. Abuse is when a person uses their power or position to force another person to perform in order to meet their needs.
Emotional abuse is the subtlest form of abuse. Most of us at some time or other, whether to a greater or lesser degree, have been victims of emotional abuse. It could come from anyone who has a position of authority who requires you to perform in order to have his or her needs met.
Tania was a victim of emotional abuse. Her self-rejection grew as her parents were not able to meet her emotional needs even though she lacked nothing materially.
Emotional abuse usually begins as a generational problem. Tania?s parents did not know how to meet her needs as they themselves had unmet needs. They were what we call an ‘adult child’, searching for someone to nurture them and fulfil their needs.
Tania sensed these needs and subconsciously sought to fulfil them by ‘being there’ for her parents. As opposed to the adults ‘being there’ to meet her emotional needs! Tania listened as her parents shared their challenges but neither of them were able to spend quality time with her to allow her to open up and share her concerns. Tania had a false sense of security because she felt needed, but lacked someone to care for her own needs. This left her feeling abandoned and abused because she was not being affirmed.
As Tania did not have her own emotional needs met she was left with feelings of low self-worth, emptiness, loneliness, self-hate and depression. To compensate for her feelings of low self-worth she grew up putting more emphasis on `doing’ rather than being’. This set the scene for Tania to become anorexic!
Can you relate to Tania in some way? Do you feel empty inside wishing someone would meet your inner needs? Keep reading and you will discover how you can become all you can be.
Low Self-Esteem Is the Root of All Addictions- including Anorexia Nervosa
It has been said that addictions are an attempt to hide the real ?me? from the outside world. Addictions can come in many forms to help you feel better, change your mood and avoid painful feelings. In an attempt to avoid pain one can subtly be led into deception, lies and denial. Anorexia Nervosa was Tania?s way of changing her perception of herself ? her intense, irrational fear of being fat kept her in a cycle of deception and control. Let?s look at how this cycle works.
Low Self-Esteem produces a Game of Control
Those with low self-worth often convey a sense of control. To avoid others seeing the real person, and in fear of falling victim again, they may either control others by being assertive, or control themselves by being non-assertive.
Tania?s mother?s commented to me that from her perspective she felt Tania used her eating disorder to control and manipulate her. It was like Tania was, consciously or subconsciously, trying to control both herself and her mother.
The non-assertive approach of control
The person with a non-assertive approach sees self-worth as being based on what people think about himself/herself: it is important at any cost to gain the approval of others. Sufferers of anorexia go to extreme lengths to achieve their goal of acceptance.
It is important to note that in endeavouring to deal with low self-worth, a person can swing from being non-assertive to assertive, or visa versa. One can start out as an assertive achiever, as we will discuss in the next section, and swing to become a non-assertive, non-achiever or “loser”.
The non-assertive approach produces a cycle, which begins with denial and a desire to please because of fear of rejection. These people become resentful and angry with themselves and others when their goal is not achieved, which leads to depression and increased feelings of rejection of self or others. Then in order to feel better about themselves, they begin the cycle of control again.
The assertive approach of control
The person with an assertive approach strives to feel good about himself/herself by meeting certain standards. Feelings of never doing well enough or being good enough can create a fear of failure, which results in both a drive for perfectionism and control of self and others.
Life becomes a problem to be solved for anorexia nervosa sufferers. They are constantly caught up in ?doing? rather than ?being? content, restful and enjoying life. If you have feelings of never doing well enough or being good enough you will know what I mean!
The perfectionist has inflexible rules on how people should act or think. Deep down, it is felt that self-value is only obtained through achievement; therefore new challenges or other people’s opinions are threatening, as the perfectionist feels that mistakes are to be avoided at any cost to prevent shame.
The assertive approach also produces a cycle, which begins with denial and a desire to control self and others through fear of failure. To achieve this goal the assertive person is legalistic and critical of self and others. These people become defensive and angry when their goal is not achieved, which leads to feelings of loneliness and depression. To feel better about themselves they begin the cycle of control again to achieve their goal.
Life becomes a game of control! How do we get out of this cycle we get ourselves into through low self-worth?
For all who struggle with low self-esteem, I invite you to see a cartoon presentation on our website (www.ydyc.org) that will give you hope and freedom from the cycle of deception and control. It will help you make a fresh start and become all you can be.
As a trained nurse I strongly recommend that you seek professional help if you are suffering from anorexia nervosa.
Wilma Watson is a trained nurse and producer of the website http://www.ydyc.org. She has a passion to help people reach their maximimum potential.
Weight Loss Motivation: Mastering the Motivation to Stay Fit
Have you ever just felt like you were doing everything you
were supposed to in order to lose weight and STILL weren’t dropping
the pounds?
During her journey to lose 40lbs in 16 weeks, my good friend Kim
faced some pretty serious challenges with regards to her level
of motivation.
Another friend of mine, Antonio Goodwin, who lost 4 inches from
his waistline in 9 weeks with my program, faced the same frustration.
The problem was that at several times during their weight loss,
they both felt as if they were not losing much weight and were not
seeing results.
Now, a look at either of their before and after photos on
my web sites shows that each of them made quite a substantial improvement
in their bodies.
So what would make someone who’s losing weight each week feel as if they
were not?
I’ll tell you exactly what. Its referred to as the emotional roller
coaster.
This is how it usually goes:
You start a new diet or weight loss program. You’re all excited to be
doing something great for your health and the way you look, and you’re sticking
to the program, step by step.
Consistent action pays off and after a short while you start getting
compliments about the pounds you’re losing week by week.
Then all of a sudden, it all seems to stop. You can no longer see the
physical changes in your body, and maybe you even have a moment of weakness
and cheat a bit on your diet plan. So now you’re frustrated and mildly
depressed. You feel as if true weight loss may NEVER happen for you, no matter
what you do.
TIME OUT.
The trick here is to not get stuck in your own frustration.
Now this is a tough one, because everyone and I do mean EVERYONE goes through
this stage. Whenever I need to trim down for a photo shoot, I go through it
as well.
One of the things that you must understand about the body is that for
as long as you are doing the right things on a consistent basis it WILL
respond with results.
The Jedi Mind Trick is that oftentimes the progress is subtle, or may
be primarily taking place in an area that you cannot see as well.
For instance, my friend Kim loses weight in her back the fastest.
Her frustration came because she did not see the fat loss on her stomach
the way she would have liked to. Little did she know that from behind
she looked like a completely different person.
Listen, the emotional roller coaster is an inevitable aspect of any
worthy undertaking that we take on in life. Remember getting through
college? Or maybe waiting for puberty to set in? How about paying
off your debts? The mental battle while attempting to diet and/or
achieve weight loss is no different.
So make a conscious decision to stick to your guns. Let it play out.
Victory lies in having the strength to make it through the rough spots
without cracking under the pressure and losing all that you’ve worked for.
If you can just master getting past the point of frustration, before you
know it you’ll be seeing results again and getting more compliments.
Lawrence Cole
Your Lifestyle and Fitness Coach
YourBestBodyNOW.com
See this Weight Loss article on YourBestBodyNOW.com
Lawrence Cole is a Lifestyle and Fitness Consultant based
out of Los Angeles, CA. He has over 10 years of health and
fitness experience and designing simple, effective nutritional
strategies to help individuals achieve their personal best
internal health and physical conditioning.
were supposed to in order to lose weight and STILL weren’t dropping
the pounds?
During her journey to lose 40lbs in 16 weeks, my good friend Kim
faced some pretty serious challenges with regards to her level
of motivation.
Another friend of mine, Antonio Goodwin, who lost 4 inches from
his waistline in 9 weeks with my program, faced the same frustration.
The problem was that at several times during their weight loss,
they both felt as if they were not losing much weight and were not
seeing results.
Now, a look at either of their before and after photos on
my web sites shows that each of them made quite a substantial improvement
in their bodies.
So what would make someone who’s losing weight each week feel as if they
were not?
I’ll tell you exactly what. Its referred to as the emotional roller
coaster.
This is how it usually goes:
You start a new diet or weight loss program. You’re all excited to be
doing something great for your health and the way you look, and you’re sticking
to the program, step by step.
Consistent action pays off and after a short while you start getting
compliments about the pounds you’re losing week by week.
Then all of a sudden, it all seems to stop. You can no longer see the
physical changes in your body, and maybe you even have a moment of weakness
and cheat a bit on your diet plan. So now you’re frustrated and mildly
depressed. You feel as if true weight loss may NEVER happen for you, no matter
what you do.
TIME OUT.
The trick here is to not get stuck in your own frustration.
Now this is a tough one, because everyone and I do mean EVERYONE goes through
this stage. Whenever I need to trim down for a photo shoot, I go through it
as well.
One of the things that you must understand about the body is that for
as long as you are doing the right things on a consistent basis it WILL
respond with results.
The Jedi Mind Trick is that oftentimes the progress is subtle, or may
be primarily taking place in an area that you cannot see as well.
For instance, my friend Kim loses weight in her back the fastest.
Her frustration came because she did not see the fat loss on her stomach
the way she would have liked to. Little did she know that from behind
she looked like a completely different person.
Listen, the emotional roller coaster is an inevitable aspect of any
worthy undertaking that we take on in life. Remember getting through
college? Or maybe waiting for puberty to set in? How about paying
off your debts? The mental battle while attempting to diet and/or
achieve weight loss is no different.
So make a conscious decision to stick to your guns. Let it play out.
Victory lies in having the strength to make it through the rough spots
without cracking under the pressure and losing all that you’ve worked for.
If you can just master getting past the point of frustration, before you
know it you’ll be seeing results again and getting more compliments.
Lawrence Cole
Your Lifestyle and Fitness Coach
YourBestBodyNOW.com
See this Weight Loss article on YourBestBodyNOW.com
Lawrence Cole is a Lifestyle and Fitness Consultant based
out of Los Angeles, CA. He has over 10 years of health and
fitness experience and designing simple, effective nutritional
strategies to help individuals achieve their personal best
internal health and physical conditioning.
Hatha Yoga
The form of Yoga most people are familiar with is Hatha Yoga or Hatha Vidya. Hatha Yoga is the Yoga of postures. The picture that comes to mind whenever you see the word Yoga is of someone sitting or standing in some form of Yoga posture.
Hatha Yoga uses physical poses called Asana and breathing techniques called Pranayama. Hatha Yoga teaches that the body is the vehicle for your soul. It also teaches that meditation can bring the body into perfect health and allow the spiritual part of your brain to come forward freely.
Many believe that your mind typically ignores or suppresses the part of the brain that is spiritual and that our focus is on earthly things. In order to release this spirituality you need meditation and Yoga exercise.
Hatha Yoga utilizes all of these techniques to bind the body and soul as one. To create a union between the body and the mind takes practice. The purpose of Hatha Yoga is to perfect the body so it can be filled with your life?s force or soul.
The way it works is to use opposing energies somewhat similar to Yin and Yang to achieve the binding of body, mind, and soul. Opposing energy examples are hot and cold, positive and negative, and male and female.
The Asanas in Hatha Yoga tech you poise, strength, and most of all, balance. This improves your physical health and helps you clear your mind. Without this preparation, meditation is not as effective. The exercise portion of Hatha Yoga is all part of preparing yourself so you can meditate and become enlightened, allowing your spiritual thoughts to flow freely.
Although most people in Europe or the US use Yoga as a physical exercise primarily, the intent of Yoga is to combine all of your life forces to achieve spirituality and happiness. The following are the different aspects to Hatha Yoga;
Yama: Yama is social ethics. It teaches you nonviolence, compassion, non-deception or truthfulness, honesty, conscious and non-abusive sexuality, security, and how to eliminate greed.
Niyama: Niyama is about personal practices. It teaches purity, discipline, contentment, self-examination, and spiritual attunement with GOD.
Asana: Asanas are the physical exercises in Hatha Yoga. There are many asanas and are of varying difficulty. There are some that are less difficult for beginners that can help you work up to the more difficult asanas. This not only helps you perfect your body, but helps you clear your mind for the more meditative aspects of Hatha Yoga.
Pranayama: Pranayama are breathing practices. Deep breathing exercises help clear your mind in preparation for meditation to free your spirit.
Pratyahara: Pratyahara is withdrawing the senses to facilitate Dharana (concentration or focus)
Dharana: Dharana is meant to help you focus or concentrate better also allowing you to use chants to free your spiritual mind.
Dhyana: Dhyana is an enhanced form of meditation where the concentration is focused on a single point.
Samadhi: Samadhi teaches you how to attain the essential state of joy. The definition of Samadhi literally means transcendental bliss. The exercises in Samadhi Yoga are more vigorous than with other forms.
?Trancendental Bliss or Samadhi is a state in which the individual mind, freed for a time from all material limits takes the form of supreme, omnipotent and omnipresent mind and gains enlightenment.”
?Shri Brahmananda Saraswati (A great yogi, doctor and founder of the Ananda Ashram)
When unaffected by culture, place, time, or circumstance, these principles are universal. They constitute the Great Vow.” -Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras, 2.31
The Self cannot be gained by one devoid of strength. Mundaka Upanishad iii :2:3
Robin Darch, of PRT Specialised Services Limited has a website, Yoga Tips to help you find all the information you need about Yoga and the benefits of Yoga.
Yoga Tips
Hatha Yoga uses physical poses called Asana and breathing techniques called Pranayama. Hatha Yoga teaches that the body is the vehicle for your soul. It also teaches that meditation can bring the body into perfect health and allow the spiritual part of your brain to come forward freely.
Many believe that your mind typically ignores or suppresses the part of the brain that is spiritual and that our focus is on earthly things. In order to release this spirituality you need meditation and Yoga exercise.
Hatha Yoga utilizes all of these techniques to bind the body and soul as one. To create a union between the body and the mind takes practice. The purpose of Hatha Yoga is to perfect the body so it can be filled with your life?s force or soul.
The way it works is to use opposing energies somewhat similar to Yin and Yang to achieve the binding of body, mind, and soul. Opposing energy examples are hot and cold, positive and negative, and male and female.
The Asanas in Hatha Yoga tech you poise, strength, and most of all, balance. This improves your physical health and helps you clear your mind. Without this preparation, meditation is not as effective. The exercise portion of Hatha Yoga is all part of preparing yourself so you can meditate and become enlightened, allowing your spiritual thoughts to flow freely.
Although most people in Europe or the US use Yoga as a physical exercise primarily, the intent of Yoga is to combine all of your life forces to achieve spirituality and happiness. The following are the different aspects to Hatha Yoga;
Yama: Yama is social ethics. It teaches you nonviolence, compassion, non-deception or truthfulness, honesty, conscious and non-abusive sexuality, security, and how to eliminate greed.
Niyama: Niyama is about personal practices. It teaches purity, discipline, contentment, self-examination, and spiritual attunement with GOD.
Asana: Asanas are the physical exercises in Hatha Yoga. There are many asanas and are of varying difficulty. There are some that are less difficult for beginners that can help you work up to the more difficult asanas. This not only helps you perfect your body, but helps you clear your mind for the more meditative aspects of Hatha Yoga.
Pranayama: Pranayama are breathing practices. Deep breathing exercises help clear your mind in preparation for meditation to free your spirit.
Pratyahara: Pratyahara is withdrawing the senses to facilitate Dharana (concentration or focus)
Dharana: Dharana is meant to help you focus or concentrate better also allowing you to use chants to free your spiritual mind.
Dhyana: Dhyana is an enhanced form of meditation where the concentration is focused on a single point.
Samadhi: Samadhi teaches you how to attain the essential state of joy. The definition of Samadhi literally means transcendental bliss. The exercises in Samadhi Yoga are more vigorous than with other forms.
?Trancendental Bliss or Samadhi is a state in which the individual mind, freed for a time from all material limits takes the form of supreme, omnipotent and omnipresent mind and gains enlightenment.”
?Shri Brahmananda Saraswati (A great yogi, doctor and founder of the Ananda Ashram)
When unaffected by culture, place, time, or circumstance, these principles are universal. They constitute the Great Vow.” -Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras, 2.31
The Self cannot be gained by one devoid of strength. Mundaka Upanishad iii :2:3
Robin Darch, of PRT Specialised Services Limited has a website, Yoga Tips to help you find all the information you need about Yoga and the benefits of Yoga.
Yoga Tips
Weight Loss: It’s Not Always What You Eat, But What You Don’t Eat
On a little island half way in between Guam and the
Philippines there is a rampant epidemic affecting
the inhabitants. This tiny island of approximately
8,200 people is not afflicted with famine or a deadly
disease as you might think when talking about an
epidemic… the islanders are dying at much earlier
ages that at any other time in their history. They have
alarmingly high rates of heart disease, type 2 diabetes
and obesity.
Why?
Well, the people on this island used to make their living
by farming, growing bananas and coconut and lots of
fishing. They used to walk everywhere, eat fresh fruits
and vegetables and had lots of daily activity.
Now, with the introduction of “western culture” and the
destruction of their normal behavior, the islanders now
drive to their computer jobs in mostly cramped offices and
eat a diet of highly processed “prepared” foods imported
from the United States, Australia and New Zealand.
As you can see, exporting the “American diet” of quick and
easy processed food and lack of activity has taken a
healthy and active island population, and turned it into a
mini version of America, along with the associated rates
of obesity and disease.
–It’s What You Don’t Eat
You see, when losing weight, we’re not only talking about
weight loss, we’re also talking about better health. It’s
hard to lose weight without taking steps to increase your
healthy habits… right?
One of the most important and effective ways to lose weight
and get healthier is to avoid two groups of foods.
Both of these foods have been directly linked to
deteriorating health and specifically weight gain and
obesity. The unhealthy ingredients in these foods have
steadily (and secretly) been used in greater amounts over
the last 20 years… and we haven’t known it. More
importantly, we haven’t known the hidden dangers of eating
them.
The first group of foods to avoid are those that contain
“Trans Fats”.
Also know as TFA’s or Trans Fatty Acids, they are found in
partially hydrogenated oils… manufactured and unhealthy
fats. They are a silent killer hidden in our food, and
have been directly linked to the skyrocketing rates of
obesity in both adults and children worldwide.
The Center for Science in the Public Interest reports that
banning trans fats from all foods would save at least
30,000 lives each year in the US alone. That’s 82-274
needless deaths every day. The web site www.bantransfats.com
shows an alarmingly clear statistical increase in obesity
over the last 20 years as trans fats have become a growing
part of our American diet.
The government has admitted that manufactured trans fats
have no safe level for human consumption! That’s zero. There
is no safe level of consumption at all, but it’s still in a
large percentage of the products we eat every day.
In American, we spend 90% of our food budget on processed
foods. The government reports that over 40% of foods found
in an average grocery store contain trans fats. Most fast
foods contain trans fats. Snacks, chips, candy bars,
cookies, crackers, commercial baked goods, pastries and
cakes… almost all processed foods contain trans fats.
In the example of the island population above, the effects
of eating processed foods and lack of activity turned a
healthy population into one with alarming rates of obesity
and disease.
How can we avoid trans fats and their effects?
What do we look out for?
1) Become a label reader.
Read the ingredient labels of foods you buy and look for
“partially hydrogenated”. If you see those words, avoid
that food. Any food that contains “partially hydrogenated”
anything is unhealthy and will negatively affect your weight
loss program.
Some common foods that contain partially hydrogenated oils
are:
-candy bars
-chips
-snacks
-commercially baked pastries
-processed foods
-most fast foods
-cookies
-cake mixes
-cereals
Bottom line, you can’t lose weight and regularly eat foods
containing partially hydrogenated oils.
2) Ask questions.
When eating out, ask if the foods you are ordering contain
“partially hydrogenated oil” or “trans fats”.
3) Look for alternatives.
The good news is that because of more media exposure about
the dangers of “trans fats”, companies are starting to
replace “partially hydrogenated oils” with alternative
ingredients and creating healthier versions of some of your
favorite products.
Restaurants are starting to add more natural oils and are
removing partially hydrogenated oils from their kitchens.
Ask about it when eating out.
Try to get as many “whole” foods into your diet. Add more
fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains and healthy fats
and avoid processed, prepared and fast foods as much as
possible.
Avoiding these hidden oils in the food you eat every day
alone will make a significant impact on your health, and
specifically in reaching your weight loss goals. Add a
few lifestyle changes and imagine where you will be on
your journey towards better health next month.
In Part 2 of this article, I’ll cover the other secret additive in foods that no one talks about. This ingredient tricks your brain into thinking what you are eating is delicious and makes you want to continue to eat it, bypassing all your natural signals of feeling full and satisfied! It’s also found in a large group of foods we eat every day.
Mark Idzik is a health coach with a national clientele who
helps his clients feel better, get more energy, lose weight and make better health choices. Get his 37 free tips to guaranteed weight loss by visiting:
http://www.Everyday-Weight-Loss.com/?src=wyde#tips
Philippines there is a rampant epidemic affecting
the inhabitants. This tiny island of approximately
8,200 people is not afflicted with famine or a deadly
disease as you might think when talking about an
epidemic… the islanders are dying at much earlier
ages that at any other time in their history. They have
alarmingly high rates of heart disease, type 2 diabetes
and obesity.
Why?
Well, the people on this island used to make their living
by farming, growing bananas and coconut and lots of
fishing. They used to walk everywhere, eat fresh fruits
and vegetables and had lots of daily activity.
Now, with the introduction of “western culture” and the
destruction of their normal behavior, the islanders now
drive to their computer jobs in mostly cramped offices and
eat a diet of highly processed “prepared” foods imported
from the United States, Australia and New Zealand.
As you can see, exporting the “American diet” of quick and
easy processed food and lack of activity has taken a
healthy and active island population, and turned it into a
mini version of America, along with the associated rates
of obesity and disease.
–It’s What You Don’t Eat
You see, when losing weight, we’re not only talking about
weight loss, we’re also talking about better health. It’s
hard to lose weight without taking steps to increase your
healthy habits… right?
One of the most important and effective ways to lose weight
and get healthier is to avoid two groups of foods.
Both of these foods have been directly linked to
deteriorating health and specifically weight gain and
obesity. The unhealthy ingredients in these foods have
steadily (and secretly) been used in greater amounts over
the last 20 years… and we haven’t known it. More
importantly, we haven’t known the hidden dangers of eating
them.
The first group of foods to avoid are those that contain
“Trans Fats”.
Also know as TFA’s or Trans Fatty Acids, they are found in
partially hydrogenated oils… manufactured and unhealthy
fats. They are a silent killer hidden in our food, and
have been directly linked to the skyrocketing rates of
obesity in both adults and children worldwide.
The Center for Science in the Public Interest reports that
banning trans fats from all foods would save at least
30,000 lives each year in the US alone. That’s 82-274
needless deaths every day. The web site www.bantransfats.com
shows an alarmingly clear statistical increase in obesity
over the last 20 years as trans fats have become a growing
part of our American diet.
The government has admitted that manufactured trans fats
have no safe level for human consumption! That’s zero. There
is no safe level of consumption at all, but it’s still in a
large percentage of the products we eat every day.
In American, we spend 90% of our food budget on processed
foods. The government reports that over 40% of foods found
in an average grocery store contain trans fats. Most fast
foods contain trans fats. Snacks, chips, candy bars,
cookies, crackers, commercial baked goods, pastries and
cakes… almost all processed foods contain trans fats.
In the example of the island population above, the effects
of eating processed foods and lack of activity turned a
healthy population into one with alarming rates of obesity
and disease.
How can we avoid trans fats and their effects?
What do we look out for?
1) Become a label reader.
Read the ingredient labels of foods you buy and look for
“partially hydrogenated”. If you see those words, avoid
that food. Any food that contains “partially hydrogenated”
anything is unhealthy and will negatively affect your weight
loss program.
Some common foods that contain partially hydrogenated oils
are:
-candy bars
-chips
-snacks
-commercially baked pastries
-processed foods
-most fast foods
-cookies
-cake mixes
-cereals
Bottom line, you can’t lose weight and regularly eat foods
containing partially hydrogenated oils.
2) Ask questions.
When eating out, ask if the foods you are ordering contain
“partially hydrogenated oil” or “trans fats”.
3) Look for alternatives.
The good news is that because of more media exposure about
the dangers of “trans fats”, companies are starting to
replace “partially hydrogenated oils” with alternative
ingredients and creating healthier versions of some of your
favorite products.
Restaurants are starting to add more natural oils and are
removing partially hydrogenated oils from their kitchens.
Ask about it when eating out.
Try to get as many “whole” foods into your diet. Add more
fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains and healthy fats
and avoid processed, prepared and fast foods as much as
possible.
Avoiding these hidden oils in the food you eat every day
alone will make a significant impact on your health, and
specifically in reaching your weight loss goals. Add a
few lifestyle changes and imagine where you will be on
your journey towards better health next month.
In Part 2 of this article, I’ll cover the other secret additive in foods that no one talks about. This ingredient tricks your brain into thinking what you are eating is delicious and makes you want to continue to eat it, bypassing all your natural signals of feeling full and satisfied! It’s also found in a large group of foods we eat every day.
Mark Idzik is a health coach with a national clientele who
helps his clients feel better, get more energy, lose weight and make better health choices. Get his 37 free tips to guaranteed weight loss by visiting:
http://www.Everyday-Weight-Loss.com/?src=wyde#tips
Beyond Flexibility - The Health Benefits Of Yoga
When I was 21 I suffered a slipped disc in my lower back. I couldn’t sit down during the acute phase, only lie or stand, though standing itself was uncomfortable at the time. Once the acute phase had passed (with rest, although acupuncture and shiatsu are great), I had the fortune to meet some yoga teachers and I started going to their classes. I started out with Oki yoga, which is a Japanese form of yoga, and very good for healing the body.
I was given a series of correcting and strengthening exercises designed to improve my back and specific to the meridians that were in need of attention in my particular case. Oki yoga has postures classified on how they affect the meridians, which are like energetic pathways within our body. And that was the one thing that helped restore my back completely, to a state that was actually better than it was before I injured myself. When you are suffering an acute injury though, yoga really shouldn’t be attempted until that stage has passed.
That introduction to yoga ignited a deep love of it through which I began to see the more subtle health benefits it brought to my life. Yoga can help with a wide spectrum of physical issues and injuries, but it is also an excellent alternative to the gym for those that find the repetition and distraction of it not to their taste. It is great for toning up your body, whilst gaining flexibility.
Yoga has a reputation for flexibility, and deservedly so. But it can also develop strength. Developing strength is particularly important for women. Women tend to be more flexible than men, but not as strong, unless they have been involved in fitness regularly. But unlike many traditional forms of exercise, yoga also strengthens the inner muscles and organs in our bodies. It makes a great preparation for childbirth!
Yoga also develops discipline. This comes in making the time on a regular basis to either go to classes, or practice yoga in your living room, or in the morning sun in the garden. But there is a more subtle level of discipline. It starts with bringing your mind to focus on your breathing, and then feeling the effects of a posture on your body. This conscious exploration is quite a different experience of fitness than usually seen at the gym - where loud music, televisions and other external stimuli fight for your attention. You won’t see people with headphones on, or reading a magazine, whilst doing yoga.
This conscious exploration establishes a relationship with your body, and its importance cannot be overstated. So often, parts of us are frozen, or numb in some ways. This can express physically as pain, coldness, or stiffness. Energetically, it is as though despite trying to concentrate on an area, we just cannot feel connected to it.
In a more subtle way, when we feel the points of resistance within our body as we do a pose - when we breathe into that stiffness, and sometimes pain, we develop a resilience and mental fortitude. Yoga does, of course, help with concentration. But that process of releasing and going beyond the point of physical limitation is not limited to the body. It develops a quiet confidence and knowledge about one’s own capacity that is not held back by the boundaries we may have falsely believed about ourselves before. With a yoga practice, we can get back in touch with what yogi’s call our dharma, our purpose in life. And we find in ourselves, by virtue of our growing strength, the courage to follow that path.
And finally, a quote from a yoga teacher from Sydney, Australia, Eileen Hall, printed in the Australian Yoga Life magazine:
“Yoga is not about relaxation, it’s not about losing weight, it’s not about learning meditation. It’s about discovering the divine being within ourselves.”
References: Yoga Journal, November 2005
Australian Yoga Life, Nov 2005 - Mar 2006
If you’d like to learn more about the benefits of yoga, click here. The article talks about the psychological, physiological, and biochemical benefits a regular yoga practice can bring. Rebecca Prescott runs the website Yoga To Health.
http://www.yogatohealth.com
I was given a series of correcting and strengthening exercises designed to improve my back and specific to the meridians that were in need of attention in my particular case. Oki yoga has postures classified on how they affect the meridians, which are like energetic pathways within our body. And that was the one thing that helped restore my back completely, to a state that was actually better than it was before I injured myself. When you are suffering an acute injury though, yoga really shouldn’t be attempted until that stage has passed.
That introduction to yoga ignited a deep love of it through which I began to see the more subtle health benefits it brought to my life. Yoga can help with a wide spectrum of physical issues and injuries, but it is also an excellent alternative to the gym for those that find the repetition and distraction of it not to their taste. It is great for toning up your body, whilst gaining flexibility.
Yoga has a reputation for flexibility, and deservedly so. But it can also develop strength. Developing strength is particularly important for women. Women tend to be more flexible than men, but not as strong, unless they have been involved in fitness regularly. But unlike many traditional forms of exercise, yoga also strengthens the inner muscles and organs in our bodies. It makes a great preparation for childbirth!
Yoga also develops discipline. This comes in making the time on a regular basis to either go to classes, or practice yoga in your living room, or in the morning sun in the garden. But there is a more subtle level of discipline. It starts with bringing your mind to focus on your breathing, and then feeling the effects of a posture on your body. This conscious exploration is quite a different experience of fitness than usually seen at the gym - where loud music, televisions and other external stimuli fight for your attention. You won’t see people with headphones on, or reading a magazine, whilst doing yoga.
This conscious exploration establishes a relationship with your body, and its importance cannot be overstated. So often, parts of us are frozen, or numb in some ways. This can express physically as pain, coldness, or stiffness. Energetically, it is as though despite trying to concentrate on an area, we just cannot feel connected to it.
In a more subtle way, when we feel the points of resistance within our body as we do a pose - when we breathe into that stiffness, and sometimes pain, we develop a resilience and mental fortitude. Yoga does, of course, help with concentration. But that process of releasing and going beyond the point of physical limitation is not limited to the body. It develops a quiet confidence and knowledge about one’s own capacity that is not held back by the boundaries we may have falsely believed about ourselves before. With a yoga practice, we can get back in touch with what yogi’s call our dharma, our purpose in life. And we find in ourselves, by virtue of our growing strength, the courage to follow that path.
And finally, a quote from a yoga teacher from Sydney, Australia, Eileen Hall, printed in the Australian Yoga Life magazine:
“Yoga is not about relaxation, it’s not about losing weight, it’s not about learning meditation. It’s about discovering the divine being within ourselves.”
References: Yoga Journal, November 2005
Australian Yoga Life, Nov 2005 - Mar 2006
If you’d like to learn more about the benefits of yoga, click here. The article talks about the psychological, physiological, and biochemical benefits a regular yoga practice can bring. Rebecca Prescott runs the website Yoga To Health.
http://www.yogatohealth.com
Playing the Holiday Food Game
As the holidays come towards us, minds drift to the fear of weight gain and that fitness plans will fall by the wayside. Some people work hard to lose weight before the holidays, only to regain that weight, and add on MORE weight, once the holidays have passed. How are you going to avoid the dreaded five to 10 pound weight gain we all hear about? You need to plan your strategy just as if you were playing a game! So, sit down, read the recommendations below, and plan your own strategy today, before the holiday games begin!
1 ? Have a game plan.
All successful teams and professionals have a plan. Why should controlling your weight at this time of the year be any different? So, as the parties and family events are also in the planning stage, determine how you are going to approach the obstacle course of high fat and high calorie goodies calling out to you?
? Determine how you are going to handle parties and the food provided.
? Plan your events ahead of time. Although there will be surprise invitations, most people know what they will be doing over the holidays. Avoid excessive parties.
? Make a plan for what you will prepare at home when not entertaining or visiting. Just because it?s the holiday season does not mean you have to eat holiday fare all season.
? Determine how you will keep your fitness routine intact.
2 ? Prepare for the party game.
Ok, we?ve all heard these recommendations, but how many of you actually try them? If you use them all, great! Check out to see if there are any new ideas here or use them to remind yourself of some you may have forgotten.
? Eat before the event. If you are already full from healthy food, you are less likely to ?pig out? on high calorie, empty carbohydrate, high fat snack foods that just add up in our mid-section.
? Wear something tight in the midsection. Tight clothes will help you tend to want to eat less, if for no other reason than it?s uncomfortable!
? Bring your own drinks and munchies. The more you are in control of what your choices are, the less likely you are to grab foods you really don?t want to eat.
? Avoid the alcohol. Many people feel out of place if they don?t have a drink in their hand. Try keeping your glass filled with ice and water! No one will know what you?re drinking unless you tell them or they ask. In the meantime, you will be drinking calorie free.
? Concentrate on conversing more than eating.
? Stand clear of the food tables. The further you are from the food and goodies, the less likely you are to pick up and mindlessly eat them.
? Choose smaller portions. Even if a food or snack looks very good, to avoid feeling deprived, just have a smaller serving.
3 ? Plan your party strategy early.
Whether you are the host/hostess or you are the guest, be selective about where you go and how many events you take part in.
? Attend the ?have to? events. These are the events with family and close friends. The ones you enjoy the most (we hope). Then there are the business and work events.
? Watch out for the office parties, especially! Some you may have to at least make a showing to these, but nothing says you have to drink all the punch and be the last one out the door! Stick with your water and leave early for dinner at home.
? When you are the host/hostess, you have control over what the food will be. Choose foods you enjoy and are what you want to eat. Since so many other people are trying to watch what they eat, you may be surprised to find this a very popular choice!
? When you are the host/hostess, provide plenty of non-alcoholic beverages. People just want something in their hands, but many will also opt for no alcohol if it?s available.
4 ? Put your home game plan together.
Just because it?s the holidays doesn?t mean you have to eat as if you?re at a party the entire season! In fact, because you will be socializing more at this time, this is even a better reason to eat as well as possible when home.
? Always plan ahead when going to a party or event that evening. This could include eating fewer calories throughout the day or cutting down on the fat.
? Avoid making desserts just for the family. There will be plenty to sample at events.
? Choose extra fruits and vegetables. This would be a perfect time to strive for 5 per day. Make a pact to eat healthier at home during this period than ?usual?. It may even rub off to create habits that last past the holidays!
? If you receive a lot of candy, cookies or alcohol as gifts, give them to others as gifts, or bring them to work to share with others.
5 ? Determine your exercise plan of action.
Many people strive all year to get a regular exercise program going, only to let it slide over the holidays. Then, once New Year comes, they again struggle to re-start a regular program. The best way to avoid this from happening year after year is to plan ahead for such things.
? Hire a personal trainer. Whether you find someone to come to your home or meet him/her at the gym, this could help keep you on track during the holiday season. Just that motivation alone might keep you going!
? If you have a stationary bike, elliptical trainer or treadmill at home, put it in front of the TV so you can watch either the news or your favorite show. Another option is to get a book on tape or audio files of seminars to listen to while working out. Because life is so busy during this time, you will be able to accomplish two things at once; exercise and enjoy some entertainment.
? While doing chores at home, put some music on and build up a sweat dancing.
The holidays are a great time to enjoy friends and family. Many holiday events are centered around food and eating, and we are so busy that often our exercise routines fly out the window. Use these strategies to plan your course of action for the holidays. This could be a great time of the year to find help, such as a personal trainer, a Registered Dietitian or perhaps a life coach to help you stay focused and in control.
Marjorie Geiser has been teaching health, fitness and nutrition since 1982. She is a nutritionist, registered dietitian, certified personal trainer and life coach. As the owner of MEG Fitness, Marjorie?s goal for her clients is to help them incorporate healthy eating and fitness into their busy lives. To learn more about the services Margie offers, go to her website at http://www.megfit.com or email her at Margie@megfit.com.
1 ? Have a game plan.
All successful teams and professionals have a plan. Why should controlling your weight at this time of the year be any different? So, as the parties and family events are also in the planning stage, determine how you are going to approach the obstacle course of high fat and high calorie goodies calling out to you?
? Determine how you are going to handle parties and the food provided.
? Plan your events ahead of time. Although there will be surprise invitations, most people know what they will be doing over the holidays. Avoid excessive parties.
? Make a plan for what you will prepare at home when not entertaining or visiting. Just because it?s the holiday season does not mean you have to eat holiday fare all season.
? Determine how you will keep your fitness routine intact.
2 ? Prepare for the party game.
Ok, we?ve all heard these recommendations, but how many of you actually try them? If you use them all, great! Check out to see if there are any new ideas here or use them to remind yourself of some you may have forgotten.
? Eat before the event. If you are already full from healthy food, you are less likely to ?pig out? on high calorie, empty carbohydrate, high fat snack foods that just add up in our mid-section.
? Wear something tight in the midsection. Tight clothes will help you tend to want to eat less, if for no other reason than it?s uncomfortable!
? Bring your own drinks and munchies. The more you are in control of what your choices are, the less likely you are to grab foods you really don?t want to eat.
? Avoid the alcohol. Many people feel out of place if they don?t have a drink in their hand. Try keeping your glass filled with ice and water! No one will know what you?re drinking unless you tell them or they ask. In the meantime, you will be drinking calorie free.
? Concentrate on conversing more than eating.
? Stand clear of the food tables. The further you are from the food and goodies, the less likely you are to pick up and mindlessly eat them.
? Choose smaller portions. Even if a food or snack looks very good, to avoid feeling deprived, just have a smaller serving.
3 ? Plan your party strategy early.
Whether you are the host/hostess or you are the guest, be selective about where you go and how many events you take part in.
? Attend the ?have to? events. These are the events with family and close friends. The ones you enjoy the most (we hope). Then there are the business and work events.
? Watch out for the office parties, especially! Some you may have to at least make a showing to these, but nothing says you have to drink all the punch and be the last one out the door! Stick with your water and leave early for dinner at home.
? When you are the host/hostess, you have control over what the food will be. Choose foods you enjoy and are what you want to eat. Since so many other people are trying to watch what they eat, you may be surprised to find this a very popular choice!
? When you are the host/hostess, provide plenty of non-alcoholic beverages. People just want something in their hands, but many will also opt for no alcohol if it?s available.
4 ? Put your home game plan together.
Just because it?s the holidays doesn?t mean you have to eat as if you?re at a party the entire season! In fact, because you will be socializing more at this time, this is even a better reason to eat as well as possible when home.
? Always plan ahead when going to a party or event that evening. This could include eating fewer calories throughout the day or cutting down on the fat.
? Avoid making desserts just for the family. There will be plenty to sample at events.
? Choose extra fruits and vegetables. This would be a perfect time to strive for 5 per day. Make a pact to eat healthier at home during this period than ?usual?. It may even rub off to create habits that last past the holidays!
? If you receive a lot of candy, cookies or alcohol as gifts, give them to others as gifts, or bring them to work to share with others.
5 ? Determine your exercise plan of action.
Many people strive all year to get a regular exercise program going, only to let it slide over the holidays. Then, once New Year comes, they again struggle to re-start a regular program. The best way to avoid this from happening year after year is to plan ahead for such things.
? Hire a personal trainer. Whether you find someone to come to your home or meet him/her at the gym, this could help keep you on track during the holiday season. Just that motivation alone might keep you going!
? If you have a stationary bike, elliptical trainer or treadmill at home, put it in front of the TV so you can watch either the news or your favorite show. Another option is to get a book on tape or audio files of seminars to listen to while working out. Because life is so busy during this time, you will be able to accomplish two things at once; exercise and enjoy some entertainment.
? While doing chores at home, put some music on and build up a sweat dancing.
The holidays are a great time to enjoy friends and family. Many holiday events are centered around food and eating, and we are so busy that often our exercise routines fly out the window. Use these strategies to plan your course of action for the holidays. This could be a great time of the year to find help, such as a personal trainer, a Registered Dietitian or perhaps a life coach to help you stay focused and in control.
Marjorie Geiser has been teaching health, fitness and nutrition since 1982. She is a nutritionist, registered dietitian, certified personal trainer and life coach. As the owner of MEG Fitness, Marjorie?s goal for her clients is to help them incorporate healthy eating and fitness into their busy lives. To learn more about the services Margie offers, go to her website at http://www.megfit.com or email her at Margie@megfit.com.
Are Your Co-Workers Making You Fat? Avoiding Unexpected Treats
Taming the See Food Eat Food Response
What happens when you’re just minding your business and suddenly someone walks by with a delicious looking cake, muffins, or some other goodie you weren’t expecting. You weren’t hungry a minute ago but now you are suddenly ravenous. So you jump up and rush to get yours before it’s all gone. After you get back to your desk and a few minutes go by, what happens? You suddenly realize you want more. Your stomach may be growling in fact. You can still see those muffins in your mind’s eye. You want them. A few minutes pass while you debate, “I want another, No, I shouldn’t, but, I really want one, they sure tasted good. If I don’t hurry they might all be gone, what about your diet, who cares? I’m getting one,” and off you go.
Frustrating, isn’t it? All you need is a plan for when the unexpected food suddenly drives you to eat. It’s not like this isn’t going to happen time and again, so having a way to deal with it, in that moment, is better than simply being swept up in the wave of wanting. The old pattern of see food, want food, eat food, get angry about eating food, eat more to get over feeling angry, get angrier, give up, eat more. This cycle generally ends when you either pass out or the food is gone. It doesn’t have to be this way.
TV commercials also induce this see food, want food response, which is why so many people overeat in the evening while watching their favorite shows.
Try this new approach using a technique caled EFT. It’s effective in that it forestalls the immediate pattern of jumping up and rushing to get a treat, and gives you a moment or two to think about what’s happening. Realizing you want a treat is fine, and deciding to have a treat is fine too, but simply eating out of a primal see food/eat food response is not okay. You can move past that immediate driven response to food cues by using this approach.
Step 1: The Desire to Eat Unexpected Food
Do a round of EFT the first moment you suddenly are struck by a desire to eat (when you weren’t hungry or thinking of food a moment before):
“Even though seeing those muffins made me hungry, I deeply and completely accept myself.”
“Even though I’m suddenly starving, I deeply and completely accept myself.”
“Even though I want some cake (or whatever it is), I deeply and completely accept myself.”
“Even though I know once I start, I’ll never stop eating all day, I deeply and completely accept myself.”
“Even though I’ll wreck my diet today, I deeply and completely accept myself.”
Now, these statements make not appear to make much sense, but if you’ve used EFT in the past, you’d know that a quick round of EFT on whatever it is that’s first and foremost in your mind (the thing you want, despite that you wish you did not), is what you want to address. That’s how EFT works. I don’t know anything about my car’s engine, but I can drive. You don’t have to understand every nuance of EFT or why it works to use it. Just do use it. (For info on learning EFT see resource box).
Step 2: Spending Your Calories Wisely
First check out the offerings by looking them over. Food, especially unexpected food, has to qualify before I’d even consider eating some. For me a food qualifies as special by how it looks, it’s texture, taste, and whether it truly is “special.” Does it appear good enough to spend my day’s calories on? I do pay attention, and I know I have a certain amount of calories on any given day and I don’t want to waste them. If the food is ordinary (something I could buy myself any day of the week), then more often than not I’ll choose to pass, saving my calorie expenditure on something I deem more worthy.
I think to myself, “I’d rather have cheesecake,” which means I decide whether I want this food, or whether I’d rather go get something better later. I can always stop by the bakery on my way home. There are other things I like better which I could have instead. Think of your own favorite treat and use that when confronted with unexpected food that you may want, but it’s not fabulous, just ordinary.
By ordinary I mean doughnuts bought at the supermarket that are nothing special, or a bakery cake with icing you don’t like. I don’t like typical bakery shortening icing and always scrape it off because the cake’s still okay. Don’t eat parts of the food you don’t even like. Chips, pretzels, cookies, etc. Are they home made or store bought. You can buy the store bought brands any day, they aren’t special at all. Take a pass. Save your calories for something really special. I’d rather skip the morning treats and have a piece or two of excellent chocolate tonight.
If you take a bite and find the food is not as good as you expected, you don’t have to eat it. “Really? I don’t have to eat it?” That’s right, you can choose to not eat. There is simply no way I’m wasting calories on food I don’t even like. No one is going to notice you aren’t eating. Talk to those around you. Laugh, enjoy yourself. Set the plate down, walk away. No one will even notice. If someone says, “Aren’t you going to eat that?,” you can say, “In a minute,” and go on chattering. They’ll forget all about it. Their only making conversation, they really don’t care whether you eat, believe me.
If the idea of leaving food or throwing food away is more than you can tolerate, use EFT on that issue too:
“Even though I can’t stand to throw away food …”
“Even though I hate wasting food …”
“Even though there is no way I can throw away perfectly good food …”
“Even though my mother said you should never waste food …”
Being unable to “waste” food is usually a holdover from childhood. You can outgrow childhood conditioning, if you want to. If you hold on to those beliefs, fine. There are no rules here. Just go with whatever comes up, using EFT on anything and everything, and you’ll be amazed at the difference it can make.
Step 3: Ending Food Cravings Even When You Don’t Want To
Do a round of EFT on the desire to eat anyway. If you think you don’t really want the food, but yet you do. In other words, you can’t decide not to eat it, or you’re deciding not to do the EFT because you want to eat it anyway, then do the EFT first, have the food second. You’ll still get to eat the goodies. No one is taking anything away from you.
You may still want the food but find your desire has lessened. You’ll want it because you’re hungry for it, or you’ll want to take some and save it for later when you are hungrier. You can always save some for later. There is no food police to take it away if you don’t eat it right now. Nobody is going to scold you for not finishing your food. Maybe when you were 6-year sold, but not now.
If any memories pop up about eating, leaving food, your mother telling you what you should or should not do, wasting food, or about getting enough to eat, use EFT on those too. That’s the best way to use EFT, just go with the flow of your thoughts, ideas, memories. You’ll get where you want to go without needing to know the details in advance. Just use EFT on whatever thoughts pop up, and slowly those emotional issues and faulty beliefs will melt away like light snowfall in the afternoon sun.
If you take these three steps and still want to eat, go ahead and eat. You’ll feel okay about what you’re eating, and that’s the point. Doing what is best for you in the moment is what really taking care of yourself is all about.
~~ Kathryn Martyn, Master NLP Practitioner, EFT counselor, author of the free e-book: Changing Beliefs, Your First Step to Permanent Weight Loss, and owner of OneMoreBite-Weightloss.com
Get The Daily Bites: Inspirational Mini Lessons Using EFT and NLP for Ending the Struggle with Weight Loss.
What happens when you’re just minding your business and suddenly someone walks by with a delicious looking cake, muffins, or some other goodie you weren’t expecting. You weren’t hungry a minute ago but now you are suddenly ravenous. So you jump up and rush to get yours before it’s all gone. After you get back to your desk and a few minutes go by, what happens? You suddenly realize you want more. Your stomach may be growling in fact. You can still see those muffins in your mind’s eye. You want them. A few minutes pass while you debate, “I want another, No, I shouldn’t, but, I really want one, they sure tasted good. If I don’t hurry they might all be gone, what about your diet, who cares? I’m getting one,” and off you go.
Frustrating, isn’t it? All you need is a plan for when the unexpected food suddenly drives you to eat. It’s not like this isn’t going to happen time and again, so having a way to deal with it, in that moment, is better than simply being swept up in the wave of wanting. The old pattern of see food, want food, eat food, get angry about eating food, eat more to get over feeling angry, get angrier, give up, eat more. This cycle generally ends when you either pass out or the food is gone. It doesn’t have to be this way.
TV commercials also induce this see food, want food response, which is why so many people overeat in the evening while watching their favorite shows.
Try this new approach using a technique caled EFT. It’s effective in that it forestalls the immediate pattern of jumping up and rushing to get a treat, and gives you a moment or two to think about what’s happening. Realizing you want a treat is fine, and deciding to have a treat is fine too, but simply eating out of a primal see food/eat food response is not okay. You can move past that immediate driven response to food cues by using this approach.
Step 1: The Desire to Eat Unexpected Food
Do a round of EFT the first moment you suddenly are struck by a desire to eat (when you weren’t hungry or thinking of food a moment before):
“Even though seeing those muffins made me hungry, I deeply and completely accept myself.”
“Even though I’m suddenly starving, I deeply and completely accept myself.”
“Even though I want some cake (or whatever it is), I deeply and completely accept myself.”
“Even though I know once I start, I’ll never stop eating all day, I deeply and completely accept myself.”
“Even though I’ll wreck my diet today, I deeply and completely accept myself.”
Now, these statements make not appear to make much sense, but if you’ve used EFT in the past, you’d know that a quick round of EFT on whatever it is that’s first and foremost in your mind (the thing you want, despite that you wish you did not), is what you want to address. That’s how EFT works. I don’t know anything about my car’s engine, but I can drive. You don’t have to understand every nuance of EFT or why it works to use it. Just do use it. (For info on learning EFT see resource box).
Step 2: Spending Your Calories Wisely
First check out the offerings by looking them over. Food, especially unexpected food, has to qualify before I’d even consider eating some. For me a food qualifies as special by how it looks, it’s texture, taste, and whether it truly is “special.” Does it appear good enough to spend my day’s calories on? I do pay attention, and I know I have a certain amount of calories on any given day and I don’t want to waste them. If the food is ordinary (something I could buy myself any day of the week), then more often than not I’ll choose to pass, saving my calorie expenditure on something I deem more worthy.
I think to myself, “I’d rather have cheesecake,” which means I decide whether I want this food, or whether I’d rather go get something better later. I can always stop by the bakery on my way home. There are other things I like better which I could have instead. Think of your own favorite treat and use that when confronted with unexpected food that you may want, but it’s not fabulous, just ordinary.
By ordinary I mean doughnuts bought at the supermarket that are nothing special, or a bakery cake with icing you don’t like. I don’t like typical bakery shortening icing and always scrape it off because the cake’s still okay. Don’t eat parts of the food you don’t even like. Chips, pretzels, cookies, etc. Are they home made or store bought. You can buy the store bought brands any day, they aren’t special at all. Take a pass. Save your calories for something really special. I’d rather skip the morning treats and have a piece or two of excellent chocolate tonight.
If you take a bite and find the food is not as good as you expected, you don’t have to eat it. “Really? I don’t have to eat it?” That’s right, you can choose to not eat. There is simply no way I’m wasting calories on food I don’t even like. No one is going to notice you aren’t eating. Talk to those around you. Laugh, enjoy yourself. Set the plate down, walk away. No one will even notice. If someone says, “Aren’t you going to eat that?,” you can say, “In a minute,” and go on chattering. They’ll forget all about it. Their only making conversation, they really don’t care whether you eat, believe me.
If the idea of leaving food or throwing food away is more than you can tolerate, use EFT on that issue too:
“Even though I can’t stand to throw away food …”
“Even though I hate wasting food …”
“Even though there is no way I can throw away perfectly good food …”
“Even though my mother said you should never waste food …”
Being unable to “waste” food is usually a holdover from childhood. You can outgrow childhood conditioning, if you want to. If you hold on to those beliefs, fine. There are no rules here. Just go with whatever comes up, using EFT on anything and everything, and you’ll be amazed at the difference it can make.
Step 3: Ending Food Cravings Even When You Don’t Want To
Do a round of EFT on the desire to eat anyway. If you think you don’t really want the food, but yet you do. In other words, you can’t decide not to eat it, or you’re deciding not to do the EFT because you want to eat it anyway, then do the EFT first, have the food second. You’ll still get to eat the goodies. No one is taking anything away from you.
You may still want the food but find your desire has lessened. You’ll want it because you’re hungry for it, or you’ll want to take some and save it for later when you are hungrier. You can always save some for later. There is no food police to take it away if you don’t eat it right now. Nobody is going to scold you for not finishing your food. Maybe when you were 6-year sold, but not now.
If any memories pop up about eating, leaving food, your mother telling you what you should or should not do, wasting food, or about getting enough to eat, use EFT on those too. That’s the best way to use EFT, just go with the flow of your thoughts, ideas, memories. You’ll get where you want to go without needing to know the details in advance. Just use EFT on whatever thoughts pop up, and slowly those emotional issues and faulty beliefs will melt away like light snowfall in the afternoon sun.
If you take these three steps and still want to eat, go ahead and eat. You’ll feel okay about what you’re eating, and that’s the point. Doing what is best for you in the moment is what really taking care of yourself is all about.
~~ Kathryn Martyn, Master NLP Practitioner, EFT counselor, author of the free e-book: Changing Beliefs, Your First Step to Permanent Weight Loss, and owner of OneMoreBite-Weightloss.com
Get The Daily Bites: Inspirational Mini Lessons Using EFT and NLP for Ending the Struggle with Weight Loss.
Healthy Diet Answers: Want Fries With That Mister ?
Yes, my healthy diet has at times suffered at the hands of fast food, I admit it ? I am addicted to fast food ? it makes me feel good, it makes us all feel good, that?s why its everywhere and thats why the fast food chains make millions.
But let?s face it, it?s not that simple to be disciplined and no one?s going to go to a restaurant with friends and tell the restaurant that they can?t eat that rice because its white rice and it?ll send my blood sugar levels sky high and release insulin into my body, can I have basmati instead ? ? well, maybe just the hardcore diet enthusiasts.
So what to do about fast food nutrition ? well, I am going to give you my five most important principles for choosing food generally, but also quick things to look for when you?re out in order to complement your healthy diet:
1. Find Out How The Food Was Cooked. It?s not the actual food that matters, it?s the way it was cooked. Little things like this can make a world of difference.
2. Drink Lots Of Water When you?re out, have a water bottle close by ? you?d be surprised what a difference it makes.
3. If it doesn?t look natural, then it probably won?t do your diet much good Generally the more processed a food is, the more likely that it will be absorbed into your body very quickly and will not give you sustained energy. If it looks like it?s gone through a lot of processes before reaching you, then give it a miss.
4. Steer away from unhealthy fats and highly processed carbs when you eat out This is nothing new, don?t eat those fries with that burger. But I have two very good reasons for saying this. If you successfully navigate your way away from these two ? you will be doing a lot for keeping bad cholesterol levels at bay and staving off accidental over-consumption of calories.
5. Go for raw There is nothing more satisfying than knowing that the food you?ve just eaten is burning calories even as you sit at the caf? talking with friends. It?s even confidence building to know that you have a healthy diet. The food that will do this is quite often raw and are adorned with fat burning principles because they have low energy density.
So step back from those fries, and consider that there are plenty of satisfying, tasty and healthy alternatives when snacking or dining out. Instituting these healthy diet principles will mean that your social life and weight loss goals are not an either / or situation.
References:
Elizabeth A Bell and Barbara J Rolls Energy density of foods affects energy intake across multiple levels of fat content in lean and obese women Am J Clin Nutr 73: 1010-1018.
Prentice AM, Jebb SA. Fast foods, energy density and obesity: a possible mechanistic link. Obes Rev. 2003 Nov;4(4):187-94.
Weil, A., (2000) Eating Well for Optimum Health p. 77-78
Want more great ideas about which foods to eat and which to avoid ? Follow up this article, with the types of food that will help you to lose weight by visiting http://www.savvy-fat-burning-food.com/get-started-today
But let?s face it, it?s not that simple to be disciplined and no one?s going to go to a restaurant with friends and tell the restaurant that they can?t eat that rice because its white rice and it?ll send my blood sugar levels sky high and release insulin into my body, can I have basmati instead ? ? well, maybe just the hardcore diet enthusiasts.
So what to do about fast food nutrition ? well, I am going to give you my five most important principles for choosing food generally, but also quick things to look for when you?re out in order to complement your healthy diet:
1. Find Out How The Food Was Cooked. It?s not the actual food that matters, it?s the way it was cooked. Little things like this can make a world of difference.
2. Drink Lots Of Water When you?re out, have a water bottle close by ? you?d be surprised what a difference it makes.
3. If it doesn?t look natural, then it probably won?t do your diet much good Generally the more processed a food is, the more likely that it will be absorbed into your body very quickly and will not give you sustained energy. If it looks like it?s gone through a lot of processes before reaching you, then give it a miss.
4. Steer away from unhealthy fats and highly processed carbs when you eat out This is nothing new, don?t eat those fries with that burger. But I have two very good reasons for saying this. If you successfully navigate your way away from these two ? you will be doing a lot for keeping bad cholesterol levels at bay and staving off accidental over-consumption of calories.
5. Go for raw There is nothing more satisfying than knowing that the food you?ve just eaten is burning calories even as you sit at the caf? talking with friends. It?s even confidence building to know that you have a healthy diet. The food that will do this is quite often raw and are adorned with fat burning principles because they have low energy density.
So step back from those fries, and consider that there are plenty of satisfying, tasty and healthy alternatives when snacking or dining out. Instituting these healthy diet principles will mean that your social life and weight loss goals are not an either / or situation.
References:
Elizabeth A Bell and Barbara J Rolls Energy density of foods affects energy intake across multiple levels of fat content in lean and obese women Am J Clin Nutr 73: 1010-1018.
Prentice AM, Jebb SA. Fast foods, energy density and obesity: a possible mechanistic link. Obes Rev. 2003 Nov;4(4):187-94.
Weil, A., (2000) Eating Well for Optimum Health p. 77-78
Want more great ideas about which foods to eat and which to avoid ? Follow up this article, with the types of food that will help you to lose weight by visiting http://www.savvy-fat-burning-food.com/get-started-today
Lose Weight and Get Fit by Getting Fat
Getting enough of the good fats will help you lose fat,
build muscle, and recover faster from your workouts.
In addition, it has myriad health benefits, including being
good for your heart.
Good fats include: polyunsaturated (especially Omega-3’s),
such as those from fish and nuts, as well as monosaturated fats,
such as those from peanut butter, olive oil, egg yolks, and fish
oil.
Bad fats include saturated fats from things such as animal
and coconut fats. Then there is the worst kind of fat the man
made kind, trans fatty acids which can be found in our typical,
of no redeeming value, junk foods such cookies, chips, fries
and margarine.
Limit, if not stay completely away from, the bad fats and try
to get about 30 - 35% of your calories from the good fats.
“Studies show that higher-fat diets make more sense for fit
people than low-fat diets,” says Liz Applegate, Ph.D., author of
Encyclopedia of Sports & Fitness Nutrition. “In one study,
endurance athletes ran up to 24 percent longer before they fatigued when they ate a diet that was above 30 percent fat compared to one that was below 20 percent,” she says.
More importantly to most readers of this newsletter, researchers
are now beginning to realize the fact that a nutrition plan high in the good fats helps the body to burn fat. Omega-3 fatty acids increase the size of your cells’ fuel-burning furnaces so your metabolic rate rises and you burn more calories every minute of every day.
Omega-3’s also help your body’s sensitivity to insulin. This helps your body store less fat. In addition, the fat you do store is more readily and easily converted into energy and burned during activity.
This keeps your blood sugar levels stable and keeps you away from those famed sugar crashes and cravings and irritable mood swings.
Another important exercise effect is that Omega-3’s also help your body produce testosterone, the hormone responsible for building new muscle. The late Dan Duchaine has called the essential fatty acids the most anabolic legal food supplement one can take to build muscle.
Of course, more muscle equals more calorie burning equals less body fat.
Fat can also help you recover from your workouts. Vitamins A, D, E and K are fat-soluble and are very important antioxidants in the muscle-building, bone-repairing category.
As I mentioned above, fat also helps your heart. Omega-3 fatty acids and monounsaturated fats help lower bad LDL cholesterol and help prevent blood clots, making your heart able to do it’s job with less stress.
On a personal note, I suggested my favorite essential fatty acid
supplements to a friend of mine recently who has always suffered from high cholesterol, despite working out five plus times a week and eating a very healthy diet.
I’m going to quote the email she sent to me. I love getting stuff like this.
“I was at a demo this morning, from 10-2, and it was at a gym that was having a members appreciation day, so they had other tables set up.
This guy who had a table next to mine was doing blood pressure tests and cholesterol tests.
When it slowed down and bit he asked me if I wanted my cholesterol done. I told him it would probably be pretty high, it’s been over 230 for the last few years.
I told him about the marine oil supplements I was taking and told him I have been taking them only about 7 weeks or so, and he told me he’d check my cholesterol, to see if the supplements are bringing it down any.
I got a reading of 150!!!
He thought maybe he did it wrong, so he did it AGAIN, on my other hand,(pin prick and blood taken) and it read 150 AGAIN!! Exactly!
He got all excited and asked me for the n3inc website!
I told him I have not changed my diet OR exercise — the only thing I am doing different is taking ResQ 1250 and ResQ LDL-X.
I hear testimonials like this time and time again from people who take quality essential fatty acid (EFA)supplements. Making sure you get a proper supply of the good fats will go a long way toward a healthy life and the fit, toned
sexy body that you want.
Gregg Gillies
Gregg Gillies is a speaker, consultant, fat loss expert, trainer and author. He teaches fitness via his articles, books and courses at his web site http://www.buildleanmuscle.com . He is the author of two books: Complete information on his books, along with lots of free articles are available at his site. And while there, don’t forget to sign up for his free newsletter, “Fit Physique”.
build muscle, and recover faster from your workouts.
In addition, it has myriad health benefits, including being
good for your heart.
Good fats include: polyunsaturated (especially Omega-3’s),
such as those from fish and nuts, as well as monosaturated fats,
such as those from peanut butter, olive oil, egg yolks, and fish
oil.
Bad fats include saturated fats from things such as animal
and coconut fats. Then there is the worst kind of fat the man
made kind, trans fatty acids which can be found in our typical,
of no redeeming value, junk foods such cookies, chips, fries
and margarine.
Limit, if not stay completely away from, the bad fats and try
to get about 30 - 35% of your calories from the good fats.
“Studies show that higher-fat diets make more sense for fit
people than low-fat diets,” says Liz Applegate, Ph.D., author of
Encyclopedia of Sports & Fitness Nutrition. “In one study,
endurance athletes ran up to 24 percent longer before they fatigued when they ate a diet that was above 30 percent fat compared to one that was below 20 percent,” she says.
More importantly to most readers of this newsletter, researchers
are now beginning to realize the fact that a nutrition plan high in the good fats helps the body to burn fat. Omega-3 fatty acids increase the size of your cells’ fuel-burning furnaces so your metabolic rate rises and you burn more calories every minute of every day.
Omega-3’s also help your body’s sensitivity to insulin. This helps your body store less fat. In addition, the fat you do store is more readily and easily converted into energy and burned during activity.
This keeps your blood sugar levels stable and keeps you away from those famed sugar crashes and cravings and irritable mood swings.
Another important exercise effect is that Omega-3’s also help your body produce testosterone, the hormone responsible for building new muscle. The late Dan Duchaine has called the essential fatty acids the most anabolic legal food supplement one can take to build muscle.
Of course, more muscle equals more calorie burning equals less body fat.
Fat can also help you recover from your workouts. Vitamins A, D, E and K are fat-soluble and are very important antioxidants in the muscle-building, bone-repairing category.
As I mentioned above, fat also helps your heart. Omega-3 fatty acids and monounsaturated fats help lower bad LDL cholesterol and help prevent blood clots, making your heart able to do it’s job with less stress.
On a personal note, I suggested my favorite essential fatty acid
supplements to a friend of mine recently who has always suffered from high cholesterol, despite working out five plus times a week and eating a very healthy diet.
I’m going to quote the email she sent to me. I love getting stuff like this.
“I was at a demo this morning, from 10-2, and it was at a gym that was having a members appreciation day, so they had other tables set up.
This guy who had a table next to mine was doing blood pressure tests and cholesterol tests.
When it slowed down and bit he asked me if I wanted my cholesterol done. I told him it would probably be pretty high, it’s been over 230 for the last few years.
I told him about the marine oil supplements I was taking and told him I have been taking them only about 7 weeks or so, and he told me he’d check my cholesterol, to see if the supplements are bringing it down any.
I got a reading of 150!!!
He thought maybe he did it wrong, so he did it AGAIN, on my other hand,(pin prick and blood taken) and it read 150 AGAIN!! Exactly!
He got all excited and asked me for the n3inc website!
I told him I have not changed my diet OR exercise — the only thing I am doing different is taking ResQ 1250 and ResQ LDL-X.
I hear testimonials like this time and time again from people who take quality essential fatty acid (EFA)supplements. Making sure you get a proper supply of the good fats will go a long way toward a healthy life and the fit, toned
sexy body that you want.
Gregg Gillies
Gregg Gillies is a speaker, consultant, fat loss expert, trainer and author. He teaches fitness via his articles, books and courses at his web site http://www.buildleanmuscle.com . He is the author of two books: Complete information on his books, along with lots of free articles are available at his site. And while there, don’t forget to sign up for his free newsletter, “Fit Physique”.
Using Yogic Posture Exercises as Workout Routine
The word 'YOGA' is derived from Sanskrit, an ancient Indian language. The literal meaning of Yoga is addition, or joining or combining. The practice of Yoga involves a set of routines and carefully controlled lifestyle which help in realizing inner potential, attaining higher consciousness level and aligning or becoming one with the all pervading consciousness or energy level. While attempting to reach the goal, there is tremendous improvement in physical, mental and emotional health.
Yogic postures, called Yogasanas, form one component of Yogic practices. By themselves these postures can bring about awesome benefits in overall fitness. There are prescribed methods of doing these exercises. Basically one has to form the body in a particular posture, hold the body in that posture for sometime and then slowly come back to what we can call the posture of rest. These exercises are characterized by absence of jerks and slow body movements.
To understand these exercises better let us compare them with dynamic exercises with which we are more familiar, such as acrobatics, gymnastics, jogging etc. These exercises are effective on muscular, circulatory and respiratory systems. There are dynamic Yogic exercises (different from Yogic posture exercises) which also stimulate nervous and glandular system. All these exercises involve speed and dynamic body movements resulting in expenditure of energy and perspiration.
In Yogic posture exercises there is deep relaxation and energy conservation resulting in freshness. This is basically a nerve culture as it relaxes the nerves. The exercise starts from the posture of rest. First lie down in this posture, calm down your breathing, calm down your nerves and calm down your thoughts. Then form the posture you have in mind with slow body movement without jerk of any kind. Posture exercises are accompanied by prescribed breathing pattern. This posture is maintained for prescribed length of time which may be several seconds to few minutes. Then come back slowly to the posture of rest. After remaining in rest for 30 seconds to few minutes, the next posture exercise is done. This pattern is repeated for as long as you wish to do the exercise. Normally exercise workout routine for 30 minutes in a day is good enough for an average person.
Doing these exercises regularly gives remarkable benefits. Generally circulation of body fluids improves and metabolic activities become more efficient. Better blood circulation ensures more thorough distribution of oxygen in the body and more complete removal of toxins. Additionally each posture benefits particular set of organs and muscles. Depending upon the need and condition of health, tailor-made set of exercises can be designed.
Many people believe that life-force flows in our nerves. When the flow of life-force is unregulated and uncoordinated it provides conditions for development of body disorders or ailments from within the body. Yogic posture exercises work very well in this area and prevent ailments. The overall body vigour and freshness are maintained. There is a balance of metabolic activities and unnecessary growths in the body are avoided.
If you are looking for general well being, life free from diseases and lifetime fitness regular Yogic posture exercises can help you. Though these exercises can be combined with other work-outs, they can by themselves provide all the workout routine you need for maintaining a good health.
Sanjay Johari regularly contributes articles to various ezines. See his site for more information on health and workout routine:
http://sanjay-j.com/workoutroutine/
Yogic postures, called Yogasanas, form one component of Yogic practices. By themselves these postures can bring about awesome benefits in overall fitness. There are prescribed methods of doing these exercises. Basically one has to form the body in a particular posture, hold the body in that posture for sometime and then slowly come back to what we can call the posture of rest. These exercises are characterized by absence of jerks and slow body movements.
To understand these exercises better let us compare them with dynamic exercises with which we are more familiar, such as acrobatics, gymnastics, jogging etc. These exercises are effective on muscular, circulatory and respiratory systems. There are dynamic Yogic exercises (different from Yogic posture exercises) which also stimulate nervous and glandular system. All these exercises involve speed and dynamic body movements resulting in expenditure of energy and perspiration.
In Yogic posture exercises there is deep relaxation and energy conservation resulting in freshness. This is basically a nerve culture as it relaxes the nerves. The exercise starts from the posture of rest. First lie down in this posture, calm down your breathing, calm down your nerves and calm down your thoughts. Then form the posture you have in mind with slow body movement without jerk of any kind. Posture exercises are accompanied by prescribed breathing pattern. This posture is maintained for prescribed length of time which may be several seconds to few minutes. Then come back slowly to the posture of rest. After remaining in rest for 30 seconds to few minutes, the next posture exercise is done. This pattern is repeated for as long as you wish to do the exercise. Normally exercise workout routine for 30 minutes in a day is good enough for an average person.
Doing these exercises regularly gives remarkable benefits. Generally circulation of body fluids improves and metabolic activities become more efficient. Better blood circulation ensures more thorough distribution of oxygen in the body and more complete removal of toxins. Additionally each posture benefits particular set of organs and muscles. Depending upon the need and condition of health, tailor-made set of exercises can be designed.
Many people believe that life-force flows in our nerves. When the flow of life-force is unregulated and uncoordinated it provides conditions for development of body disorders or ailments from within the body. Yogic posture exercises work very well in this area and prevent ailments. The overall body vigour and freshness are maintained. There is a balance of metabolic activities and unnecessary growths in the body are avoided.
If you are looking for general well being, life free from diseases and lifetime fitness regular Yogic posture exercises can help you. Though these exercises can be combined with other work-outs, they can by themselves provide all the workout routine you need for maintaining a good health.
Sanjay Johari regularly contributes articles to various ezines. See his site for more information on health and workout routine:
http://sanjay-j.com/workoutroutine/
Yoga: Firm Your Quads and Release Your Hamstrings
Those yoga practitioners with tense hamstrings are the ones most likely to tense up in poses meant to release the hams and they then lose the benefit of the pose. Uttanasana (Standing Forward Bend) is a pose where to experience a relaxing stretch in your back, neck and legs, you must release the hamstrings.
Uttanasana is often used as a relaxing break after standing poses or as a rest during an intense vinyasa sequence. When performing the Standing Forward Bend, it is best to stretch the hamstrings on the back of your thighs and contract the quadriceps on the front of your thighs. In Uttanasana, positioning is important to allow the hamstrings to lengthen and relax into the stretch as opposed to holding on tightly and contracting.
To appreciate how your hamstrings work in Uttanasana, it is important to understand the three distinct forms of muscle contraction. In an isometric contraction, the muscle does not change length; a concentric contraction makes the muscle shorter; and an eccentric contraction lengthens the muscle.
If you start in Uttanasana with your knees straight and your pelvis tilted forward so that your head and spine are moving towards the floor, as you come up out of the pose, the hamstrings contract and pull down the sitting bones. The pelvis will then move upright and the upper body aligns with the legs. The hamstrings have performed a concentric, or shortening, contraction.
However, when standing and tilting the pelvis forward the hamstrings perform a lengthening, or eccentric contraction. If you stop halfway, the hamstrings will perform an isometric contraction. They are still working hard, but are neither shortening nor lengthening. Here is the problem for students with tight hamstrings: they cannot reach their fingers to the floor so when they bend over they end up sort of “stuck” halfway - and in an isometric contraction.
It is not recommended that Uttanasana be practiced with the fingers dangling towards the ground. This puts undue pressure on the muscles as well as the lower back. The hamstrings will not benefit and become more flexible, but remain rigid.
A simple solution is to put a yoga block or a folded blanket under your hands to support the weight of your body through your arms. The hamstrings will then no longer be required to support the torso and can lengthen and relax.
For proper alignment in this pose, ensure that the hips are over your ankles, not behind them. The knees should be straight. To offset the tendency to bend the knees, the quadriceps should be contracted. Since they are “antagonistic” muscle groups, the hamstrings will automatically relax when you flex your quads. This will allow for a fuller stretch of the hamstrings.
The Standing Forward Bend is also excellent work for the erector spinae, the group of small muscles that run up and down the spine. Just as with the hamstrings, the erector spinae will only benefit from this pose if the weight of the upper body is supported by placing the hands on the floor or a prop.
Remember to keep the quads working. With time and practice, the hamstrings will lengthen and release, allowing further release in the lower back and pelvic region.
Michael Russell
Your Independent guide to Yoga
Uttanasana is often used as a relaxing break after standing poses or as a rest during an intense vinyasa sequence. When performing the Standing Forward Bend, it is best to stretch the hamstrings on the back of your thighs and contract the quadriceps on the front of your thighs. In Uttanasana, positioning is important to allow the hamstrings to lengthen and relax into the stretch as opposed to holding on tightly and contracting.
To appreciate how your hamstrings work in Uttanasana, it is important to understand the three distinct forms of muscle contraction. In an isometric contraction, the muscle does not change length; a concentric contraction makes the muscle shorter; and an eccentric contraction lengthens the muscle.
If you start in Uttanasana with your knees straight and your pelvis tilted forward so that your head and spine are moving towards the floor, as you come up out of the pose, the hamstrings contract and pull down the sitting bones. The pelvis will then move upright and the upper body aligns with the legs. The hamstrings have performed a concentric, or shortening, contraction.
However, when standing and tilting the pelvis forward the hamstrings perform a lengthening, or eccentric contraction. If you stop halfway, the hamstrings will perform an isometric contraction. They are still working hard, but are neither shortening nor lengthening. Here is the problem for students with tight hamstrings: they cannot reach their fingers to the floor so when they bend over they end up sort of “stuck” halfway - and in an isometric contraction.
It is not recommended that Uttanasana be practiced with the fingers dangling towards the ground. This puts undue pressure on the muscles as well as the lower back. The hamstrings will not benefit and become more flexible, but remain rigid.
A simple solution is to put a yoga block or a folded blanket under your hands to support the weight of your body through your arms. The hamstrings will then no longer be required to support the torso and can lengthen and relax.
For proper alignment in this pose, ensure that the hips are over your ankles, not behind them. The knees should be straight. To offset the tendency to bend the knees, the quadriceps should be contracted. Since they are “antagonistic” muscle groups, the hamstrings will automatically relax when you flex your quads. This will allow for a fuller stretch of the hamstrings.
The Standing Forward Bend is also excellent work for the erector spinae, the group of small muscles that run up and down the spine. Just as with the hamstrings, the erector spinae will only benefit from this pose if the weight of the upper body is supported by placing the hands on the floor or a prop.
Remember to keep the quads working. With time and practice, the hamstrings will lengthen and release, allowing further release in the lower back and pelvic region.
Michael Russell
Your Independent guide to Yoga
Insider Secrets to Marketing your Yoga Teaching Service, Part 1
There are many choices, when it comes to advertising and marketing your Yoga teaching skills for Yoga studios and Yoga instructors. As I?ve mentioned in other books, and interviews, the biggest difference between advertising and marketing, is cost. Advertising will usually cost you money. Marketing and public relations can sometimes cost you nothing, if you do it yourself.
You can market by press release, Email, FAX, mail, referrals, public relations, shoe leather (cold call - knocking on doors), and community outreach. Knocking on doors is a very inefficient use of your time. Whatever you do, remember that press releases about charity drives, interesting news in your studio, or your last visit to Tibet, are interesting to the public and cost you nothing.
If you send anything electronically, please make absolutely sure you have permission from the recipient. There are a number of penalties for sending out ?Junk Email? (Spam). In the US, the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 is enforced by the Federal Trade Commission and can result in fines or imprisonment.
You should not Fax prospects without permission either. Within the US, there are penalties for sending ?Junk Faxes.? The Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991 and the Junk Fax Prevention Act of 2005 have rules that ban sending unwanted advertisements to a fax machine, without first receiving the receiver?s permission.
Therefore, learn the rules of electronic marketing or hire a service that does. It is in your best interest to know the law. Most Yoga teachers do not want the prospect of teaching Yoga, as an inmate, in prison. It is much less expensive to learn the rules and laws, or hire someone who does.
Advertising your Yoga business, on the other hand, will cost you money, and you want to get the best return for your investment. The return on investment is what makes the Internet so attractive to small businesses, such as Yoga teachers and Yoga studios.
The Internet is your absolute best return on investment. Yes, that?s right, and you will notice every major ashram, wellness center, studio, Yoga school, and Yoga teacher, who is worth their weight, has a website. You won?t see many ?fly-by-night? Yoga teaching services, with a strong natural search engine ranking.
The reason is - it takes a little while to establish your business on the web. Realistically, it takes about five months for a website to gain a strong presence in the natural search engine rankings.
? Copyright 2006 ? Paul Jerard / Aura Publications
Paul Jerard is a co-owner and the director of Yoga teacher training at: Aura Wellness Center, in North Providence, RI. He has been a certified Master Yoga teacher since 1995. He is a master instructor of martial arts, with multiple Black Belts, four martial arts teaching credentials, and was recently inducted into the USA Martial Arts Hall of Fame. He teaches Yoga, martial arts, and fitness to children, adults, and seniors in the greater Providence area. Recently he wrote: Is Running a Yoga Business Right for You? For Yoga students, who may be considering a new career as a Yoga teacher. http://www.yoga-teacher-training.org/index.html
You can market by press release, Email, FAX, mail, referrals, public relations, shoe leather (cold call - knocking on doors), and community outreach. Knocking on doors is a very inefficient use of your time. Whatever you do, remember that press releases about charity drives, interesting news in your studio, or your last visit to Tibet, are interesting to the public and cost you nothing.
If you send anything electronically, please make absolutely sure you have permission from the recipient. There are a number of penalties for sending out ?Junk Email? (Spam). In the US, the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 is enforced by the Federal Trade Commission and can result in fines or imprisonment.
You should not Fax prospects without permission either. Within the US, there are penalties for sending ?Junk Faxes.? The Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991 and the Junk Fax Prevention Act of 2005 have rules that ban sending unwanted advertisements to a fax machine, without first receiving the receiver?s permission.
Therefore, learn the rules of electronic marketing or hire a service that does. It is in your best interest to know the law. Most Yoga teachers do not want the prospect of teaching Yoga, as an inmate, in prison. It is much less expensive to learn the rules and laws, or hire someone who does.
Advertising your Yoga business, on the other hand, will cost you money, and you want to get the best return for your investment. The return on investment is what makes the Internet so attractive to small businesses, such as Yoga teachers and Yoga studios.
The Internet is your absolute best return on investment. Yes, that?s right, and you will notice every major ashram, wellness center, studio, Yoga school, and Yoga teacher, who is worth their weight, has a website. You won?t see many ?fly-by-night? Yoga teaching services, with a strong natural search engine ranking.
The reason is - it takes a little while to establish your business on the web. Realistically, it takes about five months for a website to gain a strong presence in the natural search engine rankings.
? Copyright 2006 ? Paul Jerard / Aura Publications
Paul Jerard is a co-owner and the director of Yoga teacher training at: Aura Wellness Center, in North Providence, RI. He has been a certified Master Yoga teacher since 1995. He is a master instructor of martial arts, with multiple Black Belts, four martial arts teaching credentials, and was recently inducted into the USA Martial Arts Hall of Fame. He teaches Yoga, martial arts, and fitness to children, adults, and seniors in the greater Providence area. Recently he wrote: Is Running a Yoga Business Right for You? For Yoga students, who may be considering a new career as a Yoga teacher. http://www.yoga-teacher-training.org/index.html
Tips For Successful Weight Loss
Throughout my childhood and teenage years I watched as my mother tried every fad diet under the sun. I recall one time she ate boiled cabbage and nothing else for a whole week. I felt my mothers? frustration and misery, however I could not understand why it was so difficult for her to lose weight and keep it off ? until that is I became a weight management coach.
For the past two years I have been assisting people to achieve their ideal weight and in this time I have experienced what contributes to a successful weight loss story.
Getting serious - It all starts with you and how serious you are about losing weight. The key to successful weight loss is partly dependent on your level of commitment. How would you rate your seriousness on a scale of 1 ? 10 (10 being deadly serious)?
No quick fix - If you have made the commitment to get serious about losing weight then you need to make the commitment to do it safely and effectively. One piece of invaluable advice my own family doctor passed onto me is that slow and steady is always the best option. The longer it takes you to lose weight the less likely you are to put it back on.
Staying motivated - Always keep the end in mind! Write down all of the reasons why you are motivated to lose weight now. Record these reasons on a piece of card that can be kept in your wallet or purse. Each morning and before going to bed remind yourself by reading aloud why you are motivated to lose weight.
Facing challenges - Every day you are likely to face challenges, which can disrupt your focus and get in the way of your weight loss goals. Write down all of the challenges that you know have made losing weight hard for you in the past. This will help you to develop a better strategy this time. Three common challenges are lack of results, boredom and lack of support from spouse, family and friends.
Choosing a weight control program - I recommend choosing a diet / weight control program that offers all of the following for best results:
* Provides a balanced nutritious program that is safe and effective
* Support system and regular progress follow-up
* Teaches you better eating habits
* Teaches you how to maintain your weight once you have reached your goal weight
For two years Annette Croft has been assisting people reach their ideal weight with the aid of a nutritious, simple and convenient weight management program. For a free weight profile and consultation please visit www.getslim-n-trim.com. For more articles please send an email to amcroft@optusnet.com.au
For the past two years I have been assisting people to achieve their ideal weight and in this time I have experienced what contributes to a successful weight loss story.
Getting serious - It all starts with you and how serious you are about losing weight. The key to successful weight loss is partly dependent on your level of commitment. How would you rate your seriousness on a scale of 1 ? 10 (10 being deadly serious)?
No quick fix - If you have made the commitment to get serious about losing weight then you need to make the commitment to do it safely and effectively. One piece of invaluable advice my own family doctor passed onto me is that slow and steady is always the best option. The longer it takes you to lose weight the less likely you are to put it back on.
Staying motivated - Always keep the end in mind! Write down all of the reasons why you are motivated to lose weight now. Record these reasons on a piece of card that can be kept in your wallet or purse. Each morning and before going to bed remind yourself by reading aloud why you are motivated to lose weight.
Facing challenges - Every day you are likely to face challenges, which can disrupt your focus and get in the way of your weight loss goals. Write down all of the challenges that you know have made losing weight hard for you in the past. This will help you to develop a better strategy this time. Three common challenges are lack of results, boredom and lack of support from spouse, family and friends.
Choosing a weight control program - I recommend choosing a diet / weight control program that offers all of the following for best results:
* Provides a balanced nutritious program that is safe and effective
* Support system and regular progress follow-up
* Teaches you better eating habits
* Teaches you how to maintain your weight once you have reached your goal weight
For two years Annette Croft has been assisting people reach their ideal weight with the aid of a nutritious, simple and convenient weight management program. For a free weight profile and consultation please visit www.getslim-n-trim.com. For more articles please send an email to amcroft@optusnet.com.au
How to Design the Perfect Diet
All Diets Are Based on the Same Premise: Eat Less Calories and You’ll Lose Weight
Diets come in all sizes and flavors and all tend to rely on the formula of less calories, despite their claims to the contrary. The Peanut butter diet is low calorie with some peanut butter at every meal. The Cabbage Soup diet is unlimited amounts of cabbage soup but how much cabbage soup can you really have before you’re sick of it, meaning you’ll eat less calories? The Atkins Diet, SouthBeach diet even Weight Watchers all are based on the idea that you’ll consume less calories than your body requires, hence you’ll lose weight. No one at Atkins estimated people would eat two pounds of cheese and a pound of bacon every day, yet some people do just that and then are alarmed when their weight loss stalls.
My present diet includes a small piece of chocolate cake and a quarter pint of Haagen Daz most every night
You can design a diet around any food you want. Like cheesecake? How about the Cheesecake Diet, three very low calorie meals a day plus a tiny sliver of cheesecake equals the Cheesecake Diet. Love french fries? Here’s the French Fry Diet: Eat three very low calorie meals a day, with a small order of fries to go, and you’ve got The French Fries Diet. The chosen focus food is whatever the diet developer wanted, in a scaled back portion so as to provide the common suggested amounts of from 1200 to 1600 calories a day. The fewer calories you have, the faster the initial weight loss; at least that is the expected outcome. Remember the liquid protein fasts (Oprah used this the first time she reached size 10)? Liquid Protein Fasts were once very popular until a few people died, and that put a damper on them in a hurry.
The sad truth is we want to believe the lies of the diet purveyors so badly we’ll try anything which is why the diet industry is a multi billion dollar industry. If these diets worked such as The Zone, the Perricone Prescription, Life Choice (opposite of Atkins), the Negative Calorie Diet, etc. wouldn’t we slowly see the obesity rates fall, instead of watching them continue to rise?
Design Your Own Diet
A more reasonable approach of choosing foods you love, estimating how many calories would be reasonable for your body size and designed body weight, and then getting started is usually greeted with sneers and jeers. I’ve heard, “2,000 calories a day? I’ll blow up like a balloon!” No you won’t. You’ll lose weight, although slower than the other more drastic diets, wouldn’t you prefer to lose it permanently this time?
How can you lose weight eating 2,000 calories a day? Think about it. The typical adult female eats about 3,500 calories a day, whether you believe it or not. Our typical lady, Carol, eats at McDonalds every day for lunch, grabs a StarBucks Latte every morning on the way to work, drinks four cups of coffee with cream during the day, pops two donuts at breaks, and stops for take-out chicken for dinner. She “treats” herself to ice cream and half a package of Oreo’s for dessert. Let’s see how many calories that might be:
Typical Adult American Meal Plan:
Breakfast: Skipped, we’re watching our figure
Snack: StarBucks on way to work; Caffe Mocha with whole milk and whipped cream, venti (20 Oz) = 530 calories
Total Morning: 530
Lunch: McDonald’s Big-n-Tasty with Cheese; 540 calories
Super Sized Fries 610 calories
Super Sized Coke (20 Oz) 250 calories
Apple Pie - 265 calories
Total Lunch: 1665
Snack: Sugar free gum - 0
Daytime: 4 Cups Coffee with half-n-half - 160 calories (from the half-n-half)
Break: Donuts - glazed, two Krispy Kreme - 424
Snacks & Breaks: 512
Dinner: Kentucky Fried Chicken Dinner
3-piece meal: Extra Crispy Drumstick, two Extra Crispy Thighs, Potato Wedges and Biscuit: 1,420 calories
Large Soft Drink (20 Oz): 250 calories
Small Dish Ice Cream (1 Cup): 260 calories
Total Dinner: 1930
Evening Watching TV:
Oreos - 10 cookies (about 1/3 a package): 530 calories
Evening Snacks: 530
Grand Total: 5,167
You may think that’s ridiculous but I think it’s conservative. You maybe wouldn’t have had exactly this menu but the point is we’re eating far more calories than we realize.
If you cut back to 2,000 calories a day, you’d be eating far fewer calories and you’d likely lose a pound a week or more. If you don’t think that’s fast enough you’re probably going to remain overweight. Your body cannot add or subtract muscle and fat any faster. Faster weight loss is water loss and comes back as soon as you resume eating regular foods. Remember, losing it slowly, means losing it permanently. The mathematics are not precise. I lost 80 pounds in nine months which was actually 2.07 pounds per week.
Would You Be Happy if This Time Next Year You Were at Your Goal Weight?
If at the end of a year you’d taken off 100 pounds (or however much you needed to lose if less than 100 pounds), wouldn’t you be happy? The more weight you need to lose, the faster it comes off initially. It’s not what the scale says that matters though. What matters is do you feel better? Are you able to bend lower and even reach your toes perhaps? Can you get up from a sitting position easier? Is walking more pleasant, are your clothes feeling looser? These are the things that matter. Is your blood pressure back to normal?
Track what you eat for one week, meaning what you really eat. Don’t make an effort to eat better or less. That isn’t helpful for this exercise. You want to catch yourself being yourself. Get it down on paper, what you really eat on a regular basis. If you eat out you’re likely eating far more calories than you realize. We all wonder how it is we can’t lose weight, then we drink a 600 calorie coffee drink! Think about it.
Once you have your weekly eating routine on paper, you can take a look to see what changes you could make. For instance, by switching from a Caffe Mocha to a Caffe Latte two days a week you’d save 540 calories right there. Once you’re used to that change take it a step further and switch to a Caffe Latte every day and now you’re saving 1960 calories a week. One step further and switch to a Skinny Latte (non-fat milk instead of whole milk) and you save another 100 calories every day, meaning you’ve gone from an additional 3780 calories a week from your morning Starbucks to just 1120 calories a week, or a calorie savings of 2660. This is how you can keep your Starbucks habit, but make a small change and suddenly you’re not adding to the problem but you’re well on your way to losing that pound a week. The less fancy drink costs less too so you can put that money toward the new clothes you’ll be wanting soon.
Track Your Eating and You’ll Get a Better Idea of What’s Going on
For the next seven days write down everything you put in your mouth and start to get your eating patterns into view. I use a simple software program called the Food & Exercise Diary for Windows. Making an effort to write down my eating helps keep me on track, plus what I’ve eaten and how much I’ve exercised six months ago is still at my fingertips. That’s especially handy when you develop a routine that works for you because you can always go back and see what you did differently, if you catch yourself regaining weight a year later.
One of the best things I ever did was track my weight workouts and eating habits when I got in shape so many years ago. Now, to reproduce the results I can go back and see what I did before and do basically the same thing again. Learn from your successes, keep a journal. Then, don’t make the mistake of cutting back too severely because it’s simply not necessary. Just cut back around 500 calories a day and you’re on your way with much less trauma in the process.
Design a diet that fits your lifestyle and you’ve got a winning plan for the rest of your life.
~~ Kathryn Martyn, Master NLP Practitioner, EFT counselor, author of the free e-book: Changing Beliefs, Your First Step to Permanent Weight Loss, and owner of OneMoreBite-Weightloss.com
Get The Daily Bites: Inspirational Mini Lessons Using EFT and NLP for Ending the Struggle with Weight Loss.
Diets come in all sizes and flavors and all tend to rely on the formula of less calories, despite their claims to the contrary. The Peanut butter diet is low calorie with some peanut butter at every meal. The Cabbage Soup diet is unlimited amounts of cabbage soup but how much cabbage soup can you really have before you’re sick of it, meaning you’ll eat less calories? The Atkins Diet, SouthBeach diet even Weight Watchers all are based on the idea that you’ll consume less calories than your body requires, hence you’ll lose weight. No one at Atkins estimated people would eat two pounds of cheese and a pound of bacon every day, yet some people do just that and then are alarmed when their weight loss stalls.
My present diet includes a small piece of chocolate cake and a quarter pint of Haagen Daz most every night
You can design a diet around any food you want. Like cheesecake? How about the Cheesecake Diet, three very low calorie meals a day plus a tiny sliver of cheesecake equals the Cheesecake Diet. Love french fries? Here’s the French Fry Diet: Eat three very low calorie meals a day, with a small order of fries to go, and you’ve got The French Fries Diet. The chosen focus food is whatever the diet developer wanted, in a scaled back portion so as to provide the common suggested amounts of from 1200 to 1600 calories a day. The fewer calories you have, the faster the initial weight loss; at least that is the expected outcome. Remember the liquid protein fasts (Oprah used this the first time she reached size 10)? Liquid Protein Fasts were once very popular until a few people died, and that put a damper on them in a hurry.
The sad truth is we want to believe the lies of the diet purveyors so badly we’ll try anything which is why the diet industry is a multi billion dollar industry. If these diets worked such as The Zone, the Perricone Prescription, Life Choice (opposite of Atkins), the Negative Calorie Diet, etc. wouldn’t we slowly see the obesity rates fall, instead of watching them continue to rise?
Design Your Own Diet
A more reasonable approach of choosing foods you love, estimating how many calories would be reasonable for your body size and designed body weight, and then getting started is usually greeted with sneers and jeers. I’ve heard, “2,000 calories a day? I’ll blow up like a balloon!” No you won’t. You’ll lose weight, although slower than the other more drastic diets, wouldn’t you prefer to lose it permanently this time?
How can you lose weight eating 2,000 calories a day? Think about it. The typical adult female eats about 3,500 calories a day, whether you believe it or not. Our typical lady, Carol, eats at McDonalds every day for lunch, grabs a StarBucks Latte every morning on the way to work, drinks four cups of coffee with cream during the day, pops two donuts at breaks, and stops for take-out chicken for dinner. She “treats” herself to ice cream and half a package of Oreo’s for dessert. Let’s see how many calories that might be:
Typical Adult American Meal Plan:
Breakfast: Skipped, we’re watching our figure
Snack: StarBucks on way to work; Caffe Mocha with whole milk and whipped cream, venti (20 Oz) = 530 calories
Total Morning: 530
Lunch: McDonald’s Big-n-Tasty with Cheese; 540 calories
Super Sized Fries 610 calories
Super Sized Coke (20 Oz) 250 calories
Apple Pie - 265 calories
Total Lunch: 1665
Snack: Sugar free gum - 0
Daytime: 4 Cups Coffee with half-n-half - 160 calories (from the half-n-half)
Break: Donuts - glazed, two Krispy Kreme - 424
Snacks & Breaks: 512
Dinner: Kentucky Fried Chicken Dinner
3-piece meal: Extra Crispy Drumstick, two Extra Crispy Thighs, Potato Wedges and Biscuit: 1,420 calories
Large Soft Drink (20 Oz): 250 calories
Small Dish Ice Cream (1 Cup): 260 calories
Total Dinner: 1930
Evening Watching TV:
Oreos - 10 cookies (about 1/3 a package): 530 calories
Evening Snacks: 530
Grand Total: 5,167
You may think that’s ridiculous but I think it’s conservative. You maybe wouldn’t have had exactly this menu but the point is we’re eating far more calories than we realize.
If you cut back to 2,000 calories a day, you’d be eating far fewer calories and you’d likely lose a pound a week or more. If you don’t think that’s fast enough you’re probably going to remain overweight. Your body cannot add or subtract muscle and fat any faster. Faster weight loss is water loss and comes back as soon as you resume eating regular foods. Remember, losing it slowly, means losing it permanently. The mathematics are not precise. I lost 80 pounds in nine months which was actually 2.07 pounds per week.
Would You Be Happy if This Time Next Year You Were at Your Goal Weight?
If at the end of a year you’d taken off 100 pounds (or however much you needed to lose if less than 100 pounds), wouldn’t you be happy? The more weight you need to lose, the faster it comes off initially. It’s not what the scale says that matters though. What matters is do you feel better? Are you able to bend lower and even reach your toes perhaps? Can you get up from a sitting position easier? Is walking more pleasant, are your clothes feeling looser? These are the things that matter. Is your blood pressure back to normal?
Track what you eat for one week, meaning what you really eat. Don’t make an effort to eat better or less. That isn’t helpful for this exercise. You want to catch yourself being yourself. Get it down on paper, what you really eat on a regular basis. If you eat out you’re likely eating far more calories than you realize. We all wonder how it is we can’t lose weight, then we drink a 600 calorie coffee drink! Think about it.
Once you have your weekly eating routine on paper, you can take a look to see what changes you could make. For instance, by switching from a Caffe Mocha to a Caffe Latte two days a week you’d save 540 calories right there. Once you’re used to that change take it a step further and switch to a Caffe Latte every day and now you’re saving 1960 calories a week. One step further and switch to a Skinny Latte (non-fat milk instead of whole milk) and you save another 100 calories every day, meaning you’ve gone from an additional 3780 calories a week from your morning Starbucks to just 1120 calories a week, or a calorie savings of 2660. This is how you can keep your Starbucks habit, but make a small change and suddenly you’re not adding to the problem but you’re well on your way to losing that pound a week. The less fancy drink costs less too so you can put that money toward the new clothes you’ll be wanting soon.
Track Your Eating and You’ll Get a Better Idea of What’s Going on
For the next seven days write down everything you put in your mouth and start to get your eating patterns into view. I use a simple software program called the Food & Exercise Diary for Windows. Making an effort to write down my eating helps keep me on track, plus what I’ve eaten and how much I’ve exercised six months ago is still at my fingertips. That’s especially handy when you develop a routine that works for you because you can always go back and see what you did differently, if you catch yourself regaining weight a year later.
One of the best things I ever did was track my weight workouts and eating habits when I got in shape so many years ago. Now, to reproduce the results I can go back and see what I did before and do basically the same thing again. Learn from your successes, keep a journal. Then, don’t make the mistake of cutting back too severely because it’s simply not necessary. Just cut back around 500 calories a day and you’re on your way with much less trauma in the process.
Design a diet that fits your lifestyle and you’ve got a winning plan for the rest of your life.
~~ Kathryn Martyn, Master NLP Practitioner, EFT counselor, author of the free e-book: Changing Beliefs, Your First Step to Permanent Weight Loss, and owner of OneMoreBite-Weightloss.com
Get The Daily Bites: Inspirational Mini Lessons Using EFT and NLP for Ending the Struggle with Weight Loss.
Fake Weight Loss Claims: Identify Them
Its crowded..really crowded..every other site offers Weight Loss Programs and guarantees loss of weight quickly and effectively. But do they really live upto it? Does Loss of Weight remains with time or the individual regains the weight after some time? The answer to these question differentiates between genuine Weight Loss Programs and fake Weight Loss Programs.
Things to Watch out for:
1) One product cant serve the needs of all people. Programs which claim to work for all types of masses is BIG NO.
Tip: Look out for programs which reads your body needs and body structure and how your Metabolism works.
2) Programs which assures permanent Weight Loss, even after you don’t use the product. Mark it Fake.
Tip: You have to follow the Diet Plan and exercise on daily basis. Walking or Jogging daily helps a lot.
3) Programs which allows you to eat anything you want. Believe me this is fake also. How can you on this earth remain fit by eating anything or everything you want.
Tip: You need to take a BALANCED DIET with proper amount of calories , fat and other nutrients.
4) Be careful with programs that claim to reduce more than two pounds a week.Such programs will disturb your Metabolism and digestive system to great extent.
Tip: Loose upto 1 or 2 Pound Per week.
5) Programs which have products that are to be applied on body or something like that will NEVER NEVER work for you.
Tip: The best and the most successful way to loose weight is to follow a Diet Plan and Exercise daily. Get a free Diet Plan for your body right here at http://www.weightloss-health.com
About the Author: Ashley Green for http://weightloss-health.com/
Also get free tips and advice on weight loss and diet related issues at Weight Loss Programs, Tips and Advice
If you wish to reproduce the above article you are welcome to do so, provided the article is reproduced in its entirety, including this resource box and LIVE link to our website
Things to Watch out for:
1) One product cant serve the needs of all people. Programs which claim to work for all types of masses is BIG NO.
Tip: Look out for programs which reads your body needs and body structure and how your Metabolism works.
2) Programs which assures permanent Weight Loss, even after you don’t use the product. Mark it Fake.
Tip: You have to follow the Diet Plan and exercise on daily basis. Walking or Jogging daily helps a lot.
3) Programs which allows you to eat anything you want. Believe me this is fake also. How can you on this earth remain fit by eating anything or everything you want.
Tip: You need to take a BALANCED DIET with proper amount of calories , fat and other nutrients.
4) Be careful with programs that claim to reduce more than two pounds a week.Such programs will disturb your Metabolism and digestive system to great extent.
Tip: Loose upto 1 or 2 Pound Per week.
5) Programs which have products that are to be applied on body or something like that will NEVER NEVER work for you.
Tip: The best and the most successful way to loose weight is to follow a Diet Plan and Exercise daily. Get a free Diet Plan for your body right here at http://www.weightloss-health.com
About the Author: Ashley Green for http://weightloss-health.com/
Also get free tips and advice on weight loss and diet related issues at Weight Loss Programs, Tips and Advice
If you wish to reproduce the above article you are welcome to do so, provided the article is reproduced in its entirety, including this resource box and LIVE link to our website
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