Tips To Quit Smoking

Whether you have just taken the decision to stop smoking, or maybe you have been trying unsuccessfully for quite some time, it never hurts to get a bit of advice and help. Yes! Everyone is different, and everyone will have a different strategy for quitting which will works best for them. But these Stop Smoking Tips will help you get on the correct pathway to a smoke free life.

There are two basic ways to quit smoking. Going 'cold turkey' and weaning off. Each way works best for different personality types. So the first thing you need to do is determine which suits you best. Focus on the Quit Smoking Tips for the required technique.

Going cold turkey is simply STOPPING. One day, all the tobacco in the flat is thrown out, most of the lighters and matches follow (most people do keep one lighter around for candles on the holidays, but some just get rid of everything). Going cold turkey can be a spur of the moment impulse, and when it is, it rarely works. Committing to never pick up a smoke again, especially when you will be surrounded by ads on the telly and coworkers offering a light for the rest of your life, isn't easy. If you want to go cold turkey, make sure you can make the commitment and stick with it. Going cold turkey works best for people who like short goodbyes and have little patience with unnecessary shenanigans. It can also be necessary for people with certain medical conditions.

There aren't many stop smoking tips for after you go cold turkey, but some prep can make a big difference in your success. Firstly, don't forget to let you family and co-workers know what you are planning. Ask them to keep their smokes away from you and not offer you any when they light up. A support system can make a big difference. Pick a distraction. Before you quit, pick out a couple of different distractions, for work, home, and when you are socializing. Any time you find yourself thinking of having a cigarette, use that distraction. Maybe anytime you want a smoke and you are at home, you can get a couple of biscuits and sit down with a book (most people who stop smoking add ten to fifteen pounds in the first couple of months. Don't worry, it can come off later). Lastly, whatever you do, make sure that you always keep in mind why you are quitting. That way, if you get tempted, you can easily say to yourself, "No I'm not going to because....."

The one big stop smoking tip for cold turkey to implement after you stop, is that after years of smoking it is going to be difficult to get used to not having something in your hand and mouth. Right now, don't even try to. Instead, keep a bag of hard candies on hand, or get one of the plastic 'cigarettes' or anything else that works for you to pop in your mouth once in a while.

Weaning off can be a lot easier and is in some ways much easier than going cold turkey. There is no nicotine withdrawal, no sudden change in habits. There a lot more options available to a smoker weaning off, and a lot more stop smoking tips that can help. The two most common means of weaning of are timers and alternative nicotine sources. Someone looking to wean off using timers starts by figuring out how often they smoke. Then they set a timer to go longer between smokes. When the timer goes off, they have a smoke, and reset the timer. Each day, or each week, they add five more minutes to the timer. Alternative nicotine sources are other ways of getting nicotine, such as gum or a patch. Using these tools lets you know exactly how much nicotine you are getting, and stops further intake of cancer causing chemicals.

There is obviously a lot more out there to help you stop smoking. Take these stop smoking tips as a starting point, and build your own path to a smoke free life.

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How To Stay Motivated When Exercising

Exercise is always a do-it-manually venture. No other persona and no mechanism can do it for you. Hence, it is important to have those motivating factors so that the qualities who is into apply to squander authority will sling about.

These is what people who are overweight should learn to understand. However, even if it so cool to set for instructions and tranquil to respect, this is not the same basis for almost 35% of Americans who are unable to prevent being overweight.

Of course, once we are overweight, we mostly want to frill down for an unbroken lot of reasons, some allied to bodily term and aptness, while others would want to enhance their form and appearance. And it is never too tardy to be fit.

In the gone 50 to 75 time, brute activity has become the exclusion very than the judge, both at home and on the job. People cultivate to force where others once walked. People lean to brush a replace and tackle do the carrying, lifting, nearly, and pulling for them.

However, people who try to squander authority cultivate to trust that load obtain is possible to ensue if they will not take promote-looking steps to interrupt it.

The cape here is the strength experts deem the people misplace their way, especially when it comes to diet. They cultivate to go back to their old drinking routine even after they learn to have low-fat eating. They tend to earnings to inactive conduct even while they like exercising.

Nevertheless although the momentum near burden acquire, you can break it from episode, experts say. And there heaps of good reasons to avert leftover pounds, reasons that go afar emptiness or public appearance. There are many reasons to keep you motivated to problem and postpone wholesome for the breather of your life. Have a plain goal

An unfussy avowal like, "I want to waste some mass," is an uncertain and an indefinite account. It will not the slightest motivate you to create burden exercises right away.

What is important is to be defined on your goals. It would be better if you will set some full amount of pounds that you genuinely want to elude. Envisage manually what you will look like after success your desired heaviness. Doing this will inspire you to misplace import. In actuality, perhaps even more than what you have designed in mentality. The idea is to use that person to help you to break feisty and devoted. Develop a policy

Strength of will does not work lonely! To elude load and live with it, your strategy must compose of both apply and diet, and not moreover of the two.

Try to opening motivating manually by throwing away your clothes that have bigger sizes. This will put you in a location where you only have your sexy clothes and that you have to make a scale by staying motivated to train or not erode any clothes at all. Which do you fancy? Make out little, calculable actions

Put into rehearse actions that will outfit your lifestyle. This means you have to implement moves that you and you lonely will benefit from it and not someone besides.

The idea here is to opt for a more upbeat and attainable goal and not just to shirk away from being fleshy and stout. Produce monitoring that has an important result

It would be better to have superstar disposed to take hint of your increase or development. This will inspire you to keep on doing what you have ongoing. Having someone to eavesdrop to your achievements is definitely a better prize than just achieving your goal isolated.

Besides, having a second-hand to fund you and cheer for you when clothes fright to descend passing. It is that austere way of earshot somebody believing on what you do is one of the maximum motivations to keep you exercising for more. Construct a strong, sensible timeline

What do you strategy to achieve in a year? Try to suit your objectives to your calendar, and do not look onward to see the results in just an impulsive.

The floor lined is that to stay motivated to essay entails a lot of hard work, which is opposite to most people tend to think. The highest idea is to let people change their lifestyle because it is only through this way that they will absolutely change their import...For the better.

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The Secrets of Negative Training That Nobody Else Can Tell You

Want to gain strength rapidly? Negative training is by far one of the best ways to dramatically increase your strength levels as quickly as possible. And the standard ways to do negative training can certainly be effective...but who wants standard results!

What Is Negative Training?

The term "negative" refers to the lowering portion of a repetition. For example, when you do a bench press, pushing up the bar is the "positive" phase (also known as the concentric phase), lowering the bar down to your chest is the "negative" phase (also known as the eccentric phase).

When we talk about negative training, we're referring to training that focuses specifically on working only in that lowering phase of each rep.

Because your muscles can handle heavier weight when you're lowering a weight in a controlled manner than when you're actually lifting it up, we use a heavier amount of weight for negative training.

The heavier weight helps build muscular strength and develops the connective tissue (tendons and ligaments), conditioning your body to then train with heavier weights than it would normally be used to training with. Negative training holds the potential for building tremendous strength.

Typically, negative training is done with a training partner. The partner helps lift the weight to the top position, then the partner releases the weight and you lower it to the bottom solely on your own power.

The real key to effective negative training is in HOW you lower the weight. Don't just lower the weight as you would in a typical rep, letting it come down on its own.

You must actively FIGHT gravity by pushing (or pulling, depending on the exercise) as hard as you can against the weight. It's heavier than you can actively lift, so all you will be able to do is slow it down.

If you don't fight the weight, your results will not be optimal. If you've done negative training before and didn't feel extremely sore the next day, you probably weren't fighting the weight during the negative phase. Try it and you'll feel the difference!

It's not an easy training technique and it shouldn't be done very often (because it causes a lot of muscle damage) but it is EXTREMELY effective for building strength quickly. It should also be done only AFTER you've had at least 6 months of training experience.

So What Are These Secrets Of Negative Training?

Now we come to the juicy stuff...the stuff that you won't learn anywhere else. This information will help you make full use of negative training and truly maximize the results you get from it.

Because if you're doing negative training the standard way, you are simply NOT getting everything out of it that you could be.

1. Dropping Points

If you've been lifting weights for any length of time, you're intimately familiar with sticking points. The sticking point is the point in a range of motion of a given exercise where, as you fatigue, the weight just stops.

For example, on the bench press, the sticking point is just below the halfway point of the press. At this exact point, the structure of your body causes a change in leverage, making it the weakest point in the range of motion (every exercise has a unique strength curve with a unique sticking point).

So naturally, when you're doing negative training, this weakest point in the range of motion still exists. Picture it this way...you have a weight that is greater than what you can normally press - in the top, strong range of motion, you can lower it under control very easily.

But when you get to what I call the "dropping point" (which is the equivalent to the sticking point), your leverage changes and your strength suddenly drops (as does the weight, hench the name "dropping point").

Here's the problem...with standard negative training, you can only use enough weight that you can control through the WHOLE range of motion (if you use more, the weight will just crash down when you hit that dropping point).

But if you can control 250 lbs at the dropping point, you can control FAR more than that up until the bar gets to that point, possibly 300 lbs or more.

This means you're NOT fully overloading your muscles and NOT getting the most results possible with your negative training. You're only overloading the weakest point in the entire range of motion of the exercise and the rest is just wasted.

The reason you're doing negative training is to build strength - why use only what you can control in the very weakest point in the range of motion?

Which brings us to the solution...

2. Partial Negative Training

Standard partial training is basically doing an exercise in a shortened range of motion. Using the bench press example, it could be doing only the top few inches of the exercise, locking out with the weight. The primary benefit of partial training is the ability to use MUCH more weight than would with a full range of motion.

The concept of partial training can very easily be carried over to negative training and applied with great effect. To do partial negative training for the bench press, we're going to set the safety rails in the power rack just ABOVE the dropping point of the exercise.

That way, you can use FAR more weight - you won't have to base the weight that you're using on what you can control through the weakest range of motion. You'll base it on what you can do in the top, strongest range of motion.

The result: much greater strength gains and MUCH greater effects on the connective tissue, helping pave the way for even better gains in the future (stronger connective tissue gives the muscles greater potential for strength gains).

This partial technique can applied to almost any exercise that has a dropping point/sticking point and that can be done with free weight in a power rack, e.g. squats, presses, curls, barbell rows, etc., or even using machines that can be adjusted in terms of range of motion.

With the rack, all you need to do is determine where your dropping point is and set the rails just above it.

But partial negatives are only ONE way to get around the dropping point problem. What is the other? That's our next juicy secret...

3. 2 Up/1 Down Negatives

But what do you do if you don't have a partner or a power rack? How can you even do negative training at all, much less avoid the pitfalls of the dropping point?

The answer is simple: do the positive phase of the exercise with BOTH limbs and do the negative phase with ONE!

This solution is elegant in its simplicity - a weight that is enough to challenge one side of the body will be fairly easy to lift into position with both.

Dumbells and machines are most appropriate for this type of training. Machines are especially useful because a machine that is designed for two arms can generally be very easily done with just one with no changes at all in body position or technique.

Take, for example, a shoulder press machine. To do a 2 up/1 down negative, place a little more weight on the machine than you could do for a regular rep with 1 arm. Press it up to the top position with both arms then take your left hand off the handle. Lower it to the bottom with just your right arm.

If you're using a dumbell (for example, on a preacher curl bench), hold onto only one dumbell and use your other hand to help move the dumbell back up to the top position after each negative rep.

This 2 up/1 down approach has three main benefits:

First, the uneven tension on the body forces the stabilizing muscles of the core to work overtime. You'll develop great core stability even while using machines, but especially when you're using a dumbell.

Second, if one side of your body is stronger than the other, the stronger side won't be able to compensate for the weaker side, ensuring more even development.

Third, and this relates most to the dropping point, your non-working limb can be used to spot yourself on the negative phase of the rep. If you're doing a dumbell preacher curl negative, you can use your other hand to apply some additional pull (gripping on your forearm or hand) and help take up some of the resistance when you get close to the dropping point.

This means you'll be able to use maximum resistance in the strongest ranges of motion and get some help in the weakest range of motion so that the weight doesn't drop and you lose the tension.

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Conclusion:

Negative training is one of the best techniques you can do for increasing strength quickly and powering up your connective tissue. When doing negative training, because of the way it damages muscle tissue, it's a good idea to increase your intake of Vitamin C to help reduce muscle soreness and rebuild damaged muscles (take 500 mg before and 500 mg after your workout).

Negatives are not for the beginning trainer, but can be extremely valuable for the intermediate to advanced. They should be performed a maximum of only once in a week for any given muscle group and for no more than 3 to 4 sets of 4 to 6 reps (if you can do more than 6 reps, you're not using enough weight).

Give negative training a try using the partial technique or the 2 up/1 down technique. It'll take your strength to a whole new level!

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Olive Oil - Good For Weight Loss?

Olive oil is a fruit oil obtained from the olive (Olea europaea; family Oleaceae along with lilacs, jasmine and ash trees), a traditional tree crop of the Mediterranean Basin. The wild olive tree originated in Asia Minor, today the country of Turkey. It is commonly used in cooking, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, and soaps and as a fuel for traditional oil lamps.

Olive oil became popular as a result of the Mediterranean Diet which some experts believe is responsible for the low levels of heart disease in Mediterranean countries.

Although Olive oil is healthy monounsaturated oil, it does not contain any essential fatty acids (EFAs). But it is stable, health-enhancing oil that has stood the test of time. Evidence from epidemiological studies suggests that a higher proportion of monounsaturated fats in the diet are linked with a reduction in the risk of coronary heart disease.

This is significant because olive oil is considerably rich in monounsaturated fats, most notably oleic acid. In the United States, producers of olive oil may place the following health claim on product labels: Limited and not conclusive scientific evidence suggests that eating about two tablespoons (23 grams) of olive oil daily may reduce the risk of coronary heart disease due to the monounsaturated fat in olive oil.

To achieve this possible benefit, olive oil is to replace a similar amount of saturated fat and not increase the total number of calories you eat in a day.
This decision was announced November 1, 2004, by the Food and Drug Administration after application was made to the FDA by producers. Similar labels are permitted for foods rich in omega-3 fatty acids such as walnuts and hemp seed.

There is a large body of clinical data to show that consumption of olive oil can provide heart health benefits such as favourable effects on cholesterol regulation and LDL cholesterol oxidation, and that it exerts antiinflamatory, antithrombotic, antihypertensive as well as vasodilatory effects both in animals and in humans. Although most research confirms the health benefits of olive oil, a recent study in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology into the Mediterranean diet found that olive oil itself may not help reduce the risk of heart disease after all. Olive oil actually slowed down blood flow - a bad sign.

But this effect was reduced if plenty of fruit and vegetables or fish had been eaten. The Food Pyramid Dietary Guidelines recommend that for optimum health, all fats & oils should be eaten sparingly. As long as your diet contains sufficient essential fatty acids (e.g. from oily fish), unrefined (virgin) olive oil is an excellent choice of oil. BUT, if you want to lose weight, please note that from a calorie viewpoint, olive oil is no better and no worse than any other oil.
Another health benefit of olive oil seems to be its property to displace omega-6 fats, while not having any impact on omega-3 fats. This way, olive oil helps to build a more healthy balance between omega-6 fats and omega-3 fats.

In addition to the internal health benefits of olive oil, topical application is quite popular with fans of natural health remedies. Extra Virgin Olive Oil is the preferred grade for moisturizing the skin, especially when used in the Oil Cleansing Method (OCM). OCM is a method of cleansing and moisturizing the face with a mixture of extra virgin olive oil, castor oil (or another suitable carrier oil) and a select blend of essential oils. Olive oil is used by some to reduce ear wax buildup.

Jeanne Calment, who holds the record for the longest confirmed lifespan, reportedly attributed her longevity and relatively youthful appearance to olive oil, which she said she poured on all her food and rubbed into her skin. However, some of these benefits are disputed. Several scientific studies doubt some of the previously stated positive effects and state several negative effects of olive oil such as impairment of the dilation of the arteries. One of the best remedies for body rash is to apply the olive oil on the affected area. Olive oil penetrates into the skin and cures the rash.

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The 4 Enemies of Weight Loss

If you want to know how to lose weight and keep it off, then you need the right tools. A sensible eating regime and regular exercise will get you part of the way there. But if you really want to manage your weight long term, you also need to be aware of the pitfalls. Why do some people struggle so badly with their weight? In my experience as a therapist, there are 4 significant elements that hinder weight loss:

One: Your Beliefs

Whatever you believe to be true about yourself creates your reality. You may have heard about this concept many times in books and other resources that talk about the law of attraction. Your subconscious mind acts as a filtering system which brings into your direct awareness everything that supports your beliefs to the exclusion of everything else. How can your beliefs cause weight problems? Well, consider this: Do you believe you are lazy? If so, do you believe this because you are lazy, or are you simply lazy because you believe it?

The answer is the latter. In fact the perception that one is lazy or weak-willed is a very common belief, and one that has stopped many of my clients from managing their weight. So how do you change beliefs that cause you to self-sabotage? Firstly, you need to become aware of what yours are. On a piece of paper, write down: 'I can't lose weight because...' and then list all of the reasons. By bringing these beliefs into conscious awareness, you can imagine letting them go by using visualization.

Two: Your Past

Your past relationships, situations and circumstances greatly impact your present circumstances, including your ability to lose weight. Let's say you are carrying a lot of hurt and resentment about circumstances or people from your past. When you think about these people you start to feel angry or resentful.This takes up a whole lot of physical and mental energy.

On the surface, it might feel as though you are simply too tired to exercise or cannot find the motivation to eat properly; but what is really happening is that your subconscious energy is consumed by these negative feelings and thoughts. The result is that any positive energy that could have been used to help you do the things you must do is simply not available. If you want to lose weight permanently, begin by letting go of negative energy. Meditate on forgiveness. As you heal your emotions, you will heal your body.

Three: Your Present Circumstances

What causes you stress? Do you say yes to others when you should be looking after yourself? Maybe you are struggling to maintain your ground in a toxic relationship. All of these elements affect your hormone levels and in turn, your metabolism. The key to sustainable weight loss is finding new ways to be happier. This starts with creating life balance. Do you work too much? Perhaps you believe doing this will set you up for that one magic day in the future when you will finally be happy.

The problem with this theory is that when you devote all of your energy to just one element of your life (such as work, health or relationship), many other areas can suffer. Happiness experts call this 'uni-dimensional living'. Don't fall into the trap of believing that you can neglect one area of your life in favor of another. This will only cause you to feel tired, frustrated and dis-empowered. Balance is the key.

Four: Subconscious Pay-Offs

What are you gaining from holding onto your excess weight? Maybe you are encountering a power struggle with someone who nags you to do something about your weight. On one hand, you do want to eat better and become fit and healthy; on the other hand, another part of you hates the idea of making this other person 'right' by doing all the things they are telling you that you 'should' be doing. This is just one of the many examples of subconscious pay-offs that keep people from achieving permanent weight loss.

Whenever you are not doing the things that you know you consciously want to do, it is usually because the subconscious pay-off for staying at your current weight is greater than the subconscious pay-off for changing. How do you know what yours are? Start by taking a blank sheet of paper. At the head of the page, write down: "If I lost weight...'. Now allow your mind to think of any negative thoughts that may come into your head. Once you know what they are, you can eradicate them. Self-awareness is the key to all things in life, and we as human beings are free to choose what we believe. So choose to believe that you CAN!

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Simple Guide to Fitness and Beauty

Health is the most previous thing a person has; therefore it is of utmost importance that we take care of our health as much as possible. When a personal is physically fit and healthy, one looks good and lean inside and out!

A person can engage in a lot of different activities to keep fit and work out. One might choose to go for a morning walk or jog everyday. Others may prefer something more sociable, and might choose to plan basketball or tennis with friends. Other people might like to sign up to a gym and workout there, this option is indeed the best choice for achieving a lean look and growing strong muscles.

Exercise is also important as it has many health benefits. It protects the body from a number of diseases and conditions. It is also one of the best methods for keeping happy and content. It is truly amazing how exercise can help improve both a person's mood and self confidence, indirectly therefore preventing one from falling into depression or anxiety.

Of course it is of utmost important for anyone to first consult with their doctor/GP before embarking on any fitness and exercise regime. This is truly important as it will help, among other things, avoid injury.

A well balanced exercise plan should include a mixture of cardiovascular and weight training exercises. This will ensure calories are burnt, whilst also increasing the muscle to fat ratio which will increase a person's metabolism.

When a person who has never worked out before, decided to embark on fitness plan, they should do so in a gradual and slow manner. Over doing it at the start can lead to injury or pulled muscles. Endurance is built slowly over a number of weeks and months.

There is another ingredient to beauty, which does not have to do with being lean and full of muscles. An essential ingredient to it is the beauty from within a person!

The following are some tips you can use to stay healthy and beautiful:

* Read books daily to work out your mind and keep it sharp!

* Everyone gets stressed, and work often has a lot to do with it. Try and do something special for yourself everyday to reduce the stress. Simple things you can do for yourself, like having a hot bath or going for a swim, will help you relieve stress greatly.

* Incredibly enough, pollution also has something to do with people's moods and stress level. Try and combat this by taking in daily vitamin supplements and antioxidants. This will help, for instance, protect your skin from damage. When buying beauty products ensure that contain antioxidants as well.

* Become healthier by cutting out those bad habits! Quit cigarettes and cut down on alcohol drinking. It is amazing the positive effect these two changes will have on your health and well being.

* What if you don't smoke? Then make sure that you stay away from smokers as much as possible! Studies have shown that non-smokers are also at risk of developing lung cancer due to second-hand smoking.

* Be positive! Start the day with a positive outlook towards life. Wake up in the morning and feel enthusiastic for the day ahead. Just as exercise makes a person feel better, so does a smile! Smiles are very positive, and moreover they are very contagious. Not only will it brighten your day, but for others around you as well!

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Exercise With Your Kids

Performing any type of exercise on a routine basis is a good way to keep your body in shape. It is also a good way to burn fat and calories in the body that come from the food that is eaten on a day-to-day basis. Exercise is one of the ways that people have to keep the body healthy and fit. But who says you have to exercise by your self. People can always ask a friend to join them and parents can most certainly invite all of their kids to join them whenever they choose to exercise.

By taking the kids along while a parent is exercising, they will find that it is a good way to keep everyone at home in shape. Kids can be good company on long walks and there are always things that a parent can find to discuss with their children while they are out of the house. Everybody needs someone to talk to while exercising because it makes the exercise seem effortless.

Children enjoy going to the park or riding their bicycles for long periods at a time. These are some of the things that a parent must consider when they ask their children to join them in an exercise program. They may just switch the tables and invite the parents for a ride or a walk through a park.

Some parents take these invitations one step further and take their kids to a park that they have wanted to see for some time. There are many amusement parks throughout the United States and all of them require families to do a lot of walking to get from one attraction to another. A parent might have to bring some walking shoes with them on vacation but for serious family time, it is quite possible that the whole family will too.

Some of the daily exercise programs could involve bike riding with the kids. Parents could show how tough they are by peddling up hills that have steep inclines to them. Then the whole family could be invigorated by the brisk ride back down them, and have fun while do it. The kids might even decide to challenge the parent to do it again just to see if they are in good enough physical shape to climb that steep hill all over again.

The exercise with the kids does not have to be the same every day. Some days the family could walk briskly through a park and ride the bus back home. At other times, the entire family might head to the local mall and make it a point to walk around the entire shopping complex inside and out a few times. This form of exercise if very popular with senior citizens and the indoor environment makes them feel safer than they would in a local gym.

When you are exercising, always make sure you have plenty of water to drink. All exercise participants need to know the limits that they can reach and they never want to exceed them at any time during their exercise period. People also need to pace themselves through the various courses, because kids are younger and might have more tolerance than their parent does when exercising with their kids.

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Finding Time for Your Personal Fitness Plan

Forty-hour work weeks, cooking, cleaning, driving the kids to basketball and band practice, taking classes, and that little thing called sleep all combined, can eat up a 24-hour period. How can anyone find the time to workout?

Squeezing in a jog during the week is a constant struggle for many. Luckily, there are ways to fit in some physical activity in your jam-packed week.

Schedule time for yourself: If exercising has become a goal and priority of yours, then make time in your schedule for it. Mark in your planner three or four times a week you want to set aside for just yourself and hit the gym or track.

After a few weeks, you will be in the habit of going to the gym. Exercising will become part of your routine like brushing your teeth in the morning.

Wake up early: A way to make more time in your day is to wake up earlier. Instead of hitting the snooze button five times, wake up the first time the alarm goes off and go for a jog. You will find yourself having more energy throughout your day when exercising becomes part of your daily routine.

The buddy system: Having a friend to exercise with in the morning will help motivate you to get out of bed. You will not want to let your workout buddy down by canceling your morning run because you decided to sleep in longer.

Stairs are your new friend: If the elevator is something you see on a daily basis, it might be time to say goodbye to it. Using the stairs instead can help burn many more calories than pressing that button to the fifth floor.

At the mall, there are escalators that do the work for you. Instead, walk up the escalator just as you would a set of stairs.

TV time can be useful: If the 11 o'clock news is in your daily routine, then make that time useful and burn those extra calories from the baked potato you had at dinner. While watching the news you can do a number of different abdominal workouts, push-ups or stretches.

Make lunch and coffee breaks count: At work, instead of taking that extra-long lunch or coffee break with co-workers, go for a walk instead. You won't be too exhausted or sweaty when you come back to work, and you will feel better about burning those extra calories instead of having that doughnut on your break.

Add more to errands and chores: There are numerous times during the day that you probably find yourself just standing around. You stand in line at the store, waiting for the bus, or at the stove sauteing. Well, use that time to burn calories and tone your muscles.

While in line at the store, you can stand with your feet together and lift both your heels up and down working your calf muscles. Raising your legs to the side can help work your outer thighs as well. Also, you can pick something out of your grocery cart and do bicep curls with it.

At home, you can do jumping-jacks or run in place while you wait for the water to boil on the stove.

The kitchen table chair is a wonderful way to help tone your arms. While you are waiting for your dinner to heat up, place a chair behind you and squat down in front of it. Place your palms on the seat of the chair with your fingers facing away from you and push yourself up and down. This will help strengthen your triceps.

There is no one, simple way to fit exercising into your unique schedule. Find what best suits your lifestyle, family, career and social life and it will soon become part of your daily routine.

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Helping Your Child Be Healthy and Fit

Today, feeding children is based on concerns about heart disease, diabetes, cancer, and high blood pressure. There is reason to be concerned. More than 20 percent of Western children are overweight with a good chance that 50 to 70 percent of them will remain overweight as adults. It is important for parents to set good examples of healthful eating.

Research shows that children develop eating habits similar to those of their parents. While it is a parent's job to provide balanced selections from the five food groups, children can be allowed a certain amount of freedom to choose what and how much they eat. Poor eating habits and craving for sugar snacks and fatty foods may develop if parents fail to direct the decision making process. Remember that the issue isn't "good foods" versus "bad foods".

If children balk at food put before them, don't worry. Studies show children will, over time, eat the amount of food that is right for them if they are offered healthful choices. You can't expect a child to want to eat broccoli if chips are offered, or drink milk or orange juice when parents are drinking sodas. Of course, an occasional high fat food, gooey dessert, sugary snack, or soda is permissible, provided they are not substitutes for nutritious foods. Parents can make eating a pleasure for the entire family by helping create positive attitudes about food that will lead to a lifetime of good health.

What are the five food groups, and how can we help the entire family eat a balanced diet? The food guide pyramid on this page shows how to select a balanced diet and how to teach your child to make wise choices. How many servings do you need each day?

Calorie level 1,600(Many women and older adults)
2,200(Children, teen girls, active women and most men)
2,800(Teen boys and active men)

Bread Group Servings 6(Many women and older adults)
9(Children, teen girls, active women and most men)
11(Teen boys and active men)

Vegetable Group Serving 3(Many women and older adults)
4(Children, teen girls, active women and most men)
5(Teen boys and active men)
Fruit Group Servings 2(Many women and older adults)
3(Children, teen girls, active women and most men)
4(Teen boys and active men)

Milk Group serving 2-3(Many women and older adults)
2-3(Children, teen girls, active women and most men)
2-3(Teen boys and active men)

Meat Group Servings 2, for a total of 5 ounces (Many women and older adults)
2, for a total of 6 ounces (Children, teen girls, active women and most men)
3 for a total of 7 ounces(Teen boys and active men)

Total Fat (grams) 53(Many women and older adults)
73(Children, teen girls, active women and most men)
93((Teen boys and active men)

These are the calorie levels if you choose low fat.lean foods from the 5 major food groups and use foods from the fats, oils, and sweets group sparingly. Women who are pregnant or breastfeeding, teenagers, and young adults to age 24 need 3 servings. A balanced diet includes food from each of the following food groups:
1. Grains (bread, cereal, rice, and pasta);
2. Fruit (fresh, dried, or unsweetened canned);
3. Vegetables (raw or lightly cooked);
4. Meat (meat, poultry, fish, dried beans, eggs, and nuts); and
5. Dairy (milk, yogurt, and cheese).
Offer your children nutritious choices for meals and snacks. This way you can help them control their own diet. For example, you might offer a choice of an apple, an orange, or a banana. With older children (aged 7 and up) you can start by planning a menu together, letting the children check to make sure it includes all five food groups.

Remember that each of the food groups provides some, but not all, of the nutrients a child needs. Foods in one group can't replace those in another. No one of these major food groups is more important than another. For good health, all are necessary. What's for breakfast? Many of us do not eat in the morning. Estimates suggest that up to 25 percent of all school-aged children leave the house without breakfast.

You may think that breakfast is just another meal. For a child, breakfast provides much needed energy (calories) to start the day off right. Adults may be able to make up for skipped breakfast by grabbing something on the way to work or while doing morning errands. Your child, however, does not have that opportunity. A nursery school child usually has a mid-morning snack 3 to 5 hours after waking up. After nursery school, few children are offered a morning snack. Getting your child to eat breakfast isn't always easy. Try to tune into your child's morning personality. A sleepyhead may need a quick breakfast. An early riser may like to eat breakfast before getting dressed. If this conflicts with your morning schedule, let your children get their own breakfast. Even a 6 year-old can open a container of yogurt.

A good breakfast consists of complex carbohydrates and simple sugars (breads, whole grains, fibre, fruits, and vegetables); proteins (dairy, chicken, beef, fish, eggs, nuts, and dried beans), and some fat. Carbohydrates and simple sugars offer quick energy but leave the stomach quickly. A breakfast of only carbohydrates can give a child mid-morning discomfort. When milk, cheese, yogurt, lean meat, or an egg is added, the food stays in the stomach longer and provides sustained energy.

Play Time:
Physical fitness is a vital part of being healthy. For children, being and staying physically fit can happen with activities they refer to as PLAY! Play that makes them breathe deeply is aerobic exercise. Aerobic activities such as bicycling, jumping rope, roller skating, running, dancing, and swimming can be beneficial if they are done for 12 to 15 minutes without stopping. The young child develops an active lifestyle as he or she begins to creep, crawl, and then walk.

Young children learn how to move in their environment by playing alone in their own personal space. As children grow, they hop, march, run, roll, toss, bounce, and kick. Their bodies are changing in terms of height and weight, and they are beginning to form a self-concept through comparison with others as they move. When play is organized into specific movements, it becomes exercise. For exercise to become part of each day, these movements or activities should meet the interests and needs of your child. Play is the beginning. Children can follow their own paths to lifetime fitness by exercising for fun and at their own pace. Watching too much TV can deprive your child of opportunities to play and exercise. Set a good example. Limit TV watching. Walk to your destination as often as possible. Play active games with your child. Help form neighbourhood sports teams and participate in the recreation.

Everyone can exercise. Certain exercises keep your heart and lungs healthy. Strong, flexible muscles can be developed with exercise. As your child achieves fitness through exercise, a growing self-confidence will be another benefit of a fitness routine.

Staying Well:
Reducing the risk of disease is a major goal in helping your child grow up healthy. Bacteria and viruses cause disease and sickness, and cleanliness can help prevent the spread of these germs. Sharing such items as a comb, toothbrush, hairbrush, or cup, even among family members, can also spread disease. Having clean clothes and daily baths shows children that being clean not only feels good, but also helps them stay well.

You can teach your children to wash their hands at an early age. Tell your children that skin can stop germs from entering the body, and washing can reduce the risk of infection if your child has a cut or scrape. Explain, too, that harmful germs and viruses can be spread by a sneeze or a cough. Teach your child to stay away from people who are sneezing and coughing. Children can help prevent the spread of disease if they cover their sneezes or coughs with a tissue. Everybody has an internal disease fighting system (immune system) made of antibodies and white blood cells. Your child can help that immune system function well by getting enough sleep, by eating nutritious meals, and by exercising.

Vaccinations also prevent disease and play an important part in helping your child grow up healthy. The idea of having a shot may be frightening to a child. Help your child understand that this vaccination is a medicine that prevents disease. It's a lot more fun to be playing with friends than to be sick. A vaccination chart for keeping track of immunizations can be found on the inside front cover. The importance of vaccinating children at the appropriate ages cannot be overemphasized.

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Plan Your Walking Program Today. Take Your Dog With You

Don't wait to start a walking program. Start today!Brisk walking is one of the safest forms of exercise and one of the healthiest forms of exercises. It is a proven fact that brisk walking helps reduce the risk for heart disease, for breast cancer and for type 2 diabetes.

Brisk walking is also beneficial for your dog, not only for health reasons, but, every dog needs to exercise! This keeps them not only health, but happy and out of trouble. A dog is not meant to sit and lie around all day long.

Walking also helps you to reduce weight, especially if you make a lifestyle change to consume healthier foods.

One of the problems with walking is that you fall into a walking-rut, and do the same walk over and over again. A boring walk can take the briskness right out of it. So, change your walking habits and start to plan a walking program that is beneficial to you, and again, take your dog along. I am sure your dog is in as much need of a walk as you are.

Be watchful of your technique. If you are fitness walking, you should be able to walk about a mile in fifteen minutes, or walk for about one hour. Create a plan for a beneficial walk, for you and your dog!

-Walk upright, don't slouch, as I am sure your mommy taught you.
-Bend your arms, and pump them while walking. This exerts your cardiovascular system and it will allow you to walk at a faster pace, for a longer time period.

Walking at this rate should take you to 70-80% of your target heart rate. Discuss this with a professional.
Turn your regular walk into an exercise. Both you and your dog will benefit tremendously by this.

Other little things you can do while walking to help tone your body and increase your health.
-Stomach. While walking, pull in your stomach for a few seconds, then relax it again. Do this a couple of times during your walk. (I just read about this tip)
-Thighs. Plan your walk so that you will walk either up a flight of stairs ( My entrance to the park actually has a fairly long staircase), or up a hill.

You also want to remain motivated. One way to do this is to plan for different routes. Don't get so much into a rut that you walk the same way each time. And, take a look around you. Don't just go speed walking through a beautiful park and always stay on the paved sidewalk. Walk on the grass, beside the stream, in the woods. You will get an amazing sense of tranquility and your dog will be closer to nature. You can exercise and enjoy nature at the same time.

Sometimes, go walking alone, just you and your dog. Other times, see if you can find some friends (maybe even with their dogs) and go in a pack.

Get the proper footwear. This is very important. Also, make sure your dog is not over exerted, especially in the summer. Bring lots of water for you and your dog. If you are walking in the winter, be very careful with your footwear; make sure it has lots of traction. Dogs can slip and break their legs as well as we can. And, most of the time they cannot survive a badly broken leg. So, have different rules for exercising your dog in the snow or ice. Be very careful. Actually, I would even say do not take them out when the snow and ice could be detrimental to them.

And, if you have to walk in the dark, have lots of bright clothing, even a flashlight. Get a neon leash/collar for your dog. And, do not walk in a secluded area alone. Go in groups. Remember, a walking routine is to benefit both you and your dog, but, make sure it is a safe day, a safe area and a safe time to walk.

And, always check with a health professional, for both you and your canine companion.
Enjoy!

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Discover What Fitness Is Really About

Would you like to really know what it really means to be Fit ? Well, I will go straight to the point, and I am sure you will be surprised


Fitness is a lifestyle. It's about having a certain mindset, a certain attitude towards yourself.
Yes, it's about having the body and health you want, but it's first and foremost loving yourself
deeply from the inside. It's about knowing who you are really. True fitness is about growing mentally, physically and spiritually. So, Fitness is not something that comes quickly. It's the result of a complete transformation of your inner being and the sum of daily positive and healthy habits.

The 3 main components of fitness are healthy eating, adapted exercise and fine tuned supplementation : Eating several times a day (5 to 6 times idealy), the right portions (use the size of your fist) and the right nutriments are prerequisites(i.e non-processed food,fresh fruits and vegetables, lean proteins, not cutting out carbs, drink enough water, add lots of whole cereals,having proteins and complex carbs at each meal, etc). Always eat high quality and fresh food (forget about prepared or packed meals). Remember that nutrition is 50% of your physical shape.

Another thing you might not know, is that your glycemic level has a direct effect on how your body stores fat : the higher the glycemic level, the more fat you will store and the more you will weaken your metabolism. So keep eating low glycemic foods and lean proteins (egg whites, poultry breast, fish). Try to eat 15% essentials faty acids, 35% proteins and 50% carbs. All this will help train your body to use food and not store fat.

Another thing to know, and this is very important, is to know that we are all unique individuals; what this means, is that not all people have to train the same way. You must train according to your body type. And then combine three different types of trainings according to your body type.

Fitness equals working on the internal aspects and external aspects of yourself. Usually, you only think about the external aspects. But you have first to become the person inside that you desire to reflect on the outside. That's why the work on the "inside" part is the key to success, and why usually diet plans fail.

Personal growth and attitude are essential to succeed in fitness. The "spiritual" part refers a lot to true happiness,I mean the real feeling of peace and love from the inside out.

To help you on your way, I will give you some tips to start from: first, let's talk about habits : you will not reach fitness in one day and the new lifestyle it requires will not come in one minute either. You have to install new positive habits each day.You have to be mentally prepared and this takes some time and work!Once you are truly committed to fitness, you will experience three phases you must master :

one is the motivation phase, where you will be super charged with energy and happy to undertake what you decided to. This phase is usually the easiest one;

the second phase is the discipline phase, where your motivation starts to fade away. This is the most critical part. Your body hasn't yet accepted the new habits, so it tries to keep you away from going forward. In this phase, you must be disciplined and not listen to your negative or restraining feelings. You must hold onto your vision, as you not yet see the results you are waiting for. Just control your mind and keep going, whatever your thoughts are;

the third phase, is the rewarding phase : here you start seeing your first results...and your motivation comes back! It's a sign your body has accepted your new programming. Your feelings are now positive and you enjoy your new state of being.

It's all about patience and having strong faith in what and why you undertake what you envision. New habits don't come quickly, but think about the rewards they bring! One key factor to stay motivated and to manifest what you truly desire is to strongly believe in yourself and your potential. You can make it! Practice daily positive affirmations, imagining yourself in the new situation and enjoying this future state (i.e feeling healthy, full of energy, having a beautiful body, etc.). Put all your energy and intention into your fitness and it will come you back!

I hope you enjoyed to learn a little bit more about real fitness, and hope this will serve you to
become really fit, full of energy, vitality and happiness. Now you should have the clues to
live a balanced life grow physically, mentally and spiritually!

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