Health tip # 55


Make changes gradually,  Just as there are no "superfoods" or easy answers to a healthy diet, don't expect to totally revamp your eating habits overnight. Changing too much, too fast can get in the way of success. Begin to remedy excesses or deficiencies with modest changes that can add up to positive, lifelong eating habits. For instance, if you don't like the taste of skim milk, try low-fat. Eventually you may find you like skim, too

More Energy Everyday – 15 Simple Steps to a Healthier, Happier You

It’s late afternoon, you still have tons to accomplish, yet you can’t keep your eyes open.  Your focus is gone, and all you can think about is how you will possibly get through the rest of the day.  When you do get home, you’re too tired to enjoy your family, cranky and irritable, and all you want is to have some dinner and collapse in front of the TV.  Sound familiar?

You are not alone.  So many friends of mine tell me the one thing they really want is more energy! Amazingly, small changes in your daily habits can produce big changes in how you feel. Try on some of the suggestions below, and see if you don’t begin feeling more alive, productive and energized throughout your day.
Action Steps to Energize Your Days

1. Eat often and eat light.  Food is fuel for the body.  Without it, we just don’t function well.  Eat every 2 1/2 to 3 hours, and never go more than 4 hours without eating. This will keep your blood-sugar levels even, and give you the constant fuel needed to get through your day.

2.  Never skip breakfast. When you awake, you come off a 10-12 hour fast. All foods convert to glucose, and glucose equals energy. Give your brain and your body the fuel it needs to begin the day with energy and focus.

3.  Have a mixture of complex carbohydrates, lean protein and a small amount of healthy fat at every meal and snack.

4.  Minimize simple sugars to avoid spikes in your blood glucose that are followed by an energy crash. If you must have a sugary snack, eat a small amount of protein with it.

5.  Drink water and no-sugar beverages all day. Energy slumps are often the result of dehydration. Your urine should be light or pale yellow. Anything darker means your not getting enough fluids.

6.  When working at your desk, take a break every 90-120 minutes. Get up, walk around, take a snack, get some fresh air, or call a friend. Even five minutes will bring you back to your task feeling refreshed and energized.

7.  Get at least 7 to 8 hours of sleep every night, preferably at the same time, to keep you feeling rested and alert.

8.  Exercise. It seems like the last thing you would want to do when feeling exhausted and drained. However, energy begets energy. Even 10 minutes of brisk walking will refresh you and make you feel more awake.

9.  Switch your exercise routine to mid-afternoon when energy levels are most likely to plummet.

10.  Practice deep breathing. When we are rushed and stressed, often we breath fast and shallow, and we don’t even know it. Taking a few minutes to relax your body and take a few long, deep breaths, will refuel your cells with oxygen, leaving you feeling more refreshed.


11.  Try a power nap. Set your alarm and don’t sleep for more than 20 to 30 minutes or it might interfere with the quality of you evening sleep.

12.  Avoid toxic relationships as much as possible. If you notice whenever you spend time with a particular friend or colleague you leave feeling exhausted, it’s a sure sign that they are an energy drainer.

13.  Commit to a time and finally complete that big project that’s been on your to do list. If it’s been constantly nagging at the back of your mind, getting it finished will release an enormous amount of energy.

14.  Stop multitasking. Stay completely engaged until one job is complete and then move on to the next.

15.  Build in some down time every day. Sitting in silence, meditating, journaling, praying or enjoying nature are all powerful ways to refresh and recharge your batteries.

It’s hard to change our habits, but when we take small steps, one at a time, we reach success. Choose one or two tips, and incorporate them into your routine every week. Within a couple of months, you should notice a huge difference in how you feel.  Everyday holds opportunities to love, learn, and enjoy life with those around you. Don’t be too exhausted to notice!

Health tip # 37


Relax For 20 Minutes a Day - Relaxing for at least 20 minutes a day will go a long way to reduce blood pressure and your reactions to stress

Why is Exercise Important?

Have you ever heard the expression "use it or lose it"? It's true! If you don't use your body, you will surely lose it. Your muscles will become flabby and weak. Your heart and lungs won't function efficiently. And your joints will be stiff and easily injured. Inactivity is as much of a health risk as smoking!

Helps Prevent Diseases 
Our bodies were meant to move -- they actually crave exercise. Regular exercise is necessary for physical fitness and good health. It reduces the risk of heart disease, cancer, high blood pressure, diabetes and other diseases. It can improve your appearance and delay the aging process.

Improves Stamina 
When you exercise, your body uses energy to keep going. Aerobic exercise involves continuous and rhythmic physical motion, such as walking and bicycling. It improves your stamina by training your body to become more efficient and use less energy for the same amount of work. As your conditioning level improves, your heart rate and breathing rate return to resting levels much sooner from strenuous activity.

Strengthens and Tones 
Exercising with weights and other forms of resistance training develops your muscles, bones and ligaments for increased strength and endurance. Your posture can be improved, and your muscles become more firm and toned. You not only feel better, but you look better, too!

Enhances Flexibility 
Stretching exercises are also important for good posture. They keep your body limber so that you can bend, reach and twist. Improving your flexibility through exercise reduces the chance of injury and improves balance and coordination. If you have stiff, tense areas, such as the upper back or neck, performing specific stretches can help "loosen" those muscles, helping you feel more relaxed.

Controls Weight 
Exercise is also a key to weight control because it burns calories. If you burn off more calories than you take in, you lose weight. It's as simple as that.

Improves Quality of Life 
Once you begin to exercise regularly, you will discover many more reasons why exercise is so important to improving the quality of your life. Exercise reduces stress, lifts moods, and helps you sleep better. It can keep you looking and feeling younger throughout your entire life.

How Often Should I Exercise?

The benefits of any exercise program will diminish if it's disrupted too frequently. A "stop-start" routine is not only ineffective, but can cause injuries. Being consistent with exercise, therefore, is probably the most important factor in achieving desired results.

People often assume that more is better. Wrong! Doing too much too soon or performing intense exercises on a daily basis will have deleterious effects, such as muscle/tendon strains, loss of lean tissue, and fitness-level plateaus.

If you are a beginner, start off slower than you think you should. Three days per week is realistic, safe and effective. If you are experienced, do cardiovascular (aerobic) exercises such as walking, jogging and bicycling for no more than 200 minutes per week with no more than 60 minutes per session.

Weight training should be done no more than three times per week targeting the same muscle groups. Exercise the same muscle groups on non-consecutive days because muscles need adequate time to recover and cannot be effectively trained if they are tired or sore.

Many people forget to stretch or make the excuse that they don't have the time. Flexibility is important, so make the time! Stretching can be done every day, but stick to a minimum of three times per week in order to reap the benefits. When the body is warmed up, such as after a workout session, perform five to 10 stretches that target the major muscle groups. Hold each stretch for 10-30 seconds.

Health tip # 19


It's important to be involved in some sort of fitness social support web. If you are currently in a regime with no fitness community, you may find that your workouts are lacking or not that successful. A social support can bring a greater sense of camaraderie, kinship and even healthy competition. If you normally workout alone at home, try visiting a gym for a sample workout, or joining a yoga, Pilates or sailing class. Running clubs and golf courses are other ways to keep in shape and meet new people.

Avoid Gaining Weight This Holiday Season
...While Still Enjoying Your Holiday

I know what you are thinking – the holidays are a time for fun and indulgence. You don’t want to think about fitness during that time. You want to enjoy yourself. Don’t worry! The festivities don’t have to be eliminated or avoided. You can have a fabulous time while also maintain your weight and your fitness regime.

The secret to achieving a holiday season that is both full of fun and also includes fitness is found in moderation. There are two typical approaches to the seasonal festivities: 1) throw all healthy habits out the window and indulge in every guilty pleasure 2) starve and binge approach (for example, you eat nothing all day long to allow yourself to overindulge in party food). Of course, neither approach is successful at maintaining a healthy, fit lifestyle throughout the holiday season. But some how we should manage, because holidays should not be a disaster for our health.

As mentioned above, the key is found in moderation. With a moderate approach both to what you eat and how much exercise you do, you can avoid packing on extra weight and also take part in all the fun of the season.

Here Are Some Tips On Maintaining Your Health And Fitness:

Create a plan ahead of time. Before the holidays sneak up on you, create a plan for incorporating fitness and good nutrition into your daily routine. Evaluate your holiday schedule and then determine how much time you will realistically have available to devote to working out and/or eating healthy meals.

On the day of a party, be sure to eat regularly all day long. If the party is in the evening, eat breakfast, lunch and a snack before hand. Once you are at the party, go ahead and indulge in some of the fun, delicious foods. Since you have eaten meals earlier in the day, you probably will find that you aren’t tempted to go overboard and eat everything in sight. However, if you starve all day long attempting to save up all your calories for the party, you will be so famished by the time it begins that it will be difficult not to overeat.

Schedule your workouts. Mark them on the calendar and set-aside time to complete them. Consider them as important as any other appointment or event you have marked on your calendar.

When at a party, start by eating some of the healthy offerings. For example, vegetable sticks , fruit pieces, plain chicken pieces, etc. Then move on to some of the less healthy offerings. You will be less likely to overindulge on these foods if you have already filled-up on some of the healthier items. Yet, you will not feel deprived or unsatisfied.

On days that you really lack motivation or simply do not have time for your complete exercise routine, commit to do just 10 minutes of exercise. You’ll probably end up doing more than that once you get started. Even if you only end up completing 10 minutes, that is still a lot better than zero minutes.
When presented with a large variety of food options, it’s tempting to want to eat everything. Rather than eating one large slice of chocolate cake or a huge plate of meatballs, select a sampling of bite size pieces of several of the desert or appetizer offerings. This way you get the enjoyment of trying many different foods without overeating.

Exercise at home. You’ll be more inclined to follow-through on your exercise commitment if you don’t have to drive somewhere to do your workout. Plus, you won’t waste any time on driving, parking, the locker room or waiting to use equipment. Working out at home requires very little equipment (even can be equipment-free) and is quite inexpensive.

Avoid wasting calories on alcoholic beverages. The average alcoholic drink contains 150-200 calories per glass. Indulge in just 2-3 drinks and you’ve drunk the equivalent calories of an entire meal. If you partake in these beverages, choose wisely. For example, instead of having a full glass of wine, try mixing half a glass of wine with sparkling water or with a diet cola. This will help cut your calories in half.

When running errands or shopping be sure to pack some healthy snacks to have on-hand. Then after you work-up a big appetite, you won’t be tempted to grab something at the mall food court or the fast food restaurant on the way home. 

Hopefully these tips will help you find a balance between staying fit and also enjoying the fun of the season. Remember, moderation is the key. 

Have a great holiday season!

Health tip # 17

Every morning on an empty stomach make it a habit to drink 2tsp of honey with warm water and a half spoon of lemon extract...this acts universally as a best blood purifier and also a good drink to keep the cholesterol and your weight under control..