Diet And Exercising For Weight Loss

Obesity is now being called an epidemic in the health community. In fact, it will soon be the leading cause of preventable death in the United States, even ahead of cigarette smoking. Obesity leads to type two diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease or stroke, and even an increased risk of cancer. With all of these health risks, as well as the general improvement in the quality of life that can occur, losing weight is one of the best things that you can do for yourself.

No matter what we would like to believe, there simply isn’t a magic solution to losing weight. The body will shed excess fat when it needs more calories to function through the demands you place on it in a given day than the number of calories that you feed it. It’s that simple. So, in order to lose weight, you need to decrease the number of calories that you eat as well as increase the amount that you burn.

There is a wide range of options to choose from when looking for a weight loss program. All of them often spend a lot of time explaining what to eat, in what amounts, and even at what times or in what combinations. But few of them emphasize the importance of exercise – not just for losing weight, but for your general health and wellbeing. Exercise is vital when trying to lose weight for several reasons:

First, as you start to eat less, your metabolism will slow down somewhat. Exercising helps to elevate your metabolism back to an efficient level. Second, as mentioned, the exercise burns more calories so that you can lose weight faster and stay motivated in your efforts. Third, exercise actually releases endorphins, chemicals that keep your mood elevated.

Exercise doesn’t have to mean spending hours at the gym or straining through exhausting workouts. In fact, in order for you to stick with it in the long run, exercising should be something that you enjoy. Start by increasing your activity level in an overall way. Take the stairs when you can. Park further from the mall door when you go shopping. Go for a walk in the park or through a neighborhood you love and bring a dog or a friend along for company. Take dance or martial arts lessons.

Once you become more active in general, you’ll find it easier and more natural to move into regular exercise. Which you’ll need to do eventually in order to get regular, noticeable health benefits. You need to raise your heart rate to a fat-burning level and keep it there for at least 20 minutes, 3 times or more a week. However, if you don’t want to go to a gym, there are other options. Videos and DVDs are now available in all kinds of exercise types. That way you can change your routine whenever you want so that you don’t get bored with what you’re doing. Try a range of aerobics, kickboxing, yoga, or pretty much any activity you want right in the comfort of your own home.

If you have physical limitations that would keep you off from exercising, you can still find a way to increase your activity level. Water aerobics is a wonderful option for those who have joint problems or limited mobility because it relieves the pressure on your body that your weight provides. But you still get the resistance to challenge your muscles from the water. There are even classes and videos available that let you exercise in a seated position.

Whatever kind of exercise you choose, it’s important to stay motivated and keep it fun. Try gathering a group together to make it a social event. Or get a pedometer, a device that tracks how far you walk and see how many miles you can walk a week. Make a competition amongst your friends or family members and treat the winner with something special (not food-related!).

Make the experience of exercising something that you look forward to, and it will soon become a regular part of your healthier lifestyle.

Permanent Weight Loss Solutions

There are many people who attempt to lose weight, some will succeed and others will fail, however, the biggest battle for people who are able to reduce their weight, is often to keep to their ideal weight. Many people will find that they have soon returned to the weight that they were before they went on their diet or even that they are actually fatter. This can of course be very depressive and can result in them losing a lot of their self-esteem. What is needed is for a permanent solution to their weight problems.

There are some obvious routes to take in the battle to lose weight. They would include increasing the amount in which we exercise and reducing the amount we eat. It is this eating issue that can be the hardest to control and to reduce as our temptations often get the better of us.

In my opinion, what we need to do is to make our house a fat free zone. If we become hungry and start looking through the cupboards and notice for example a packet of crisps, it can often be very difficult not to eat them. Our desire for instant food can become too great and our inner demons try and convince us that one packet will not hurt. If that packet of crisps had not been in the cupboard we would have not been put into that position of temptation and would of course not have been able to eat them.

A number of years ago, when I went about losing my own excess weight, I decided to remove all of the foods from all of the cupboards which I was aware that I needed to stop eating. I also removed certain drinks such as alcoholic drinks which were also something that contributed to my weight problems. I put into the dustbin all of the takeaway menus that I had and basically attempted to make it as hard as possible for me to eat or drink anything that I shouldn’t have been.

When out and about I had to be determined to keep to my diet and to not be tempted to buy any of these items from the shops etc. This was not easy to do as I am somebody who loves all of these fatty type foods.

In my weekly food shop, I bought far more fruit and vegetables and was surprised at how quickly my taste buds started to change. I soon looked forward to eating an apple as an example and the weight slowly but surely started to reduce.

After a number of months, I reached a weight that I was happy with. My wife stated that I was now able to start eating items such as dry roasted peanuts, this was a particular favorite of mine. This was possibly true but could easily result in a return to my old bad habits and of course weight problems. I decided to stick with the fruit and my cupboards are still free of those foods which I love to eat but which are not good for my weight.

A Few Fantastic Health Benefits of Yoga

There are so lots of us who unavoidably become associating yoga with its “bodily” attributes. In fact, they pull away from it without a doubt questioning that yoga is exactly supposed for the physically suit or the athletic ones. A distinctly faulty perception. The concept is some distance from truth-very a long way! Yes, it is a physical exercise. No doubt about it. However, one desires to keep in mind that this historic practice involves lots extra than just “frame”- yogis aim for that ideal realm of stability where the thoughts, body, and spirit work in concord. Today, we can be basically discussing the health blessings of yoga however no longer earlier than genuinely stating that you may exercise it even in case you are not athletic! Here’s what you want to find out about the health benefits of yoga. They are absolutely super.

It can bolster the characteristic of the lungs

Deep useful respiratory is part of the yogic revel in. Such sporting events, as in keeping with research, can actually improve the functioning of the lungs. With a higher-functioning pair of lungs, you may anticipate carrying out quite a few activities higher – like going for walks or on foot long distances without getting worn-out.

Exercises bolster the circumstance of your coronary heart as properly

Patients with high blood pressure and cholesterol can gain loads from yogic physical games. Studies, as an instance, have shown that people training yoga on an ordinary basis have lower blood levels of cholesterol and decreased risks of blood cholesterol degree. What extra? The efficaciousness of the respiratory sporting activities is now even harnessed through docs to address coronary heart ailments. Medical practitioners knew the usefulness of the right respiration techniques and sporting events when it comes to reversing signs and symptoms of numerous pressure-induced illnesses or coronary heart ailments.

These sports help you grasp the proper postures

The importance of sitting, running, and strolling in the right posture is in the main undermined with the aid of us. We frequently fail to pick out the evils of incorrect postures. For instance, we just fail to recognize that inaccurate postures can virtually deliver delivery to a number of problems including neck pain, shoulder ache, and a lot extra.

Practicing yoga permits you to build stronger muscular tissues in an effort to aid the proper postures. Yogic physical games also upload flexibility for your frame thereby putting off muscle tension so you are capable to walk and take a seat along with your shoulders directly. You can sit with your stomach tucked in as properly.

Yoga can also help you fight despair

Meditation or relaxation physical games assist you to get out of your depressive mind as properly. For many depressed humans, when every measure fails, yoga turns out to be the solution.

So, what precisely are you looking ahead to? It would not remember how old you’re or how athletic (or no longer) you’re, you could always consider the healing benefits of yoga in a major manner. Find a credentialed instructor and get going! Make certain you’re exploring more about these exercises and their benefits by way of studying up about the equal. There isn’t any dearth of sources to help you there. Make sure you’re retaining these factors in view.

The Jedi Code A Guide To Better Mental Health

Today I browsed the web a bit and came across this content. Being a Star Wars fan, I was drawn to the title and pass it on to you. I hope you find it useful.

While entirely fictional, the enigmatic concept knowns as “The Force” is based on some very real principles. In the movie, Star Wars, the “Force” is often spoken of by members of a religious order called the Jedi. The warrior-priests of the Jedi Order served as the main proponents of what they believed to be the core concepts of The Force.

The concept and the order are fictional, but the principles by which the Jedi lived their lives are excellent guides to living one’s life, especially amidst all the chaos of the modern world. For as long as the “Dark Side” of The Force is equated not to evil but to negative influences in one’s life, the principles of the Jedi Code can easily be used to form a personal philosophy for living a good life, complete with a healthy mental attitude. Below you’ll find the core principles of the Jedi philosophy, and some ideas on how they can be adapted to the trials and tribulations of modern life.

There is no emotion; there is peace.

Being able to control one’s emotions was critical to a Jedi, as their tasks often required that they remain as objective as possible. Fear and anxiety can have negative effects on one’s decision-making, which in turn can wreak havoc on one’s life. By taking control of one’s stress and anxiety, separating it from the tasks that need to be done, you can effectively find better solutions to your problems than you would have if you let your anxiety affect your analysis of the situation. This concept does not advise denying one’s emotions, since doing so can result in more anxiety disorders and psychological issues than it solves. It merely says that people should let logic and analysis guide their decisions, not their feelings.

There is no ignorance; there is knowledge.

The Jedi Order espoused the determined pursuit of knowledge. To support the quest for enlightenment, they built a grand library that contained volumes of information on various topics and disciplines that were necessary to educate and train a Jedi. They also shared that knowledge, to better enlighten the same people they were attempting to protect. Many problems with anxiety and phobias can be alleviated if people just took the time to understand things. A little knowledge can help someone overcome the fear and anxiety that one encounters when exposed to a totally alien culture. In some cases, anxiety disorders can also be overcome simply by equipping one’s mind with sufficient knowledge about the source of the anxiety, thus allowing a person to better understand and face the problem.

There is no passion; there is serenity.

Similar to the first principle, the Jedi believed that being too passionate about something was dangerous, as it could cloud one’s judgment and objectivity. For people in their position, objectivity was critical in nearly all situations. The same can be said of pretty much anyone in the modern world. Emotions and passion can cloud our ability to make good decisions, as well as have an adverse effect on our ability to recognize our mistakes and correct them to avert further damage. Being calm amidst the face of an impossible bureaucracy can go a long way to keeping one’s state of mental health stable and far away from “going postal.” As long as you don’t let your stress and anxiety build-up by dwelling on the negative, then your mind is serene and you can then make better decisions and take a clearer look at what is going on in one’s life.

There is no death, there is only The Force.

The Jedi believed that when someone dies, they become one with The Force. This allowed them to see death not as a negative event, but merely a transition that one was inevitably going to get past. Adapting this to modern life, negative events can be portrayed as the “death” the philosophy mentions, with “The Force” acting as a metaphor for life itself. In other words, it is basically stating that, regardless of all the negative events in one’s life, regardless of all the fear and anxiety, nausea induced by corporate and familial duties, there is still life itself. To use one metaphor to explain another, if something bad comes your way, take some time out to stop and smell the roses. Your entire life will not be dictated by one car crash or unfair termination. Life goes on and moves on, and so should you.

Taking all of the above principles into account, it is difficult to see how they could fail to lead to a better state of mind, even amidst the chaos of modern life. That is if they are followed like a personal philosophy and not taken as mere guidelines. Besides, if one espouses the opposite of the above principles, one is liable to burn out rather quickly.

7 Tips For A Long And Healthy Life

As good as modern medical technology is, it can never save you from the problems caused by a lifestyle that is unhealthy. Instead of getting a modern medical fix for every problem, it is far better to live in such a way that you will hardly ever fall ill.

An ounce of prevention is certainly better than a pound of cure. Here are seven tips on how to live a long and healthy life. In addition, the same lifestyle that helps you to avoid illness also helps you to lose weight.

1. Get Enough Exercise

In the past, people had to use their physical bodies in the course of their normal work. But today someone may get up, go to work in a car, then sit down, get up to go home in the car and when arriving at home, sit down again for the rest of the day. In such a life there is no physical labor. This physical inactivity is one of the main reasons for a host of diseases. Sport, running. walking and other things must be added to our life if our normal work does not require us to exert ourselves physically. I

2. Go to sleep when you feel sleepy

This may sound simple, but many people stay up late even when their body is telling them that it is time to sleep. Yoga and Ayurvedic doctors also say that it is better to sleep at night and be active during the day. However, people such as students will take coffee and stimulants to study late into the night. Others develop the habit of remaining active at night and sleeping during the day. While we can do this, it eventually takes a toll on health. Alternative health doctors say that this kind of unnatural living is one of the contributing factors in the causation of cancer and other diseases

3. Eat when you feel hungry

This is also a simple idea, but once again we often go against the messages of the body. If you eat out of habit or due to social pressure at a certain time of the day, even when you have no real appetite, then you will not digest your food properly. Acidity and indigestion begin, and this contributes to the likelihood of other more complex diseases taking root. Having an appetite is actually a sign of good health, but if you have no appetite you should wait a bit and then eat. (If you have no appetite even after awaiting a reasonable amount of time, then you should consult a doctor because something is wrong.)

4.Fast on a Regular, Systematic Basis

If you would ask any person to work 365 days per year without any rest, they would complain and say that they must have some rest or else they will break down. But we have never bothered to ask or to think about our digestive organs which we compel to work day after day without a rest. They cannot protest the way a person would to their boss, but they do give us signals that they cannot work non-stop. When we ignore those signals and still compel them to work, those organs break down. That is why periodic fasting is necessary. Refrain from eating for one complete day. This gives a rest to your digestive organs and also helps in the elimination of wastes from your body. Regular fasting allows a person to gain extra time for intellectual or spiritual pursuits. Fasting is not for hermits in a cave but is a sensible practice that anyone can practice.

5. Wash with cool water before going to bed

As mentioned above, proper sleep is essential for the maintenance of health. If you wash your important motor and sensory organs (hands, arms, eyes, legs, mouth, genitals) before sleep using cool water, this will relax you and prepare you for deep sleep.

6. Perform meditation on a regular basis

Your body is linked to your mind. Many of the diseases of this era are psychosomatic. Stress and anxiety take their toll on our physical health. Meditation is a mental exercise that, among other things, allows you to detach yourself from the worries of life. Learn a simple technique and do it regularly.

7. Get up early every day

Once again the old proverb, “Early to bed, early to rise makes a person healthy, wealthy and wise.” I don’t know if it will make you wealthy, but it will certainly make you healthy. Your body needs just enough sleep, not too much and not too little.

Follow these tips and you can’t go wrong.

 

Negative Thoughts And Lose Weight

People think thousands of thoughts each day. We talk to ourselves more than anyone else. We are the most trusted advisor and confidant ourselves. Many of the conversations that we have with ourselves would never share with anyone else because to do so would expose the “real” I. The “I” is filled with self-doubt, worries, sadness, guilt, hurts, and disappointments.

But this is not the “real I” at all. This is the “I” that our ego and belief systems have constructed. These negative beliefs have been constructed by us and accepted by us as truth. The sad thing is that nothing can be further from the truth.

Where did these false ideas about “I” originate? They mostly came from others; parents, teachers, co-workers, and friends. They might have planted the seed by saying something like “she is fat” and we have cultivated those comments to the point that they have become our truth.

We are allowing our entire life to be controlled by some obscure comments made years ago. Nobody has the right or power to dictate who we are. Only “I” know who “I” truly am and what’s in my heart.

When we were born we entered this world without the burdens of our current negative belief system. We entered this world as a beautiful bundle of joy filled with unlimited potential and possibilities.

Yes, we are a wonderful creation – a human being.

And I’m here to tell you that you have not changed. You are still and will always be a beautiful bundle of joy with unlimited potential and possibilities.

The only difference is what you give your attention to. Let me ask you a question. If you stopped all the negative talk that you currently have with yourself such as;

– I’m too fat

– Why would anyone want to love me

– I will never be thin

– I always fail

And the list can go on and on… How would you feel? Do you think that you would feel emotionally lighter? Do you think that you would feel happier? Do you think that you would feel more confident?

Now how do you think your life would change if you were to go one step further and modify your self-talk by only speaking positively about yourself. If you take some time and focus on what you like about yourself and focus on only that your emotional state will become positive to the point that you will be able to accomplish anything.

Once you begin looking for the positive things within you, you will be surprised to realize your magnificence has always been there just below the surface. You have never been anything other than that shining bundle of joy that entered the world years ago. It’s easy to uncover positive aspects of yourself by asking some questions.

– What am I good at?

– Who has benefited by me being in the world?

– Who am I, what is in my heart that only I know?

– What do I like about my body?

Your goal is to feel good now. How do you feel now? If you only observe what you feel is positive about you, you will feel good, you will be happy. Decide right here and right now how you want to feel. Decide that you will always look for the good within you and appreciate that goodness.

So what does all of this have to do with losing weight? Everything!!! Your emotional state is the control valve that determines what you draw into your experience. How you talk to yourself creates your beliefs and programs your subconscious. So you need to ask yourself do you want your beliefs and subconscious programming to be based on false-negative thinking. Or do you want your beliefs to be based on the truth, that you are and always have been a perfect being?

Begin today to love and nurture yourself. Allow the joy, playfulness, and enthusiasm that you naturally had as a child to begin to flow into your everyday experiences. Allow yourself to celebrate each and every success no matter how small. Love and appreciate yourself every opportunity you have. Do this every day and watch your weight begin to dissolve just as your old negative beliefs about yourself begin to dissolve.

How To Burn Fat

 

Burnt out on concealing your overhang under layers of garments? You are in good company. Around 33% of American grown-ups are overweight. Right now is an ideal opportunity to change your delicate, heavy body into the conditioned, attractive physical make-up you had always wanted. Disregard yo-yo abstains from food and simple weight reduction guarantees that leave you feeling like a fat disappointment. It is conceivable to have a slender, traffic halting body you can hardly wait to flaunt. You’ve discovered the fat copying mysteries TV masters don’t need you to think about. Prepare to discard your fat garments for good.

It’s crucial to realize how fat is stored in the body, so you have a comprehension of how to cause the body to lose it. Your body needs food to obtain the essential energy to capacity and feed its cells. The calories in food have energy normally alluded to as calories. The more calories the food contains the more fuel the body can procure from it. To utilize the nourishment energy, your body should initially process the food. The cycle of processing makes the body consume some old energy to get the new energy from the food. The more troublesome it is to process the food, the more energy/calories are singed.

I wrote more about this in the book and if you are interested you can read it HERE.