Thursday, December 31, 2009

Healthy Eating Diet

I believe in eating healthy and staying fit, but I also believe everything needs to be done in moderation. If we restrict ourselves completely from everything we love to eat, we end up over indulging ourselves later and regretting it. So if chocolate is your thing or vanilla ice cream or what ever you fancy. I say its okay to have a little here or a little there.

Exercise: There are all kinds of ways to get your exercise. Don't make the mistake of doing the same exercise routine day in and day out. You will get bored! Walk in your neighbor hood, walk down town, or maybe you have a park near by that has trails.

Do some stretching exercises, start out slow, they will help loosen up tight muscles and improve joint movement. Later you can add some weights if you would like. You might try putting some tunes on and dance around the living room. The secret is to make exercise fun.Here are a few health tips that I have picked up, some recently and some that I have known for a while. Hope that you will find some of these tips useful in your quest in becoming a healthier you.

Phosphoric acid an additive found in soda is believed to remove calcium from your bones and cause tooth decay. When girls and boys bodies are changing into young adults as we all know their hormones change which causes skin break outs and mood swings, but did you know it also causes more plaque to build up on their teeth then when they were younger. Another reason to push our teens to brush their teeth. They will be grateful to us later.

Oatmeal

We are all looking to burn more fat when we exercise: Start your morning off with whole grains, such as oatmeal, whole grain toast or bran cereal. They have "slow release" carbohydrates which can help you burn fat, according to a new study in the Journal Of Nutrition.

Weight bearing exercise helps our body absorb calcium. You can take all the calcium you want but with out exercise and vitamin D your body will not absorb the calcium. You can get vitamin D from leafy green vegetables, most milk also is fortified with vitamin D these days, there's also vitamin D supplements or you can spend fifteen minutes in the sun a day with out sunscreen. Exercise is great way to lower your risk of heart disease and certain cancers, including breast cancer. Exercise also helps reduce stress, which is an important factor in our health.

palmolive

Another way to reduce stress is to take time out for ourselves. Read a book or take a nice warm bubble bath, turn the lights off and light some candles, or just watch a good movie. We can't just depend on exercise and some relaxation though to keep us healthy, we need to also follow a healthy diet. Avoid processed foods they are very high in salt, avoid foods that are high in fat, and last but not least avoid too much sugar. Always read labels and don't forget everything needs to be done in moderation.

An Apple a Day…..

Autumn typically means harvest time in Canada, making it wonderful to see the markets overflowing with colorful vegetables and plenty of fresh apples. One of nature's finest foods, the apple comes in a variety of colors and flavours sure to please any palate. From McIntosh to Red Delicious, Gala to Cortland the health benefits of apples are countless.

One of the most widely cultivated tree fruits, there are more than 7,500 known varieties of apples. A member of the rose family, it is thought the apple has been around for some 4000 thousand years. And according to some researchers, archeologists have found evidence that us humans have been enjoying apples as far back as 6500 BC.
Apples made an excellent commodity for early settlers as they stored well and had many uses. When dried they were available all year round and apples could be easily turned into cider. In her book The Apple, A History of Canada's Perfect Fruit, author Carol Martin describes how "apples have been a part of Canadian life ever since the first European settlers arrived in the early years of the 17th century. In the east, Champlain led his tiny colony to Hochelaga (Quebec City) and brought along young saplings to be planted. In the west, Sir George Simpson arrived to found the most westerly Hudson's Bay company fort with apple seeds tucked into his vest pocket. Throughout the 19th and 20th centuries horticulturalists across the country worked to develop varieties of eating apples that could withstand Canadian winters."
Today, people from all countries across the globe are enjoying apples daily making them the most popular fruit in the world. Although apples have endless culinary uses such as pies and dumplings, the best way to obtain the maximum nutrition apples have to offer is by eating them the way Mother Nature intended. Whole raw apples have many health benefits and there are many studies and claims to support this.
Apples contain vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, phytochemicals and soluble fibre. Because of the powerhouse of nutrients apples provide they can help boost our immune system, help build strong bones and teeth, help repair tissue, help to slow the aging process, reduce the risk of diseases including some cancers, osteoporosis and heart disease, help lower cholesterol, help increase fibre intake, help manage diabetes and help with weight loss.
Apples make a healthy and nutritious snack with many varieties available in the markets all year round. When shopping for apples look for bright, richly coloured apples that feel firm and pick fruit that is free from bruises, holes and soft spots and try to buy organic. Wash them well when you get them home. To keep them crispy store them in the crisper drawer of your refrigerator or a cold cellar but eat them at room temperature for the most flavour. Although some apples taste sweet and others may have a tart or tangy taste, it's always fun to experiment and try different varieties. How fortunate we are to have this simple fruit so readily available to us daily.

The health benefits from eating apples are enormous and scientific researchers are discovering more and more reasons we should all be eating apples. The next time you're looking for a snack, remember that old saying and reach for an apple. An apple a day can indeed help keep us healthy. And another good tip for a nice breakfast - eat an apple with some cheese. It will boost your energie for the day.

Workout Routines For Women

When I hear someone refer to a workout routine for women, what immediately comes to mind is the specific exercises to be done. Stuff that enhances metabolism, builds muscle, that sort of thing. But after pondering for a bit, I realized that the real key to this phrase is "routine". Because how many of you actually have a set schedule to work out like you have a schedule for everything else in your world? That's probably more of the issue than anything else.

Do you really not have the time to exercise, or do you simply NOT make an appointment with yourself to do it. And don't mistake me for one of those fanatical exercise gurus who lives to exercise and does so 8 hours a day. I'm not and I don't. The fact of the matter is, I struggle with this just like you. So I'm not getting up on my high horse about it. I understand where you are coming from, I really do.
But the truth remains, at the end of the day, you'd look better, feel better, and have more energy if you consistently did workout routines for women. And that, my friend, is why my program lends itself well to a packed, frenzied, or otherwise insane schedule. Because in my mind, I do believe that doing ten minutes of powerful exercise will do you a world of good, especially in comparison to doing nothing at all. And what happens to me when I allow myself ten minutes to work out? Sometimes I start to really feel the energy and power pumping in me, and I end up with a 30 minute workout. So my lame excuse of not having time is just that. Lame. But we all make excuses in one way or another.
I recommend doing a workout routine for women that is 20 minutes every day. And the reason I don't like to say three times a week, aside from the fact that it's kind of standard and I like to be difficult, is, again, to do with ROUTINE. In other words, what I would really like to see is that this becomes a habit that you don't even need to write down. Participating in a workout routine for women will become an automatic response, much like many other activities that occur in your daily life. Because otherwise, what happens is, you skip a day and say to yourself, "Oh, I'll do 40 minutes tomorrow" and then tomorrow it's a "thing", because 40 minutes seems like a much more daunting project than 20. Am I right, here? You see, I've been down this road before.

And sadly, often times that is all it will take to go from a well-meaning habit to doing absolutely nothing at all. Yeah, doing nothing is so much easier. That is, until those muffin tops of yours are about to burst off the waistline of your skirt. And then the guilt. And spiraling self-esteem. And more cookies.
Have you thought about hiring a weight loss coach? Because it's so much easier to succeed in developing healthy habits, like workout routines for women, when you have support and guidance. Not everyone requires accountability, but most of us do better when we have it. If you could come to terms with needing an occasional kick in the skirt, you could avoid needless struggle and disappointment, allowing someone to help you.