How I Changed My Priorities In One Lunch

I had lunch with my parents today. Life is pretty busy these days and I found myself whining about work. It was the classic whine about too much work with too little time. Then my Father chirped in and said, “You have it easy son, you should try living in our shoes.” My Father is the primary caregiver for my Mom who is ill, it’s a 24 hour job and it isn’t getting any easier with time. I looked at my Dad and realized right there that his comment was spot on.

Health

Health should always be our first priority. We can have all the money and stuff in the world, but it all means nothing without our health. A little stress at work is infinitely easier to deal with than a serious health issue.

Acceptance

I have written quite a bit about positive psychology. But sometimes thinking good thoughts isn’t enough. Sometimes it’s good to accept that life isn’t always a bowl of cherries and learn to move on. It isn’t always easy, but facing reality and dealing with it is better than pretending that life is wonderful. Life throws us curves and fortunately most of the time they pass. Acceptance is a fundamental Buddhist teaching.

I went back to my lunch, stopped whining, and realized that I do have it good compared to what my parents are experiencing. And I am grateful for that, and am continuously learning to accept that life forever evolves. Life doesn’t wait for anyone.

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6 Ways To Lose Ugly Fat And Get Healthier With Quick Results

I have kept my weight stable over the years and have been told I look 15 years younger than my age. It’s true! Here are a few tips I try to follow.

Educate yourself

According to the Department of health and services, chronic diseases—such as cardiovascular disease (primarily heart disease and stroke), cancer, and diabetes—are among the most common, costly, and preventable of all health problems. Seven of every 10 Americans who die each year, die of a chronic disease. Kinda scary uh? Learn to eat healthier and keep your weight down. Check out the food pyramid. The food pyramid gives you great eating guidelines.

Resist buying desserts (snub them at the grocery store)

Cupcakes, muffins, pies, cakes and almost anything with white flour is full of carbohydrates and sugar. Keeping these snacks out of sight will keep them out of your mind. After a while you won’t miss those calorific snacks. Don’t forget to snub them when grocery shopping. Just drive right by! Snub!

Resist what your unhealthy friends do!

According to a study of 5,124 male and female subjects from the Framingham Heart Study (since 1948), your chances of becoming obese are very high if your friend is already obese. Your friends have a huge influence on you! Think about that.

Plan your meals

If you don`t plan your meals you will find yourself famished and staring stupidly at the inside of the fridge. All of a sudden the phone is in your hand and a large pizza is on its way. And you are delighted about the pizza, especially your stomach! Try planning meals on a Sunday. Pick out a few easy and healthy recipes. Use the leftovers as well. www.epicurious.com is a great place for recipes and the advanced search (top left hand side) provides you with easy and delicious meals.

Bring snacks to work, don’t get the fruit lazy disease

I always bring fruit (ex: apple and banana) to work during the day and have a container of almonds on my desk. That helps me stay away from the unhealthy snacks and yummy muffins (I like blueberry). Getting enough fruit in me is always a challenge and this helps immensely. I seem to be fruit lazy at night though. Need to work on that.

Treat yourself occasionally

Have a piece of dark chocolate or some other guilty pleasure to get a taste of sweetness. Nothing wrong with treating yourself once in a while. You need an indulgence for resisting all those unhealthy foods. Just don’t make it a daily habit!

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3 Proven Ways You Can Radically Change Your Life

There have been some fascinating news articles written lately about why we become fat, happy (or not), and have possibly stopped thinking for ourselves. Here are a few excellent ways to change your life for the better. Also please see the links below.

Educate yourself (learn about evolution) and your brain

My own journey towards truth and happiness began by reading about human beings, their evolution throughout the ages and also how the brain works. Why is salt, television, and smoking so common yet so bad for us? One reason is because we have let media or our friends (I’ll explain this later) influence us. How much time do you spend watching television and are you benefiting from it? Are all those McDonalds commercials good for you? How often do you read a non-fiction book? Do you understand why you have bad habits and addictions? Maybe it is because the brain actually rewires itself and the neurons and connections actually strengthen inside the brain as habits and addictions strengthen. There is nothing more important than picking up a book and educating yourself. I’ll give you a great link to a few good books and article.

Turn off the TV and advertisements

Where do you get your ideas and beliefs from? Do you get them from the television or the Internet?  Maybe you are becoming fatter, unhappy or lonely because you have not bothered to learn the scientific facts about obesity, happiness and relationships? Perhaps we are looking for a quick fix from the Internet (including Google solutions) or television and have learned to stopped thinking for ourselves. So shut off unnecessary social influences and start reading a book and talking to your friends. Talking to your friends is tremendously important to you. Here is why.

Make friends with similar interests

I told my friend about my love of small MacDonald’s hamburgers. I don’t eat them often but when I do they sure are yummy. My friend calls them “candy”. I think he is right, it is just white bread, a small piece of meat and a few condiments. Those small burgers are a small tasty snack but with almost zero nutrition. Almost like candy right?  So I don’t eat them as often. Studies have proven that our social networks and friends have a huge influence on us. In one study when one person becomes very fat, the spouse’s risk will increase 37 percent. If a friend became obese the risk to another friend went up 171%! So you see how our social networks and friends can influence us? Our habits and happiness are directly related to our social networks. We are people. We need each other. So our friends may make us happy but can be very unhealthy for us. Good idea to start thinking for yourself a bit more?

Click on these link for a few good book recommendations and a great article.

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Reduce Stress And Live A Longer And Happier Life

I’ve spent years researching books on stress in order to find the very best methods to combat this destroyer of happiness, contentment and sometimes life itself. Sure, some stress is good since it can motivate us to take action and even enable us to save our lives and others. But today’s society pounds us with a continuous barrage of stress through long working hours, downsizing, technological changes, two parents working, financial pressures and a host of other influences including war, taxes and death.

There are three excellent methods to combat stress. Make sure you have healthy eating habits, a healthy mind and a healthy body.

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