What Everybody Ought to Know About Optimal Nutrition

Eating better, losing weight and getting healthy seems to be a losing battle these days. I’ve read recently that MacDonald’s is hiring 50000 people in the lead up to the summer months. This is not adding to the nation’s health index.

Making life changes concerning health and nutrition is about reading and always making the right choices for you and your family. I read dozens of books a year on a variety of subjects and try to apply all the key lessons to my life.

I’ve been reading the book Deep Nutrition and its one of the best books on what our bodies should really be ingesting.   Most of it has to do with ridding yourself of processed foods that have few nutrients.

• Drink raw organic milk. If you are lactose intolerant buy yogurt (but not fat free)
• Use sugar free peanut butter (with the oil on top)
• Buy sprouted grain bread instead of whole wheat.
• Instead of breakfast cereal eat toast with butter, sugar free peanut butter or poached eggs.
• Fresh veggies with salt and butter.
• Boiled eggs
• Use Fresh herbs often.
• Salmon or Mackerel with the bones in.
• Get rid of sugar
• Meat with bones in like chicken, turkey or read meats.
• Buy fatty cuts of meat.

You get the picture.

Much of this advice goes back to how we ate naturally a hundred years ago.  We have since been sucked into eating cheaply manufactured processed food with little nutrition compared to what we used to eat.

It’s time to take back our nutrition and live a long and healthy life.

How To Lose 100 Pounds In Six Months

I love the television show Heavy. 22 obese people change their lives dramatically by losing massive amounts of weight with the help of a team of professionals. If there is one television show that shows how to make extraordinary life changes, this is it. Many of these people are close to 500 pounds and will die if they don’t change.

These obese people face a mountain of challenges, not only in order to lose weight, but to get past the conditioning they have faced all their lives. The challenges they attempt try to get over include eating to make up for parents that abandoned them, food addictions, friends that influence them to eat, family that create negative lives….the list goes on and on. It is as much a mental challenge as a physical one.

But in the end, with all the help from the professionals in the show it is ultimately their own responsibility to lose the weight and maintain a healthy lifestyle.

The question to you is:

What’s stopping YOU from losing weight and getting healthy?  If these people can lose 100 pounds in six months is there any reason why you can’t make the changes that you have dreamed of? With a little education from the articles here and the goal tracker I hope I have inspired you to begin making that change right now.

Heavy – Losing is their only hope

Check it out.

How to Maintain Healthy Eating Habits

I’m concentrating on finance and health for a while. I think these are two of the most important life changes that are affecting people right now. Most of the tips below are just common sense. There is nothing complicated to follow here, just start with one tip and make it a habit!

Are you struggling to keep your resolution to eat healthy, nutritious foods? Once you’ve set a goal to maintain healthy eating habits, how do you go about actually achieving that goal?

The good news is that once you do something consistently for only a few weeks, it becomes a habit.

Here are some simple techniques to help you avoid those tempting junk foods so you can make wise and healthy decisions in your daily routine.

Strategies to Avoid Temptation:

1.      Am I hungry? Ask yourself if you’re really hungry or if you’re eating out of convenience or emotion. Many times you probably aren’t as hungry as you think, so try to get involved in a different activity instead of snacking.

2.      Water, water, and more water. Drink a lot of water each day. Not only is this good for your whole body (both inside and out), it can actually make you feel full. Also, oftentimes when you think you’re hungry, your body is actually thirsty, so keep yourself well hydrated.

3.      Try chewing gum. Putting something in your mouth like gum or hard, sugar-free candy can help convince your brain that you’re eating!

4.      Divert your energy. Instead of putting all your energy into making two grilled cheese sandwiches with bacon, try taking a walk or doing something that requires you to use your hands, like knitting or woodworking. It’s pretty hard to do these and eat at the same time.

5.      Allow yourself snack time. Choose healthy snacks instead of chips and salsa or chocolate bars. For snack time, try eating celery, popcorn without butter, fruits, or a make-your-own trail mix with raisins, nuts, and dried fruits.

• A good hint for snacking is to have healthy snacks readily available in your home, and unhealthy snacks completely out of the house; that way, the healthy stuff is easy to grab.

How to Choose Healthy Foods:

The next time you’re off to the grocery store, use these tips to help you choose the right foods and avoid the unhealthy stuff.

1.      Stay away from preservatives. You don’t need that Twinkie that can outlast any environmental disaster! When you learn to read nutrition labels and ingredient lists, you’ll find that there are many snacks that are full of preservatives. You probably shouldn’t buy the food when the ingredient list contains more than a handful of items. Plus, if the expiry date isn’t until two years from now, it’s being heavily preserved.

2.      Use the food pyramid. The recommended food pyramid from the Federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) gears you toward whole foods and minimal sweets. Get a copy from the FDA and make your grocery list by following their guidelines.

3.      Buy lots of fresh vegetables that you can use to make up a quick and healthy stir-fry with chicken, brown rice, or even soy products. Buy easy to make salads where the lettuce and other veggies are already washed. These are easy, quick, healthy, and they taste good. The key is to choose vegetables that are dark green or orange in color.

4.      Buy fresh fruits and do some research on how to tell when fruits are at their freshest and when they’re in season. Try some of those exotic fruits you’ve always looked at but never purchased. Make your own fruit drinks and smoothies for a healthy, delicious treat.

More Great Grocery Store Tips:

1.      Shop in a circle. Many nutritionists will tell you to shop the perimeter of the store. Grocery stores are usually set up with their fresh foods, fruits, vegetables, fish, and breads all around the perimeter. Preservative-laced foods are in the center and at the ends of each aisle.

2.      Go alone. Leave your children in good hands and go alone to the grocery store. This way you can concentrate on getting only the healthy foods you desire without being pressured into buying junk. Alternatively, if you do bring your children, be prepared to spend extra time teaching them how to spot healthy foods.

3.      Make a list! This technique is a tried and true method to avoid buying foods that aren’t healthy. Stick to your list and, for fun, seek out healthy foods you haven’t tried before to tempt your taste buds.

With some determination and strategies in place, you can achieve your goal to eat healthy! By incorporating healthy changes into your diet one by one, you’re slowly creating a new habit.

Before long, you’ll be choosing healthy foods without a second thought, and those unhealthy foods you used to eat will no longer tempt you. Once you discover the benefits and better taste of fresh and healthy foods, you’ll never want to go back!

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.

Must reads

Top 3 goals you need to set

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

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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!

If you enjoyed this post today, please do me a big favor and use the “Twitter” button down below (click on the + sign) to share it with your Twitter friends and followers (You can also share it on Facebook, Digg, or any of the other sites you see below as well).

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.

How To Overcome Addictions

The Buddy System:How Medical Data Revealed Secret To Health And Happiness.

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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