Avoid Dieting Make Positive Changes Instead

Why is it that merely saying the "D" word, you know "diet" brings immediate thoughts of failure to the minds of many men and women around the world? Could it be that we have all learned through trial and error that diets simply do not work? I know many of you are sitting back with jaws dropped at the moment. After all, this is an article about dieting, right? It is and it isn't. Dieting is the kiss of death for many while a new phase in your life or lifestyle adjustment may be just the thing that will mean success for you and your fitness and health goals.

Eating for some is an addiction. Unfortunately, you can't exactly give up eating all together as a smoker can give up cigarettes. I'm not applying by any means that giving up cigarettes is easy but how much more difficult would it be if you were forced to have three a day? At that point you may as well enjoy them every time the urge hits right? The same holds true for food. You must eat in order to survive. You cannot live without eating. This means that if food is a problem in your life, you must find a healthier way of viewing food.

Isn't this where diets generally come in handy? The short answer is no. This is where diets often fail. Diets do very little to change how we view food. In fact, most diets only serve to tell us which foods are good, which foods are bad, and which foods (typically most of the foods we enjoy most) are strictly taboo. Diets begin by forcing people to feel deprived or punished. And no one likes to feel either of these things.

Even worse however, is that we punish ourselves further when we slip along the straight and very narrow pathways upon which our diets place us. This means that we are going to wallow in guilt over every little misstep we make until we give up all together and decide to over indulge once again and ignore the guilt all together.

In order to have real success you must make a lifestyle change. This is the only way that you will be able to shed those unwanted pounds without experiencing the horrible guilt that so many dieters go through each and every step of the way with their diets. Set goals for yourself. Keep them aggressive but realistic for fitness, dropping pounds, and eating new healthy foods. Even if your goal is as simple as eating 5 vegetable servings a day it is a great place to start.

Change your way of eating. Then change your way of seeing food and you will experience amazing changes in your attitudes toward your health, your body, and even your fitness level. As the first pounds begin to drop you will begin to experience more energy and less pain when exercising. This should help keep you motivated to do even more as time goes by.

Do not think that long term weight loss goals will be as easy to achieve as the first five or ten pounds. Consistency is vitally important when making these lifestyle changes. Take each day as it comes and begin again the very next day. This means that even if you fall completely "off the wagon" today, you can start over tomorrow. The trick is in staying the course more days than not and learning moderation and balance when it comes to straying from the straight and narrow.

There are many ways to fail when it comes to dieting and I know people who have failed in almost every one I can possibly imagine. There is no way to fail, however, when you are making positive changes in your life that are getting positive results. It may take weeks, months, or even years to reach your goal. As long as you are making steady and continuous efforts and progress, you are doing many great things for your health and well being.

Tips 3 Hour Dieting

When it comes to the world of dieting you will find that there are many diet, weight loss, and fitness plans on the market. It takes years for some to become a contender and others remain a best-kept secret of sorts. One such 'best kept' secret would be the 3 Hour Diet that was designed by Jorge Cruise. I am sure that there are many reading along and chuckling under your breath that there is no way one can lose weight by eating every three hours however the science behind the theory is fairly common and Jorge Cruise is a mainstay in the fitness industry.

The long and short of this diet operates with the knowledge that if you do not feed your body accurately and regularly your body will go into what is called 'starvation mode'. In this mode your body holds onto the fat rather than burning it up and consuming it for use. This means that your body is burning muscle rather than fat to take the energy it needs in order to function.

With the 3 Hour Diet you will not feel hungry all the time, in fact, there are many who claim they are constantly setting alarms and reminding themselves to eat. You will also learn the proper foods to eat in order to achieve the best possible results. The key is in learning which foods are right for you when dieting with this plan. You can purchase the book The 3-Hour Diet by Jorge Cruise and you can sign up online for more information about the weight plan itself and how to incorporate it into your busy routine.

I do recommend purchasing the book if you are seriously considering this as your method of dieting as there are many wonderful hints, tips, and tricks that are mentioned in the book to help you keep things going no matter how busy and hectic your lifestyle may be. One thing you need to keep in mind is that dieting with a program such as this is no small commitment. You need to stick to the timetable as much as possible in order to achieve the results this plan is famous for. If you aren't willing to eat every three hours then this plan really may not be the plan for you.

Otherwise, if this is something you would be interested in, I highly recommend it. There are special considerations based on the amount you weight currently and the amount of weight you are hoping to lose. It is best if you are honest throughout the process in order to achieve the best possible and most immediate results. The claim is that you can lose as many as 10 pounds in the first two weeks and there are those that have claimed to do just that over and over again. This is a diet that even many celebrities endorse for quick and immediate results.

The good and the bad about 3 hour dieting is that it is effective but takes a very real commitment on the part of the one that is dieting. This diet is one that is taking the world by storm. If you haven't heard of it before now, please take the time to check it out and see if this is something you could incorporate into your life. The results that have been reported as a result of this diet as nothing short of phenomenal. If there were one diet I would recommend above others for those who hate feeling hungry, it would be this diet.

Stress And Anxiety

Stress and anxiety put people in the hospital every day. It may not be common to go to the doctor to say "I think I have stress," but the National Institutes of Health say that 80% of illnesses are caused by stress, directly or indirectly.

Powerful hormones, including adrenalin, are released into your blood when you're stressed and anxious. They cause a rise in blood pressure, a faster heart and breathing rate, and faster conversion of glycogen into glucose. These are all good things if you need to escape a charging grizzly bear. Unfortunately, when these effects are prolonged, as they often are in modern life, the immune system is depressed, and the body suffers other negative changes.

Some of the common negative effects of prolonged stress include fatigue, pain in the muscles and joints, depression, anxiety, headache, mental confusion, and irritability. These stress reactions cause your body to use too much energy, which can eventuaLLY result in physical and mental weakness.

Stress And Anxiety Relief

At Stanford University, an analysis of 146 meditation studies was done. The conclusion was that meditation was not only beneficial at the time of practice, but that it significantly reduced anxiety as a character trait. Most of the studies focused on transcendental meditation, but it's probable most methods have similar results. (Reported in the Journal of Clinical Psychology 45: 957­974, 1989.)

In other words, meditation really can help you defend yourself against stress and anxiety. Deeper meditation probably has the most beneficial effects, but what if you're short on time, or uncertain about learning to meditate? No worries. There are two simple techniques you can learn in a few minutes, and start using today.<


First, there is a breathing meditation. It starts with just closing your eyes, and letting the tension drain from your muscles. Then let go of your thoughts, as much as you can, and breath deeply through your nose, paying attention to your breath. When thoughts and sensations arise, acknowledge them and return your attention to your breath as it goes in and out. That's it. Just do this for five or ten minutes.

The second technique is a mindfulness meditation. When you are feeeling stress and anxiety, stop whatever you're doing, and take three deep breaths. Then watch your mind until you identify what is bothering you. Maybe you're worried about something? There could be a letter you need to write, or your neck could be sore. Try to identify every little irritation.

Then do something with these stressors. Make a call that's on your mind, take an aspirin, put things on tomorrow's list. Maybe the best you can do is recognise that there's nothing you can do right now - so do that. Take care of each irritation, so you can let it go. Your anxiety will diminish immediately.

Practice, and you'll get better at finding what's just below the surface of consciousness, bothering you. Once you address these things, close your eyes, take three deep breaths, and you'll feel more relaxed and able to think clearly. Try it now. It's a powerful way to reduce your stress and anxiety.

Atkins for Dieting

Most people around the world by now have heard of the Atkins diet. It has been one of the most highly touted and highly controversial diets of our time. Those who love it have nothing but great things to say about it but those who are critical are not shy about their opposition either. The largest criticism when it comes to the Atkins, or low carb diet would be the near absence of whole grains, which are considered the cornerstone to a healthy diet by many.

Dieting with the Atkins diet involved eliminating a large degree of carbohydrates from your diet. In the past there hasn't been as much of an emphasis on fitness and exercise with the Atkins diet as there seems to be currently. This is good news however as an active fitness regime is as essential to successful weight loss as cutting calories and in this case cutting carbohydrates.

You should take great caution that you are getting accurate information when it comes to Atkins dieting if this is something you are considering in order to meet your fitness and weight loss needs. There is a great deal of misleading and incorrect information that is floating around out there when it comes to the Atkins diet and weight loss plan. First of all, weight loss is the direct result of burning more calories than you consume. It doesn't matter how many or how few carbs you enjoy or deny yourself during the day if at the end of the day you've consumed a few thousand calories too many.

The notion that you can eat anything you want during the day as long as there are no carbs is simply incorrect. Calories still put on the pounds whether you are using the Atkins plan for weight loss or not. That being said there are some interesting insights in this diet and a good man of the foods that are eliminated are those that have the most complex sugars for the body to dispose of. For this reason there are many who have followed the honest to goodness plan to tremendous results.

If you are considering dieting with the Atkins plan you should realize that this is a lifelong commitment in order to achieve the maximum benefit of the plan. There will be lesser restrictions as you reach the maintenance phases of the plans but you are making a conscious decision to pretty much sacrifice a good deal of the carbohydrates that many of us have enjoyed throughout our lives. This is a concept that is much easier said than done over an extended period of time and especially in a society when most of us cannot commit to a mate for that long.

At any rate, dieting with the Atkins plan has produced results for a good deal of people around the world. The news of these results has made it one of the most talked about, tested, and tried systems for dieting on the planet and many people have mixed reviews. Those who love it and feel that it is effective are enthusiastic in its support though those that are honest will admit that you do feel as though you are sacrificing a good deal for the sake of your dietary needs. Those who hate it hate it, and there is nothing that is going to change their opinion. The only way to know for sure is to try for yourself.

Dieting and Diabetes

Very few people realize the profound effect that weight has on diabetes. Even instances of gestational diabetes are much greater in patients that are overweight than in those that are not. Type 2, or adult onset diabetes is more commonly found in overweight people than those that are within their 'ideal' weight ranges. In fact, almost 90% of those with Type 2 diabetes are overweight. If you are suffering from Type 2 diabetes, the best gift you could possibly give yourself just might be the gift of getting your weight under control.

Among those that suffer from Type 2 diabetes almost 40% have high blood pressure, which is another condition that is believed to be exacerbated by excess weight. Being overweight might also lead to a condition known as insulin resistance in which the body no longer responds to the insulin that is needed to assist the body in using sugar and glucose as fuel on a cellular level.

There are some things you can do to help yourself out if you have been diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes or labeled at risk for this devastating condition. First of all, take off the pounds. I know this is much easier said than done. Dieting is never easy and rarely fun for the average person. However, if you do not begin to take drastic steps toward procuring the best possible health for yourself you may not be able to enjoy the quality of life you had planned for your golden years. Let your condition be your motivation and make plans to enjoy watching your grandchildren and great grandchildren graduate college.

Fight it standing up. Don't sit down and let Diabetes control you. Stand up and take control of your body back. This is a fight to the finish and if you let it, diabetes will be your end. If you fight it standing up, lose the weight, get out there and exercise, listen to the doctor's orders and follow them. Find the strength within you to battle this disease head on. You'll be amazed at what happens when you decide to stand up and fight for your health.

Get active. Find activities that you enjoy and get out there and do them. Don't make those activities passive activities either. Even if it's just going out to play shuffleboard everyday get out there and play. Enjoy your time in the sun. Pick flowers with the little ones. Take up golf. Do whatever it takes to get up and moving each and every day in order to remember why you want to live forever in the first place.

Watch what you eat. Garbage in, garbage out, right? You have strict dietary requirements once you've been diagnosed with diabetes. This means that you absolutely must follow your dietary restrictions. Learn to live within those limits in order to live and enjoy life to the fullest you can. The amazing thing is that there are all kinds of foods available that are friendly to those with diabetes that weren't around just a few short years ago. It is quite possible to live and eat quite nicely with diabetes if you stick to your plan. The most important thing about dieting with diabetes is that you never lose sight of how crucial it is to do so.

Aerobic Exercise for Better Fitness

It doesn't matter who you are in the world, your body needs aerobic exercise. A healthy body and quality way of life requires it. It has many of pros and will help you perform greater in all aspects of your life. So what are the benefits of aerobic exercise?

More effective implementation of the lungs by raising the oxygen transported to them and the heart using this oxygen more efficiently are a few of the advantages of aerobic exercise. The word aerobic translates to with air, or with oxygen. Exercise that is less intense and longer in length is aerobic. 15 to 30 minutes is about how long the big muscle group should be continuously worked when an athlete does aerobic exercises. The mission of the athlete is to maintain a maximum heart rate of around sixty to eighty %. Swimming, cycling, light running, and walking are just a few aerobic exercises. These activities should be able to be done without someone having to gasp for breath. If you cannot carry on a short conversation while exercising, you possibly are turning it up a notch by anaerobically exercising.

Working a certain group of muscles for an allotted amount of time to achieve your target heart rate is the objective of aerobic exercise. This works the heart more efficiently and has the body expend a greater amount of calories. Often people will hit the aerobic curve. This is when you begin working out and raise your intensity to the top then decrease gradually. Keeping a continuous heart rate is more effective. The lungs and heart endure for more time and work more efficiently when they are trained. People who perform aerobic exercise on a routine basis will have to exercise longer to reach their target heart rate as their endurance is increased. People who are just beginning will get to their target heart rate fast until their body gets used to the workload.

An aerobics class could be a good start for people who want to reap the rewards of aerobic exercise and aren't positive how to begin. Both higher and lower intensity exercises are available in an aerobics class. The class instructor will show class members how to proceed with these moves either way. How much you carry your arms and legs up during the work out is how the intensity is measured. Athletes should do the level of intensity according to their level of fitness and the regularity of their aerobic sessions.


While in an aerobic exercise work out, the body sends more blood and oxygen to the muscles. It is not smart to stop suddenly from an aerobic session. This can lead to dizziness and muscular spasms. After a relatively intense work out, a cooling down session is always a good idea. If someone gets too tired during an aerobic session, they can run in place for a little while until able to go on. Work outs that are higher in intensity and shorter in time is called anaerobic exercise. The body wears out faster and creates muscle more actively with anaerobics. A lot of sports are categorized as anaerobic exercises: soccer, downhill skiing, weights, basketball, and football. Another example is running or sprinting. The body will more likely be sore at the conclusion of anaerobic exercise.

To picture that often we don't do aerobic exercise is wild because it has so variety of benefits. It helps control and decreases body fat, raises our whole stamina, gives us extra energy, assists in our resistance to exhaustion, tones our muscles, and increases our lean body mass. It also aids us mentally by lifting mood, decreasing anxiety, reducing depression, reducing tension, and helping us sleep better at night. Who cannot benefit a bit from all that?These are benefits that people could all use.

This type exercise is no doubt essential for cardiovascular fitness even if it may be a little difficult at first. A healthy body requires regular work out sessions and is an ongoing process. People who have already achieved good cardiovascular condition can keep this by exercising at least three times weekly. People who are trying to decrease weight and elevate their level of health should work out four or five intervals a week.

Green Tea Weight Loss - Myth or Fact?

Have you seen recent Oprah show? Green tea was recently discussed in this show also. I think you might already aware that green tea helps a lot to battle against life-threatening diseases like heart disease, arteriosclerosis and cancer. Yet, there is one more reason why you must prefer green tea. It is nothing but- IT helps in weight loss and burns your excess fat.

The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, January 2005 issue dealt in detail about the benefits of green tea. It clearly indicates that green tea is a real fat fighter. It opined that substances present in green tea, popularly known as catechins, could prompt weight loss by burning calories and body fat.

In general, green tea leaves are not fermented unlike oolong tea and black tea. Also, green tea is rich in polyphenols, shown to have anti-inflammatory, anti-viral, anticancer, and anti-oxidant properties.

The action of weight loss has been performed by the green tea by the way it maintains and lowers the blood sugar during the meals time. In other words, we can infer that your body is not creating the substances, which produce fat as readily as it normally would when the green tea is being included.

Green tea is being adored world wide as it offers a much better and less bitter taste than its siblings. The green tea is known for its ability to ease your stomach pain that a lot of people have and that means that it gets disappearing off the shelves every where you turn.

If you're looking for some easy ways to lose some pounds, green tea might be a perfect answer for your prayer. Recently a website is offering a free 30 day supply of green tea, but I'm sure how long this offer might be… so I'd suggest to sign up for your free green tea bags as early as possible.


Articel source: http://www.readbud.com/

Glyconutrition: All Eyes On Newton

Glyconutrition and the silence in Parliament:

Sir Isaac Newton is not generally associated with medicine and biology, much less glyconutrition. Newton lived 1642-- 1727, a period now referred to as the Age of Newton. However, you don't get an entire age named after you unless you have done something spectacular…like inventing the calculus…or discovering the law of gravity and the laws of optics.

His impact was so enormous, even in his own lifetime, people of all stations in life wanted to get just a glimpse of him…or hear anything he had to say. Problem was, he was very sensitive and shy, so words didn't come easily, ergo, he didn't say much.

Except in the lecture hall of the University, where very occasionally he did lecture. (Granted, not on glyconutrition but we haven't gotten there yet).

There…he did open his mouth. Imagine, sitting through a lecture of the world's greatest scientist, who didn't know when to stop lecturing on subjects his students couldn't understand. That may be the real origin of the expression, "In every fat book there is a thin book trying to get out."

In any event, because of his enormous popularity as the greatest mathematician and scientist in history, he was elected to the Parliament of England. I guess people just figured if they could get him involved in politics, he might say something which they could go home and quote.

So, he sat in Parliament year after year and never uttered a peep. Not a single syllable. At least, not until one day, in the middle of an intensely debated issue in Parliament, Sir Isaac suddenly stood up. Immediately, Parliament was silent as all eyes were upon Sir Newton. Mustering such abilities as he was capable of producing for the drama of the moment, Sir Isaac turned sheepishly and asked that the window be closed because of the draft.

Not a particularly moving event. But, it became buzz nonetheless.


Glyconutrition: Accessing the nutrients is a key to health.

So what does all of this have to do with glyconutrition?



Actually, we don't remember Isaac having anything to do with glyconutrition. There's a good reason for that. Medical science still hadn't discovered bacteria under the microscope, let alone the 8 sugars which comprise the key molecules in glyconutrition, observable only under the electron microscope.

But, Sir Isaac and the people of "merry ole England" were unconsciously accessing glyconutrition far more readily than we do today…through their diet:

· Glyconutrition supplied the essential ingredients of protection for newborns who were breast fed. The sugars involved with glyconutrion are present in surprising quantities for the baby.

· Garlic, certain saps and quite a few of the herbs rich in glyconutrition, were part of the diet in merry 'ole England of that day.

· England didn't then resort to "green harvests", processed foods, chemical preservatives which destroy glyconutrition. Indeed, our society depletes the soil, processes food for taste and convenience and introduces toxins that overwhelm our immune system. What little glyconutrition we do get, is simply not enough to do the job.

· Instead, glyconutrition was not processed out of the corn, oats, barley, wheat, leeks, carrots, radishes, pears, and red wine of that society. Granted they had other problems (like the Black Death), but not for lack of glyconutrition.

· Fruits are loaded with pectins (such as apple pectins) and are instrumental in providing glyconutrition.

It is, for that reason, "merry ole England" did not see the huge epidemics in so many categories of diseases as we do today:

· Overactive Immune deficiencies include food allergies, pollen and grass allergies, asthma, eczema which result from severe lack of glyconutrition, producing a misguided inflammation. In short, because glyconutrition is lacking, our immune system over reacts to certain foreign substances in our body, which normally it should be able to easily handle. Without glyconutrition in proper supply, asthma and allergies produce exaggerated inflammatory responses.

· Underactive immune systems - from lack of glyconutrition - can produce colds and flu, cancers of all types, bronchitis, ear infections, shingles, strep, TB, urinary yeast infection, hepatitis B and C, sinusitis, and Candida. Again, lack of glyconutrition leads to the incapacity of the immune system to regulate itself properly. The 1985 issue of Cancer Research, scientists noted the fact that cancer cells in the stomach and colon were associated with a lack of specific sugars (glyconutrition) or deformed sugar molecules.

· Auto-immune disease such as Lupus, Rheumatoid arthritis, MS, Psoriasis, and Type I & Type II Diabetes occur when the immune system goes into overdrive attacking healthy cell tissue. Such activity is linked to low levels of specific elements found in glyconutrition.

· Inflammatory disorders such as Fibromyalgia, ulcers, heart disease, colitis, are linked to improper levels of glyconutrition in the diet. For example, in the January-March 1998 issue of Integrative Physiological and Behavioral Science, tested subjects took supplements of Aloe Vera extract (containing glyconutrition compounds -especially, acetylated mannans) and reported significant improvement in the symptoms accompanying Fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome. (Miracle Sugars, Rita Elkins, M.H. woodland Publishing, p. 33).

Glyconutrition: Ho-hum?

Most people of his era were amazed at what Isaac Newton produced. They were so spellbound by anything he did, a whole Parliament stopped mid-sentence to hear what he would say next.

Today, on the other hand, I am amazed at the fact that glyconutrition holds the answer to so many maladies - perhaps thousands- …and, so few are even aware of the subject. Most doctors don't know about glyconutrion despite the fact that glyconutrition is listed in the PDR (Physicians Desk Reference), the "bible" of the medical world, used by 99% of all doctors.

One thing about good old Sir Isaac. When he made a discovery, he knew what he had and he used it, bettering the world in which he lived. An entire generation could see the progress and named an era for him.

Will we do the same with glyconutrition…what may be the greatest medical discovery in the medical history of the last century?

Article source:www.readbud.com

10 Ways to Reduce Commuting Stress

Do you get out of your car with a queasy stomach, a headache and your blood pressure registering through the roof? If you do, that energy vulture called stress may have sent your pulse skyrocketing. In a study conducted at the University of California at Irvine, researchers found that the stress of commuting takes a major toll on health. According to the study, it has direct physiological effects of raising blood pressure and releasing stress hormones into the body. Not only that, long commutes (more than 18 miles one way) may also increase the likelihood of having a heart attack due to exposure to high levels of air pollutants, which appears to be a risk factor for heart disease.

Although there is no antidote to stressful commuting, there are lots of ways to shoo off the energy vulture. Here's how to thrive while you drive.


1. Prepare in advance

One of the best ways to lessen the strain of road rage is to prepare everything the night before. Clothes, documents, attache cases, and even packed lunches should be set the day before to avoid the morning rush. With everything champing at the bit, you'd save plenty of time to do your morning routines, devour a good breakfast and enjoy special moments with the family. Best of all, you can dash out the highway free of traffic congestion.

2. Sleep well and wake up early

A good night's sleep rejuvenates the body. Make it a habit to have enough sleep and to rise early. If you are already stressed out the day before, an incomplete repose takes over cumulative stress effects into your life at work and at home. Your frustration levels at work eventually rises, your brainpower falters, and your mood at home sours. You have no energy left for enjoying life.

3. Juggle your work hours

Why pack the freeways with all the other "9-to-5"ers when you can try a ten-to-six or an eight-to-four shift? Depending on your company's work policy, try to check out other shifts that fit your lifestyle. Choose one that would help you get rid of energy-depleting stress and allow you to lighten your highway woes.

4. Share your ride

It may be a hassle to coordinate your arrival and departure with another person or two, but carpooling is worth it. Studies show that ridesharing lowers commuter stress significantly. With carpooling, there is less air and noise pollution, less traffic congestion, and you can relax more while someone else does the driving.

5. "Cocoon" in your car

Instead of getting worked up when traffic is at a standstill, utilize your time wisely. Listen to the radio or pop in some music tapes to take your mind off the stop-and-go driving and traffic tie-ups. If you like to read but just can't have time to flip pages of a book, check out books on cassette. Many libraries have full-length books on tape as well as abridged versions. You can even learn a new language or do some car exercises like shoulder rolls, neck extensions and tummy tucks to help you stay awake and relax.

6. Pillow your back and squirm

When you're standing, the lumbar area of your spine (the lower portion) normally curves inward, toward your abdomen. However, when you're sitting, it tends to slump outward squeezing your spinal disks and putting stress on them. According to back expert Malcolm Pope, Ph.D.,director of the Iowa Spine Research Center at the University of Iowa, it helps to support your back by tucking a rolled towel or a pillow in that lumbar section. In cases of longer drives, since sitting in one position for longer than 15 minutes gradually stiffens you even with a back pillow, make necessary adjustments for a comfy ride. For instance, you can try putting most of your weight on one buttock and then the other. Then, shift the position of your seat or your buttocks slightly. You may even try sliding down in your seat and sit up again for fun.

7. Work out after work

Since the evening rush is worse than the morning rush because of the compounded fatigue from the workday, it is best to wait out the traffic. Work out at a gym near your office or take meditation classes to relieve your stress. If you plan to go to dinner, see a movie or go shopping, try to do these things near work, delaying your departure enough to miss the maddening rush.

8. Give yourself a break

It may be a good idea to give yourself some day off from work. Many companies today offer compressed working hours or longer working days to give way to work-free days for you to unwind.

9. Move your office

If your job is a long drive ahead everyday, inquire at work if the company would allow you to work at home some days of the week or if you can work near your place. An alternative work schedule would make you feel less tense and in control thereby reducing stress.

10. Occasionaly change your routine

An occasional change of commuting habits may be advisable too. Try walking or bicycling sometimes for a change. There's nothing like a good walk to ease tension especially when it means you don't have to get in your car and fight rush hour traffic.

By lessening the stress of getting to work, you are conserving enormous amounts of energy that may be lost over stressful commuting. It doesn't only leave you a lot more energy to do your job and become more productive but it also makes you feel good and gives you a good reason to always start your day right.

Article source: www.readbud.com

Exercise Bikes - Reviews and Advice

Two types of exercise bikes are available. The design of the upright bike resembles that of a typical road bike but they are stationary. The pedals are positioned below the rider and puts added stress on the joints. The seat on the recumbent bike's seat resembles chairs and the pedals are out in front of the rider so that pedaling is more natural and puts less stress on the joints.Other types of exercise bikes are available as well. Dual action exercise bikes are upright bikes that have moveable bars or arm handles. You use both of your arms and your legs on this bike. While using this bike you will experience aerobic activity and upper body toning.There is variety with resistance bikes as well. With direct tension bikes you can manually adjust the resistance you use. The cycling motion on a bike with flywheels is like regular cycling motion. Bikes with air assistance get resistance by pedaling against the airflow of a fan blade.The most sophisticated resistance bikes are magnetic frictionless resistance bikes. These bikes provide greater variety of workout levels. On more advanced bikes there are feedback mechanisms that show the following readouts: speed, time, distance , total calories and fat burned, program mode, resistance levels, pulse, heart rate, and work out levels (RPM, watts, METS, mpm's, and mph/kph).The bike you choose to purchase will depend on your wants and needs. The type of workout you're looking for will also influence your choice of bikes. A great cardio workout focused on the quadriceps is provided by an upright bike. You are seated in a reclining position on a recumbent bike.Your back is supported by the seat and your legs are out in front of you. The hamstring muscles and the gluteus muscles get worked. Your lower back is less stressed on a recumbent bike. Some upright exercise bikes will have handlebars that move in a simulated rowing motion.Your back and chest and your arm and back muscles will get a workout. You will get an excellent cardiovascular workout and calorie burning experience with both of these bikes. The bike should be matched to your size. Exercise bikes for the most part are easily adjusted for almost any body type
There is a variety of reasons why people use exercise bikes. Cyclists use them to keep up their level of fitness in the off season. Many people feel embarrassed about exercising in front of people so they use them at home. Physical therapy programs also use exercise bikes in their programs to promote healing and the regaining the use of knee and hip joints.Some cardiac rehab programs use them as well, to promote endurance and greater cardiac health. Exercise bikes can be purchased in sports stores, department stores like Wal-mart or Sears, as well as online. Buying them from a store makes it easier to match the bike to your space, to your body size, and your budget.Buying online creates the risk of you not getting exactly what you ordered. The bike you ordered may not have the exact specs or may be bigger or smaller than what you ordered. Taking delivery is another problem with ordering online. It is very likely that the delivery company will not bring it into your house, you will have to bring it in and set it up.Even though you are buying it in a store this is true, unless you contract with someone to do the entire process including setting it up. You can purchase service contracts from a store like Sears, in case of a problem. No matter what the reason you have for purchasing an exercise bike, it will only work if you use it.You should check with your doctor to make sure you are healthy before starting a new exercise routine. At first you should start out slow and build up endurance. Your endurance will improve if you start out slow.Have fun, be safe and be healthy.

Articel source: http://www.readbud.com/

Stress Management: Medical Risks Of Stress

What is Stress?

Stress may be defined as the three-way relationship between demands on people, our feelings about those demands and our ability to cope with them. Stress is most likely to occur in situations where:

1. Demands are high.
2. The amount of control we have is low.
3. There is limited support or help available for us.

Who is Affected Most by Stress?

Virtually all people experience stressful events or situations that overwhelm our natural coping mechanisms. And although some people are biologically prone to stress, many outside factors influence susceptibility as well.

Studies indicate that some people are more vulnerable to the effects of stress than others. Older adults; women in general, especially working mothers and pregnant women; less-educated people; divorced or widowed people; people experiencing financial strains such as long-term unemployment; people who are the targets of discrimination; uninsured and underinsured people; and people who simply live in cities all seem to be particularly susceptible to health-related stress problems.

People who are less emotionally stable or have high anxiety levels tend to experience certain events as more stressful than healthy people do. And the lack of an established network of family and friends predisposes us to stress-related health problems such as heart disease and infections. Caregivers, children and medical professionals are also frequently found to be at higher risk for stress-related disorders.

Job-related stress is particularly likely to be chronic because it is such a large part of life. Stress reduces a worker's effectiveness by impairing concentration, causing sleeplessness and increasing the risk of illness, back problems, accidents and lost time. At its worst extremes, stress that places a burden on our hearts and circulation can often be fatal. The Japanese have a word for sudden death due to overwork: karoushi.

Medical Affects of Chronic Stress

The stress response of the body is like an airplane readying for take-off. Virtually all systems, such as the heart and blood vessels, the immune system, the lungs, the digestive system, the sensory organs, and the brain are modified to meet the perceived danger.

A stress-filled life really seems to raise the odds of heart disease and stroke down the road. Researchers have found that after middle-age, those who report chronic stress face a somewhat higher risk of fatal or non-fatal heart disease or stroke over the years. It is now believed that constant stress takes its toll on our arteries, causing chronically high levels of stress hormones and pushing people to maintain unhealthy habits like smoking.

Stressed-out men are twice as likely as their peers to die of a stroke. There are weaker such findings among women, which is likely due to the fairly low number of heart disease and stroke cases among women, rather than a resistance to the health effects of chronic stress. Women seem slightly more susceptible to the effects of stress than men.

Simply put, too much stress puts you at dire risk for health problems. Whether it comes from one event or the buildup of many small events, stress causes major physical alterations that often lead to health problems. Here is a list of some of these changes:

• Our heart rates increase, to move blood to our muscles and brains.
• Our blood pressures go up.
• Our breathing rates increase.
• Our digestion slows down.
• Our perspiration increases.
• We feel a rush of strength at first, but over time stress makes us feel weak.

These reactions helped our ancestors survive threats by preparing for either "fight or flight." Today, our bodies still react the same way, but the events that cause stress do not require this ancient mechanism.

Stress can also greatly raise our risk of:

• Ulcers and digestive disorders
• Headaches
• Migraine headaches
• Backaches
• Depression
• Suicide
• High blood pressure
• Stroke
• Heart attack
• Alcohol and drug dependencies
• Allergies and skin diseases
• Cancer
• Asthma
• Depressed immune system
• More colds and infections

We have to learn ways to relieve stress, because when it goes on for very long or happens too often, it obviously can cause many serious health problems.

Article source: www.readbud.com

More Aware Of Diabetes-Heart Disease Link

With diabetes on the rise, doctors are extremely concerned about associated risks such as heart disease and stroke, which together kill two out of three people with diabetes. Fortunately, a recent study indicates that more people with diabetes are making the link between diabetes and their increased risk for heart disease and stroke.

According to a 2005 awareness survey conducted by the American Diabetes Association (ADA) and American College of Cardiology (ACC), 45 percent of people with diabetes understand their increased risk for heart disease, which is up from 35 percent in 2001.

Experts believe even more awareness is needed, however. The ADA and ACC continue to work together to share important information, tools and resources to encourage people with diabetes-and health care providers-to learn more about the impact of diabetes on the heart.

Other findings from the 2005 ADA/ACC awareness survey show:

• 69 percent know they may develop high blood pressure (38 percent in 2001).

• 64 percent know they are at risk for cholesterol problems (37 percent in 2001).

Importantly, more people with diabetes are talking to their health care providers about managing diabetes comprehensively:

• 45 percent of people with diabetes now have a goal for blood glucose levels (30 percent in 2003).

• 57 percent have a goal for blood pressure (34 percent in 2003).

• 61 percent have a goal for cholesterol (34 percent in 2003).

These figures are encouraging, but awareness may not be moving fast enough to keep pace with the growing prevalence of diabetes.

Recent statistics indicate diabetes has risen by over 14 percent since last estimates in 2003. The need for increased education and awareness about the link between diabetes and heart disease is now more critical than ever.

Armed with the best information, people with diabetes can properly manage their diabetes, understand their risks for complications such as heart disease and stroke, and take action to live a longer, healthier life.

Article source: www.readbud.com

Vitamins - Children's and multivitamins

Most parents' think their children are eating a fairly healthy and if not they throw their hands up in the air and give up. They then ply their children with multivitamins. No it's not a bad thing however, many children think that vitamins are candies, especially now that they come in gummi candy, gumballs, and cute animal and cartoon character shapes. - This poses a serious issue because if they are in children's reach they could be "sneaking" extra tablets without you knowing it. Since many children's multivitamins are fortified with iron it could cause an overdose.

If you even suspect that your child has ingested too many call your local poison control center immediately and get your child to an emergency room immediately. An overdose of multivitamins with iron could cause your child to become seriously ill or even die. It's imperative vitamins and all manner of medication be kept out of the reach of children.

Generic multivitamins are fine if you think your child needs it but for the most part, children get most of their vitamins from their diets. If you child has special needs such not being able to drink milk or eat dairy products or not liking them s/he will still need to get the calcium from other sources.
Consult with your child's pediatrician for advice.

If your child's diet is bad one week, do not give him more than one vitamin a day. Too much of any one vitamin could prevent others from being absorbed by the body. For example, if your child gets to much calcium it could prevent the absorption of other vitamins such as iron. You can expect to give your child vitamins well into the teen years because children are not always going to make healthy food choices.

Before you buy vitamins know that there are opposing opinions regarding iron in vitamins for children. One school of though is that you in fact should be given vitamins with iron. Another school of thought says under no circumstances should vitamins with iron be given to children. In my own experience my child showed signs of low iron in infancy. At the advice of his doctor we put him on iron fortified vitamins and he is healthy now. Always check with your doctor on this.

Too much iron in the blood can cause a disease called Hemochromatosis. The body becomes unable to utilize the iron and it is not washed out of the body easily. It is a nearly always-fatal disease and can cause serious health issues and even death.

Calcium is a very important part of your child's diet to help them build strong bones and muscles. Calcium is a mineral. Children who eat ice cream, yogurt, and cheese or who drink milk usually get enough calcium from their diets. There are those who do not like dairy products or they don't like them. It is easy to help these children get what they need by giving them calcium-fortified juices, cereals and vitamins.

Most children get enough fluoride from drinking fluoride treated water or fluoride bottled water, and/or toothpaste. Do not give your child fluoride supplements without checking with your child's doctor. Too much fluoride could permanently stain your child's teeth. This totally defeats the purpose of the treatment of water and the use of tooth paste with fluoride that are meant to protect your child's teeth.

Infant multivitamins are usually available in liquid form and given with an eyedropper. These drops usually contain vitamins A, C, and D. They may also have added iron. They may also contain other vitamins and minerals such as thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, and vitamin B-12.

Children's multivitamins also commonly come in chewable forms and the shapes of cartoon characters or animals. They also come now in gummi candy form and gumballs. If it is difficult to get your child to take a vitamin try getting one that is like his favorite character or in gumball form. Monitor your child while he's taking his vitamin. I personally, give my child the vitamin rather than allowing him to do it on his own. He may not take it or he may take too many. Vitamins for children can be a very good thing however too much of a good thing can be fatal. Keep them out of reach of children.

Your child may not always eat what is right and giving him vitamins may offset some of that, however, it is better to err on the side of caution and check with the pediatrician before making any adjustments to your child's diet. Fun shapes are fine but your child could believe they are 'candy' and so they should be out of his reach or locked away in a cabinet.

Article source: www.readbud.com

If you are Stressed - Learn to Relax

In modern society it is becoming far more impossible to avoid stressful situations. Too much stress can be unhealthy which is why learning to relax is so important. We all cope with stress when we go to sleep at night. While we are sleeping, our bodies become very relaxed and our heart rate, blood pressure, pulse and body temperature decrease. This allows our bodies and minds a chance to recharge allowing us to face the next day with renewed energy.

In theory, relaxation does the opposite of what stress does. It gives the body a break and helps cancel out many problems that stress may cause. Relaxation can also reduce muscle tension. Learning to relax is like learning a new skill. It takes practise to become good at it. Here are a few ideas to help you achieve it.

Breathing.
Most of us take breathing for granted, in stressful situations our breathing can go off sync and we don't even notice. This can lead to muscle tension, headaches and anxiety. Performing deep breathing exercises on a daily basis can help relieve stressful feelings.

Relax your Muscles.
Our muscles tense when we are stressed. Learn to recognise muscle tension and then learn to relieve it.

Use Imagery.
We were all great at this when we were children, imagining things all the time. Learn to use your imagination again to relieve stress. For example, imagine you're sitting on the beach and can hear the waves crashing while feeling the warmth of the sun on your skin.

Exercise.
Exercise can have a calming effect that makes you feel, think and perform better. Yoga is an excellent relaxer. But even just going for a brisk walk can make you feel so much better.

Ways to reduce your stress.
Firstly, take stock of your life and what may cause you stress. Look to find a way you can eliminate or reduce some of the stress in your life. By reducing the problems you can reduce the symptoms of stress.

Take a look at your diet, certain things we eat can all contribute to stress. Caffeine, alcohol and sugar can cause stress, whereas fruit and vegetables can help reduce it.

Quit smoking. Nicotine increases nervous irritability. While quitting maybe a stressful process, in the long run you'll feel better once you've quit.

Make time for recreation and enjoy yourself. Take up some new hobbies and make sure you allow enough time for these each week.

Keep a positive attitude. Try and focus on the positive side of each situation. Looking on the bright side lightens your load. You might not like certain things in your life, but instead of letting them frustrate you, try to accept them and find a way of working around them.

Have a massage once in a while. A massage will allow your body and mind to be intouch again. In stressful situatiuations our mind and body loose touch with one another. This contact needs to be re-established again. If you cant leave the house for whatever reason or don't have a partner to give you a massage at home try relaxing by yourself in the bedroom. Climaxing is extremly relaxing. If you are alone or single, sex toys can help you along with this.

Learn to laugh. Laughing can lower your stress levels and exercises your heart and cardiovascular system. By brightening your mood you can improve your well-being.

Finally, don't be afraid to ask for help. Read a book or even see a counsellor to find out ways of making your life more manageable.

Stress can be a result of allowing daily irritations and frustrations to take control of your life. It doesn't have to be like that. You can anticipate difficulties, plan your time carefully, and be aware of how you react to problems. By attending to a particular problem you can create ways that put you in the driver's seat where you belong.

Article From: www.readbud.com