For many people, losing weight can be a very long and drawn out process. Some people may not have the mental or physical strength to actually get there, however, there is nobody in this world that lacks potential to reach weight management. Continue reading 5 Ways to Motivate Yourself to Lose Weight
5 Health Benefits of Red Meat
Many of you looking to make those Healthy Lifestyle Changes are often trying to decrease your fat percentage and work on building muscle mass. Today we have a guest post by Drew who is going to explain how eating red meat is not only a great protein source but has many benefits that are often overlooked due to its bad rap. Read on to see how Drew explains the many benefits to red meat and why you should be adding it into your balanced diet if you haven’t yet!
You’re probably not going to be very shocked when I tell you I love red meat. But it might come as a surprise for you to hear somebody actually tell you that it’s healthy and does NOT cause heart disease. Here are 5 benefits of increasing your red meat consumption: Continue reading 5 Health Benefits of Red Meat
Alkaline Trio: Three Alkaline Rich Foods That Will Cleanse Your Body
Our Western dietary habits are harmful to our health for many reasons, one of them being that our commonly eaten foods adversely affect the pH balance of our bodies, rendering them far too acidic. An acid imbalance in the diet is thought to be responsible for a large range of medical conditions, as well as for general feelings of malaise and lack of energy. To combat this, many people recommend an alkaline cleanse diet, in order to restore the body to its right balance between acid and alkaline levels.
One of the many reasons why an acid imbalance causes health problems is that when there is an excess of acid, the body has to draw essential minerals from the bones and muscles, in order to neutralize the acid and restore the balance. This means that a regular diet of highly acidic foods, such as burgers, fried foods and soda drinks, ultimately results in reduced bone strength and lack of muscle tissue. At the same time, the acid is encouraging the presence of free radicals, which promote conditions such as cancer, stroke, diabetes, arthritis and digestive problems. Continue reading Alkaline Trio: Three Alkaline Rich Foods That Will Cleanse Your Body
5 Easy Steps for Meditation
Image Source.Today, I am going to present the secret of life to you. This secret will provide you with love, happiness, and a peace of mind. This secret should come as no surprise to you, though. In fact, I’m sure you’ve heard of it many times before, but this does not mean you have applied it to your life, yet. The secret to love, happiness, and peace of mind is… drumroll, meditation.
How To Get Fit Without Breaking The Bank
There is no way to get fit without exercising on a regular basis. While maintaining a healthy diet is very important, dieting alone will not help you lose weight and keep it off. You need to exercise at least three times a week, although daily exercise is ideal.
While exercising does take time, it does not have to be an expensive venture. Running, jogging or even walking are all great forms of exercise to choose from and they do not cost any money. Biking is also a great way to get exercise and you can even buy a secondhand bike from Craigslist or a local flea market sale. If you have a pool, then swimming is yet another good way to get daily exercise.
On the other hand, if the weather is very hot in the summer or very cold in the winter, then it may be a good idea to invest in exercise equipment for the home. That way, you can keep up your exercise routine no matter what the weather is like. If you only have time to exercise late at night or early in the morning, then exercising at home may be more suitable than going out to exercise, especially if you have small children.
Those who are looking for a good piece of exercise equipment should consider investing in a treadmill. A treadmill is particularly ideal if you are not in the habit of exercising on a regular basis, as you can set the treadmill to a slow speed and then use a fast speed as you get used to working out regularly. Many treadmills will register your heartbeat, the distance you have walked and how many calories you burned over the course of your workout. There are many treadmills on the market and you can often find great treadmill deals online.
An elliptical can also provide a good workout. These machines can be found for sale at a good price online and there are many models to choose from. A person simply needs to choose a model that suits his or her needs and budget.
An alternative to buying an exercise machine would be to invest in workout DVDs. Along with these DVDs, you will need to buy a mat and in some cases a set of weights. Some popular workout DVDs to choose from include “The Firm” and “P90X”, although the latter series should only be used by those who are used to working out regularly.
Working out regularly can help you lose weight, get fit, sleep better at night and reduce stress. Regular exercise also boosts your immune system and protects your body from getting sick. You do not need to spend a lot of money to get a good workout. All you have to do is choose a form of exercise that best suits your needs and then invest in the necessary equipment. No matter how busy your schedule is or how long you have gone without regular exercise, you will find that working out regularly is well worth the time and effort.
About the Authors:
Joyce G. is a professional health blogger and writer. She currently partners with Nordictrack.com in raising awareness about the importance of health and fitness. NordicTrack has come to symbolize the means for serious athletes and fitness-buffs alike to “get ready for adventure,” whatever that may be. Visit our website to find great treadmill deals.
A Simple Lifestyle Change: Straightening Your Posture
The posture of a person is a strong indicator of what a person’s bone and muscle structure will look like in the future. Taking the time each day to align your posture and making a habit out of it can be one way to really impact your future health. Straightening your posture is a simple, but highly effective way to make a lifestyle change. Having straight posture is very overlooked in our society, especially with all of the office jobs. Here are just a few of the negative effects that a person can see or feel right away from poor posture.
Misalignment: The most obvious thing that bad posture does to your body is it forces your spinal column to move out of alignment. When you sit for hours at a time with incorrect posture, you can already start to feel your neck, upper back, or lower back start to ache. The misalignment of the spine can eventually lead to herniated discs, which may cause chronic pain and numbness.
Fatigue: This is one of the more surprising, but extremely common results of bad posture. Because your muscles depend on proper alignment to function normally, a misaligned spinal column will make certain muscles work harder than necessary and this will make your body more tired than usual.
Joint Stress: The body has connective tissue in certain areas of the body that need protection from impact. There are some areas on the body that do not have this tissue, and they are not meant to bear much impact, so when you have a misaligned spine it affects these kinds of areas. The result from this can cause short or long term pain. The joints that are mostly affected are the spine, knees, and shoulders.
Flexibility: The term flexibility can also be referred to as your body’s range of motion. Bad posture significantly affects your range of motion. Range of motion is the amount of movement and distance that your joints and muscles will move. When your posture is bad, muscles and ligaments in other parts of your body compensate for your alignment. After time, these muscles and ligaments will become extremely tight and will hinder your movement.
Besides those listed above, there are a lot of other bad effects that can come from bad alignment. There are many health problems in our society and bad posture can be the cause of a lot of those. Straightening your spine is such a simple change that you can apply to your life now! Here are some steps that you should try following as religiously as possible. It would be a good idea to print out this list and hang it somewhere that you will see it everyday.
1. Get rid of bad posture habits: I found this great site that discusses 7 Postural Habits to Make Now to Increase Your Health, and I’d like to start off my list with these. The list offers 7 simple solutions that can be applied to your life in seconds! Some of the things that this article discusses are squatting down, sleeping on your side, and keeping weight on your heels. You can click the link above to read more.
2. Train your posture muscles: There are certain muscles and ligaments in your spinal column that are made to hold your posture for you, but if these muscles are weak and never exercised, then your back will feel pain just from holding a proper posture. Standing up with proper posture and doing simple exercises such as moving your arms slowly up and down can build your back muscles. Also, going to the gym or attending a yoga class can have a significant impact. The importance of behavior modification in this area is key!
3. Take Standing Breaks: This tip is especially important for those of you who have office jobs! No matter how great your posture is while you are sitting, it is still extremely important to stand up, walk around, and stretch your back. Standing up every 30 minutes would be the best, but even every hour is great. You may even want to consider adding a NordicTrack treadmill or some sort of treadmill desk to your office space, so that you decrease sitting time.
4. Exercise: This one is the most obvious and most forgotten tips. Everyone realizes the amazing benefits you can receive from exercise, but even those aren’t enough to keep some of us motivated. However, you can add proper posture to the list of many benefits that exercise does for our body. As mentioned above, yoga is a great way to achieve proper posture and strengthen all those back muscles! Good posture is just another reason to add exercise to your life.
Proper posture is definitely overlooked in our nation. It does not seem like a big issue and people do not even realize the impacts that bad posture can have on their bodies. I hope this article has helped you realize some of the harm that can come from improper posture, and that you can apply some of these changes to your life. All of these changes only take seconds to apply and then eventually they will become habits, and you will be a healthier person overall!
Your TV May Be Killing You
According to an article on MensHealth.com, TV is Killing You, believe it or not all those Jersey Shore reruns really are taking minutes off your life. The article stated that “a new British Journal of Sports Medicine study found that – on average – your life expectancy decreases nearly 22 minutes with every hour of television you watch.” This is actually more than a cigarette!
Vitamins for Busy Moms – A to D Guide
No one says that being a mom is an easy task. It’s a 24/ 7 job. For some, 24 hours a day isn’t enough. No wonder that there are a lot of mommies out there who look older than their real age. Are you one of the unfortunate ones? Well, let me help you.
In this post, you will see the list of the most important vitamins you should take daily. It will help you maintain the strength, without making you look older.
Are you ready? Continue reading Vitamins for Busy Moms – A to D Guide
Exercise Makes You Smarter
A new study conducted at the University of Minnesota shows that exercising makes rats smarter – just another reason that we should be exercising regularly.
Basically, they split some rats into 3 different groups – those who weren’t given access to exercise, those who had an exercise wheel available to them to use as they pleased, and those who were forced to exercise daily for 45 minutes. After 5 weeks, the rats were then tested by exposing them to a noise, and an electric shock that would follow. The rats who were able to associate the noise with the upcoming shock were able to run to the other side of the enclosure to get away from the impending pain. Researchers found that the rats who had exercised were far more likely to figure this out, and get away from the shock. The sedentary rats were likely to just sit there and endure the shock, rather than use problems solving. To read more about the experiment, check it out here.
Studies have been conducted in humans as well, and it’s very apparent that being active is healthy, not only for your body, but also for your brain and mental capacity. Just take a look at this very cool infographic explaining the benefits of exercise in humans.
WizDish: An Interesting New Product
For those who are into virtual reality and gaming, but dislike the fact that you aren’t actually moving around while you play these games, here is a solution for you…. Introducing: The WizDish!
