Posts Tagged ‘Health’

Your Weight & Stress

In these modern times, humans have many new and unique ways of stressing themselves out such as traffic, cell phones, deadlines, noise pollution, depression, war, etc.    We are under constant blitzkrieg. Basically, we are not prepared to deal with this new modern type of every day stress.  So as a result, many people unknowingly turn to food as an outlet.  They are essentially self medicating using food.  Many people become static on their sofas at night while receiving subliminal programming from their TV sets, which tell you to eat, eat and eat.  This is extremely harmful and counter productive.

Stress needs to be dealt with properly by utilizing well known stress reducing techniques, such as exercise, meditation, yoga, proper rest and breathing exercises.  A lot of the time much of the stress people experience is even self inflicted.

As far as diet for an outlet to stress, this is a much simpler lifestyle change than you think and it can begin right away.  This will take personal motivation and you must learn how to set goals for yourself.  Below are some simple tips.

- Eat before you become hungry
- Snack on healthy foods (carrots, celery, fruit, nuts)
- Stay on a schedule (try to eat meals at the same time each day)
- Take a 20 minute walk each night after dinner
- Eat Whole Grains (Whole What breads and brown rice)
- Avoid sugar
- Drink plenty of purified water
- Exercise daily

An Alkaline Diet and Mindful Eating

Just recently, there has been an explosion in nutrition awareness and conscious dieting. Dieting and proper nutrition is the practice of regulating the ingestion of the types of food to control weight or improve overall health. There have been developments in nutrition, not only in taking on the proper lifestyle changes that make us lose weight, but in consuming foods that are healthy and good for our bodies as well. It is extremely vital to eat an alkaline diet. This diet looks at nutrition with a new angle. It explores the acidic effects of foods and how you can improve your health by balancing your acidic and alkaline food intake.

Most people regularly eat foods that are high in sugar and simple carbohydrates. Breakfast foods such as pancakes and muffins are infamous for containing high sugars and carbohydrates thus increasing high acid levels and pH levels in our bodies. Eating this kind of diet on a regular basis  poses health risks as well as develops an unhealthy acid level in the body. Such health risks include heart problems, skin problems, and calcium related issues. Having an imbalanced acid level also makes people prone to illness and causes headaches, anxiety and irritability.

This acid imbalance in the body can be neutralized or balanced out by consuming the right amounts of acid forming and alkaline forming foods.  A diet consisting of alkaline foods can create a healthier, more pH-balanced body. An alkaline diet would consist mostly of all vegetables and fresh fruits with low sugar such as oranges and other citrus fruits. This diet also includes  potatoes, yams, nuts, and legumes like peas and nuts. The diet also encourages the consumer to avoid acid forming foods such as meat, dairy products, chocolate, bread and all kind of other yeast products. If possible, a whole, living food conscious vegan diet bares the most resemblance.  Drinks that are acidic should additionally be avoided. Drinks like alcohol, carbonated soft drinks, caffeinated coffee and tea can increase the acidity in your body as well.

The diet is not only healthy in terms of pH level and alkaline forming foods but most alkaline foods also provide other nutritional values as well as contain even less harmful qualities like carbohydrates and fat. Most alkaline foods give your body a boost of essential vitamins and minerals and healthy fats and enzymes that are natural and generally improve health. It is recommended to people who are lacking in energy and are prone to illness such as frequent colds and flu. An alkaline diet also reduces the chance of kidney stones, osteoporosis and heart related issues.

After a certain time period of consuming these alkaline foods, your body will immediately react to this diet. The alkaline diet restores the ideal pH level of your body as well as extracts acid wastes from your digestive system. Eating alkaline foods also improves your body’s energy levels. You will immediately feel energized and find yourself getting tired, less and less. The diet also improves skin tone and skin health because of the improved acid levels in your body.  One of the strongest benefits of an alkaline diet, is the reduced risk of allergies, arthritis, heart problems as well as mental clarity.

Plenty of fresh, purified water should be consumed.  Preferably ionized water or water purified via reverse osmosis.

How Important Are Multivitamins?

There is absolutely NO substitute for a ultra low-fat, whole-living-food diet full of fruits, vegetables and whole grains that supply the essential vitamins and minerals which we need in order to stay healthy.  Unfortunately, most people do not eat right and get the diet they need to stay healthy.

Add to that the potential harmful side effects of stress, aging, lack of exercise, pollution, illness, and supplements become even more important. That’s why so many experts now recommend that most people take a high-quality, daily multivitamin.

You should not depend on your multivitamin for your daily vitamins and minerals.  When used properly it will support a healthy diet, exercise and emotional health.  If your intent is to take a multi as your primary source of goodness, you are failing miserably.

If you haven’t taken a multivitamin – don’t worry.  The good news is that it is not too late to start a healthy regimen.

I reitarate,  taking a multivitamin is not a license to skip your fruits, veggies and grains. A daily multivitamin should be part of a healthy diet, not a substitute for it.

When you are ready to look for a high-quality supplement, take the following points into consideration:

  • Read the label on the bottles. Ingredients for the supplements should be from organic sources whenever possible.
  • Dietary Supplements should be tested for toxic substances and any kind of contamination such as lead or mercury.
  • Look for hypoallergenic products if you have sensitivity problems or allergies. On the labels, avoid products which have wheat, yeast and corn.
  • Look for an expiration date and make sure the product is fresh. If there is no expiration date on the label, buy something else.
  • Dietary supplements are not regulated, so the amount of the nutrients that are claimed on the label might be different than what is really in the pills. Contact the lab that makes the vitamin supplements and ask them how they test their products. A good company will have professionals who can answer your questions. If you don’t get an answer, you may wish to find another company.

Living Foods Versus Dead Foods

Americans and the rest of the western world suffer greviously from disease.  Its fitting that the standard American diet is abbreviated as the SAD diet.  Research has revealed that the quality of nutrients we put into out bodies determines the quality of our lives. We are all aware that engines perform well or poorly, depending upon the quality of the fuel used. Few of us realize that food quality affects our overall performance and health on a daily basis.   This takes educating ourselves and putting mindful eating to work.

Whole living foods are fruits, vegetables, nuts, beans, grains etc.  Dead food is just about everything else you find in your local, friendly grocery store these days.  You want to try to eat living foods and stick to it.  A good rule of thumb is to stick to the outer edges of your supermarket or grocery store, which usually consists of healthier, living foods.  The inner sanctums of your store are dead, processed foods that are filled with chemicals, refined sugar and additives.  You also would be well served to frequent local farmers markets.

Try to eat organic as much as possible as you will avoid antibiotics, sprays and hormones that are added to conventional foods.

You will feel better, have more energy and your concentration will reach new levels if you try to stick to living, whole foods.  Your body will thank you.  You can start by setting personal goals and making an inventory of living foods you would like to purchase.  Your spiritual consciousness willl also be more sharp and your senses will feel keen and refreshed.  Prepare yourself for physical weight loss as well.