Health and Fitness Nutrition

Copyright (c) 2007 SharpBrains

A year ago we wrote a Glossary where we defined Brain Fitness as “the general state of good, sharp, brain and mind, especially as the result of mental and physical exercise and proper nutrition” and a Brain Fitness Program as a “structured set of brain exercises, usually computer-based, designed to train specific brain areas and functions in targeted ways, and measured by brain fitness assessments.”

Now, thanks to a recent ELDR magazine article, we can add Brain Fitness Vacation to the glossary:

“A brain fitness vacation is like a regular vacation, only you attend events, do exercises, and arrange for experiences that address the aspects of good brain health: physical exercise, mental exercise, good nutrition, and stress management.”

Dave Bunnell, the founder and editor of new magazine ELDR (and previously editor of PC World, PC Magazine, Upside, and many other magazines) met Dr. Goldberg and myself after our speech in San Francisco State University last May. When he showed an interest in writing a story, and I mentioned half-jokingly that it would have to wait a few weeks since my wife and I were about to take a much needed “brain fitness vacation”, he said, well, maybe that’s the story!.

Here you have some of the activites mentioned in the article:

1) Guesstimation. Lisa asks Alvaro a question, “How many trees are there in San Francisco?” To come up with an answer, Alvaro first tries to guess how many trees, on average, there are in a city block. He then calculates approximately how many blocks there are in a square mile, followed by how many square miles there are in San Francisco, and so on.

2) Number Series. Alvaro says, “Two, three,” and Lisa replies, “four, six.” Alvaro then says, “Six, nine,” and Lisa replies, “Eight, twelve.” He says,”Ten, fifteen,” and the sequence goes on as long and as fast as you can keep doing it.

3) Haiku. During the entire vacation, Alvaro and Lisa composed haiku for each other every morning. The rule was they couldn’t write them down. They had to create them in their heads and remember them.

4) Sensory training. Lisa puts a piece of chocolate into Alvaro’s mouth while his eyes are closed. He lets it melt completely without chewing and without opening his eyes. Next, he puts a grape in Lisa’s mouth.

5) Visualizations. Alvaro and Lisa sit quietly for about 15 minutes, breathe deeply using their diaphragms, and visualize special moments from their past, such as the most beautiful view they’ve ever seen, or a loving personal moment.

I hope this gives you some ideas for your next trip with your partner!

Alvaro Fernandez
http://www.articlesbase.com/travel-articles/brain-fitness-vacations-for-baby-boomers-tips-for-staying-sharp-241279.html

What makes a seasoned woman? Time. Like a good wine, she’s complex. Life experience has taught her that she is not defined by her chronological age. If you’re a seasoned woman you know your health is your most precious asset. You know that the best gift you can present to the world is a healthy YOU – physically, mentally, and emotionally.

But if you’re over 40 and especially if you’re over 45, you’ve probably realized that keeping fit and healthy isn’t the same game you played in your 20′s and 30′s. Maybe you can’t lose weight as easily as you once did. The same workouts aren’t producing the same results. Every woman over 40 knows that feeling of frustration when she’s gained a few extra pounds, or of not being able to work out as intensely as she once did. Busy lifestyles make healthy eating and exercising even more challenging.

While we’re not all the same, every woman needs to exercise and embrace healthy eating habits. I’ve identified 5 of the biggest barriers to staying fit after age 40 – and how you can overcome them. I want you to challenge your beliefs about eating, exercising, and how you look. Learn your individual “factory settings” and how you can naturally and intuitively stay fit and healthy. Staying fit isn’t about feeling bad. It’s about feeling strong.  And having fun – not stressing about every forkful of food or every minute on the treadmill. Remember, you become what you believe! Be the beautiful, seasoned woman you are – it’s the spice that makes the dish!

 Barrier 1: The cookie cutter syndrome

Your body has specific factory settings that are unique to you. What you may not know is your body naturally wants to take you to your optimum weight (not Jessica Alba’s or Angelina Jolie’s) as long as you don’t fight it. You just have to reacquaint yourself with you and stop using cookie cutter programs that don’t address YOUR special needs! Yes, it might be harder to lose or maintain your weight once you hit your forties and fifties, but when you understand how your individual body works, you can get results faster and maintain them easier.

You’ll look great and feel even better. Take off your clothes and take a good look at yourself in the mirror. Like a lobster that discards its old shell and grows new shells throughout its lifetime, you have the power to throw off old images of your body and embrace who you are right now – without beating yourself up about it. Start paying attention to your body. Follow its wisdom.

You are not doomed to either being overweight or to being on a perpetual diet. Once you accept the body you were born with, you can return to your unique, normal weight – as nature intended. What I’m strenuously against is the endless pressure to be THIN. That’s a huge part of the problem. The data from some treatment centers shows a steady increase in eating disorders in women over the age of 40. We’re all different. Some bodies are meant to be soft and curvy. Others are naturally sharp and angular. That’s the beauty of diversity. Accepting and loving the unique beauty of your body will set you free and give you confidence and power!

Barrier 2: Minding Your Metabolism

Nutrition is essential to metabolism. Everyone is familiar with the word “metabolism”, but not a lot of people know what it means. You probably know someone who can eat anything they want and not gain weight. Well if you believe some people are just born with robust metabolism….it’s a myth!

The truth is, you are not the victim of your metabolism – you are the creator of your metabolism. There’s no mystery. Food is simply energy. Your body requires energy to function. Food in the form of protein, carbohydrates and fat are your main sources of energy (calories). Take in more energy than you need from any of these and your body will store it as fat.  You need to eat smarter, not less. Lose the mindset: “eat less, weigh less.” Restricting your calories will guarantee you a slower metabolism. The act of HEALTHY eating – which is prompting your body to process the supportive foods frequently – guarantees a faster metabolism. A faster metabolism means your body becomes a fat burning machine.

Barrier 3: Diet Addiction

Diets don’t work.

The health and fitness industry is banking on the fact that you either don’t know this or won’t believe it. But if you’ve tried to lose weight in the past on any kind of fad diet and you’ve gained the weight back and then some, you know what I mean. I know, you’re probably thinking you have to be on a diet forever to have any kind of permanent weight loss. But nothing could be further from the truth.

With rare exceptions, most people were born into normal weight bodies. But then we learned to diet instead of eating intuitively. Dieting signals deprivation to your body and sparks a biological drive to prime the body to maximize food intake and minimize energy burned to save itself. Making the best food choices is your secret weapon in the quest for over 40 fitness. Eating supportively will help you boost your metabolism, burn more fat and increase your energy dramatically. The goal here is to be FIT and HEALTHY and look great for YOUR body type.

Believe it or not, good nutrition is that powerful! And you can change your eating (or lack of eating) habits bite by little bite. Aim for at least one healthy choice each day and more supportive than the day before. Go for 2-3 improvements each week. Making these small nutritional changes will quickly add up to amazing results as you gain control over your metabolism.

Barrier 4: Ignoring the Fab 4

There are 4 essential components of fitness. If you want to get fit and avoid injury, you’ll need some variations of all of them. Many clients complain about taking the time to stretch or just want to do cardio without weight training or weight training without cardio. You need them ALL.  So what are they?

1.    Balance & Flexibility

2.    Muscular Strength & Endurance

3.    Body Composition

4.    Aerobic Capacity

Your body composition shifts as you age. Weight gain after 40 is very common. The most dangerous type is around the mid-section because of its proximity to your organs, so it’s the greatest risk for heart disease. The good news is that the combination of cardio, resistance training and flexibility exercises means that a healthy body composition will take care of itself! We lose an average of 5% of muscle mass every ten years after the age of 35 – if we don’t do anything about it. A side effect of this is weight gain.

Cardio exercise increases your metabolism so that you burn energy at a higher rate than if you weren’t exercising. It reduces your appetite by turning on your sympathetic nervous system. This activates your “fight or flight” response. What does that mean? Try this:

The next time you feel a twinge to binge, take a quick walk or jog. Notice how you feel after you workout. Your hunger will lessen or disappear altogether. Cardiovascular exercise, resistance training and flexibility exercises will help you lose extra weight that stresses out your joints. You’ll strengthen the joints and elongate the muscles which reduce your risk of injury in your day to day activities.

Barrier 5: Leaving Your Goals to Chance

Research shows that writing down your health and fitness goals makes them 95% more achievable. The more specific you are about what you want, the more likely you will do what is necessary to get it.

First, check your expectations. Are your goals reasonable? While it would be nice to lose 20 pounds in 7 days, there is no safe way to make that happen. Unrealistic expectations undermine your efforts and make it difficult to stay on track. Look beyond the obvious. Set goals that can be measured with something other than a bathroom scale – like lowering your blood pressure by 10 points or increasing the distance you can walk or jog.

It’s much easier to sit with a glass of wine or a bowl of ice cream than to jog to the corner or do crunches on a stability ball. But you don’t have to go to the gym, and you can carve out 30 minutes a day to work out. For years I exercised either first thing in the morning before work or at night after the kids went to bed with nothing except a couple of exercise videos, a few hand weights and a workout bench I bought at Goodwill for 5 bucks.

Start right where you are. If you don’t (or can’t) make time to do this FOR YOU, perhaps the problem isn’t the fact that you’re time crunched. Perhaps your life has gotten too out of control and the question now becomes priorities. Your health and well being should be at the top of the list!

The best advice I can give you is JUST GET STARTED. Start moving. The more you move, in very subtle ways, the more calories your body will burn throughout the day. And that will have more than subtle positive effects!

Robin Stephens
http://www.articlesbase.com/women’s-health-articles/5-barriers-to-fitness-over-40-and-how-to-get-your-groove-back-693821.html

For 4,000 years, the Chinese people have been using green tea as treatment for everything from headaches to depression.

Today, studies are conducted in Asia and the west in order to produce hard evidence of the health benefits of the tea. In the 1994 edition of the Journal of National Cancer Institute, the results of an epidemiological study stated that one of the health benefits of drinking this tea is that it can reduce the risk of esophageal cancer in Chinese men and women by up to 60%.

The rich presence of catechin polyphenols, particularly epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) is the reason why this tea has so much health benefits. A powerful antioxidant, EGCG can not only inhibit the growth of cancer cells but can also destroy them without harming healthy cells.

The University of Purdue has also concluded a research on how a certain compound present in tea can stop cancer cells from growing. Still another health benefit of the tea is its ability to lower down cholesterol levels and improve the ratio between good (HDL) cholesterol and bad (LDL) cholesterol.

The EGCG in tea is a health benefit substance that can lower down LDL cholesterol levels and stop blood from forming abnormal clots (thrombosis), a leading cause of heart attacks and strokes.

herbal tea has more health benefits compared to other Chinese teas like oolong and black tea, all of which come from the plant Camellia sinensis. What makes thi green herbal tea different is the process by which it is made. The tea owes much of its health benefits to how the Camellia sinensis leaves are steamed. The steam process keeps the EGCG health benefit of the tea from oxidizing. With oolong and black teas, however, the leaves are fermented instead of being steamed, thus causing the EGCG health benefit to transform into another less medicinally potent form.

Aside from medicinal value, the tea can also offer other health benefits, especially in the fitness field. Drinking tea can cause a person to burn down more calories. A recent study on the health benefits of tea shows that the drink can help dieters. According to the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition in 1999, men who take both caffeine and tea burn down more calories than men who only take caffeine or a placebo.

Another health benefit of tea is its bacteria-destroying properties. The health benefit of tea in this area is that it can help prevent food poisoning and also prevent tooth decay. The substances found in tea kill the bacteria causing food poisoning and those that cause dental plaque to form.

Well known for its countless medicinal and health benefits, this tea is nothing short of a miracle.

John Pawlett
http://www.articlesbase.com/fitness-articles/miracle-cup-the-health-benefits-of-green-tea-91592.html

The health conscious population of today looks for means of working to achieve a perfect body that is fit and healthy. This is possible by following a daily routine of exercise and diet, and some fitness supplements. It is not a must to take a fitness supplement; however with its help, it is possible to become lean and strong with the boost and turbo charge it provides you in your fitness program. With a fitness supplement, you can get off to a fast start in your body building routine. Different ingredients go in the making of a fitness supplement to give you the turbo boost, and body you look for. One of the most commonly used ingredients is conjugated linoleic acid which is very effective in removing fat from the body.With CLA in the fitness supplement, you are assured of losing fat even if you don’t change anything else in the program. Chromium is another ingredient used in fitness supplements that is advised to be taken only if you have a deficiency of chromium in the body. Instead, take something with glutamine in it as this is very helpful in the recovery and growth of muscles.

With glutamine, you can find your recovery time from squats reduce to half the time. Moreover, you will not only feel better after heavy workouts, you can find improved results from your exercise program. Then there are the meal replacement powders that are the best choice for a sustained nutrition program. With a MRP, you find you have the foundation for the rest of the program. Protein powders are fitness supplements that are easily available in the market today. It is important that an athlete takes about a gram of protein per pound of body weight while the average person needs less than half the amount. So if you are serious about being an athlete, protein is an important part of your diet. You also find protein bars that provide benefits similar to that of protein powders. However you have to choose the right bar from the wide number of protein bars available today as most of them are junk.

Creatine is found in fitness supplements to help in the faster contraction of muscles during recovery. With this, you get bigger and stronger muscles. This is why Creatine should be taken by the serious, hard training athlete. However, if you don’t have a hard training program, then this will be a waste of money to you. There are many companies offering fitness supplements with different ingredients, which produce different effects to the body. It is up to you to choose the right fitness supplement for you, depending on your needs and budgets. Remember that fat burners and thermogenics don’t do any magic; they only help in getting rid of your fat. Use fitness supplements while following a strict diet and exercise routine to get excellent results. It is always better to consult with your physical trainer and doctor about taking fitness supplements to avoid any side effects that may arise from the fitness supplement.

Sharon Price
http://www.articlesbase.com/weight-loss-articles/fitness-supplements-139128.html

I have a strong interest in health, fitness, diet and administration. I don’t want to study medicine though…because i hate math and chemistry…(and i just dont want to be a doctor anyway)…so could you help me out on what i should major in college..what would be the starting salary…and what career should i look forward to…..and what high school subjects should i focus on now…..

What about Physical Therapy?

Many PT’s focus on the fitness, health, and movement for athletes, senior citizens, and anyone suffering from a physical trauma.

Subjects I would recommend you focus on is: Anything related to science, anatomy and physiology, psychology, and math.

This is the only question that I need help on, can anyone help me out?
4.
__________ is hormone produced by the adrenal glad that increases heart rate and respiratory rate, in response to physical and mental stress. (1 point)

* Ephedrine
* Adrenalin
* Eustress
* None of the above

Please and thanks! (:

The adrenal glands, located above the kidneys, provide an instant surge of adrenaline — the body’s rocket fuel — in response to stress, quickening the heart rate and blood flow and providing every cell with extra oxygen.

Adrenaline is the right choice.

Health promotion in the workplace benefits not only the company, but the employee as well. Additionally, there is a distinct trickle-down effect as the benefits are transferred from employee to family members. Health promotion in the workplace creates conditions that support and teach the best possible health for the employee. This gives employees a sense of ownership and they learn to work together to form a coordinated action to improve well being. Areas such as health promotion, heart health, nutrition, fitness, recreation, tobacco and alcohol awareness and workplace safety are all areas where health promotion in the workplace is very effective. Implementing such a program gives employees a feeling of being more than just a number. It brings the humanity of companies back to the corporate forefront.

Wellness programs are generally more focused on prevention which facilitates a proactive approach to healthcare. This, in turn, leads to an overall decrease in health care costs. Disease management, health education and health maintenance are all crucial in creating a solid wellness foundation within an organization. There is strong evidence to support the effectiveness of health promotion in the workplace and concur that these types of interventions make a significant difference within the organizational structure. Companies that implement wellness programs for their employees encourage healthy lifestyles for not only employees, but their families as well.

Mental health programs as a part of health promotion in the workplace have been shown to significantly reduce depression in employees. Additionally, companies employing this strategy also enjoy reduced suicide rates and reduced behavioral problems among employees. Mental health programs and stress management classes have also resulted in less domestic aggression and a more positive environment for employees. On a social level, there are fewer learning problems, a significant reduction in child abuse as well as spousal abuse.

Companies that address health and safety issues of employees regarding their work environment do experience a decrease in on the job injuries and fewer worker’s compensation claims. Occupational health and safety also helps to decrease the number of deaths and disabilities in the workplace. Time loss injuries are also substantially decreased when workers are adequately trained and these types of workplace health and wellness safety programs are implemented.

Wellness programs and general health promotion in the workplace show employees that the organization recognizes that both the employer and the employee share some extent of responsibility for the employee’s health. It shows the employee that their health is of importance to the organization. And it should be important. Healthier employees mean fewer absences and a lower turnover rate.

In short, the benefits of health promotion in the workplace are many. The greatest benefit, however, is in the human aspect of the organization. When the people are taken care of, the company’s bottom line remains intact. With reduced absenteeism and health care costs, organizations should seriously consider wellness programs as a viable, effective method for reducing employee related expenses and strengthening their personnel relations within the company. Health promotion in the workplace can cut costs and yield productivity increases, but it is not a cure-all. Businesses must also consider job design, organizational systems, human resource management practices and workplace culture. All these must be conducive to a productive, healthy workplace.

Businesses interested in learning more about the benefits of health promotion in the workplace will find a plethora of information on the World Wide Web. Resources like Wellness Proposals and Welcoa both offer valuable insight about the benefits of health promotion and wellness programs.

John Payton
http://www.articlesbase.com/human-resources-articles/the-benefits-of-health-promotion-in-the-workplace-126454.html

The phrase ‘Health is Wealth’ gets more significant with age. It’s what we preserve the most, especially after retirement. Most seniors would love to foresee a life of health, fitness and relaxation. Some active seniors would also want to travel and explore places, and realize a lifetime’s desire. A fit and healthy life is nothing but a result of a wholesome lifestyle. It stems from preventive care and making sure your body gets all it needs to remain in the pink of health. It really isn’t difficult to find important nutritional guidelines to follow. Internet for seniors is a readymade ocean of information. That’s where you go when you need reliable information or health tips.

The importance of good nutrition is the first thing that your doctor would have spoken to you about. Most diseases are a result of a person’s life pattern over the years that add to genetic factors.

Seniors should strive to educate themselves about the importance of a healthy lifestyle. Kids should think of computer for seniors as a gift idea, so they can keep themselves abreast about the latest health and nutrition tips.

Important foods for health:

1. Leafy vegetables, sweet potatoes, oranges and apricots for Vitamin A and beta-carotene.
2. Milk and other dairy products for calcium.
3. Nuts, egg, lean meat, tofu and other soy products for protein.
4. Whole grains for complex carbohydrates.
5. Fresh fruits for various kinds of Vitamins, fiber, and a minimum amount of sugar (check with your doctor if you’re a diabetic).

Keep Away From:

1. Sugar filled foods like ice creams, candies, sodas, etc (sugar cravings are strong with some seniors).

2. Hot dogs, bacons, deep fried foods, fat filled chicken wings are laden with bad cholesterol.
3. White breads, pastas, pizzas, have been wiped off nutrition during the polishing process.

Needless to say, smoking and excess consumption of alcohol will do your lungs and liver no good. They also serve as catalysts to cancerous cells. Seniors are also better off sticking to vegetarian foods as often as they can, since age slows down the digestive system as well. Apart from following these tips, put in a good bit of exercise and take your nutrition supplements according to prescription and you’ll be raring to go.

Note: Each person’s nutritional requirements differ. Please consult your physician before you start any kind of diet.

ajax
http://www.articlesbase.com/nutrition-articles/good-nutrition-for-a-healthy-lifestyle-747202.html

An ounce of prevention towards wellness -

Learn the simple steps to living a healthier and happier life!

Concern over health and how to improve your health has become a topic more and more of us think about and try to implement in our lives. Advances in medicine have helped us live longer lives and have allowed us to overcome some of the ills and infections that used to kill many people. Vaccines have helped prevent illness and death. They have eliminated diseases like smallpox and have helped against rabies, diphtheria and the plague.

However, we have started to incur a new host of health problems due to the length of our life, the processed foods we eat, the fast paced lives we live and the chemicals that pollute our world. Every day we see new commercials on TV about the next great drug that will make your life better or healthier. But do you actually listen to the list of possible side effects. Are these drugs really helping or just creating different problems. Remember, no pharmaceutical company ever made money by curing you quickly so you could stop taking their pills.

Why wait until you feel poorly before you see a doctor that will only work on alleviating your symptoms and not on fixing the underlying problem. Start achieving wellness and begin improving your health before you get to the point you need to see a doctor. Work on improving your overall wellness.

As the old adage says “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”

Of the leading causes of death in the United States, many can be prevented. The likelihood of contracting heart disease, diabetes, and other health issues can be directly impacted by the choices we make every day. The choices about what we put into our bodies and the choices we make that affect our personal environment.

Here are some things you can do to increase your wellness and start down the path to improve your health:

Diet and Nutrition – Your diet does a lot in determining your overall health and wellness. What you put into your body does make a difference. “It’s easy to buy into some pretty popular nutrition misconceptions — myths and half-truths that ultimately find us making far fewer healthier food choices than we realize,” says New York University nutritionist Samantha Heller, MS, RD.

Read labels, don’t trust all the advertising and always try to get whole foods and not processed substitutes.

The same goes for your supplements. Get those that are made from natural ingredients and aren’t over processed. Every vitamin and mineral and phytochemical in our body works in concert with one another, and it’s easy to knock that balance off. Be sure the supplements you are taking are balanced and introduced to your body in a way that they are usable and work together as nature intended.

Some of the things you want to make sure you get enough of in your diet are fiber, antioxidants, soy, and water. These things along with a well balanced nutritional intake of whole foods and supplements can go a long way in improving health and increasing wellness.

Weight – Maintaining a healthy weight is critical to improving health. You don’t have to be as thin as a rail – this is actually just as unhealthy as being overweight – you just need to keep the excess in check.

It all begins with attitude. Start by changing how you feel about yourself, your body and your eating habits. Change to a can do attitude where you start to do what’s right for you. Simple moderate exercise, eating a healthy breakfast (no skipping allowed), reducing your calorie intake by not taking just one more are all small things we can do to get in better health by being at a better weight.

Don’t go for the fad diets that don’t work or at best get you to lose weight for a while but then just put it back on later. A slow and steady change will help you lose the weight and keep it off and it will be much healthier for you.

Get plenty of whole foods, protein (quite often a good soy protein can give you what you need without adding fat to your diet) and drink lots of water. Water is critical to the health and wellness of your body. It helps rid you of toxic build up and it is needed for normal cell processes to work. Another side effect of water is that it can make you feel full without adding the calories so you will eat less.

Exercise – Aerobic exercise is very important to maintaining your wellness and improving your health. It has been linked to cancer prevention, reduction of osteoporosis, helping with depression, lowering the risk of heart disease and diabetes, and of course obesity and weight control. It can also help with cognitive functions – meaning you can think more clearly and work more efficiently.

Aerobic exercise makes most of us think of joining a gym or having to run several miles every day. This is just not the case. You can keep it very simple and still achieve benefits. Walking is one of the best exercises out there. It is simple, easy on the joints, doesn’t cost us a lot of money and it can be done pretty much anywhere. To get a benefit from walking, you just need to make sure that it is aerobic. That means you want to walk at a pace that leaves you feeling “warm and slightly out of breath”. One good way to start is the 5 out 5 back plan. Just walk 5 minutes away from the house and then you are force to walk 5 minutes back. Increase the time out as your health and fitness increase.

Stress Management – Most of us live with some type of stress every day. It has just become part of our lives. It has also become one reason we don’t always feel our best and why we are susceptible to feeling run down and ‘sick’.

Reducing stress can help now and our long term health. Stress keeps our bodies from functioning at their best and slowly wears on us. Find way to relax, to have that ‘me’ time where the pressures of the day can be pushed aside.

Try to simplify your life. Our world has become so fast paced and ‘in your face’ – ‘do it now’ that we just don’t have time to sit and watch the clouds or the rain or…. One simple way to gain a little sanity is to disconnect from the fast pace, try just turning off the cell phone. Just leave it behind for an hour.

But, no matter how much we work on getting rid of the stresses in our life there will always be something that causes us stress. Luckily, there are ways to help us overcome the stress nutritionally.

Avoiding Toxins – With all of our advances and science and technology, man has come up with many great things to improve our quality of life. However, we are learning that some of these things that are there to improve actually produce side effects that can hurt us and our health – now and in the future.

The EPA has warned that indoor air pollution is more of a concern than the pollution we find outside. Many cleaners as well as skin and beauty products actually contain harmful toxins.

There are companies out there that do produce green cleaners that are safe for people and for the environment. Read labels and know what your beauty and cleaning products contain.

One of the best ways to maintain your health is to wash your hands. We touch so many different things with our hands things that might have been cleaned with toxins or touched by something unhealthy that by just washing, you can cut down on many unwanted health effects.

Adequate Sleep – Giving your body the sleep it requires is a great way to keep it healthy. During sleep your body regenerates and rejuvenates. It is absolutely imperative to get enough sleep, but getting more doesn’t always mean you are getting better quality sleep.

Quit Smoking – Despite the many warnings and the known health risks smoking is still prevalent around the world. Quitting this habit can not only improve your health drastically and improve your chances of preventing future disease; it can relieve you of a financial burden. Just think if you applied all the money you spend on cigarettes on healthy nutritional supplements how much you could increase your health and wellness.

Its not always the difficult path that is required for change. Quite often making a few simple changes in our lives can make dramatic results.

Think about it!

Michael Tomberlin
http://www.articlesbase.com/health-articles/improve-your-health-716139.html

The magazine is about nutrition, fitness, medication, health care, and other topics of the same nature.

I need a name asap, finishing the project tonight!

Your Body
Your mind
Your Soul
YOUR HEALTH

:] or YBMSH
XD Something like that (:

Experimenting with new plans. Yahoo egroup and a fitness survey. Check it out:

http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/mycustomworkout/

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=PAhISoVg1oTymUSybkrgBA_3d_3d

1. Reduce calories.
2. Increase excercise.
3. Evaluate progress.
4. If progress is good, celebrate.
5. If progress is not good, go to step 1.

An ounce of prevention towards wellness -

Learn the simple steps to living a healthier and happier life!

Concern over health and how to improve your health has become a topic more and more of us think about and try to implement in our lives. Advances in medicine have helped us live longer lives and have allowed us to overcome some of the ills and infections that used to kill many people. Vaccines have helped prevent illness and death. They have eliminated diseases like smallpox and have helped against rabies, diphtheria and the plague.

However, we have started to incur a new host of health problems due to the length of our life, the processed foods we eat, the fast paced lives we live and the chemicals that pollute our world. Every day we see new commercials on TV about the next great drug that will make your life better or healthier. But do you actually listen to the list of possible side effects. Are these drugs really helping or just creating different problems. Remember, no pharmaceutical company ever made money by curing you quickly so you could stop taking their pills.

Why wait until you feel poorly before you see a doctor that will only work on alleviating your symptoms and not on fixing the underlying problem. Start achieving wellness and begin improving your health before you get to the point you need to see a doctor. Work on improving your overall wellness.

As the old adage says “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”

Of the leading causes of death in the United States, many can be prevented. The likelihood of contracting heart disease, diabetes, and other health issues can be directly impacted by the choices we make every day. The choices about what we put into our bodies and the choices we make that affect our personal environment.

Here are some things you can do to increase your wellness and start down the path to improve your health:

Diet and Nutrition – Your diet does a lot in determining your overall health and wellness. What you put into your body does make a difference. “It’s easy to buy into some pretty popular nutrition misconceptions — myths and half-truths that ultimately find us making far fewer healthier food choices than we realize,” says New York University nutritionist Samantha Heller, MS, RD.

Read labels, don’t trust all the advertising and always try to get whole foods and not processed substitutes.

The same goes for your supplements. Get those that are made from natural ingredients and aren’t over processed. Every vitamin and mineral and phytochemical in our body works in concert with one another, and it’s easy to knock that balance off. Be sure the supplements you are taking are balanced and introduced to your body in a way that they are usable and work together as nature intended.

Some of the things you want to make sure you get enough of in your diet are fiber, antioxidants, soy, and water. These things along with a well balanced nutritional intake of whole foods and supplements can go a long way in improving health and increasing wellness.

Weight – Maintaining a healthy weight is critical to improving health. You don’t have to be as thin as a rail – this is actually just as unhealthy as being overweight – you just need to keep the excess in check.

It all begins with attitude. Start by changing how you feel about yourself, your body and your eating habits. Change to a can do attitude where you start to do what’s right for you. Simple moderate exercise, eating a healthy breakfast (no skipping allowed), reducing your calorie intake by not taking just one more are all small things we can do to get in better health by being at a better weight.

Don’t go for the fad diets that don’t work or at best get you to lose weight for a while but then just put it back on later. A slow and steady change will help you lose the weight and keep it off and it will be much healthier for you.

Get plenty of whole foods, protein (quite often a good soy protein can give you what you need without adding fat to your diet) and drink lots of water. Water is critical to the health and wellness of your body. It helps rid you of toxic build up and it is needed for normal cell processes to work. Another side effect of water is that it can make you feel full without adding the calories so you will eat less.

Exercise – Aerobic exercise is very important to maintaining your wellness and improving your health. It has been linked to cancer prevention, reduction of osteoporosis, helping with depression, lowering the risk of heart disease and diabetes, and of course obesity and weight control. It can also help with cognitive functions – meaning you can think more clearly and work more efficiently.

Aerobic exercise makes most of us think of joining a gym or having to run several miles every day. This is just not the case. You can keep it very simple and still achieve benefits. Walking is one of the best exercises out there. It is simple, easy on the joints, doesn’t cost us a lot of money and it can be done pretty much anywhere. To get a benefit from walking, you just need to make sure that it is aerobic. That means you want to walk at a pace that leaves you feeling “warm and slightly out of breath”. One good way to start is the 5 out 5 back plan. Just walk 5 minutes away from the house and then you are force to walk 5 minutes back. Increase the time out as your health and fitness increase.

Stress Management – Most of us live with some type of stress every day. It has just become part of our lives. It has also become one reason we don’t always feel our best and why we are susceptible to feeling run down and ‘sick’.

Reducing stress can help now and our long term health. Stress keeps our bodies from functioning at their best and slowly wears on us. Find way to relax, to have that ‘me’ time where the pressures of the day can be pushed aside.

Try to simplify your life. Our world has become so fast paced and ‘in your face’ – ‘do it now’ that we just don’t have time to sit and watch the clouds or the rain or…. One simple way to gain a little sanity is to disconnect from the fast pace, try just turning off the cell phone. Just leave it behind for an hour.

But, no matter how much we work on getting rid of the stresses in our life there will always be something that causes us stress. Luckily, there are ways to help us overcome the stress nutritionally.

Avoiding Toxins – With all of our advances and science and technology, man has come up with many great things to improve our quality of life. However, we are learning that some of these things that are there to improve actually produce side effects that can hurt us and our health – now and in the future.

The EPA has warned that indoor air pollution is more of a concern than the pollution we find outside. Many cleaners as well as skin and beauty products actually contain harmful toxins.

There are companies out there that do produce green cleaners that are safe for people and for the environment. Read labels and know what your beauty and cleaning products contain.

One of the best ways to maintain your health is to wash your hands. We touch so many different things with our hands things that might have been cleaned with toxins or touched by something unhealthy that by just washing, you can cut down on many unwanted health effects.

Adequate Sleep – Giving your body the sleep it requires is a great way to keep it healthy. During sleep your body regenerates and rejuvenates. It is absolutely imperative to get enough sleep, but getting more doesn’t always mean you are getting better quality sleep.

Quit Smoking – Despite the many warnings and the known health risks smoking is still prevalent around the world. Quitting this habit can not only improve your health drastically and improve your chances of preventing future disease; it can relieve you of a financial burden. Just think if you applied all the money you spend on cigarettes on healthy nutritional supplements how much you could increase your health and wellness.

Its not always the difficult path that is required for change. Quite often making a few simple changes in our lives can make dramatic results.

Think about it!

Michael Tomberlin
http://www.articlesbase.com/health-articles/improve-your-health-716139.html

I am looking for a new career choice/field. The fields that I am most interested are the fields of health/fitness, nutrition, as well as woman’s rights. I enjoy working with adults and children in these areas. I would like to find a job that would allow me to do those things as well as to travel and learn about new cultures. I am asking because as I prepare for grad school I want to make sure that I can gear my studies to prepare me for those choices.

well one job i cant think of is being a teacher. if you taught wellness you would be working with both adults and children, and yould teach them about their health, nutrition, fitness… all the things you seem interested in. also, you would have the whole summer off to go on vacations and travel the world

I’m mainly looking for a college that offers dance, health/fitness, nutrition, philosophy, physiology, and fine art?

But am I missing anything else that would help me become a personal trainer (but would fulfill my interest and keep me well-rounded)?

Look for a program in kinesiology. Lots of Physical Therapists use it as a springboard toward being a personal trainer. It’ll teach you about how the skeletal and muscular systems work.

It is very obvious in the current market that sports nutrition products come from various different places worldwide. The interest in these products can be seen from all over the world. Many people assume that it is only in demand from people who live in first world countries.

Now though being interested in sports nutrition does not automatically mean that the person concerned has to participate in sports. Many people see it as way of having a positive attitude towards their health in general. With the current ad campaigns going on around the world, more and more people are looking for ways of improving their health and see nutrition as a part of that.

Sports nutrition is most definitely a worldwide concept now. With more people becoming interested in it from around the world. Before many people were not overly conscious with what they were eating and the nutrients that the food provided. Now though, nutrition labels can be seen on nearly all food products so that nutrients that the food provides can be seen by people who have a keen interest in providing their body with the correct types of food.

The incorporation of nutrition programs in several fitness centers and sports facilities also support the worldwide concern for sports nutrition.

Before, fitness in terms of sports and exercise in general is seen as an independent aspect and has nothing to do with diet and nutrition.

Now, however, people seem to recognize the fact that both are interrelated and that each one would not yield positive results if taken individually. It appears now that people are open to the idea that without a healthy diet, performance may not be expected to be excellent.

Several campaigns and sales efforts in support of sports nutrition have likewise been circulating worldwide.

In almost any country, one would hear of the availability of supplements sports nutrition programs, training on nutrition and health, nutrition verification for athletes, and many others. Indeed, sports nutrition is not anymore considered as for the First World countries only, but for worldwide benefit as well.

Aligning targets in terms of sports to targets in terms of nutrition is indeed very sound. In the first place, the body controls all activities.

Having a weak control system would certainly not bring the positive results that are sought. Sports can become very stressful on the body, even more so if it is not backed up with right nutrition.

The worldwide prevalence of sports nutrition also creates more vigilance in terms of sustaining efforts which have started already. It somehow creates a sense of pressure that yields favorable responses. Some people are indeed becoming good role models in terms of sports nutrition.

With the release of many books and other materials on sports nutrition it has helped to increase the worldwide awareness. Now people can see with their own eyes the concrete evidence of successes that occurred in the past by providing your body with the correct nutrients. They are also shown that it is not difficult for them to follow these examples.

It only requires commitment and good motivation on the part of the person interested. If before a good balance between fitness and nutrition was very complex to achieve now because of the practical tips coming from previous experiences it feels a lot easier to do.

Indeed, the coming years show more promise of worldwide sports nutrition because of heightened awareness and interest in it. This is a very advantageous thing for all as it somehow guarantees a healthier generation in the future. Sports is not just about competition or making ones body look good aesthetically, it also tackles the entire aspect of health.

With sports nutrition becoming a worldwide concept, the sustenance and motivation of previous efforts should always remain a concern. Although societal pressure can become a positive motivation, it can sometimes begin to falter.

Both the dissemination of the idea as well as maintenance of established ones should be taken good care of as health is a very essential aspect of life.

Holly Stevens
http://www.articlesbase.com/nutrition-articles/the-worldwide-effects-of-sports-nutrition-products-65135.html