Scientific research has shown that the food we eat affects how we think and act. Take sugar, for instance. Eating sugary snacks can give you a high and make you feel energized. It causes your blood-sugar to go up and you get that woo-hoo good feeling. But, as soon as it goes down, you feel tired and a drop in your mood. Without giving it a lot of thought, we reach for those sweet snacks mid-afternoon when our energy starts to flag. Why? Having preprogrammed it, the subconscious knows this will give a burst of energy because it has in the past. Then there’s the fact that sugar is addictive. And to go a step further, sweet snacks (like candy bars) are easily accessible (from vending machines) or easy to take with you to work. If we slowed down and really listened to our bodies, however, they would tell us we need some quality protein instead of sugar. A protein snack (like string cheese) would give us a boost in energy without that steep drop afterward. Continue reading “You Are What You Eat”
Weight Loss Suggestions
In America one of the most popular subjects is diets. Most major magazines have at least one ‘diet’ article in every issue, if not more. It’s the subject of numerous articles in newspapers and on the Internet. New diet books hit the stands regularly and many become bestsellers. The diet and weight loss industry includes commercial chains like Weight Watchers and Jenny Craig, diet pills, artificial sweeteners, meal replacement shakes and belly-stapling surgeries. Weight loss is big business. Continue reading “Weight Loss Suggestions”
Tips For Setting Personal Goals
There are various factors to take into account when you are in process of your own personal goal setting sesssion. This article will highlight some of the factors that you should be considering when you are going through the process. Continue reading “Tips For Setting Personal Goals”
A Life Without Judgement
To release judgment requires going “beyond” ourselves. It requires relaxing into a timeless space of wholeness. And in that space, love enters automatically. We are beings of Love. We are the energy of pure Love. Judgment blocks our experience of feeling this love because of the barriers of separation it builds. The love of a new mother for her child as she holds it in her arms. The experience of a wonderful rainbow after the rain. The feeling of “being in the flow” during a sports activity. All these are glimpses of life without judgment. Continue reading “A Life Without Judgement”
Spiritual Spring Cleaning
One day you open your front door and are greeted by the signs of spring. You notice the daffodils and crocuses have burst into bloom. The air around you feels noticeably lighter. The world of nature and all its creatures are stepping forward to begin the process of rebirth. You take in a deep breathe and feel exhilarated! Each smell is warm and inviting. Daytime is emerging from the shadows of winter, lasting longer, casting a green-golden light on all that is touched. Yes, this is the day you notice spring has arrived! Maybe you are taken back into time, to a memory of a spring day as a child. Suddenly you feel energized, ready to face the days ahead with new desire and enthusiasm. Continue reading “Spiritual Spring Cleaning”
Cherish Your Home
The word “housework” can turn a Saturday morning into a weekend drudgery. There is mopping, vacuuming, and scouring. What if there was a way to change the homemaking skills and chores into something pleasant and actually enjoyable? Continue reading “Cherish Your Home”
Stop Missing Out – Reclaim Your Family
Isn’t it amazing how times have changed? I remember watching “Leave It To Beaver” when I was little. Everything just seemed simpler some how. The dad was there every morning drinking his coffee and reading the paper while everyone else was getting ready for the day. The kids left for school and the dad left for work. In the evening the kids came home, then the dad came in, and everyone enjoyed each others company. My home life was nothing like that show, but even then, it was simpler than it is now for many of today’s families. Continue reading “Stop Missing Out – Reclaim Your Family”
The Perfect Place For A Family Picnic
There’s really no better way to enjoy a sunny, summer afternoon than a warm and friendly family picnic. It’s the warm sun, a soft breeze, some home made sandwiches -made just the way you like them- the company of your loved ones, and about a million uninvited ants. That’s the snag in the plan every time. You lay out your favorite blanket only to find your food and family covered in a tiny, six-legged army before you know it. Well, there are always sensible alternatives, and for this particular problem a good solution is utilizing park benches rather than running for the hills. Continue reading “The Perfect Place For A Family Picnic”
True Friendship
We learn the value of friendship from a very early age. True friendship is unconditional: it is an enigma – selfless loving and giving. Perhaps we are too busy pursuing our careers that we tend to ignore the most beautiful thing in our lives: love and friendship. Everyone has different ideas about relationships and the approach may differ. It helps one to know that there are ‘givers and takers’ in this world and a role reversal is quite unlikely. Friends may disappoint you sometimes by not living up to your expectations. One who feels that he or she is putting more into relationships need not feel nobler as others may not feel the same. Before you judge someone it is prudent to consider that he or she may be incapable of love or friendship in the same way. Therefore, it is the interpretation of the measure of love or friendship that is under scrutiny; perhaps the person who realizes this has earned the right to be noble. Continue reading “True Friendship”
Antioxidants: The Answer to Vibrant Health
During the normal metabolic activity of our bodies, a process called oxidant stress occurs. Oxidant stress is the name given to the cellular process that results in the formation of reactive by-products. These by-products are types of oxygen, or free radicals, that steal nutrients from healthy cells, essentially starving them to death. As the affected cells begin to degenerate, they release more free radicals and the process has the potential to multiply exponentially. Continue reading “Antioxidants: The Answer to Vibrant Health”
The Importance of B Vitamins
Vitamins are essential for the normal growth and development of humans. For the most part, vitamins are obtained from food, but a few are obtained by other means. For example, microorganisms in the intestine – commonly known as “gut flora” – produce vitamin K and biotin, while one form of vitamin D is synthesized in the skin with the help of natural ultraviolet in sunlight. Humans can produce some vitamins from precursors they consume. Examples include vitamin A, produced from beta carotene, and niacin, from the amino acid tryptophan. Throughout life, vitamins are essential for healthy maintenance of the cells, tissues, and organs, and also enable us to efficiently use chemical energy provided by food as well as help process the proteins, carbohydrates, and fats required for respiration. Continue reading “The Importance of B Vitamins”
The Difference Between Success and Fulfillment
Stop and think a moment . . . Do you feel that you are a success at what you do? Do you feel fulfilled? Are you happy? Do you love what you do for a living? Do you love your career or job? Are you one of those people who go around smiling all the time, always in a good mood, and always have great and interesting things going on in your life? Continue reading “The Difference Between Success and Fulfillment”
Health Made Simple
Some things in life are very simple, yet we make them complicated. Good health is one of those things and the answer is simply: Balance, Moderation, Movement. Continue reading “Health Made Simple”
Why Make Time to Exercise?
I have no time to exercise. That’s the response when most people are asked why they don’t exercise. The last time I checked, though, there are still 24 hours in each day. Eight of those we should be sleeping, and that leaves 16 hours. This means if you want to get healthier, lose fat and firm up, you could work out 30 minutes a day, in which case you’d have 32 chances. If everyone would just invest 30 minutes a day, 4 or 5 days a week, we would look better, feel better and have fewer health problems. Continue reading “Why Make Time to Exercise?”
A True Friend Is One In A Million
Over the years you start forming relationships with a lot of people starting with family and then friends. The friendship that you form begin at very young age and at all ages you keep on accumulating friends but as you grow older you also start to lose friends, some simply because of lack of time, some over little issues and some friendships by the nature they are formed are transitory in nature. Continue reading “A True Friend Is One In A Million”
Getting Ready For A Family?
When first thinking about starting a family, there are a number of things that both parents have to think about before going ahead with it. These sorts of things have to do with whether the parents are really ready to raise a family yet, where will the kid be going to school, how are they going to bring up the kid and how do both members in the family believe the kid should be raised. There are also considerations to be made regarding the health of the parents, such as whether they are capable of looking after the kid and if the woman is physically healthy enough to have a child. Continue reading “Getting Ready For A Family?”
Are Our Table Manners Are Making Us Fat?
It sounds daft but it could be true. Clue – it’s all about time, and giving yourself enough of it to feel full. Let’s be honest, how many of us use a knife and fork for every meal? Lots of children don’t even know how to use a knife and fork, and some struggle with a spoon – now that is shocking. Don’t believe me? Next time you’re in a café/restaurant/coffee shop take a look around at the other diners… Continue reading “Are Our Table Manners Are Making Us Fat?”
How to Make Your Love Last
Love has no constitution. However it has its own self formulated golden rules, which must not be overstepped. Valentine should not be the only time to give your relationship some therapy. Make everyday a valentine day. The extent to which you love your partner is not measured by the amount of gifts and flowers that you send them but by those little and minor things done every day. The power of touch can be underestimated but it communicates volumes when put into use. Touching each other can make a tremendous difference within a relationship. Touch your man’s arm during conversation or gently pass your hand over her cheek. Give his shoulders a gentle rub after a busy and taxing day at work. They sound trivial but they pass a message of how much you care in volumes to make your love last. Continue reading “How to Make Your Love Last”
Celebrate Your Family through Traditions
Look at a strong family and chances are, you find one with strong family traditions. Whether it is everyday routines or ways they celebrate holidays, activities that the family does, or how they celebrate special occasions such as Birthdays, these family rituals bring a sense of belonging and familiarity to family members. Continue reading “Celebrate Your Family through Traditions”
Pilates Basics – The Art of Balance
What is Pilates? The Pilates program focuses on the core postural muscles that help keep the body balanced and that are essential to providing support for the spine. In particular, Pilates exercises teach awareness of breath and alignment of the spine, and aim to strengthen the deep torso muscles. Continue reading “Pilates Basics – The Art of Balance”