The Simplest Diet Plan Ever

The basic idea is this; shop the outside isles of the grocery store. Eat mostly if not all fresh foods, instead of the processed convenience foods. Drop the processed fats and the low-fiber carbs and you would be amazed how you feel and look! bonnie--

3 Easy Steps to Healthy Living



By Emily Clark

You've heard the popular advice on weight loss diets. Cut the fat! Cut the carbs! Cut the calories! Eat a balanced diet! But how can you cut though all of the confusion, and eat a diet that's balanced and healthy?

Here's the advice from nutritional science:

Cut the JUNK fats: Most people do not need an ultra low fat diet. But most of us could improve our diet by cutting out the junk fats. Basically, these are the processed fats: hydrogenated fats, polyunsaturated oils that have been heated, and fats that are combined with junk carbs. Processed fats are the fats most likely to put on flab and clog your arteries.

Cut the JUNK carbs. Most people do not need an ultra low carb diet. But unfortunately, so many people who go on a low fat diet continue to eat highly processed foods - they switch from processed high-fat to processed low-fat. And when food manufacturers create low fat foods, they tend to replace the fat with junk carbs,that tend to pile on the pounds. Basically, junk carbs are low-fiber carbs. Like sugar, fructose (and all the other *oses), flour, cornstarch, fruit juice are all junk carbs. Yes, fruit juice is a junk carb too! - After all, how much fiber is there in fruit juice? - Virtually none - it’s yet another junk carb. You should eat the whole fruit instead, with its fiber intact.

Cut the JUNK calories. Most people do not need an ultra low calorie diet. But just think what your diet would be like if you dropped the processed fats and the low-fiber carbs. You'd be eating mainly natural proteins, with lots of vegetables plus whole fruits - and the odds are that you would be eating far fewer calories as well. That's the kind of calorie cutting most of us should be doing.

Eat a balanced NATURAL-FOODS diet. By natural foods, we mean the foods that would have been eaten by your hunter-gatherer ancestors: - lots of whole vegetable foods for vitamins and fiber; moderate to small portions of meats, fish, seafood, and other animal and protein foods, grilled, stewed or baked; and small portions of fresh whole fruit in season. This is the diet on which the human race evolved, and the diet which, for the vast majority of people, makes for optimum health
So the next time you're about to order a meal with fries and sugary soda, think about how it could be improved. Replace the fries with a salad, and the soda with mineral water, and you've already made significant progress towards a healthier, balanced meal.


And at home, look for recipes that use whole, fresh foods, with a minimum of processing. Make sure your meals include natural unprocessed foods, with lots of healthy vegetables, both cooked, and raw in salads. Avoid processed fats and processed low-fiber foods.

A sample menu:

- grilled fish with steamed green beans, and peppers
- large mixed salad, dressed with small amounts of olive oil and vinegar or lemon juice
- fresh fruit platter

Yes - A healthy, balanced diet can be that simple!

For more information on healthy weightloss visit our website and surf around this blog.

The information contained in this article is for educational purposes only and is not intended to medically diagnose, treat or cure any disease. Consult a health care practitioner before beginning any health care program.

Emily Clark is editor at Lifestyle Health News and Medical Health News where you can find the most up-to-date advice and information on topical health matters.
The simplest is usually the best, just like it is with our eating and exercising. Stick to the easy/natural things you enjoy with that diet plan you can’t go wrong.

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Benefits Of Weight Training

Weight training in any of its forms is the best thing we can do for our bodies. From losing weight to feeling and looking younger it is all GOOD! bonnie--

by Kirsten Hawkins


Weight training isn't just for Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone anymore. It's really a system of exercise and health benefits that are available to everyone. If you go to a local gym and observe, you can find everyone from teenagers to great-grandmas exercising and strength training.

Weight training doesn't mean just using barbells - it involves much more than that and is most often combined with aerobic activity during the "circuit."

The natural benefits of weight training include:

- Slowing down bone loss - Making your bones stronger - Toning and firm up your body - Increasing your muscle strength

Most people will tell you that strength training and using weights makes them more energized and happier, along with reducing stress. It's amazing how much better you'll feel when working out after a hard day at the office! The endorphins your body creates in response to exercise like this is very much "addictive," and you'll find that beyond being less-stressed, you'll actually "crave" your workouts and look forward to them!

One of the benefits I have personally found in strength training is that it's made my back stronger. Prior to beginning my workout, if I had to lift a lot of boxes or move heavy things, I really felt it the rest of the day, and sometimes the rest of the week. However after just a month of weight training, I found that I didn't need to take an anti-inflammatory medication every time I moved some boxes around.

Of course, all professionals will tell you to consult a doctor before beginning your workout habit; you'll want to make sure that there are no impediments to beginning this new part of your daily routine. Most doctors will tell you to use caution and listen to the trainers, but nearly none will eliminate exercise altogether for their patients--there are simply too many benefits from the exertion.

If you go to a chiropractor, ask him or her how strength training and weight lifting can help you and what specific exercises would benefit your back and joints. Again, s/he will probably have some specific suggestions for your body and spinal 'issues,' but generally, a chiropractor will tell you that strengthening back and abdominal muscles will benefit you greatly.

If you do find that you 'overdo it' initially, scale it back just a bit until you're ready to move on. You can use cold and heat to minister to the aching muscle(s), and take an anti-inflammatory agent to help in the recovery. But if you do ache a bit, don't take it as your body's way of saying that you 'shouldn't workout.' What your body is telling you is that you haven't worked out enough and that it's not used to the exertion!

If you plan your workout well, you will find that weight training machines can be a great part of your exercise plan and your health will improve greatly in very short order.


DVDS and Videos For Healthy Weightloss Here you will find a good variatey to fit any fitness level.

About the Author
Kirsten Hawkins is a nutrition and health expert from Nashville, TN. Visit http://www.popular-diets.com/ for more great nutrition, well-being, and vitamin tips as well as reviews and comments on popular diets.

Eat the Right Things to Avoid Illness, and Live Longer

You want to live your best life right? You want energy to do all the things you want to do. You want to feel great and look great too-- Well antioxidants are a great place to start, so take a good look at the article below. bonnie--


A Beginners Guide to Antioxidants
By Vikki Scovell



So what are they and why should you care about them? We shall begin our story with Free Oxidising Radicals. If you have had your mind numbed by beauty product commercials you may have heard of these nasties. (Here comes the science bit) Free radicals are produced when certain molecules react with unstable oxygen molecules during the process of combustion, for example during; smoking, burning of petrol (car exhaust fumes), frying or barbequing food, normal bodily processes and (Oh No) exercise. These free radicals can float around in our bodies damaging healthy cells, and are implicated in; susceptibility to infections, ageing, cancer, heart disease, cataracts and macular degeneration (vision loss common in elderly people), diabetes, Hypertension (high blood pressure), infertility, arthritis, cognitive impairment and stroke.

All is not lost, because these dangerous chemicals can be disarmed by antioxidants which are possibly the most important nutrients that you will ever hear about. Some of the big names are vitamins A, C and E, as well as beta-carotenes (found in red, orange and yellow fruit and vegetables) Selenium (found in Brazil nuts) Zinc, and bioflavonoids (also from fruit and vegetables) as well as many others. If you can balance the number of free radicals entering your body with the number of antioxidants entering your body then it is thought you can help your body avoid the diseases listed above. It is hardly surprising that studies have linked high levels of antioxidants with longer lives, and the absence of chronic diseases.

In studies around the world, high levels of antioxidants were found in people over the age of 100, and elderly people with high cognitive function also had higher levels of antioxidants. Many other research projects have linked low intake of antioxidants with Alzheimer’s, lung cancer, heart attacks, cataracts, the list goes on. A large intake of antioxidants is thought to lead to an enhanced quality of life and a delaying of the processes of ageing.

So now we know how great they are, how can we get our hands on them? Many people boost their intake with supplements, but these are no substitute for a healthy diet, and provide none of the important fibre found in source-foods which will help reduce chances of bowel dysfunction and bowel cancers. The human body is designed to derive its nutrition from plant and animal matter, and there is some uncertainty about how efficiently the body can absorb certain supplements, leading to what nutritionists call ‘expensive urine.’ Many supermarkets and companies sell bargain vitamins and supplements, but often the nutrients come in compounds which are not useful or readily absorbable- you get what you pay for in many cases. I am not dismissing all supplements, but care must be taken in choosing and using them.

Your body is capable of extracting antioxidants from natural whole foods, and this is a safe and healthy way of getting them into your system. To get the full complement of antioxidants you need to have a varied diet- the less foods you are prepared to eat, the fewer nutrients are available to you. To obtain an optimum amount of these life-saving chemicals your diet should consist of; whole grains, nuts, seeds and oily fish (vitamin E, zinc, and others) and brightly colored fruit and vegetables of as many different varieties as possible (for vitamin C, A, beta-carotenes, bioflavinoids and folates). You will be pleased to know that there are also antioxidants in Tea (especially green tea), dark chocolate and red wine (hurrah), although all of these should be used sparingly. The fresher your fruit and vegetables the more antioxidant value, some fruit juices and supermarket vegetables when tested contain almost no vitamin C- it may have been months since the original fruit was harvested. (It is important to note that you may see the word antioxidant on some food packaging, sometimes with an e number attached- you will derive no benefit from consuming these).

Your Antioxidant shopping list:

1. A steamer; lightly steamed vegetables will contain more nutrients than boiled.

2. A juicer; make your own fresh fruit and vegetable antioxidant cocktails. Try Apple, carrot, beetroot and ginger- don’t pull that face, it is delicious!

3. Oily Fish; fresh tuna, salmon, mackerel, sardines. (Avoid all hydrogenated fats which will inhibit these beneficial chemicals.)

4. Green stuff; broccoli, cabbage, peas, kiwi, watercress, spinach, limes.

5. Yellow and orange stuff; lemons, golden linseed for essential fats and vitamin E(buy it ready ground or use a clean coffee grinder and make your own to sprinkle on cereal) peppers, mangoes, eggs, swede, turmeric (a ground spice), oranges, pumpkin and squash, sweet potatoes, apricots and peaches, carrots.

6. Red and purple stuff; beetroot, red cabbage, blueberries, ALL BERRIES, blackcurrants, ruby chard, beetroot tops (steam them like spinach), plumbs and prunes, purple sprouting, ruby grapefruit, tomatoes and red peppers.

7. White Stuff; Cauliflower, (rich in vitamins A and C), Brazil nuts for selenium, and a selection of other fresh nuts and seeds- avoid cooked nuts such as peanuts and cashews and other salted nuts- they don’t have the same benefits and are very fatty, and salty.

8. Organic fruit and vegetables have shown in tests to have higher levels of antioxidants- between 10 and 50% higher. Although if you are buying organic produce check the labels- if it is flown in from some far-flung destination it is not fresh despite being organic.

9. Local and seasonal fruit and vegetables will also be fresher and more likely to contain higher concentrations of our favorite chemicals.

Well I hope that you feel armed with knowledge and ready to do battle down the market to get the freshest, healthiest and most colourful shopping. Root out the winter vegetables, roast some beetroot with thyme and olive oil, buy some pumpkin and squash, and catch the freshest apples, straight off the trees.

Until next time,
Stay healthy,
Vikki.

Do you have any friends and family who could benefit from getting fitter and feeling better? If you do, then treat them to free copy of this newsletter, forward it to them, and get them to e-mail me with a request. E-mail getfitter@yahoo.co.uk subject: newsletter request. Would you like to bring health into the workplace? Get fitter now offers a corporate package, including yoga classes/courses, Nutrition seminars, conference breaks, Company Wellness days and Healthy Friday a monthly wellness event. Please visit www.corporatechill.com

Vikki Scovell BA(hons) PG DIP is a fully qualified Personal Trainer and Fitness Coach. She is a qualified Nutrition Adviser and runs successful Community Exercise classes. Vikki is a consultant in Healthy Eating and Exercise initiatives to schools in the independent sector and publishes School and General Healthy Living newsletters.

Weight Loss -- You Are What You Think!

This is a very SMART article and if you apply what you read here you will change your life forever! bonnie--

Most of us know and have heard the phrase, “You are what you eat”. However, is it possible that another phrase also applies? “You are what you THINK”. Yes, it is very possible that this phrase is also an accurate representation of how our perceptions and expectations affect our body and overall health.

We are just beginning to understand how the mind and our beliefs affect out body and how it responds to illness. However there is currently enough documented evidence to prove that the mind does in fact affect our body. The key behind all of these studies seems to be perception or expectation. Those individuals with positive perceptions of an event and positive expectations seem to create that reality while the same seems to be true of those with negative perceptions and expectations.

If we allow for this possibility then we must consider what it is we believe about ourselves and how we feel about the life we are leading. If we have a perception of ourselves and our life that is negative then it will tend to manifest itself eventually in one way or another. This often takes place with people who are unhappy with their life but yet afraid to make changes. When they do not take action the body itself seems to create an illness to bring about the change they seemed unable to do for themselves.

Deepak Chopra has spent numerous years studying this aspect of wellness and I highly recommend that anyone wanting to explore this field of research read his books. The book I have found most helpful is “Unconditional Life”. He gives many case studies of individuals who were affected either positively or negatively by their state of mind and the perceptions they had of their illness.

We owe to ourselves to be happy and to be hopeful and to expect the best out of life.

We owe it to ourselves to make the most of the time we are given.

We owe it to ourselves to do the things that we fear and take the steps we are afraid to take.

Life is about expansion and when we cease to expand we become stagnant and stagnation eventually brings about death. This usually happens in the inner life first and then it manifests in the physical life.

For example, someone begins to feel bored, apathetic and depressed about life and this will lead to a withdrawal from contact with other people and then soon thereafter the body itself will begin to manifest symptoms.

You must choose to be happy and to expect the best and to believe in miracles. A favorite quote is the following:



"Happiness is a way of travel - not a destination"
--Roy M. Goodman

This is something you should definitely keep in mind not only for the sake of your health but also for your entire experience of life. If you do not like your experience of life then perhaps it is time to change your point of view.

About the Author:
Ray Kelly is an Exercise Scientist with 15 years experience in the health and fitness industry. Sign up for his free 7 Day Weight Loss Course at Symptoms of Heart Attacks and Diabetes

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How Yoga Can Help You Reach Your Goals

Physical and mental mastery - that is Hatha Yoga - That is what you can gain with yoga

Part 2

At this point, let’s break down the major components of a typical Hatha Yoga session, and see how each one will enable you to reach your goals. There are nine main styles of Yoga in India, but most of the popular styles, outside of India, are variations of Hatha Yoga. Hatha Yoga classes tend, among other things, to emphasize physical mastery.

Asanas are the physical postures, but depending upon the class, the postures may be held for different durations, such as: A half breath (an exhale or inhale), a few breaths, or a few minutes. Some classes are very active, with flowing movement, heated studios up to 105 degrees Fahrenheit, and others are tranquil at around 70 degrees Fahrenheit, all year long.

So there is a style of Yoga for every person, and you should be aware of what you are getting into before you start. You should also be aware that the doors are not locked, and if 105 degrees is too much heat, it is your call.

This past summer, in Arizona, a number of people died, due to excessive heat. If your body temperature reaches 105 degrees, you could possibly have heat stroke. What is your natural climate like? Please know your temperature tolerance and know that people are different.

The Yoga postures release tension throughout your body, regardless of which style you choose. The added surge of endorphins, as a result of this exercise, is another benefit.

Pranayama, sometimes called the Yogic science of breathing, is cultivation of air - our most vital resource. Therefore, you can increase the amount of oxygen in your bloodstream without classic calisthenics, but when you combine it with the postures; you have a very powerful combination for stress relief.

Meditation is known for its stress management, focused concentration, and conscious relaxation benefits. In fact, there are so many meditation benefits, that after more than 2,000 studies, scientists still research for more.

How will all this help you achieve your goals? Simple: Once you are armed with the ability to relieve yourself from the burdens of stress, negative obstacles, and needless worrying, you then have the ability to prioritize and learn from your mistakes.

If you make a mistake, so does everyone else. Nobody is keeping track of your mistakes, except you. Everyone wants to be recognized, so grab every opportunity you can. Make sure you don’t forget to write your goals down and review them often. You will see them come to pass.

For more on yoga check out My Healthy Weightloss.com

Paul Jerard, is a co-owner/director of Yoga teacher training at Aura Wellness Center. He has been a certified Master Yoga teacher since 1995. He is a master instructor of martial arts. He teaches Yoga, martial arts, and fitness to children, adults, and seniors. Recently he wrote: Is Running a Yoga Business Right for You? For Yoga students, who may be considering a new career as a Yoga teacher. http://www.yoga-teacher-training.org

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/

Discover How Yoga Can Help You Reach Your Goals

The benifits of yoga are amazing and many more than most people realize. Its more than just your body that yoga works wonders on. See the article below and breathe deep. bonnie--

Part 1

Time is valuable and there are a number of successful methods for goal realization. Yoga will cross train your mind and body for maximum potential. Imagine being able to optimize your attitude in one hour, per day, or less. Every day, people attend Yoga classes for physical or mental health, and walk away with the tools, to be masters of their own destiny.

How is this possible? Regular attendance to Yoga classes, will result in a positive attitude adjustment for the student. Many of us walk around with a “perceived handicap.” We blame everything for our set backs and lack of opportunities. Society, your boss, and your family, are all easy targets to blame, for lack of opportunities.

It is true that age, financial status, gender, and ethnic background, are factors in success. However, these factors can all be overcome by working toward your goal on a daily basis, and taking life one-step-at- a-time. Remember, that if you think you situation is a disability, it will be.

How can Yoga do anything for you? For one thing, you will appreciate life to it’s fullest. You will stop wasting time, by letting daily opportunities go by. Many of us have opportunities, but we think it won’t work, we don’t have what it takes for success, or we lack the drive to carry a plan through.

Yoga and meditation teach you to supervise your mind. Your mind has been allowed to work against you. Much like a “back seat driver,” the mind is good at “second guessing,” fearing, doubting, and discouraging new ideas. The mind would prefer to stay in one place, and let the world go by. Leaving you in a deeper state of frustration, by worrying about making a mistake.

You have to cultivate a positive relationship with your mind, through practicing Yoga postures (asanas), breathing techniques (pranayama), and meditation. You can find all this, and much more, in your local Yoga class. All you have to do is make it a regular routine. Yoga classes are everywhere, from corporate health clubs to senior centers. Whether you practice before, or after, work is not important, and you will start to feel the mental benefits, right away.

Many Yoga students walk away from their first class feeling guilty, that it took so long to start. They anguish over the fact they procrastinated so long. However, the important part is to start and continue your Yoga practice.

There is also a common feeling of euphoria during and after Yoga classes. The group support, classroom atmosphere, and the endorphins, will make your day a much better one.

For more on yoga check out My Healthy Weightloss.com

Paul Jerard, is a co-owner/director of Yoga teacher training at Aura Wellness Center. He has been a certified Master Yoga teacher since 1995. He is a master instructor of martial arts. He teaches Yoga, martial arts, and fitness to children, adults, and seniors. Recently he wrote: Is Running a Yoga Business Right for You? For Yoga students, who may be considering a new career as a Yoga teacher. http://www.yoga-teacher-training.org

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/