3 Healthy Ways to Satisfy Your Cravings

Let’s face it – You don’t have to be pregnant to know what it’s like to crave salty potato chips or sweet ice cream. The fact of the matter is that everyone has a craving now and then. But did you know your cravings might actually mean something?

Usually, when we crave a certain food, it’s because our body is telling us it needs a specific nutrient. You can go ahead and give into that craving to satisfy your body, but it’s important to know why you are craving a certain food and then choose the healthier alternative. Your system, and your waistline, will thank you for choosing the healthy way out. Read the Rest of This Article »

Setting Your Mind for a Winter Weight Loss

5 Tips to Avoid Being a New Year Resolution Dropout

Every New Year, it never fails: people get a new spark of enthusiasm for embarking on a healthy course for the year. Gym memberships soar, health oriented websites surge in traffic, diet programs and pills are gobbled up like no tomorrow, and personal trainers don’t have enough hours in the day to see the new clients who’ve signed up for sessions.

Unfortunately, the enthusiasm rampant in the beginning of January wanes after a few weeks and before you know it, gyms have membership cancellations, websites see drops in traffic, McDonald’s gets back their customers, and personal trainers have a more manageable number of clients. This trend is as predictable as the ball dropping in Times Square on New Year’s Eve. Read the Rest of This Article »

The Top 10 Benefits of Meditation

Meditation has been used for hundreds of years by individuals seeking inner peace, enlightenment and a break from the everyday stressers of life. The practice is thought to benefit the mind, body and spirit in a multitude of ways. Below are the top 10 most significant positive effects of meditation: Read the Rest of This Article »

The Importance of Mindfulness

For many people, the word “meditation” conjures up images of a two-hour “om” session in a room filled with candles, the scent of patchouli wafting through the air. While it would be nice if we all had a couple hours to focus on ourselves, and an unlimited incense budget, for most of us that’s not remotely the case. If you’re like me, your time is filled with work and family and all of the other little things that make up a day. You don’t have two minutes to meditate, it seems, much less two hours. But by learning to make do with the opportunities that present themselves throughout the day, you can find a few nice meditative interludes to help get you through your schedule.

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How to Have A Difficult Conversation

Just recently, I did what I thought was near impossible.

I dropped a bomb on my parents.

In their mid-60s, both my parents are in the comfort zone of an alarming (or if it isn’t, it should be) statistic of the population that is overweight, which contributes to their being diabetic (Type 2), have high cholesterol and high blood pressure. Actually, the list is longer, but not nearly as long as their list of medications.

While my family has always encouraged and practiced a healthy amount of honesty, weight is such a sensitive topic that for years I just avoided discussing it. Read the Rest of This Article »

The Frugal Way to a Healthier Diet

One of the more compelling reasons for adopting a frugal lifestyle is, lets admit it, scarcity of resource. Whether it be an altruistic effort to preserve the resources of the planet or to get by on a smaller budget resulting from reduced income, frugality is rapidly becoming the norm rather than an option. Not only does frugal and simple living ease the burden on resources and income, but it is also a healthier and more ethical choice to exercise. One of the effects of adopting a frugal lifestyle a few years back dawned upon us recently as we realized that our eating had undergone a total revolution. We were eating healthier, eating a larger range of food, cooking different dishes, experimenting and trying out newer cuisines and preparations, using uncommon and exotic ingredients, and, hold your hats, spending less than we used to on groceries and provisions!

Here are some of the things that we were able to identify that made this change possible: Read the Rest of This Article »

How To Make Exercise a Great Part of Your Life

Are you exercising enough?

For most people, the answer to that question is “no” – especially at this time of year, during the holidays. Exercise might not feel like your top priority right now. But keeping active is crucial for good physical and mental health.

Even if you don’t need to lose weight, exercise is important. It will give you a greater sense of vitality: you’ll feel better in your body. You’ll see this in physical effects like greater flexibility, and mental ones like greater wellbeing. There is even evidence to suggest that depression is reduced dramatically by exercise.

There are two key types of exercise that you can do: Read the Rest of This Article »

Do Not Deprive Yourself: How to Eat Healthy For Life

Diets do not work. Period.

They often eliminate whole food groups (which is unhealthy and dangerous) or they eliminate your favorite foods (which makes them hard to stick to!)

You can’t live on a restrictive diet for the rest of your life. You need to create a diet that’s going to fit your lifestyle, not force yourself to adopt a whole new lifestyle for your diet. Read the Rest of This Article »

4 Steps To Sticking To Your Workout Plan

Why is it so difficult to lose weight when you have tried everything to make it happen?  Because like any habit, you slip back into familiar territory without realizing it or worse, you choose not to take responsibility for your decadent slips.

Now is the time for a wake-up call to get back on diet track.  For some persons all it takes is a weight scale to see those extra pounds and that is enough to take a serious second look at their diet plan. For others it might be that photo, taken at last week’s birthday bash that finally gets them over the edge to a new diet challenge.

Sticking to a diet plan requires a mind and body connection that motivates you to stay on track even when you don’t feel like it.  Self-monologue–stating positive self-affirmations is one way of telling yourself throughout the day how much portions to serve, how often to eat, and when to exercise–to keep your diet in check.  Try these 4 simple steps to move you closer to your goal: Read the Rest of This Article »

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