Let’s face it. Depression is daunting, but so are some of its treatments. SSRIs, MAOIs, TCAs, SNRIs, nerve or magnetic stimulation, seizure therapy, and even neurosurgery are available to battle depression. For the most part, drugs and intensive medical therapies are only necessary for severe or persistent cases of depression that cannot be resolved in talk therapy or by means of other alternate therapies. If you have recently been diagnosed with depression, if you suffer from a mild form of depression, or if you would like to consider reducing your dependency on depression medications, talk to your doctor or therapist about natural, alternative treatments for depression.

In addition to psychotherapy, a variety of natural methods have been shown to reduce symptoms of depression and restore brain chemistry to appropriate function. Individuals with Seasonal Affective Disorder, newly diagnosed depression, or mild depression may benefit from using diet and exercise to manage depressive symptoms and avoid or reduce their use of medication for depression or other medical interventions for their illness.

Eat Foods that Reduce Symptoms of Depression

Mother Nature was no fool. A variety of delicious foods naturally provide brain stimulation to produce feel-good hormones, regulate mood, reduce anxiety, improve sleep, and boost concentration. Include at least one of the following foods (preferably more) in your diet every single day for the most noticeable effect on depressive symptoms.

Whole Grains. Oats and whole wheat are essential for providing energy to your brain. Without it, your glucose levels can sink and your system will feel tired. When your brain and cells are tired, you feel fatigued and irritable.

Spinach and Bananas and Orange Juice, Oh My! The vital ingredients for mood and health are at no shortage in these foods. The three power foods provide antioxidants that help prevent your brain cells from damage and fight off fatigue, vitamins and minerals that carry oxygen to your brain to help chemical reactions take place and improve sleep, and amino acids to release feel-good serotonin and help you manage stress.

Walnuts and Dark Chocolate. What a delicious combo of mood-boosting foods! Walnuts help prevent irritability, anxiety, and insomnia while dark chocolate helps your brain receive vital oxygen and may even increase levels of dopamine in the brain. The healthy fats they carry may also contain vital nutrients for brain health.

Milk and Eggs. That’s right, down-home farm food is down-right good for your brain. The vitamins and minerals in milk may help reduce anxiety and frustration, while the protein and nutrients in eggs (including the yolk) help improve memory and bump up the brain’s level of serotonin.

Turkey and Salmon. Poultry and fatty fish provide loads of essential nutrients for brain health. The amino acids found in animal cutlets like turkey and salmon help you manage stress, increase your motivation, reduce anxiety, and release serotonin and norepinephrine so that you start feeling relaxed and clear-headed.

Exercise to Beat Depression

Exercise is another natural way to keep symptoms of depression at bay – in fact, some research suggests it can be at least as effective as medication in treating mild depression. Because exercise stimulates the production of feel-good hormones, even getting out of breath for a short period of time helps your brain promote bodily relaxation and tranquility. For the best impact on symptoms of depression, exercise 3 times each week for about 30 minutes per session. More frequent sessions of shorter duration may also be effective. Thankfully, whatever type of exercise you do can be equally beneficial provided you get your heart rate up and your blood pumping. Try some of the following suggestions to find an exercise routine you enjoy, or create your own for variety.

Practice Yoga, Pilates, or Meditation. These exercises can be practiced at a variety of skill levels and have been demonstrated to significantly reduce stress, anxiety, and pain for numerous health conditions. All three can improve mood and sleep, tone muscles, and potentially help you mentally work through some of the emotional complications of depression.

Swim. Not only is water therapy used as its own treatment for depression, swimming is also considered an easy exercise option for those with little prior experience with exercise and those who have weight issues or joint pain.

Take Jogs or Walks. Running, speed walking, or just strolling around the neighborhood with your kids or dog can bring immense benefits in terms of mood regulation, stress relief, socialization, and anxiety reduction. Taking your activity outside is ideal in appropriate weather, but if your only option is a gym, work hard to meet friends to multiply the benefits of exercise by also engaging your social self.

Spend Time in Nature. Climb a tree, take a hike, go kayaking or pedal boating, garden, or take up a hobby (such as nature photography) that will get you out and about. Explore on foot or by paddle, chase your kids at the playground, or mow the lawn yourself to get the benefit of the great outdoors in addition to the boost your brain will get from working up a sweat.

Fight Depression Naturally

Diet and exercise are two of the healthiest and simplest ways available to treat mild or seasonal depression. Always follow the advice of a physician or licensed therapist when designing a treatment regimen for depression, but be sure to ask about trying natural lifestyle changes before or instead of medication. In many cases, eating well and being physically active can work wonders in rebalancing the brain and preventing depression from taking control of your life.

Katie Brind’Amour is a freelance health and wellness writer and Certified Health Education Specialist. She has a certificate in Mental Health First Aid and is pursuing her PhD in Health Services Management and Policy. In her spare time, she blogs about friendship and life in the not-so-fast lane. For more articles like these, visit Danae’s Corner.

Every single year most people get stuck in the same cycle regarding fitness. As the days grow shorter and colder we exercise less. When you add in holiday laziness and indulgence, along with an over abundance of delicious food, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out why so many of us start adding extra pounds.  So should you wait until spring to start losing weight or just look for ways to not add it during the winter?

An ounce of prevention

As Ben Franklin said, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” While I doubt he was talking about keeping a trim waistline, the saying is very accurate. It is extremely easy to gain excess weight and fat. Simply add a few extra helpings of dessert each week and watch those pounds add up. But conversely you have to burn 3500 calories of energy to lose a pound of fat. That equals 3 1/2 hours of hard cycling, over 4 hours of step aerobics, or 5 hours of jogging.

Where to start?

Psych yourself up for staying in shape! One of the more overlooked aspects of weight gain and weight loss is the proper mindset. If you aren’t focused on a particular goal then you won’t reach that goal. For staying in shape the easiest way to forge that focus is by placing attention firmly on your abdominals. Far too many people think the all-mighty scale is the best tool. They will agonize over every little pound. But honestly, a scale gives a raw number which does not consider how you actually look. Overwhelmingly when people consider being ‘in-shape’ they think of a trim midsection.

• Work out your abdominals every other day. Do it in the morning before breakfast.
• Before you get in the shower, take a good look at your stomach. Consider how it is now compared to how you want it to look.
• Use your morning visualizations and ab soreness as motivation during the day to eat right and avoid the bad foods.
• Always bring a water bottle with you and drink frequently.
• Find some sort of easy exercise to do a few times a week and stick to it. The goal is to offset any extra calories you might consume.
• Keep a picture with you of the type of shape you want to be in. Use it for motivation when a food craving hits.

Mind over body

People can accomplish any number of goals in life if they have the proper mind set. A focused attention can easily overcome obstacles. By looking at your midsection as a point of focal point and using that as your motivation, you can avoid the roller coaster weight gain most people go through over the winter months. Then when spring arrives you will be ready to hit the ground running for fun instead of spending all of those hours working off excess weight.

Nick Walden is a fellow fitness enthusiast who enjoys a healthy and active lifestyle while developing mind and intelligence.

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:

Home Cooking Only

Being pressed for time, a natural response was to either book a table or order home delivery. As we started watching our budget, one of the first things to go was the expense on eating out and ordering in, since it did come up to quite a bit once we looked at the whole month. The same thing had to be done for office and school lunches; packing them instead of buying at the cafeteria. While we did all we could to reinforce the value of the healthier home cooked food, it was not an easy habit to break, especially in the face of the seemingly tastier and more attractive commercial preparations, in addition to the bother of cooking when tired or late. However, as we practiced this habit for several weeks, we slowly found that we were beginning to dislike the commercial preparations, especially the fast food type of stuff. Our tastebuds had got used to the low sodium, low fat, and natural food flavors of home cooking, and revolted when we did eat out after a while. What surprised us was the fact that we never realized how salty and greasy the food was all these years!

Planning, Research and Strategy

We embarked on meal planning two years back, and it has paid off rich dividends. We make a weekly meal plan, which we mostly adhere to, making allowance for sudden changes, visitors, and food cravings! We use this to draw up our shopping list for provisions and groceries. Meal and menu planning helps to ensure that we are getting a good balance of all the essential nutrients and not missing out on anything. We keep time aside for auditing the pantry and stores and menu planning in our schedule in that order. This helps in using up ingredients that are creeping towards the use by dates and ingredients that are almost over before we get fresh supplies.

We try and shop strictly by our list and we visit the stores after a meal. Having a full stomach helps control impulsive purchases of food items. We look out for coupons, discounts and compare prices and ingredients. We have learned to go by price per unit weight rather than the number on the price tag. Buying larger packages of items often translates to lower cost. Challenge areas were herbs and spices, and we learned to come up with a basic set of spices that we would use and buy. Replacing dried herbs and dried spices with fresh variants either from the market or grown in the garden was one of the strategies we adopted. We also set up a collective buying plan for expensive spices that we really wanted in the kitchen like saffron and nutmeg, buying larger amounts at a lower price and sharing the cost and the spice with friends and family. We also studied pricing patterns at supermarkets and discovered that there are predictable discount patterns connected with time of day and day of week. These change from store to store, but the ground rule is that Wednesdays and Thursdays are lower priced as stores stock up midweek and are eager to let go of older inventories. Late evenings see discounts on perishables. Your will need to study your local store to figure out their discount pricing pattern.

Restaurant Style Cooking at Home

We built up a small repertoire of fancy restaurant style dishes using common and frugal ingredients that we would use when entertaining people. We took a few basic preparations, looked up different gourmet recipes and searched for images to get presentation ideas. Then we practiced them by cooking them often. This led to some wonderful meals as well as expertise and familiarity with preparing them. We also came up with a list of quick and easy to prepare emergency dishes and began practising them till we could do it in our sleep. These recipes are our saviors when we come home and are too tired or too lazy to do something elaborate.

The Social Aspect of Food

One of our greatest influences in our current eating and cooking has been the work of Michael Pollan. Apart from the health aspect of increasing plant foods and reducing animal products, his books have helped us understand that food is much more than mere fuel for the body. It is also fuel for the spirit and helps bind people together. We have started exploring the social ritual that cooking and eating really are. We cook as a family, allowing everyone to participate, from planning to shopping to cooking, and we frequently share our meals with friends and family. We take time to cook and take time to eat, rather than making mealtimes a rushed affair or a television dinner. Along with the financial impact of all the changes we have made, this helps us appreciate the gift of life, the gift of transmission of life through what we are eating, and the gift of people in our lives.

Google for Frugal Eating

There are many recipe tools on the internet that let you search for recipes based on ingredients. We use the recipes filter on the sidebar tools on Google Search since we find it the most useful. We have found unusual recipes from different cuisines using this tool. Apart from an ingredients option, it also allows you to filter results by the amount of time taken to prepare the dish.

There are a few other principles that we have adopted as part of our frugal but healthy eating plan that this article would be incomplete without. One of them is to buy vegetables by the colors. We try and include all the different colors of veggies since this ensures that all nutrients are covered for. We have also started exercising portion control and have eliminated wasting what we serve ourselves. And finally, we have started keeping leftovers in clear view in the refrigerator, to shelves, in front, and in the center. This makes sure that they get used up first rather than slowly drift to the back of the fridge only to be rediscovered and trashed.

This steps have helped us eat healthier, save money, enjoy our meals, come closer as a family, and appreciate food in a whole new way. Try them out yourself, and you will be amazed at how it impact the quality of your family’s life. Do remember to let me know how it turns out in the comments.

*******************************

Subhorup Dasgupta is a Hyderabad based writer and artist who blogs at Subho’s Jejune Diet about minimalism, frugality and ethical living. He believes that the present crisis of civilization can only be addressed by adopting value-based and sustainable lifestyle and devotes his time to help people achieve this.

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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:

• Strength-training
• Cardiovascular

When you do strength-training, your weight will be redistributed – giving you a more desirable shape. This happens through building muscles (and losing fat in other areas). For instance, if you’re a man, you will be able to broaden your shoulders by chest and shoulder exercises.

Cardiovascular exercise (like jogging or cycling) lowers cholesterol, reduces blood pressure, and improves your mood. It also helps you to lose fat, which reduces the size of your fat cells – helping your newly-defined muscles to show.

How You Can Find Time to Exercise

Exercise represents something that’s important but not necessarily urgent. If you don’t exercise, it won’t normally cause problems right away – but over time, it can lead to serious illness.

It’s essential to force important-but-not-urgent items into your schedule. That might mean you exercise:

• First thing in the morning
• Immediately when you get home
• During your lunch hour or another scheduled break

Build exercise into the rhythm of your life until it becomes a habit.

About three weeks ago, I took a cruise from Boston to Halifax to Maine. Along with a friend, I went to the gym every single day. Despite eating very rich meals (and even partaking in a chocolate buffet!) I came back without having gained a single pound, because I’d kept up my exercise routine.

Use Your Body

Instead of thinking about “exercise”, think of how you can “use your body”. You could:

• Take the stairs instead of the elevator
• Park at the far end of the car park
• Do some yoga before work
• Take a five-minute walk to clear your mind

… anything that keeps you active.

If you can, work on your goal as part of a community, perhaps alongside colleagues. Many offices will have a weight-loss challenges and regular weigh-ins together. They may even have a personal trainer come in a couple of days a week and run exercise classes at work.

Don’t wait until the New Year to start being more active. Begin today.

Bio: Barry Demp is a business and personal coach in Michigan. He writes about professional and personal development on his website – click here to read his Four Simple Tips for Healthy Eating During the Holidays.

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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.

You can eat chocolate, ice cream, pizza, etc … and still lose weight.

It’s all about moderation and watching portion sizes. If you eat half a gallon of ice cream at a sitting, you will gain weight; if you eat half a cup, you’ll still be satisfied – but you won’t gain weight.

Taking Small Steps Toward Healthier Eating

Do not try to go cold turkey and cut out everything that you consider “bad”. Instead, make gradual changes.

1. Start out by eating smaller portions, period. Take three or four fewer bites; gradually work down to a half-cup instead of a two-cup serving of ice-cream.
2. Measure your portion into a (small) dish instead of eating out of a bag of chips or box of cookies –a cup or half cup dish is a good size. If you need to, take a measuring cup or use scales to work out exactly what you’re eating. The worst thing you can do is to eat directly from the bag or the box of cookies or tub of ice-cream.
3. Out of sight, out of mind! Put food containers away once you’ve got your serving.
4. Experiment to find out what works for you. Many people find that individual servings help them to control their portion sizes – but some may find that they prefer to buy one large container and weigh out the portions themselves.
5. Use a food diary to record what you’re eating: this helps you to learn what works for you and what doesn’t.

Eating Out – And Eating Healthy

When you’re eating out, you can make your meal much healthier by:

• Asking for sauces or dressings on the side.
• Asking for a smaller portion – or get a “to-go” box straight away and put half the meal into it.
• Sharing an entree with a partner.
• Avoiding eating lots of free bread.

Decide what the most important part of the meal is, to you. If you love the cheesecake but aren’t fussed about fries, leave the fries. If you want dessert, have it, but have a small portion or share.

Enjoying Treats

Practice moderation rather than deprivation. If there’s a birthday cake in the office, have a small portion: allow yourself a taste of it. That’s not going to kill you or add a dress size.

If you struggle to eat healthy at work, bring your own snacks so that you’ve got a treat that you’re controlling. Simply trying to resist can cause more problems: you’re more likely to give up on your diet.

Don’t tell yourself that something is forbidden: you only make it more desirable.

Make conscious choices about what you will and won’t eat. If you only have homemade fudge at Christmas-time, then eat it and enjoy it – but don’t indulge in all the other foods that you can have year-round, like chocolates and chips.

Ditch the diet, stop depriving yourself, and start eating in a sustainable, healthy and enjoyable way instead.

Patricia Setzer is the author of How to Eat Healthy for Life (Without Giving Up the Foods You Love), available in ebook form for just $9.99. You can click here to find out all about it here.

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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:

Step 1:  Tell Yourself You Are Worth It

Who else is going to tell you every moment of the day that you are worth it!  You have your own personal coach – your conscious mind—uplifting you to achieve the best for yourself.  Replace your old self-monologue with a new positive self-talk—and when doubt tries to thwart your efforts, repeat a positive affirmation such as– “I will achieve my goal, I am determined, and deserving; I refuse to fail.”

Step 2: Setting Realistic Goals

If you intend to reach your goals set the rules then write them down.  Setting goals and working toward reaching them is essential in creating self-fulfillment. Add words of daily encouragement and direction by telling yourself you are worth it in different ways, written within your rules.

Keeping a food diary is a must if you are to honestly assess the amount of calories you consume.  Remember you need to burn more calories than you put in, therefore ensure that your exercise is sufficient and lasts a minimum of 30 minutes each workout.

Step 3:  Choose An Exercise You Enjoy

Find out which exercise will increase your determination to stay with your regimen.  If Pilates, aerobics, kick-boxing, or elliptical training is more your style, get into the program.  Otherwise continue reprogramming your conscious mind with self-assurances to stay on your path to achieving goals, regardless of the exercise.  Building lean muscle mass by toning your body and reducing fat intake will have you burning calories even while you sleep.

You can do it!

Step 4:  Indulge Sensibly in Healthy Snacks

Do not deprive yourself of snacks because you are dieting.  In fact, snacking is an important part of any diet. It keeps your metabolism revved up and ready to burn.  Aim for 2 ½ hours between main meals to have your snacks. Choose snacks sensibly, watch out for portions, and continue your calorie count.  Great snack ideas include:

• A handful of your favorite nuts [throw in some raisins for added delight]
• Wedged cheese with fruit or wheat crackers
• Dark chocolate – 2 or 3 squares [not milk chocolate]
• Salad with vinaigrette dressing

Those of us who can give ourselves the extra benefit of self-assurance and self-motivation— are able to override fears–they become mentally astute to assume any challenge and make it happen. Don’t wait on someone or something to motivate you, that time may never come! You can empower yourself to do whatever you choose. Re-program your attitude to believing that you can…for if it is to be done, it’s entirely up to you!

Karen C. Ashley is a freelance writer http://about.me/karencareyashley who is passionate about providing insightful, meaningful, thought-provoking topics on health and wellness that satisfies her readers.  For more info: http://wellnesssultana.blogspot.com

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Do you struggle to eat healthy?

If you’re like most people, you probably give in to the temptation of ice cream, chips, cookies and fast food more often than you’d like.

After you give in to those temptations, you feel guilty. So you eat healthy for a few days—maybe a week, even. Then your self-control lets you down again and you finish a whole pint of Ben & Jerry’s in one sitting.

The cycle repeats itself. I’m guessing that you can relate at least partially to this?

For me, my weakness is dessert. I could eat dessert at every meal, every day. Chocolates, cakes, puddings, brownies—you name the dessert and I’ll eat it.

I’ve since won my epic battle with desserts, so I’d like to share with you what I’ve learned.

The Root Cause

The root cause of our lack of discipline when it comes to food is this: We associate food with our emotional state.

Feeling happy? It’s time for delicious food. Feeling sad? It’s time for even more delicious food.

Whether it’s time to celebrate or time to grieve, we find a reason to eat. If you want to take complete control over your eating habits, you need to create some distance between your diet and your emotions.

Once you do this, eating right will no longer pose such a daunting challenge to you.

I’ve discovered the three key decisions you have to make if you want to establish this emotional separation:

1. Decide to be normal, not average.

It’s average to eat a lot of junk food, to be overweight, and to be at risk for diabetes and heart disease.

But is that normal? No!

It’s normal to eat right, to be lean, and not to have any chronic health problems.

All of us want to be normal. We just need to raise our standards of what we consider normal. Don’t let the people around you tell you what “normal” is.

“Average” is relative. “Normal” isn’t. Don’t confuse what is average with what is normal. That’s the first step to overcoming your unhealthy eating habits.

2. Decide that your diet is a mini-representation of your life.

Whenever you put food into your mouth, you’re either getting stronger and healthier, or weaker and flabbier. There’s very little middle ground.

Eat broccoli and chicken breast, and you’re becoming stronger. Eat pizza and Doritos, and you’re becoming weaker.

In a similar way, whenever you choose to spend your time in a certain way, you’re either growing as an individual or you’re regressing.

When you attend an educational seminar, you’re learning and growing. But when you spend an entire afternoon reading a trashy magazine, you’re regressing.

Once you start seeing the food you eat as a mini-representation of your life, your dietary habits take on new meaning and significance. Food isn’t just food anymore. It’s a tool you can use to grow as a person.

When you eat healthy, you’re choosing to become more disciplined and focused. You’re choosing to become a person of greater character.

Start thinking about food this way and I guarantee that you’ll find it easier to eat right.

3. Decide that you want health more than you want pleasure.

If you want to change your behavior, it boils down to desire. Which do you desire more: the long-term health benefits of eating right, or the temporary pleasure of eating junk food?

It’s more effective to focus on increasing your desire for health, rather than on decreasing your desire for pleasure.

To make eating healthy more appealing, I invite you to answer the following questions:

• Do you want to have a good quality of life, especially in old age?
• Do you want to feel more energetic?
• Do you want to lose body fat?
• Do you want to fall sick less often?
• Do you want to avoid suffering from chronic health problems?

I’m sure you answered “yes” to all of those questions.

We’re driven by our desires. Cultivate a burning desire to be healthy, and you won’t have a problem saying “no” to unhealthy food.

–

I didn’t write this post for your information. I wrote it for your action.

Will you make these three simple decisions today and take charge of your unhealthy eating habits?

Daniel Wong is passionate about helping young adults to maximize their education, career and life. He is the author of The Happy Student, which will be published by Morgan James Publishing by early 2012. You can read his blog at Living Large and find him on Twitter.

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Recently I wrote about how you can start closing the gap between the life you are living and your best life . . . but I received some reader complaints. Desire to live their Miracle Question life? Check. Ideas and solutions to start closing the gap? Check. Energy to get their plan (and butt) into action? Not so much. And this is a valuable lesson. Inspiration and desire are only part of what is needed to close the gap, which is why desire + diet is the formula for success. Without physical and mental energy, it’s impossible to put the plan into action. This is why feeling good, having energy, and being healthy are so critical to living your best life.

So, how healthy are you? Jumping on the scale can give you some indication. Analyzing your body fat percentage is another option. Maybe calculating your body mass index (BMI). Getting your blood work done and looking at cholesterol levels. You could also check your blood pressure. These are all decent methods to try to answer the question, “How healthy am I?” And this is a question I’ve been asking myself for some time — often while chugging down a thick green nutrition shake. Is this stuff really working? If there was an inverse relationship between taste and nutritional value, I should be pretty damn healthy, but who knows? I sure didn’t.

But all of that changed a few days ago . . .

Let me take you back a few years first. In 2008 I read the very funny and informative book, Skinny Bitch, and it changed my life. After finishing the last page of the book, I became a vegetarian. No hamburgers. No turkey. No chicken. No pork. And most traumatically, no more Double-Doubles from In N’ Out Burger. Then after reading the China Study and earlier this year reading Kathy Freston’s Veganist, I made the leap to a vegan diet. No pizza. No ice cream. No yogurt. No whey.

So what do I eat? I drink several green protein shakes a day, wheat grass, Resveratrol, Acai berry juice, and eat baby carrots like they are a bag of Lay’s potato chips, raw protein bars, salads, quinoa, and did I mention thick green shakes?

Here’s what I’ve discovered . . . I’ve NEVER felt better in my life. I have tons of physical and mental energy. I’ve lost a significant percentage of body fat, and now I never have digestion problems (goodbye Tums). In short, I feel fantastic, and while that doesn’t exactly answer the question “How healthy am I?” — now I know that I am!

While visiting a local Rancho Santa Margarita vegan shop, I had my carotenoid antioxidant levels measured with a nifty skin scanner that claims to “prove the effectiveness of your supplements in improving your overall antioxidant health.” I have no idea what this means, but Dr. Oz featured the scanner on his show so it must be good. It basically measures the amount of cancer-fighting antioxidants in your body.

The painless scan takes 90 seconds, so during this time the women told me that there are five levels: red (worst), orange, yellow, green, and blue (best). She said most people score in the orange range and that less than 1% of the American population is in the blue category. I spent about 80 of those 90 seconds professing — no, demanding — that I would score in the blue category. If I didn’t my whole nutritional world would have come crashing down. Well, 90 seconds later, I got my blue score. Needless to say, she was surprised. In fact, she had tested so many people and so few had scored blue, she gave me a blue shirt and took my picture for their wall of fame.

So, I left with a shirt, but more importantly, I left with more self-respect and redemption. This stuff really does work.

If you want more physical and mental energy so you can get the most out of life, first focus on what you put in your body. Trust me . . . being blue never felt so good.

Are you ready to create more money, time, energy, and passion in your life? Learn how to live your best life now with these free resources:

Get the “Achieving Peak Performance” ebook and video now! (free for a limited time)

You can also join a community of passionate people at Richer Life who want to achieve more in life and at work. With your free membership, you can participate in conversations I have with experts, celebrities, authors, and thought leaders that are laser-focused on practical ways to drive more money, motivation, and meaning into your life. Take the first step toward creating a better life by joining Richer Life for free now!

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You’ve probably heard that certain foods can help your memory improve, and will allow you to think with better clarity.

“But what foods are actually considered brain foods?” you may ask.

Believe it or not, there are a copious amount of foods that protect your brain, improving how good it’ll work, and can even generate new brain cells.

Yes, you read it right… new brain cells! You can still generate new brain cells–even when you’re an adult. A common myth recently espoused that brain cells quit occurring once you’ve reached adulthood, but reputable and prolific new research has debunked this myth. Regardless of how old you are, you can make new brain cells.

Keep in mind that all cells need nutrients to continue their growth. This means your brain needs foods that will give it the building blocks it needs to work right. When you have more neurons and connections within your brain, it means you have a stronger memory and your mind can work better.

Keep your life’s memories alive longer, and sharper than ever, with these six foods that will help keep your brain whole and healthy:

1 – Build Your Brain: Healthy Fats

The majority of the cell structure in the brain consists of healthy fats, including the most important healthy fats, called Omega-3 fatty acids. As the brain continues to fix itself and grow additional neurons, it needs a good amount of Omega-3s to be consumed.

The best food sources to get your Omega-3 from, in order of importance, are:

• Salmon
• Albacore tuna
• Flaxseed oil
• Canola oil
• Walnuts
• Wheatgerm
• Eggs

2 – Protect Your Brain: Antioxidants

As people get older, substances called free radicals, which are floating through the bloodstream, will break down the brain cells. If you don’t put up a fight, you’ll experience loss of memory as you age. However, there are a good deal of antioxidant food sources to choose from. Antioxidants will merge with these free radicals, turning them harmless. Make sure you eat foods that have this healthy food source. Several good sources of antioxidants include:

• Blueberries (other berries too)
• Broccoli
• Carrots
• Garlic
• Red grapes
• Spinach
• Soy
• Tea
• Tomatoes
• Whole grains

3 – Spark Your Brain: High Tyrosine Proteins

Your brain doesn’t just have neurons, but also neurotransmitters, which are messengers that bring brain signals from one neuron to the next one. Your brain structure might be good, but if your neurotransmitters are insufficient, your brain won’t work right. Some parts of the neurotransmitters, like the tryptophan, are not able to be made by your body. Thus, you must consume food to get them. However, the body can make tyrosine, but you still need to get the proper foods into your diet.

The greatest sources of food to boost your alertness, concentration, and energy are:

• Dairy products
• Eggs
• Seafood
• Soy

Don’t sabotage yourself, though. Rather, choose the varieties that are low in salt and unhealthy fats.

4 – Hydrate Your Brain: Water

You already know that your body is made mostly of water. And you also know how easy it is to not consume much water and become dehydrated. Even a mild case of dehydration can reduce your mental energy and capacity, causing your memory to become impaired. You should drink at least four liters of water each day, or six to eight 8-ounce glasses.

5 – Brain Building Blocks: Vitamins & Minerals

There are certain kinds of vitamins and minerals that are necessary building blocks for your brain. Of course, you don’t want to become vitamin deficient. So the vitamins and minerals very important to brain functions include:

• Vit. B6
• Vit. B12
• Vit. C
• Iron
• Calcium

Deficiencies of the above have been shown to cause learning impairment.

But remember, there are many other nutrients you need, especially micronutrients, that are best found in food. The easiest way to get all your vitamins and minerals every day is to take a multivitamin. Yet it’s hard to find any one multi-vitamin that contains all your micronutrients, so don’t rely on multi-vitamins alone. And never take your vitamins on an empty stomach. No only does doing so often cause you to have an upset stomach, but taking them with food helps the digestive system better assimilate the, so your body (and brain) can better use them.

6 – Regulate Your Fuel Supply: Fiber

Most people don’t realize that fiber is important to the brain, but it’s extremely important. It can help with your brain functions because it can slow down sugar absorption. Your brain works on 100 percent sugar; however, it needs to be delivered steadily and in the proper amounts so as not to overload your brain.

True, fiber in itself might not be considered ‘food,’ but you often get it through foods. Consuming a fiber-rich diet will slow down digestion and gradually release the sugar into your bloodstream.

Foods that contain a good dose of fiber include:

• Dried fruits – apricots, dates, prunes, raisins
• Vegetables – broccoli, green peas, spinach
• Peas and beans – black-eyed peas, kidney beans, lima beans
• Nuts and seeds – almonds and flaxseed
• Whole fruit – avocadoes, kiwi, oranges, pears and skin-on apples
• Whole wheat grains – barley, brown rice, etc.

That’s it! If you’re looking to improve your memory, consuming the foods above will help you. And remember, steer clear of a high-sugar, high fat diet to help keep your brain as healthy possible as you age.

Sera Filson is a health enthusiast and professional student (currently pursing a B.A. in Business Management) who enjoys reading about body contouring and being a fan of Sono Bello on LinkedIn and Sono Bello on Indeed.com.

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Do you want to lose a few pounds – or a few dozen?

Many of us do: in fact, over 60% of Americans are overweight (and other developed nations are catching up fast). You’d think that all the diet pills, diet foods, diet books and diet plans would help. Unfortunately, they don’t seem to be doing much good.

I’ve got a long history with dieting: I was overweight as a teen, and I still have to pay close attention to my weight to stop it creeping back up. (I blame a combination of genetics, a mild medical condition, and a fondness for chocolate…)

Over the years, though, I’ve learnt about a few tricks that really help. If you give these a go, you’ll find that you can lose weight without having to eat a restrictive diet and without spending hours trying to resist the siren call of that ice-cream tub in your freezer…

#1: Keep Junk Food Out of the House

However strong your willpower might be at 8am, there’s a good chance that at 8pm, you’re going to be delving into the cookie jar.

If you’ve got high-calorie snacks and treats in the house, it’s all too easy to weaken and eat them. But if you don’t buy them in the first place, you’ll find it much easier to resist your inner Cookie Monster – you’re probably not going to be craving junk so badly that you make an extra trip to the store.

#2: Record What You Eat

Studies have shown that keeping a food diary doubles participants’ weight loss – and it even helps people lose weight without them even trying to diet.

Why are food diaries so powerful? Well, they let you see your eating habits in black and white (and they can give you a few nasty surprises). Plus, the act of recording everything you eat makes you more conscious about it – you’ll pause for a moment, rather than scoffing that candy bar without a second thought.

#3: Weigh Yourself Weekly

I always know that I’m getting into bad habits when I start avoiding weighing myself…

By stepping on the scales every week, you’ll be able to see when you’re making progress (which is really encouraging). Or, if things haven’t gone so well, you’ll find it harder to remain in denial. If you know that you’ll be weighing in each week, it’s easier to stay on track day-by-day – especially if you’re going to a group like Weight Watchers, or posting your weekly weight on Facebook.

#4: Find Exercise That You Enjoy

Maybe you think you hate exercise – but that’s almost certainly not true. What most people hate is some particular type of activity, perhaps because it brings back unpleasant memories of sports at school.

There are so many different ways to move your body and get active, and you can find something which you look forward to doing. How about walking, cycling, rowing or swimming? Or, if you’re more adventurous, fencing, martial arts, trampolining …

#5: Use a Smaller Plate

This sounds like such a silly trick that it won’t work – but it really does. If you use a smaller plate (or bowl, etc) for every meal, you’ll eat less.

Most of us tend to fill our plates – and then we eat what’s in front of us. Researchers have found that this happens even when the food isn’t particularly enjoyable: in a study run by Cornell University, students supplied with large tubs of free (but stale) popcorn ate more than those given smaller tubs.

#6: Incorporate Walking Into Your Day

Whatever your fitness level and circumstances, you can probably walk for at least a block or two. Walking is a great way to sneak in some extra exercise – you don’t need any special gear, you won’t get sweaty, and you can use your walk to accomplish something useful (like going to the grocery store).

If you work at a computer, try taking a five minute break every hour to walk around. (Over an eight hour day, that adds up to forty minutes of walking.) This won’t just help you lose weight – it’ll also help to prevent health problems associated with sitting in one position staring at a screen.

So, six clever little tricks to help you lose weight without putting in much effort at all. Give one – or more – of them a try, today.

Do you have any sneaky tricks to add? Share them with us in the comments.

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