New Year New Me

It has been a while since I wrote my last article. During that period there has been a number of personal changes. The main one for me was relocating and changing jobs at the same time. This was the reason for the hiatus.However in relation to trying to maintain a balanced diet, and a healthy lifestyle, it became very difficult, and unfortunately led to consuming foods high in saturated fat and salt, but the main nutrient that I loved as well was sugar. I decided to make the change because i was on the bus journey home, and I was just so so tired, sluggish and fed up. I am not normally the type of person to feel that way, but it took me till that point to realise that something was wrong. The first agenda I had to address was the lack...

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Is Health Affected by Stress?

This may at first glance, seem a fairly obvious question with a fairly obvious answer that stress has an adverse or negative impact on an individual's health, either physically or mentally. Whilst this may seem true to most people, there is a slightly more underlying complex issue which concerns the nature of stress, its value as well as its detriment's, and why an understanding of the nature of stress and how it should be handled can have a major impact on an individual's health. It is a fairly recent understanding in the field of holistic medicine that stress can have an impact on an individual's health. Until fairly recently there was a belief that external factors had a relatively limited impact on an individual's health, and it...

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Yoga for Skeletal Health

The ancient practice of yoga, which dates back more than 5,000 years, improves skeletal health through skillful selection and consistent application of a variety of exercises. Yoga poses for skeletal health are chosen for their ability to improve posture, increase flexibility and relieve skeletal system tensions. Yoga assists in maintaining bone density. It also helps minerals that are stored in the bones, as well as the blood cells produced in bone marrow, to be released to the bloodstream for the body's use as needed. The Importance of a Healthy Skeletal System Human skeletons contain 206 bones. Joints connect the ends of some bones. Encapsulated synovial fluid provides lubrication to the adjoining bone ends to reduce friction. Ligaments...

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Music For Health and Healing

My exercise routine includes at least one day of dancing - moving my body in rhythm with music. I experimented with many videos and my favorite is the Zumba. When I first saw Zumba dancers I wondered why people got so excited in 1950s about Elvis Presley moving his hips. In a Zumba routine you gyrate and shake every part of your body. It is liberating and also fun. It is also a great way to keep fit and lose weight. Zumba is a Colombian dance fitness program created by dancer and choreographer Alberto "Beto" Perez in the 1990s. The legend has it that Beto forgot his normal aerobics tape one day for his class and he improvised using the tapes of salsa and merengue music which he happened to have in his bag. The class was such a success...

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Food to Boost Brain Power

You are what you eat. Fuel your brain with the right foods to boost mental stamina and improve memory and learning. Did you know that even though your brain is the body's command centre, it only accounts for about two percent of your total body weight? If you eat the right amount of calories to maintain your weight, about 20 percent of that energy is used to power up your grey matter. The brain comprises of billions of neurons which send and receive messages from the entire nervous system. Signals are passed from one neuron to the next and certain nutrients are needed to produce neurotransmitters which make the jump between the neurons. Serotonin, dopamine and acetylcholine are common neurotransmitters that can have a big impact on...

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Omega-3 Fats And Their Potential Life-Saving Health Payoffs

For your health, nothing is more important than the food you eat. This article serves as one of a countless number of others that reiterate this statement. In the case of this article, as the title says, it hones in on the wonderful health payoffs of omega-3 fats. Regular dietary intakes of omega-3 fats have many health payoffs. This includes the avoidance or reversal of a whole host of illnesses like: *Heart disease and related problems such as high blood pressure, a narrowing of arteries through plaque build up; irregular heart beats... deaths through myocardial infarction (heart attacks)... *Prevention of strokes *Cognitive learning disorders *Bipolar disorders like depression *Arthritis *Children having autism *Type-2 diabetes *Ischemic...

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How Does Protein Build Muscle?

Proteins come into existence when the protein-rich foods that we eat are digested and broken down into essential amino acids. These transformed amino acids eventually become super-charged proteins that replace damaged or overworked muscle and tissue throughout the body. Even if there is no damaged muscle from working out or lifting weights, protein must be eaten regularly to maintain a healthy level of amino acids throughout the human body. Essential amino acids are the key Of course they are much more critical to athletes, weight lifters, and others active individuals who require excessive muscle mass or function in certain areas of the body. In a nutshell, protein builds new muscle by repairing and strengthens existing muscle fibers...

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Foods To Eat For Staying Healthy

There is a widespread perception that excluding unhealthy foods from your diet is the way to healthy life but mostly people forget that healthy diet is not all about cutting what you should not eat but also its about including some foods which are beneficial for your health. There is a long list of foods which are excellent for improving our health and well-being and protect us from many diseases. In this article let us discuss about some of the foods which we must eat regularly to stay healthy. Nuts They are an excellent source of monounsaturated fats which are highly beneficial for our body. They help in reducing bad cholesterol and prevent heart diseases. Nuts are also an excellent source of protein and naturally contain antioxidants....

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Which Vitamins Do I Need?

Consuming healthy food items means to ingest almost everything, of course, reducing the oily and spicy items. The goal within this would be to acquire nutritional vitamins of several choices which are usually the answer to a great well-being. Obtaining dieting food dish abundant with nutritional vitamins enables you to be taking in a more healthy way, helps keeping you disease free and also helps make each day your day. Precisely what are the leading 5 vitamins you should look into meals and which food products are abundant with them? Let's understand. Vitamin A Without doubt it's vitamin A which constantly is going to be in number 1 in the listing of very best vitamin supplements. The reason is it's not only enriches your body but...

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How To Keep Elderly In Bed At Night

Each year more than 13 million seniors take a fall, and over half can't get back up without assistance. Many of those falls occur at night, when it is dark, and seniors are disoriented from lack of sleep. In order to keep elderly loved ones safe, it is important to keep them in bed at night. Serious injury, hospital stays, and other problems can arise if they wander at night. But what can caregivers do to help keep their elderly loved ones in bed at night? Address the needs. There are a variety of reasons a senior may get up at night, they may need to use the bathroom. They may need to get a drink. They may be uncomfortable and unable to sleep. They may be bored. If you can find ways to eliminate these causes, they will stay in their...

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The Right Way To Clean Your Water Bottles

We are using water bottles for our daily water drinking and we tend to reuse the same bottle over and over again. Do you know that if the water bottle is not cleaned property, bacteria may grow within the bottle and you may get bacterial infection? In this article, you are going to discover the right way to clean your water bottles... The first and the easiest way to clean your water bottle is by using warm and soapy water. All you need to do is to pour out all the remaining liquid inside the bottle, add in some dish-washing soap together with a little warm water, close the bottle and shake it. If you have a brush, you can use it to thoroughly clean the inner of the bottle as well. Rinse it with clean water after that. Make sure you...

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Yo-Yo Health Habits and How to Stop

We commonly hear about "yo-yo" dieting, but in fact people are tempted to approach many other health habits in that up and down style. What is yo-yoing? When you try dieting or getting healthy in an all or nothing fashion, then you're yo-yoing. These health habits feel great when you're on the upswing, successfully performing all the rules that you've set in place. Once you run out of motivation to practice health habits at such a stringent level, then you enter the yucky downswing of this practice. All the progress you made can seem to vanish overnight. How do you break this vicious cycle? Yo-yo habits place a burden on your body by not letting health settle into a steady rhythm. With so many ups and downs, the body doesn't feel...

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How Do I Get Vitamin C?

Commonly referred to as ascorbic acid, Vitamin C is not only the safest but also among the most effective nutrients you can ever introduce in your body. Vitamins generally play a vital role in the human body; helping in formation of various body tissues and preventing illnesses of course being top on the list. Much as this vitamin might not be the exact cure for common cold; even though it prevents a range of complications, its use comes with a plethora of benefits. The major benefits of Vitamin C include protecting the boy against any kind of immune system deficiencies, prenatal health complications, cardiovascular diseases, and skin wrinkling and eye disease. Over the past one century, the number of benefits linked to Vitamin C has...

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How to Be Your Own Personal Fitness Trainer

Losing weight is one area of people's lives that they struggle with. It takes discipline and months of hard work, it would be easier if we could all afford a personal trainer that would be with us every day, but we don't, so we have to become our own personal trainer. The concept of losing weight is simple, you need to lose the extra weight there are many ways to do it, one is to watch your calorie intake and then to exercise. Both of these things together are the way to lose weight. There are different exercises you can do, each one will benefit you, but if you don't like doing that particular type of exercise and don't do it, it's not going to help you at all. What you need to do is find an exercise that you enjoy doing and will continue...

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Top Foods to Battle Depression

There is no denying that food and mood are interconnected. If you are struggling with feeling down or are more irritable than you would like, then this is the time to think on what you are putting into your body - in terms of food and drinks. Several people in the world are suffering from depression on a regular basis. Although there are a lot of medications available in the market, sometimes, it is simply a matter of eating the right foods. Experts in nutrition say that eating can have a positive or negative effect on your mood over both the short and long term. The right diet will boost your brain, make you feel good and fight depression in a quickest possible time. In short, it will help you to start feeling happier and more energised....

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Clean Water Can Save Your Life!

Like any food product, fresh clean water has a shelf life. Bottled water in a 5 gallon jug sealed at the factory will last about 2 years. Like food, you should keep stored water air tight and in a dark, cool place to maximize shelf life... no air, no light, no heat. If you have water that is old or of an unknown condition, you have the following options that will purify it. 1. Boiling - heat water to a full boil for at least 1 minute to sterilize. (This method does not address any chemical pollutants or particulate matter.) 2. Add bleach. Known chemically as sodium hypochlorite, add 4 drops of regular chlorine bleach (unscented) per quart of water. Double that if dirty water. (Try to filter dirty water with a coffee filter first to...

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Apples, the Wonder Fruit

Consuming apples can bring marvelous wellness advantages that few other fruits can match. Apples were ranked 12th (red delicious) and 13th (Granny Smith) respectively for their high antioxidant concentrations per serving size by USDA scientists in 2004. The antioxidants aid to combat diseases by helping and fixing oxidation damages to cells. Below are a few other marvelous benefits from eating apples. 1. Protection Against Parkinson's.The high fiber in apples provides a particular length of defense against Parkinson's, a disease that damages the brain's dopamine-producing nerve cells. The antioxidants have free-radical fighting powers that assists the nerve cells. 2. Lessens the Chances of Certain Cancer cells.Based on the American...

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Eating To Enhance Performance

With the flood of low-carb diets out there, carbohydrates seem to have taken a back seat in nutritional importance to protein. This is actually a huge mistake for those looking to build muscle. Carbohydrates are the main fuel source for muscles during a strenuous workout. Carbohydrates are stored in the muscle's cells, and are depleted as the muscle-building workout progresses. Starting a workout without fueling your muscles with the proper amount and type of carbohydrates will cause you to tire quickly. Although carbohydrates are an important part of a pre-workout meal, all of them are not created equal. Simple carbohydrates are known as 'simple sugars' and are found in candy and many other processed foods. They provide your body...

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