Taking a Chance on Healthy Living!

One of the most important aspects of living a healthy and prosperous life is understanding "risk." By this I mean knowing how to understand and analyze situations in life that affect health. Being able to accurately weigh benefits and risks when making health decisions is very important! Too often decisions are based on incomplete or inaccurate information and this is a huge mistake with significant consequences!
Failure to accurately assess risk keeps people locked in all kinds of unhealthy situations including poor eating and exercise habits (lifestyle), relationships and jobs. Sometimes people are just afraid to step out and make a change. They see "risk" in making a change when the REAL risk comes from NOT making a change. From my perspective, living with the stress, unhappiness and frustration of indecision and poor health is the greatest risk of all, and one that is definitely not worth taking!
Accessing "risk" is nothing more than collecting information, weighing the alternatives and then making appropriate decisions based on the information.
Some risks to our health are more "real" than others. For example, it is common knowledge that obesity is associated with a wide variety of health problems. On the other hand, there are some health risks that are so remote we rarely think about them. On a practical level, eating highly processed foods and avoiding a daily dose of fresh fruits and vegetables is rarely considered serious. But, as too many have already discovered, the long range consequences of this practice are real and devastating.
Failure to accurately assess risk limits us in many ways. We imagine the "risk" of talking with our children about drugs, dating or sex and we put off having the "talk," even though the risks of NOT talking are infinitely greater. Fear of flying and public speaking are two more "risks" affecting millions of people. But practically speaking, these fears are unfounded. People ride in cars every day, even though cars are far more dangerous than commercial aircraft! It's a failure to accurately assess risk, and it limits our health, prosperity and pleasure in life.
The goods news is that failure to accurately access risk is reversible! The effects of those decisions to eat inappropriately or NOT to exercise are, as the common expression goes, "do-overs." We can effect positive change in our lives by following a few simple steps to accurately access risk:
1. Accurately define your present situation and access your health "risks". Are you eating a healthy diet? Are you getting enough exercise and good quality sleep? What are the consequences if you DON'T change? Weigh the benefits of healthier living vs the potential risks such as increased cost, inconvenience or discomfort.
2. What do you stand to gain if you change your present circumstances? Assess the "up-side" potential. Too often we look only at the "downside" risk and forget the benefits. What good things might happen if you take the risk and win?
3. Limit the "down-side" if you happen to make a wrong decision. Don't continue down a path if it does not produce results. This is especially important when following weight loss programs. If the pounds are not coming off or if the weight loss is only temporary, find a new program! You not only want to lose weight, but want to sustain the weight loss for as long as possible. Take steps to ensure this will happen. Clear, concise, realistic objectives will definitely help.
4. Reduce your risk by being smart! Understand the situation and seek the advice of experts in the field of health and nutrition. This includes finding and forming partnerships to receive support and get good advice.
5. Have a fall-back position. If the decision you make fails to produce the desired results, be prepared to take a long, hard look at the circumstances and be prepared to change what you are doing.
Everything in life involves some element of risk. Driving your car, meeting someone new, crossing the street...but we do them every day. Winners in life are willing to accept the risk and continue on their way! Get involved, be smart about how you play the game, come prepared for a few failures along the way, but don't quite. You will reap the benefits for your effort and live a happier and healthier life. I like to remember the words of the great Winston Churchill when he said, "Never, never, never give up!"
Author Bio
For more health articles and zyprexa side effect information go to: effects-side-zyprexa.com

Continue Reading »

Hair Loss Remedies for Men and Women

Regardless of your age, you need to be concerned about your hair. The appearance and quantity of hair that you have is a reflection of your internal health. You can use natural hair loss remedies to save your hair.
Of course, when you are young you have plenty of hair. But, there are even some of you at an early age, twenties, start to lose your hair.

The appearance and quantity of hair that you have is a reflection of your internal health.

Aside from a having a serious illness, your hair loss is affected by scalp cleanliness, stress, diet, and excess DHT. Knowing this, you can check out many hair loss remedies available to you.
Scalp cleanliness
If you have dandruff, you need to get rid of it. Dandruff can be a source of hair loss when it combines with dirt, shampoo chemicals, excess sebum follicle oil. Over time this combination of chemicals can create a film on your scalp that hardens and start to plug up your hair follicles. Once plugged, your follicles can't support hair growth.
Dandruff can be caused by excess stress, dry scalp, or chemical irritations. Look to see if you have excess stress in your life and find a way to reduce it. Chemical irritations can come from the shampoos that you are using.
Look for shampoos and conditioners that have natural ingredients. Start moving away from those hair products that have so many petrochemicals and dyes. Petrochemicals are those ingredients that you are not familiar with on the ingredient label - propylene glycol, phenoxyethanol, methylparaben, ethylparaben, propylparaben, butylparaben, and FD&C colorings.
Stress
Stress is a major contributors to many illnesses. It can also be the main reason you can experience loss of hair. Many years I was under a lot of stress at my new job. During the first 3 month there I experience excessive hair loss on the top of my head.
When you have hair loss due to stress, you can recover this hair if you take action right away. First look at your high stress level and start reducing it. Next, start supplementing your diet with a good hair loss nutritional supplement.

Diet
What you eat feeds your body. The type of body you have is based on what you eat. If you do not provide enough nutrients to your body, you hair will not receive enough nutrients to grow and be healthy. Your hair is last in line for the nutrient you supply your body. One way to improve your diet is eat more fruits in the morning and more vegetable for lunch and dinner. You can consider eating natural food hair loss remedies.
DHT (di-hydro-testosterone)
When excessive amounts of testosterone are converted to DHT by the enzyme 5 alpha reductase, this DHT accumulates at the hair root where it blocks blood circulation to that hair follicle. This decrease in blood to the hair root weakens it and it loses its health.
DHT also accumulates in the follicle and starts to plug it, thus further inactivating this hair follicle. The result is your hair start to thin out.
For women, DHT formation is not a major activity until menopause. Before menopause, estrogen blocks the formation of DHT. When estrogen decreases after menopause, DHT starts to form causing hair loss in women.
There are now shampoos that help to clean off accumulated DHT from the scalp and from within the hair follicles. Use them to stop hair loss and to recover some of the hair follicles that are still alive.
There are also some pills that block the formation of DHT in the blood, but I don't recommend them since it is not known what the longer term effects are of this blocking.
Go to google to find out more about DHT (di-hydro-testosterone) shampoos.
Author Bio
Rudy Silva is a nutritionist that writes about different health issues using natural remedies. For more tips on saving your hair go to: www.hair-loss-remedies.for--you.info, www.stophairloss-now.com and at www.hairlossinwomen.for--you.com

Continue Reading »

20 Minute Home Work Out

If you are busy, not able to get up early morning or have no time for gym just follow this 20 minute home work out to stay healthy and fit.

1) Jog : in one place for 3 minutes

2) Jumping jacks: 25 repeats
When landing, bend your knees slightly to reduce the impact on knee joints.

3) Crunches : 15 repeats
Lie flat on your back with your knees bent. Place your hands behind your head with elbows pointing outwards. Support your neck with your hands. Keep your neck in a straight line with your spine. Flex your waist to raise the upper torso from the mat. Lower yourself until the back of your shoulders touches the mat.
Muscle worked: rectus abdominis

4) Hip Bridges : 10 repeats
Lie on your back. With your hands at a 90 degree angle to the floor, lift your body off the floor to form a straight line, a sort of a bridge, from the shoulders to the knee. The position should resemble a table. Your hands and legs as the legs of the table and your upper body to your knees as the surface. Hold this position for two seconds. Squeeze your gluteus (butt muscles) and then lower yourself.
Muscle worked: Lower back, hamstrings and gluteus.

5) Step - up's : 1 minute
You will need a stepper for this.
Muscle worked: hamstrings, gluteus, quards.

6) Reverse crunches: 15 repeats
Lie on your back with your hands on your sides. Keep you knees bent. Bring your knees towards your head, till your hips come slightly off the floor. Hold this position for a second, and then lower your knees.
Muscle worked: lower abs and obliques.

7) Mountain climbers : 1 minute
Get your hands and knees and raise your knees like a starting block sprinter. Run in that position, supporting your upper body with the palms of your hands. Keep your back straight.
Muscle worked: triceps, deltoid muscle, gluteus, quards, hamstrings, calves.

8) Push - ups : 15 repeats
Muscle worked: triceps, deltoids, pectorals.

9) Squat thrusts: 1 minute
Stand straight. Now, drop to a crouch position. Immediately thrust your legs out straight behind on your toes, in push up position, now jump to pull legs back to the chest, in crouching position , then stand up straight,
Muscle worked: arms, legs, chest, and lower back.

Cool down by walking around, till your heart rate starts getting back to normal, stretch.

A minutes rest is needed in between exercise. Proper form is important. Do not hold breath. Sip water during the workout. This workout targets the whole body, improves cardiovascular efficiency and tones and strengthens the body.
Author Bio
Diana for http://www.health-care-information.org Offers information on various health topics such as diseases, injuries, and medical tests.

Continue Reading »

The Stone Age Diet Solution

The dietary habits adopted by developed countries over the last centuries are largely responsible for many of the chronic diseases that are now commonplace in Western society.

Diseases such as coronary heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, and cancer of the colon are virtually unheard of among the few hunter-gatherer populations still remaining in the world.

The stone age diet is based on the foods that our hunter-gatherer ancestors would have eaten before they became farmers.

Even over the last fifty years, our food has drastically changed. Where once our food was made up of simple, natural foods with minimal added ingredients, our food now contains a multitude of different ingredients.

Often it can be hard to even find modern-day food that does not contain some form of milk or wheat, which are common triggers in food allergies, and this leads to people eating the same ingredients every day and often at every single meal.

The stone age diet is nutritionally balanced and a very low allergen diet ideal for people who suffer from food allergies or food related ailments.

The foods you can eat on the stone age diet should be from natural sources and include items such as fruit (except citrus), fresh fruit juices (except citrus), all game and fish, free-range eggs, all vegetables, fresh vegetable juices, fresh nuts (except peanuts), herb teas, natural seasonings (salt, black pepper, herbs) and bottled or filtered water.

The foods you must avoid on the stone age diet are milk in all forms, milk products, cereals and their related products, any form of sugar, domesticated animal meat (meat from pigs, cows, sheep etc.), chicken, eggs (unless free-range), citrus fruit, alcohol, coffee, tea and all manufactured foods such as canned, packaged, bottled foods and ready-meals, processed meat or fish, chocolate and cocoa products, spices and tap water.

The above list may seem restrictive but you will find your health and well-being dramatically improves just be removing the foods to avoid from your diet.

There are also some exceptions which you are allowed to eat on the stone age diet which do fit in with our modern lives and dietary practices. Live low-fat yoghurt in moderation is a good addition to the diet and some grains which are well tolerated, even by those with a food allergy, are rice and millet.

If alcohol needs to be consumed (perhaps you're at a wedding or celebration) then a small amount of dry white wine or real ale can be taken.

The stone age diet is based on natural, nutritionally rich foods and following the dietary habits it provides will ensure you reap the benefits and achieve a strong, fit and healthy body.
Author Bio
For further advice on natural foods and diets, visit Food Advice and Support
For food allergy treatment, advice and common trigger foods visit the Help for Food Allergy website (www.helpfoodallergy.com).
Article Source: http://www.ArticleGeek.com - Free Website Content

Continue Reading »

Makeup and Skin Care

Make up and skin care' is generally regarded as women's forte. Men seldom indulge in 'Make up and skin care'. Many men do care for their skin but make up is really alien to most men. Treating make up and skin care as different topics wouldn't make sense; after all, make up will work only if the skin is healthy. So how do you exercise make up and skin care, together? Here are some tips for make up and skin care:

1. Always have skin care on mind, whether you are buying products for make up or actually applying them onto your skin after you have bought them. So what you are buying is a 'make up and skin care' product, not just a make up product. Check the ingredients to see if it contains things that you might be allergic to. Also check if it contains high concentration chemicals that can harm your skin.

2. 'Make up and skin care' is also about testing the products before using them. So, apply the make up on a small patch of skin e.g. earlobes and check how your skin reacts to it.

3. Keep track of expiry date on your make up products and never use them beyond the expiry date. In fact some products (e.g. vitamin C based products), if not stored properly, get spoilt much earlier than the expiry date.

4. Cleanliness is an important part of make up and skin care procedure. Sharpen your eye-liners regularly and keep all your makeup equipment clean at all times. You might fix a date, each month, for overhauling of your equipment. As part of cleanliness, your make up and skin care procedure should also include keeping your hair clean at all times.

5. Nail care is another important aspect of make up and skin care. Use a good quality nail polish and always keep your nails clean. Once you are done with cleaning and polishing your nails, you should rub in cuticle oil at the edges of the nail.

6. If you have deep-set eyes, you should use a liquid eye liner instead of a pencil one. This will prevent smudging at the deep edges of your eye-lid.

7. If you have a skin disorder e.g. acne, you should not apply heavy or chemical based make up. Consult your dermatologist if you are not sure about the make up products that you can use while you have acne or other skin disorder. Never try to squeeze pimples/ acne. Remember that make up and skin care should not conflict each other.

8. Use a mild make up remover (instead of just washing it away).

9. Another important 'make up and skin care' procedure is the following golden rule: "Never sleep with your make up on"

10. While applying a deodorant, make sure that you maintain the recommended distance between the nozzle and your skin (as mentioned on the deodorant pack).

So, make up and skin care should always go hand in hand. Do not try to treat make up and skin care differently.
Author Bio
Tania for ultimate-cosmetics.com. Do you want to get rid of puffy eyes? or need to tackle those ugly blackheads?

Continue Reading »

Insomnia solution

An insomnia cure. Hmm... Before we go for a cure it may be a good idea to try and know our enemy. What are our signs and symptons. What type of Insomnia do we have. Perhaps a working definition would be helpful.

The experts seem to agree that something along these lines would suit.

"Insomnia" is any episode of unrefreshing sleep, difficulty falling asleep, frequent awakenings, or waking up too early in the morning and not being able to drop back off. Women and the elderly seem to be the most frequent sufferers. We can divide these episodes into three collective groups and label them Short-term Transient or Chronic.

A quick explanation of these three would be as follows;

Transient, a simple disturbance in sleeping patterns. A short illness, a sudden change in lifestyle, stress, isomething that leads to a short term change

Short-term insomnia is is less fun. It lastsfor about 2-3 weeks. Causes could be something like a new job, divorce, serious illness, financial problems, or a family berevement.

Chronic as the name suggests is the real thing. Chronic insomnia is the rarest and most serious type, with Insomnia lasting longer than a few weeks. I've just been reading a learned article that says Chronic Insomnia is fairly rare. That may be so but if 10 percent of the US population suffers from it thats over 20 Million people leading a life of misery.

While it would be nice to blame insomnia on things outside our control , many cases of insomnia are self inflicted by such things as caffeine, smoking, poor eating habits, alcohol and lack of exercise.

Caffeine is one the most widely blamed causes of insomnia. An ingredient in coffee, tea, colas, chocolate, and some medications, caffeine is a stimulant . We insomniacs DO NOT NEED stimulants. Quite the reverse. Insomnia solution number one - Cut out the caffine.

Alcohol is often reccomended as a nightcap. Forget it. Thats only beacuse your Doctor drinks it. Alcohol actually lightens and fragments sleep, causing you to wake up as your body metabolizes it. You may think you're in a deep sleep, but your not getting the deep sleep that Insomniacs need for a cure. Insomnia solution number two - No Alcohol with a couple or four hours of bedtime.

Eating. Yes, I know I can't ban you from eating but I can jump on the slimmers bandwaggon. Eat a light last meal a couple of hours before going to bed. Avoid spicy and fatty foods that cause indigestion. Lets hear it for MILK. Milk has an amino acid that the body converts to a sleep-enhancing compound in the brain. Calcium is a natural relaxing agent along with several other vitamins such as the B vitamins and magnesium. Have a look at the bottom of the page for details on how to find others. If you get hungry at night, have a light snack before bedtime. Some foods are helpful and actually promote production of melatonin, a hormone associated sleep. Try cheese, soy nuts, chicken, pumpkinseeds, and turkey. High-carbohydrate foods such as bread act upon another hormone, serotonin, which helps to reduce anxiety and contribute toan insomnia solution. Insomnia solution no three. Be careful what you eat.

Nicotine products are universally bad for you. For the Insomniac nicotine has to go. It's a stimulant that increases blood pressure, speeds up the heart rate, and stimulates brain activity. Insomniacs do not need increased blood pressure, a fast heart rate and a stimulant. Insomnia solution number four. No more ciggies!

Regular exercise is good in fact its excellent, (here comes the but) but, not just before bed. If you work out too close to bedtime, the increase in your heart rate and metabolism will make your body too excitable to sleep. Exercise earlier in the day and give the body a chance to produce that warm rosy glow and relax as the body reacts by producing melatonin to take your temperature down to normal. Exercise for an insomnia solution!

Make your bed as comfortable as possible. Experiment with what works best for you. Choose a position conducive to sleep. If your partner is the source of your insomnia consider a change of rooms for a while. Get rid of the alarm clock . It only acts as a stressful reminder that you aren't sleeping.

Control the amount of light in your bedroom. Excessive brightness not only affects your eyes, but it also influences the hormone production that helps to establish a healthy sleep cycle. Wear a sleep mask if necessary. Dark is usually good for an insomnia solution.

When it comes to noise, many people find repetitive sounds easier to sleep through than intermittent and abrupt ones. Ear plugs or a continuous background sound such as a fan can help mask disturbing noise (the next- door neighbors barking dog in my case). Consider is a white noise machine.

Control the thermostat. Temperature extremes, whether too hot or too cold, are no fun for the light sleeper. Cool is usually good for an insomnia solution.

Hope some of these help. Drop us a line and let us know,


Author Bio
Philip Jubb
THE Insomnia Solution

Continue Reading »