Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Five Habits to a Healthy Life - Passion and Friends Are Part of the Package

By Connor R Sullivan Platinum Quality Author

Millions of people seek supplemental health benefits from antioxidants, liquid zeolite, ellagic acid and hundreds of other products. For many the goal is a longer and healthier life. Most people would agree that a healthy long life would be a desirable. Many of these people would readily take a supplement to better their health and life expectancy. Many of these same people want to consume the supplement without giving up the cigarettes, coffee, alcohol, donuts, or 40 hours of television a week. Humans are an interesting contradiction when it comes to behavior and belief.
There are many things a person can do to live a better quality of life and to live a healthier lifestyle. There are five basic areas that should be addressed when seeking to live well. Exercise is the first stone in the foundation of good health and can mean many things as will be noted shortly. Diet is the next obvious element to good health and can also mean many different things to many different people. Passion with curiosity is another element that seldom makes the list of qualities for good health but belongs on it nonetheless. Rest is a more obvious component of wellbeing and can also be defined in several ways. Finally a positive social network is crucial to a well balanced life.

Exercise should be a celebration of the body. Use the muscles that the body was born with and use them well. It might be three nights a week at the gym or it might be chopping wood or tossing bags of concrete. It does not matter so much how the muscles get engaged, but they need to be engaged. An active person keeps the muscles healthy, and the brain and heart are muscles or are like muscles that benefit.

A healthy diet can consist of certain types of food, portions size, meal time habits or any other combination of habits or ideas. The primary aspect to a healthy diet is of course portion size and the food consumed. Two simple behaviors can improve diet immensely. The first behavior is deceptively easy. Place smaller portions on a plate, then, once the food is eaten, wait ten minutes before getting a second serving. Take a few more sips of wine or sparkling water. If ten minutes pass and seconds are still kicking around the brain, indulge and enjoy. Once a person becomes aware of making a choice and listening to what the body needs the diet battle is half won. Second, eat as few processed foods as possible.

Being passionate about something whether it is butterflies or basketball, it offers health benefits as well. Intellectual engagement and spirited interest help keep the mind and spirit involved in life. Adequate rest, whether it is sleep or staring at a fish tank, can restore the body's energy levels. Rest allows for the mind and body to release tension and gain vitality. A close circle of friends also provides a key element to good health as humans are social animals. Exercise, diet, passion, rest and friendship are all important aspects to a healthy existence.

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Tuesday, April 13, 2010

5 Ways to Help Your Child Lose Weight

By Catherine Qazalbash


There is some debate among health care givers s to the best ways to deal with the growing number of obese children. However if you stop to think about it helping your child to lose weight is really just a question of understanding the problem and finding basic ways to deal with it.

In recent months we have been hearing a lot about overweight children. This is because of the large and growing amount of obese children in western society. It is not only a physical problem but spills over into their mental health as well.

Obese kids are often subject to depression. They do

not feel good about themselves and are often the object of taunts and even bullying regarding their weight. They do not know how to help themselves and cut themselves off from the world. Sometimes they start to look at food as their only solace, which leads to them eating more and gaining even more weight. The situation can lead to a lifelong problem with eating disorders and can often lead to suicide, especially in the teen years.

It is a sad picture for our kids but there is a solution. We can help our kids with love, support and commonsense. Just because your child is overweight does not mean that they are doomed to a miserable life. You can do something about it and change your child's life today.

The worst thing you can do is to nag your child about their weight. This will cause physiological problems and often make them eat more. The best way to do this is simply to take these action steps

Eat healthy: the first thing you will need to teach your child is to eat a healthy diet. This will not be an easy task as they will be used to eating certain foods and may not want to give up their favorite foods. It will be a question of giving them support by encouraging everybody in the family to eat in a healthy way. Here are some changes that you can implement today.

1. Get rid of the junk food: Throw out all the junk food in the house. This will include anything that has an excess of refined sugar like cookies or candy. Chips are also junk foods. These foods are high in calories and low in nutrition. They are also addictive, the more you eat the more you want to eat.

2. Offer alternative snacks: Do not just expect the family to "cold turkey" when it comes to junk food offer alternatives like veggies, fruits and protein bars.

3. Drink more water: Sweetened juices and sodas can be replaced by water. This will do two things; fill up your child and make them eat less and cut down the calories.

4. Increase fiber: When you eat more fiber in your diet you will feel fuller, eat less and speed up your metabolism. You can do this by reducing refined foods and replacing them with whole grains.

5. Exercise: do not forget to encourage your child for daily exercise. There are many ways that you can do this. Be sure to make it fun and if possible get the whole family involved so that they will feel that they are also helping your child to lose weight and get fit.

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Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Catherine_Qazalbash
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