Happy Meals Illegal?

Santa Clara County, in Southern California has passed a law making it illegal for fast food chains to entice kids to eat unhealthy food with toys.

Of course the fast food chains are appealing this decision.  Others think it's a good idea.

Do you think it is a good idea?
Should the government be able to decide what children should eat?
Or should that be left up to the parents to decide?
Is this rational?
Is the government infringing upon the fast food business and their revenue?
What do you think?

Click the link below, watch the video, and then express your thoughts in the comment section!

Where Happy Meals Are Illegal

Clear The Clutter

It is an absolute truth that in order to lose weight and to stay relatively in shape, you must exercise regularly.  Our bodies were designed to be active from the time we were created.  The good news is that it isn't necessary to train like a professional athlete or an Olympian.  Thirty minutes a day is all that is needed to get your heart pumping enough and to grow more blood vessels that will better deliver oxygen to all the cells of your body, leaving you feeling great.  Thirty minutes.  You can find 30 minutes somewhere in your day to do something, so I don't want to hear the excuses.  You don't need to go to a gym.  Thirty minutes of any physical activity is better than nothing.

Now that I've beaten that dead horse enough, on to the topic of this post: clearing the clutter.  One of the most pertinent obstacles that we humans have to overcome is procrastination.  I have no clue why this is such an issue for us, but it is.  Whether you're in school, at work, or just need to get things done in life in general, procrastination seems to always hold you back.  And it gets backed up.  Procrastinating in one area can lead to procrastination in other areas.  Actually, now that I think about it, maybe procrastination has to do with a lack of inspiration.  Maybe someone who is looking for motivation has to deal with the burden of procrastination.  I don't think that someone inspired to do something would have a problem just doing it.

So, what am I getting at?  Well, to put it directly: Clean Your House!  Why?  Because a cluttered house leads to a cluttered mind, which leads to a lack of energy, which leads to you sitting on the couch not doing anything active.  I have found that when my place is neat and organized, there is nothing to stop me from going to get my workout in.  Think about it.  If you come home from work, and the place is a mess, plus you have other errands looming over your head, the last thing on your mind is exercising.  You come home and think, "Gosh, I need to clean this place.  Oh, and I forgot I have to go to the grocery, get the oil changed in my car, return movies to blockbuster, etc., etc.".  You grab a snack and slump on the couch telling yourself you are too exhausted and you'll do it tomorrow.  The only problem is, you come home from work the next day, have the same conversation with yourself, and the cycle repeats, day in and day out.

The solution?  I suggest taking a day, and getting every single errand done that you possibly can.  It may seem a bit daunting, but the feeling afterwards is marvelous!  The reason I say try to do it all at once is simple.  If you're like me (and you may not be), if you do one thing and put other things off, they may stay put off for weeks to come.  For me, I just had do it all at once and be done with it.  Now, as things come up, I try to get them done right away so they don't build up and become a mental burden.  I've found it's a little hard to get started, but once I do, I'm in super cleaning mode and don't stop til it's finished.  The main thing is that you have to plan for it.  Literally pencil it into your day planner for a day when you have a few spare hours.  Now, I know this is harder to do for people who have kids, but I'm sure you can find a way.  If your house looks like the ones on that show "Hoarders", then you'll need a bit more inspiration than this blog can provide.

So, tidy up the house, get those items at the grocery, change the oil in your car, return the movies to blockbuster, buy your significant other a gift, and do whatever else can be done on this day.  Then, when you come home the next day with everything in order, you'll have such a burst of feel good energy that you'll need to run around the block a few times just to dispense it!  It really works.  And when you come back from the physical activity of your choice, you won't have this feeling of a million more things you have to do.  Your mind will be clear!

Focus On The Solution

The mind is a powerful thing and whatever you give your attention to, you will see in your life experience. Thoughts are things.  This is true about everything.  Your house, your car, your tv, a building, the Earth, even your children.  All of these things that exist in physical nature were thoughts in someone's mind before they were created.  You can't have something unless you think about what you want first, right?

You have to treat your new, slim and trim body like this as well.  View yourself not as it is, but as you want it to be.  You need to think of yourself as healthy, slim, trim, sexy, or whatever, even if you aren't that way now.  Viewing yourself in this way should provide some excitement, enthusiasm, hope and inspiration.  Then, the things that you do, the action that you take (eating right and exercising) will net you far better results than if you think otherwise.  See, most of us are great at identifying a problem, such as being overweight.  This usually motivates the majority of us into some sort of exercise routine or new diet.  The problem with that is that motivation is a negative mindset. (If you're new to the blog or need a refresher on what I'm talking about, click here).  Operating in a negative frame of mind never gets good results.  You can't continue to think about yourself in a negative way, and expect positive results.  You can't see yourself as fat, and expect to become thin.

One of the phrases repeated over and over again in the books by Jerry and Esther Hicks is "you get what you think about, whether you want it or not".  This is so true, and if you think about it a little bit, you will see as well.  So, the work to be done is to change your thoughts and focus only on that which you want.  "But, I always think about losing weight all the time and I'm not seeing any results", you might be saying to yourself.  But are you really?  Sure, you may want to lose weight, and you may think about it often.  But how many times is the word "but" part of your mental conversation?

"I want to lose weight but it's too hard."
"I want to be slimmer, but I don't have enough time to exercise."
"I want to be healthy but it's too hard."
"I really want to lose weight, but when it comes to exercise, I'm just too lazy!"

Does any of this sound even remotely familiar?  It should.  We're all guilty of it.  So, I'm here to tell you that you need to work on cutting out the second part of each of those sentences.  No ifs, ands, or buts (even though I only used "but" examples, you get the idea).  Now, its okay to identify and realize that you are, in fact, overweight or out of shape, but it has to stop there.  Once the problem is identified, you then put on your blinders and only focus on the solution.  Only focus on the end result.  Don't look back.  Then, you will see people, places, articles, concepts, foods, ideas, etc. come to you to help you with your goal of losing weight or getting in shape.  These things will come from places you could've never thought of in a million years.

This may be awkward to do at first.  To think of yourself as thin, when you can easily look in the mirror and see that your body is not the way you want it to be.  But just continue to imagine yourself the way you want to be.  One thing that may help is to take a piece of paper and make a list of every single positive aspect of yourself (mind, body, spirit) that you can think of, and then put this paper somewhere where you can easily reference it if you need a shot of inspiration.

Lots more where this came from.  Hope you liked it.

**The image in this post is from www.ineedmotivation.com (but we'll pretend it says www.ineedinspiration.com!)

I'm Not Crazy

Blogger is having seizures or something because, for the life of me, I can't get my last post to look right.  The one below this one looks crazy with different sized fonts but I've tried everything.  Disregard the look and just focus on the content.

haha

Carrie Underwood Supports My Restaurant Theory

If you've been following this blog for a while, you've read the two posts that I've written regarding restaurants.  The information in those posts are hardcore facts.  :)


In a recent interview, Carrie Underwood, of American Idol fame, said this:



"I think the hardest thing about what I do is eating [healthy] because we're all over the place. It's fast food, there's aftershow food, you get pizza, whatever.I don't do that. I don't eat out ever."


"Every once in a while I have a day off and I might go to a restaurant — but no aftershow food and I keep my fridge stocked. It's all about making a conscious effort. I don't do anything crazy, but I definitely try to take care of myself."


Carrie could be exaggerating a little bit, and if she is telling the truth she might be a little too extreme.  You never know with these celebrities.  In any case, what she is saying is true, and it is basically what I said in my two posts entitled "Beware of Restaurants".  The truth is that whenever someone else prepares your food, you have no control of how much of the ingredients they are using.  And most restaurants are only concerned about how their food tastes, because that will keep you coming back.  If that means adding buckets of fat and sodium to food to enhance the taste, they do it.  


Fats and sodium can also be used as preservatives as well.  Restaurants wouldn't want to buy foods that last only a day or two on the shelf.  That could mean huge losses of business is slow.


Happy eating

Lady Loses 530 Pounds!!!

WITHOUT SURGERY OR RADICAL DIETS!  This is so good and I happened to be home to see it just at the right time!  Today, Good Morning America profiled Nancy Makin who, over the past few years, has lost over 500 lbs and kept it off.  How she did it PERFECTLY illustrates the concept of the philosophy that I believe in and will be sharing frequently on this blog.  That philosophy is Law of Attraction based.

One of the quotes that Makin said on the show was, "Food is not the enemy, it is the misuse of food".  That statement is the crux of my book and my beliefs about obesity.  You've seen me refer to it in past posts about people overeating or overindulging in the wrong foods.  It's absolutely true.  Makin lost her weight over a period of several years, and that is important to note.  Too many of us are too impatient, and because of that, go about things the wrong way.  As I discuss in detail in my book, you need to lose weight at a slow and steady pace if you want to keep it off.  There is a very prominent physiological reason for this!  But don't take it from me.  Take it from a lady who lost a quarter ton!

The way that Makin said she lost her weight was by developing relationships online, and getting happy first.  That is critical!  It really is the Law of Attraction in action.  It would be way too long to go into detail here, but I have several posts lined up that will explain what this means.  I think it will totally change the way you look at things and possibly introduce you to concepts that you've never heard.

The basic premise is that you get whatever it is that you are giving your attention to.  The fact that I even saw this story is an example in and of itself.  I haven't seen Good Morning America in years.  I am usually at work by 6 am.  On my days off, I sleep in way past the time that Good Morning America comes on.  What are the chances that on the day they ran this story, I happened to be off work and woke up naturally in time to see it?  The chances are really slim.  But it wasn't a coincidence.  The universe brought it to me because my thoughts were similar.  Ever since I started this blog and started writing my book and doing research on it, diet and weight loss is on my mind a lot, and so diet and weight loss related things seem to move into my experience more frequently.  In fact, several of my posts have been quick, pop-up posts where I was going to write about something else, but I came across something that I wanted to share immediately.  It sure takes the work out of having to come up with ideas all the time.

Anyway, click here if you want to read her story.  She credits her weight loss success to making friends online where she had a support group and felt inspired.  Because she was inspired, the action that she took (eating right) netted her far better results than if she were to do the exact same thing while feeling sad or depressed.  That's what I want to achieve for people with this blog, because everyone deserves to feel good!  If this story isn't inspiring, then I don't know what is!

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Age Is Not An Excuse!

When it comes to being healthy and fit, I have a whole philosophy in which I believe is the best and most natural way to maintain a healthy body weight.  It's what my book is based on.  However, as far as getting in shape in general, many people are receptive to it, but there is always a small percentage of people who will come up with every excuse in the book not to do some sort of physical activity.  I get it.  We're all busy.  All excuses stem from the same root though, and that's laziness.

A recurring excuse I hear is, "I'm too old" or "I have bad knees (because I'm too old)" or something to that effect.  And to that I say, If you're knees are bad, if you're back hurts, or if you have an array of other aches and pains, it is exactly YOU who should be the first person in line to work out!  It doesn't matter if you're 80 or 20!  If you're overweight, the weight of the body fat combined with weak muscles can cause an array of problems.  For example, for someone with weak knees, it most likely means the muscles surrounding the knees are weak and need strengthening.

No one says you have to go from zero to 60!  You aren't a ferrari.  Start slow and easy, but do something!  There are plenty of low impact exercises that don't put a lot of pressure on your joints.  Do the elliptical machine or ride a bike instead of run.  Swim instead of doing regular aerobics.  Do yoga or pilates instead of weight lifting.  There is always something you could be doing to burn extra calories.

Get to it!

Beware of Restaurants: Part 2

Continuing from the first post, the second reason why you should be careful at restaurants is because of the amount of food they serve.  This is an even bigger reason why there are so many overweight people these days.  Your body was expertly designed, there is no question about that.  It was designed to hold on to vitamins and fats in case food becomes scarce.  The problem is that humans, smart as we are, have found ways to overcome the possibilities of famine.  There is a very good reason for this which I explain completely in my book.  For now, just know that restaurants overdo it when it comes to portions.

On top of adding copious amounts of fat and sodium to foods to make your mouth water, restaurants need to make sure you are satisfied.  And by satisfied, I mean stuffed to the brim.  It makes sense.  They want you to feel as though you are getting your money's worth.  Most of the time you are.  But is it worth it when your waistline starts expanding too?  You may be getting your money's worth at the restaurant, but then you'll have to go and spend more money buying bigger clothes!  Not too cost effective if you ask me.

At the majority of sit down restaurants, there are actually 3 servings of food per dish.  THREE!  That's a lot of food, and it is most likely a lot of sodium and fat as well.  I actually realized this a few years ago when I went to a very upscale restaurant with a friend.  We'd always wanted to go to this restaurant but were always too cheap.  One day we said, "what the hell" and just went.  The food tasted great, but for $40 a plate, there wasn't much there.  Needless to say, I was pissed!  I LOVE food.  I really do, and this was before I was "educated" on what goes into food preparation.  Looking back, yes it was expensive, but it had proper proportions on the plate.  It actually had healthier vegetables and a good protein option as well.  Now, I'm not saying you should only eat at expensive restaurants.  What I am saying is that there is nothing wrong with eating half of your food and taking the rest home to save for tomorrow.  I know it is hard for a lot of people because many of us were taught (actually forced) as kids to eat everything on our plates.  I know I was, but I think it is the wrong approach.  It teaches kids to overeat.  Adults can't accurately judge how small a child's stomach really is.  I'll do a future post on kids and food.

I truly believe that large food portions are responsible for the majority of people's weight problems.  How  much you eat is just as significant as what you actually eat!  My whole philosophy is that you really can eat whatever you want and lose weight, or maintain your weight, but you have to outsmart the natural design of your body.  Think for a minute.  Your stomach is not rigid.  It is elastic.  At any given moment, your body only requires a certain amount of nutrients from food to survive, but if you put more into your stomach than you actually need, your stomach won't disallow it.  It will just expand to accommodate the abundance.  Sneaky.  It is up to you to control how much food you put into your stomach.  I describe some very effective techniques in my book to "trick" your body into actually disallowing further input of food after a meal.  To the point where you won't feel the need for seconds or thirds and you may not even crave dessert!

So maybe I should end this post here and go write some in my book so I can actually get it done!  It's coming along great.  Remember, be smart when you go out for a night on the town!  Eat until you are honestly satisfied, not until you are stuffed.  But don't be too conservative either.  Not eating enough won't do anything beneficial for you either.  You have to experiment and find the balance that's right for you.  Obviously, a satisfying portion for a middle aged woman who weighs 160 lbs is not going to satisfy a 30 year old man that weighs 200 lbs.  In any case, if you feel like the frog looks in the picture above, you've probably overdone it!

Happy eating!

Are You On Track For A Heart Attack?

I never like to post things that scare people, but I believe in being true and honest.  The reality is that heart disease is one of the leading causes of death in America.  Part of it is genetic.  A very small part.  The vast majority has to do with what you eat and how much you eat.  Although heart disease can strike an overweight person just as well as it can strike a thin person, I'm writing about it because this blog is not just about losing weight, it's about being healthy.  Your first priority should be to be as healthy as possible, and things like weight loss will fall right into place.

As far as heart disease is concerned, let me explain what happens.  Basically, as you continue to consume fatty meals, plaque starts to build up in your coronary arteries.  The same kind of plaque that builds up on your teeth.  You know what that looks like.  It builds up so snugly against the walls of your arteries that it basically becomes part of the artery itself.  At least your body thinks so.  Over time (years) your arteries also lose elasticity.  Just like any other part of your body (skin, etc), elasticity decreases and the arteries stiffen up.  So, every time your heart beats, the artery wall can't expand as much as it used to. If that built up plaque gets bigger and bigger, the force of the blood moving through the artery can break a piece of that plaque off.

Now, since your body thinks that plaque is a part of itself, what happens next?  The same thing that happens when any wound occurs.  Your body tries to repair the wound. Think about if you cut yourself.  You bleed, and then your body repairs the wound by forming a scab.  The elements that form a scab are very sticky and clumpy, and that stops the bleeding.  This exact same thing happens inside your heart when a piece of that plaque breaks off.  Sticky, clumpy molecules aggregate in one of your heart's arteries to repair that wound.  There's just one problem.  Those arteries are so small and delicate, that the "scab" fully blocks the artery and blood flow stops.  100%.  Whichever part of the heart muscle is connected to that artery dies due to lack of oxygen, and you keel over in pain.  If it was a small coronary artery, you would have a mild heart attack.  If it was a larger artery, you could have a massive heart attack and possibly die.  Regardless, once a piece of the heart muscle dies, large or small, you can't get it back.  See the diagram to the right from http://www.healthy-anti-aging-solutions.com.

And so, technically speaking, no one ever had a heart attack due to the actual plaque build up.  The body's defense and repair mechanisms are what is responsible for the complete blockage of the artery.  Amazing isn't it?

After someone has a "mild" heart attack, they immediately jump on a new diet, no fat, not cholesterol, etc., etc.  That is a good thing.  It's a must.  But what I want you to know is that no one ever had a heart attack because they ate a big greasy burger last week!  The events leading up to the heart attack result from years of eating foods high in fat and cholesterol.  It's that simple.  Start eating the right foods NOW so you can stop the plaque build up in your arteries dead in its tracks.  Seriously, can you imagine what it must feel like for your heart to stop?  I don't imagine that is something you want to experience.  And you don't have to.

Make the change NOW!

Kids Need Your Guidance

Saying "No" to your kid asking you for their favorite junk food is hard

• Hearing about your kid being teased about their weight at school is a lot harder

Trying to get your kid to eat healthy foods is hard

• Learning that your kid has been diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes is a lot harder

Getting your kids involved in after school activities and away from video games can be hard

• Learning that your kid has an overworked heart is a lot harder

Educate yourself and your children.  It's never too late.

Beware of Restaurants: Part 1

One of fastest and surefire ways to start losing weight and getting healthy is to reduce the number of times you eat out each week.  I know I know.  Restaurant food tastes so good.  I completely agree, but a lot of it is bad for you and there are a few reasons for that.  Dining out has become a staple of American culture.  It's what we do when we want to be social, have business meetings, catch up with friends, etc.  We should do those things, but once again, people of industrialized nations, especially in America, overdo it.....by a lot!!  America actually has the highest rates of obesity for adults and children than any other industrialized nation.  And I think a major factor is in our dining culture.

The major reason dining out causes a problem is the way in which restaurants prepare their food.  It doesn't matter whether it is fast food or a sit down restaurant, when you eat at these places, you are consuming a lot of fat.  Fat is a major ingredient in restaurant food for a couple of reasons.  The first being that fat is how they flavor their food.  Fat tastes good.  That's a fact.  I knew that since I was a young boy.  I was eating bacon one time and the yellow fatty part had so much more flavor than the actual meat. Restaurants have to make their food taste good because that's how they get people to come back.  And adding fat is the magic trick.

To prove this point, I was watching the History Channel the other day and there was a show on called Modern Marvels.  The topic for that episode was fried food.  I caught the episode when they were talking about the fried stuff they serve at carnivals and fairs.  You know, the elephant ears, funnel cakes, etc.  The man talking to the camera was one of the people that fries up all of this garbage and not surprisingly he looked like he weighed over 300 lbs.  He deep fries EVERYTHING.  He even poured spoonfuls of Coke (yes, as in Coca-Cola) into his deep frier.  It clumps together and he took it out and ate it.  And was proud of it.  He said he could fry anything.  I could've vomited right there.  

So, the segment on the deep fried food caught my attention.  Then they moved on to restaurants.  They were interviewing a chef from a diner somwhere in middle America.  I have to admit, what I am about to tell you, I was actually surprised the chef was saying on national television.  Anyways, they showed him cooking over his stove, and he was cooking with lard.  Typical.  As he was giving the details of how he cooked he dropped this gem, "Anything with fat tastes good.  Fat is key".  He actually said this, but the thing is, it really is true.  Fat makes food taste better.  There is just one problem.....it's kiling us.

I am not one of those people that is going to pretend that vegetables taste good, or that I am so disciplined that I never eat this stuff.  Trust me, I have my weaknesses as well.  But our work is to find the discipline to say to ourselves, "enough is enough".  One helping is enough.  To be fair, restaurants are getting better at reducing their food's fat content and providing food labels with their meals so you can at least see the calorie, fat and sugar content, but they have a long way to go.  By cooking for yourself or preparing your own food, you could never add as much fat or sodium as restaurants do.  My whole philosophy is that you can eat what you want, not have to eliminate anything completely from your diet, and still lose weight.  You just have to be smart about it and some sacrifices will have to undoubtedly be made.

I decided to break this post up into 2 posts because when I write, the info just flows out and my posts end up being too long.  I want them to be short and to the point, so part 2 will come in a few days.  In the follow up I'll talk about the kind of fat they use and also how sodium gets worked in there too.

Are You Motivated or Inspired?

Eating right and physical activity are 2 things that are absolutely essential to your health.  You know that.  By the way, you'll always hear me using the term "physical activity" as opposed to "exercise" or "work out" because I think the latter two phrases are associated with the gym, long, grueling routines, etc, and none of that is required to have the body you want.  Physical activity can be anything from jogging to playing basketball to yoga to swimming.  I like going to the gym, but we're all different.  The point is to burn some extra calories and get your heart pumping a bit.  However, I believe that eating right and physical activity are really only about 14% of the effort to be healthy and fit.  There is a much larger phenomenon that can be put to use to achieve your wellness goals, and it has to do with your mind.

Over the course of this blog, in addition to all of the biological and physiological info I'll be sharing, I hope to share many techniques that I have come to know to help you "think" better.  I'll start with motivation and inspiration.  What is the difference?

Well, you can see from the name of this blog which one I think is the better path to wellness.  The information I am about to share I came across by reading books by Jerry and Esther Hicks.  Their philosophy is based on the Law of Attraction which basically states "that which is like unto itself, is drawn".  Simple.  Thoughts or things that are alike, attract one another.  Birds of a feather flock together.  You get the idea.

So why should you be inspired as opposed to motivated?  Well, you may not know it because you probably never thought about it, but motivation is actually a negative mindset.  When you are motivated to do something, you are operating from a feeling of lack.  A lack of something you want.  Think about that for a second.  If you have a huge project at work that you don't want to do, you usually try to motivate yourself to do it because you would rather be at the beach.  If you want to lose weight and are frustrated at not seeing results, you usually try to motivate yourself to go to the gym because you want a better body.  However, if you are operating from the negative frame of mind, you can do all the exercises in the world, eat all the right foods and do everything you've been told to do, but you will see very little result.  In other words, you can't feel fat and attract thin.  You can't feel sick and attract health. You can't think negative thoughts and attract positive results.

On the other hand, if you are inspired, then you are operating in a positive frame of mind.  When you are inspired, you have a goal, you want it and you expect it, and there are no thoughts in your mind telling you that you can't have it.  If you want to be a singer, you are inspired into action every time you see your idol.  If you come into contact with someone who is wildly successful, the mere thought of having that success too can really inspire you.  When you are inspired into action, you will see a much larger result than if you were motivated into action, according to the philosophy of Jerry and Esther Hicks.

You're work is to get inspired by changing the way you think.  This blog will include ways to do that, hopefully.  I've recently tried a few techniques and I can honestly say I have seen some pretty amazing results.  I try not to make by posts too long because I know you are busy, so other posts that continue the train of thought on this one will come later.  Besides, isn't a good writer supposed to leave his audience wanting more?  Evil, I know!

Anyway, this post serves to ignite the fire underneath your willpower to get the body you want and feel great.  Like everything else, it's easier said than done.  Hey, I'm no expert yet.  There are still many goals I am working towards, and I have my blinders on.  The point is that you can't think of something you want, but then also think of reasons why you can't or don't have it.  The problem is that it's so damn easy for those negative thoughts to get into your mind!

You've obviously been thinking about losing weight or getting healthy which attracted you to this blog.  In the meantime, swing by www.abraham-hicks.com to check out Jerry and Esther's website.  They have a lot of positive quotes and good info there.

Follow This Blog

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I have created this blog in order to spread awareness about the importance of taking care of your body and being healthy.  I come into contact with hundreds of people everyday and too many of them are completely ignorant on how to be healthy.  Through this blog, I want to provide people ways to be healthy as well as interesting facts about food, fitness, exercise, etc.  My plan is to discuss things that a normal person wouldn't even think of or know from a totally nontraditional perspective.  I plan to have a lot of eye opening information on here.

I am a health freak.  I don't know why.  I was born that way.  I don't expect to turn people into freaks and I certainly don't intend persuade people to change their beliefs about anything.  But I do intend to put the truth out there for people who may not be keen on certain aspects regarding health.  I will apologize now, in advance, if I ever sound snobbish.  You must understand that when it comes to health, fitness, and the body, I've studied it for many years.  Many of you know I was previously in medical school, but I didn't want to be a doctor, so I left.  But I still have a passion for health.  And so, some of the things I talk about (most of them actually) are second nature to me; natural.  Sometimes I don't realize that there are people out there that really don't know what a vitamin actually is, or that you can tell a great deal about the status of your health by looking at your poop.  Yes, I said "poop" and I will continue to say things like that.  This blog is meant to be informal and I want it to be as though I am talking directly to you.  So get ready for some shock value.  haha

So, it is my intention to educate and to share my knowledge via this blog, but each post is really meant to serve as a topic of discussion to follow in the comments section.  I encourage you to share your thoughts in the comments section after each post.  You never know, you could be helping someone as well with the information you share.  There are 2 people at my job that I know, under the age of 30, with high cholesterol.  Unbelievable.

That being said, don't forget to register as a follower to the right and tell your friends and family about it too.  Even send a message to your email contacts and tell them to check out this blog and save the address.  The address here is http://healthinspiredfitness.blogspot.com.  I want to get as many people reading as I can because I'll have interesting topics and various polls each week for people to vote in so I can get an idea of people's knowledge about things.

I'm also going to be including info on how to get healthy using your mind, because it's a powerful thing.

Thanks for your time,

Kris

Are You Consuming Too Many Empty Calories?

You may have heard the term "empty calorie" before, but do you really know what it means?  Simply put, empty calories are calories found in foods with little or no vitamins, minerals, fiber or other nutrients.  They are a waste of space basically, but they are super efficient at staying in your body as F.A.T.  Let me describe how calories work.

The words "calorie" and "energy" are synonymous when relating to our bodies.  "Calorie" is a completely arbitrary term and it's used to describe the amount of energy that is released when the body breaks down a certain food. The difference between a good calorie and an empty calorie is that your body can put the good calorie to good use.  I like analogies to illustrate my points, so I'll use one here.

If you were going to drive across the country, you would need to start by filling up your car's gas tank.  You have a choice between the brand name gasoline which is 100% gasoline.  On this kind of gas, you can drive 400 miles before refilling.  The other choice is a knock-off brand of gasoline that is contained in a decorative, shiny new pump.  It's also cheaper per gallon.  However, it only contains 20% gasoline and the rest is additives.  You can only drive 170 miles on this gas before having to refill again.  Which one would you choose?

I think the answer is obvious.  You can view food in this way as well.  Fruits, vegetables, and whole grains would be the brand name gasoline for your body, while soda, cookies, cakes, candy and alcohol would be the knock-offs.  The healthy foods give you the kind of energy that your body can run on all day and make you feel great.  Because your body can get so much energy from them, you don't necessarily have cravings for these foods.  And by craving, I mean an intense "need" or "want" for these foods.  On the other hand, the empty calories in the junk foods spike your glucose levels giving you a short burst of energy, but it is too much at once, so your body quickly stores those calories as fat, and you "crash" and are left feeling sluggish and zombie-like.  Since there is only a little bit of energy in these junk foods that your body can use, you end up craving more of it in order to get out of that slump.  This is why people over-eat and it's why they keep eating the wrong foods.  The more junk food you eat, the more you'll crave it, the more you crave it, the more you'll eat, the more you eat it, the more you'll crave it.  Do you see how the cycle works?  It's evil isn't it?

If you can do your best to eliminate empty calories from your diet as much as possible, you will have done wonders for your health and weight loss goals.  Needless to say, you shouldn't eliminate them completely, especially if it is a food you really like, because that will create cravings too.  In my book, I describe many ways in which to find that balance of eating healthy foods and enjoying the "bad" foods you love as well.

I want to know what you're favorite empty calorie, guilty pleasure food is.  Tell me in the comments section below.  I would say mine is cake batter ice cream with cookie dough and brownie from Cold Stone Creamery.

And remember this: Eating empty calorie foods on an empty stomach is probably the worst thing you can do in regards to your weight loss and your general health!

Experiment

I noticed something the other day.  I was at work and I was on my lunch break.  I was sitting at my table minding my own business when one of the new employees walked in.  She never speaks to me, so I don't speak to her (bad I know, but whatever).  She is probably in her mid fifties and has had some work done on her face.  It's quite obvious.  Anyway, she's pretty petite.  She has a nice body for her age and seems slim and trim.  Now, I am in Los Angeles where everyone gets plastic surgery.  Judging by this lady's facework, I wouln't be surprised if she's also had some liposuction, or a nip here and a tuck there.  Hey, I am just being honest.  But what I did notice was what she was eating for lunch.

 

I am NOT a supporter of weight loss surgeries.  Whether this lady had any procedures done or not I don't know for sure, but it was obvious that she was determined to remain healthy.  Again, I am not sure if she lost weight or has always been thin and a healthy eater, but regardless, she was eating healthy.  I'm not going to tell you what she was eating though.  I do want to mention, however, that if you have had any kind of weight loss surgery, or are considering it, please know that those are still considered "quick fixes"!  If you are not willing to make some adjustments to your diet, you will not lose weight and keep it off!  The "keeping it off" is the important part.  Without mentioning any names, I'm positive you've seen or heard of various celebrities having gastric bypass surgery, dropping tons of weight, only to regain it back over the years.  Do you understand the significance of that??  Gastric bypass is considered major surgery and it should not be taken lightly.  Same with liposuction and the lap band.  Diet pills shouldn't even be an option.  That's another post!

 

I explain all this in my book (which is still untitled) and how you can achieve healthy weight loss and not waste money on any of these surgical procedures.  I have digressed a whole lot, so back to the reason for this post.  Over the next few days, I want you to simply observe what other people eat.  You could be at work, at the mall, at a party, or the house of a friend or family member.  In any case, just quietly observe what people eat.  You will most likely see a difference in what most thin people are eating and in what most overweight people are eating.  I see a big difference.

 

Now, I don't want a bunch of angry emails accusing me of saying all overweight people are unhealthy.  That's not what I'm saying.  Being overweight doesn't automatically mean you're eating yourself into a grave.  But it is an absolute truth that you CAN NOT lose weight if you are consuming more calories than you are burning in a given day.  It just isn't possible.  Sometimes it's about how much you eat.  Sometimes its about what you eat.  You can have the same amount of 2 different foods, but one could have way more calories, carbs and fat than the other.  You have to be smart.

What do you think?

 

Start Drinking Green Tea Today!

One of the things I am including in my book is green tea.  Drinking green tea has ginormous benefits.  It has become one of my new favorite power foods and that's why I'm giving you a sneak peek here.  Some of the benefits of drinking green tea include:

• cancer risk reduction and inhibition of cancer cells
• reduced levels of cholesterol in the blood
• wide range of immune boosting properties
• antioxidants
• kills bacteria in the mouth reducing tooth decay
• weight loss through increased metabolism
• and much more

If you were to do research on most anything else claming to have great health benefits, you would most likely find a wealth of information about what you were looking for, but you would also likely find a wealth of information refuting the claims of the benefits of that particular food of product.  Not so with green tea.  Every day new studies are being released describing some new benefit of green tea but there are vitually no articles about how bad green tea is for you, because it isn't.  It really is that good for you.

So what makes green tea so wonderful?  Well, there are a few things.  First, it is a young tea.  This means that the leaves are picked and quickly packaged into the tea bags.  Also, the leaves are plucked from the new sprouts at the top of the plant.  On the other hand, black tea is aged and more processed and it will stain your teeth much more than green tea ever will.  Secondly, green tea has much less caffeine in it than black tea.  It is to your advantage to reduce frivolous caffeine intake as much as possible.  Caffeine has various long term side effects which I will describe in my book (which will be finished soon).  Reduce coffee consumption and increase green tea consumption.  Lastly, green tea is packed full of valuable antioxidants.  Antioxidants are extremely important in combating illness.  They neutralize the harmful waste products that the body's cells produce and safely transport them through the blood for excretion.  This also increases mood and energy.

The last thing I want to say is to NOT be lazy and get the green tea pills or the ready to drink green tea bottle or jugs in the grocery store.  To get the maximum benefits, get traditional tea bags, heat some water on the stove top and steep the tea.  The green tea capsules are more concentrated than you need and have added caffeine.  The ready to drink green teas are STOCKED with sugar and other additives and preservatives.  You could never add as much sugar to your own tea as the manufacturers of the pre-packaged kind would. 

I suggest trying to get at least 1 cup of green tea per day, but shoot for 2-3.  Each cup of green tea doubles as a glass of water as well.  Limit the amount of sweetener you add.  Celestial Seasonings has a variety of blends and one of my new favorites is their Japanese Green Raspberry Gardens.  It smells delicious and tastes so good that I usually don't even need to add any sweetener!  You can't beat that.

Next time you're at the store, pick up some green tea!  Also, don't forget to register as a follower to this blog (to the right) and then leave your thoughts below in the comment section!