Health tips 

Some methods of putting yourself in control of your health.

1. Choose fresh air
Instead of using air fresheners, which often contain not so healthy chemicals such as 'artificial musks', throw open the windows and air your house the natural way. You'll save money, and help your health and the environment.

2. Gulp some grape juice
Research shows that grape juice can help heart function by improving levels of good cholesterol. And, this super-drink also fights cancer-causing free-radicals and may protect against thrombosis.

3. Laugh more
A good laugh is like a mini-workout. Research also shows that it lowers levels of stress hormones, and heightens the activity of the body's natural defensive cells.

4. Go organic
Soothe, heal, revive and restore from the inside out. Everyday toiletries and skin care contain a cocktail of potentially damaging toxins. Switch to natural products and reap the benefits. Nourish your skin; reduce redness and broken capillaries with home grown Aloe Vera gel 

5. Be kind to your kidneys
Stir a teaspoon of fresh local honey into a cup of boiling water and sip slowly each evening - this will help cleanse your kidneys, fight bacteria in the body and sometimes helps relieve some allergy symptoms.

6. Get rid of the barbeque
The longer food is cooked, and the higher the temperature, the more cancer-causing polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) it will contain. Which is why charred and burnt food should be avoided wherever possible.

Your road to success

Put your goals in writing.
The act of writing down what you are going to do is a strong motivator. Writing down goals prevents you from leaving your goals vague. Be specific. Use action verbs. Let your goals have measurable outcomes. Specify completion dates. Also record what your reward will be for achieving the goal. Make a contract with yourself, and then read it every day. This will help you to be more committed as each day passes. And, while you’ve got the pen in your hand...

Make a list of obstacles.
Think of everything that might stand in your way. Then decide what you can do about each obstacle. Design a plan to reduce the influence of each obstacle and increase the chances that you will be successful in reaching your goal. You might recognise that take away meals are hindering your weight loss. Deciding to plan your weekly meals and shopping to ensure you have healthy foods in the fridge is one way to overcome this obstacle.

List the benefits of achieving your goal.
Knowing exactly what you will gain from reaching your goal is a strong motivator. Keeping my chequebook balanced will give me more spending money on the weekends. Walking a mile every morning will help me concentrate better at work. Losing weight will help me feel more confident.

Identify sub-goals.
Break down complicated plans into manageable chunks. Be specific about what has to be accomplished. Decide what you are going to do, and when. Make sure each step is challenging but achievable, and that you have a complete plan of action. Then write it on your calendar and review it regularly. Remember, even if you have several stones to lose, you should still aim for a loss of 1-2lbs per week.

Learn what you need to learn.
If information or skill is keeping you from achieving your goals, determine ways to fill in the gaps and build this into your action plan. Be willing to study and work hard to reach your goals. Think about how much time and effort will be required, and ask yourself whether you are really willing and able to do what is necessary. Is it better to adjust your goals or your timetable than to proceed with a plan that is unrealistic?

Enlist the help of others.
Find someone, a colleague or friend, with whom you share a common goal. Get someone to go to the gym with you, to quit smoking with you or to share healthy meals with you. A partner can help you stay committed and motivated. Look for role models, people who have already achieved the goals you seek to reach. Ask them for advice and suggestions. Find how they got where they are, and incorporate what you learn into your plan.

Visualise yourself having achieved each of your goals.
The more real you can make your visualisation, the better. Go through magazines and cut out pictures that represent your goal and put them where you can see them. Provide reminders to yourself about what you’re working towards. Describe your ideal life in the future. Write a few paragraphs describing what you have accomplished, and how your life is better as a result. Use the present tense as if it is happening right here, right now. This is another way of making your vision real.

Get organised.
When you are prepared and organised, you will feel better about your ability to reach your goals. Have all the information you need in one place - keep your meal plans in a folder, for example, and add your weekly shopping lists to this folder. If you need to, keep all your healthy foods on a separate shelf so you know where to go when you want a snack. This will help you feel in control.

Reward yourself each step of the way.
Let yourself feel good about progress you’ve made. Treat yourself to rewards that will give you a lift as you accomplish each step.

Exercise

Are you so busy you have absolutely no time to exercise? Is your exercise routine the first casualty if you’re under pressure? Exercise really isn’t so important anyway, right? Wrong. Exercise is vital. Why? Well, here are just a few benefits of exercise: increased energy, improved mood and prevention of depression, increased calorie and fat burning, greater bone density (which offers protection against osteoporosis), protection against heart disease, management of PMT… and a better-looking body. In a nutshell, exercise will help you lose weight and get healthy! Our lifestyles are busy but it’s important to make the time for fitness. In this busy world of work pressure, family and stress we can sneak in workout time – with a little bit of creativity.

Here are some quick tips to keep you moving, your muscles stimulated and your blood flowing in minimal time. Now you have no excuse!

Here are 10 fat burning tips for people on the go:

1. When you first wake up commit to 10 minutes of continuous exercise. Choose only three movements and perform each in succession without stopping for 10 minutes. For example, Monday you can perform modified push-ups, followed by crunches for your abs followed by stationary lunges. On Tuesday you can perform free-standing squats with hands on hips, double crunch for abs, and close grip modified push-ups (hands 3" apart) for your triceps. Just 10 minutes! Just take a quick breather when you need it.

2. Perform timed interval walking in your neighbourhood or at lunch. If it takes 10 minutes to walk to a certain destination near your office or in your neighbourhood, try to make it in eight minutes. You can also do this first thing in the morning before work as well as on your lunch break.

3. If you have stairs in your home or in your work place, commit to taking the stairs a specific number of times. Tell yourself that you’ll take the stairs six or eight times (no matter what).

4. While seated, perform some isometric exercise to help strengthen and tighten your muscles. For example, while in a seated position, simply contract the abdominals for 30 seconds while breathing naturally. You can also tighten and contract your legs for 60 seconds. Perform about three sets per area. You’ll feel your muscles get tighter in just three weeks if you perform this a few times per week.

5. For about £10.00 you can invest in a pedometer. It’s a small device you can carry that records the distance you walk per day, either as a number of steps or in miles. Aim for 10,000 steps every day – to reach your target, get off the bus a stop earlier, take a post-dinner dander or leave the car at home and walk shorter journeys. If you and a friend both take part, make a contest of it and reward the weekly winner.

6. Tired at night and just want to sit in front of the TV? Try this technique: take periodic five-minute exercise breaks and perform some muscle stimulating and calorie burning exercise. For example, take five minutes and perform only abs crunches. Then, when it's time for another five-minute exercise break, perform modified push-ups for five minutes. Then for a final five-minute break, perform stationary lunges. Try to do as many as possible in five minutes and try to beat your amount of reps during each subsequent break. It won’t seem daunting because it’s only five minutes at a time, split over a 30 or 60 minute timeframe. Instead of rest breaks, you’ll take exercise breaks. You don’t really need to watch that new commercial do you?

7. How about performing one exercise movement per day for seven to 10 minutes? For example, Monday: free-standing squats for seven minutes. Tuesday: chair dips for seven minutes. Wednesday: crunches and hip lifts off the floor for seven minutes. Thursday: modified push-up for seven minutes. Friday: stationary lunges for seven minutes. It’s quick, simple and teaches consistency.

8. Want things even simpler? Take the longest route every time you have to walk somewhere - even if it’s to a co-workers office.

9. Double-up the stairs. Every time you take the stairs, simply take a double step or every other stair. It will be just like lunges and the Stairmaster combined. Great for the legs and back-side!

10. Enlist your partner or a friend. I’m sure you can find someone who is in the same situation. The support will motivate and you just may find that you can create even more workout time for yourself.

11. Young Women can halve their risk of breast cancer by eating a diet rich in wholemeal bread and wholegrain cereal, researchers have claimed.

They said that dietary fibre - particularly cereal fibre - can help protect against the killer disease in younger women.

It gave no protection, however, to those who have gone through the menopause.

The Leeds University study suggested that women should eat at least 30 grams of fibre a day - the Government's recommended intake. Fibre can be found in everything from bran flakes to broccoli.

Professor Janet Cade, who conducted the study, said: "Previous research hasn't shown a convincing link between increased dietary fibre and a lower risk of breast cancer.

"But earlier studies didn't draw any distinction between pre- and post-menopausal women."

Her team, which was funded by the World Cancer Research Fund, came up with three possible causes for the link.

It said high fibre foods are rich in vitamins, zinc and other nutrients which have protective anti- oxidant properties.

Fibre can also 'smooth' out the peaks and troughs of insulin levels in the body and high levels are a possible cause of cancer.

Finally, dietary fibre reduces levels of the hormone oestrogen, which has been linked to breast cancer.

This would explain why a diet rich in fibre helps younger women who have higher levels of the hormone.

The Leeds researchers tracked the eating habits and health records of more than 35,000 women over seven years.

Of the group, 257 were premenopausal and developed breast cancer during the study. These had lower intakes of dietary fibre compared with the cancer-free women.

There was no significant difference in diet among the 350 post-menopausal women who developed the disease and those who did not.

The study, published in the International Journal of Epidemiology, was welcomed by Cancer Research UK,

Information officer Ed Yong said: "The study further highlights the importance of eating a healthy diet for reducing the risk of cancer."

Breast cancer kills more than 13,000 women a year in the UK.

Secrets of naturally slim people

Secret 1: Practice Intuitive Weight Maintenance
Naturally thin people have a stable weight and don’t worry what it is. Naturally thin people don’t weigh, measure or otherwise keep track of their bodies’ dimensions. You won’t even find a bathroom scale at the naturally thin person’s house. They don’t need to weigh themselves, because they trust their bodies to regulate their own weight. It is easy for people not to worry about their weight when it never changes but does their weight not change because they don’t worry about it? What if constant worries make your weight fluctuate? What if you tried to think like naturally thin people instead, with an inner knowledge that your weight would stay stable?

Secret 2: Apply An Intuitive Attitude
Naturally thin people have a positive view of themselves and their lives. People who have never had a weight problem know that the key to happiness is in how they perceive themselves and their lives. They have a wonderful self-image because they have not allowed society’s pressure to influence them. Besides appearance, some people criticise themselves for their thoughts, feelings, behaviours - everything. How they see their bodies is a reflection of how they tend to see their entire lives.

Secret 3: Know Intuitively Why To Eat
Naturally thin people eat when they are hungry, but for other reasons as well. They eat because their bodies need fuel, but they also eat sometimes even if they are not hungry. People eat to fulfil physical need (75-100% of the time), physical desire (0-25% of the time) and emotional desire (0-10% of the time). The key is proportion: to be attuned to the body’s signals of what it needs, but also to eat once in a while out of desire. This involves using the body’s inner wisdom. It’s fine to eat something because you want to, or occasionally because you’re having a bad day. Enjoy that piece of cheesecake, simply because it looks so good and you want to taste it. Have a custard-doughnut, because it’s your favourite comfort food and you’re feeling really stressed. Just be aware of what you are doing. Pay attention to why you are eating and make your choices in a conscious, proportioned way and enjoy it.

Secret 4: Know Intuitively What To Eat
Naturally thin people eat exactly what they are hungry for. They seem to have an inherent sense of what they really need. They’ll go out of their way to get what they are hungry for, even if it means making a shopping trip. If that’s not feasible, then they substitute another similar food. While eating, they are in tune with whether or not the food is satisfying their need, and they make adjustments in their intake accordingly. What happens when you make your food choices based on what you think you should eat? What are some of your “forbidden foods,” and what would it be like to let this label go? How do you feel after eating your current food choices? What foods would you like to try adding to your intake?

Secret 5: Know Intuitively How Much To Eat
Naturally thin people stop eating before they get too full. They often leave food on their plates when dining out, because the typical restaurant portion is more than a body needs. When dining at home, they often finished what is on their plates if they served themselves, because they are in tune with how much food their bodies will need and only put that much on their plates. A naturally thin person can even take a spoon and eat right from the container - then put the container away when they’ve had enough. Eat slowly, chew well and enjoy each mouthfull, pay attention to how you feel as you get full and learn to recognise your fullness cues.

Secret 6: Exercise With Intuition
Naturally thin people enjoy a variety of fitness activities in reasonable amounts. They exercise on a regular basis without going overboard. There is consistency without compulsivity. They use exercise guidelines, but in a way that honours their bodies’ needs. Some exercise for longer durations than others, and some work out at more advanced levels than others. Their bodies just seem to know how much exercise is right for them. Regardless of their level of conditioning, they all have some level of commitment to making fitness a part of their lives. They focus on what they really enjoy: running, cycling, swimming, aerobics or whatever.

Secret 7: Live An Intuitive Life
Naturally thin people have truly fulfilling lives (and it’s not because they are thin). Thinness is part of their experience, but it is not the source of their fulfilment. They have meaningful relationships with others. They enjoy significant experiences in both their professional and personal lives. They focus far beyond the number on the scale. Their focus is on enjoying life, exactly as it is, and making the best of things, exactly as they are. With this attitude of gratitude, they seem to attract more good into their lives automatically, without having to chase after it.

http://www.spiritmindbody.co.uk/

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