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Look at the health continuum like a yard stick. The left end represents the high-fat, high-cholesterol, low-nutritional, fast, easy, and extremely unhealthy. The right end represents the, cardboard tasting, well-balanced, organic, naturally grown, and uber healthy. Now, if you want to jump from the far left-end all the way to the right-end in one step your body would go into shock, and you might as well shoot yourself in the foot, it would be less painful. However, if you take small steps from left to right you’ll accomplish your goals without stressing out. Think about it; anything you do that’s even a little closer to the right is a step in the “right” direction, if you’ll pardon the pun. Read this article and start making the right steps.

5 Simple Health and Wellness Activities That Anyone Can Easily Implement

How many of you get ideas when taking a shower?  I’ve heard a number of people say that creative ideas come to them when they’re “all wet.”  I’m no exception.  I’ve realized that people enjoy short, doable bullets that they can easily begin to implement when making changes around their health and wellness.  So, last week I had a few bubble to the surface while in the shower.

1. Five days a week eat an organic apple.  We all know that eating apples are a good thing for us to do.  What can you do to become more diligent about eating an apple a day?  Since apples are one of the highest sprayed crops in terms of pesticide use, I recommend eating organic apples.  Most supermarkets are now carrying some organic produce and apples are usually one of the most popular items.  Buying them in two to three pound bags is usually more economical.  Apples contain fiber, antioxidants and phytonutrients, all of which benefit our bodies.
2. Seven times a week eat a large leafy, green salad.  (Iceberg lettuce does NOT count here.)  Use organic spring mix, mixed baby greens or romaine lettuce.  Include spinach and lots of other fresh vegetables such as cucumbers, carrots, colored peppers, onions, tomatoes and avocados.  Many nutritional experts advocate eating a fresh, green salad with lunch AND dinner.  In case that’s a bit much for some of our readers, begin with eating one seven times a week.  We enjoy walnuts and or sunflower seeds on our salads as well as a few dried cranberries.
3. At least three times a week have eggs for breakfast instead of cereal.  I don’t recommend eating cereal at all but if you’re beginning to make a shift here, then begin with eating eggs a few days instead of cereal.  Eat the entire egg, the way God created it.  Soft boiled, scrambled, or over easy are all acceptable.  I recommend using coconut oil for cooking.  By the way, eggs do NOT cause elevated cholesterol.  That’s a huge myth and a topic for a future article.
4. Five nights a week get to bed before or by 10:30.  Your body will thank you.  Again, most wellness gurus say to be consistent every night of the week with the bedtime, most maintaining that 10:00 is optimum.  However, if you’re accustomed to staying up until 11:30, then begin by backing up your bedtime to 10:30 at least five nights a week, then optimally 10:00 each night.  The body repairs, restores and recharges itself while we sleep.  Inadequate rest and sleep contributes to many health issues and may even shorten life span by eight to ten years.
5. Decrease your intake of fried foods to…ZERO times a week.  Seriously, there are no acceptable numbers for eating fried foods.  If you’re currently eating fried foods, then may I challenge you to examine how many times a week you’re eating them, and decrease that number starting today.  Fried foods are one of the worst health robbers that we could ever eat.  Why risk eating them?

And now I’d like to invite you to get your free instant access to the first chapter of our wellness eBook which explains the six basic principles of wellness when you visit http://wellness777.com/freebook

You’ll receive information on the major wellness factors which everyone can implement and which will quickly and reliability improve one’s quality of life.

From Sharon Graham, R.N. – the other half of The Coaching Pair
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Sharon_Graham

There are many aspects in life that you have to keep balanced in order to achieve total or overall health, security, and happiness. You need to improve each and every aspect to give your self a chance for growth and development. It is not very easy to achieve a balanced life but with enough determination and knowledge about how to do it, it is not impossible. 

One of the most important area or aspect of a person’s life is the body. You have to make sure that you will keep your body healthy and strong to be able to do and perform all of your duties and responsibilities. Eat a proper diet and keep your body fit by doing regular exercise or going to the gym. Aside from keeping the body healthy, these could also make you look more attractive. Feeling and looking beautiful will also contribute to the personal aspect of your life. 

The personal aspect includes your emotions, feelings, and the way you think about certain things. It is advisable to always maintain a positive outlook in life. Your mind is a very powerful organ as it could control your feelings and emotions. Don’t let negative feelings such as insecurity, self pity, sadness, and disappointment get the best of you. Thinking positive and being optimistic will do wonders. They will also help you achieve contentment in life that will eventually turn into happiness. 

There are other aspects of life that also contribute to a person’s total happiness and one of these is the financial aspect. Though it is true that money and material things should not be the focus of your attention, the fact still remains that this is very important in order for a person to survive in this world. Save money by keeping a part of your regular income or invest in something that could really return your investments. This will help give you a sense of security, peace of mind, and will prevent any financial troubles in the future. 

Although your present job could give you a steady source of income, it doesn’t mean that it’s the perfect job for you. It is also important that you like what you are doing because this will lessen or reduce the stress level that you get and will give you the motivation to improve your work performance. If you want to expand your knowledge, skills, and abilities, you could take additional education or personality development program which is another aspect of life and life is a continuous learning process. 

You should also have some time to improve your social life. Go out with your friends or spend some quality time with your family. This will somehow give you the feeling that you are being loved and that there are lost of people who love you and will always be there to support you. The spiritual aspect of your life is also important especially if you feel that you need some guidance or enlightenment during tough and hard situations. 

After a long time of hard work, it is advisable to take a break and reward your self with something that could make you relax and relieve you from stress, tension, and pressure from work. You can try out new sports or start a new hobby that will match your interests. It could be any kind of fun activities that you can do by yourself or with friends and family. A balanced life can do many great things that will make you completely healthy and happy.

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

Debbie Mayer, who was part of the clinical trial, poses at her home in Brockton, Mass. Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2009. Low-fat or low-carb, as long as your diet lowers calories and you stick with it, you can lose weight, finds a federal study that followed people for two years – one of the longest such comparisons. (AP Photo/Lisa Poole)

LOS ANGELES – Low-fat, low-carb or high-protein? The kind of diet doesn’t matter, scientists say. All that really counts is cutting calories and sticking with it, according to a federal study that followed people for two years. However, participants had trouble staying with a single approach that long and the weight loss was modest for most.

As the world grapples with rising obesity, millions have turned to popular diets like Atkins, Zone and Ornish that tout the benefits of one nutrient over another.

Some previous studies have found that low carbohydrate diets like Atkins work better than a traditional low-fat diet. But the new research found that the key to losing weight boiled down to a basic rule — calories in, calories out.

“The hidden secret is it doesn’t matter if you focus on low-fat or low-carb,” said Dr. Elizabeth Nabel, director of the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, which funded the research.

Limiting the calories you consume and burning off more calories with exercise is key, she said.

The study, which appears in Thursday’s New England Journal of Medicine, was led by Harvard School of Public Health and Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Louisiana.

Researchers randomly assigned 811 overweight adults to one of four diets, each of which contained different levels of fat, protein and carbohydrates.

Though the diets were twists on commercial plans, the study did not directly compare popular diets. The four diets contained healthy fats, were high in whole grains, fruits and vegetables and were low in cholesterol.

Nearly two-thirds of the participants were women. Each dieter was encouraged to slash 750 calories a day from their diet, exercise 90 minutes a week, keep an online food diary and meet regularly with diet counselors to chart their progress.

There was no winner among the different diets; reduction in weight and waist size were similar in all groups.

People lost 13 pounds on average at six months, but all groups saw their weight creep back up after a year. At two years, the average weight loss was about 9 pounds while waistlines shrank an average of 2 inches. Only 15 percent of dieters achieved a weight-loss reduction of 10 percent or more of their starting weight.

Dieters who got regular counseling saw better results. Those who attended most meetings shed more pounds than those who did not — 22 pounds compared with the average 9 pound loss.

Lead researcher Dr. Frank Sacks of Harvard said a restricted calorie diet gives people greater food choices, making the diet less monotonous.

“They just need to focus on how much they’re eating,” he said.

Sacks said the trick is finding a healthy diet that is tasty and that people will stick with over time.

Before Debbie Mayer, 52, enrolled in the study, she was a “stress eater” who would snack all day and had no sense of portion control. Mayer used to run marathons in her 30s, but health problems prevented her from doing much exercise in recent years.

Mayer tinkered with different diets — Weight Watchers, Atkins, South Beach — with little success.

“I’ve been battling my weight all my life. I just needed more structure,” said Mayer, of Brockton, Mass., who works with the elderly.

Mayer was assigned to a low-fat, high-protein diet with 1,400 calories a day. She started measuring her food and went back to the gym. The 5-foot Mayer started at 179 pounds and dropped 50 pounds to 129 pounds by the end of the study. She now weighs 132 and wants to shed a few more pounds.

Another study volunteer, Rudy Termini, a 69-year-old retiree from Cambridge, Mass., credits keeping a food diary for his 22-pound success. Termini said before participating in the study he would wolf down 2,500 calories a day. But sticking to an 1,800-calorie high-fat, average protein diet meant no longer eating an entire T-bone steak for dinner. Instead, he now eats only a 4-ounce steak.

“I was just oblivious to how many calories I was having,” said the 5-foot-11-inch Termini, who dropped from 195 to 173 pounds. “I really used to just eat everything and anything in sight.”

Dr. David Katz of the Yale Prevention Research Center and author of several weight control books, said the results should not be viewed as an endorsement of fad diets that promote one nutrient over another.

The study compared high quality, heart healthy diets and “not the gimmicky popular versions,” said Katz, who had no role in the study. Some popular low-carb diets tend to be low in fiber and have a relatively high intake of saturated fat, he said.

Other experts were bothered that the dieters couldn’t keep the weight off even with close monitoring and a support system.

“Even these highly motivated, intelligent participants who were coached by expert professionals could not achieve the weight losses needed to reverse the obesity epidemic,” Martijn Katan of Amsterdam’s Free University wrote in an accompanying editorial.

Cutting calories key to weight loss: study

Overweight patients cast a shadow at a weight reduction clinic. A new study has found that eating heart-healthy, low-calorie foods and exercising is the key to losing weight regardless of levels of protein, fat or carbohydrates.(AFP/File/Frederic J. Brown)

The research, funded by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) of the National Institutes of Health, seems to argue against blanket use of diets that do not necessarily limit calories but call for eating certain foods such as vegetables or proteins, at the expense of others.

The NIH study of 811 volunteers, 38 percent of them men and 62 percent women, aged 30-70 and either overweight or obese, looked at diets that have been popular in the United States in recent years, even as the number of obese Americans has soared.

The “Preventing Overweight Using Novel Dietary Strategies (POUNDS LOST) study found similar weight loss after six months and two years among participants assigned to four diets that differed in their proportions of these three major nutrients,” said researchers.

“The diets were low or high in total fat (20 or 40 percent of calories) with average or high protein (15 or 25 percent of calories). Carbohydrate content ranged from 35 to 65 percent of calories.

“The diets all used the same calorie reduction goals and were heart-healthy low in saturated fat and cholesterol while high in dietary fibre,” said researchers, whose study is published Thursday in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Participants lost an average 13 pounds (5.9 kilos) at six months and maintained a nine-pound (four-kilo) loss at two years.

“These results show that, as long as people follow a heart-healthy, reduced-calorie diet, there is more than one nutritional approach to achieving and maintaining a healthy weight,” said Dr. Elizabeth Nabel, director at NHLBI.

“This provides people who need to lose weight with the flexibility to choose an approach that they’re most likely to sustain: one that is most suited to their personal preferences and health needs,” she stressed.

Sixty-six percent of US adults are overweight and of those, 32 percent are obese, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data show.

By AFP – Thu Feb 26, 8:42 AM PST

Natural laughter is a two-part, spontaneous, response to humor, that has physiological, psychological, and physical benefits.

Most agree that we laugh when we find something to be humorous, yet different reasons exist for what we find to be humorous. Additionally, different things are humorous to us at different stages of life.

Laughter, a physiological response to humor, can be broken down into two parts.

The first is a set of gestures, and the second is the production of sound. The brain forces to conduct both responses simultaneously. From a physiological standpoint, a “sensor” in the brain responds to laughter by triggering other neural circuits in the brain, which, in turn, generate more laughter.

Oddly enough, laughter is an orderly response, and almost occurs “spontaneously” during pauses at the end of phrases, earning it the name the punctuation effect. Human beings are the only species capable of laughter, and the average adult does so approximately 17 times per day.

Good health is one of the many benefits of laughter. Laughter reduces our stress levels by reducing the level of stress hormones, and also helps us cope with serious illnesses.

Physiologically, laughter promotes healing, by lowering the blood pressure, and by increasing the vascular blood flow and the oxygenation of the blood.

Physical fitness stemming from laughter is a benefit known to few. Scientists estimate that laughing 100 times is equivalent to a 10-minute workout on a rowing machine, or to 15 minutes on a stationary exercise bike. The mere act of laughing exercises the diaphragm, as well as the abdominal, respiratory, facial, leg, and back muscles.

Another benefit of laughter is that it improves our over-all mental health. Pent up negative emotions, such as anger, fear, and sadness, can cause biochemical changes in our bodies that can produce a harmful effect.

Laughter provides a harmless outlet for these negative emotions, and provides a coping mechanism for dealing with difficult or stressful situations. 

Copyright © http://www.coolquiz.com

The first vitamin group (water-soluble) the folate (folic acid), vitamin B12, biotin, vitamin 6, niacin, thiamin, riboflavin, pantothenic acid, and vitamin C (ascorbic acid). The second vitamin group (fat-soluble) include the vitamins: vitamin D, vitamin E, vitamin A, and vitamin K.

Even though vitamins and minerals aren’t an energy source (they have no calories) they assist in metabolizing nutrients in food and are indispensable in keeping body health.

Vitamins are necessary in small amounts for normal metabolism and good health so their depletion or excess can lead to chronic and sometimes acute diseases.

Functions:
Each vitamin has a specific function. For instance, a person may exhibit a typical health problem due to deficiency of a vitamin.

Vitamin A helps the formation and maintenance of teeth, bone and soft tissue, mucous membranes and skin health.

Vitamin B6 is also called pyridoxine. The more protein a person consumes, the more vitamin B6 is required to help the body use the protein. Vitamin B6 helps, among other things, the formation of red blood cells and the maintenance of brain function.

Vitamin B12 like other B vitamins, is important in metabolism and also helps the formation of red blood cells and maintenance of the central nervous system.

Vitamin C also called ascorbic acid, is an antioxidant that promotes healthy teeth and gums. This vitamin helps the body absorb iron and maintain healthy tissue and also promotes wound healing.

Vitamin D is also known as the “sunshine vitamin” because the body produces after exposure to sunlight. 10 to 15 minutes of sun exposure three times a week is sufficient to produce the physical requirements of this vitamin. This vitamin promotes the absorption of calcium in the body, essential for developing and maintaining healthy teeth and bones. It also helps maintain adequate blood levels of calcium and phosphorus.

Vitamin E also known as tocopherol plays an important role in the formation of red blood cells and helps the body use vitamin K.

Vitamin K does not appear in the list of essential vitamins, but without it blood would not clot. Some studies suggest that help maintain strong bones in the elderly.

Niacin is a vitamin B complex that helps maintain healthy skin and nerves and also has effects on cholesterol lowering.

Folate works with vitamin B12 to help in the formation of red blood cells and is necessary for the production of DNA, which controls tissue growth and cell function. Any pregnant woman should make sure to consume adequate amounts of folate, since low levels of this vitamin is associated with birth defects such as spina bifida. Many foods are now fortified with folic acid.

Pantothenic acid is essential for the metabolism of foods and also plays a role in the production of hormones and cholesterol.

Riboflavin (B2) works in conjunction with other B complex vitamins and plays an important role in body growth and the production of red blood cells.

Thiamine (B1) helps the body cells convert carbohydrates into energy. It is also essential for the functioning of the heart and maintaining healthy nerve cells.<br><br><font size=1>

David C. is the author of the Vitamin Supplement Blog, read more about vitamins and supplements at http://www.myvitaminsupplement.net.  Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=David_G._Castro

The second form of energy that is used by our physical bodies is electrical energy. Action within the human body is caused by a transfer of information from one location to another. The line of transmission that is used is primarily our nervous system. The transmission itself is achieved by firing of electrical impulses from nerve to nerve. Although there are thousands of electrical impulses being fired at any given point in the day, there is a method of prioritization by the brain in order that it may address the most critical body needs prior to those that are less urgent. The more rapidly in nerve fires its signal, the higher the intensity that is perceived by the brain. If the firing rate of a nerve is slower, the brain interprets that signal as less serious. Research has shown that cells are similar to integrated circuits that are found in computers and other electronic devices. There is now a field of medical research known as bioelectronics that is studying the cellular information transmission systems.

Light is the third form of energy that our body uses to communicate information. Each of the cells in our body puts out a small pulsation of light. Although it is extremely weak, these pulses of light are measurable in the ultraviolet range. Researchers have found that the small bursts of light emitted by living cells increases when a poison has been introduced to the cell culture. An experiment performed by Russian scientists almost fifty years ago demonstrated how the ultraviolet light pulsations transmit information across a distance. Cell cultures were placed in separate quartz Petri dishes placed side by side and a toxic substance was added to one of the Petri dishes. Both cultures died. When an identical set of cultures were placed in glass Petri dishes and the experiment was repeated, all in the culture that contained the poisonous substance died. Because ultraviolet light passes through quartz but not glass, these results suggested the transfer of information between the two cell cultures that resulted in cellular death for both was transmitted by ultraviolet light emitted from the cells.

To get the best performance possible from your body, it is important to take care of all the energy needs. Proper nutrition, exercise, and exposure to the sun are necessary to recharge your batteries that are drained by the daily stresses of life. If your energy level is down and you feel like your batteries are drained, try recharging your diet, your workout plan, and your time in the sun.

Jerry Ryan, Ph.D. is a Natural Health Coach who teaches individuals and group classes on the scientifically documented benefits of natural health techniques. He is also an internationally published author and has been a guest speaker at such places as NIKE World Headquarters. For more information, his website is http://www.JerryRyanPhD.com
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jerry_Ryan

If your body doesn’t get all the nutrients it needs, both macro- and micronutrients, it can easily perceive that as the start of a famine. Once the body perceives the possibility of a famine, it produces chemicals that are not present in a well-fed body. The job of these new chemicals is to convert food into fat to prepare for the famine.

How does any of this apply to you, or anyone else that you know? Since close to 80% of adult Americans are overweight, and since the ‘famine zone response’ is the primary cause of fat, it applies to a whole lot of folks!!

America starving?!?! Almost sounds ludicrous since the consensus is that most Americans are overfed. But overfed with what? Nutritious, health-building foods that are as close to nature as possible? Not on your life, and that’s the saddest part of all this – it is your life, and the quality of your life, that’s at stake!

Why does the body turn food into fat? The prevailing theory is ‘because heavy people eat too much.’ And at the same time they say that, scientists are discovering ‘new’ (weren’t they always there?) chemicals that affect how much food is converted into fat. They tell us that if one chemical is present, more of the food is made into fat. If another chemical is absent, more of the food is made into fat. And if there is another chemical present, there is actually fat loss; all while the same amount of food is being eaten in the different trial groups. Doesn’t that tell us right there that it’s not a matter of how much we eat, but the chemistry of the body that determines whether food is used for energy and to build health, or whether it’s stored as fat. If the ‘calorie-in, calorie-out’ theory is true, why can’t we just eat 1200 calories of anything we want, like Twinkies and Twizzlers?!?!? We all know that won’t work!

Then consider this. Each of the macronutrients, carbs, protein and fats, are assigned a caloric value. Every packaged product has the calories listed no matter what’s in the food. A calorie is a measurement of energy released when a substance is burned, even things like paper and coal. (Now those are calories to avoid!) The key here is that it has to be burned, and protein, even though it can be burned and used as energy, is not supposed to be burned. It’s supposed to be used to rebuild the body. Protein is to our body what wood is to building a home. If you burn the wood for heat, you don’t have anything to build the house with. If we burn protein as energy, we don’t have anything to build the body with! So protein eaten and used to rebuild the body does not release calories, which means it has zero calories! So one 500-calorie meal of chocolate cake and another 500-calorie meal of chicken over salad are not the same! The calorie theory is bogus! It’s the body’s chemistry that determines whether food is turned into fat or not.

So why in the world would the body make fat on purpose? It’s easy to understand. It wasn’t that long ago that getting enough food was hard to do. (And we have to remember, even if we’re only talking about a hundred or two hundred years ago, the vast majority of ‘food’ was natural, organic, and unprocessed.) The primary use of fat in the body is to keep us alive. Every cell of the body has to use fuel to maintain life, just like your car engine idling at a light. It’s not going anywhere, but it’s using fuel. Of course, in a car, the engine can be turned off so it uses no fuel. The only time the body uses no fuel is when it’s dead! And 70% of the fuel used at rest, to keep us alive, is fat!

So, the body has this tremendous ability to convert food into fat so there is always enough to at least survive. This is controlled by one of the most powerful genetic programs we have – the genetic program that made it possible for the human species to survive times when food was scarce – the perception of the possibility of a famine.

But how can this apply to our modern day when food is so plentiful? Easily! If even the quality of the food is poor and doesn’t give the body what it needs, this can be perceived as the ‘famine zone!’ If you skip meals or eat too infrequently, that can trigger the famine zone. And frankly, so much of what is called food today is so over-processed and lacking in value that it can’t give the body what it needs. Proof? Again, near 80% of adult Americans is overweight!

“But I have friends that lost weight restricting calories. Doesn’t that prove it works?”

Sometimes, if they ate natural foods in a quantity that met their body’s needs, but the vast majority of those losing weight from dieting are losing both fat and lean body mass. The loss of lean triggers the famine zone, which leads to the cravings so many have to battle, and even the slightest deviation, let alone going back to ‘the American way of eating,’ will cause fat gain, because they are in a chemical fat making mode – the famine zone.

So what’s the answer? Feed the body everything it needs. Convince it that there is no reason to carry lots of fat because there is no famine. If the body isn’t in a chemical fat making mode, you can eat anything you want on occasion, and it won’t make a large amount of fat.

That’s what Living Lean and Healthy is all about. We make every effort to accurately calculate how much food it takes to pull you out of the famine zone and convince the body to release the fat. That part is easy. Understanding how the body works and how much food you need is the easy part. It may be time to call and make an appointment to update your food program and review all this, and that will help.

Understanding all of what it takes is easy; implementing it consistently enough may not be simple. We tend to do what we have always done, and we tend to do what others are doing. The vast majority of the information we have about food has come from advertising and from the diet industry. We have been brain washed to reach for certain things based on criteria, thoughts, which have nothing to do with health and feeding the body properly. Our response to hunger and other stimulus is controlled by the thoughts and images implanted in our brains by decades of advertising and observing what everyone else is doing.

To make it easy, we need to replace those ‘hard-wired’ patterns with new responses that make it easier to choose wisely and lean. That’s where Directed Mental Dynamics comes in. You can learn how to beat those impulses and change the way you react. An individualized CD can be made using guided imagery and relaxation response training, similar to hypnosis, to gently retrain how you respond to food stimuli.

Living Lean and Healthy, 19355 SW Teton Ave, Tualatin, OR 97062
Dave Ryan (503) 516-5590

Its All About Pain
If you have made a health resolution this year, or visited a health professional, I’m almost 100% certain that you did it because the degree of pain you were in (physical or mental) was bad enough to make you take action. We all possess a certain level of tolerance that will overcome any desire for change. For example, if you’re slightly overweight you might feel a little down when you are forced to buy clothes in the next size up, but then don’t do anything about it because there are so many other things clamouring for your attention.

Sometimes it’s only when you see yourself in a photo (particularly from the side or behind!) that you realise just how out of shape you’ve become. “That’s just not me!” So you decide to go on a diet, join the gym – and for a few weeks you’re making good progress.

Then a funny thing happens
You’ve lost a little weight, you’re feeling more toned and energetic than you have in a long time. And all of a sudden, that weight loss goal doesn’t seem as important. Or the pain of that chronic injury you’re having treated reduces. You find that you’re “treating yourself” more and more often; skipping treatment sessions. There’s a reason, and it’s all to do with your comfort zone. When you’ve made some progress, the pain isn’t so bad, it’s easy to think “I don’t have to work so hard now.” Or “I can live with this level of pain.”

We are all programmed to live within our comfort zone; where we’re not challenged, we don’t have to take risks, and our relationships with those around us are well defined. Move outside that comfort zone to become a new person and you can expect your subconscious to start ringing warning bells, prompting you to take action that pulls you back into your comfort zone.

But that’s not where you want to be – you want to actually achieve.

So how can you stay on track?
1. Line up support mechanisms when you start working towards your goal, and check in with them regularly. For example, if your goals are around fitness, it makes sense to have an introductory session with your trainer to work out a training plan; then regularly meet up with him/her again to ensure you’re on track. A well chosen support person will hold you accountable for your actions and help you stay motivated.
2. Review your goals regularly, especially the reasons you set them in the first place. (For example, ” I will lose 5kg this year so that I can fit into a smaller, sassier size of clothes”)
3. Don’t drive looking in the rear view mirror! Your inner critic may appear at this stage of change, reciting negative input such as “You’ve tried this before and it didn’t work….its not going to work this time either. You’re doomed.” Recognise your inner critic for what it is – just the rear view mirror – and then continue to move ahead with your gaze firmly in the future.
4. If you’re feeling uncomfortable with the speed of your positive change, start taking baby steps forward rather than big leaps in small timeframes. But keep moving forward!

Support and accountability are your keys to making it all the way to the goal posts. Olwen Anderson is a nutritionist-naturopath who combines the best of traditional natural therapies and modern scientific nutritional therapy so you feel more energetic and full of beans than you have in years!

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

For more information and support for creating habits, accountability, and support systems, visit http://www.GalileoLS.com/consult.html for a free coaching consultation.

We all want to be happy in life but the daily grind, everyday worries and even the weather can get you down and cause you to lose track of what it’s all about. However there are many things you can do to brighten up your days.

Here are some tips on how to make the most out of life.

Make more time for your friends and family:
Spending time with the people you care about can make you feel great and help you put things into perspective. Reminiscing about great times in the past or discussing future plans can really give you a boost.

Seize the Day:
The general feeling in the UK is that we work too hard and don’t spend enough time doing other things. If you’ve always wanted to do a particular thing like write a novel or join your local theatre company then now is the time.

Look After Your Health:
Eat well, exercise and take care of your mind and body. There’s nothing wrong with letting your hair down every once in a while and you’ll enjoy these times even more if they are the exception rather than the rule.

Don’t Get Stuck in a Rut:
It’s easy to get bogged down and caught in a cycle of working, watching TV and sleeping, for example, but you don’t have to settle for anything you don’t want to.

Travel:
Seeing new places, experiencing new things and meeting new people can really help to broaden your horizons and give you a new happier perspective on life.

Set Yourself Goals:
No matter how difficult or unachievable you think they are, setting yourself targets in life and reaching them can give you an enormous confidence boost and also improve your overall happiness.

Think About Others:
Donating money to those less fortunate than you or spending time with them can be an incredibly positive experience that helps you really appreciate everything you have in your own life.

Concentrate on the Present:
It may sound corny but living for today is one of the best ways to reduce worry and anxiety from your life and can make you happier as a result. Worrying about what may happen is wasted energy as none of us can predict the future.

Step Out of Your Comfort Zone:
Every once in a while you might want to do something that would normally terrify you. Why? This can build up your self confidence and prove to yourself that you can do anything you want if you put your mind to it.

Don’t Be Too Hard on Yourself:
Everyone makes mistakes; some more frequently than others. But punishing yourself for being human is not the way to go. View every mistake as a learning experience and look forward with a positive attitude.

Peace of mind can be just as important as happiness for many people and having savings in the bank or arranging a home insurance quote to ensure you’re protected against unexpected events can give you less to worry about.

Paul McIndoe writes for a digital marketing agency. This article has been commissioned by a client of said agency. This article is not designed to promote, but should be considered professional content.Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Paul_Mcindoe

For more information and support for creating more time for yourself and what’s important to you, visit http://www.GalileoLS.com/consult.html for a free coaching consultation.