Colds and Flu – Prevent Them or Minimise Their Effects

Some simple, but very effective ways in which you can save your body from infection:

 (1)  Cleanliness

Often it’s the simple things which turn out to be the best. One of the best defences against cold and flu bugs is simply washing your hands really well. I don’t mean a quick rinse that busy people often resort to. No. A good 20 second scrub is what you need. Just count slowly to 20 while you soap and then rinse thoroughly with warm water.

During a normal day you’ll be touching many surfaces where germs can lurk and it’s not always possible to keep washing your hands. In these circumstances the best thing to do is to have a small bottle of hand sanitizer and use it when you can. At least keep your hands away from your face. Don’t give the germs you may pick up a chance to get to your mouth, nose or eyes.

The other source of germs as you travel around is those that are air borne. If someone closer than about 6 feet (imagine a tall person lying down between you) is sneezing or coughing, turn your head the other way, count slowly to 10 and then the air should be clear again. If you’re sitting or standing somewhere such as on a train, try to move somewhere else as soon as possible.

(2)  Make use of Friendly Bacteria

Most of the time you’ll be advised to keep bacteria out of your body.

Sometimes, however, you should make good use of bacteria that can work in your favour.

Probiotics are one example of good bacteria. The World Health Organization defines probiotics as “Live micro-organisms, which, when administered in adequate amounts, confer a health benefit on the host.”

They may strengthen your immune system by making less room for germs in the body. A study in Germany discovered that taking probiotics daily for three months shortened the length that people suffered from a common cold by almost two days. It was also found that symptoms such as headaches, coughing, and sneezing were a lot less severe in people taking the probiotics.

You’ll find probiotics in the following foods;

Stay slim after losing weight.

Why is it that people often go on a ‘yo-yo’ journey from overweight to slim, back to overweight and so on?

Well of course, there are many reasons. Probably as many reasons as there are people trying to slim.

The really important question is,

‘What can you do to stop it happening to you?’

A great deal depends on how you prepare for and go about your efforts to lose weight. In fact, that’s probably one of the first mistakes people make – calling it losing weight.

What you want to do is lose FAT, not necessarily lose weight, per se. There is a big difference!

Now many people just jump right in and start to lower their calorie intake and pride themselves on ‘losing weight’. If your intake of calories is lower than the calories your body uses for the tasks you want it to perform, then you have a caloric deficit and you'll lose weight. 

Simple, right?

Products that will keep your family Healthy, Fit and Happy.

Find many products that will keep you and your family healthy this winter at The Healthy Living Store.

Why not visit The Fitness Store or my Sports and Leisure Store, for products that will help you and your family to keep fit?

Or for when you want a more relaxing time, visit my PC and Video Games Store or click on the picture below for some great bargains.


                                          

Is this the secret to weight loss you’ve been searching for?

Many people have a nagging worry following them throughout the day. They may not consciously think all the time about the food they are going to eat, but the worry about food is there in the background all the time.

I wonder how many times in the day you think about what you’re going to eat at the next meal, or maybe before the next meal?

You see, for many of us our bodies are just not how we want them to be.  There’s a bit of extra podge here, a bit too much wobble there. Whatever it is, we want to change it.

We try one new diet after another. We jog for a few days, don’t see any change and give up. Then we feel guilty and start all over again with yet another diet and fitness program at which we, once more, fail miserably.

Then it’s time to feel depressed and think that nothing is ever going to work for us.

Does this sound familiar to you?

Well now is your break through moment when you discover the secret of losing weight. And not putting it back on again a few months down the line.

FREE Diet and Exercise Program Offer.

Please accept a free booklet which will show you:

(1) How to eat as much as you want and still cut down on the calories,

(2) How to keep fit using a simple, Two-Part exercise program,

(3) How to set your goals to ensure your success.

(4) And last but not least, you'll learn how using the information in this booklet will help you to protect the health and wellbeing of your family. My family's health and general wellbeing were certainly improved. 

Find out how I came back from the brink (blood pressure 255/197!).

Fill in the form below and click on the button.

Please fill in your details below: Name: Email: Your email address will never be shared or sold.

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5 Easy Tips To Lose Belly Fat.

Click on the picture to discover some interesting ways to create a flat stomach.

Having a fat belly like the one in the picture above is not only ugly, but it’s also very unhealthy. In fact, it’s the most dangerous kind of body fat you can have. It’s been linked to diabetes, heart disease and many other health worries.

The trouble is, you don’t have to be as fat as the man in the picture above to be at risk.  If your waist measurement is more than 35 inches, you’re in the ‘at risk’ category.

However, the news is not all bad. With the following tips, you’ll be on the road to a healthier future in no time. You’ll also be ready to break out your bikini or speedos in time for next summer!

1) Drink more water

Now everyone knows that water is good for us, but it’s also an effective weight-loss tool. When you’re out and about, carry a bottle of water with you so that you won’t be tempted to reach for soda or a sugar laden fruit drink when you’re thirsty. Water is also vital for burning calories fast. If you’re dehydrated, your body will struggle to keep up the fat burning process.

As well as this, drinking a glass of water before each meal can make you feel less hungry. It will fill up your stomach, triggering your bodies ‘fullness’ signals. You’ll eat less and feel more satisfied after consuming fewer calories.

BUT

Click on the picture to discover why you should not drink Bottled Water!

2) Develop healthier sleeping habits

Belly fat has been linked to stress and poor sleep habits. If you’ve tried a calorie controlled diet and still aren’t seeing results, this may be down to your lifestyle. When you’re up late at night, your body is triggered to produce more ghrelin, a hunger stimulating peptide that’ll have you reaching for snacks that you really don’t need. Try to get seven hours of sleep a night to lose belly fat more effectively.

3) Drink Green Tea

Green tea is a powerful weight loss secret for people trying to lose belly fat. Recent studies have shown that green tea enriched with catechins (a group of antioxidants) can have a dramatic impact on the body’s fat burning abilities. This can be particularly effective if you drink a cup of green tea just after a meal. (See Herbs that help with weight loss for more ideas) 

4) Try short bursts of activity

Short bursts of intense cardio activity, such as running, swimming, etc. (See Aerobic Exercise for alternative activities) when done alongside core exercises can increase the loss of belly fat weight. Interval training is ideal, as core exercises will tone your abs while cardio activity will eliminate fat beneath the surface.

5) Eat five small meals a day

Swapping five smaller meals for the normal three large meals a day, will help you stay full for longer and avoid the usual snacking that takes place.

Keep these 5 tips in mind to lose belly fat fast and get the body you want.

Click here to learn more

Your life should not be controlled by dieting and exercising.

You’re a fool if you think that everything revolves around dieting and exercise!

It’s true that for a healthy life you must make sure that you eat correctly and exercise enough to keep your weight under control.

But if you’re forever thinking about what you eat, what you mustn’t eat and worrying about that extra biscuit, then is your life worth living?

If you have to get up at 6am every day to go jogging, whether or not it’s blowing a gale and it feels like you’re living in a waterfall, then surely something is missing in your life?

You see, for me, going to work every day is what I need to do to get the money I need to live the life I want to. That is, I work to live. Other people simply live to work. Work is their life.

Similarly, eating well and exercising are things I do to help me live a happier and more fulfilling life. They are not meant to take over my life. Yes they become part of a successful lifestyle. But the important word is PART. They should not BE your lifestyle.

We all want to look good. We all want to be fit and healthy, but at what cost?

We need to blend our eating, exercising and all other aspects of our lives together. In other words we need to find a compromise between all the different parts of our lives.

In this way you can enjoy an extra piece of cake or the occasional one pint of beer too many without worrying about what they’re going to do to your body.

If you miss an exercise one day, you’ll know it won’t matter too much. You can always get back ‘on course’ the next day.

Your life path is a bit like taking a motor car trip from, for example, London to Edinburgh.

If you plan out your route before you start, you know exactly where you’re going and where to turn and which road to take from the start all the way to your destination.

But the best thing is that you can make detours on the way. If you learn about something that you find interesting on your journey, but it’s not on your route, you can make a detour. Then you can enjoy the interesting off-route experience and later you can return to your pre-planned route without any difficulty.

How does this relate to your change of lifestyle to accommodate healthy eating and intelligent exercise?

Well we all make mistakes. We all fail now and again.

What we must do is to work out why we made the mistake or what caused us to fail.

Find out what caused your overeating. Was it stress? If so, what’s causing that stress and what can you do to fix it?

When you find out the underlying reasons for your mistakes or failures, do your best to rectify them.

Then it’s time to get back to your life plan and continue your journey to a healthy life.

What is the point of living if you’re always stressed about what you’re eating or whether you’ve not exercised properly?

You’ll find that there’s just so much more to life than having a perfect diet and fitness plan. When your life, fitness and eating habits are working together in perfect harmony, you’ll find everything you do more enjoyable.

Food will taste better. Sleep will become more restful. And most importantly, you won’t be stressed all the time and a huge weight will be lifted off your shoulders.

You’ll have a healthy, fit and enjoyable life.

Sweat your cold away.

Have you ever noticed that some people never need to take time off work because of illness? It doesn’t matter what time of year it is, they are always well.

I got to thinking about it, to see if I could do what they do so that I too would always be well. What I realised was that those people were never overweight or unfit.

I did a small, quite unscientific survey about illness and fitness. I discovered that the people who hardly ever caught a cold or other illness were also the ones who were into keeping a trim figure or were training for some sport or other.

I decided to investigate further. This is what I found.

Not only is exercise good for your shape and how your outside looks to the world, but it is also good for your insides too. Running, walking or swimming (see below*) on a regular basis will help to protect you from catching colds and more severe seasonal diseases.

A study I found concerning the effect of exercise on people’s health compared those doing exercise with a control group who did not. Those who worked up a sweat for about 20 minutes or so, 5 times a week spent less time being sick. When they did succumb, any cold symptoms were less severe.

I discovered that the reason this happens is because aerobic exercise ramps up your levels of natural disease-fighting killer cells, your white blood cells, which are critical to your immune system.

*Now aerobic exercise is not for everyone, even though the benefits are undisputed. But don’t worry. There are many activities that you can substitute for walking, etc.

To find out how an activity qualifies as an aerobic exercise see my post, Aerobic Exercise.

My suggestion is that you should find an activity that you are comfortable with which qualifies as an aerobic activity. Then you should make it a part of your normal lifestyle. You’ll be killing two birds with one stone, as the old saying goes.

Not only will you stay healthier, but you’ll get trimmer and lose weight. Just by simply fitting more of an activity which you’re comfortable with doing anyway into your normal week.

Four Foods to help Prevent Fever, Sneezing, etc.

Here are four foods which will help your body in its fight against diseases:

(1) Protein.

I have mentioned in a different post, 'Stay slim after losing weight', how important protein is as part of a healthy lifestyle.
It can also help to prevent fever and all its horrible symptoms

You see, protein helps the body to make antibodies which help the body to fight diseases.  A couple of foods to beware of even though they do contain protein are fatty red meats and full fat dairy foods. If you’re trying to lose weight as well as keep healthy, you must still steer clear of those foods which will upset your weight losing plans.

(2) Fruits and vegetables.

Fruit and vegetables such as: Bell Peppers, Broccoli, Kiwis, Oranges, Strawberries and Tomatoes all contain plenty of vitamin C and flavonoids which help the body to make protective immune cells.

(Flavonoids:

ü  Help protect blood vessels from rupture or leakage

ü  Enhance the power of your vitamin C  

ü  Protect cells from oxygen damage

ü  Prevent excessive inflammation throughout your body)

 (3) Black Tea.

Studies have found that people drinking 5 cups black tea a day instead of coffee, etc. produce ten times the amount of virus fighting ‘interferon’ compared to the other drinkers.

(Interferons are a family of naturally-occurring proteins that are made and secreted by cells of the immune system (for example, white blood cells, natural killer cells, fibroblasts, and epithelial cells).

(4) Whole Grain Cereals.

Whole grain cereals such as oatmeal, shredded wheat and others deliver nutrients proven to enhance immunity. These include selenium (an essential micronutrient), zinc and beta gluten.

Aerobic Exercise - Change any activity you enjoy doing into an Aerobic Exercise

Aim to do 150 mins of aerobic activity a week. (such as walking, cycling or swimming. But see below*)

Why is aerobic exercise an excellent help for your body?
 
It’s because regular exercise reduces fat, improves the way your heart and lungs operate, reduces your total cholesterol and lowers your resting heart rate. It also helps to lighten your whole outlook on life in general.

* I mention above the aerobic exercises walking, cycling and swimming as activities you could participate in. But of course, many people either don’t like or don’t have the time to take part in such activities. So they will be glad to hear that there are hundreds of alternative cardio activities available that can be turned into qualifying aerobic exercises. What you need to do is choose some activities that you actually enjoy doing (or at least, dislike them less than the others!) and do those with enough intensity for them to count as a cardio vascular exercise.

So what makes an activity change from just an activity into a qualifying aerobic exercise?

There are two things to take into account to find out if the exercise qualifies:

1.  The first is Heart Rate:

Your heart rate must be raised into an aerobic zone during the activity. That is, a heart rate of between 55% and 85% of your maximum heart rate.

Unfortunately, calculating your maximum heart rate is not an exact science and depends on a number of different factors. However, a fairly accurate maximum heart rate (MHR) can be found using the following formulae: 

(a) For men, MHR = 214 - (0.8 x age)

Example: If age is 40, MHR = 214 - (0.8 x 40)
                                              = 214 - (32)
                                              = 182   

So the aerobic zone heart rate is between 55% of 182, i.e. 100
                                                       and 85% of 182, i.e. 154  

(b) For Women, MHR = 209 - (0.9 x age)

Example: If age is 36, MHR = 209 - (0.9 x 36)                                               
                                              = 209 - (32.4)                                                 
                                              = 176.6
 
So the aerobic zone heart rate is between 55% of 176.6, i.e. 97
                                                       and 85% of 176.6, i.e. 150   
 
If you’re new to any exercise, you should use the lower end of your Heart Rate range, say between 55% of MHR and 65% of MHR until you feel comfortable enough to move to the higher end of your range.

(To find your heart beat: Immediately after you finish an exercise session, count your heart beats at the wrist. Count for 1 minute, starting at zero)

2. The second is time taken:
 
An activity has to continue for at least 10 minutes per session to qualify as a cardio exercise. If you begin by aiming for a minimum of 10 to 20 minutes per session, you can build up to an hour per session over time.

The good thing is that you don’t have to do the whole hour’s worth in one go. You see, the  time is cumulative, so you can do 10 minutes now, then further 10 minute slots now and then during the day when convenient, until your total is 1 hour.

So, do your calculations and choose which activities you will use to burn up those extra calories.

Is a No-Diet Diet the Best Way to Lose Weight? 3 Ways to Eat What You Want

It's been argued for sometime that by listening to your hunger intuitively, you can in fact lose weight effectively without avoiding what you love to eat.
However you have to really understand how you feel after say you've just had a Big Mac.
Do you really feel pleasantly satiated for the next 2 to 3 hours or do you experience a pleasurable peak in energy followed by a trough shortly after?
Studies show that the latter is largely the case so however much you may be kidding yourself into thinking fast food fixes are the answer you are not listening intently on how your body really feels.

Tips on ways to eat what you want and lose weight:

1. Steer clear of processed treats
Twenty years ago it was a luxury for many to have a piece of cake at a wedding or birthday, when now there's cake shop on most street corners.
It was also a treat to have a can of coke unlike today where you may consume 3 or 4 a day.
So leave the yummy stuff to special occasions for when you go out without having your pantry stacked full of processed foods.

2. Exercise More Eat Less
Why do we never hear that this is the simplest way to lose weight effectively, safely and for sustainable periods of time?
Because fad diets sell in this multi-million dollar industry and always will as obesity is on the rise globally but exercising correctly is key.
A one off visit to a personal trainer or just some good old fashion research to save you costs will enable you to understand how best to treat your weight in relation to your body type.
Seeing heavily overweight people running is a worrying sight as that excess weight pounds the joints and often people put on weight when running as their routine is not planned out effectively.
Swimming for positive anaerobic results is best plus you help strengthen muscles which support joint flexibility unlike what running does to the hips, knees and joints in the foot.
Second to aerobic exercise and most successful for weight loss and weight toning or increasing muscle definition is disciplined strength training.
Arguably best for losing weight as you will increase your metabolism naturally where you target specific areas where you want to lose weight and tone or gain muscle.

3. Take supplements that work
Supplements do work and are not all one-page-sales pitches.
Some supplements can bind fat where others will increase your metabolism but just be sure to stay hydrated and avoid high caffeine strength products as while they may increase your bodies speed to burn fat, there are often side effects.

In Conclusion
If you want to go that one step further and begin a sustainable and effective diet plan to start the New Year, you can always try some natural healthy supplements that will help you burn fat faster, while also preventing the absorption of fats and curbing your appetite in the process.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert= Richard R Michaels

Slim without dieting.

When it comes to the mid-day break, many working people only have half-an-hour for eating, resting, taking a 'comfort break', talking to friends, etc. It's no wonder, therefore, that eating is done as quickly as possible. What is sometimes called, 'Wolfing your food down'.

Unfortunately, other meal-times are not taken much slower either. Now there is less excuse for this.

I know.....breakfast is rushed because there's a bus or train to catch. Or the car journey is unpredictable and you need to start as early as possible.

In the evening, if you're going out somewhere, there is often very little turn-around time between getting in from work, eating a quick snack, getting washed and dressed and rushing out again.

So it's rush, rush all the time!

But, you could try to get up, say, half-an-hour earlier and you don't necessarily have to rush out every evening after work.

You see, 'wolfing down your food' actually blocks the signals which tell you that you're full. This inevitably leads to overeating.

Try very hard to make the extra time to reinvent yourself as a slow eater. Being a slow eater allows you to slim down without the need for complicated diet plans or having to be a mathematical genius to calculate calorie intake and output.

If you can eat most of your meals over a 20 minute period, you'll discover that a great deal of pleasure can be obtained from smaller portions. Set your alarm to sound 20 minutes after you start your meal and take the time to really taste each bite of food. Make your meal last until you trigger your body's fullness signals. This is one of the best habits to cultivate if you want to slim without time consuming diet plans.

How Thai food can help you to slim without dieting!

Now you probably know that Thai food is very spicy and one way spicy foods help you to lose weight is that hot peppers raise your metabolism.

However, the most important way in which spicy foods can help you to lose weight is that when you eat them you eat more slowly. So use spicy foods more often and allow more time to eat all food.

Keep eating slowly for a month and you'll start to wonder why you were always rushing in the first place. You'll also wonder how you managed to lose so much weight!

Give it a try and let me know how you get on.

Stay slim after losing weight.

Why is it that people often go on a ‘yo-yo’ journey from overweight to slim, back to overweight and so on?

Well of course, there are many reasons. Probably as many reasons as there are people trying to slim.

The really important question is,

‘What you can do to stop it happening to you?’

A great deal depends on how you prepare for and go about your efforts to lose weight. In fact, that’s probably one of the first mistakes people make – calling it losing weight.

What you want to do is lose FAT, not necessarily lose weight, per se. There is a big difference!

Now many people just jump right in and start to lower their calorie intake and pride themselves on ‘losing weight’. If your intake of calories is lower than the calories your body uses for the tasks you want it to perform, then you have a caloric deficit and you'll lose weight. 

Simple, right?

Yes, it sounds simple, but there’s more to it.

The ‘yo-yo’ dieting effect sometime happens because people expect too much from their new slim bodies.

Many people going on a diet, lose weight, but are then disappointed when they find that being slim doesn’t actually solve all their problems in one go. Then they revert to eating poorly again and put on weight.

Sure, being healthier, fitter, and so on will have positive and maybe unexpected ripple effects. However, even as a slimmer person you’ll still have bad days at work, moments of self-doubt or times when you feel undervalued.

You have lots of different needs which need to be fulfilled in life. Being slimmer, healthier, and fitter is just one of them.

Another common cause of the ‘yo-yo’ effect is aiming for perfect and continuous weight loss once the diet is started.

You lose weight, maybe four or five pounds, maybe much more. But you slip, have a bad day or a ‘weak moment’ and eat something you shouldn’t have. And what do you tell yourself? “I’ve completely blown it! Now I might as well really binge!” 

Just imagine someone is trying to walk up a hundred steps, but just as they are about to step on to the last step they feel a bit tired. They stop and step back down one step. Then they tell you bitterly: “Now I may as well forget this whole idea of reaching the top! I’ve totally blown it!”

What?!

You’d think that was crazy, right? Acting as if all that progress, the 99 steps they did climb, never happened – because they had one slip!

But you see people doing this all the time when it comes to weight loss.

You need to make up your mind to change the way you live, not just until you are slimmer, but for ever more. But beware of the perfectionism trap. Aim to eat sensibly and healthily most of the time, not all the time. We all consume more than we should of the wrong kind of food or drink now and then, as long as it is only now and then.

So a change in your life-style is important.

You need to build new eating and exercising habits into how you live each and every day. Then occasional lapses are not seen to be so terrible and you can take these minor lapses in your stride.

Let’s have a look at how your body goes about helping you to ‘lose weight’?

Your body helps you to ‘lose weight’ when you have created a caloric deficit (Remember? This is when you take in less calories than your body needs to do the tasks you set it.)

Now your body doesn’t know the difference between ‘muscle weight’ and ‘unwanted fat weight’.

So what happens?

When your body detects a caloric deficit, it realizes that more energy will be needed to carry out the tasks you want it to do. So it will turn to using some of the stored calories in your body.

Now you need your body to use the calories stored in ‘unwanted fat’. But the body doesn't care where it gets the calories from! Whether it's from fat or muscle or both doesn't matter.

It needs calories for energy and will take them from wherever it can!

Your task is to make sure you arrange things so that your body uses up the spare calories stored in your unwanted fat not in your muscles. In other words, keep all of your muscle but at the same time lose fat and so lose weight.

How do you go about achieving this?

You must take note of two things;

(1) A dietary requirement and

(2) An exercise requirement.

1. Your dietary requirement is to Eat Enough Protein

Numerous studies have proven that a sufficient daily protein intake is the single most important dietary requirement for maintaining muscle. Nutritionally speaking, losing fat without losing muscle is all about eating enough protein every day.

A useful rule of thumb is to eat at least 1 gram of protein per pound of bodyweight every day. But if you’re very overweight or obese, then you should use your ‘target’ bodyweight to work out how much protein to eat. (Target body weight is the weight you are aiming to reach.)

Your major protein sources should be lean meats (chicken, steak, turkey breast, tuna), egg whites (the yolks contain the fat, so discard most of them when you're trying to lose fat), protein powder (whey or casein) and low-fat cottage cheese.

To discover the secret of eating your way to weight loss, click on the picture below;

2. Your exercise requirement is to Maintain your levels of strength
 

This is the single most important exercise requirement for anyone who wants to lose fat without losing muscle.

Simply put, whatever the exercises you have been doing, you must continue them while trying to lose fat. If you have not been exercising, then you must start to do at least a minimum amount. Go walking, swimming or use an exercise bike. You need to maintain your muscle strength so that when you create your calorific deficit, your body is taking the extra calories it needs for energy from your unwanted fat.

It’s important not to do too much exercise. A good rule of thumb is to exercise until you're pretty tired, but not to the point where you're thoroughly exhausted.

 

Change your life-style to encompass these two requirements and you (and your family) will be set to lose weight, keep to your desired weight and maintain a healthy body.