4 Healthy Ways to Improve Your Life

When you start working on self-improvement and really wanting to
live a better, happier life, health should be a top priority. So
it makes sense that healthy changes will be at the top of your
list. These healthy changes will make a drastic improvement in
nearly every facet of your life.

Become More Active

An excellent way to improve your life is with more exercise and
regular activity. It is time to get up from the couch, stop
playing video games, and get some fresh air! Any type of
physical activity can benefit you, whether you have a treadmill
or elliptical in your home, like to workout at the gym, or want
to take your dogs for a walk. Walking with your family in the
evenings after dinner helps to get everyone moving, burns
calories, and provides you with a fun and healthy family
activity. Everyone’s moods and energy are improved with just a
little bit of exercise each day.

Drink More Water

Hydrating your body is more important than you might think! Not
only is water great when you are trying to lose weight since it
helps to curb your appetite, but it is important for overall
health. Water helps to keep you hydrated, which improves the
health of your hair, skin, and nails. It can keep you from
certain illnesses related to dehydration, and even provides you
with a sharper mind and better motor skills.

Focus On Your Mental Health

Your mental health is also very important to living a happier
and more fulfilling life. Don’t underestimate how much your
anxiety, stress, depression, and other mental issues are
affecting you. You might have severe social anxiety that keeps
you from truly achieving your goals, or you may have depression
that reduces your energy and motivation and makes it hard to
work on what you hope to achieve. It is important that you take
good care of yourself, including your mental health.

Make More Time For Yourself

Finally, make sure you have plenty of time to yourself. While it
is great to have a lot of family and friends, to work a lot, and
keep up with responsibilities, this should not take up 100
percent of your time. Even those that work the hardest still
need time to themselves. Think of some solo activities that
bring you happiness and peace, and schedule them in so you don’t
miss out on “Me” time.

If you need to, keep reminders in your calendar or on your
refrigerator that it is time to do something for YOU.

Reduce Your Anxiety With These Healthy Habits

Everybody deals with some sort of anxiety, whether it is general, everyday anxiety, or you have a condition like generalized anxiety disorder (GAD). The problem with anxiety is that it can cripple you, sap your motivation, and make it very difficult to work on improving your life. Here are some tips for getting a better handle on your anxiety.

Put a Stop to Caffeine and Alcohol

If you are struggling with anxiety, the first thing you should do is stop bad habits that tend to trigger it. This can be helpful for anyone, but especially people with anxiety disorder or panic attack disorders. You probably know that there is caffeine in your coffee (even a small amount in decaf) and soft drinks, but did you know many teas also have caffeine? There are also even more surprising sources of caffeine, such as in chocolate, ice cream, and even weight loss pills. Caffeine is a major contributor to anxiety and panic attacks, so try to reduce your caffeine consumption now.

Alcohol can also be a very bad habit. You might use alcohol as a way of dealing with your anxiety and stressful life, but while it covers it up temporarily, it is hurting more than helping in the long-term. Since alcohol is a depressant, once you are sober, it makes you feel worse. This starts a really dangerous downward spiral.

Start Fueling Your Body With Healthy Foods

Now that you have eliminated the caffeine and alcohol, it is time to re-think the foods you eat. You want to be as healthy as possible if you are going to battle anxiety the natural way. Once your anxiety is taken care of, you will be ready to improve your life in other ways. Start by replacing bad foods with good ones. Get rid of all the cookies, chips, and processed foods in your refrigerator and pantry. Replace it with whole grains, fruits, vegetables, and lean protein.

Encourage Endorphins With Regular Exercise

With nearly every issue you have in your life, you will notice that exercise is often recommended. There is a reason for this! Not only does exercise help with metabolism, energy, and weight loss, but the endorphins you get can help improve your mood. These endorphins also help to reduce your overall stress and anxiety. If you are feeling anxious or feel a panic attack coming on, re-focus your mind and body by going for a walk. The fresh air and body movement can really help you.

Reduce Anxiety and Stress Triggers

There are certain triggers that can increase your anxiety and panic attacks. You need to know what they are, then try to avoid them. Many of these are personal, so it helps to log your anxiety and panic attacks in a journal, then look back on it after a week or two to see where the similarities are. You might have increased anxiety when you are driving, have social anxiety, or deal with panic attacks when you are participating in a certain activity.

By choosing healthy ways of getting rid of your anxiety, you are improving your mental and physical health, while also working on practical self-improvement methods.

Identify Your Stress Triggers and Learn to Overcome Them

A big part of self-improvement is dealing with your emotional and physical stress. Stress not only affects you on a mental level, but a physical one as well. It can be hard to be a better version of yourself when you feel like you don’t have time or energy to actually make improvements. A good place to start is by figuring out what your biggest triggers are, then trying to overcome them. This should help to reduce your overall stress.

Common Stress Triggers

Before you can start getting rid of your stress triggers, you need to know what they are. It helps to first understand what some of the more common stress triggers tend to be. In case you don’t know, a trigger is a person, event, or situation that can cause something to happen. It increases the chances of that thing, which is stress in this case. So if money and financial difficulties tend to trigger your stress (which is very common), then that is you stress trigger. You can also have many different triggers. Here are some of the more common triggers for stress:

* Money and finances
* Work or school
* Personal relationships
* Home and car repairs
* Children and pets
* Caregiving

Finding Your Stress Triggers

You should now be ready to start figuring out what your personal triggers are. These can be some of the aforementioned things that tend to be most common, or other very specific situations. For example, you might find that you get most stressed during a weekday when you don’t get enough sleep, knowing you will be tired the next day, which then creates a snowball of difficult situations the entire day.

In order to find out what your triggers are, start keeping a stress journal. Write in it every time you feel stressed or anxious about something, writing down what you were doing right before it happened. You might have realized a bill is past due, had work hours cut down, had to take your dog to the vet, or gotten in a fight with your teenager. Write down everything for a couple weeks, then take a look at it. Chances are, you will find some similarities.

Tips For Overcoming Your Stress

Make a list of all the triggers you have discovered and try to find ways to reduce them. Some situations, such as stress caused by work, are a little more difficult. However, you can still find ways to relive the stress when you aren’t currently at work. If work or school is where your stress comes from, try to keep it at the office when you leave. That way, you remain relaxed at home. Here are some other tips:

1. Release natural endorphins by getting more exercise. This can help give you a boost in your mood even after a terrible day.
2. Speak to your significant other if you feel that your relationship is causing you stress. Keeping your emotions bottle dup are only going to make ti worse.
3. Get help with your children, pets, or other home issues instead of trying to take on everything yourself.
4. Avoid people that are toxic and tend to cause more stress in your life.

These simple tasks will make a big difference in how you feel each day.

There is NO Easy Way to Getting Healthy

I hate to break it to you, but there is no easy way to get healthy, lose weight or get back into shape. It takes time and it takes dedication. Yes, it would be nice to have a magical pill or an easy button. That’s the reason there’s such a huge market for diet pills and weight loss gimmicks. But the hard truth is that they just don’t work.

What works is making lifestyle changes and sticking to them. That’s what this short report is all about. I’m not promising that it will be easy as pie or that you’ll lose 50 pounds overnight. What I can promise is some helpful information that will allow you to make those lifestyle changes. I’ll show you how to create good habits that will help you reach your goals. After that it’s up to you to implement them and finally get healthy – for life.

Lifestyle Change #1 – Eat Less

Let’s start with the hardest habit to get into. It’s to eat less. It makes sense, doesn’t it? You eat less, you’ll start to lose weight. Or at least you’ll stop gaining pounds.

Over the past few decades our portions have gotten bigger and bigger. We’re bad about piling food on our large plates (yes, our plates have gotten bigger too) and then finishing it all no matter what.

Instead, let’s get in the habit of eating a little less, eating a little slower and stopping when we start to get full. Here are some simple little hacks to help us do that.

Portion Control

Our portions have gotten bigger and bigger. And we’re used to eating long past the point where we start to feel full. It’s time to retrain ourselves to get a feel for how much a serving of pasta, chicken, rice, corn, cereal or anything else on our plate should be.

Start by reading up on portions and invest in an inexpensive set of measuring cups. You can even use your hand in a pinch. Here are some general guidelines:

• 1 cup = your fist
• 1 ounce = the meaty part of your thumb
• 1 tablespoon = your thumb, minus the meaty part
• 1 teaspoon = the tip of your index finger
• 1 inch = the middle section of your index finger
• 1-2 ounces of a food like nuts or pretzels = your cupped hand
• 3 ounces of meat, fish, or poultry = the palm of your handMeasure your food for a few days until you have a feel for what you should be eating.Getting out a smaller plate or bowl will also help you dish out smaller portions.Once you have your plate, fill it up with leafy greens, vegetables and a little fruit first. Add a portion of meat and only then add the rest. The idea is that you’ll have less room for the stuff that’s bad for you…

Click Here to download the full 7-page report

The Myth About Needing Less Sleep as You Age

Teenagers seem to sleep an excessive amount of time, but their changing bodies need the rest. The same fact is true for seniors. It’s a myth that we need less sleep as we age and getting less sleep may actually cause a decline in brain function.

Medical scientists now know that getting the same amount of sleep you enjoyed when you were younger may help stave off age-related problems such as overall health and a decline in cognitive and memory functions.

One problem with seniors getting enough sleep is that they tend to sleep “lighter” and don’t get the same quality of sleep as before. The benefits for seniors of getting enough sleep range from staving off health problems to maintaining cognitive brain function well into the later years.

Studies show that seniors suffer from quality of sleep – but, if they maintain the quantity of sleep they once had, they can likely keep both brains and bodies healthy. When seniors get less than six hours sleep, studies indicate that the ability to remember things and perform tasks is greatly reduced.

One thing that hampers seniors’ ability to get enough sleep is the amount of time it takes to fall asleep. Deep sleep is harder to achieve, therefore more sleep time may be required.

Naps during the day are a good thing for seniors, but be careful that it doesn’t interfere with the sleep you strive for during the night. Chances are, if you’re sleepy during the day, you likely need a nap.

Sleep is a requirement of healthy aging, just as a healthy diet and exercise contribute to the body and brain’s functioning. Be sure your lifestyle is conducive to getting enough sleep by limiting the amount you eat close to bedtime and the amount of alcohol you consume.

The role that sleep plays in the aging process isn’t fully understood. Some people may simply need less sleep than others. But, in most recent studies, it’s been found that health and vitality in young and old are dependent on getting enough sleep.

Sleep disorders can also play a part in the aging process. If you find yourself nodding off excessively during the day or experiencing insomnia at night, see a healthcare provider for more information on what could be a treatable condition.

Mainly, ensure a good night’s sleep by making sure your habits during the day are favorable to getting the Zs you need to stay healthy.

How to Combat Insomnia as You Get Older

Insomnia is a sleep condition which can affect your health and well-being – especially as you age. Aging causes many hormonal and lifestyle changes which cause you to wake up earlier or not sleep as well as you once did.

Insomnia, however, isn’t a normal part of the aging process and should be addressed as soon as you notice the condition. Sleep is vitally important to seniors to keep healthy, both in body and mental acuity and a lack of it shouldn’t be shrugged off as unimportant.

Ridding your lifestyle of bad habits is one way to combat insomnia and move toward getting the quality sleep you need. One bad habit is to go to bed with thoughts of anxiety or worry. Stress about experiences or happenings in your life can greatly affect your sleep patterns.

You may be taking certain medications that cause lack of sleep and can progress into full blow insomnia. Inform your health care provider if you suspect that medications may be causing your insomnia.

Lack of exercise and a poor diet may exacerbate sleeplessness. Also, eating (or exercising) just before bedtime can keep you awake. Try to finish both exercising and dining from two to four hours before you turn in at night.

Sleeping environment can also be a factor in bouts with insomnia. If you sleep with a pet, a heavy snorer (or someone with sleep apnea) or have a television or gaming device in your bedroom, it may contribute to your lack of sleep.

Improve your daytime activities and habits to promote better sleep at night. Engaging in social activities with family and friends is a relaxing way to spend a day and prepare your body for the sleep it needs.

Also, do things which improve your mood and promote a positive outlook on life. Helping others is always a good way to help you see how fortunate you are compared to others and to boost your self-esteem.

Sunlight is important to regulating melatonin in your body (the chemical which helps you sleep). Keep blinds and shades open during the day and venture outside to promote your dose of sun. If you know you’re not getting enough sun, think about getting a light box to provide the therapy you’re not getting on your own.

Caffeine, smoking and alcohol should be stopped or drastically reduced – especially if you suspect they’re interfering with healthy sleep patterns or the quality of your sleep. Quality of sleep is a good indication of your overall health. Be sure you get enough.

Importance of healthy breakfast

Start your day with a healthy breakfast to make your complete day fit and energetic. It makes you physically as well as mentally fit and healthy.

Your body and brain need fuel to work efficiently and the breakfast provides that fuel. After a long break of night you must take a healthy breakfast within two hours of waking up. Breakfast implies breaking the fast, but it doesn’t mean that you can take anything to break this fast. It should be nutritional breakfast so take an advice from the good dieticians about the healthy breakfast.

Eating a healthy breakfast makes you able to be energetic and live healthy longer life. Most of the people avoid their breakfast, but it’s not good for their health. The breakfast skippers generally feel low energy throughout the day and after some time, many physical and mental problems arise in their body. Skipping the breakfast really affect negatively to your complete health. Dieticians say to make your day healthy and energetic you must take a healthy breakfast, but how much calories you should intake is an important point to know.

Energy needs vary person to person; Paleo lunch ideas even it depends on the age or stage of life. Generally, men need more energy in comparison to women, i.e. Adult men should consume 2500 kcals and women should consume 2000 kcal per day. Boys of the age 7 to 10 years should consume 1970 kcals per day and at the same age girls should consume 1740 kcals.

Nutritionists believe that people must eat healthy breakfast to get 20-35% calories. Without breakfast, your body is like a car with no petrol.

Your breakfast should include the good amount of nutrients like iron, calcium, protein, fiber, and Vitamin B. Your body needs these nutrients and as per the Nutritionist research, if you missed these nutrients then your body will not work properly for the long time and you will compensate your health in the later age. So, it is required to get these nutrients to stay fit and healthy. Most of the fruits and vegetables contain good amount of vitamins and minerals so you should try to include them in your daily breakfast.
Breakfast is an important meal of the day and it affects the overall health and well-being. It is a most part of the daily routine so you should give proper consideration about how to get the healthy breakfast.

Eating a smart or healthy breakfast can improve your performance in your work area. Healthy breakfast also contains glucose levels as an essential carbohydrate that is required for the proper functioning of the brain. As per many studies, eating a healthy breakfast can improve your level of concentration and memory. Your brain will work actively throughout the day. In addition to the healthy breakfast, some physical exercise is also essential to stay fit.

A healthy breakfast is what keeps you going, and it is essential for you to meet your body’s daily nutritional needs. By eating a healthy breakfast daily, you get to have the right amount of nutrients in your body which can benefit your overall health.

Digital Detox

Are you connected all the time? I mean are you living with your phone on all the time?

How much time do your spend on your smartphone or and Ipad or laptop every day?

Most people just spend way too much time on this digital connection to the world and aren’t getting any healthier by doing so.. and if that’s your case than I suggest you read the following article which was recently published by Yahoo Tech:

We live in a constantly connected world. From our laptops and smartphones to smartwatches and smart TVs, it seems like an Internet-connected something is always within arm’s reach — or, in some cases, literally on our arms.

And while easy access to data has become one of the great conveniences of modern life, it can also be a burden. Whether it’s Facebook status updates, push alerts from Twitter or a constantly chirping news feed, the incessant stream of information can sometimes be too much. If you find that a fear of missing out (otherwise known as FOMO) is making you miss out on more important things — whether it’s work or a real, live person who needs some real-world face time — perhaps it’s time for a little digital detox.

Here are some suggestions for doing just that.
Erase your muscle memory

Muscle memory plays a big part in our digital lives. One of the worst of these habits is repetitively launching the same app every time we unlock our smartphones — even if that’s not why we woke up our device in the first place.

Hide your apps.

To shake up your routine, move your most-used applications to another home screen — or, better yet, to a folder on a screen you hardly ever use. Making yourself more conscious of the apps you’re launching may make you pause to consider whether you really need to check Twitter for a third time this hour…

Read on

The Difference Between Juicing and Smoothies

 Smoothies and juices are both loaded with nutrients and taste fabulous. While they do have the same properties as the fruits or vegetables in their raw form, their being in liquid form have different textures and appearances. These difference lie in the procedure, methods, and machines used to make each drink.

The Major Differences

 When you blend, you end up consuming the food in its entirety although some were already pulverized. So, if you blend an apple, your body will digest the full fruit. When you do juicing, the fibrous portion is removed. So, what is left are the micronutrients in a liquid form. As for the process, you have two procedures in juicing. You may use the juice to squeeze the water instantly, or you may do it manually.

The juice extractor is necessary for harder fruits and vegetables. As for the smoothies, it requires either a high-performance or traditional blender. When the liquid (broth, milk, or fresh juice) is processed in a puree in a blender, the drink is smooth and thick. Smoothies are thicker and filling than juices since they have the fibrous cellulose and pulp, which have been removed from the juice.

Freshly squeezed vegetable juices

 All About Juicing

 Juicing is the best way to get healthy nutrients into your body as quick as possible. It is quick in a sense that it does not require a long preparation, yet you are still getting the essential nutrients needed in your body. Juicing has several health benefits, including weight loss, body hydration, boosting your immune system, and remove serious diseases.

They say water is everything – true. The water in juice is a natural source of water that will help to hydrate you as well as give you essential fatty acids, minerals, vitamins, proteins and carbohydrates. In addition to this, the fresh juice will also provide you with enzymes that are vital to your metabolic process and are critical elements in giving your body the best energy.

Fresh juice deliver the raw goodness of fruits and vegetables to your system, almost like an intravenous injection. To be able to enjoy the benefits, the juicing must be from fresh fruits and vegetables, and not a powered or ready-made juices you can find in the supermarket.

 All About Smoothies

 Smoothies are full of energy and nutrients. It works the same thing as the whole meal because you are not only getting the liquid of its form. Smoothies work best for busy people because hectic schedules make it impossible for them to take breakfast regularly.

Weight problems are not a small problem. There are two kinds of diet regimen the smoothies can give. It can either help you maintain or lose weight. Unlike the pills and supplements, vitamins that are ingested from food are much more beneficial and healthier. Smoothies will help you to be hydrated.

 Whether you choose juice or a smoothie, you are still giving your body the essential nutrients. Both of these methods make use of healthy fruits and vegetables. But knowing their differences would help you decide what type of drink will suit for you at the moment.

The Major Benefits of Smoothies

Over the past few years, smoothies have been a growing phenomenon in the health and wellness industry. If you live in a major city, you will have probably noticed the increasing smoothie bars springing up all over the place and people carrying a plastic glass filled with brightly colored liquids, making you wondering what on earth are smoothies?

What Are Smoothies?

A smoothie is a blended, cold, thick, and non- alcoholic liquid drink that is made up of fresh vegetables, fruit, its juice or pulp. In most cases, it includes milk or ice cream. Almost all kinds of fruits and vegetables work well with smoothies, but the famous ones are blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, pineapples, mangoes, bananas, and peaches. To be creamier, frozen fruits are used. The vegetables that work well with the fruits are usually the leafy greens. Do not be fooled by the false claims that smoothies are made from unhealthy mixes with altered ingredients. These products are entirely a marketing ploy and bogus. Smoothies are healthy alternative.

The Major Benefits

Nutrient-Dense And Contain Fat: Smoothies are natural, nutrient-dense and all-natural ingredients that contains oils and vitamins necessary for complete nutrition. Fat is needed for biological functions as it is burned for energy. A healthy smoothie have dietary fats for the body to utilize in incorporating the vitamins.

Keeps You Hydrated: Smoothies for breakfast keep you hydrated for the day. This function is something that coffee or soda won’t do. Given that your body will pull water from the foods to stay hydrated, you no longer need to drink water when you are sipping on a smoothie. Yogurt and milk are water, therefore, if your smoothie has a high dairy content, you’ll surely quench your thirst.

Dairy-Based Type Provide Calcium: Smoothies made with high content of dairy product provide calcium necessary for bone strength. You may try kefir or yogurt, as these cultured products are the best sources of live cultures and probiotics.

Simple to Make: When you own a good blender, getting a quality ingredient, and making a delicious smoothies is just a snap of a finger. Start with ten oz. of almond milk, fresh, yogurt, or frozen fruits. These fruits are high in vitamins, antioxidants, and minerals. Other excellent ingredient are extra virgin coconut oil, raw Omega-3 egg yolks, pure vanilla extract and shredded coconut.

Make a Healthy Breakfast: For morning breakfast, a homemade smoothie is an excellent choice. You can make it in just five minutes before leaving the house. Drinking a smoothie keeps you from consuming empty carbohydrates. If you have difficulty taking cod liver oil, you may a few drops of your smoothie. With smoothie, you will never see the differences in taste. You’ll add a great cups of essential fatty acids and vitamins to your nutritious meal.

Better Than Multi-Vitamins: Despite what most people think, the “multi-vitamins” taken daily are not demonstrably proven to have considerable health benefits. The most effective way to obtain nutrition is through foods, and consuming a smoothie daily gives you the best nutrients.

To sum it up, a smoothie is made up of frozen or fresh fruits or vegetables that has numerous benefits that far outweigh any cons.