Motivation Is Key

If you're having a hard time staying on the right track of proper weightloss, your determination could be waning.  Succeeding with your diet relies on staying motivated and grounded in your reasons for wanting to shed those excess pounds. Beyond food restrictions and rigid exercise regimens, your reasons serve as the backbone of your entire diet program. Having the wrong reasons for dieting could mean losing motivation halfway through it. Below, I share the three main reasons that motivates me to keep up with the diet I have started:

• My health
  Having reached my 30's with all these unsightly excess weight puts me at risk of coming down with many illnesses. Since heart disease and diabetes runs in my family, losing weight is imperative if I don't want to contract either one of them. Moreover, my chances of getting them earlier than my other older relatives is higher given the kind of stressful lifestyle I live.

• My sanity
  Several heartbreaks lead to countless binge-eating sprees. These resulted to more than 50 pounds of unwanted flab accumulating mostly around my tummy. And with this my self-esteem took a radical plunge. To keep myself from going mad due to the anxiety borne of poor self-esteem, I mustered the courage to finally get serious with weightloss.

Written By: Maris Modesto

Three Great Health Habits to Live by

Growing old gracefully doesn't mean resigning ourselves to the inevitable negative health effects that come with aging. Even if I have yet to see the telltale signs of the years manifest themselves on my face and health, as early as now, I've resolved to practice living healthy. Of the many helpful practices we must follow, these three measures top my list:

• Stay on top of stress.
  Stress control begins with the mind. Many illnesses result from stress overload. Apart from practicing relaxation techniques and other recognized stress-relieving measures, I see to it that I've got my mind properly programmed to take on stress. How? By predisposing myself to stay calm all the time and never let the small stuff get to me.

• Never scrimp on sleep. I know sleeping a full eight hours every day is a real challenge given today's busy lifestyle. But I do try. If ever I lack sleep, I make up for it by sleeping more the next day or taking power naps.

• Pile on the fruits and veggies. Fruits and veggies are our top sources of antioxidants. Besides taking daily vitamins, I make sure that I eat more fresh fruits and veggies than meat. 

Written By: Maris Modesto

Why am I optimistic?

There would always be two ways of looking at everything: Either we see the glass as half-empty or half-full. Regardless of which one we are inclined to choose, our decision does nothing to change the reality set before us. However, it could impact us deeply on a personal level, laying the ground for the direction our lives take.

From a medical standpoint, researches have advocated the truth on how our way of thinking affects our overall health. Though we may not be aware of it, making the deliberate, albeit unconscious, choice to see the glass as half-empty(pessimistic) or half-full(optimistic) does affect our body's immunity system, especially our ability to take on stress. Taking these into serious consideration, the reasons I've listed below explain why I've intentionally programmed my mind to always look on the bright side:

• I want to be happy.
  Life would always be a matter of ups and downs. Rolling with the punches and seeing the good in things no matter how dismal is the best way I know how to keep myself sane and happy.

• I am no masochist.
  Being pessimistic only intensifies life's blows needlessly. Why punish myself further? 

Written By: Maris Modesto

Diet Slips to Avoid

• Gorging during eat-outs.
  In the fast-paced life characterizing today, eating at fastfoods and restaurants are part and parcel of city living. And because foods served in these establishments are often calorie-laden and at times even unhealthy, practising vigilance whenever you eat out is a must.

• Indulging yourself in family food faves.
  It does not mean that your hubby and kids are feasting on a pizza, you can do the same too. Knowing that such foods can be bad for you when you eat too much, you should muster the self-discipline to practise control whenever necessary—and this includes those uber-tempting times when you are forced to watch everyone else have their fill of a local favorite. Should you find yourself in such a situation, it would be best to just divert your attention. Busy yourself with other things while everyone eats.

• A nibble here, a nibble there.
  Nibbles may not count as much when you look at it individually. But accumulated nibbles could rake in as much or even more calories than you realize. You would be better off dealing with your hunger pangs by having a full meal instead of eating bit by bit.

Written By: Maris Modesto

The Mentally De-cluttering Benefits of House Cleaning

The visually rewarding merits of living in a clean environment cannot be argued upon. But did you know that such visual pleasure also radiates positive health benefits capable of affecting your mind? Classified as one of the practices of mindfulness, house cleaning possesses a literal (tidying up your house) and figurative (doing away with your emotional baggage) interpretation. Both of them serve to benefit you mentally by bringing your mind into a state of mindfulness. Being mindful means having your mind cleared of unwanted and unnecessary thoughts induced either by your environment or your mind per se—as a reaction to your experiences.

As the cliché goes, “It's all in the mind.” And to ready your mind for maximizing the midfulness reward you get from cleaning your house, observe these important pointers:

• Before you start tidying up, you must first program your mind to view the exercise as a beneficial one—an easy but very effective way of understanding yourself in a deeper sense.
• Tell yourself that cleaning your house  relieves your stress—each area cleaned lifts the burden off your mind.
• While you are cleaning, focus on the sensations perceived by your senses in every activity of the moment.

Written By : Maris Modesto

Lifestyle Changes for Successful Weight Loss

If you are looking to succeed in losing weight, serious lifestyle changes have to be made. Like everything else, turning your exercise regimen and healthy eating plan into a routine requires diligence and practice. To help you get started, consider these suggestions:

• Better your workout routine.
  To keep your metabolism up, perform a combination of cardio and resistance exercises. Do this on a regular basis.

• Practice effective stress management.
  Stress can derail you from pursuing a healthy eating plan and workout routine. As such, it could send wrong signals, prompting you to eat more or binge whenever you are confronted by adverse emotions or situations. To keep it under your control, learn to practice effective stress management—meditation, creative pursuits, journaling, etc.

• Don't miss out on sleep.
  Some studies have pointed out the definite link between lack of sleep and weight gain. Even if keeping up with a busy schedule means compromising sleep at times, make sure that you make up for them, and try not to scrimp on your snooze time as much as possible.

Written By: Maris Modesto

The Compulsive Eater

As a teen, it never occurred to me that I had an eating problem. But as my binging frenzies increased—along with the rising stress I had to deal with as I matured—it wasn't long before my digestive system finally reacted, causing pain and bowel irregularities that worsened with the passing of the years.

After a third vist to the doctor, the reality behind my destructive inclination was finally brought to light. Although my attending doctor then didn't really give me a formal diagnosis of being a compulsive eater, he suggested that I get counseling to address any underlying issue that could have prompted my wild eating habits. All these indications I had fit the profile of a compulsive eater to a tee:

• Gorging on copious amounts of food though I wasn't physically hungry
• Eating at a faster than usual, especially when stressed out
• Inability to stop even when full
• A strong urge to eat alone and hide my eating habits from others
• Guilt/depressive feelings following a binging spree
• Linking my frustrations and failures to my weight
• Jumping from one diet to another in an effort to lose weight
• Making eating and dieting the focus of my life

Written By: Maris Modesto

How Alcohol Affects Teens

As a teenager, I've never been predisposed to drinking beer or any alcoholic beverages. Besides loathing the taste, I've suffered tremendously from chest pain and nausea after having tried it once during a casual drinking spree with friends. As it turns out, my decision to steer clear of it after that horrible incident was right. Researchers have confirmed that alcohol does adversely affect certain functions of the brain, especially for teens.

• Alcohol impairs teens' decision making ability, as the perfrontal cortex—part of the brain responsible for decisions and planning—isn't bound to mature until after the teen years. Imbibing alcohol could lead to teens' inability to rationalize and weigh consequences properly.
  
• Also, they may become forgetful, as their memory is bound to be adversely impacted.
  
• Since drinking often could develop a tolerance among teens, hence making them drink more, they risk becoming alcoholic dependents.
  
• Alcohol can prompt them to indulge in risky behviors. In turn, the latter could promote damages to the brain's connections as they mature.
  
• Alcohol could either interfere or result to deadly consequences if they're taking certain medications. Bad chemical reactions between alcohol and medicines can negatively impact judgment and motor skills. 

Written By: Maris Modesto

Common Stress Overload Triggers

Pressure that is either too intense, prolonged, or both serves as the primary factor behind stress overload. Combine this with how each of us individually react to stress given our distinctive personalities, then we have an individualized stress equation in our hands, meaning that no two people experience stress overload in exactly the same way.

Nonetheless, these differences does not discount the truth that despite individual variations, our frequent or continuous exposure to the following stress-inducing circumstances would likely result to stress overload , a.k.a breakdown, in the long run:

• Violence and other emotionally straining scenarios
• Being bullied or our failure to assert ourselves
• Relationship issues, particularly those involving loved ones
• Heartbreaking emotions associated with losing a loved one
• Failure to resolve problems persisting for a long period
• Inability to vent negative emotions properly
• Overloaded schedules, especially those which leaves little or no time for rest and relaxation or personal enjoyment

Written By: Maris Modesto

Trim Down via Food Substitution

If there's one thing I've realized about having a bulging waistline is that it doesn't only shroud your good looks, but it also risks your health. All that extra fat baggage ups my chances of developing heart disease, obesity, and diabetes. However, as easy as it is to talk about dieting and losing weight, doing it and sticking to it has been confirmed to be quite an ordeal, not only by yours truly but by all wanna-be weightloss victors worldwide.

Before, I always ended up gaining all the lost weight after laboring hard to shed them. And that was when I decided to do an intensive research on food. I realized that I didn't have to go out of my way to prepare special meals or take diet drinks to trim down. Easy food substitutions was all I needed to get started. By this, I prepared and ate the usual dishes without having to make extra purchases. A little healthy tweaking here and there sufficed to yield the results I needed. However, don't rely on your own research alone. Consult with your doctor to get advice on what foods would best work for you given your current health condition.

Written By: Maris Modesto

No-Hassles Creativity Boosters

 

Having a hard time getting your creative juices flowing? Try these easy but foolproof tips:

• If nothing comes to mind no matter how hard you push; sit back, relax, and just stop thinking. Stimulating your creative juices requires you to perform certain exercises acclimated to your specific preferences and personality traits. And no aspect of either one could be linked to force. In fact, the more you force your mind to work to your liking, the more likely it wouldn't budge. Moreover, you risk coming down with a bad migraine headache if you persist.
 

• Go out for a walk. For some creatives, letting their minds drift while strolling works to conjure creative thoughts, which they could use for their particular endeavor. Walking, even when done leisurely, serves not only to ready their minds for creative thinking. It also loosens stiff muscles making them feel more at ease, hence more apt to think creatively.
 

• Doodle or play around with your head. Scientific researches confirmed that doodling, despite its seeming idleness, effects concentration positively. But if doodling isn't your thing, then feel free to do any activity that involves your mind—answer a crossword puzzle, sketch, play with numbers, do anagrams, etc.  

Written By: Maris Modesto

Learning to Be Hardy

Half the time, I find myself unable to control my responses to certain situations life hurls at me. This happens whenever troublesome events arise suddenly, or problems avalanche, leaving me helpless and miserable. Sounds like you? Do not despair.

Not all of us are born with hardy personas—stress-resistant personalities, but we could work hard to acquire some, if not all of its qualities.

• Staying committedBeing commited is having a purpose. Having a purpose defines our reason for living. Whether this involves making ourselves and loved ones happy or achieving excellence in our chosen fields, any kind of purpose suffices to motivate us to put our efforts, time, and abilities to good use.
  
• Taking controlNone of us could be in command of everything all the time. However, having a sense of control implies that we know how to take charge of ourselves, especially in handling our stressors.
  
• Living up to the challengeSeeing life as a challenge that needs to be overcome instead of a burden is what differentiates a hardy person from his weak counterparts. Hence, he acquires a positive outlook in life, enabling him to bounce back and stay rooted in his values despite adversities.

Written By: Maris Modesto

The Good and the Bad

Stress: you can neither have too much of it nor too little. The minutest inconsistency in balancing between these two extremes could spell a big difference in how we would fare in the face of life's daily challenges. Stress is as innate to living as breathing. Basically, since we can't keep ourselves from reacting to the events that confront us, there is no way we could prevent stress from setting in. But despite the negative connotation, stress is not always bad. In fact, in the right doses it could even be good for us. 

Good Stress

Instances like avoiding accidents causes an adrenaline rush, giving us the needed faculties to react accordingly and effectively. This adrenaline rush, also referred to as the flight and fright response, is stress—good stress to be exact. Activated in milder forms, good stress can push us into doing what needs to be done, even performing astounding feats we didn't know we're capable of, to steer us toward the right direction. 

Bad Stress

If adequate stress is good, too much automaticlaly means bad. Stress overload, especially when chronic, could turn our overall system upsidedown. Left alone, this could result to many kinds of health problems. 

Written By: Maris Modesto

Harnessing Your Emotional Resiliency

Saying that you can always stay in control of your emotions is one thing, but living up to it is another. If like me, you find it hard to stay tough when confronted by emotionally taxing situations, then harnessing your emotional resiliency is compulsory. But before you proceed, be reminded: being emotionally resilient does not give you an immunity from life's hassles.

If it has to rain, it would rain. There is not much you can do about it since staying alive means being exposed to problems time and time again. But the benefit of emotional resiliency you could definitely not do without would be having that presence of mind and positivity to help you react advantageously and bounce back should you get knocked down.  To help you develop your emotional resiliency, try out these tips:

Do not shy away from strong emotions. Let yourself experience them so as to get familiarized.

But do not leave yourself vulnerable to them when your spirit is down. Their combined forces along with your already stressed out self spells trouble for you in the end.

Face your challenges.

But know your limitations and give yourself enough time to recharge your spirit and energy.

Written By: Maris Modesto

Health Trivia That May Boost Your Health

Trivia is a wonderful distraction. But it can also be handy at times. Look over this collection of health trivia for bits of wisdom that can improve your health and reduce your risks of infection and diseases.

Dentists recommend that you store your toothbrush at least six feet away from the toilet. This reduce risks of airborne particles from flushing coming into contact with your toothbrush.

Sleeping burns more calories than watching TV. If you want to lose weight but aren't in the mood to exercise, snooze instead of turning on the TV.

Moisturize if you are allergic to dust. Why? Most dust particles in your house are made of dead and dried skin cells.

Here's a good reason to wash your pits and dry them well: The skin of the armpits can harbor up to 516,000 bacteria per square inch, while drier areas, such as the forearm, have only about 13,000 bacteria per square inch.

Enjoy your food while you still can. The average human has about 10,000 taste buds located in the tongue, its underside, and insides of the cheek. However, most people lose half of their taste buds, hence, compromising their sense of taste by the time they reach 60.

Written By: Kristine Gonzaga

Laugh, Snicker, Giggle: It's Good For You

Laughter is the best medicine - there is a truth to this cliché. You see, stress and anxiety are usually the cause of many disorders and illnesses - causes that can easily be relieved and remedied by some laughter. 

There are several other benefits that laughter can do for you that you might have overlooked like:

• Stimulate body organs
• Trigger your stress response
• Soothes tension and aches
• Boost your immune system
• Relieve pain
• Improves positive outlook

Here are some tips on getting more laughs in your life without being crazy:

Make humor part of your routine. Subscribe to an online comic strip that makes you laugh or put a collection of funny pictures on your desk so you can easily get a laugh into your daily routine.

Think silly. A lot of people are afraid of making a fool of themselves that they get so uptight about things. Aside from increasing anxiety and stress, they also miss out on the humor.

Look for jokes. Deliberately scan through copies of joke books in your local bookstore. There is a high chance that the jokes are corny, but the stupidity of it all may be just enough to get you cracking up.  

Written By: Kristine Gonzaga

How to Fight Mid-Day Sleepiness

If there's one thing that distracts me from work the most, it's feeling sleepy. It's kind of hard focusing on work when you're feeling dizzy because of sleepiness.

How do you fight sleepiness anyway?

The best way is to get enough sleep at home. Eight to ten hours of restful, undisturbed sleep should suffice to provide you with enough energy to go through the day.

But since it's impossible for most people to get at least eight hours of sleep, let's try the next best thing - the power nap. The power nap is the more popular term for a 20-minute nap that seems to works wonders in re-energizing the body.

Go with time-tested caffeine. Coffee is guaranteed to help us snap out of sleepiness. Just be careful not to drink too much coffee past 3pm, because it may make it difficult for you to sleep in the evening.

Wash your face. For some people, splashing their face with cold water jolts their minds back to consciousness. Although this may be true, the effects don't really last very long.

There you go, some tips on how you can fight off mid-day sleepiness. 

Written By: Abbey Grace Yap

Cooking Tips That'll Help You Lose Weight

Many have jumped the fitness bandwagon and have chosen to follow fad diets left and right. Many of us think that by limiting our menu choices, we actually take ourselves one step closer to our goal.

But is it really just the food we eat? Why don't we take a look at how we prepare it?

Let's start off with meal choices. Instead of cooking on the fly, why not plan the menu at the start of the week? This way, you'll save time thinking of what's good and healthy to prepare for the day.

Start choosing lean cuts. Be it beef, pork, or chicken, make sure that most of the fat is removed from the meat. This allows you to get the protein your body needs, but less the fat and calories.

Go with simple recipes. Don't choose menu entries that take too many steps to prepare and cook. Example of simple dishes are baked, steamed, or broiled meats.

Remember that even the healthiest of food can turn bad when it's prepared the wrong way. So before you start thinking of which foods are healthy, go back to the beginning and think of healthier ways to prepare your food instead.

Written By: Abbey Grace Yap

Pets and Their Positive Effect On Our Health

Most people adopt pets just so that they have something cute to play around with. But aside from the 'aww' factor, what else is keeping a pet good for?

Would you believe me if I tell you that your health may benefit from picking up a pet from the shelter? Sounds hard to believe? Let me tell you why.

Once you get a pet of your own, you instantly pick up a friend. They're always there with you when you're at your lowest, listening to you when you need to rant, and they're still beside you when you're having the best day of your life. People with pets are generally less stressed that people who don't have one.

Also, if you have a pet, specifically a dog, you're going to have to take him out for walks or play with them as they are naturally playful animals. You may not think so, but that, right there, is physical activity. The more physical activity you have, the more fat you burn and the more excess weight you begin to shed.

Now, who would've thought having a pet around could do so much good?

 

Written By: Abbey Grace Yap

Get the Long, Shapely Legs You've Always Wanted

Would you agree with me when I say that the legs are the hardest to keep toned? Why, even models have a hard time keeping their legs cellulite-free. You can just imagine how difficult it would be for regular people to combat cellulite.

But fitness trainers explain that by performing leg-specific exercises, you can slowly work your way to perfect, shapely legs. Here are some examples of leg-shaping exercises:

1. Lunges and step-up exercises have been well-endorsed because these routines work out all the different leg muscles at once. You can easily do it anywhere and don't necessarily require expensive equipment.

2. Squats are also great for the legs and calves. Unfortunately, they're not easy on the knees as they tend to carry most of the stress of the exercise.

3. Leg lifts are also a great way to give your legs some work out. However, it tends to focus more on the thighs than the calves. Adding weights to your leg lifts can increase the speed of progress.

For more information on these exercise and how to safely perform it, consult a fitness professional for guidance. It's better to be safe than sorry after all.

Written By: Abbey Grace Yap