Six Smoothie Recipes

Six Smoothie Recipes for Constipation and Acne Relief by Rudy Silva

I recommend drinking a morning smoothie if you have constipation or if you have skin problems like acne. Drinking a high fiber smoothie relieves and prevents constipation. It will also provide the nutrients that are necessary for having or keeping a nice clean and smooth skin.

So, here are the six smoothie recipes you can blend.

1. Apple Smoothie

2. Apple-Barley Smoothie

3. Apricot Smoothie

4. Peach-Rice Dream Smoothie

5. Pineapple Smoothie

6. Strawberry Smoothie

Apple Smoothie

Mix in the blender the following:

1-2 small apples cut into wedges; 1 banana; 1 cup 50:50 ricedream: almond milk; 1/4 cup or less of raisins soaked overnight; 1-teaspoon honey; 1-2 cubes of ice; 1 teaspoon lecithin granules; 2 tablespoons flax seed oil

Start by mixing the banana and the liquids. Then add slices ofapples to get the consistency you like. In all of your smoothies add flax seed oil for nice smooth skin. I also add a tablespoon of flax seed straight into the blender and the blender will chop them up.

Apple-Barley Smoothie

Mix in the blender the following:

1 cup of sliced apples with peel; 1/2 cup of cooked barley; 1/4cup of soaked raisins; 1/4 teaspoon of vanilla flavoring; 1-1 1/2 cups of 50:50 rice dream: almond milk; 1 teaspoon lecithin granules; 2 Tablespoons flax seed oil

Make sure you use the lecithin granules in these smoothies since lecithin helps to breakdown the flax oil into tiny droplets and makes it more digestible.

Apricot Smoothie

One cup of fresh apricots or dried apricots that were soaked overnight; Juice of 1/2 a lemon; Two oz. of prune juice; One teaspoon or more of oat bran; One teaspoon of mineral whey; One tablespoon of flax seed oil; One tablespoon of lecithin granules

Add a slight amount of distilled water or ice cubes to make the consistency to your liking. This smoothie is good for constipation and acne.

Peach-Rice Dream Smoothie

Mix in the blender:

2 fresh peaches with peel; 1 cup rice dream; 1/2 banana; 1 teaspoon sesame seeds; 1 teaspoon sunflower seeds; 1 tablespoon lecithin granules; 2 tablespoons flax seed oil.

In place of rice dream you can use almond milk. I now only use almond milk to make my smoothies. Place all of the seeds straight into the blender. This smoothie has plenty of fiber. You may want to increase the amount of sesame and sunflower seeds.

Pineapple Smoothie

Mix the following in a blender:

1-2 cups of fresh pineapples; 1/2 cups apple slices; 1/4 cup fresh apple juice; 1/2 cup almond milk (more or less as needed);1 banana; 1 tablespoon lecithin; 2 tablespoons flax seeds; 2 teaspoons bran (wheat, oat or rice)

You can add more lecithin if you like. Lecithin does not have a taste. This smoothie is jam packed with fiber.

Strawberry Smoothie

Mix in a blender the following ingredients:1 banana; 1 tablespoon of lecithin granules; 1 teaspoon of any type of bran; 1 cup or more 50:50 rice dream: almond milk; Now add strawberries one by one with the blender on until you get the consistency you like; 1 tablespoon flax seeds; 1 or 2 tablespoons sunflower seeds; 1 teaspoon sesame seeds; 1 tablespoon of flax seed oil

You can add liquid minerals or vitamins to these smoothies and give them an additional nutritional value. There you have the smoothies that I make. Start making and drinking them and see the health benefits that you’ll get.

Copyright © 2005 Rudy Silva

About Rudy: Rudy Silva has a degree in Physics and is a Natural Nutritionist. He is the author of Constipation, Acne, Hemorrhoid,and Fatty Acid ebooks. He writes a newsletter call"Natural-Remedies-ThatWork.com." More acne hints and information on his acne e-book can be found at http://www.stop-constipation.com and http://www.acne-remedies.for--you.info

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Life 1000 Years Ago

I saw this article and couldn't help but think about how far we have come. What a difference a thousand years makes. Just a little something different for you today. While you are reading, just imagine . . .

Life And Health In The Year 1000
By Dr. Randy Wysong

Compared with the way things used to be, we have it so very soft today. It's easy to take our modern conveniences for granted. We can fill our days with leisure, bustle around in comfy autos, work only 40 of the 168 hours in a week, chat with therapists, read philosophy, shop for unnecessary stuff to clog our closets and garages, climate control our dwellings and complain about the softness of our mattresses.

In the year 1000, even when agriculture had been around for some 10,000 years, life was entirely different. In Anglo-Saxon society, a precursor to the modern West, the possibility of famine was ever-present and memories of the last one made dread and fear a part of everyday life. Looming natural disasters were constant specters.

Domiciles were not the neat and clean hygienic environs we experience today. They did not smell of disinfectant or exhaust from engines wafting in the windows, but the exhaust from every manner of farm creature and humans always hung in the air. Manure was everywhere with each one having its characteristic bouquet of fragrance. The human nose in the year 1000 could certainly not be so prissy as ours today.

Latrines were located at or near the back door and moss was toilet paper. Flies filled the dank and earthen floor homes where there were few if any hard surfaced utensils and there was no understanding of disease vectors or antiseptic. If you dropped food on the filthy floor, you picked it up and ate it with relish. Five baths a year for monks was thought to be fanaticism by Saxon standards of personal hygiene.

In time of famine, their law code permitted fathers to sell their sons aged seven or above into slavery. Infanticide was not a crime. Communities of 40 or 50 starving emaciated people would join hands at the edge of a cliff and jump. Some chronicles report that "men ate each other." They would comb the forests for beechnuts overlooked by the wild pigs and would grind acorns, beans, peas and tree bark into a flour to bake as bread. Hedgerows were scoured for paltry herbs, roots, nettles and grasses. "What makes bitter things sweet?" asked a Yorkshire schoolmaster. "Hunger."

A "crazy bread" of ground poppies, hemp and darnel gave our poor starving ancestors some relief with visions of paradise. Molds that laced the rye that was aging contained a variety of mycotoxins (and lysergic acid [LSD], the psychedelic drug of the "60s) that could not only make people appear mad but would severely weaken the immune system, permitting disease to run rampant. (Note that the cause of the great plagues and epidemics was not the disease agent, but the fragile or non-existent immune system of the starving and poisoned host.)

The church would help allay the pain by harnessing hunger to spiritual purposes. Lent made virtue of necessity, coming as it did in the final months of winter when barns and larders were growing empty. Feast and famine were linked to spiritual purification and gave meaning to hardship as well as hope for better times.

July was particularly tough since the spring crops had not matured and the barns were empty from the previous year's harvest. Starving was common in the balmiest month of the year when so much toil in the fields was necessary.

Every single hour of the August harvest month was filled with urgency, since everyone knew from the pains of July what was in store for them next year if they did not fill their larders now. Work was not a right, a place to lobby for benefits and ease. It was a life and death struggle.

The contrast between then and now is astonishing. They were on the verge of starvation; we are fighting an epidemic of obesity. They might have to subsist for months on potatoes or stale bread; we have a glut of food options at our instant disposal. They had shortened life spans and were highly vulnerable to injury and disease. We live longer but suffer cruel lingering degenerative conditions.

It is clear from a realistic view of times gone by that it was not the advent of modern medicine that brought relief, it was, as I mentioned in a previous article on SARS, it was the plumber bringing public utilities and with that the possibility of hygiene and the trucker distributing food supplies that brought us our present long lives.

For them it was a daily struggle for survival. Necessity and muscle ruled the day. It was the physical stress of enduring cold, harnessing 8 oxen to a plow to break new soil, hand harvesting and making their own way every moment of the day. It was the true helplessness and victimization (unlike modern day contrived social "victims" clamoring for rights and handouts) from floods, droughts, winds and rain that could wipe out their only hope to avoid starvation in the coming year.

For us now it is a surfeit of choices requiring intellectual decisions – decisions that make the difference between whether we experience full health or its slow insidious ruination by mindlessly partaking of every offering that promises yet more ease and flavor just because it is there.

Dr. Wysong is a former veterinary clinician and surgeon, college instructor in human anatomy, physiology and the origin of life, inventor of numerous medical, surgical, nutritional, athletic and fitness products and devices, research director for the present company by his name and founder of the philanthropic Wysong Institute.

He is author of The Creation-Evolution Controversy now in its eleventh printing, a new two volume set on philosophy for living entitled Thinking Matters: 1-Living Life... As If Thinking Matters; 2-The Big Questions...As If Thinking Matters, several books on nutrition, prevention and health for people and animals and over 15 years of monthly health newsletters. He may be contacted at Wysong@Wysong.net and a free subscription to his e-Health Letter is available at http://www.wysong.net.

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Flat Abs And Sexy Muscles

Be A Meal Freak = Flat Abs & Sexy Muscles!
Copyright © 2005 Catherine Zidell
NShape Online

Psst . . . listen up! Want flat abs and some sexy muscles? Then you have to consider becoming a Meal Freak.

Meal Freaks obtain leanness and tone from muscle, they're fairly conscious of how often they ingest nutrients to build muscle and burn fat. Fasting, or going too long without food, forces the body to store fat. Your body thinks it is starving and hangs on to body fat for survival in preparation of the fast. This is our built in computer that allowed us to survive the elements as cavemen.

Meal Freaks know that it is important to consume a small balanced meal every two to three hours. Digesting food requires energy which generates internal heat and therefore stimulates your bodies' metabolism. The nutrients are constantly supplying your muscles with amino acids from protein for building, and glycogen from carbohydrates for energy. The added benefit is a steady blood sugar level that burns fat.

Overeating produces high insulin levels which create low blood sugar that in turn forces the body to store fat. This makes you weak, irritable, sleepy and overweight. Ever notice how you just want to snooze after your plate of pasta for lunch or that enormous holiday dinner? Overeating stretches the stomach, which means that your tummy is not going to be flat, not to mention that you'll want to eat more food.

The most important meal of the day? B-R-E-A-K-F-A-S-T! With 7-8 hours of sleep behind you, you then break a "fast" when you eat breakfast. Remember, fasting slows the metabolism. Instead of taking some fat burner magic pill, eat breakfast as the better alternative. Try a small bowl of oatmeal and some egg whites, protein shake or low fat/sugar smoothie.

With breakfast out of the way, you can concentrate on the other 5-6 meals for the day, of which 2-3 of these need to be consumed with solid food that consist of a protein source, a vegetable and a carbohydrate in small portions. You can insert a mid day and bedtime snack of easily digested foods like cottage cheese, fruit or vegetables. Use meal replacement shakes occasionally yet remember this: the body leans itself better when a whole food protein is used versus a manufactured protein that is found in your protein shakes. Just make sure the shakes have a good quality protein source, like whey or egg protein and some carbohydrates for steady blood sugar and energy. Watch your labels for excessive fat and sugar content.

Some of you are saying, "I can't possibly eat all of that in one day!" Most of you are getting more calories and food from your lunch and dinner alone. Once you have started stoking the fat burning machine, you'll start to feel hungry every two to three hours. It takes being a clock watcher and a little planning at first but soon your body will start to take on a leaner appearance and you'll be looking forward to your next meal or snack.

Eating more meals allows you to ingest a greater variety of foods, which will lead to better health and longetivity. When we eat the same foods over and over we can develop allergies or sensitivities to these foods. When this happens the immune system is compromised and the body doesn't fight off infections. It also makes fat burning difficult.

Know your downfalls and plan your meals so that you don't fall victim to hunger. This is the biggest advantage of to eating more often. Let yourself get hungry and all your efforts go right out the window. Plan your mini meals and snacks the night before or the next morning. Be prepared and once this is done often enough it will become a healthy habit.

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Catherine "Cat" Zidell is a 50 year old, nationally recognized personal fitness trainer, health & nutrition coach and figure competitor. Her company, NSHAPE, is based in Dallas Texas, yet Cat touches many people coast to coast through her virtual fitness and coaching classes and live seminars. For more information on Cat & NSHAPE, contact her at: mailto:cat@nshapeonline.com or visit her at: www.nshapeonline.com

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Good Sleep Habits

Good Sleep Habits: A Key To Better Health
By Ray Kelly

Most of us fail to get good nights sleep. As a result we run the risk of greatly increasing our susceptibility to disease and accidents. Getting a good night sleep is a minimum for a healthy life. For most people this amount needs to be around 6 to 8 hours each night. Anything less than that and you are sleeping too little and anything more than that and you are probably sleeping too much.

What is it that sleep does for us? The best way to think of sleep is as the body’s form of “downtime”. Just like our computers need to go offline in order to be repaired so must our bodies. During this “downtime” the body actually rebuilds tissue, grows bone and muscle and strengthens the immune system. The truth is we really don’t know everything that does happen in sleep just yet. However, we know enough to realize that without it the body deteriorates along with the mind.

Each night we cycle through three stages of sleep including light sleep, deep sleep and Rapid Eye Movement Sleep (REM). Each of these stages are vital but the last stage is especially vital. Deprivation of this final stage of sleep can seriously decrease our health and productivity and make us increasingly prone to accidents and systematic disorders.

During deep sleep brain activity that controls emotions, decision-making processes and social interaction shuts down. Though these areas become inactive other areas of our brain that are usually dormant come to life. It is also at this stage that cell growth and cell repair takes place. There is in fact some truth to the phrase “beauty sleep”. Missing these vital areas of sleep deprives our body of the chance to revitalize our skin and organs.

Sleep is also integral in fighting off infection. As anybody who has been sick can attest the need for sleep increases when we are ill or bedridden. Part of the reason for this behavior is because our body is trying to shut down other aspects of our functioning in order to send much needed energy to our immune system and other parts of the body that help to fight off infection and sickness. This is a key step in the healing process. Depriving someone of sleep with a major illness can do serious damage to their long-term health.

The effects of sleep deprivation are many and varied. When we are deprived from sleep hallucinations and mood swings are usually the first effects we feel. There is also a general sense of irritability that pervades our waking mood when we are sleep deprived. Lack of sleep also affects our nervous system leaving us drowsy and unable to concentrate. Lack of sleep is also a frequent contributor to the causes of vehicular accidents and all other types of accidents, many of which are fatal.

To make sure you get the most of your sleep try to develop some ritual before going to bed. By creating a routine you condition your body to prepare itself for sleep. Avoid taking medicines since many of these prohibit the deepest levels of sleep, which are most necessary for our body. Also avoid excessive stimulation two hours before sleep. This can cause your body to be unable to fall reach the state of deep relaxation needed to fall to sleep.

Find an amount of sleep that is right for you and allows your body to operate at maximum efficiency.

Ray Kelly is an Exercise Scientist with 15 years experience in the health and fitness industry. Sign up for his free 7 Day Weight Loss Course at Risk Factors for Heart Disease or http://www.free-online-health.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com

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Powerful Sleep Secrets
Could you use MORE Sleep? If the way you spend your days is similar to the general population, you will probably answer a resounding 'Yes!'. Many people go to work every day without a 'good night's' rest, always short of sleep.

What if I could show you a way to get better sleep during those 'too short' nights? What if you could get less sleep, but get a much more powerful sleep period? How much more could you get done? A sleep researcher has discovered such a method. He is sharing his discoveries in the Powerful Sleep System.

Download your copy of the first 2 chapters FR*EE and see for yourself the difference owning this book can make in your life. Imagine how you will feel when you are totally rested and able to seize each day's opportunities. Read more about Powerful Sleep here, and get your two free chapters.

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Are you missing out? Want shortcuts to your goals?
Great Attitudes Create Great Results!
Al Smith is also the Editor and Publisher of
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Blast through Procrastination, Inaction, and Distraction
with Consistent Focused Action!
For success tools at your fingertips,
Subscribe Now to The Realgoalgetter Chronicle
at http://www.realgoalgetter.com/ezines/.
From The Realgoalgetter Group of Companies;
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--------------------

Fitness and Health . . .

Fitness and Health
By Steven Wong

For most of us from the government schools, PE (physical education) was in the school curriculum. So we had no choice but to comply and treat it as one of the school subjects. For the outdoor initiated, the PE lessons were great as it gave many an outlet for all the youthful hormones to exert themselves.

For those of us who dread PE (including myself), our main thoughts were more like "what is the use of PE when it doesn't improve our exam scores." We were so wrong then.

Only now, as we approach the middle age do we realized the mistake of not having built up a more robust physique through our younger days to handle the pressures and stress of today's life. However, it is not too late. It is not the end of my life yet. I can still make a difference.

Didn't someone once said, that the glory of this temple in our later days will be more glorious than our former ones. So here I am, writing something on fitness hoping to spur my middle aged body on to greater heights.

The best way to good health is mild to moderate physical exercises. This suits me just fine, because we are so, so busy and time is a precious commodity in today's economy. The least amount of time spent on physical torturing exercises and yet be able to help me maintain a healthy body - will be just right for me.

All I want to achieve is a healthy body. I am not a fitness guru or an exercise freak (sorry for the term used). I enjoy a little bit of laziness once a while.

I like to pamper myself with some pleasures such as fine dining and couching in front of the TV. But I realized that this cannot be the norm or else I will be digging my own grave sooner rather than later.

Do you want to be fit or do you want to be healthy? Hey, I thought that meant the same.

Well, fitness has been defined in relation to a concept called physical work capacity, or how much work the body can do. A person's fitness can be determined in a laboratory by looking at how much energy they can produce on a cycle ergometer when cycling at a specific heart rate, or on an athletic track by looking at how far they can run in a set time.

Fitness can also be understood in relation to a number of components including endurance, flexibility, strength and power. You need to be fit to play many sports, including football, hockey and tennis.

On the other hand, good health is a broader concept that includes being free from sicknesses and diseases, and be in a proper state of mental and spiritual wellbeing.

Normally, being fit and being healthy go hand in hand. But it is not always so. For example, you can be very fit, through playing tennis, but suffer a major health problem such as alcoholism.

When we understand these two concepts and the difference between fitness and good health, then you will realized that actually you need less exercise to be healthy. You actually need more exercise to get fit and to remain fit.

How to be fit?

Many people have a need to be fit because their jobs or careers demands it. If you are an athlete or a sportsman you need to be fit or else you are out of the game. If you are a soldier or a fireman, you need to be fit because it could mean a life or death decision for you just when you need it the most.

To be fit, you will have to follow a set program of exercise which we call training. Proper training will always take place in a right and professional environment that have the facilities to train you through expert and regimented supervision. Examples of such fitness training are gymnastic training, running, weight lifting, swimming programs etc.

In such an environment, the intensity of the exercise program is varied to achieve the different levels of fitness. It means that if you want to be very, very fit, you need to exercise at an above moderate or high intensity level. Normally, in achieving such fitness goal levels, the individual will undoubtedly also become healthier. However, if you don't want to be fit but just healthy, you don't have to exercise as hard.

How to be healthy?

On the other hand, if all you want to be is healthy, then you just need a milder level of exercises to be healthy and to remain in good health. Sometimes the fear and anxiety of suffering from heart diseases, excessive cholesterol in blood stream, obesity or mental health problems, propels us to remain physically active.

You do not need to have the same intensity of training to remain healthy as compared to remain fit. You can encompass your physical exercises into your normal routine. Instead of getting into your compact car and drive round the block, purpose to park at a distance and walk all the way. Walk through the golf course and carry your own bag instead of hitching a golf cart or engage a caddie.

Perform some simple exercises behind the office desk using isometric exercises when nobody is looking. Do some pushup or situps in between commercials in the TV.

All I am saying is you don't need to torture yourself to remain healthy.

Some active living tips:

* Use the stairs instead of the lift or escalator.

* Don't use the remote control to change TV channels. Get up from your chair.

* Bring along your jogging shoes when you travel outstation, just in case you find some free time for a short walk/jog.

To be healthy, some experts recommend being physically active on at least five days out of seven.

We're increasingly living in a world where we require less and less physical activity in our lives. We have domestic appliances to wash and dry for us, cars to transport us and desks at which to sit and work or study. In school we are always told to 'sit still'.

In view of these "bad" technological influences that have stopped us from moving, any physical activity is a health gain.

Not everyone can subscribe to a magic formula on the amount of exercise in order to achieve a benefit.

The right key is to make an effort and persevere. As soon as you move, you win!

If you have no idea at all for keep-fit ideas, consider some of the following?

* dancing - you name the style

* bikes, scooters, inline skates and skateboarding

* ice skating, dry skiing and snowboarding

* gymnastics/tumbling

* swimming

* martial arts

* gym-based activities

* team sports (football, volleyball, basketball, baseball etc)

* walking

* skipping or jump rope

* kites and frisbees

* hide and seek

* dog walking

For young people, you can also exercise and earn money at the same time: wash the car, shovel snow, do the shopping, wash the windows, vacuum or do the gardening.

Cheers to Healthy Living.

I am not a fitness freak neither do I exercise excessively. But what I can do is to keep a relaxed routine to keep healthy and that includes supplements and vitamins.

Visit my blogs: http://duriancapital.blogspot.com and http://charismaassembly.blogspot.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com

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*NEW!* -- Audio Motivation

Join Audio Motivation and hear exclusive interviews from the greatest names in personal development. Leap onto the fast track to success with dynamic, exciting audio motivation messages with AudioMotivation.com. Listen to Audios with Success Teachers and today's movers and shakers and keep yourself at the top of your Game. Find out more today.

---

Are you missing out? Want shortcuts to your goals?
Great Attitudes Create Great Results!
Al Smith is also the Editor and Publisher of
FREE Motivational and Goal Achievement Ezines.
Blast through Procrastination, Inaction, and Distraction
with Consistent Focused Action!
For success tools at your fingertips,
Subscribe Now to The Realgoalgetter Chronicle
at http://www.realgoalgetter.com/ezines/.
From The Realgoalgetter Group of Companies;
dedicated to helping you live a long, passionate, joyful life.
--------------------

Do You Meet the New Standard?

Do You Meet the New Standard?
By Melissa Allen

According to the most recent government survey conducted by the National Academy of Sciences' Institute of Medicine, Americans need to exercise at least an hour a day. This nearly doubles the previous recommendation.The study was published in a 1,000-page report that came out just a couple weeks ago.

For many people, this will mean a significant change in lifestyle in order to accommodate the additional exercise. Rather than focus on the various exercises you could do, or the little changes you can make in order to fit this seemingly undoable amount into your day, I'm going to talk to you about changing your way of thinking about exercise.

Exercise should be thought of as a way of life, or a lifestyle. It shouldn't be approached as something that you are going to do for a given period of time and then stop once you've reached your destination. It is something that is ongoing, changing, and growing. Once exercise becomes stagnant, you will stop doing it.

It is important to make it fun. That may mean going to a gym for some, or joining a running club for others. Some people enjoy exercise more if they are doing it with a friend or loved one, and some people prefer to do it alone. I guess what I am suggesting is to first dedicate some thought to it and identify your strengths and weaknesses pertaining to exercise.

Analyze who you are and what aspects will intrigue you to exercise on a regular basis.

Some of the more unconventional methods include in-line skate clubs, dog walking groups, the Sierra Club, martial arts studios, and bike clubs to name a few. With such diversity available now, there is no reason why everyone can't find at least one thing that is both healthy as well as interesting.

Like anything worth doing, you should first start with a plan and then progress from there. I, myself, have a certain core group of activities I plan to always do, and that so far they have continued to stimulate me because they can be so different each time. Bodybuilding and martial arts are two of them, but I also enjoy other activities that are either more seasonal like skiing, snowboarding, and surfing (the latter I am just learning), in addition to some sports that are just too expensive for me to do frequently, like scuba diving.

Freedom has always played an important role in my life, and although I am very disciplined during the week as far as bodybuilding, cardiovascular conditioning, and martial arts, I allow myself much more freedom on weekends because I have more time then. I really enjoy hiking and mountain biking on Saturdays or Sundays. Weekends also allow time for more of a commute to and from a preferred destination.

One of my favorite things to do is get my friends together on a Sunday morning and go hiking up in the Laguna Mountains with my dog, followed by brunch. It's the perfect combination-I get to spend quality time with my friends, and both myself as well as my dog gets a workout in the process. That just can't be beat!

So give exercise a fair shake before you jump to the conclusion that the new standard can't be done. From my own experience, I can honestly say that I love fitness and the feeling it gives me. It is definitely a lifestyle, and I can't imagine my life without it!

©Melissa Allen is a certified personal trainer, Blackbelt & fitness consultant, as well as the owner of Optimum Condition— personal fitness training and kickboxing instruction. She is a self-syndicated columnist and a member of the San Diego Press Club and the National Society of Newspaper Columnists.

She welcomes input from her readers, so please contact her with any questions or comments that you may have by visiting her website at http://www.OptimumCondition.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com

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Powerful Sleep Secrets
Could you use MORE Sleep? If the way you spend your days is similar to the general population, you will probably answer a resounding 'Yes!'. Many people go to work every day without a 'good night's' rest, always short of sleep.

What if I could show you a way to get better sleep during those 'too short' nights? What if you could get less sleep, but get a much more powerful sleep period? How much more could you get done? A sleep researcher has discovered such a method. He is sharing his discoveries in the Powerful Sleep System.

Download your copy of the first 2 chapters FR*EE and see for yourself the difference owning this book can make in your life. Imagine how you will feel when you are totally rested and able to seize each day's opportunities. Read more about Powerful Sleep here, and get your two free chapters.

Inspiration or Desperation?

Inspiration Or Desperation
By Tracie Johanson

+ First Of All, Forget About Regret!

Katherine Mansfield once said "Make it a rule of life never to regret and never to look back. Regret is an appalling waste of energy; you can't build on it; it's only for wallowing in." When talking about health and fitness, this quote is especially true.

We may not be happy with the way we look, and many of us may not even be sure how we got this way! Where did this extra 40 lbs. come from? At what point did I start to sag? Didn't I have muscle there once? Who shrunk all my clothes?!?!

Each of us has a choice. We can choose to live in regret, never taking action because we feel too sorry for ourselves. On the other hand, we also have the choice to FORGET about our health and fitness past (or lack of it) and focus on the future.

Regret is a tremendous waste of energy. I have yet to meet anyone who can go back in time and change the past, so what's the point of churning it over in our mind again and again? Worrying and regretting the past only takes our focus off the one thing we can change: the future!

+ Inspiration Or Desperation? Once we're over our regret and ready to focus on the NOW and the FUTURE, the question becomes "Are we willing to finally make a change?"

After all, if we don't make a change in our health and fitness lifestyle we're just going to get the same old results. In other words, "If you do what you did you'll get what you got."

So, are you ready to change?

Dr. Alan Zimmerman (www.drzimmerman.com), in a recent publication, said that there are two primary reasons why people will change a behavior:

=> 1) They HURT So Much That They're Forced To Change (Desperation).
=> 2) People change when they realize they CAN change (Inspiration).

Perhaps you hurt so much that you're willing to make some changes and adopt a healthier lifestyle. Maybe it was a rude comment from someone on the street, or perhaps your favorite clothes don't fit anymore. Maybe your doctor said some things to you about your health and scared you. When we're out of shape and unhappy with the way we look and feel, there can be a lot of hurt!

But listen to this, and listen carefully.....THE HURT IS OKAY IF WE USE IT TO MAKE POSITIVE CHANGES! The hurt is even GOOD if it prompts us to make the changes we need to make! Remember, we're not going to wallow in regret anymore! We're going to accept that hurt and USE IT TO OUR ADVANTAGE by making a positive change!

The other reason people change is inspiration. Now doesn't that automatically sound like more fun? When we fully realize and understand that WE DO HAVE THE POWER TO CHANGE OURSELVES, it's a very motivating feeling! We fill up with power and energy, and success is suddenly within our reach!

Susan Crandell, former editor of 'More' magazine, perhaps said it best: "We all should do something scary at least once a year, because when you pop out the other side, intact and invigorated, the afterglow can carry you through the other parts of your life." (Source: www.drzimmerman.com)

So how do you capture the inspiration to change? Tell yourself 'I CAN' whenever the old doubt and regret starts to surface. Look at yourself in the mirror - right in the eyes! - and say out loud I CAN!

Do you know why you should do that? Because it's TRUE! You CAN make the change and start living a healthier lifestyle! You CAN start exercising regularly! You CAN start cutting back on the fatty and high-calorie foods! You CAN change the way you look and feel!

Sure, you'll have some setbacks along the way.....but no regrets, remember? Forget about the past and focus on the future! I CAN!

Obviously, inspiration is much better change trigger than desperation. But EITHER REASON TO CHANGE IS BETTER THAN NO CHANGE AT ALL.

Forget about the past.
Focus on the future.
I CAN.

* Copyright 2005 Pick Up The Pace.
* The information in this article and on this site is for general reference purposes only and not intended to address specific medical conditions. This information is not a substitute for professional medical advice or a medical exam. Prior to participating in any exercise program or activity, you should seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health professional. No information in this article or on www.letspickupthepace.com should be used to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any medical condition.

Tracie Johanson is the founder of Pick Up The Pace, a 30-minute exercise studio for women, focusing on fitness, health and nutrition for maximum weight loss. Please visit http://www.letspickupthepace.com for more information.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com

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To Our Good Health

Welcome to our health and fitness blog. Up until now we have been posting articles on a blogspot server, and now have decided to publish this blog on our website.

Articles posted previous to this will still be available at the old blogspot address:

To Your Good Health

Our goal is to post health topics about three times weekly. We will get this up and running as soon as we can properly set it up. Talk to you soon.

Al Smith

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