New Look
After some testing and feedback I decided to change the look of the site. The other version I thought was a bit hard to read and I think this version is a lot better on the eyes. Let me know what you guys think.
Daily Healthy Eating Plan That’s Right for You
It seems today that everyone is looking for the “secret” to lose weight and maintain a healthy long life. That is why the weight loss industry is a 33 billion dollar industry and climbing. Everyone wants a quick fix and they want it now. Even though some of these products do work and help us to lose weight quicker than normal, it still does not substitute for the best way to go about being in shape, which is to form a daily healthy eating plan.
You see the problem with looking for a quick fix for weight issues and even minor health issues related to eating habits, is that they are short lived. Sure you may lose 10 pounds in two weeks while taking fat burners, but what happens then? What happens when your body gets accustomed to the pills and your weight isn’t going as it used to. Then you end up spending hundreds of dollars and in a few months you are either in the same place you were or worse off.
Having a daily healthy eating plan is the best way to ensure that when you get the weight off it will stay off. It will also make you feel a whole lot better about yourself and your overall health will be in much better shape. You will make this a lifestyle and your body will thank you for it. Your energy levels will be at an all time high and you will be amazed at how much of a difference there is between following a healthy eating plan and just eating whatever is in sight.
The problem with following a daily healthy eating that turns off most people is that they do not want to give up their favorite foods. However, the great thing is that that you don’t have to. The secret is just to keep it in moderation. This makes eating healthy much easier to follow and you will be able to stick with it much longer.
There is no big secret to lose weight, just come up with a daily healthy eating plan that’s right for you and STICK WITH IT. I believe that is the secret to most of life’s challenges.
Healthy eating guidelines while traveling
Well I just came back from a trip to New Orleans and let me be the first to tell you that if you are on a diet that is absolutely the worse place to go! At every corner there is a restaurant and the thing about it is that EVERYTHING is good! I was there from Friday morning to Tuesday morning and could have easily gained about 30lbs…ok not that much but you get my point.
So I started to brainstorm some guidelines that we can all use when traveling to both enjoy ourselves as well as eat relatively healthy.
The first is of course to keep everything in moderation. As I state almost every time I speak on nutrition, it’s ok to have “bad” foods once in a while. The only catch is that you don’t overdo it. So yeh, it’s ok to go to Oceana and have that rib eye, just don’t do it every day.
Another thing I did while on my trip that I think worked well was to stick to sea food mostly. Seafood has very little fat and I absolutely love it, so I embraced my love and made this a big part of my eating guideline while I was enjoying the awesome restaurants on my trip. The only drawback was that after every meal I just HAD to have some Bluebell Ice cream which basically made it as if I ate a 16oz steak, but that’s ok you only live once right?
My final healthy eating guideline while traveling was to do as much walking as I can. During the trip I tried my best to visit places where it will encourage activity instead of sitting still. The zoo, walking Bourbon Street, and the park were among some places I chose specifically to keep active. Instead of driving everywhere I walked to the street cars and used them as transportation. This also meant that where ever I went I had to walk back to it. It also helps you not to overeat since thinking of walking a mile with an overfull stomach helps you to moderate your eating.
These are just some basic healthy eating guidelines to follow while traveling that will help you to enjoy your trip while not going too far off of your diet. Of course you will consume more than usual but by following these guidelines you will be able to control yourself and not be disappointed when you return. After you return it is a good idea to detox for about a week so that you body is purified from the toxins you picked up while on your trip.
If you are ever in New Orleans make sure to get a Chocolate Freeze from La Camellias, it’s the best chocolate shake ever!
Importance of Time Management
Time management is essential when trying to build muscle or burn fat. I mean…how can you stick to a diet if you are always on the run? Worse yet, how in the world can you get to the gym when you seem to be working 24 hours a day? Trust me I know how this feels. I’ve been there…actually I’m still there. There are many days that I could use at least one more hour in the day because it seems like every second of the other 24 was used.
So how do we find time to make sure our health, which should be our number one priority, is taken care of? Well this is where the importance of time management comes in. We need to make sure that we are managing our precious time wisely. For instance when I took inventory of what I was spending time on, I realized I spent wayyyy too much time thinking instead of doing. I spent months thinking of writing this blog. Things like how to start, what program to use, will anyone like it etc. When in the end I just ended up starting something and tweaking as I go along. If you check it out this is true for many things in your life.
The most important thing about time management is that we come up with a system. Now I’m not saying that you need to have a schedule like the president, but you need to set clear goals and markers on how you are planning to get there. You then need to break this down into specific actions placed with time limits for each action. That’s basically it! For instance if you have a presentation due in 2 weeks designate times to work on specific actions for each aspect of the presentation and follow it.
Apply this to any other tasks that have to do and you will be amazed about how much time you will save by doing this.
With effective time management you will be able to make time for your health that you never knew you had. And when you get this time don’t “think” of what diet to find, or what workout routine to follow. Start with walking everyday if you have to, do a bit of research and get started! As Nike says, “Just do it.”
Abs Exercise: The Ab-Ripper!
The Muscle Nerd Program is one that I have recently found very interesting. This exercise is one that you will find in that program along with many other stratigies to “combat the fat.”Click Here! to find out more about this awesome program.
What is Rotator Cuff Tear In Shoulder?
A rotator cuff tear in the shoulder is when there is an injury to one of the rotator cuff tendons. They come in many different shapes and sizes, but it can be thought of as a hole in a tendon in the shoulder. Most of these injuries can be treated using non surgical methods such as the R.I.C.E.R method which stands for: Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation and Referral. If these methods do not seem to be working then surgery may have to be done on the shoulder.
Rotator cuff tear in the shoulder is quite common for the average person who works out regularly because of a few different factors. One is that the shoulder is a very complex formation of bones, muscle and tendons all of which provide a great deal of motion for your arm. Because of this extensive range of motion, there creates a lack of stability which makes the rotator cuff prone to injury. Another factor is that the shoulder region receives a very little supply of blood, which makes it more vulnerable to wear and tear.
Because the shoulder is a more delicate area of the body, many injuries are usually caused by putting too much strain on the tendons of the shoulder. If your rotator cuff is injured you may not feel much pain at that moment. However, weakness is often the primary way to tell if you have experienced a rotator cuff tear of injury. If you are working out and you feel a little pull in the shoulder and a few mins later you cannot lift your arm…then most likely you are the victim of a shoulder related injury mainly a rotator cuff tear.
Here are some pictures of what a rotator cuff tear in the shoulder looks like:
Dangers in Aspartame
I was a fanatic believer in a drink called crystal lite. I swore by this product because for something that had virtually no carbohydrates it tasted soooo good. The problem was that I never stopped to consider what exactly made it taste so good and how come it’s sweet but has no sugar. It wasn’t until I started experiencing rampant headaches that I began to wonder exactly what could be the cause of them. I then started researching some products I was using and stumbled upon the dangers in aspartame which is the sweetener used in such diet drinks.
I always knew that aspartame was included in crystal lite and basically any diet drinks that still have a sweet taste such as diet sodas, but I never stopped to consider exactly what aspartame is. After seeing some negative comments about this artificial sweetener I began doing some research.
I learned that aspartame was not a natural product at all. It was accidentally discovered in 1965 by James Schlatter while he was doing research on a product to prevent ulcers. It is a mixture between aspartic acid and phenylalanine and produces a very sweet taste.
Aspartame is about 180 times sweeter than sugar so only a small amount needs to be used in these products that we consume every day. This sounds like a good thing but the dangers of aspartame are still very significant even in these small amounts. It has been linked to an increase of certain cancers and numerous other side effects. Why haven’t you heard of these side effects before? Because the diet industry is a trillion dollar industry and this is not very good for profits.
Some side effects and dangers in aspartame include:
- Blindness
- decreased vision
- pain in one or both eyes
- decreased tears
- bulging eyes
- headaches, migraines and (I had this)
- epileptic seizures
- confusion, memory loss
- dizziness, unsteadiness
- paresthesia or numbness of the limbs
- atypical facial pain
- severe hyperactivity and restless legs
- severe tremors
- irritability
- severe depression
- phobias
- aggression
- insomnia
- anxiety
- personality changes
And these are just to name a few…more on aspartame later.
Can Women Build Huge Female Biceps Without Using Hormones?
Can women really build huge female biceps without the use of testosterone supplements? Well to be honest it is much harder to do than for men since men do have this muscle building hormone. However, it has been proven that it can be done. It does take hard work and many hours of dedication but if your goal is to build huge female biceps then it can be achieved without using hormones.
Since it’s harder for women to build big muscles, heavy protein supplementation is necessary. Make sure you get at least about 2g of protein for every pound of bodyweight so that your body will have nutrients to feed the muscles. Make sure to drink a lot of water and don’t focus so much on cardio as this will only help you to lose weight. Once a week is fine.
Most women go to the gym to tone but in order to build huge female biceps you have to train like a power lifter. It’s a good idea to pick about three exercises for the biceps and keep rep range between 6-8 for eight weeks to build strength and then switch to a 8-12 rep range for another 8 weeks so that you achieve atrophy where your should see some significant muscles growth.
An example of a bicep workout to build huge female biceps would be:
- Barbell bicep curl – 3 sets; 6-8 reps
- Incline Dumbbell Curl – 3 sets; 6-8 reps
- One arm concentration curl – 3 sets 6-8 reps
Dangers of Fast Food
We all know that eating fast foods for an extended amount of time can be dangerous to our health. I’m sure you have heard this at one time or another. But exactly what is it about fast food that is bad for us? In this article I’m going to go through some of the dangers of fast food that highlights some good reasons of why we should not eat them very often.
The first thing, which we should all know is that most fast food have an extraordinary amount of BAD cholesterol. This cholesterol circulates in our blood and slowly builds up in the arteries that feed the heart and lungs. When combined with other substances it forms a kind of plaque which narrows the arteries and most of the time leads to blockages. When your arteries become blocked this can then lead to stroke and heart attack. This in its self should keep us away from it as much as possible.
Another danger of fast food is the fact that the items most people crave on the menu are loaded with sugar. From the buns to the desserts and not to mention the soda, these things have a great amount of sugar and that’s not good for our diet at all. Sugar causes an increase of insulin levels in the blood and when your body is flooded with too much insulin for a long time it becomes less sensitive to it. When your cells become resistant to it your body produces more of it to compensate. This can then lead to Type 2 diabetes.
The final danger of fast food that I am going to mention is the risk of food poisoning. Because fast food restaurants handle so much food per day it is hard to keep the restaurant sanitary at all times. Since bacteria thrives in unsanitary conditions and can spread very quickly, this leads to it contaminating the food. Every year there are dozens of cases where there are outbreaks of different food-borne illnesses. Sometimes it affects only a few individuals but other times it can be quite serious affecting hundreds and even thousands. There was a case of this with Taco Bell just a few months back.
I understand that fast food can be quite convenient for a busy person but your health should take precedent over other pressing issues. The dangers of certain fast foods far outweigh the benefits so you should try to get the healthiest possible meal if you have to depend on fast food.
Foods Without Refined Sugar
Exactly what’s so bad about refined sugar? I mean personally I hear the word refine and I’m thinking that if it’s “refined” it must be good! But in this case I’m soooo wrong. In this post I’m going to touch on what refined sugar is and why is not very good to be consuming on a regular basis. I am also going to get into finding foods without refined sugar which can be beneficial to your health.
Refined sugar basically means that the sugar you are getting went through a rigorous purification process that leaves it with 99.9% sucrose. It has no nutritional value…or should I say .1 %. Any nutrients including vitamins, fiber, protein, and minerals are removed so its jus all plain…sugar, doesn’t that sound good?
