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Many people that want to shed a few pounds look for easy weight loss that’s fast and permanent. They’ll try every patch potion and pill top satisfy the dream.

Some of the pills and patches are natural and they will help you lose weight by suppressing your appetite but NOTHING can beat a well balanced diet that provides the nutrition your body needs and enough exercise to burn more calories than you consume.

Permanent weight loss is about balancing the energy you put into your body with the energy you expend through your daily activities.

A body that doesn’t feel deprived of nutrition, exercise or the fluids it needs to function as designed is usually a happy and healthy vessel for us to care for and use.

You can often get away with using pills, patches and weight loss supplements for short periods of time to quickly drop the pounds but you will need to quickly modify your eating and exercise habits to keep the slimmer you unless you want to gain back what you lost AND more.

Why You Regain

Your body enters survival mode if you suddenly cut your caloric intake more than 20%. When in survival mode, the majority of the calories you consume are stored as fat and you burn muscle mass for energy.

The loss of muscle lowers your metabolic rate which means you are unable to burn as much fat.

When you stop the diet you are carrying extra fat and less muscle mass so it takes fewer calories to maintain your new weight. If you exercise properly to rebuild your muscle mass, you will eventually burn off the excess fat you acquired during your crash diet IF you’ve adopted a healthier lifestyle in general.

Patches, pills, potions and lotions might help you reach your short term easy weight loss goals but you must accept the fact that it usually isn’t permanent fat loss as is taught in Burn The Fat Feed The Muscle.

Since your nutritional intake might be less than perfect, your immune system is probably going to have a battle fighting off all the bugs you encounter.

Your life and the life of everyone you care about is full of encounters with bacteria, viruses and fungi. These microbes can be a mild inconvenience or a serious health threat depending on the bug you encounter and the strength of your immune system.

In an ideal world, you would have time and the money needed to eat a naturally healthy diet and get enough exercise to build a strong immune system.

Very few, if any, of us live in this ideal world so we often turn to supplements and cleaning products to compensate.

Unfortunately, too many people are using cleaners that may be as bad as, if not worse, than the microbes they are trying to kill. You, your loved ones and your pets may suffer serious health problems with some of the toxic chemicals available for cleaning.

Even if the chemicals themselves aren’t ingested, you may have them enter your body through your lungs or skin. Some cleaning agents might linger on the cleaned surfaces for hours if not days so your risk of exposure could last long after the rubber gloves are removed.

Some natural cleaners are safer for humans but still a threat to animals. Cleaners that are safe for both humans and their pets still require caution and attention to the instructions but they are an alternative you can feel good about.

The problem with some of these alternatives is the cost. You cannot put a price on the health and safety of your family but you cannot realistically afford to bust your budget to keep them safe either.

Basic-G® Concentrated Germicide by Shaklee solves the problem of keeping everyone safe and healthier, including your pets, while being very affordable.

Basic G is a natural product that is EPA registered, is certified Kosher and it is economical. One quart of this germicide makes about 64 gallons of cleaner. Does your current cleaner step up to the economy and natural cleaning ability of the Basic-G® Concentrated Germicide by Shaklee?

My Holiday Fitness Challenge to You
 

Whether the weight gain is a pound or ten pounds, did you ever ask yourself why does holiday weight gain happen at all?

Here are some common answers I’ve heard:

“I’m too busy over the holidays to work out as often as usual.”

“I’m more stressed over the holidays, and the food is there, so I eat more.”

“I have at least three parties to attend and then there’s Christmas and New Year’s, so it’s impossible to stay on a diet.”

“No one can tell me not to enjoy myself over the holidays, so I’m just going to eat whatever I want.”

These answers all have a few things in common.

First, they assume that it’s an either/or proposition: You can either get in better shape or enjoy yourself, but not both. Stated in reverse: You can either deprive yourself of holiday enjoyments or gain weight, but it has to be one or the other. The truth is, “either/or thinking” is a very limiting form of thought.

Second, these are all excuses or rationalizations. “I’m too busy” for example, is always an excuse, because I have never known someone who was too busy to make time for his or her highest life priorities. The problem then, is not lack of time, but that most people do not make exercise or eating healthy a priority. We all have the same amount of time – 24 hours a day – but the way people prioritize the use of time is the difference between success and mediocrity. And remember, words mean little. Actions reveal a person’s true priorities.

Third, none of these are the real reasons most people gain weight over the holidays to begin with. The real reason is because an intention was never set for the opposite: To get in BETTER shape over the holidays.

Most people set a “goal” to get in worse shape over the holidays!

It’s not consciously set, of course, as few people would intentionally set out to gain fat. They simply do it by default. In their minds, they accept that it must be just about impossible to stay in shape with everything going on over the holiday season, so why bother?

Once the decision has been made, then the rationalizing (“rationing lies”) continues:

“Why should I deprive myself?”
“Family is more important”
“Worrying about diet and exercise during the holidays is neurotic”
“I don’t care if I gain a few pounds, I’m going to enjoy myself anyway”
“It’s only these two or three weeks that I let myself go wild”
“I’ll start the first week in January and lose the weight then.”

As a result of this “negative goal-setting,” they expect to work out less, eat more and gain a few pounds, and they don’t seem to even consider alternatives.

But what would happen if you set an intention and a goal to get in better shape between now and New Years’s Day?

What would happen if you decided that it was not an all or nothing proposition and that you could enjoy the holidays and all it has to offer and get in better shape at the same time?

And what if you decided that your health and your body were the highest priorities in your life, because you realized that can’t enjoy anything else in life, including family or holidays, if you don’t have your health?

Here’s what would happen: You would get in better shape!

I’m not all that different from you just because I’m a bodybuilder and a fitness professional. I have many of the same problems, concerns and struggles as you do. Although today I always get in better shape between Thanksgiving and New Year’s, that’s a result of a conscious choice, a close examination of my old belief systems and a lot of action. For me, it all started about six years ago.

For most of my adult life, I wasn’t much of a traveler and I didn’t enjoy flying or staying in hotels. I had a belief that if I traveled, my workouts and nutrition would suffer. After all, “it would be hard to stick with my usual bodybuilding diet, and I wouldn’t have access to my usual gyms.” Because of these reasons (excuses), I never did much travel back in those days.

Then I was forced to take some trips for business reasons. Predictably enough, my nutrition and workouts suffered while I was spending time in airplanes and in hotels. With my experience having confirmed my beliefs, I re-affirmed to myself, “See, traveling is nothing but a pain. You just can’t stay on a diet and training program when you’re out of town.”

After several more trips, I noticed that something very negative happened: I surrendered. I had resigned myself to “not bother” while I was on the road. I let my expectations create my reality.

But I didn’t let it go on for long. As soon as I became aware of what was happening, I decided that I wouldn’t tolerate it, so I challenged myself and my previous limiting beliefs. I asked myself, “Why the heck not? Why let myself backslide? Why even settle for maintaining? Why not challenge myself to improve while I’m traveling?” The answer:

There was no reason, there were only excuses.

From that day forward, I set a challenge for myself: To come back from every trip or vacation in better shape than when I left. Of course there were exceptions, as when I went on a vacation for total R & R. But I never let travel get in my way again…

I prepared food that I would eat on the planes so airline food was never an excuse…
I only chose hotels that had kitchens, so I could cook my own food…
I went food shopping immediately after check-in…

And I actually found myself training harder than usual!

No matter where I was training – it could even be some “dungeon” of a gym in the middle of nowhere – it didn’t matter because my mind was focused on improving and looking better when I came home than when I left. I had a goal!

What do you think happened? It’s not hard to guess: I always came home in better shape than when I left.

In fact, this experience is what led me to my “holiday fitness challenge.”

Like many people, I travel over the holidays, so I’m automatically in “travel challenge” mode at thanksgiving, Christmastime and New Year’s. But with the additional temptations and busyness that the holidays bring on top of the usual travel stresses, I saw fit to declare a new challenge: “The Holiday Challenge.” The difference was that for my “holiday challenge,” I pledged to not only to return home in better shape than when I left, but to enjoy the holidays to the fullest at the same time.

People who think I “deprive” myself to look the way I do would be shocked: I eat some damn good food over the holidays including Pie at Thanksgiving and my mom’s famous red and green Jell-0 Christmas cake. Then on New Year’s I’m usually toasting champagne and having a blast with friends or family. The difference is, every other meal stays right on schedule and I work out hard and consistently over the holidays; I don’t let everything fall apart just because ‘tis the season.’ In fact, I work out HARDER over the holidays!

The idea that you can either enjoy the holidays or stay in shape – but not both – is damaging and limiting. It hurts your social life, your emotional life and your physical life. Life is not an either or proposition; it’s a matter of balance. Success does not mean going to extremes. Success can be a simple matter of re-examining your beliefs, rearranging your priorities, setting goals, changing the questions you ask yourself, re-evaluating your expectations and acting in accordance with all of the above.

Your expectations will become your reality.

What are you expecting this holiday season? Are you expecting to be in better shape after holiday parties, celebrations, banquets, dinners, and desserts? If not, then why not? What’s preventing you from enjoying all of the above and still getting in better shape? Do you have a limiting belief which dictates that it’s one or the other? Could it be that you never set a goal, intention or expectation to do it? Could it be that you’re rationalizing or making excuses? If so, then I challenge you to change it this year.

I CHALLENGE YOU TO BE IN BETTER SHAPE ON JANUARY 1st THAN YOU ARE TODAY! I CHALLENGE YOU TO BE FITTER, HEALTHIER, LEANER AND MORE MUSCULAR!

There’s less than a month until the end of the year. Why not see how much you can improve your physique over the holidays, without depriving yourself of any holiday enjoyments or festivities? Just step up your expectations. Step up your standards. Step up your nutrition. Step up your training. Step up your action. Step up to the “holiday fitness challenge” the minute you finish reading this, and then just see what happens!

Eat right, train hard, and expect success,

Tom Venuto CSCS, NSCA-CPT
Fat Loss Coach

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For us us to keep a healthy lifestyle, we need to have a proper diet plan. If those stressful wrinkles on your skin or face are not the things that you would like to see, then recognizing the types of food that are healthy to eat to avoid those lines is just the most essential thing that you should do.

Better Skin Care

1 – Green leafy veggies such as spinach plants comprise lutein that maintains the skin’s hydration and elasticity through the essential antioxidant mechanism that it gives thus it is a must-have in your everyday consumption. If practicable, this vegetable should be eaten daily with the measurement for a consumption of about 10mg or 4oz.

Skin Care Blog

2 – Beans are another because they are rich in antioxidants. From the many variants of beans, choose the one that has the highest number of antioxidants such as the red beans since it helps in replacing the skin’s degenerated collagen.

3 – Tomato plants are also good to consume not only because they too contain antioxidants, but also because they have lycopene that can really be good for you. This is a compound that lowers the risk of developing cancer and happens to be more potent than Vitamin E supplements which are used to help the skin stay healthy. If you are fond of consuming pasta, salad or a sandwich, then you are more likely to relish taking tomatoes as well since you can combine them together.

4 – aside from veggies, turkey helps prevent wrinkles because it is full of Vitamin B. Thanksgiving is not the only time wherein you would like to feed on this since it can really be good in a way that the action in the skin known as cross-linking is slowed down by the protein that it incorporates.

5 – Free radicals can harm the skin, consequently, eating goji berries is recommended since they are rich in Vitamin C that can help battle those radicals. Believe it or not, they comprise 500 times more Vitamin C per ounce than you get from an orange. What can make the skin look more supple and more youthful that is held in these berries is what we call as the linoleic acid as it fattens up the skin and antioxidants such as vitamin B1, B2, B6 and E are also included in them.

Wrinkle Fighting Foods

6 – What is rich in 6 fatty acids as well as Omega 3 is the thing called linseed. Combining this with other dishes like cookies and bread is indeed a good idea. If you want to hide away or prevent those lines from coming, you better consume this stuff more sometimes as this will make your skin cells plumper.

7 – Beetroot is another veggie that can help avoid lines as it is low in gram calories and high in fiber. Antioxidants are also held in this as well as the one that helps collagen production in the skin in the form of a pigment known as anthocyanins. Curried, boiled, roasted and pickled are just a few of the ways which you can cook this stuff.

8 – Chocolates are generally eaten by numerous of us only as a form of a dessert or simply as a delightful snack. But there are only a few who know that active oxygen in the body can induce aging and a compound called the polyphenol that is contained in these chocolates can help eliminate those. Not only that, it can also safe-guard against UV harm which is also one of the reasons for skin aging.

9 – Akin to linseed, salmon can also lower inflammation and may help lubricate the skin since it also comprises Omega 3 fatty acids.

There are other things we can eat apart from the nine cases mentioned to avoid creases from occurring. If you want to know how to efficient plan your diet program, you should consult with your physician as he can suggest the one that best suits you or make your own research to equip yourself with the necessary facts about it.

Apart from eating, you shouldn’t forget to exercise regularly and drink a great deal of water so your skin remains flexible and hydrated at all times. Avoid having habits such as drinking alcohol or smoking as these will hamper you from getting that crease free and young looking skin.

(Submitted by a guest author.)