Celebrate National Heart Month on Omega-Fat Tuesday
by Deborah Yaffee, CH, CNIn the Christian world, Carnival is the time traditionally between 12th night (after Christmas) and Lent, the 40 days of fasting and purification in preparation for Easter. Eat, drink and be merry is the theme of the Carnival season as soulful Christians prepare to embrace leaner times ahead. The word Carnival is from the Latin carne (meat) and vale (farewell) and traditional specialties involve meals that bid a lavish farewell to meat for the season.
The culmination of Carnival is the festive Mardi Gras. The phrase is French for Fat Tuesday. Rich, dripping meals made of fat, cream, butter and meat are the centerpiece of the Fat Tuesday table. I’ve seen a lot of pancakes swimming in butter and donuts topped with chocolate syrup and whipped cream go down on this day.
Fables with Labels: Zero Trans Fats… Not!
By Deborah Yaffee, CH, CN
It’s rare that I actually feel so very strongly about an ingredient that I will outright insist on telling folks to remove it entirely and as soon as possible from anything that is going in their mouths, their family’s mouths, their friends’ mouths, their neighbors’ mouths. Trans fat is on my small “nutritional hit list”. If the label says “hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated fat or oil”, do not eat it!
The Power of a Positive Attitude
I am going to ask you to something very weird right now. First of all, I want you to listen to your thoughts. Now tell me, what thoughts fill your head? Would you label them as positive, or negative? 
Now let’s say you are walking down the street with these thoughts. Do you think anyone who would meet you would be able to tell you what’s on your mind?
The answer to number one is up to you. But, the answer number two can be pretty generic. Although people will not be able to tell you exactly what you think, they will more or less have an idea of how you are feeling.
Here’s another question. When you enter a party filled with friends, do they all fall silent as if something terrible had happened? Or does everybody there perk up as if waiting for something exciting to happen?
Genuine Happiness Comes from Within
Life isn’t the sweetest candy. Sometimes, when I feel like the world is just too heavy, I look around and find people who continued to live fascinating and wonderful lives. And then thoughts come popping into my mind like bubbles from nowhere – “How did their life become so adorably sweet? How come they still can manage to laugh and play around despite a busy stressful life?” Then I pause and observed for awhile… I figured out that maybe, they start to work on a place called ‘self’.
Happy Couple
So, how does one become genuinely happy? Step 1 is to love yourself.
My theology professor once said that “loving means accepting.” To love oneself means to accept that you are not a perfect being, but behind the imperfections must lie a great ounce of courage to be able to discover ways on how to improve your repertoire to recover from our mistakes.
Genuine happiness also pertains to contentment. When you are contented with the job you have, the way you look, with your family, your friends, the place you live in, your car, and all the things you now have – truly, you know the answer to the question “how to be genuinely happy.”
Be as Happy as You Want to Be
Almost everyone have heard the hit single ‘Don’t Worry, Be Happy’ by Bobby McFerrin. The song has a very catchy way of conveying its message of being happy to everyone. Bobby McFerrin’s simple message surely made a lot of people by telling them not to worry.
Living a happy, resilient and optimistic life is wonderful, and is also good for your health. Being happy actually protects you from the stresses of life. Stress is linked to top causes of death such as heart disease, cancer and stroke.
One of the better things ever said is – ‘The only thing in life that will always remain the same is change’, and in our life we have the power to make the necessary changes if we want to. Even if we find ourselves in an unbearable situation we can always find solace in the knowledge that it too would change.
The Better & Heathy You
Chapter 1: Introduction about Healthy Lifestyle
A healthier, happier and more successful you
The Better and Healthy You
You can become a healthier, happier and more successful person by making a few simple changes to your lifestyle. You will have to make changes to the overall you, not just change the amount of exercise you do or your diet. The secret to achieving happiness and a healthier you is to balance your body and mind in harmony, it is only when we are balanced in physical health, mental and spiritual that we are truly healthy.
If we are healthy then we are happier and can reach success more easily in life, here are some ways you can bring back harmony and balance to your life
Exercise is an essential part, it helps to tone our body, keep our heart and lungs healthy and detoxifies. Exercise can be anything from more vigorous routines such as aerobics to simply walking, pick your favorite activity and set aside a specific time of day and commit yourself to devoting a half-hour per day towards getting your body back into shape.
Eating right is the next essential step to maintaining a well-balanced life; our bodies need the right amount of vitamins, nutrients and minerals to work at its best. Making changes to our diet is easy, keep away from fast foods which contain a lot of saturated fats and sugar and start including more whole grains, chicken, fish, plenty of green vegetables and try to eat fresh fruit instead of juice when available.
Along with making changes to your diet you should include supplements such as vitamins, nutrients and minerals. Modern farming methods strip many of our foods of the minerals our bodies require and now just provide us with the basic nutrients. Due to this we might be lacking in certain minerals and vitamins, by supplementing your diet with vitamin and mineral supplements we can ensure we still get all the vital minerals, nutrients and vitamins we need in our daily diet.
Reducing the amount of stress we have in our life plays an important part in how we are able to cope with it. Stress can do much damage to our body and mind and has been linked with “burnout”, fatigue, sleep problems, depression and it lowers our immune system. Learning techniques on how to cope with stress and worry are essential to keeping yourself balanced and full of energy. There are a wide variety of techniques from simple breathing exercises which can be done anywhere, at anytime, to yoga which is a full system for relaxation and de-stressing to meditation. There are many books, DVDS and CDS available on the subject or there are courses you can attend.
Lastly but by no means the least important is keeping life fun, doing something which you enjoy doing and makes you feel relaxed and happy each day. No you are not being selfish by taking time out each day just for yourself, this time is essential. It is just as important as exercising, eating right and reducing stress, your time could be spent doing a hobby or pastime that you enjoy, sitting quietly and reading, taking a hot bubble bath while listening to your favorite music or spending quality time with your family or friends. It can be anything as long as it’s something you like to do and enjoying doing.
12 Tips for better health
Growing an Herb Garden
The thought of walking through a garden on a warm summer day brings back childhood memories once forgotten. To think of walking in an herb garden, with the delicate scents wafting up with each step is something out of a fairy tale. You can create your own fairy tale setting right in the back yard.
There are so many things to consider when you decide to plant an herb garden. The first is location. You need to remember that most of the plants in this garden are going to be used in the kitchen. The best place to put them would be by the kitchen.
It is always best to choose a section in the yard close to the door. You may want to have the fresh herbs available for cooking but easy access is always a key role in how many of them actually make it to the stewing pot. When the herbs are right within walking distance of the kitchen you are more likely to run out and pick a few leaves to use. If you have to go all the way to the back of the yard, you may not feel so inclined to add that particular flavoring to your dish.
10 Ways to Help Your Teen Lose Weight
Today, teenage obesity is a growing problem, and there is plenty you can do as a parent in order to help your teen with any weight problems they may have.Although there is no magic formula to helping your teen lose weight, the real key to succeeding is by helping them to lead a healthier kind of life that they can then carry on into adulthood.
1. Talk to your Teen
If your teen is overweight, then they are probably concerned about it too. Aside from there being long term health issues involved, such as high blood pressure or they may suffer from diabetes, there are also the social and emotional issues involved as well.
Offer your teen the support and gentle understanding that they are looking for, and help them to take control of the problem.
2. Unrealistic Images
For many teenage girls, their weight and how they look can be a very delicate matter, and you should remind them there is no perfect body out there. Remind them that, what might the right weight for one person, is not the right weight for somebody else.
Instead of talking to them about fat or thin, encourage your teenage to focus on behaviors which will promote a much healthier weight. If you want to, talk to your family doctor, and he will help to set realistic goals for your teenager with regard to body mass index, and the weight they should be based on their age, height and general health.
10 Things You Should Know About Stretching
by Crizza
Before fitness training, you must give importance to doing warm-up or stretching exercises to prevent accidents or to enhance the output during the training. There are also a number of precautionary measures and tips to serve as guidelines when doing fitness exercises.
Here are some of them.
How To Free Yourself From Bad Habits
By Crizza Reyes
Is it possible to free yourself from bad habits? Can people really change in any meaningful and lost-lasting way? Can I change myself? The answer to each of these questions is “yes.” But you can’t change in 24 hours, as some programs and self-help books promise.
My research, as well as my experience and common sense, tell me that anyone can change, but at the same time, I know that people need a compelling reason to change.
What does it mean to change? To change means to establish new priorities—to choose a behavior that’s different from the one we’re using now. David Lucero is stuck on the street, waiting for a solution that doesn’t exist. When a real solution is right in front of his nose, he can’t see it.