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The world is fascinated with weight loss, some for health reasons and others for cosmetic. No matter the reason, many people try harsh diets that never work, extreme exercise regimens that result in injuries or other weight loss program that end without success. The reason that none of these weight loss methods seem to work is because in order to stay with a program, you have to enjoy it. Not only that, but it has to be safe as well.

Below are 5 genuine tips to weight loss, which almost anyone can do without tossing out their favorite food or spending every spare minute in the gym. Realistically, any weight loss program will take time. If anyone promises you different, they are either not being completely honest or are simply uninformed.

FITNESS SUCCESS

Getting fit is on the minds of most people. However, many people are not consistent and fail in the first three months of an exercise program. But if it becomes a habit and they stick to it, something magical happens after four months. You are finally getting the results you expect and chances are you will continue with the exercise program.

Here a 10 simple tips to help you with your fitness success.

1. Get Moving. Resolve to be active in a variety of physical activities on a regular basis that will develop strength, cardiovascular capacity and flexibility.

2. Prime the Pump. Resolve to participate in physical activities that involve the large muscle groups of the body.

3. Let Your Muscles do the Work. Resolve to lift weight or use resistant exercises to place demands and challenge your muscles.

4. Loosen Up. Resolve to stretch regularly – before and after or during exercise. Remember to move your muscles through their full range of motion on a regular basis.

5. Win the Losing Game. Resolve to maintain your weight at an appropriate level. If you need to lose weight, a general rule to follow is to eat less and exercise more (both in moderation).

6. Watch What You Eat. Resolve to eat a healthy diet. Good nutrition equates to good health. Good nutrition involves providing your body with the required nutrients in appropriate amounts.

7. Chill Out. Resolve to keep matters of your life in proper perspective. Know what factors you can and cannot control in your life. Don’t “stress out” over those things beyond your control. See change as an opportunity, not a threat.

8. Get Plenty of Rest. Resolve to get enough sleep. The basic guideline concerning how much sleep you need is whatever enables you to feel refreshed, alert and in relative good spirits the next day. Sleep helps to rest and restore your body – both physically and mentally.

9. Keep Your Focus on the Task at Hand. Resolve to make time to exercise on a regular basis. Consistency gets results. Focus on the muscle you are exercising. Don’t just go through the motions.

10. Keep in Mind that “There is no Free Lunch.” Resolve to commit to sound lifestyle choices. For example, don’t smoke. Maintain an appropriate level of body fat. Avoid the latest fitness and diet fads, magic potions and exercise gadgets that seem too good to be true (they always are).

Clean eating is consuming food in its most natural state, or as close to it as possible. It is a lifestyle approach to food and its preparation, leading to an improved life.

Eat six times a day
Three meals and two to three small snacks. Include a lean protein, plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables, and a complex carbohydrate with each meal. This keeps your body energized and burning calories efficiently all day long.

Drink water daily
Drink at least 2 litres of water everyday. Limit your alcohol intake to one glass of antioxidant-rich red wine a day.

Check labels
Clean foods contain just one or two ingredients. Any product with a long ingredient list is considered clean.

Avoid processed and refined foods
This includes white flour, sugar, bread and pasta. Enjoy complex carbs such as whole grains instead.

Stay away from saturated fats
Steer clear of anything high in saturated and trans fats, anything fried or anything high in sugar.

Consume healthy fats
Try to have essential fatty acids, or EFAs, every day.

Portion sizes
Work towards eating within them.

Fresh Food
Eat produce that is seasonal and local.

Slow down 
Never rush through a meal. Food tastes best when eaten slowly.

Take it to go
Pack for work or outings so you always have clean eats on the go.

Pass on the good news of clean eating
Improve the quality of your family’s life along with your own.

No dietary supplement can provide that, but with the assiduous use of vitamins and minerals, we can often achieve optimum health for our age group and certainly ease the symptoms of diseases we may suffer from.

Dietary supplements can be divided into two main types; nutritional, (vitamins and minerals and amino acids) and botanical (herbal types).

But is it really necessary for someone who is young and healthy to take dietary supplements? You may consider that your diet is healthy enough, but vegetables and dairy food can only be as good as the soil in which they are grown and many farmers will agree that their soil is worn out. Why else do they have to add chemical fertilizers at ever increasing rates? If the soil were farmed organically, instead of with an eye to profit all the time, it would be in much better health and so would we.

Another point to consider is the freshness (or otherwise) of the products we buy. Most vegetables are at least a week old by the time they get to our homes. Although many are kept in cool storage, this length of time causes the nutritional value to greatly decrease. Fruit is often picked before ripe and put into cold storage for weeks or months, then when it is needed, hit with a gas to make it ripen quickly. This gas is supposed to be safe in small amounts, but it is carcinogenic….

Some dietary supplement exponents declare lack of magnesium to be a major cause of high blood pressure. People who have found the usual blood pressure medications to cause more discomfort than they cure tried out magnesium supplements and in some cases were able to stop using their prescription medication entirely within two months. Of course, you should never do this without consulting your health care professional.

There are some people who claim that dietary supplements do nothing but give us expensive urine. That may be true if you have a super healthy diet and are therefore less likely to be lacking in vitamins, but health-care professionals are increasingly advising extra supplements for those under stress such as illness, pregnancy, or periods of sudden growth spurts.

If your tongue is inflamed and you suffer from loss of appetite, shortness of breath, are irritable, forgetful and mentally sluggish, you may have a folic acid deficiency. Folic acid is one of the B group of vitamins and most animal and plant foods are poor sources of it. The exception is liver which most people don’t eat a lot of these days. Some habits and diseases like celiac disease, alcoholism and irritable bowel syndrome, also play a major part in causing a deficiency of this vitamin, so if you suffer from any of these problems, ask your doctor if you need a supplement.

High levels of stress hormone cortisol led to much greater likelihood of clinical depression diagnosis.

If your teenage son is showing mild signs of depression, an experimental saliva test could determine if he’s at a risk for severe depression later in life.

In a study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academies of Science, researchers examined the saliva of 1,800 teens between ages 12 and 19, and tracked the teens’ depression symptoms and mental illness diagnoses for up to three years later.

The test’s results were most pronounced for boys. Boys with mild symptoms of depression and high levels of cortisol–a stress hormone–were 14 times more likely to have a clinical depression diagnosis later on, compared with teens with lower levels of the hormone. For girls, high levels of cortisol put them at a four times greater risk for major depression later on.

(The Australian Feb 19th 2014)

Health First Wellness can help in reducing high levels of cortisol and help prevent Severe Depression.

CALL US TO BOOK AN APPOINTMENT FOR SALIVA TEST!!! (03 9439 0828)

Water.  Most of us take it for granted.  But have you every taken a moment to stop and think just how important water is to you?  For the human body, water is truly a vital resource.  You can go weeks without food but only 5-7 days without water.  When the water in your body is reduced by just 1 percent, you become thirsty.  At 5 percent, muscle strength and endurance declines significantly and you become hot and tired.  When the loss reaches 10 percent, delirium and blurred vision occur.  A 20 percent reduction results in death.  There is no more important nutrient for our bodies than water.  No other substance is as widely involved in the processes and make up of the body.  A man’s body is about 60 percent water, and a woman’s is approximately 50 percent.  Did you know that the human brain is about 75 percent water? Every day, we lose 2-3 quarts of water through urination, sweating and breathing.  Since many of the processes within the body rely greatly on water, it is important we replace our fluids regularly to compensate for this loss.

So make sure you drink at least 6-8 glasses of water per day!

Body detox is among the best ways of keeping ourselves clean and healthy, besides other methods such as special diets, vitamin supplements, natural therapies, and so on. An important step in a full body detox is to restore or also to replenish energy levels to make you more alert in different areas of your life, such as at work.

A body cleanse or body detox is also a great way to give your body a boost after a night of over-indulgence, eating all the wrong foods and consuming more alcohol than is healthy. That is why body detox is needed because some mortals are having this kind of lifestyle.