Thank You For Visiting Our Blog, FEEL BETTER AND LIVE LONGER!

The purpose of our blog is to share what we have learned about nutrition, weight loss, fitness, and health, in order to help you find ways to feel better and live longer. It is amazing how much our diet and lifestyle affect our health and well-being.

Did you know that you can reduce your risk and even prevent many diseases and health conditions simply by making some changes to your diet? Check back often for valuable tips and information.

HOW TO LOSE WEIGHT & KEEP IT OFF:

For the first time in my life I have found weight loss success. During my adult life I have tried dozens and dozens of so-called "diets" and none of them worked over the long-haul. Oh, I was able to lose weight with some of them, but once I went off of the "diet" I quickly gained back all of my weight (plus some).

I have finally learned that losing weight has to be a lifestyle change, not a temporary fix. Crash diets and all the other crazy diets will not only cause you to fail, they are harmful to your health. To lose weight and keep it off you must NOT go on a "diet." What? Why? Because we all consider a "diet" a temporary thing. For example, how many times have you said, "Oh, I will go on this low-fat diet until I lose 20 pounds." Okay, what happens after you lose the 20 pounds? Or you simply give up? You go back to your old habits and gain that 20 pounds back.

The only way you will ever be successful at losing weight, with the added benefit of improving your health, is to make healthy changes that you can live with for the rest of your life. Period. Not for a week, a month or 3 months, but for life. For me, my initial goal was to lower my cholesterol level. I had to have a blood test for my insurance coverage and my cholesterol level had to be lower than the previous year's levels or I would have to pay a much higher premium. Well, that was a pretty good incentive for me make some positive changes.

I sat down and figured out what I needed to do. I knew I had to change the way I ate and I knew I had to exercise in some form or other every day. So, I made a list and I stuck to it. It was difficult at first. To make matters worse, I am a compulsive eater. However, as the days went by, it became much easier because my body stopped craving sweets and processed foods. For the first time in my life, I was never tempted to binge because I never felt deprived.

Use the list below and make whatever changes you need to make in order for it to work for you. FYI, my cholesterol level dropped 65 points after 7 weeks, and my triglycerides dropped 70 points! Another benefit that I hadn't planned on was that after being an insomniac since my teen-age years, I now sleep like a baby every night!

MY LIST FOR WEIGHT LOSS SUCESS:

1. Avoid "white" Foods & Processed Foods. These foods have no nutritional value and are "empty" calories. Sweets, anything made with white flour,and anything that comes in a package with a long list of ingredients. Always read the food labels. Stay away from those long lists of ingredients. The longer the list, the more chemicals and additives are present. These are extremely toxic to your body.

2. Drink Lots of Water. Water keeps your body's organs hydrated and flushes out unhealthy toxins. It helps to fill you up and reduces your urge to over-eat.

3. Eat a Healthy Breakfast. Instead of coffee and donuts, try fruit, yogurt, grains like oatmeal or whole grain toast, and lean protein. NEVER skip breakfast. By eating a large, healthy meal when you get up in the morning, your metabolism will "rev up" and you will not be hungry by mid-morning. If you skip breakfast, your body will go into starvation mode and store calories in your body as FAT, yes FAT! So do yourself a big favor and eat breakfast.

4. Reduce Your Stress Level. So many of us live with too much stress. Stress lowers your immune system, making it easier to get sick. It also makes us lethargic, tired, and depressed. There are a lot of simple things you can do and a lot of ways to feel better about yourself and your life. Take a long, hot bath, read a book, listen to music, get a massage. Do something nice for yourself. Giving yourself something to look forward to is a tremendous mental incentive.

5. Move! Oh my gosh! There are so many ways to incorporate movement into your day, even at work. Take the stairs instead of the elevator. Get up every hour and walk around your floor, your hallway or your desk. Park your car in the farthest space from where you need to be. Walk or bike to work. Skate, dance, golf, jump rope, clean house, play tag. The best exercise you can do is to walk. Try to take a walk every day! The more you move, the more your metabolism will be your friend. (I walk 3 miles every day whether it is raining, snowing or freezing.)

A Very Important Gift For Your Children - DHA

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First of all, I wanted to introduce myself to you all. I am a new contributor to this fabulous blog. You can read more about me if you click on my profile. Here is just a quick overview: I am a stay at home mom, fitness instructor, nutrition consultant, and wife. I have a 2 year old son, and I am due in December with my 2nd bundle of joy! I have a deep passion for nutrition, health, fitness and all things organic and natural. I can't wait to share with you some of my thoughts on how you can live a more healthy and natural life!


I know that all you moms and moms-to-be can relate with the thought that is constantly going through my mind, "Am I doing the right things for the baby growing inside of me?" We all want the best for our little ones, and we all have high hopes and dreams for their future. I wanted to share with you something I have been reading about for the last couple months and even before. It is the importance of DHA in our children's lives.

First, what is DHA? Docosahexaenoic acid or DHA is an omega-3 fatty acid that occurs naturally in fish oils. DHA is one of the omega-3 fatty acids that have been proven to increase brain development in infants and children. It's shown to extend the power of babies and toddlers to develop eye coordination and also hand to eye coordination in school age children.

DHA consumption is especially important during pregnancy, especially during the third trimester when DHA accumulates in the fetal brain at a very high rate. It is during that third trimester that the baby forms the majority of brain cells that they will have for an entire lifetime!!! In order to support brain development in your baby, the recommended level of intake of DHA during pregnancy is 300 mg per day. Yet in the United States and Canada, DHA intake during pregnancy is only 10-15 mg/day. Shocking, I know!!

Unfortunately, many food sources of omega-3 fatty acids in the American diet, even many omega-3 fortified foods and supplements, are primarily composed of the omega-3 fatty acid linolenic acid, and the conversion of linolenic acid to DHA is extremely limited. So, what do you do?

Well, I will tell you what I did to take action. First of all, I wanted to take a holistic approach, so we got rid of as many sources of toxins in our lives we could, starting with our cleaners and switched to the Get Clean Line. Then, I changed our diet to organic and started supplementing with Shaklee multivitamins and other supplements, especially OmegaGuard, which has tons of triple purified DHA and other good fatty acids for the baby growing inside me. My two year old son takes Mighty Smart, Shaklee's kid's DHA supplement. We also try to eat Alaskan Salmon at least once/week and sneak ground up flaxseed in lots of dishes. I feel so much better knowing I am doing what I can to help my children live up to their potential and have healthy strong bodies.

Ooooh, and I wanted to share this cool study with you!

A study published in the June 2009 issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition showed that when expectant mothers supplemented with DHA during pregnancy their infants had better problem solving skills at 9 months.

This was the very first study to look at the effect of DHA supplementation during pregnancy on problem solving skills at such a young age. Basically, the results of the study just mean that when the moms supplemented with DHA their kids were smarter - and were smarter at a very early age.

Pretty amazing, right? If there was only one gift you could give your child(ren), DHA appears to be it.

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