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.)

One Way to Strengthen Your Immune System

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The role of our immune system is to protect our body. It is our body’s defense mechanism against illness, aging and the deterioration of our body. Our immune system is composed of a sophisticated network of interdependent cells that collectively protect the body from bacterial, parasitic, fungal and viral infections, and the growth of pre-cancerous tumor cells.

SYMPTOMS OF A WEAKENED IMMUNE SYSTEM

Healthy people can get colds and the flu, but when they do, they recover easily. However, people who have significantly more colds and infectious illnesses and recover more slowly, likely have problems with their immune system. Some of the common signs of a weakened or impaired immune system are:

*allergic reactions
*fatigue
*chronic diarrhea
*chronic fever
*chronic infections
*listlessness
*slow wound healing
*swollen lymph nodes
*weight loss

Our immune system becomes weaker and less effective as we age making us more susceptible to autoimmune illnesses. These are disorders of the immune system itself that occur when our immune cells begin to attack our body’s own tissues. This gradual breakdown occurs because our pineal glands are aging.

ONE WAY TO STRENGTHEN YOUR IMMUNE SYSTEM

Melatonin is nature’s age-reversing hormone. It keeps our immune system functioning at peak performance by resetting our pineal glands. As we age, our thymus gland gets smaller. T cells are critical for our survival, but as we age our thymus gland shrinks and our T cells gradually lose their effectiveness. Listed below are some of the ways that melatonin can help reverse the aging process and strengthen your immune system:

*increases the movement of thymus cells. This produces the T cell lymphocytes that help fight against cancer, certain types of bacteria, viruses and fungal infections.

*restore thyroid function.

*blocks damage to the immune system caused by stress.

*maintains our body’s balance by working as an antioxidant.

*protects the liver and gut from the damaging carcinogenic action of free radicals in our food.

*protects the body’s energy system. Our bodies require energy or fuel to function properly.

*regulates cholesterol levels and increases the rate at which cholesterol is broken down in the body and utilized.

*protects against high blood pressure.

*is an excellent, natural sleeping aid, far superior to synthetic sleeping pills. It produces a better quality of sleep and does not result in morning grogginess that sometimes accompanies sleeping pills.

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