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.)

Therapy Lights

5:38 AM  ,  No comments

Bring the sunshine indoors. That is how some people describe the benefits of therapy lights.  Scientists believe that simulated bright light has an effect on chemicals in your brain and can be used to help some conditions.  There are many different types of therapy lights. Below is a description of some of them and the disorders they can be used with:


SAD Lights

Otherwise known as Seasonal Affective Disorder or 'Winter Blues'. You don't have to be a genius to know that we all feel better during the long sunny days of summer. We seem to have more energy too. You lose some of that enthusiasm in the winter when there are not so many daylight hours. Some people get 'winter blues' that makes them feel lethargic, with a tendency to overeat. For others this becomes severe enough to disrupt their lives.  It can also affect the way we behave. The symptoms usually start at the beginning of the winter season and begin to get better when spring arrives in March and April. 
Jetlag and Sleep Disorders

Where the circadian rhythms or body clock of the brain have been affected by periods of sleep deprivation or extended night or daytime hours. Flying over time zones can have this effect. The light box can simulate the difference between waking hours and sleep or night time and helps to re-adjust the body and brain into rhythm quickly.

Alzheimer's and Dementia

A regular topic in many research papers on Alzheimer's Disease is the damage that happens to the part of the brain that controls the circadian rhythms.  The combination of damaged nerve pathways and poor eyesight as you get older can mean that indoor levels of light are not enough to identify the difference between daytime and night time.  Experiments using therapy lights and light boxes have found that they can help maintain Alzheimer sufferers' rest and activity cycles for longer.

Colored-light therapy or Intense Pulsed Light

These types of therapy lights use filtered floodlights to bathe the skin in light of different colors.  Different color filters have proven better for different disorders:

Blue:  is used to destroy the bacteria that cause acne.

Green:  is used to treat pigment irregularities e.g. liver spots, age spots

Yellow:  for vascular conditions such as thread veins and rosacea.

Combination green and yellow:  smoothes away fine lines and wrinkles.

Red: has been found to be effective in the relief of headaches and, when concentrated in one area, for the relief of arthritic pain.

Low-level laser light (Ruby and KTP) therapy

Developed to help reduce patches of discoloured skin, such as birthmarks or moles. Laser light is absorbed by the pigment (melanin) in the skin causing it to break up in darker areas and help to make it look more normal.

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