Recover Your Healthy Self
Jay Morganson (aSuperHealth.com)

Effective Stress Management:
A Must For Those With Busy Lives

What would you do with increased stamina, decreased anxiety, and solid peace of mind? You would probably get more done in less time–at the very least, each day would be more enjoyable. In the long term, you would certainly experience better physical health and a longer life span.

The only thing standing between you and a higher level of general well-being is the unpreventable occurrence of stress. Daily stress can rob us of our potential, weakening every aspect of our lives. Consider the following:

Stress breaks down the efficiency of the immune system leaving our bodies vulnerable to illness and disease.

Stress causes heart problems and high blood pressure.

Stress contributes to addictive behavior, causing alcoholism, eating disorders, nicotine addiction, and workaholic tendencies.

Stress causes social withdrawal, perpetuating symptoms and leading to destructive isolation.

To avoid stress and related symptoms you must be proactive, nurturing your body and mind through a balanced diet, exercise, and reserved time for relaxation.

A Balanced Diet – We know that a balanced diet can improve your health, but can it really do anything for your stress level? Experts say it can. Research has found that good nutrition has a tremendous impact on our ability to ward off the damage stress can do to our systems. Sure, you’ll still feel tense, but with your body nutritionally armed for battle, you’ll handle things better. There are many things you can do to maximize your body’s fighting power.

One of the most significant things you can do is to reduce the amounts sugar and white flour in your diet. Sugar and white flour cause a host of problems you could do without. By reducing these items in your diet, you will be able to maintain better weight control, reduce the risk of heart disease, and increase your energy level. Why? Because items made with these products metabolize too fast in your blood system. The result is unhealthy spikes in your blood sugar, rapid depletion of energy, and damaging stress symptoms.

Exercise – In addition to eating right, exercise can be a tremendous help in fighting stress. As you get moving, your circulation delivers oxygen and nutritional elements throughout your body. The result is muscle relaxation, the release of mood elevating chemicals, and a strengthened immune system. Studies show that those who exercise regularly are less likely to suffer from stress related illness.

Relaxation. When your body relaxes, it reverses stress symptoms. You experience a sense of control as you eliminate the feelings of helplessness that often accompany stress. Find that one thing that really helps you to kick back and forget about things for a while. Here are some suggestions:

– Catering to our senses, such as sight, smell, and sound can reduce anxiety. So put on some favorite music, keep fresh cut flowers in view, and sink into a warm bubble bath.

– Reduce the clutter in your life. Passing a stack of papers as you leave for work, tripping over boxes, or stuffing a breakfast plate into a sink of dirty dishes, creates underlying tension that acts as a fuse when something gets you fired up.

– Deal head-on with anything that has been bothering you. Ignoring problems won’t make them go away–resolving them will.

– Get a good night’s sleep. Your body needs this time to heal and “reboot” in preparation for the next day’s challenges. Deny this basic need and you drain all of your systems of their strength.

Good nutrition, exercise, and learning to enjoy life will help you ward off dangerous stress symptoms. It’s important that you take steps now to ensure a healthy future. That is why I dedicate several sections of my ebook series, Recover Your Healthy Self, to teaching you how to reduce the levels of stress in your life, instantly improving your quality of life. You’ll learn: How to cope rather than stress, 13 affirmations to move beyond stress and its impacts, how to become a relaxation guru, and much more.
About the Author

Jay Morganson from aSuperHealth.com

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How Healthy Is Your Lifestyle
Loring A. Windblad

Copyright 2004 by http://www.organicgreens.us and Loring Windblad. This article may be freely copied and used on other web sites only if it is copied complete with all links and text intact and unchanged except for minor improvements such as misspellings and typos.

Compelling evidence shows that certain lifestyle behaviours can improve health, prevent premature death and may even prolong life. The problem is that people often drift along, continuing their unhealthy ways – maybe vowing to stop smoking or drink less “some day soon” – until a disease or health problem strikes and it may be too late to reverse the damage. Assessing your lifestyle and how it affects health before illness occurs is a wise precaution. (However, changing one’s lifestyle even after illness can sometimes improve health – for instance giving up cigarettes and exercising more after a heart attack.)
Why assess lifestyle risks?
Accumulating scientific evidence shows that a few simple lifestyle habits can directly improve health and decrease disease risks. Much disability and premature death from today’s foremost killers – heart disease, stroke, cancer, diabetes, liver cirrhosis, suicide and unintentional injuries – stem from everyday habits. Over half the premature deaths in North America are blamed on unhealthy behaviours such as cigarette smoking, insufficient exercise, excessive alcohol intake and a fat-laden diet. Only six per cent of premature deaths are considered avoidable through better medical care.
A California study has demonstrated that disease risks can be reduced by not smoking cigarettes, moderating alcohol use, eating breakfast, having regular physical activity, maintaining desirable weight, getting enough (7-8 hours) nightly sleep and having close social networks. The effect is cumulative: the greater the number of good lifestyle habits, the greater the chance of better health and a longer life. A recent Canadian study confirmed a lower chance of premature death by avoiding cigarette smoking, high blood pressure (related to obesity and insufficient exercise), adult-onset diabetes (due to obesity, poor diet, lack of exercise) and excess alcohol consumption. (However, some everyday influences are an unavoidable part of the environment, over which individuals have little control – such as air pollution or traffic noise.)
To evaluate your lifestyle, ask yourself a few key questions about everyday activities such as the amount of fat you eat, smoking and drinking habits – see checklist below – and evaluate which might be improving your health or perhaps damaging it. Consider seeking advice from a health professional about habits you wish to change.
Quick, easy computer programs help rate your lifestyle
To help people assess the health impact of various lifestyle activities, a new Computerized Lifestyle Assessment (CLA) program, developed by the Addiction Research Foundation and the University of Toronto, provides a practical, quick, confidential and easy method of evaluating lifestyle strengths and weaknesses. The computer program, which takes 20 minutes to run, asks detailed questions about 16 lifestyle activities, with graphic feedback along the way and a printed report at the end. Identification and feedback about risk activities that undermine health often lead people to improve their lifestyle and seek advice from a health professional. For details about the CLA program, call (416) 978-8989 or contact the publisher, Multi-Health Systems, at 1-800-268-6011.
The computer program asks questions about.
* substance abuse;
* health maintenance;
* preventive activities;
* social and intimate relationships;
* mental and emotional wellbeing.
The program feeds back information about:
* lifestyle strengths or activities to keep up
* areas of concern or factors that can threaten health
* risk areas requiring action to prevent disease
The final printout pinpoints health-harming behaviours, some of which may come as a surprise, others that may be known to the person who might be “thinking about” changing them. For example, a woman who thinks she leads a healthy life – doesn’t smoke, drink or take other drugs, eats a low-fat vegetarian diet and exercises three times a week – may have emotional problems stemming from poor social relationships and a perfectionist attitude. Or, a man who doesn’t smoke, drinks little alcohol and has good work and personal relationships may endanger his health by being overweight with the beginnings of diabetes, hypertension and a potential heart problem.
Curiously, computers sometimes elicit more personal information about sensitive lifestyle areas than a doctors interview. For instance, many people find it easier to report excess alcohol consumption to a computer than to a physician. Women, especially, seem more likely to confide alcohol, sexual and other problems to a computer than to a doctor. Computerized psychiatric histories sometimes spot problems missed by clinicians – such as suicidal thoughts, anxiety, depression or phobias.
Adolescent and student lifestyles especially poor. One recent study found that seven out of 10 people questioned were particularly worried about nutrition and half were also concerned about physical inactivity. A study of Queen’s University students found that over 80 per cent fail to get regular medical/dental care, and over half consume excess alcohol and have poor management of work-leisure time.
Study results show student health problems with:
* Alcohol:
* Cannabis:
* Cigarettes:
* Stress:
* Inactivity:
* Weight:
* Sex:
* Condom use:
Adolescent eating habits can endanger health. Many adolescents receive inadequate nutrition due to poor diets, irregular eating habits and eating disorders that stem from the wish to conform to society’s idealization of thinness. “Weight control” techniques such as self-induced vomiting and diarrhea are widespread. A recent U.S. National Adolescent Health Survey found 61 per cent of adolescent females and 28 per cent of adolescent males were dieting, 51 per cent often fasted, 16 per cent used diet pills and 12 per cent practiced vomiting.
Teens had poor dietary practices because of:
* Excessive preoccupation with physical appearance;
* Western society’s obsession with thinness;
* Eating disorders such as Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia.
Lifestyle habits can improve health:
* not smoking tobacco;
* maintaining desirable weight (avoiding obesity);
* good nutrition (following Canada’s Food Guide);
* exercising regularly and sufficiently (at least 30 minutes three times a week);
* getting enough sound nightly sleep (7-8 hours);
* avoiding accidental injuries by taking safety measures (such as seatbelts and helmets);
* practicing motor vehicle safety;
* moderating alcohol use;
* avoiding other recreational drugs;
* getting regular dental care and medical check-ups as advised;
* fostering family, work and social networks;
* having safe and satisfying sexual relationships;
* avoiding or learning how to cope with excess stress;
* enjoining sufficient leisure-time activities and relaxation;
* getting any needed therapy for mental problems.
Lifestyle changes occur in five stages
Stage 1: Pre-contemplation – the health risk of a particular life-style activity is (largely) unrecognized, denied or trivialized.
Stage 2: Contemplation – admitting to a health risk and thinking about making a change “some day.
Stage 3: Preparation – motivated and ready for change “soon”, planning how and what to do, often setting an actual date.
Stage 4: Action – active steps to change behaviour – e.g., giving up cigarettes, walking to work instead of driving, drinking less – setting a specific schedule and definite goals.
Stage 5: Maintenance – long-term change achieved and kept up.
Just asking can make a difference. Surveys show that many people expect physicians or nurses to ask about and give advice or information regarding health. Given the chance, many people would like to discuss lifestyle concerns such as nutrition, obesity, alcohol,other drug use, family conflicts, elderly relatives, sexual problems and chronic pain – but often hesitate to do so unless asked.

About the Author

Loring Windblad has studied nutrition and exercise for more than 40 years, is a published author and freelance writer. Junes and Lorings latest business endeavors are at
http://www.organicgreens.us
http://junedawn.younglivingworld.com

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Looking for tips for weight loss for teens? Todays world puts a lot of extra pressure on teens to look thin. Popular TV shows aimed at teens all feature thin, pretty young characters, overbearing parents can put undue stress on their kids to lose weight, and even worse still, is teenagers peers can be incredibly judgmental of a their weight.

Being the fat kid throughout high school can be a recipe for life-long self-esteem problems. Theres no easy solution to this problem. Weight loss is tough, and all the added anxiety that comes with being a teen only makes matters worse. Taking advantage of some of these pointers can help make the teenage experience less scary for overweight teens.

One of the most important tips, especially for young girls, is to make sure that you understand what a healthy person looks like. A lot of girls and young women on TV are, or at least appear, dangerously thin. The media may portray this as the ideal, but the truth is, its not a healthy lifestyle. Many young girls develop eating disorders trying to match the looks of women they see on TV, and this is a recipe for disaster.

Young men can fall victim to eating disorders, too its not a problem exclusive to girls. Its not uncommon for many teens to look in the mirror and see only ugliness and fat, when in reality they are a perfectly healthy young person. If you constantly feel severely depressed about your weight or your look, you should seek help from a psychologist. They can help you improve your own self-image and pursue weight loss goals in a healthy manner.

Another in the list of tips for weight loss for teens is to keep in mind what your body is growing through. During your teen years, your body can undergo a number of changes that affect how you grow. For instance, you might hit a late growth spurt and gain a few inches in height, making your weight even out across your frame. Puberty is a complicated time if you know that youre following a proper diet and exercise plan but arent seeing results, you might just have to wait until youve fully grown into your body.

Regardless of other factors, diet and exercise are always going to be an important factor in weight loss. Keep this in mind as you go throughout your school day, and think of ways to improve your health. If your school cafeteria only serves greasy, unhealthy foods, talk to your parents about bringing a healthier lunch every day. Make sure to participate in gym class, and if you can, get involved in extra-curricular sports, too.

Another factor that can be a great help in losing weight is enlisting the aid of your family. In almost every case, your family wants to be healthy too, and they will help you out as best they can. If one of your parents is the primary family cook, talk to them about healthier options for food. Furthermore you can offer to help your parents with renovations or yard work for a little extra exercise.

These tips for weight loss for teens can make a huge difference for you.

Tags: Diet And Exercise Plan, Easy Solution, Eating Disorders, Eating Habits, Extra Pressure, food;, Healthy Diet, Healthy Lifestyle, Healthy Person, Late Growth Spurt, Losing Weight, Overbearing Parents, Overweight Teens, Popular Tv, Proper Diet, Psychologist, Puberty, Self Esteem Problems, Self Image, Teen Years, Ugliness, Undue Stress, Weight Loss Goals, Young Girls, Young Person —

Dealing with fast weight loss programs and surgeries for teenagers

Adolescence is a time of great pressure for a person. This is the period in ones life when a person must be able to adjust to a lot of different things in the environment and be able to cope with the new things that are coming into their lives.

In addition to the usual changes in the bodys chemical and hormonal compositions, a teenager also need to cope with the pressures in the family, in the school and in their social group. Most kids find the last one the hardest to deal with.

Social groups, kids with almost the same age range, can be really cruel if they want to. Stories of bullying and ostracism are not untrue. These things really happen in every middle school and high school in the country. There are people who are popular and there are those who are popularly bullied and made fun of.

In most social groups, the need to be part of the select group of popular kids or just be accepted by the majority is one of the major achievements in these periods of their lives. Unfortunately, much of the acceptance and the ostracism involve the looks.

This is perhaps the reason why people, especially the young are so much into their looks. Ultimately, they dont really want to have slim bodies. They dont really want to diet. They just want to be accepted and they see dieting as their ticket inside the select social group that they are craving to belong to.

This is also the reason why more and more kids are developing eating disorders and a lot of them are undergoing surgeries. Most are into different kinds of diet programs that guarantee them slimness in less than a month. Although these procedures do work, when taken to the extreme, these can be mighty dangerous. In the long run, not only will they be destroying their bodies and their health but also their lives.

The roles of parents are therefore important in this instance. They are the ones who need to show their teenagers the right way, to guide them so that they will make the right choices.
One way to do this is to show your understanding and your support. Most parents often oppose the choices of their kids.

Because of this, their kids no longer confide or tell them what they are thinking about or what is going on in their lives. You may not like what your teeners to do the things that they do; but at least by knowing, you are able to put limits on their behavior. There is a lot that being aware can do.

If you cannot really stop them and they are really decided; then support them with their decision. Accompany them in shopping for a surgical doctor. Tell them the pros and the cons. Maybe, you can manage to dissuade them.

Children can be logical and rational when they want to. They just need the right kind of information fed to them. Another way to help them is to make sure that they are aware of the choices that they are making. Losing weight fast can be a dangerous thing. Let them read literature on the dangers of losing weight fast. Tell them the dangers of surgeries and going under the knife. Let them see picture of people who have gone under the knife and have their surgeries backfire.

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