Free to choose

You have a choice!

You could choose to take action or not take action, to live a sedentary life or an active life.

You can choose to seek after that which you desire, for example, success, or simply hope it will magically come to you someday.

You can choose to use the power of attraction by creating a movie in your mind of you succeeding and believing that the success you are visualizing is already yours!

You could choose to imagine your life as a pathway to success or believe that success will never come your way.

You could choose to believe in something when all those around you say you should not believe in it.

You can choose to have a healthy body by choosing what you put in it and what you do with it.

You could choose to gain knowledge by reading books that will empower you with life changing information, or you could choose to watch more TV.

You see, it is "YOU" that choose.

YOU have the power to choose the direction of your life.

It is "YOU" who must choose, no one else can choose for you. Even if you choose NOT to choose, you have still made a choice, you have chosen a direction for your life.

You know there are areas of your life "RIGHT NOW" where you have failed to make a choice....to choose one way or another.

One thing that you have no choice: 2013 is coming. And so decide to choose your direction today.

Dream BIG and make BIG choices.

Enjoy Holidays! Enjoy Life!

 

Spice for Life

In the U.K. a woman named Vicky Sewart who was beating breast cancer four years ago, refused to take a cancer recovery drug, Tamoxifen, after undergoing chemotherapy, radiotherapy and surgery. Instead, she chose to depend on a spicy organic vegan diet and take moderate exercise.

Now, after four years, there is no sign that the cancer has come back.

Her diet cut out all dairy products, added plenty of “super-foods” such as fresh fruit, vegetables and juices with turmeric, garlic and ginger.

'Turmeric makes cancer cells commit suicide. Ginger and garlic are great to cook with,' she said.

In fact, turmeric has been used for over 2500 years in India, as a spice used when making curry dishes.The active ingredient in turmeric is curcumin. It has powerful anti-inflammatory properties and can inhibit cell mutation.

Overall, turmeric has the following properties:

• Anti-inflammatory properties
• A natural antiseptic and antibacterial agent, useful in disinfecting cuts and burns
• When combined with cauliflower, it has shown to prevent prostate cancer and stop the growth of existing prostate cancer. Besides, it also has effects on other cancers including breast, pancreatic and can prevent melanoma
• Reduce the risk of childhood leukemia
• A natural liver detoxifier
• Prevent and slow the progression of Alzheimer's disease
• Because of its anti-inflammatory properties, it is a natural treatment for arthritis and rheumatoid arthritis.

Even if you have doubt on the effect of turmeric on cancers, a healthy diet and regular exercise are good for your health. As Dr Steve Kelly, who specialises in breast cancer at Derriford Hospital in Plymouth, said, ‘There are three things patients can do to help themselves. The first is to exercise for 30 minutes, three days a week. The second is to not gain any weight and the third is to reduce fat intake.'

‘These things help to reduce the chance of cancer coming back.’ 

 

Why fruits and vegetables help prevent cancers?

Fruit and vegetables are rich in flavonoids, which can protect against some cancers.

A research study found that amongst female respondents, those who had eaten flavonoids more than 580 milligrams daily can reduce the chance of suffering from gastric cancer by half compared with those who consumed less amount. This is because flavonoids contain quercetin which helps suppress chemical reaction of carcinogen (a substance that is capable of causing cancers) .

Flavonoids are a powerful antioxidant. Their antioxidant effect is two times as that of vitamin C, five times of vitamin E. They have smaller molecular structure, are water soluble and so they can easily be absorbed by the body.

In addition to the prevention of cancers, flavonoids have a lot of other benefits:

They reduce, promote healthy arteries and help fight aging by preventing and repairing cellular damage. And so they can reduce the formation of atherosclerosis, help prevent other cardiovascular diseases and reduce inflammation.

As they are also an important element in maintaining the health of brain cells, flavonoids may also protect against dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.

The list below is the foods rich in flavonoids:

• Apples (in the skin)
• Blueberries
• Broccoli
• Cabbage
• Capers
• Chocolate (dark, not milk) and cocoa
• Onions
• Strawberries
• Red grapes
• Red wine
• Tea (all kinds)

Besides, flavonoids also exist in nuts, legumes and seeds (such as sunflower seed, flax seed).

In addition, we should eat more foods containing vitamin E as well because these can help flavonoids fight free radicals, reducing probability of suffering from cancers.

And if eat together with foods rich in vitamin C, such as citrus fruit , kiwi and strawberry, it can effectively improve the elasticity of blood vessels. inhibit platelet from clotting, reduce the risk of infarction, hypertension, diabetes, stroke, elderly degradation, etc. Another study found that a combination of vitamin C and flavonoids (100 mg each) can help speed up the healing of herpes virus such as lip rash.

How to achieve your goal?

Take personal responsibility for your life!

For example, if you want to be healthy, you have to move and keep on moving. If you stay still, you will be doomed to live a life filled with health problems. You have to live with the consequences of not taking positive steps to prevent sickness and disease in your life. And it is you that can take the steps to bring wellness back to your life.

To do so, firstly, define your goal. The more specific the better. For example, to lose 30 pounds in one year.

Write it down.

Then take massive action. As Tony Robbins said, "The path to success is to take massive, determined action." This includes:

• Find someone who has already reached your goal and find out how they did it and copy their model.
• Go to the libraries and look for as many books that are specific to your goal and all the problems on the way to your goal.
• Read all success stories.
• Consult all experts in the field.
• Go to your local health food stores and ask them what foods burn the most fat and which weight loss techniques work the best.
• Ask professional sports physiotherapist how to lose weight and he might advise you to do more resistance training as it not only sculpts the body but it also burns more body fat over the long-term than cardio exercise.

Now, you have massive amounts of knowledge from which you are going to distill information that can be turning into activities, habits, lifestyle changes and so on.

However, this is not the end of story. From time to time, you have to review your progress and adjust any action taken if necessary until you achieve your goal.

Stop drinking diet sodas for weight loss

A study conducted by The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio found that the more diet sodas (being promoted as having zero calories) a person drinks, the greater the chance that he or she will become overweight or obese. The chances are 65 percent and 41 percent respectively. This is based on a sample size of over 1,000 people.

This is because diet sodas contain artificial sweeteners like aspartame, sucralose and chemical ingredients like phosphoric acid. These substances are foreign to our body. And so our body has to get rid of these harmful chemicals instead of doing what it is intended to do – burning fat.

To stay healthy, we need to take natural sources for weight loss.

For example, all natural Dijon mustard can have a profound effect on metabolism, even at rest, as well as improving overall digestion and nutrient utilization.

Apple cider vinegar aids in weight loss by detoxifying the liver, increasing metabolism and suppressing hunger levels while white and red wine vinegar have been shown to improve blood sugar levels, reduce insulin, and slow digestion.

Also, other natural herbs and spices such as ginger,garlic, lemon, cayenne, basil, parsley, and thyme have all been shown to have significant metabolism-boosting properties.

Benefits of doing exercise

Exercise produces physical fitness and healthy body. This includes muscular strength, endurance and flexibility.

Muscle Strength

Muscle strength refers to the amount of force a muscle can exert in a single effort. Strength training (also known as resistance training) can help improve muscular strength. Exercises like the bench press, leg press or bicep curl might be used to measure muscle strength; a strength training exercise that uses low weight and high reps can also help improve muscular endurance.

While strength training on its own typically does not lead to weight loss, its beneficial effects on body composition may make it easier to manage one's weight and ultimately reduce the risk of disease, by slowing the gain of fat—especially abdominal fat.

Another beneficial effect of strength training pertains to bone health and help fight osteoporosis. 

Endurance

Muscle Endurance

Muscle endurance refers to the ability of a muscle to perform a continuous effort without fatiguing. Cycling, step machines and sit up tests are often used to measure muscular endurance. 

Cardiovascular Endurance

Cardiovascular endurance refers to the ability of our heart and lungs to work together to fuel our body with oxygen. Aerobic exercises, like jogging, running, swimming, biking, kickboxing, jumping rope and stair climbing are examples of cardiovascular exercises that can keep our heart and blood vessels healthy. These exercises increase the ability of the respiratory and circulatory systems to deliver oxygen to working muscles. This can be achieved by exercising at 60-75% of maximal heart rate for 20 to 30 minutes. For these programs, some find simply walking already satisfactory. Others like swimming. Swimming often claimed to be the best exercise for it tends to use all muscle groups.

 

Flexibility

Flexibility refers to the ability of each joint to express its full range of motion.

Flexibility training or stretching exercise may help older adults preserve the range of motion they need to perform daily tasks and other physical activity.

Yoga and pilates can help improve overall flexibility.

How do you start your first exercise?

Exercise affects the metabolic rate so that for a few hours after doing exercise, you will still burn more calories and use up more of the body's stores of fat (even when resting) than if you had taken no exercise. Regular activity combined with a healthy diet is the most effective way to lose weight.

When you have decided that you need doing more exercises, the next step is to test how fit you are. For safety reason, it is better to equip with heart rate monitor to monitor your heart rate so your workout doesn't become too strenuous.

For those who are unfit, it is better to start the program with walking first. It should be continuous: begin walking slowly, then increase pace, then slow again. In fact, any exercise program for sedentary and overweight people must be started slowly, with enjoyment and commitment. A buildup in intensity and duration should be gradual and progressive.

For those who are obese or overweight, there are many different programs available to help with body weight loss.

To lose body fat, the program should involve large muscle groups, be enjoyable and continuous. The program should be designed to achieve exercise intensity, frequency and duration. 

For those interested in weight training for losing weight, it should cover each muscle group and should exhaust that muscle group after 6-10 repetitions. These can be using your own body weight against a resistance or proper weights. It is essential that a professional sports physiotherapist shows you how to do it and advises the actual weight to use.

Once get started, you may consider other exercises. The important feature is to select anything that you find enjoyable. In this way you are more inclined to stick to the routine over a period of time.

Exercise should take place at least three times per week and include a warm-up period, the exercise itself and then a cooling-down period.

 

30 Minutes for Your Health

Studies found that 30 minutes of physical activity of moderate intensity everyday is beneficial to our health. These benefits include:

• Improving our heart-lung function and blood circulation.
• Reducing the risk of developing coronary heart disease, high blood pressure and diabetes later in life.
• Building up body resistance and maintaining bone health.
• Controlling body weight. 
• Maintaining our psychological and social health.

And so it is better for your health sake to do more aerobic exercise like jogging, cycling, swimming or playing ball games if possible.

 

It is not necessary to do it in one single session but it can be divided the 30-minute physical activity time into three 10-minute sessions.

 

How can we find more opportunity to do physical activity in our daily life?

You may take these suggestions:

• Walking instead of travelling by vehicle whenever possible, climbing stairs instead of using elevators and escalators.
• Going for a walk or doing some stretching after lunch.
• Walking to and fro while on the phone.
• Spending less time on sedentary pastimes like watching TV or playing computer games. Even if do so, avoiding using the remote control when watching TV; also, trying to stand up and stretch during the commercial break.