Are New Year's Resolutions A Waste Of Time?

Approximately 40 to 45% Americans take a stab at making at least one New Year's Resolution each year.

Not surprising the most common resolutions are weight loss, smoking cessation and more exercise.

Unfortunately almost half of these resolutions are all but forgotten once the six month mark approaches.

Improved health, what ever your perception of that may be, is often achieved by taking baby steps and setting goals at the beginning of a brand new, fresh year is a great time to start.

Sometimes baby steps, while making the task of reaching a specific goal more time involved, can in fact ensure that a goal is reached simply because it no longer appears as an overwhelming, daunting task.

I have set several resolutions to achieve a better level of ideal health and while each year I might slide back on some of my resolutions, I really feel that at the conclusion of each year I come out healthier, more balanced and a better me than when I started.

When I don't fulfill my full resolution, do I feel like I fail? Nope. The only time I feel like I fail is when I quit trying to improve anything about myself at all.

Where do you stand on New Years Resolutions? I'd love to hear from you.

7 Rules For Healthy Eating

7 Rules for Eating

Choose Food Over Food-Like Substances,
Food Writer Michael Pollan Tells CDC

By Daniel J. DeNoonWebMD Health News
Reviewed by Louise Chang, MD

March 23, 2009 -- We Americans suffer a national eating disorder: our unhealthy obsession with healthy eating.

That's the diagnosis delivered by food author Michael Pollan in a lecture given last week to an overflow crowd of CDC scientists.

As part of an effort to bring new ideas to the national debate on food issues, the CDC invited Pollan -- a harsh critic of U.S. food policies -- to address CDC researchers and to meet with leaders of the federal agency.

"The French paradox is that they have better heart health than we do despite being a cheese-eating, wine-swilling, fois-gras-gobbling people," Pollan said. "The American paradox is we are a people who worry unreasonably about dietary health yet have the worst diet in the world."

In various parts of the world, Pollan noted, necessity has forced human beings to adapt to all kinds of diets.

"The Masai subsist on cattle blood and meat and milk and little else. Native Americans subsist on beans and maize. And the Inuit in Greenland subsist on whale blubber and a little bit of lichen," he said. "The irony is, the one diet we have invented for ourselves -- the Western diet -- is the one that makes us sick."

Snowballing rates of obesity, diabetes, and heart disease in the U.S. can be traced to our unhealthy diet. So how do we change?

7 Words & 7 Rules for Eating

Pollan says everything he's learned about food and health can be summed up in seven words:

"Eat food, not too much, mostly plants."

Probably the first two words are most important. "Eat food" means to eat real food -- vegetables, fruits, whole grains, and, yes, fish and meat -- and to avoid what Pollan calls "edible food-like substances."

Here's how:

1. Don't eat anything your great grandmother wouldn't recognize as food. "When you pick up that box of portable yogurt tubes, or eat something with 15 ingredients you can't pronounce, ask yourself, "What are those things doing there?" Pollan says.

2. Don't eat anything with more than five ingredients, or ingredients you can't pronounce.

3. Stay out of the middle of the supermarket; shop on the perimeter of the store. Real food tends to be on the outer edge of the store near the loading docks, where it can be replaced with fresh foods when it goes bad.

4. Don't eat anything that won't eventually rot. "There are exceptions -- honey -- but as a rule, things like Twinkies that never go bad aren't food," Pollan says.

5. It is not just what you eat but how you eat. "Always leave the table a little hungry," Pollan says. "Many cultures have rules that you stop eating before you are full. In Japan, they say eat until you are four-fifths full. Islamic culture has a similar rule, and in German culture they say, 'Tie off the sack before it's full.'"

6. Families traditionally ate together, around a table and not a TV, at regular meal times. It's a good tradition. Enjoy meals with the people you love. "Remember when eating between meals felt wrong?" Pollan asks.

7. Don't buy food where you buy your gasoline. In the U.S., 20% of food is eaten in the car.

The Diet That Works.....Really

I have never been a believer in diets. The Adkins, South Beach, grapefruit, low fat, low carb, no carb, this pill, that pill. Find me the diet that is both effective and SAFE.

Well, it appears the New England Journal of Medicine and Frank Sacks of the Harvard School of Public Health actually agree with me (that's a joke in case it slipped by you).

The study led by Frank Sacks followed 800 overweight adults for two years. The group was placed on four different diets ranging from low-fat/high-carb to low-carb/high-fat diets. Regardless of which diet group members were placed into, they all lost the same amount of weight, which was 13 pounds the first year and 8 pounds the second year.

One could conclude from reading this study that the common sense approach of Consume Fewer Calories Than You Burn really works.

Just think of all the money that can be saved not to mention the self deprivation from foods truly enjoyed that we can still consume on a moderate basis.

To read more about common sense diet strategies that really work, click here.

One final bit of advice that is key to weight loss: don't forget to exercise.

Baby Steps to Better Health

Have you been meaning to start working out....tomorrow? How about those extra pounds, been thinking about that too? Sometimes just following simple basic principles can go along way to improve and ensure better health.

While a full out assault is a great way to approach an exercise program or improved eating habits, for some lifestyle changes can be so overwhelming that we quit before we begin.

Following are some common sense practices that can start us on a path to ideal health.

Eating Healthier

• Introduce new, healthier foods into your diet gradually.


• What we eat is often times a habit and habits take time create. Begin by eliminating chips for lunch and instead adding one fruit or vegetable. Once this habit takes hold introduce another healthy item while banning an unhealthy one. Over time you will realize you really don't miss those chips and cookies after all.

Portion Control

• Used to seconds on the mashed potatoes? Don't want to give them up? Then don't. Limit yourself to one serving and eat some extra vegetables. You are reducing some of your calorie intake and increasing your vegetable servings all at once.

Hydrate with Water and Only Water

• It really works. If you are not drinking the recommended eight glasses per day, start today.

Soda Junkie?

• Do yourself a favor and research what the stuff does to you. Also don't kid yourself and think about switching to diet soda, it's just as bad if not worse. Many so called "energy drinks" are just sugar in a bottle. Think water and start gradually eliminating soda, sugary juices and "energy drinks" from your daily drinking habits. You will see results fast.

Exercise

Whoever said "getting started is the hardest part" was absolutely right.

Whoever said "I'll start tomorrow" was telling a lie!

If this is you, and so many of us fall into this category, start slow, but start NOW.

• Can't touch your toes? Keep trying until you do.


• Can't make it to the mail box without getting out of breath? Take two trips a day, then challenge yourself to do more.


• At every parking lot you go, park in the last parking place and walk.


• Walk around the block. Then walk around the neighborhood.


• Start an exercise routine, anything at all for 10 minutes at a time and increase that by 5 minutes increments over time.

Reward Yourself

With every accomplishment, no matter how small, celebrate your victory. Keep your rewards healthy!

Of course you have taken baby steps, but the steps have all been in a forward direction. Before you know it, you will see and feel the results. You'll be running full speed ahead in no time.

Apple Cider Vinger, Natures Miracle?

Even though I'm in the business of selling wellness products, I love a good old fashioned home remedy and am constantly searching for "new" old school practices before taking myself or family to the doctor or taking a drug whether it's prescription or over the counter. I have come to believe that a pillar of Ideal Health is to maintain an alkaline PH. Scientists believe an acidic body leads to many illnesses and disease. That is why I take Coral Calcium every day, and try to eat more alkaline than acidic foods. This prompted me to write the post "The Oldest Woman In The World" and share some of what I have learned.


Well I have to share another great way towards achieving an alkaline body as well as a plethora of other health benefits. Apple Cider Vinegar can help you on your way to a much healthier body. I was skeptical at first as I had previously believed that vinegar was very acidic, however Apple Cider Vinegar (ACV) has the opposite effect. A teaspoon one to three time per day can also help in the following ways:


Acid Reflux, Acne, Athletes Foot, Blood Pressure, Night Sweats/Hot Flashes, Water Retention, Hiccups, Weight Loss, Wart Removal, Ear Infections, just to list a few.


I can tell you in my household, in the couple of months or so we have been using it, it has stopped acid reflux in it's tracks, hiccups countless times, improved digestion, and cured a nasty case of swimmers ear. I'll have to get back to you on the weight loss. Studies indicate that Apple Cider Vinegar can assist in losing weight gradually. An example of what the studies revealed was an average height woman weighing 210 lbs, taking 2Tsp before each meal over a two year period lost 30lbs while changing little in her diet and exercise routine. While it's not clear how ACV helps us lose weight, it is believed that a combination of increased metabolism, reduced water retention and appetite suppression is what contributes to shedding stubborn pounds.


Don't think you can stand the taste? No problem, that strong, bitter taste can be mellowed by mixing with water, or mix it with 1 Tsp honey and a little water. Before you know it, it actually becomes quite tasty, although my kids don't share my opinion on that! It is necessary to use an organic ACV that has not been pasteurized, filtered, refined or distilled. Once processed, the vinegar looks pretty, but all the good stuff has been removed. Organic ACV can be purchased at a health food or vitamin store. This cost is very reasonable, especially when factoring in the health benefits. I spend just over $5 for for a quart which lasts my family of five about four weeks.


In my quest to achieve Ideal Health, in addition to adding Coral Calcium to my drinking water each day, taking the correct vitamins and supplements, making an effort to eat more alkaline foods, I also drink my yummy cocktail of ACV and honey. To read more about this amazing home remedy go to:
apple-cider-vinegar-benefits.com