Eating & Emotions

Eat intelligently. The difference between man and beast is that we are driven by intelligence while beasts are driven by instinct. Don’t just eat something because you feel like eating it. Ask yourself whether your body really needs it.

Your body has a way of signaling if it’s right to eat or not. Especially when you are sick, we don’t have the appetite to eat because the body needs rest and vacation from overtaxing.

You will not be harmed if you deny food occasionally. Because foods are sometimes the cause of so many sickness and diseases we are suffer in this generation. We stuff a lot without giving rest to our digestive system or our body. They too need a vacation.

Watch what you eat. Keep a watchful eye on every thing that goes in. Sometimes the garnishes can be richer than the food itself. Accompaniments too can be very rich.

Go for the simple and plain foods. Don’t overdo in preparing your food. It’s not only harmful to the body, but it’s very expensive too.

There are four main basic health foods given to man.

Fruit
Vegetables / Cereals
Milk
Eggs

These four complete foods are practically as life-giving as the blood itself. Because the primary need of the body is oxygen, not food.

Remember that it is the easiest thing in the world to eat something without realizing that it was something that you should not have eaten. Selective memory you know…

Graze 2 to 3 times a day. Instead of sticking to just three meals a day, try grazing. Grazing means try having 2 or 3 smaller meals instead of three king sized meals. It is an excellent way of having smaller quantities of food. The smaller the amount of food the smaller the expenses and the stomach can adjust and go back to its normal size.

Go ahead eat cheat food, but only for flavor. There are many things which you have to avoid from your diet but which you may have an undying craving for. Do not avoid them altogether. You could call them cheat foods and indulge in them once in a while. But take care just to tingle your taste buds, don’t hog on them. Instead of that share them with others. In this way you’ll not be tempted to consume everything your self.

Control that sweet tooth. Remember that sweet things generally mean more calories. It is natural that we have cravings for sweet things especially chocolates and other confectionary. Go easy on these things and each time you consume something sweet understand that it is going to add on somewhere.

Eat only when you are hungry. Some of us have the tendency to eat whenever we see food. We use parties as an excuse to stuff our selves. Understand that the effect of a whole week of dieting can be wasted by just one day’s party food. Whenever you are offered something to eat do not decline it completely bit just break of a nibble so that you appear to mind your manners and at the same time can watch your diet.

More than a billion dollars a month are spent for an excess of food which is wasteful, injurious, useless and is the enemy of our mind and body.

Quit snacking in between meals. Do not fall for snacks in between meals. This is especially true for those who have to travel a lot. They feel that the only time they can get a bite to eat is snacks and junk food. The main problem with most snacks and junk food is that they are usually less filling and contain a lot of fat and calories. Just think about French fries…tempting but terribly fattening.

Snack on vegetables if you must. You might get the pangs of hunger in between meals. It is something that you can very well control. Or even better, try munching on carrots. They are an excellent way to satisfy those hungry pangs and are good for your eyes and teeth. True, you might end up being called Bugs Bunny, but its miles better to be called Bugs Bunny than fatso.

Carry guava with you. Guava is an excellent thing to munch on in between meals. Not just is it good for you in terms of vitamins, but it is also a perfect way of making your breath fresher.
Be sure to burn out those extra calories by the end of the week. If you feel that you have consumed more calories than you should have during the week, it happens you know, and then make sure that you work off those extra calories by the end of the week. Or you can opt to fast one or 2 days per week to achieve a healthier lifestyle. The fasting result are tremendous, aside from increasing your focus and increase mental clarity it does result in more fairer and flawless skin.

Bottled Drinks

Stay away from sweetened bottle drinks, especially sodas, shakes & iced drinks. Hey all those colas and fizzy drinks are sweetened with sugar and sugar means calories. The more you can cut out on these sweetened bottle drinks, the better for you. So if you must drink sodas, then stick to diet sodas.

Go easy on tea and coffee. Tea and coffee are harmless by themselves. It’s when you add the cream and sugar that they become fattening. Did you know that having a cup of tea or coffee that has cream and at least two cubes of sugar is as bad as having a big piece of rich chocolate cake?

Try to stick to black tea/coffee. Black tea or coffee can actually be good for you. But personally I would like to recommend tea rather than coffee. The caffeine in the coffee is not really good for you because it is an alkaloid and can affect other functions of your body like the metabolism.

Include in your diet things that contain more water like tomatoes and watermelons. These things contain 90 to 95 % water so that there is nothing that you have to lose by feasting on them. They fill you up without adding to the pounds.

If you can say no to alcoholic beverages please do. Alcoholic beverages too are not good for you. Beer can be fattening and the rest of the alcoholic drinks may not be fattening by themselves but after a couple of swigs you will be in no position to watch your diet and your appetite too will be something to battle with.

Dry wine is better than sweet wine. Sweet wines naturally contain a lot of sugar. But on the other hand, in dry wines most of this sugar has been fermented away so from the weight point of view dry wines are better than sweet wines.

Walk & Your Cardio

If you hate running, remember, you do not have to run a marathon to stay fit. 10 minutes of cardio each day is good enough for most.

And if you can’t run, try walking. 15 minutes of brisk walking a day is enough to keep most fit. Walking improves sleep, and boost brain power, it heightens mental clarity. Try walking by group, it’s much more fun and enjoyable.

Any distance is walkable if you have the time, so consider walking to places that you would normally drive (such as work or the market if they’re not too far away). It may take you longer, but the health benefits will last you a lifetime.

Stand & Stretch

If you have a sitting job, stand up and stretch yourself every half an hour. Most of the jobs today are indeed sitting jobs that are in one word sedentary. This is especially true for those who sit and punch away at the keyboard or toy with the mouse all day long.

So if you have such a job, make it a point to get up at least every half an hour and stretch your self.

While making telephone calls try walking up and down. I hope you will agree with me that this is an excellent suggestion.

Use the stairs instead of the elevator whenever you can. Elevators are one hell of a convenience particularly if you have to go up or down some twenty floors. But elevators also make us very lazy.

There may be no sense in trudging up some twenty flights of stairs because by the time you get there you will be totally pooped. But while coming down, if you have the time, you can easily come down the stairs instead of using the elevator. Coming down is not at all exhausting.

And talking about the time factor, I don’t think that there is much of a difference. Sometimes waiting for an elevator door to open at your floor after you hit the button can take up all of eternity.

While traveling in an elevator instead of just standing there and staring stupidly at the numbers going up or down, try raising your self onto your toes and then back on your feet again. Do this several times. Also try flexing your buttock muscles as well.

In fact there are many muscles in our body that we can twitch and flex without inviting the attention of others. Even if others do notice you, it’s no big deal provided you are flexing a muscle in a decent part of the body. (Most of the other parts do not have muscles any way.) Others might brand you as a health freak but it is miles better to be known as a heath freak than as a sack of potatoes.


Here’s a pop quiz. Escalators help us to:

1. Move up and down faster
2. Gain weight
3. Stand stupidly as they move up and down
4. Look down at other people when you are going down
5. Look up to others when we are going up

You have to pick the correct answer from the 5 alternatives given. You can see for your self that all the options are in a way correct. So the next time you travel on an escalator, don’t just stand there...climb up or down along with it. (Or better yet, take the stairs.)

Don't Be A Couch Potato

Do not be a couch potato. It is the easiest thing in the world to become a couch potato. You know what we are talking about don’t you? That shapeless thing that sits or reclines on a shapeless chair in front of the television and stupidly munches away at something fried!

If you are inclined to become a promising old couch potato, break the habit, cut at the very root of the vine. And you want to know what is the best way for that? Take away that favorite chair of yours. In fact, it would be a very good idea if you could keep a chair that isn’t too comfortable in front of the TV.

This will discourage any tendency to become a couch potato.

Don't Just Stand

Don’t stand, walk. If you can walk about then do so. Do not stand in a fixed position. Pacing about is a good thing to do. If you are thinking deeply about something, try pacing about, it will aid in your thinking.

Don’t sit, stand. If you can stand, then do not sit. The golden rule is to choose a position that is less comfortable.

Don’t lie down, sit. The rule that we mentioned above rings true here as well.