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Posts Tagged ‘motivation’

Are Herbal Diet Pills Actually Safe?

July 22nd, 2010

After taking some Herbal Diet pills in the past…I came to a really sickening realization…

While they are ‘ephedra free’ and are supposedly totally natural and safe, I don’t think I’d ever felt so polluted and ill in my life. A year later I discovered that the FDA had banned the same herbal diet pills I had taken, and I have to wonder what it was I had put in my body.

Herbal diet pills are very popular these days as an alternative to more traditional methods of weight loss like diet and exercise. Herbal treatments in general are very trendy today, which I find a little worrisome for several reasons.

First of all, just about anything can be in an herbal diet pill. ‘Herbs’ are a kind of loophole in the FDA system, as they are not classified as drugs and therefore don’t have the rigorous standards for testing and safety that drugs normally get.

Make no mistake about it though, herbs can be every bit as potent and harmful as drugs. The difference between medicinal herbs and drugs is really quite vague anyway, as most drugs themselves come from a kind of plant or herb.

Most of the time the ‘herbal’ classification doesn’t last very long; the FDA eventually calls it a drug and brings in the scientists. When that happens herbal diet pills often either become available only by prescription or are banned completely. Snooping around a little from site to site selling herbal diet pills, it is clear that the makers of these things are all too familiar with the FDA.

Many sites even use it to their advantage saying things to the effect of ‘buy it now before the FDA bans it!’. You have to ask yourself, if the FDA is likely going to ban an herbal diet pill you’re interested in, should you be taking it at all?

I took a few herbal diet pills in college once on a whim, and I didn’t eat anything for nearly two days afterwards. I also didn’t really get much sleep either. Anything that makes you wired like that and kills your appetite so completely just isn’t good for you.

While they were ‘ephedra free’ and were supposedly totally natural and safe, I don’t think I’d ever felt so polluted and ill in my life. A year later I discovered that the FDA had banned the same herbal diet pills I had taken, and I have to wonder what it was I had put in my body.

Anyway, just don’t be fooled by the word ‘herbal’ in an herbal diet pill. I would actually trust a regular diet pill that is FDA approved a lot more than some herbal diet pill concoction that has who knows what in it. The words herbal and natural are marketing ploys and should never be confused with the word safe unless there’s been some testing to prove it.

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Travis Stephenson Dieting , , , , , , , , , , ,

Six Essential Diet Motivation Tips

May 6th, 2010

Keeping motivated over a long period of time is frequently the hardest aspect of successfully losing weight. However, it IS possible to stay motivated to lose weight - if you make a deliberate effort to do so. Here are 6 tips you can follow to achieve lasting motivation.

Compelling Reasons

Having Powerful reasons for taking action is a strong creator of motivation. You’d have very compelling reasons for handing in your winning ticket if you were to win the lottery - for example, no longer having to work, the things you’d be able to do, being able to buy whatever you wanted, and so on. You can generate the same kind of motivation to lose weight by having strong reasons for doing it. Consider everything you’d gain in your life as a result of losing weight - what would they be? Increased energy? Greater self confidence and self esteem? Improved health? A Longer Life and less risk of disease? Being an inspiration and example-setter to others? What will it cost you if you don’t lose weight? Write your reasons down, and use them to drive you.

Have A Clear Image Of What You Are Moving Towards

Having a clear picture of what you want to move towards is another powerful generator of motivation. So my second diet motivation tip is to create a clear vision of exactly what you want to achieve. What will you look like? What will it feel like? How much will you weigh? How will you be behaving? Once you’ve clearly defined your goal, focus on it and visualize it on a regular basis and you’ll turbo charge your levels of motivation.

Get Around The Right People

Take advantage of the support of others, and you’ll have a far higher chance of succeeding. Having a support group around you helps to keep you moving forward when the times are tough. Get around others who have already lost weight and use them as role models, and / or associate yourself with people who are absolutely committed to losing weight. Being around people who are moving in the direction you want to go, or who are already there, will keep your weight loss and dieting motivation high, and inspire you to keep moving forwards and succeed.

Belief

You’re unlike to achieve anything unless you believe you can do it. We hear this all the time because it’s true. Make the decision that the past does not equal the future for you, and use any past failures as learning experiences. Focus on successfully losing weight now, and believe that you can and will do it.

Make Yourself Accountable

Hiring a personal trainer is one of the most powerful and effective things you can do if you’re really serious about losing weight. A personal trainer will hold you accountable during challenging periods when you ‘just don’t feel like it’, providing the external motivation you keep you on track. It’s their job to help you succeed, and you can definitely take full advantage of the leverage that a personal trainer can give you in helping you succeed.

Cut Off From The Possibility Of Failure: Commit

Being truly committed means you decide that you are going to lose weight and achieve your goal, and you cut off from any other possibility. Don’t say you will ‘try’ to lose weight or that you ‘want to’, say that will lose weight and that you are going to - without a shadow of a doubt. Being absolutely committed means refusing to consider the possibility of failure. How do you do this? Just DECIDE, and practice deliberately strengthening your commitment - like a muscle, each day.

Instead of seeing motivation as something you ‘get’, look at it as something you create - and make it your responsibility to do it. Follow these diet motivation tips, and you WILL maintain your motivation to lose weight and - as a result, be successful both in losing weight and in keeping it off for good.

For more weight loss motivation tips, tools and strategies, visit motivation to lose weight.

Mike Roberts Dieting , , , ,

Healthy Living Through Proper Dieting

March 14th, 2010

There are innumerable kinds of foods that are present on the earth that we live in. However it makes sense to know that not al foods are exactly healthy. That is why you should be careful to only consume those items that are nutritious as well as beneficial for health. Proper food also helps you skin to glow in addition to promoting good health. This is an article focused on talking about some of the foods that are very healthy and which should be consumed on a daily basis. Eating these will help save you from some of the most dangerous diseases around.

Fruits are one of the most essential foods that we need to eat. These natural foods are best for our body, skin and digestive system. You can even go on a diet and just consume fruits. You can lose weight without much effort.

One of the best foods happens to be fruits from the point of view of health. These are natural foods that prove to be quite helpful for your skin, the digestive system and your body too. One can go on a diet and just have fruits to eat. This is a great way to lose weight fast.

You also should consume good amounts of vegetables in order to preserve your body from harm as well as danger. Some of the best vegetables in this connection are onions, artichokes, broccoli, spinach, ginger watercress and arugula.

The benefits of eating these vegetables are numerous. As a matter of fact, it keeps your body free of toxins while keeping it highly nutritious.

Just like fruits, vegetables are also able to keep your body free from chemicals and toxins that exist in the body. Apart from fruits and vegetables it is also advisable to consume nuts, grains as well as beans. In the case of brown rice, you get protein, iron and magnesium, whereas wheat gram helps to prevent muscular pain, lentils keep heart diseases and breast cancer at bay while peanuts are also beneficial in countering heart problems.

Another food category that is beneficial as it contains good amounts of iron and magnesium is seafood, which is also known as white meat. Your brain and nerves are protected by shellfish, fatty acids from salmon preserves your heart from disease and when you take crabs, it helps to enhance your immunity in addition to providing safety from external and internal germs.

However, these were some of the food items you should eat but it does not mean that you do not eat the rest of fruits and vegetables. All of them have something good to offer to your body so you should not ignore their benefits and should add them to yours and your family diet.

Paulo Princer has been building informative sites for many months. You can check out his latest work on olive oil health benefits and also his new website on olive oil bread dip.

Paulo Princer Dieting , , , , , , , , , , ,

Tips For Gay Travel To Germany

February 27th, 2010

Germany has long been a LGBT stronghold, with thriving communities in all of Germany’s metropolitan areas. This is one reason why gay travelto some of Germany’s LGBT hotspots, such as Cologne, Berlin, Munich, Frankfurt and Hamburg are well known with travelers from around the world. Germany is home to several Pride festivals of world-renown and offers accepting gay tours throughout the country. Like in any country, city dwellers are often more accepting than rural villagers; however, as a whole, Germany is a safe, accepting destination for a gay vacation.

Cologne is a fantastic choice for gay trips to Germany and is often referred to as the LGBT capital of the country. Cologne is picturesquely positioned on the Rhine River and is the oldest large city in Germany. It is the home of the famous Cologne Cathedral, Kolsch beer, and a vibrant arts and culture scene that draw travelers from all over the world to experience this grand city’s rich history and jovial residents. If anyone looks askance at a same-sex couple showing affection in public, it will very likely be a tourist, since this warm, welcoming city has a huge LGBT population that is fully integrated and well-established.

Cologne is also the proud host of the 2010 Gay Games, has a very visible, well-established LGBT community and is quite comfortable with all types of couples holding hands or showing affection in public. As another way to show just how welcoming Cologne truly is, visitors can purchase a Pink WelcomeCard from the KolnTourismus Service Centre, which is good for free public transportation, discounts on museums, theater, opera and river cruises, and great discounts for local LBGT establishments, including saunas, bars, clubs and shops.

The welcoming city of Berlin also has a vibrant, very visible LGBT community and a wide array of establishments spread throughout the city. Party goers planning Berlin gay holidays may want to consider planning their arrival during Pride season when Berlin becomes a virtual LGBT mecca for two consecutive weekends. First, Berlin hosts Europes largest LGBT city festival, the Lebisch-Schwules Stadtfest, followed by the world-renowned Berlin Gay Pride Parade and Christopher Street Day festival which are attended by hundreds of thousands of LGBT folks, friends and supporters, making this an ideal choice for summer gay vacations to Germany.

No matter how you travel to Germany, alone or in a group, Germany gay tours will undoubtedly be full of many wonderful experiences. In order to make the most of your Germany vacation, consider exploring this intriguing country as part of a professionally arranged gay travel tour or planning your trip through a travel agency well-versed in gay vacations to Germany.

Piece by Howie Holben for Germany gay tours and gay vacations for singles.

Howie Holben Fitness , , , , , , , , , ,

Gay Tours To Peru

December 10th, 2009

For many, the best gay travel — in it’s most basic and simple form — is merely a way to put regular life on hold while you take off for a week or two in order to melt the stress of your day-to-day, recharge and participate in experiences that you normally wouldn’t be part of if you never left home. What if your next vacation went deeper?

Some people want to move toward more balance in their life. They want more than just a quick, temporary release from life’s stresses. They want to be more in touch with their spirit and their heart. If this is what you seek, try spiritual journeys to magical Peru’s Sacred Valley and Machu Picchu for your next vacation.

Nestled in the Andes Mountains, this area of Peru is know for it’s spiritual connection to the Earth. The area is filled with ruins from the Inca Empire. To touch walls that were built with such precision such a long time ago, can be a very moving experience. An exeperience you will not forget.

The Kamaquen Retreat Center is known to be wonderful place to stay while visiting the Sacred Valley. The staff at Kamaquen is adept at brining their guests close to the Andean people, spirit and culture. The center’s goal is to their guests find a bit of themselves while exploring the Sacred Valley.

Of course, no visit to Peru would be complete without visiting Machu Picchu. Machu Picchu is a short train ride from the Sacred Valley and well worth the trip. Once you enter the grounds of Machu Picchu you immediately feel the energy of this very special place. The views are magnificent and the sacredness of this place is self evident.

At the summit, there are also many temples you can visit for that perfect meditation spot and you can take part in ceremonies designed to honor the sacred landscape. The journey aspect of gay spirituality tours to Peru can yield incredible personal benefits that can also positively affect all other components of your life.

A Peru article containing hints about gay vacations to Peru by Howie Holben. Spirit Journeys assembles an incedible gay vacation and they offer special gay vacation packages as well.

Howie Holben Fitness , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Soccer Fitness And Nutrition: The Main Factors

April 29th, 2009

Soccer fitness and nutrition depends wholly on the role the soccer player has on the field. Every player has to have certain skills but it is very important that every player has good stamina, good strength, good speed and suppleness. All of these factors are important for a soccer player and keeping these skills requires a lot of fitness exercises.

A very skillful player who cannot last the whole match due to their lack of stamina, or cannot get to the ball because of their lack of speed, is not as useful to the team as the player who has less skill, but more speed and stamina. There are two specific types of stamina that we are interested in and these are aerobic and anaerobic.

Aerobics helps a person to learn how to control their breathing and therefore control the amount of oxygen that they intake in one breath. People can practice aerobics when walking or jogging to control when they start to get out of breath, with time and practice you can control your level of fatigue and continue with your exercise for a longer amount of time.

Anaerobic exercise helps determine the time you can work at a high intensity level which will include a short burst of energy that will make you feel out of breath. When practicing this exercise you will learn to control those short bursts of energy and ease your breathing to be able to eliminate the feeling of fatigue.

Soccer players need both aerobic and anaerobic fitness due to the nature of the game and also due to the fact that there is a lot of continuous movement with lots of short bursts of energy of more intense activity. Some positions require higher levels of anaerobic fitness than other positions; some require more aerobic fitness than others. For a midfield player it is required to cover a lot of ground during the game and therefore needs a good aerobic exercise.

To be able to stay fit, nutrition also plays a very important role in the program. A full medical examination should take place to determine what type of diet is better for the player. Every diet must include a high level of carbohydrates, especially in the pre match meal. Players are also advised to eat a snack with protein in it whilst playing the match itself.

Glucose filled drinks are also advisable as they help to maintain a high energy level and are also very easy to digest. A soccer player should avoid the intake of soft drinks in his diet and especially before a game as the bubbles that the gas provokes make digestion a lot harder. Caffeine should also be avoided before a match as it tends to cause more dehydration that it does hydration.

The three main food types are carbohydrates, fats and proteins, and it is very important that there is a balance of these food types in the players’ daily food intake. Adding this to a good fitness program and routine and the player will have no problems when having to play soccer.

About the Author:

Thomas Karapatsos Fitness , , , , , , , , , ,

How To Stay Motivated For Weight Loss

March 21st, 2009

When I got to New York, it was covered in snow. I had been fantasizing about 50 degree weather, but no such luck.

I like how the neighborhood looks when it’s covered in show — it’s really quite lovely. This appreciation for all the loveliness is usually short-lived and I tend to want to leave when the feeling fades. This time was no different, but I have no choice — I must stay.

One of the problems many people have with weight loss is motivation. People often start with great expectations, and then, when they hit a roadblock, their plan or program comes undone, and they fall back into old habits.

I’ve discovered several strategies that seem to work for most people.

1. Changing your mental pictures

2. Measuring

3. Keeping a diary.

4. Accepting the fact you aren’t perfect.

Many people who are overweight think of themselves as losers in some way, shape, or form. Eating for them is a sort of comfort therapy. They’re thinking, “As long as I have my potato chips and soda, I’m okay.”

This is delusional, but it’s true, and it needs to change. You need to start looking in the mirror and imagining yourself as healthy and fit all the time. This doesn’t happen overnight, but it is easily accomplished by practice. Changing the picture pays you huge dividends in the long run.

Practice is the way to become what you imagine yourself to be.

You can use a tape measure to get numbers if you want to, but I prefer pictures. When you start on a weight loss program, take pictures of yourself. Then imagine the new you, and get started.

A journal is such a good way to keep a record of your progress. You can hand-write it, or you can use the computer. Each day, keep a record of what you are eating and how much you are exercising. At the end of each week, take a photo. You will really start seeing results after about 3 or 4 weeks — your body will look different, better. And you’ll hardly believe you eyes after looking at photos from weeks 10 through 12.

Slip-ups happen to everyone who is in the midst of a weight loss routine. Don’t beat yourself up about it. The best thing to do is log it into your diary and pay attention to when and how the slip-ups happen — this will show you where your weak spots are. If you feel guilty, get in an extra workout. Don’t let you slip-ups get in the way of your progress — just take note of them, get back to your routine, and stay positive.

Your body will be grateful to you.

Listening to your body will help you immensely. The more fit you get, the more your body will tell you what it needs, and if you don’t heed what it’s saying, you may get another signal, one that isn’t pleasant.

There are other things, in addition to healthy food and regular exercise, that your body needs to function at its highest level. One of those things is pharmaceutical-grade fish oil with enteric coating.

You should be taking enteric coated pharmaceutical grade fish oil every day for any number of reasons, including optimal joint function, healthy brain and nervous system function, along with the cardiovascular benefits.

I’ve been taking pharmaceutical grade fish oil for quite some time, and I can tell you, for instance, that if I miss taking it for a day or two, my joints start talking to me.

(Hi Bill…it’s your joints here. We noticed that you did not give us any fish oil for the last few days. Here comes a message for your right knee…yes, I know it hurts…so don’t forget next time!)

Traveling, which I do a great deal of, seems to be the time when I most often forget to take my fish oil. I came up with the great idea to bring some extra with me, in those “travel only” bottles. The bottles are with me at all times and are a great reminder.

About the Author:

Dr. Bill Fat Loss , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,