Weight Loss: The Vital Role of Your Unconscious Mind

By: Fabio Marcell

Even inside the womb your unconscious mind is working overtime processing information and giving you your first emotional experiences. To this day, the power of the unconscious mind has barely been tapped and it is understanding this part of ourselves which is key to losing weight permanently.

Your unconscious mind receives, processes and stores every single stimulus that you experience throughout your life. This is extraordinary when you think about it and it's no wonder that the unconscious mind can be put to fantastically good use. However, you have to know how to tap into the power of your unconscious mind in the correct manner.

From what we know about this mysterious part of the brain we can deduce that interpretation of the raw data does not occur in the unconscious mind. It simply takes the information and files it away into little blocks. The way this information is organized controls your everyday response mechanisms to all kinds of stimuli. The more often the same information is received and stored the more indelibly printed it becomes in your unconscious. This is how habits are formed.

This unconscious habit forming is an essential part of being human. It is what allows you to do everyday things automatically like getting dressed, making the breakfast, riding a bike .... and so on. If the unconscious mind was not storing this data you would have to re-learn how to do all these things every day. This could get slightly tedious! However, just like the yin and yang there's always positive and negative. The negative effects of this habit forming include overeating and weight gain.

During your early years and as you were growing up your unconscious mind may have been programmed with bad eating habits. You may have found that polishing off a big cream cake made you feel better when you were upset. Again this is how the bad habits form. When you finally decide to do something about it later in life, you find that your habits are so ingrained it feels almost impossible to reverse the problem.

Luckily, there is a very simple mechanism which you can use to re-program yourself. You may think this is completely crazy but the secret is to talk to yourself. More often than not, you will want to ask yourself a question and this in turn prompts your unconscious mind to produce an answer. This answer almost always creates a mental image for you. Some call this a visualization.

This visualization controls how your emotional response manifests itself. This is interpreted by others as a behavioural trait. It forms part of your personality. If you have ever listened to the way an overweight person talks to themselves you'll find that commonly there is some very negative self talk going on. The person will ask themselves questions like : Why am I so big? Why did I get so big? Why does my diet not work?

This negative self questioning of course has the effect of prompting your unconscious mind to give you negative answers. "You are big because you eat too much" or "You feel that the pressure of life is getting you down". We invariably find the unconscious mind will produce negative answers like this if you ask it negative questions. For each of these negative scenarios your unconscious mind would have created a visualization and this reinforces your self doubt.

Here's the interesting part. Your unconscious mind sends these negative visualizations into your waking consciousness. It tells you that this is how you look and this is how you will look. It will try and solidify this visualization and make it real. Oftentimes that's exactly what happens. All the power of your waking mind is directed at reinforcing these negative images. This is why you are overweight.

It is highly likely that your unconscious mind never rests. It is always processing information and always tries to find answers to questions. A great example is when you're trying to remember the name of something and you cannot for the life of you remember what it is. You will almost always find that a few hours later or maybe a couple of days later the name miraculously pops into your head. This is the result of your unconscious mind continuously working away trying to find the answer to the question which you asked it all that time ago. It finally found the answer and sent it instantly into your waking consciousness.

Amazingly, it seems that if your unconscious mind cannot immediately find an answer to your problem it will take a look at the information it already has stored and formulate its own answer for you. This is a very powerful thing. This is why it's so important for you to ask yourself positive questions. Your unconscious mind will formulate a positive answer for you which in turn creates positive visualizations. You can see where I'm going with this.

The positive mental picture manifests itself in your conscious reality and you begin to reverse your bad habits. Simply, all you have to do is identify when you're asking yourself negative questions. Then just think of the reverse. Invert this negativity and turn the question into a positive one. You'll be shocked at the awesome power of this technique.

There is not enough room in this article to go into the intricacies of positive self talk. A great book to read is "What to Say When You Talk to Yourself" by Shad Helmstetter. Just do a search on Amazon and you'll find it. Read Shad's book and you'll learn how to apply a positive self talk regime in your own goal of losing weight.

from: http://deepfitness.com/3815/Weight-Loss-The-Vital-Role-of-Your-Unconscious-Mind.aspx

Yoga - A Great Way To Get Fit and Health

By: Marksmith

Besides, walking, the oldest and most effective form of exercise one can do is Yoga. Yoga involves the whole person–body, mind and spirit.

Hatha Yoga is practiced most in the West and it involves specific postures or “asanas”. Each posture has a purpose and a name. For example, the Cobra position removes all tension from the back and spine. It literally helps the spine become more flexible and limber.

Some positions in Hatha Yoga are called “inversion” positions. Most of us go through the day upright, causing blood to flow downward. It’s good to get blood flowing towards the organs and head for a few minutes. Inversion positions such a the Head Stand and Shoulder Stand, are perfect for those with circulation and thyroid problems, or for anyone.

The key aspect in Hatha Yoga is learning to breathe properly. The air we breath is called “prana”, which is life force. Learning how to do Complete Breaths are valuable for relieving stress as well as for one’s overall health.

There are numerous books available on the topic of Yoga. However, not all are as easy to follow and one can become discouraged trying to develop a good routine. One book that stands out is, “Richard Hittleman’s Yoga: 28 Day Exercise Plan”. There are postures specifically designed to help a beginner sculpt the body each day, for 28 days. One becomes more limber and toned everyday, no matter what body condition one starts out with.

Once you learn Yoga, you can easily stay fit and healthy throughout life. People will notice how youthful and toned you are, only after a brief time of regular practice. The cost is virtually free, unless you want to purchase a Yoga mat (which are inexpensive) and specific clothing. Unlike many exercises, you can practice Yoga wherever you go.


source: http://healthfitnesshowto.com/yoga-great-way-to-get-fit-and-healthy/

How To Lose Fat: The Definitive Guide

If there is an issue that will get people arguing more than Democrats and Republicans over health care, it is how to lose fat. Thousands of books, articles, and web pages are dedicated to answer the simple question: “how can I lose the extra fat I have on board?”

Luckily, the answer to that question on how to lose fat is not as complicated as you might think. Most of the advice out there is just a regurgitation of the tired “eat less, exercise more” mantra. Not here. This article cuts through the fat loss fog and presents you with factors that research says has the most profound impact on quick and lasting fat loss.

Setting Goals: Not An Option

Most people’s fat loss journey is doomed before it begins. Because they set out to lose an undefined amount of fat or weight, their efforts eventually falter as old habits creep in. Goal setting is not something only for overly-excited for self-help guru groupies –the act of setting simple, actionable goals multiplies your fat loss results. Researchers at University of North Carolina recently found realistic goals helped people stick to a diet and exercise program.

Here is how to maximize the effectiveness of your weight loss goals:

Process, Not Outcome: While controversial, it appears that goals involved in what you do are more important than the actual result. For example a goal of hitting the gym three times per week is more likely to stick than losing 10 lbs.

Actionable and Specific: Vague goals do not stick. Replace “I want to lose this gut” with “I will start eating fruit for my afternoon snack instead of a vending machine snack” and you will go far.

Get Real: There is nothing wrong with a little ambition, but be careful not to set yourself up for failure. Small, achievable, “mini-milestones”, are preferable over lofty aspirations.

Nutrition to Lose Fat: 4 Keys To Success

Nutrition is by far the #1 make or break factor for fat loss. While exercise should be part of any fat loss regimen, nutrition’s impact on fat loss trumps working out.

The reason nutrition is head and shoulders above anything else is because it’s so darned easy to eat more calories than you need –and just as easy to cut them out.

For example, while it may take you 2 minutes to down a slice of apple pie, it will take almost 60 minutes on a treadmill to burn it off.

The diet industry makes fat loss nutrition seem confusing and complicated, but itis not. Here are the basic tenets of using the power of nutrition to shed extra fat:

Fiber: Fiber is the most powerful fat loss nutrient around. Purdue University scientists found that a diet high in fiber helped dieters lose more fat than by cutting calories alone. Be sure to avoid high-fiber processed food like the plague. Natural sources of fiber like fruits, veggies, and beans work much better.

Watch, Don’t Eliminate Carbs: Carbs have gotten a bad name as of late. While blindly following the Food Guide Pyramid and eating carbs by the bushel isn’t going to help you lose an ounce of fat, a diet rich in low glycemic carbs like produce and legumes will stimulate metabolism and ramp up your fat burning furnace.

Cure Fat-Phobia: The fat in your diet does not instantly turn into the fat on your body. In fact, studies show that eschewing fat is one of the worst approaches for weight loss. The uber-popular Mediterranean diet is backed by piles of research, which show that the fat-rich olive oil, nuts, and cheese actually keep French and Italians from getting fat in the first place. Sure enough, when this diet is adopted by American dieters in clinical research, body fat flies off. Learn to eat high quality fats.

Ditch Diet Foods: Counter intuitive as it may seem, “lite” and “low-calorie” foods actually cause weight gain, not loss. Because we perceive them as healthy, we tend to eat more than we normally would. Instead of resorting to diet foods, focus on a diet with a foundation of unprocessed whole grains, fresh fruits and veggies, lean meats, low-fat dairy, beans and nuts.

Workouts: Cardio Is not Enough

While exercise’s impact on fat loss does not hold a candle to nutrition, it does have a significant impact on fat loss. However, not just any exercise will do. Cardio exercises are a mainstay of any fat burning program, but it is not complete unless you include a heavy dose of strength training.

Strength training is the only way to create metabolism-boosting muscle mass. If every gym session begins and ends with 45 minutes of slow peddling on the stationary bike, you are going to lose quite a bit of muscle along with that fat –and your metabolism will take a hit.

A study published in Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise found that women who resistance trained a few times per week had less fat and weighed less than their cardio-obsessed counterparts.

Along with regular bouts of cardio (including interval training), be sure to hit the weights just as often. Check out the vast amount of workout routines to pick from here at builtfit.com.

Rest and Sleep: You Snooze, You Lose

Scientists now point to stress and fatigue as one of the key causes of fat gain. In fact, research shows that sleeping less than 7 hours is a sure-fire recipe for overeating and fat loss failure. That is because our hormonal appetite signals are largely regulated by our sleep patterns.
If you find yourself unable to control a ravenous appetite, or continue to fall off the fat loss wagon, shoot for at least 8 hours per night. That one factor alone can make a tremendous difference.

Consistency and Tracking Progress

Many people view fat loss as a light switch: something to be turned on and off. If you want results that last, it requires a commitment to stay consisterwith your approaches –starting on day 1.
It is one thing to set goals and stay focused, but if you’re not recording of your progress, it is impossible to know if you are on your way to achieving them. Whether your goal was to take 4 inches off your waistline, cut out dessert, or eat 5 servings of veggies per day, a log of your successes and failures can keep you motivated and on track.

Supplements That Burn Fat

You may be surprised to find that, despite hundreds of so-called fat burners on the market, most are either worthless or dangerous.

However, a handful of supplements are backed by clinical research and have a clean bill of safety to boot:
Conjugated Linoleic Acid: Research published in The International Journal of Obesity found that CLA helped people burn more fat throughout the day.

Green Tea Extract: A well-documented fat burner that doesn’t run the risk of hurting your health down the road.

Chromium Picolinate: Gilbert Kaats, PhD recently published a research review where he concluded: “The data clearly confirm that supplementation with chromium picolinate can lead to significant improvements in body composition resulting from fat loss”.

Supplements can definitely give you an edge in your battle against fat, but as cliché as it may sound, they do not work unless you have the solid nutrition and consistent exercise to match.

source: http://www.builtfit.com/fat-loss/how-to-lose-fat-the-definitive-guide.htm

Leading a Healthy Life:

Six Steps to Living Long and Staying Healthy

Step 1: Give your body the energy it needs.

Your body needs some foods to stay strong and healthy. Other foods, if eaten too often, contribute to many illnesses. Here are some guidelines:

• Eat 6-11 servings a day of breads or grains, like rice, pasta, tortillas, or cereal.
• Eat 3-5 servings a day of vegetables, like carrots, cabbage, tomatoes, broccoli, or peas.
• Eat 2-4 servings a day of fruits, like apples, peaches, mangos, bananas, or fruit juice.
• Eat 2-3 servings a day of meat, fish, beans, eggs or nuts, for protein.
• Eat 2-3 servings a day of dairy products like yogurt, cheese, or milk.
• Cut down on alcohol, fatty foods such as butter, grease, or oil, and “junk food” like chips or candy.

Step 2: Stay physically active.

Regular physical activity helps people:

• live longer and feel better throughout their lives
• be stronger and more flexible
• build strong bones and fight osteoporosis
• prevent depression
• strengthens your ability to fight off illness
• maintain a healthy body weight

It is best to get at least one half hour of exercise three times a week, but any amount of exercise is better than none at all! If you do not want to go jogging or swimming, try going for a brisk walk with a friend, working vigorously in the yard, or riding your bike to work.

Step 3: A healthy mind is part of a healthy body.
When you are in a good state of mind, you make good decisions for yourself about your job, your lifestyle, and your health. Here are some things you can do to keep your mind healthy:

• Reduce stress in your life.
• Make time in your life for things that are fun. Make a list of activities you like and sure you have at least a little time each day for doing something you enjoy.
• Get enough sleep. Most Americans get too little sleep. Being sleepy reduces your concentration, increases mood swings, and causes many car accidents.
• Get help if you feel depressed or anxious for more than several days at a time. Talk with a friend or your health care provider for some help.

Step 4: Keep your mind and body free of harmful drugs and alcohol.

• Tobacco causes more health problems than any other drug and is the most addictive, most widely used. Cutting down or stopping the use of cigarettes ,cigars, or chewing tobacco can save your health and save your money.
• Too much alcohol is definitely dangerous, causing liver damage, fetal alcohol syndrome, and accidents. The tricky question is, how much is too much?
• Street drugs like marijuana, cocaine, methamphetamine, heroin, or pain pills not prescribed for you are dangerous to your health. Street drugs can be diluted with substances that are harmful for you. People often put themselves in dangerous situations to get street drugs. If you are using street drugs and would like to stop but are having difficulty, talk to your health care provider.

Step 5: Practice safe living habits

Did you know...

• Accidents and injuries are the fifth leading cause of death in the US among children, they are the second leading cause of death.
• Women under 35 are more likely to die in motor vehicle accidents than from any other cause.
• Accidents in the home cause thousands of permanent injuries every year.

Here are some steps you can take to stay safe:

• The most common accidents are fires, falls, and drownings. Help yourself and your family to stay safe by installing smoke detectors, have your vision checked and learning to swim.
• Stay safe on the road. Wearing a seatbelt dramatically reduces your chances of death in an accident.
• Keep children under 60 pounds in an appropriate car seat or booster.
• Do not ride with someone who has been drinking or drugging.
  Wear a helmet when riding a bicycle or motorcycle.
• Find protection from people who are violent or threatening in your life.
• Wash your hands regularly to avoid the spread of germs.

Step 6: Get regular health care.

• Many people think they only need to see a doctor when they are sick or injured. The truth is, health care providers are also experts at preventing illnesses and finding and treating problems before you ever feel sick.
• Fing a health care provider who works with you.
• Know what diseases you are at risk for and attend regular screenings for them.
• Get yourself and the children in your family immunized against life-threatening illnesses.

source: http://depts.washington.edu/uwcoe/healthtopics/healthylife.html

Depression Can Be Fatal If Left Untreated
By: Eddie Lamb

Who is susceptible to depression? The answer to that is everyone - men, women, children, and the elderly. This illness does not play favorites. It is true that women, on average, are twice as likely to be diagnosed than men; however, men are less likely to seek out treatment. Men tend to commit suicide about four times more often than women. The elderly are another largely untreated population. Their symptoms are often just written off as a result of old age. This is not always the case.

Despite common belief that someone with this illness can just snap out of it at will, this is not true. There is no one thing that is responsible for this disease. It can be genetic and run in families. People with a trauma history and people in chronic pain are susceptible to depression. Other causes include medication and thyroid disease.

When neurotransmitters are too weak or when there are not enough of them, these chemical messengers cannot pass messages between the neurons effectively. You can think of it as being like talking on your cell phone in an area where there is spotty service.

If you or someone you know experience any of the symptoms for more than a two-week period of time, seek medical attention. Some of the symptoms of depression include lack of interest in previously enjoyable activities, isolation, difficulty concentrating or remembering, being irritable, feeling worthless and hopeless, gaining or losing more than 5% of your weight on a month, lack of energy, sleeping too much or having trouble falling asleep and staying asleep, thinking about death and suicide, physical pain, digestive problems, headache and hurting all over.

Other forms of the disorder include postpartum and childhood depression, bipolar disorder and seasonal affective disorder. Postpartum depression can be confusing to new mothers because they feel that they should be happy for having a new baby. In reality, they feel horrible and like they are walking through sludge just to meet the needs of the baby. Children often show that they are depressed through behavior. It is very important to notice and act on any changes in the behavior of children. Children do not usually express how they are feeling verbally because they have not developed the vocabulary to do so. Bipolar disorder runs in families and has periods of elation and dark moods. Seasonal affective disorder (SAD) is caused by lack of exposure to sunlight. Most people with SAD live in the northern latitudes and experience it during the long, dark winters.

The good news is that treatment is possible. In fact, about 80% of people respond to treatment. The most effective treatment is a combination of behavioral therapy and medication. Stress management, meditation, eating right, exercising and taking time to do enjoyable activities act as preventatives.

Depression is not just a harmless illness. It can be fatal if left untreated. It is nothing to be ashamed of and it certainly is not your fault anymore than it is the fault of a diabetic for needing insulin. If someone you know or if you experience any of the symptoms of depression for two weeks, seek medical advice.

source: http://www.articlehealthandfitness.com/articledetail.php?artid=39006&catid=414&title=Depression-Can-Be-Fatal-If-Left-Untreated

10 Ways to Gain Muscle
Get the rewards for your efforts by following these must-do principles.
by Rachel Cosgrove C.S.C.S

1. FUEL UP
Start reading food labels to get a sense of how many calories you're already eating. Then add 500 to that number and start eating that many calories every day. Aim to take in about one gram of protein per pound of body weight each day.

2. LIMIT CARDIO
You can do up to two days of light jogging on the treadmill, but keep it to around 30 minutes per session. To lose fat while sparing muscle, you'd do even better to perform sprint intervals—for instance, running all-out for a minute and then backing off to a light jog for two minutes. Do this for 30 minutes, three times a week.

3. DO LESS
Do no more than 20 sets per muscle group—closer to 12 is even better. Your reps should be between six and 12 per set for the most muscle growth, and your workouts should never last much longer than 45 minutes. In lieu of more volume, use heavier weights and move through each rep at a controlled speed. Your sets should last between 40 and 70 seconds—any less, and you're not tensing your muscles long enough to shock them into growth.

4. USE FULL-BODY WORKOUTS OR A SPLIT ROUTINE
You'll get the best results from your workout by either training the whole body in a single workout or concentrating only on the upper body in one session and the lower body in another. There are advantages to each setup, but both are better than trying to iso- late one muscle group in a single session. Concentrate on lifts that involve lots of muscles at once, such as squats, deadlifts, presses, rows, and pullups.

5. STRETCH
Stretching of any kind (getting into a stretched position and holding it, or moving fluidly in and out of position), using a foam roller (see page 28 for a description), and getting massages will all help keep you flexible, prevent injury, and improve recovery between workouts.

6. EAT REGULARLY
You should be wolfing down five to six small meals a day. As long as good-quality fuel keeps coming into your body—particularly protein and carbs—you'll have the calories to build muscle and the metabolism boost to lose fat.

7. CHANGE EVERYTHING
Every four to six weeks, you need to alter some part of your rou- tine, whether it's the number of reps you do, the amount of time you rest, the exercises you perform, or any other training variable. Keep a journal of your workouts to record your progress.

8. TRAIN THE WHOLE BODY
The more muscles you involve—either in one exercise or one training session—the greater the hormone release you'll get from your training, and that stimulates muscle growth all day long. Hit- ting each muscle group with roughly the same volume (such as five sets of rows after five sets of bench presses) will ensure balanced training, allowing you to grow quickly and safely, avoiding injuries and preserving flexibility.

9. DRINK SHAKES
Surround your workout with nutrition, starting with a high protein- and-carbohydrate meal about an hour beforehand. Mix up a pro- tein shake that has a ratio of about two grams of carbs for every one gram of protein, and sip that throughout your workout. After- ward, finish the drink or mix a new one and drink that quickly. Believe it or not, whole foods are not the best option post workout—they take too long to digest.

10. RECOVER
The ideal amount of sleep is seven to eight hours per night. You can let loose a night or two each week, but when you do, try to make up for it ASAP. Train no more than four times a week. As for your job, do whatever you can to avoid excess stress—chronic nervousness elevates cortisol, a hormone that makes your body store fat and burn muscle.


source: http://www.mensfitness.com/fitness/beginner_weight_training/185

Plaguing the place...

Okay. Don't get it wrong. I'm not a real king or prince of some kingdom in fantasy. Real name's Jan Joseph Bueno. King's only my nick. Please, don't ask how I'd get that nickname. I won't even bother to answer. Yeah. Enough about my name. :))

Anyway, I'm currently a 1st year student of the Alfredo M. Velayo - College of Accountancy at the Pontifical and Royal University of the Philippines, the University of Santo Tomas. Don't even know how I'd got to this program, but well, I'm enjoying it now. :)) I'm not really good at this, you know, introducing myself in the web. And people will be able to read it! Sheesh, now I'm getting shy. LOL. Okay enough of this. If you want to know me better, just be friends with me. :)) Here's my number: 09*********. Just kidding. :p

Okay. This blog is made to be able to share some useful information on how to improve our physique and anything that may be useful in your everyday life. Feel free to browse on each article I'll be publishing. And please, don't forget to leave comments, okay? Thanks! Have a good day! :D