Time of Your Life

Time of Your Life

Do you reflect upon the years gone by
as you prepare for yet one more,
with promises and resolutions
that you have made before?

Do memories of people and places
once as sharp as any knife
now blend in bits and pieces
in a kaleidoscope of life?

Do you squander precious minutes
seeking reasons why you're here,
contemplating your life's purpose
year after passing year?

Persuade yourself to understand,
it matters not the reason.
Your purpose is to seize the life
in every passing season!

Learn to see things differently.
Let your thoughts and actions change.
Allow your views of past and present
to slowly rearrange.

Let your spirit start anew;
become focused and aware
of the moments and the blessings
that surround you everywhere!

Do not permit past memories:
the where…the who…the how
to become more important
than the ones you’re making now.

Live life in person;
inhabit every day.
You may not like where you are now,
but you’re there anyway!

A lifetime is a puzzle,
every failure, each success
adds another jagged piece
to fit together with the rest.

To finish the picture
and view the masterpiece whole,
fill the time of your life
with your heart and your soul.

Acquaint yourself with your feelings
and heighten your senses.
Experience living.
Put down your defenses.

You don't have to know why
you are you, and I’m me.
Believe it is what it is
and it’s how it should be.

You did not choose your date of birth,
nor do you know your last,
so live this gift that is your present,
before it becomes your past.

Linda Ellis, copyright 2011

 

Have a Healthy and Successful end to 2012 and Blessings for 2013

How Much water should I drink?

If you’ve ever tried to lose weight, you’ve probably heard a lot about water and weight loss. Can drinking more water really help you lose weight? The short answer is yes -- and no.

If you’re already well hydrated and getting plenty of water, getting more water into your diet probably won’t make a lot of difference. But if you’re going through your days a little -- or a lot -- dehydrated, as many people are, getting enough water could help. I always get asked how much water a person should be drinking on a daily basis. A general rule is to drink 60-65% of your body weight as a minimum. For example, if you weigh 100 pounds then you should be consuming 60-65oz of water. Now there are many factors on the amount of water that a person should be consuming. If you exercise you should add 10-12oz per 30 minutes of exercise. If you are over weight you should add 8-10oz per 20 pounds of excess weight. If you live in a hot climate you will need to up your intake. If you don't drink enough water that is recommended you may want to increase your intake gradually or you may be spending a lot of time in the bathroom. Here's a little tool help get the right amount of water into your daily diet.

Take the Hydration Calculator Quiz http://bit.ly/TPFG2x

Have a Healthy and Successful Day!

What Eating Too Much Sugar Does to Your Brain

By David DiSalvo, Forbes

 

 

Overeating, poor memory formation, learning disorders, depression – all have been linked in recent research to the over-consumption of sugar. And these linkages point to a problem that is only beginning to be better understood: what our chronic intake of added sugar is doing to our brains.

How Much Sugar Are We Consuming?

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the average American consumes 156 pounds of added sugar per year. That’s five grocery store shelves loaded with 30 or so one pound bags of sugar each. If you find that hard to believe, that’s probably because sugar is so ubiquitous in our diets that most of us have no idea how much we’re consuming. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) puts the amount at 27.5 teaspoons of sugar a day per capita, which translates to 440 calories – nearly one quarter of a typical 2000 calorie a day diet.

The key word in all of the stats is “added.” While a healthy diet would contain a significant amount of naturally occurring sugar (in fruits and grains, for example), the problem is that we’re chronically consuming much more added sugar in processed foods.

That’s an important clarification because our brains need sugar every day to function. Brain cells require two times the energy needed by all the other cells in the body; roughly 10% of our total daily energy requirements. This energy is derived from glucose (blood sugar), the gasoline of our brains. Sugar is not the brain’s enemy — added sugar is.

BNDF Explained

Research indicates that a diet high in added sugar reduces the production of a brain chemical known as brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF). Without BDNF, our brains can’t form new memories and we can’t learn (or remember) much of anything. Levels of BDNF are particularly low in people with an impaired glucose metabolism–diabetics and pre-diabetics–and as the amount of BDNF decreases, sugar metabolism worsens.

The Side Effects

In other words, chronically eating added sugar reduces BDNF, and then the lowered levels of the brain chemical begin contributing to insulin resistance, which leads to type 2 diabetes and metabolic syndrome, which eventually leads to a host of other health problems. Once that happens, your brain and body are in a destructive cycle that’s difficult if not impossible to reverse.

Research has also linked low BDNF levels to depression and dementia. It’s possible that low BDNF may turn out to be the smoking gun in these and other diseases, like Alzheimer’s, that tend to appear in clusters in epidemiological studies. More research is being conducted on this subject, but what seems clear in any case is that a reduced level of BDNF is bad news for our brains, and chronic sugar consumption is one of the worst inhibitory culprits.

Other studies have focused on sugar’s role in over-eating. We intuitively know that sugar and obesity are linked, but the exact reason why hasn’t been well understood until recently. Research has shown that chronic consumption of added sugar dulls the brain’s mechanism for telling you to stop eating. It does so by reducing activity in the brain’s anorexigenic oxytocin system, which is responsible for throwing up the red “full” flag that prevents you from gorging. When oxytocin cells in the brain are blunted by over-consumption of sugar, the flag doesn’t work correctly and you start asking for seconds and thirds, and seeking out snacks at midnight.

What these and other studies strongly suggest is that most of us are seriously damaging ourselves with processed foods high in added sugar, and the damage begins with our brains. Seen in this light, chronic added-sugar consumption is no less a problem than smoking or alcoholism. And the hard truth is that we may have only begun to see the effects of what the endless sugar avalanche is doing Source: http://www.forbes.com/...

See more Nursing Your Sweet Tooth at http://www.hungryforchange.tv/article/what-eating-too-much-sugar-does-to-your-brain

Have a Healthy and Successful Day!

3 Exercises for Bone Health



(source Dr Weil)

Good nutrition (such as adequate calcium intake) is vital to bone health - but so is exercise. Daily exercise can help to prevent and even reverse bone loss, as well as promote stability and balance. Incorporate these forms of exercise into your daily routine to help keep your bones strong and your body flexible:

1. Weight-bearing exercise - try walking, dancing or climbing stairs daily (aim for 30-60 minutes most days).
2. Strength training - lunges, TRX, free weights or weight machines are good choices - contact a professional trainer for personal instruction.
3. Flexibility exercises - tai chi and yoga can improve balance, coordination and flexibility.

Have a Healthy and Successful Day!