Stella is making a difference!

Wow! For all the people who struggle with their self image, this is a perfect example that it's not what's on the outside that makes a person beautiful. Now Stells is helping others with the same challenge she had and making a difference in people's lives! I hop many read Stella's story as there's so much to learn from it!

 

About Stella:

I struggled with body image my whole life. As a young teen, I was diagnosed with Polycystic ovarian syndrome. PCOS makes it incredibly hard to lose weight, and spikes up your insulin levels which can lead to diabetes and other complications. I felt like I was just getting bigger and bigger and could do nothing to stop it. I was so awkward and uncomfortable with what I looked like that I began to self-medicate in the way most teenagers do, except it was to a scary excess. Finally, my parents intervened and when I was 15 I got the help I needed. The past 2 and a half years have essentially been a struggle to come to terms with who I am and live life in a constructive, not destructive manner.
A couple weeks ago, I started a blog, just as a way to get out my thoughts and feelings. I found the body acceptance movement online, and it was like my eyes were open for the first time. I realized that my size or weight is not something to be ashamed of, it is a part of me. Health and weight are not synonymous, and I know that to be healthy means to manage my sobriety and PCOS the best that I can. I may not ever be thin, but that's okay. It's all about progress, not perfection.
So I posted a picture of myself in my underwear with a message to all the people who'd ever bullied me about what I looked like. Amazingly, in less than a week, it got over 50,000 likes and reblogs. It's upwards of 80,000 now, and the response has been 90% positive, I would say.
Two friends of mine, Savanna and Lucy, are in the process of planning a documentary on sizeism and its effect on young girls. My dream is to go back to my middle school, where all my body image issues began, and work with young girls on the issues of self-esteem, body image, sizeism, and bullying. I want to give these girls something I never knew, which was that your body does not define who you are as a person. To people who judge people on their size, weight, pants size or health - shame on you. No one is the authority on beauty, and everyone has a different road to trudge to happy destiny.  

 

You can check out Stella's blog at this link:  http://thebodyloveblog.tumblr.com/

 

Have a Healthy and Successful Day!

 

Relief of PMS Symptoms

There are natural PMS remedies that work wonders for PMS relief of symptoms – IF your endocrine hormonal system is working well.

This is because symptoms of PMS are often considered the result of raging hormones.

Your endocrine system controls your hormones, which affect how you feel – if your hormones are out of whack, you feel out of whack too!

The natural remedies for PMS relief (below) help balance your hormones. They combine all the best natural PMS remedies with a healthy PMS diet. Studies show that most women suffering from PMS symptoms

• Have diets low in certain nutrients, vitamins and minerals,
• Eat too many sweets and salty foods, causing fluid retention,
• Drink too much alcohol and caffeine, altering mood and energy.

So using natural remedies for PMS relief only makes good sense.

The Main PMS Symptoms Reported by Women


Symptoms of PMS (premenstrual syndrome) begin a week or two before a woman’s period starts and tend to go away soon after bleeding begins.

While there are many different PMS symptoms and the symptoms of PMS can vary from woman to woman and even from month to month, here are the 10 most common symptoms of PMS that women experience:

• Mood swings: Tension can create irritability, crying spells or anger. Little annoyances may seem huge and cause lashing out at others.

• Feeling tired: Fatigue is one of the most common PMS symptoms.

• Appetite shifts: Cravings for sweets and salty foods can lead to fluid retention and weight gain. But sometimes there's loss of appetite.

• Tender breasts: Many have sore, swelling breasts or nipples.

• Depression: PMS symptoms include anxiety and depression.

• Poor concentration: Memory and focusing problems are common.

• Abdominal upset: This can lead to constipation, diarrhea, swelling, bloating or puffiness in the stomach, hands and legs.

• Acne flare-ups: Skin may break out just before a period begins.

• Aches and pain: These common symptoms of PMS can take the form of joint or muscle pain, headaches and backaches.

• Sleep problems: Some women experience trouble falling asleep.

But the natural remedies for PMS symptoms below can work miracles by greatly reducing and even eliminate the above symptoms of PMS.

The Best Natural Remedies for PMS Relief


Fortunately, studies show most women get natural PMS relief from symptoms with a hormone-balancing diet and healthy lifestyle. The following natural PMS remedies are both effective and inexpensive.

• Eat healthy food. To greatly decrease your symptoms of PMS, eat a healthy low glycemic diet that includes plenty of colorful fruits and vegetables, whole grains, beans and omega 3 fish. Avoid refined carbohydrates, red meat, bad fats, sweets and excess salt.

• Drink more water. Increase your healthy water intake instead of drinking caffeine, alcohol, juice, sodas and other sweetened drinks. 


• Exercise regularly. Regular physical activity releases natural feel-good endorphins into your brain. A half-hour of exercise a day can greatly reduce both physical and emotional PMS symptoms.

• Reduce stress. Practice good time management, exercise, get a good nights sleep every night and use relaxation techniques, like yoga, meditation and massage for stress management.

• Be more positive. Studies show attitude affects your health and hormone balance. So surround yourself with positive people.


• Take supplements. Certain nutritional health supplements have been shown to help balance hormones and decrease stress, depression and the symptoms of PMS. Take quality multi-supplements that include B-complex, calcium, magnesium, vitamin E and the essential fatty acids, especially omega 3 fish oil.

• And don't smoke. Smoking health risks affect your endocrine system and all other bodily function. If you smoke, quit!

So, if you or women you care about are suffering from PMS symptoms, start benefiting from these natural remedies for PMS relief right away!
(Source from Common Sense Health)

Have a Healthy and Successful Day!

Vitamin Water - The Great Deception!

 

Back in 2008 the soft drink industry found a new fad to profit from. Today, people are catching on that these drinks actually do more harm than good.

In this video report from Mike Adams of NaturalNews you'll discover:

• Why Vitamin Water is mostly just "sugar water."
• Why the vitamins used in Vitamin Water are really just synthetic chemicals.
• How Coca-Cola altered the serving size of the beverage, making the sugar content appear to be less than what it really is.
• Why Vitamin Water advertising and marketing is misleading.
• The shocking truth of how even Coca-Cola's own attorneys publicly admitted that Vitamin Water is not a "healthy beverage." (http://www.naturalnews.com/029425_v...)
• Why one health group calls Vitamin Water "non-carbonated soda" and claim it contributes to weight gain, diabetes, obesity and other diseases.
• What to drink that's far better for you than Vitamin Water.
• Why the fruit flavor varieties of Vitamin Water contain no actual fruit.
• The truth of how Vitamin Water uses the cheap synthetic form of Vitamin B12 - Cyanocobalamin, which contains cyanide molecules.
• Why Vitamin Water is dead, processed food that has been pasteurized.

When supplementing, use only supplements with the highest quality ingrediants and offer the best absorbtion. Don't waste your hard earned cash on products that simply do more harm than good.

Have a Healthy and Successful Day!

Weight Loss and Omega 3

Does fish oil help you lose weight and get healthier than you’ve ever been? Absolutely!

Studies on omega 3 fish oil and weight loss have added another great fish oil health benefit to a long and impressive list.

Research on fish oil for weight loss, fat burning and for depression while dieting show that those who get the most omega 3 fish oil with DHA

• weigh less,
• burn more fat,
• have less obesity,
• suffer less depression,
• and have healthier hearts

than those people who get the least amount of fish oil while losing weight.

And now these benefits of fish oil for weight loss and dieting-depression can be added to all of the other extraordinary fish oil health benefits.

Fish Oil Weight Loss Research for Fat Burning
 


A study done at the University of Georgia found that fish oil with DHA helps to stop the conversion of pre-fat cells into fat cells by causing them to die. This process can help to decrease the accumulation of body fat.


And doesn't that sound like a fantasy dream come true?

You just send in some brave fish oil knights-in-armor to kill off all those big bad fat cells before they can set up a stronghold in your body castle.

And researchers at the University of South Australia found that taking fish oil capsules, when combined with moderate exercise, causes you to lose more weight than exercising without taking fish oil supplements.

Plus, the fish oil group had a far better improvement in their heart health.

Of the 75 overweight adults in the study (ages 25 to 65) those who received daily fish oil supplements had a 10% reduction in bad (LDL) cholesterol levels and a 14% decrease in unhealthy triglycerides.

And research done in Japan found that fish oil reduced weight gain in mice by boosting their fat metabolism, which would also be true for humans.

When two groups of obesity-prone mice were fed high fat diets, those that also received omega 3 fish oil supplements gained less weight and metabolized more fat than the group receiving no fish oil capsules.

"These findings suggest that an up-regulation of intestinal lipid metabolism is associated with the anti-obesity effect of fish oil," they concluded.

Fish Oil and Weight Loss Depression
Researchers have long understood that we need certain healthy good fats in order to keep our hormones in balance, so that WE feel balanced.

Nutritional scientists also understand that our intake of good essential fatty acids helps to keep our metabolism up and running at top speed.

Most dieters abandon their weight loss goals because of overwhelming feelings of anxiety and depression – they just plain feel bad! And studies show that a major reason for "the blues" is lack of omega 3 DHA.

Research published in the Journal of Affective Disorders found "depressed subjects showed significantly lower total omega 3 fatty acids"

This means a lack of fish oil fatty acids greatly contributes to depression.

University of Sheffield researchers in the UK, cut to the chase and summed it up, "Fish oil supplements with DHA alleviate anxiety and depression."

Still another research study found that, when omega 3 fish oil DHA was given to "depressed subjects, compared to subjects in a placebo group, there were highly significant benefits" in just three treatments.

So fish oil with DHA can work very fast to overcome a dieter's depression. And the more fish oil fatty acids people get, the better they feel.


Your Bottom Line for Fish Oil Weight Loss



High quality fish oil supplements offer you all the extraordinary omega 3 fish oil weight loss benefits, plus more, with just miniscule fat calories.

And that’s vitally important to you when every single calorie counts.

So check out my highest recommendation at the omega 3 fish oil web site, and start getting the many fish oil for weight loss health benefits ASAP.



From Common Sense Health

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Bones getting brittle as you age?

As we age, we can experience a loss of bone mass as well as normal wear and tear on the joints. Small preventive measures can help to protect joints and keep bones strong - consider the following supplements and vitamins:
1. Calcium. People who don't get enough calcium may lose bone mass faster and fracture bones more easily. Taking magnesium (half as much as the amount of calcium) with supplemental calcium will help offset any constipating effects. I recommend women supplement with 500 to 700 mg of calcium in two divided doses taken in the Isotonic form. Start with one in the morning and one before bed. Aim for a total of 1,000-1,200 mg from all sources (including diet); most men do not need calcium supplements, but should instead get 500-600 mg per day solely through diet.

2. Vitamin D. Deficiency is widespread in the developed world, which is unfortunate - “D” facilitates the absorption of calcium, helping to support strong and healthy bones. It also promotes bone mineralization. Get regular sun exposure (about 20-30 minutes a day is adequate) and take 2,000 IU of vitamin D per day - look for supplements that provide D3 (cholecalciferol) rather than D2 (ergocalciferol).

3. Vitamin K. It helps activate certain proteins that are involved in the structuring of bone mass. Low intake of vitamin K has been linked to low bone density. You can get adequate amounts of vitamin K through a diet rich in leafy greens and cruciferous vegetables, such as Swiss chard, kale, parsley, spinach, broccoli, cauliflower and Brussels sprouts.

Remember to supplement with only the highest quality supplements. Isotonix supplements have been the best I have found so far.

Have a Healthy and Successful day!

Lung Health for All

Supplements for Healthy Lungs

The ability to breathe properly is fundamental to good health. Don't take the health of your respiratory system for granted, even if you are not a smoker - consider these supplements, which can help to promote lung health:

1. Daily multivitamin. Look for products containing 15,000 IU of mixed carotenoids, including beta-carotene.
2. Vitamin C. This water-soluble vitamin can provide additional protection against the oxidative effects of air pollution and smoke.
3. Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10). This powerful antioxidant can improve the use of oxygen at the cellular level.
4. Cordyceps and reishi mushrooms. These Chinese medicinal mushrooms may be useful in promoting optimal respiratory efficiency and protecting against chronic lung disease.
5. B vitamins. Especially B6, may help protect against lung cancer by supporting immune function.
6. Vitamin D. This fat-soluble hormone may help prevent the cellular changes that promote lung cancer.
7. Aspirin. A daily aspirin may reduce the risk of colon cancer through its anti-inflammatory properties.
8. Mullein. The flowers and leaves of this Mediterranean native can help relieve dry, bronchial coughs and help alleviate chest congestion.
9. Zhu ling (Polyporus umbellatus). This mushroom may be particularly useful in protecting against lung cancer: Research suggests it may help stimulate the body's immune response against lung tumors.

By Dr Weil

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Food additives have become commonplace in our modern diet but do they really “add” any value to our food?

It might be common knowledge to you that most processed foods are not ideal for our health. These foods are often laden with artificial chemicals which can cause all sorts of havoc to our body. Typically these food additives are not easy to identify, as they are hidden under a variety of names and codes and usually in very small font.

To read more click HERE.

Have a healthy and Successful Day!