10 Financial Mistakes Rich People Never Make

I hear people giving financial advice all the time. Most of them aren't rich. Those who are rich would disagree with what many preach. The other day, I came across an article proclaiming, "Skip your lunch, don't buy expensive coffee, cut your hair less often." This is a horrendous way to live your life and it promotes poverty. It's smart to be thrifty, but you don't want to be cheap. You should never do anything that will deprive you from your joy. I promote prosperity--and taking away these simple pleasures will not make you rich. It will drive you to be more frustrated from these unrealistic disciplines. Most of those who profess these antics haven't even made it financially. They just sit at a keyboard in a delusional manner, waiting for a payday that often never happens. Financial advice is freely given by most people, but most of it is horrible. Conversely, the words you are currently reading are written by someone who is a self-made millionaire. Therefore, watch whom you learn from, for it is in your best interest (pun intended). If you're naturally a hard worker with a great career and have been diligent in your affairs, you can have prosperity now. However, you might be asking, "Why haven't I made it yet?" The answer to this question is in the way you think, feel, and act toward your money. Making better money choices can turn your life around. There are certain financial mistakes that rich people never make. The journey to becoming rich will require you to make a few mental changes in your behaviors. Once you make these mental adjustments, you will begin to see the progress as you create more positive results in your life. Acquiring wealth is a great goal, but who you become in the process is even more worthwhile. Here are 10 financial mistakes rich people never make: 1. Not Investing in Yourself - America's first millionaire, Benjamin Franklin, was known for saying, "An investment in yourself pays the best interest." Often, people depend on their employers to buy them books, send them to seminars, or provide them with coaching. However, you must take your education into your own hands if you want to prosper. Invest in yourself. 2. Over-Entertainment - Yesterday, I popped into a local Dave and Buster's to see the grand opening. It was crowded with hundreds of young adults (ages 21-35) who were wasting precious time and money. Most people spend 30-50 percent of their paychecks on entertainment, while they temporarily escape the realities of life. Instead, rich people use that time and money to fund their dreams. 3. Buying on Credit - Many people purchase objects they can't afford with money they don't have to impress people they don't like. This tragedy decimates many people, leaving them with a hopeless feeling when they repay their high-interest loans. If a person hopes to become rich, they will use their credit cards for growing and promoting their business, not funding personal expenditures. 4. Hiding From Your Spouse - Millions of married couples don't talk about money. It makes them uncomfortable, which sometimes leads to arguments. However, you cannot get rich unless you disclose your financial precepts with your spouse. Money is only multiplied when love is in the mix and both members of the household have a clear understanding about their finances. 5. Mortgaging a Home - Some "rich" people mortgage their homes, but they aren't really rich. Mortgaging your home leads to an endless battle of re-financing, bill-paying, and inflation. When you mortgage a home, you're likely to pay twice as much as the original price! 6. Traditional Retirements - Our retirement system is a joke that must be evaded by those who want to become rich. If you're depending on mutual funds, 401(k), and certain life-insurance policies, you'll do better boarding the Titanic. Plus, if you're saving money to enjoy it for your sixties, that's like saving up sex for retirement! Instead, build your fortune while you are young. 7. Buying Inferior Goods - Price shoppers and coupon clippers will hate this, but when you buy shoddy goods, you get shoddy results. If you live by the price, you die by the price. Instead of buying what is "cheap," buy the best goods that are available. Rich people know that buying a $40 shirt which will last for four years is better than buying a $10 shirt that must be replaced every year. 8. Lack of Enjoyment - Consumerism is funny. During 50 weeks at work, people think about vacations and when they finally get their two weeks, they only think about work. The truth about becoming rich is that you must enjoy the money that you already have, whether it's $10 or $100. Your money will only expand if you appreciate it and think about how you can enjoy it more. You'll always get more of what you enjoy. 9. Not Saving - Most people blow their money on miscellaneous goods. When they see 'X' amount in their bank account, they automatically think of what they "need" and purchase it immediately. However, this impulsive behavior must be eliminated. Rich people save at least 10 percent of what they earn and rarely take out personal loans for themselves, even if they think they need it. 10. Working For Money - The majority of people in this world work for money, but rich people let money work for them. They know that their money will be a byproduct of the service that they render to the marketplace. Rich people also acknowledge the fact that their material wealth is the sum total of their entire contribution to society. That's why they never work for money. Making these mental shifts can dramatically alter your life. When you start changing your financial habits and avoiding these mistakes, you will be on your path to be rich. Remember, it's not what you acquire that makes you rich, but who you become in the journey. Start your new journey in 2016. Source: entrepreneur.com, 12/29/15.

The 7 Habits of Highly Unhappy People

If you want to make steps towards being happy, the good news is that you can. Identified here are the actions, choices and habits all contributing to your level of happiness. Below are the 7 habits of highly unhappy people. **Of course, if you are suffering with depression that is completely different from being unhappy and you should seek professional help to get through. 1. They Take the Easy Way Out If there are two roads to choose from, many people will choose the easy way. Sometimes that is okay, but over time, the problem is that the easy way often comes with less reward including self-satisfaction of rising through challenges. As humans, we don’t want any suffering or hardship. We want to feel good. However it is through our struggles that we can appreciate the results. Likewise, we can appreciate our self for the effort put forth. Happy people make it through with effort and are willing to do what it takes to live a happy life. Happy people treat failures as stepping stones to success. Unhappy people can’t handle failing and so they avoid it altogether by quitting. At first, they may be excited to start an endeavor but often lose interest fairly quickly. Follow through is an issue with unhappy people, especially when they encounter setbacks. Unhappy people typically bounce from interest to interest and not really fulfilling their dreams. 2. They Blame and Criticize Others Unhappy people express their unhappiness with themselves in the form of blaming and criticizing others. In blaming and criticizing people, unhappy people feel a few seconds of pain relief and this is the motivation for doing so. The thing is, it doesn’t last more than a few moments. The blaming and criticizing doesn’t really help them to feel better and it is a definite habit of an unhappy person. 3. They Think, Do and Say Negative Things Unhappy people see problems but never the solutions. When things go wrong, they complain. When things go right, they complain. They blame the wind for ruining their hair rather than thanking the sun for a beautiful day. Unhappy people complain, a lot. Unhappy people also think that people are against them. They are quick to blame and exaggerate. They view mistakes as catastrophes. Unhappy people become discouraged easily instead of learning from their mistakes. 4. They Act Before They Think Unhappy people act based on impulse. If something feels good, they go for it. If something feels uncomfortable, they avoid it at all costs. Happy people think through their actions and consider the consequences of their choices. It’s not that they don’t follow their intuition. In fact, they do. But the difference is that they think first. They take a pause when making decisions. Likewise, what happy people know is that discomfort is a part of life. They know that in order to move past it, they need to be with it for a time. So they don’t avoid things simply because some discomfort will be involved. 5. They Try to Bring Others Down To Their Level Unhappy people envy the happiness and success of others. Instead of working hard to achieve their goals, unhappy people gossip and find fault with others in an attempt to bring them down and make themselves feel better. 6. They Talk Much More Than They Listen Unhappy people lack the capacity to truly listen to others. They are too caught up in their own inner unhappy world to hold an empathic space for another person. You will find them talking much more than they listen. 7. They Don’t Play Immersing oneself in activities that are truly enjoyable is a key to happiness. But sometimes just doing nothing is OK too. Happy people do the things they love and know that time doing nothing is not always wasted time. Source: The Power of Happy, 12/17/15.

Top Health and Fitness Apps of 2015

Technology can be your friend and ally in helping you reach your health and fitness goals, especially with the development of increasingly comprehensive and intuitive apps. More than 30 percent of mobile device owners use fitness apps, and usage of such apps increased significantly – by 62 percent – in the first half of 2014. The industry is growing fast. There are already an estimated 100,000 apps for health available, making up a $4 billion market. That is slated to increase to $26 billion by 2017. Of course, your phone or tablet only has so much storage space and you only have so much time not only to use health and fitness apps but also to sort through them. Greatist has tested hundreds of health and fitness apps for you, and their conclusions of the best health and fitness apps are below. If you're looking for a tool to help you reach the next level in your fitness routine, diet, productivity and more, check out the list below. There's an app that will appeal to virtually everyone. Top Fitness Apps 1. FitStar Personal Trainer (Free) Created by former NFL player Tony Gonzalez, FitStar gives you tailored workouts to help you get in shape, even if you don't have a lot of space, fancy equipment, or a ton of free time. Appropriate for beginner to advanced levels, you'll be asked a set of questions at the end of each workout to help assess your needs. This app also comes in a yoga version. 2. Nike+ Training Club (Free) With over 100 workouts developed by Nike master trainers, there's a workout for every fitness level and goal (such as get toned, get strong, get lean, or get focused). Each workout comes with a video tutorial, making your workout plan easy to follow. 3. Runtastic Six-Pack Abs (Free) This app bills itself as a "personal six-pack trainer in your pocket. Anytime. Anywhere." Specially designed to build your core strength and achieve a defined stomach, this app has more than 50 workout videos, tips of the day, customizable training plans, and even music to match your workout and mood. 4. Fitnet (Free) Fitnet has a host of workout videos from personal trainers, but what makes it unique is its ability to measure how well you're keeping up with the workouts. With Fitnet, your device's webcam analyzes your synchronicity with the trainer and provides real-time feedback on your performance. 5. WOD Deck of Cards (Free) WOD (or Workout of the Day) allows you to choose four exercises to focus on (one for each suit in a deck of cards). Then, you keep drawing cards until you finish the deck. 6. Sworkit (Free) This app provides randomized circuit training workouts that you can do anywhere. You choose the length of your workout and the area of your body you want to focus on (such as upper body, core, cardio, full body, or stretching), and Sworkit designs a customized routine instantly. 7. StrongLifts 5x5 (Free) StrongLifts helps you get stronger, build muscle, and burn fat by completing three lifting exercises with five sets of five reps. The app helps you know when it's time to take a break and when to add more weight. Use the app three times a week for best results. 8. Pump Up (Free) Build custom workouts, track your activity, and share photos of your progress using Pump Up. As Greatist put it: "It's Instagram meets Facebook for the health and fitness set. The social platform is the perfect place to post progress photos and motivate other like-minded people to meet their fitness goals." 9. Fitmo (Subscriptions starting from $40/month) Fitmo allows you to access the expertise of a personal trainer from your smartphone or tablet. For $40 a month, your personal trainer will set up a fitness schedule, give you meal ideas, and check in via text messages and video calls. 10. Spring (Free) Spring is a rhythm-based music service for exercise. It creates a customizable playlist with songs in an appropriate range of beats per minute, then, you simply walk or run to the beat. 11. Zombies, Run! 3 ($3.99) If your workouts are lacking in fun get this app, which mixes Zombie games and stories in with your runs. Instead of your normal jog, you'll be completing missions to gather supplies, save humans, and outrun enemies in this zombie-laden world. 12. C25K (Free) Thinking of running a 5K, or just want to be fit enough to do so? This app gives you an eight-week training plan with just three half-hour workouts every week, making getting in shape for a 5K doable for virtually anyone. 13. Charity Miles (Free) As you take more steps throughout your day, you can help your favorite charities in need. Charity Miles donates 10 cents for every mile biked and 25 cents for every mile walked or ran. 14. CARROTfit ($2.99) This app is filled with challenging 7-minute bodyweight workouts, but what makes it worth trying is the virtual trainer's attitude – full of humor, sarcasm, and sass. 15. MINDBODY Connect (Free) Discover and connect with different fitness classes in your area, such as yoga, Zumba, and more) using MindBody Connect. The app lets you sign up and pay for classes in seconds. Top Tracking and Analytics Apps 1 Argus (Free) Argus lets you quantify your day-to-day life by keeping track of your steps, calories, meals, hours of sleep, heart rate, and more, then inputting your data into colorful charts to help you spot trends and areas that need improvement. 2 MapMyFitness (Free) This combination of websites and apps allows you to track your outdoor activities, nutrition, fitness, and more, as well as get real-time info on weather, safer routes, traffic, and more that might impact your workouts. You can also compare your progress with that of friends and local fitness clubs. 3 Endomondo (Free) This app is like having your very own personal trainer available at your fingertips. Along with the "usual" ability to track your heart rate, calories, speed, and distance during a workout, a built in GPS tracks your route on a map. Plus, when you enter your goals, an audio coach will give you feedback while you exercising to keep you motivated, and you can also share your workouts with friends and even track the workouts of your friends in real time. 4 Strava Cycling and Running Track your runs or rides by time, distance, and speed, then connect with a community of fellow runners or cyclers to see who can climb to the highest elevation or post the best photos mid-ride. Top Food and Nutrition Apps 1 Noom Coach (Free) Noom's extensive food database with local foods, packaged items, and restaurant meals makes it easy for you to track your calories and portion sizes to eat healthier and lose weight. Log your meals in seconds and connect with others who are also trying to lose weight and eat healthier. 2 Allergy FT ($2.99) If you have food allergies and are planning to travel, Allergy FT (for "Food Translator") will be invaluable. It allows you to create a profile with your allergies and then translate those allergies into the local language where you'll be visiting. 3 HealthyOut If you'll be eating out, add your location, dietary restrictions, and food preferences into this app to find a list of restaurants to choose from, along with recommendations of the healthiest foods on the menu. 4 Rise ($20/week) If you want to be held accountable for your meals, Rise will pair you with a nutrition coach who will critique every meal and snack you eat. You snap photos of the foods you're eating, then receive suggestions to make them healthier. 5 ShopWell (Free) First, you input some information about yourself, your health goals, and ingredients you want to avoid. Then, you scan barcodes at your grocery store while you're shopping for food. ShopWell will score each food helping you make smarter choices. 6 Ingredient1 (Free) If you're in a food rut and looking to branch out to new ingredients, Ingredient1 lets you input information about diet, food allergies, taste preferences, and certifications (organic, grass-fed, GMO-free), then gives you a list of recommended foods. You can even put together a grocery list and find foods according to what you're craving. 7 OpenTable (Free) Looking to have a nice dinner out? OpenTable lets you search nearby restaurants and make reservations in seconds. 8 Amount ($0.99) Quickly convert everything from currency and clothing sizes to measurements needed for cooking. 9 Mixology (Free) For the occasional alcoholic beverage, Mixology lets you input what ingredients you have on hand and create a drink to match. It also has a section to help you create refreshing non-alcoholic beverages. 10 Kitchen Stories (Free) Cooking from scratch is key to staying healthy, and this app contains dozens of recipes to make homemade meals. Each recipe has step-by-step instructions and even videos for harder techniques. Top Mind and Brain Apps 1 Duolingo (Free) Learn a new language in quick, bite-size lessons you can learn even on the go. Each lesson helps with reading, writing, listening, and speaking skills so you'll be on the fast-track to becoming bilingual. 2 Coach.me ($14.99) Enlist an expert to help you achieve your goals. Your personalized expert guidance will help you establish a plan of action, check your progress, motivate you, and help you overcome hurdles so you can finally reach your goals. 3 Calm ($9.99/month) Calm provides daily guided meditations to help you release anxiety, build compassion, feel more confident, and more. 4 Talkspace ($25/week) Talkspace makes therapy more affordable by connecting you with a licensed therapist for unlimited messaging for $25 a week. Whenever you need to talk through an issue, you can give your therapist a quick text – no need to wait until the "next session." There's even a couples therapy option. 5 Headspace ($12.95/month) Described as "meditation made simple" and a "gym membership for the mind," Headspace guides you through 10-minute daily meditations to help you become more mindful. 6 Yoga Studio ($3.99) With 24 hours of yoga classes at your fingertips, you'll be ready to practice yoga virtually anywhere. This app even lets you create your own class by choosing from certain poses you're trying to master. 7 Lumosity (Free) Take 15 minutes three times a week to improve your memory, attention, and problem-solving skills. Lumosity uses specially designed brain games to provide exercise for your mind. Top Overall Health Apps 1 Sleep Cycle ($0.99) Sleep Cycle uses your phone's accelerometer to measure movement in bed and pinpoint REM cycles in your sleep. Set the time you want to wake up, and Sleep Cycle will gently awaken you during a 30-minute window, while you're in your lightest sleep. 2 Sleep Bug (Free) This turns your phone or tablet into a white-noise machine. Choose from beach, zen garden, classical, jungle, and more, and add sounds (like birds or waves at the beach) as you see fit. 3 Glow (Free) Glow helps women carefully track their menstrual cycle, including ovulation, mood, symptoms, and more. Glow can help whether you're trying to conceive or avoid pregnancy, and there's also Glow Nurture to track your pregnancy. 4 HealthTap (Free) With HealthTap, you can text specific questions about healthy living and get a response back from a doctor. If you have in-depth issues you want covered, you can upgrade to a prime membership ($99/month) and even receive treatment plans from a doctor via your phone. 5 iTriage (Free) When health symptoms hit in the middle of the night, pull up this app and answer a series of questions. iTriage was developed by two ER doctors and will suggest possible reasons for your symptoms as well as give you a plan of action. 6 Vida ($15/week) Vida is a comprehensive app to help you reach your health goals, from losing weight to reducing stress or managing diabetes. You select your goals and the type of coach you prefer (such as drill sergeant or cheerleader), and then you communicate via text and video chat. This app also syncs up with Apple's Health Kit, so you can track your steps taken, hours slept, and more. 7 Twilight (Free) Exposure to blue light from your phone at night can throw off your sleep cycle. Twilight gradually removes the blue light from your phone when the sun starts to set. Top Productivity Apps 1 Sunrise (Free) Integrate all of your calendars into one spot so you can easily keep track of appointments and schedules. You can even connect Sunrise to Evernote tasks, Eventbrite, and Songkick to keep track of tickets you've purchased and more. 2 IF by IFTTT (Free) Free up some valuable free time by enlisting a computer to do some of your menial tasks. You set up "recipes" using the "If this, then that" formula, and it will automatically take care of the rest. For instance, "If I'm tagged in a photo on Facebook, save it to my Dropbox." 3 Evernote (Free) Evernote can collect all your random thoughts for you, helping you to make lists, set reminders, take photos, and write notes. The app syncs to your desktop so you will have access to your notes on all your electronic media, including phone, tablet, and computer. 4 Pocket (Free) Pocket allows you to save any story you see pop up on your newsfeed and read it later on (even if you're not connected to the Internet). 5 Google Keep (Free) The next time you have a random idea or inspiration, use Google Keep to "file" it for later. This app is perfect for taking notes and making to-do lists. You can even record your notes by voice. Put Your Phone into Airplane Mode When Using Apps The Internet is being progressively relegated to a background infrastructure that allows people to access data through apps with an elegant user interface. This is shockingly remarkable when you consider that mobile apps have only been around for several years, but it's also indicative of a technology that's likely here to stay. That being said, exposure to radiation from cell phones and Wi-Fi has been found to alter your brain, contribute to tumor development, and cause numerous other health problems, and for this reason I suggest you limit your use of these devices, especially when it involves holding the device near your head. You can still take advantage of health and fitness apps safely, however, by switching your phone into airplane mode during use. This will minimize any wireless EMF exposure, and you can still access the amazing computer power and convenience of mobile apps. Source: Greatist, 11/28/15.

10 Human Behaviors That Stress Dogs Out

Your pets can become stressed for a variety of reasons. For example, dogs on leashes typically feel stress when they encounter other dogs – especially if the other dog is off-leash. This is probably because it's difficult for our canine companions to greet each other in natural doggy fashion while tethered to us. But what many people don't realize is the extent to which we, as pet guardians, can create stress in our dog. The veterinary publication dvm360 has compiled a list of stress triggers for dogs... and I think some of them may surprise you. 10 Ways to Stress Out Your Dog 1. Punish him for behaving like a dog. Your canine companion is a creature of opportunity, and when you give him opportunities to "misbehave" by leaving tantalizing items within his reach, he'll take advantage. Translation: don't leave food or scraps where he can smell or see them. Don't leave him in the bedroom alone with your slippers or socks. Insure the only opportunities you provide your dog are ones he can succeed at. 2. Tell her "no" over and over. If your dog is doing something she shouldn't be doing, telling her "no" will probably cause her to stop the behavior temporarily. But saying no to a dog without offering an alternative turns your "no" into merely an interruption, not a request or demand. Unless you show your dog what you want her to do instead of what she's doing, chances are she'll be right back doing it sooner or later. 3. Give her a variety of verbal commands for a single behavior. Many pet guardians assume their dog or cat knows English, and therefore knows that "drop it" and "leave it" mean the same thing, or that "get it" and "bring it to me" are the same. Train your dog to respond to simple, preferably single-word commands (sit, stay, come, down, pee, poop, etc.) and then use those words, and only those words, to communicate. Otherwise, you'll create stress in your dog because she knows you want her to do something, but she doesn't know what based on the words you're using. 4. Tell him "it's okay." Many dog guardians tend to say this phrase to their pet when something decidedly not okay is about to happen. For example, you're driving your dog to the groomer, which is a place he's not fond of. You've driven him there often enough that as always, he starts to whine when the grooming shop comes into view. And as always, you say, "it's okay" in an effort to comfort him. The second you utter those words he knows without a doubt where he's going, and his stress level shoots through the roof. "It's okay" becomes a verbal cue to panic. Instead, help your dog learn to relax and cope with anxiety-producing situations. 5. Pull his leash. A dog that has been properly trained to walk on a leash doesn't typically do a lot of pulling, so if you feel the need to constantly yank the leash to redirect him, it's probably time to refresh your pet's leash manners. It's also important to anticipate that your dog will naturally stop and sniff as often as possible, and pull in the direction of someone or something interesting. Be kind and understanding – allow your furry friend a reasonable amount of time to smell and inspect his outdoor territory and pick up his pee-mail without yanking him toward your destination. 6. Hold him while you hug or kiss him. Canines really don't get these human expressions of affection and can be confused by them – especially when the hugger or kisser is a relative stranger. Also, since dogs are typically being held (restrained) during the bear hug or smooch-fest, it increases their stress level. Imagine how you would feel if someone large grabbed hold of you and wouldn't let go. It's not a good feeling and does nothing to generate trust, right? Unless your dog is remaining contentedly still on his own while being hugged or kissed, it's best to stick to stroking and petting, which most dogs can't get enough of. 7. Stare at her. Most people are uncomfortable being stared at by other people, so it's easy to imagine how unsettling it might be for your dog. The canine species views staring as a confrontational sort of a "Let's get ready to rumble" signal, which naturally triggers a stress response. There's no need to stare at your dog unless you're returning her gaze. 8. Point or shake your finger at her. The finger pointing/shaking thing is a universal stress inducer for dogs (and many humans). That's probably because it's usually done while you're standing over your pooch in a menacing posture, or while you're speaking in a tone of voice that signals your displeasure. Many a guilty dog look is the result of the finger-pointing thing, but your pet isn't so much feeling guilty as uncomfortable, wary, confused, and yes… stressed. 9. Tell him to "get down" when he jumps up. If like most people you use the verbal cue "down" to ask your dog to go from a sit to a lie-down position, it's not going to work in situations where he's jumping up on you or someone else (or a piece of furniture). Train him to stop jumping with the verbal command "off" or "paws on floor" instead. You'll save your dog the confusion and stress that comes from trying to understand your command, and you'll potentially save yourself or a guest from a friendly mauling. 10. Wake her up. Unless there's a pressing reason to awaken your four legged family member from a nice snooze, try to avoid it. Being shaken or shouted awake is stressful for all of us. Source: dr. becker @ dvm360, 11/18/15.

What Happens During a Heart Attack?

A heart attack can strike suddenly. Its symptoms are quite common, and many people don't initially realize that they're already having one. At times, there may be only ONE symptom and this makes the heart attack even more difficult to diagnose. But what really happens when you have a heart attack? What Is a Heart Attack? The heart is an extraordinary organ that can still function even when detached from your body, as long as it has an adequate supply of oxygen. It must work relentlessly to pump blood throughout your body. It's vital that your heart receives ample oxygenated blood and the heart muscle can die if it receives an insufficient amount. The loss of blood supply may occur when plaque builds up in your coronary arteries and blocks the blood's flow to your heart. Plaque is made up of cholesterol, fatty substances, cellular waste, calcium, and fibrin. When plaque builds up in your coronary arteries, it can result in coronary artery spasm or atherosclerosis, which is the tightening or hardening that can lead to a blood clot when the plaque ruptures. According to the American Heart Association, a heart attack can also occur when the blood supply cannot reach the heart due to narrowed heart arteries, commonly known as ischemic heart disease. An Unconventional Perspective on Heart Attack. In an article published in December 2014, Dr. Thomas S. Cowan gave us a different perspective on how heart attacks occur. He said that a heart attack occurs not because your coronary arteries are blocked, but rather it is caused by an imbalance in the parasympathetic and sympathetic sections of your central nervous system. Stress is a major reason for the imbalance in your central nervous system. When you experience chronic stress, an emotional sensor will activate your sympathetic nervous system. When your parasympathetic nervous system does not compensate for it, this will result in an unexpected release of adrenalin, a hormone that breaks down the myocardial cells, affecting the blood flow needed by your heart. Hence, a heart attack occurs. The Difference Between a Heart Attack and Cardiac Arrest. It is important to know the difference between a heart attack and cardiac arrest since people are often under the impression that they are the same. Cardiac arrest happens due to the electrical malfunction of your heart which causes an irregular heartbeat and usually occur without any warning. Cardiac arrest is caused by cardiomyopathy or thickened heart muscle, heart failure, arrhythmias, long Q-T syndrome, and ventricular fibrillation. A heart attack may increase the risk of having a cardiac arrest, and is the common reason for its occurrence. What Happens During a Heart Attack? If your heart has been accumulating plaque over the years, it can thicken enough to obstruct your blood flow. You might not readily notice that you already have a narrowed blood flow, because once a coronary artery becomes incapable of bringing blood to your heart, other coronary arteries expand to take care of the incapacitated artery. Plaque is covered in a solid fibrous cap on the outside but its inside is soft due to its fatty contents. If the plaque in your coronary artery is ruptured, the fatty substances become exposed. Platelets rush to the plaque, forming a blood clot (the same thing that happens when you get a cut). The blood clot formed becomes the main obstruction to your blood flow. Your heart becomes starved of oxygen-rich blood, and your nervous system immediately sends signal to your brain about what's going on. You will start sweating and your heart rate will speed up. You will also feel nauseous and weak. As your nervous system sends signals to your spinal cord, your other body parts start to ache. You will start feeling an immense chest pain that slowly crawls to your neck, jaw, ears, arms, wrists, shoulder blades, back, and even in your abdomen. Heart attack patients say that the pain they experienced was like a clamp squeezing their chest, and may last from several minutes to many hours. Your heart's tissues will die if you're not given proper treatment right away. If your heart has stopped beating, your brain cells will die in a span of just three to seven minutes. If you are treated immediately, your heart will start to heal but the damaged tissue will never work again resulting in a permanent slow blood flow. Heart Attack Risk Factors. Every year, 1 in 4 Americans die from heart disease, making it one of the leading causes of death in the US. About 735,000 Americans suffer from heart attack every year, 15 percent of which succumb to death. With these frightening statistics, you should pay close attention to the following risk factors for a heart attack: • Age. Men who are 45 years old or older and women who are 55 years old or older are at high risk. • Tobacco. Prolonged exposure to smoke puts you on a high risk for cardiovascular disease. • High cholesterol levels. If you have high levels of triglycerides and low high-density lipoprotein (HDL), it is likely that you have a greater risk for a heart attack. • Diabetes, especially if it goes untreated. • Family history of heart attack. If someone in your family has a history of heart attack. • Sedentary lifestyle. Being physically inactive leads to high bad cholesterol and plaque formation. • Obesity. If you lose 10 percent of your body weight, you also lower your risk for a heart attack. • Stress. German researchers found that once you experience stress, your white blood cell levels increase. These in turn raise your risk of developing atherosclerosis and plaque rupture. • Illegal drug use. Using cocaine or amphetamines may cause coronary artery spasm. • Preeclampsia history. If you have experienced high blood pressure during pregnancy, your risk of having a heart attack is high. • History of autoimmune disease, such as rheumatoid arthritis or lupus. If you have any of these risk factors, I strongly suggest that you pay a visit to your physician to keep you at bay from heart attack or any cardiovascular disease. Signs and Symptoms of a Heart Attack. Some people may experience mild or no symptoms of heart attack at all – this is called silent heart attack. It happens mostly to people with diabetes. In order to prevent premature heart disease-related death from happening to you, take note of other common symptoms of this deadly condition: 1. Chest pain or discomfort. This is the most common symptom when having a heart attack. Some people may experience a sudden sharp pain, while some may feel just a mild pain. This may last for a couple of minutes or up to a few hours. 2. Upper body discomfort. You may feel distress or uneasiness in your arms, back, shoulder, neck, jaw, or in the upper part of your stomach. 3. Shortness of breath. Some people may experience this symptom only, or it may happen alongside chest pain. 4. Cold sweat, nausea, vomiting, and sudden dizziness. These symptoms are more common among women. 5. Unusual tiredness. You may feel weary for unknown reasons, and sometimes it will last for days. Older people who may experience one or more of these symptoms usually just shrug these off, thinking that these are just signs of aging. However, if you experience one or more of these symptoms, have someone call an ambulance immediately. How to Prevent a Heart Attack. Most cardiovascular diseases are preventable. I recommend these lifestyle practices to help you avoid a heart attack or any heart disease: 1. Eat a healthy diet. - A heart-healthy diet does not mean entirely avoiding fats and cholesterol. As opposed to popular belief, saturated fats and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) are actually good for your body since they are your body's natural source for energy. You also should avoid consumption of processed foods, refined carbs, sugar (especially fructose), and trans fats since they help increase "small" LDL, which contributes to plaque buildup. I recommend the following healthy diet strategies: o Focus on fresh and organic, whole foods. o Limit fructose consumption to 25 grams each day. If you have diabetes, hypertension, or if you're insulin resistant, keep your fructose level below 15 grams per day. o Avoid artificial sweeteners. o Reduce gluten and other allergenic foods from your meals. o Include naturally fermented foods in your diet like dairy and cultured vegetables. o Raise your omega-3 fats by eating wild Alaskan salmon or taking a fish or krill oil supplement. o Always drink pure water. o Eat high-quality saturated and monounsaturated fats from pasture raised animals. o Consume high-quality protein from organically raised animals. Eating healthy may not be enough to keep safe from a heart attack – remember, it's also important to observe how often you eat. That being said, I recommend intermittent fasting that limits your daily eating to an eight-hour window. It helps your body reprogram itself and remember how to burn fat for energy. 2. Exercise regularly. - It is essential that while you are loading up on healthy foods, you are also spending at least 2.5 hours per week doing exercises. 3. Quit smoking. - Smoking causes your blood vessels to narrow and thicken. It also causes blood clots to form that may lead to blood flow blockage to your heart. 4. Avoid alcohol consumption. - Alcohol is high in empty calories and actually makes you fat. Drinking alcohol stops your body from burning fats and calories. As a result, the food that you just ate becomes stored fat. Alcohol also damages your prefrontal cortex, which promotes impulsive eating. 5. Sit as little as possible. - Long hours of sitting have detrimental effects on your health such as a 50 percent increased risk of lung cancer and 90 percent increased risk of type 2 diabetes. To maintain an active lifestyle at home or even at work, I recommend walking 7,000 to 10,000 steps each day. Using a fitness tracker also helps track all your activities for the whole day. 6. Optimize your vitamin D levels. - A deficiency of vitamin D increases your risk for a heart attack by 50 percent. In order to get its health benefits, you must maintain a level of 40 ng/ml or 5,000-6,000 IUs per day. I highly recommend sun exposure as your best source of vitamin D, although some foods and vitamin D3 supplements are considered to be good sources as well. 7. Try Grounding. - Walking bare foot transfers free electrons, which are potent antioxidants, from the earth to your body. Grounding also reduces inflammation throughout your body, as it thins your blood and fills you with negatively charged ions. 8. Free yourself from stress. - A study published in mBio showed that when you're stressed, your body releases norepinephrine. This hormone causes the dispersal of bacterial biofilms that result in plaque rupture. Keeping your heart healthy undeniably makes your life more enjoyable and fruitful. Remember these commonsense strategies so you can avoid a heart attack and keep your cardiovascular system performing at its best. Source: mercola.com, 10/28/15.

Go Ahead and Fidget

Fidgeting is widely frowned upon in certain social situations and is often associated with rudeness or lack of concentration, especially among children. Even the definition of “fidget” comes with a negative connotation. It means “a quick, small movement, typically a repeated one, caused by nervousness or impatience.” This widespread disdain for fidgeting may be unfounded, however, especially as Americans spend increasing numbers of hours in sedentary positions. Since 1950, the number of sedentary jobs in the US increased by 83 percent. And while physically active jobs represented 50 percent of the workforce in 1960, it makes up less than 20 percent today. The average American actually spends 9 to 10 hours of their day sitting, and certain occupations, such as telecommunications employees, spend an average of 12 hours sitting each day. Sitting for too long has been found to increase your risk of death from virtually all health problems, from type 2 diabetes and heart disease to cancer and all-cause mortality. But while even regular exercise does not appear to be enough to counteract sitting’s ill effects, small changes in your daily movement might. For instance, people who walked around for just two minutes out of every hour spent sitting increased their lifespan by 33 percent compared to those who did not. Which brings us to fidgeting. While there’s no doubt that sitting less is crucial for optimal health, fidgeting while you’re sitting may not be such a bad habit after all… Fidgeting May Lower Your Risk of Premature Death A recent study followed nearly 13,000 women for a period of 12 years. The women provided information about their daily sitting time, overall fidgeting, physical activity, diet, and other lifestyle habits. Among women who reported sitting for seven hours or more a day and hardly fidgeting, the risk of all-cause mortality increased by 30 percent. Women who reported fidgeting often fared far better – after sitting for five to six hours a day, their risk of mortality decreased. Further, there was no increased mortality risk from longer sitting time in either the “middle” or “high” fidgeting groups. So if you have to sit for a long period, and you’re a habitual fidgeter, don’t feel bad. This regular movement could very well be lengthening your life. If you don’t ordinarily fidget, make it a point to move often while you’re sitting down. Shift your position, stretch your arms, stand up, and change your posture. Even these seemingly small changes may help. 10 Deskercises You Can Do at Work If you want to kick your fidgeting up a notch, try “deskercise.” The 10 activities that follow were compiled by Cedric X. Bryant, chief science officer at the American Council on Exercise, and John Porcari, executive director of La Crosse Exercise and Health Program at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, for TIME. What makes them so useful is you can get away with doing them in your office without causing a scene and they’re challenging enough to hopefully counteract some of that time spent sitting. 1. Paper Pushups - Place both hands on your desk, walk your feet back to a 45-degree angle and do 12 push-ups. This is good for strengthening your arms. 2. Book Press - To work your triceps, grab a heavy book, hold it behind your head, and then extend your arms up. Drop it back down by your neck and repeat. 3. Shoulder Blade Squeeze - Squeeze your shoulder blades together for 10 seconds, as though you’re trying to hold a pencil between them. Release and repeat. This is good for improving hunched posture. 4. Office Yoga - Keep a yoga mat tucked under your desk and try your favorite positions (like plank or downward dog) for stress relief. 5. Chair Squats - Stand 6 inches in front of your chair, then lower yourself until your behind hits the edge, and then pop back up. This helps tone your backside. 6. Tricep Desk Dips - Facing away from your desk, place your hands shoulder-width apart with your legs extended. Bend your arms then straighten them (mostly), keeping the tension on your triceps (not your elbow joints). 7. Wall Sits - Stand against a blank wall then squat down to a 90-degree angle. Slide back up and repeat. This will help tone your quads. 8. Standing Calf Raises - Hold on to the back of a chair with your feet together. Rise up to raise your calves, hold for 10 seconds, and release and repeat. This is good for strengthening your calf muscles. 9. Get a (Leg) Raise - While sitting, straighten your leg and hold for 10 seconds. Lower it almost to the floor, hold, and repeat it on the other side. This will help to tighten your abs. 10. Phone Pacing - Get a headset for your phone. Every time it rings, stand up and pace while talking. This is good for increasing your daily steps. In addition, moving is important too, not just standing still. I recommend using a pedometer, or better yet, one of the newer wearable fitness trackers that can also give you feedback on your sleeping patterns, which is another important aspect of good health. At first, you may be surprised to realize just how little you move each day. Setting a goal of 7,000 to 10,000 steps a day (which is just over three to five miles) can go a long way toward getting more movement and less sitting into your life. This should be over and above any exercise regimen you may have. Tracking your steps can also show you how simple and seemingly minor changes to the way you move around at work and home can add up. Source: mercola.com, 10/14/15.

A Good Night's Sleep, Revisited

Based on the 2013 poll by the National Sleep Foundation, 25 percent of Americans report having to cut down on sleep due to long workdays. On average, Americans get only 6.5 hours of sleep on weeknights, although 7.25 hours is needed in order to function optimally. Canadians fare slightly better in this regard. On average, Canadians get just over 7 hours of sleep per night. Sleep is imperative for physical and mental health. Remember, cutting back on even just a few hours of sleep every night can have serious, far-reaching effects on your health. As a general rule, children, especially infants, need significantly more sleep than adults. Sleep experts recommend the following for different age groups: • Toddlers (1 to 3 years old ) – 2 to 14 hours a night • Preschoolers (3 to 5 years old) – 11 to 13 hours a night • School-aged children (up to 12 years old) – 10 to 11 hours a night • Teenagers – About 9 hours a night Use your child’s mood as an indicator to determine if he or she is getting enough sleep. Excessive fussiness, irritability, crying, or tantrums are often linked to lack of sleep. Frequent yawning throughout the day is another dead giveaway that your child may need more snooze time. How Much Do Newborns Sleep? Babies do not have regular sleep cycles until they’re about 6 months old. While newborns sleep about 16 to 17 hours per day, they may only sleep for 1 or 2 hours at a time. As babies get older, they need less sleep. However, different babies have different sleep needs. It is normal for a 6-month-old to wake up during the night, and to go back to sleep after a few minutes. To ensure your baby will always get a good night’s sleep, I advise you to follow these safe sleeping habits: • Let your baby sleep on his/her back at night or even during nap time to avoid chances of accidentally rolling onto his/her stomach. • Remove toys or pacifiers with strings or cords from your baby’s crib or sleeping area to prevent risks of choking or strangulation. • Make sure the room’s temperature is not too hot or too cold for your baby, preferably somewhere around 70 degrees Fahrenheit. • Keep your baby’s sleeping area smoke-free at all times. • Reduce your babies exposure to toxins by using only organic beddings and mattresses free from harmful chemicals and chemical flame retardants. These dangerous compounds can also be found in nursing pillows, car seats, changing table pads, high chairs, strollers, portable cribs, sleeping wedges, walkers, and other baby care products. How Much Sleep Is Too Much? Too much of something can be bad for you. While there are a lot of Americans who lack sleep, there are also some who may be sleeping more than they should – a habit that can also have negative effects on your health. In one study, researchers revealed that people in their 60s and 70s who sleep nine hours or more each night have a more rapid decline in their cognitive function than those who sleep between six and eight hours. Surprisingly, the long sleepers (9 hours or more) comprised a large portion (40 percent) of the 2,700 study participants. Another 49 percent were considered normal sleepers (6 to 8 hours), while 11 percent slept just five hours or less. To find out if you’re getting enough sleep, observe how long it takes you to fall asleep. If you fall asleep within a few minutes of your head hitting the pillow, chances are you’re most likely sleep deprived. A well-rested person, on the other hand, will take about 10-15 minutes to fall asleep at night. 5 Simple Secrets to a Sound and Restful Sleep If you’ve been tossing and turning in bed and have been experiencing some difficulty sleeping at night, I recommend giving these simple lifestyle changes a try: • Stop watching television or using any of your electronic gadgets at least an hour before going to bed. The blue light from these devices tricks your brain into thinking it's still daytime and messes up your circadian rhythm. • Do not eat a heavy meal or spicy foods close to bedtime. Try not to eat 2 - 3 hours before going to bed. • Take note of key factors that disrupt your body’s healthy melatonin production. These include electromagnetic field (EMF) sources and too much light in your bedroom. Switch off Wi-Fi devices and reduce the electronics from your room. You can also wear an eye mask or turn off all the lights so you can sleep in total darkness. • Keep the temperature in your bedroom at 70 degrees Fahrenheit or cooler. According to studies, the optimal room temperature for sleep is quite cool, between 60 to 68 degrees F. However, keeping your room cooler or hotter than that range can lead to restless sleep. • Make sure your pillows and mattresses are made from wholesome organic materials that do not contain harsh substances like chemical flame retardants. Studies have shown that flame retardants have numerous side effects, especially in children. In fact, approximately 90 percent of Americans have some level of flame retardant chemicals in their bodies. Source: National Sleep Foundation, 9/28/15.

12 Ways to Make Your Food Last Longer

Each year, American households throw away $640 worth of food apiece, typically because they buy too much or fail to eat the leftovers. The survey, conducted by the American Chemistry Council (ACC), revealed that three-quarters of Americans throw away food once a month while half do so once a week. Most of those polled (79 percent) were concerned with the amount of money wasted by throwing away food, while half said they felt bad tossing food when others worldwide are hungry. A much less pressing concern were the environmental impacts, which concerned just 15 percent of respondents. However, food waste is the biggest collective “item” in US landfills. To keep up with so much waste, some cities have even started composting programs to help keep it out of the garbage stream. ACC’s survey poses just one estimate of food waste. A study by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) found Americans throw away $165 billion worth of food a year, which amounts to up to $2,200 per household. Many Americans succumb to grocery store marketing tactics that encourage impulse buys and larger purchases, yet when they bring such perishables home find they end up spoiling before being eaten. The tips below, from TIME, can help you to make your food last longer so, ultimately, you waste less. 12 Food-Saving Tips 1. Onions - Store these in a paper bag in a cool, dark place (like a garage or basement) as long as the temperature is above freezing. This will keep onions fresh for more than two weeks. Storing onions in old pantyhose is another option and may help keep them fresh for up to eight months (tie a knot in between each one to keep them separate). 2. Cheese - Hard cheeses like Parmesan can last for months if stored properly. Remove the wrapper from the store, wrap the cheese in parchment paper, and follow with a layer of foil. This will help keep in moistness. And if you notice a spot of mold on hard cheeses, don’t throw it away! Simply cut off at least 1 inch around and below the mold spot (keep the knife out of the mold itself so it will not cross-contaminate other parts of the cheese). After trimming off the mold, re-cover the cheese in fresh wrap. 3. Berries - Berries are highly perishable, so eat them quickly for best results. If you need to extend their shelf life by a day or two, rinse them in a mix of one part vinegar to three parts water. 4. Herbs - Herbs stay fresh by trimming the stems then placing them in a glass of water, similar to a bunch of cut flowers. A paper towel or baggie placed loosely over the top, and then stored in the fridge, will help keep them even fresher. 5. Apples - Store apples in your refrigerator in the bottom drawer, which has high humidity. 6. Tomatoes - Tomatoes should be left on the counter and eaten within a couple of days. Storing them in your fridge is not an option, as they’ll lose valuable flavor. But if you’ve accidentally stored tomatoes in the fridge, don’t toss them. Letting them sit at room temp for 24 hours before eating can help to bring back at least some of their flavor. Another option? Use up refrigerated tomatoes in a sauce recipe, where the added flavors from onions, garlic, and basil are likely to cover up the tasteless tomato. 7. Potatoes - Store potatoes in a cool dark place, and if they grow little sprouts, they’re not spoiled – simply brush them off (the potatoes may even taste sweeter as a result). When storing potatoes, keep them away from onions (this will make them spoil faster). Storing them with apples will help keep the potatoes from sprouting. 8. Greens - Heat triggers spoilage in greens, so douse them in cold water when you get home. Then, dry them in a spinner (moisture will also spur rot) and store the dried greens in an airtight bag. Punch about 10 pin-sized holes in each side and store in the fridge. This may help your greens last four times longer than usual. Store salad greens in a bowl covered with plastic wrap, and add a paper towel to help absorb moisture. 9. Eggs - Eggs can keep for up to five weeks in your fridge. Store them in the back of your fridge where it’s cooler (not on the refrigerator door), and leave them right in the container they came in. 10. Grapes - Choose grapes that have bright green flexible stems. Those with brown or dry stems will spoil quickly and not taste as good. 11. Dairy - Heat exposure can cause dairy products to spoil faster, even if the exposure is brief. Consider bringing a cooler or insulated bag with you to the grocery store or farmer’s market so you can keep dairy items cold. 12. Meat - Store meat in the bottom drawer of your refrigerator, double-wrapped if it’s near produce (to prevent leakage). Source: TIME, 9/15/15.

Reverse Disease with 5 Health Strategies

Life is a journey and for most of us health is an important part of that journey, because if you have health challenges your ability to manifest your passions will be seriously impaired. The more I study natural medicine, the more it becomes clear to me that the solution for most illness involves some fairly basic concepts. If you apply these principles early enough with most illnesses you will activate your body's healing response and recover from your illness. In my experience most people who have just started investigating the power of natural medicine fail to comprehensively integrate all of these principles and reap the powerful synergistic benefits they can provide. 1) Safely Access Sun Exposure as Much as Possible - There are many benefits of sun exposure. The UVB in the sun will help your body produce vitamin D, and optimal levels are crucial to prevent diseases like obesity, heart disease, arthritis, asthma, Alzheimer's, and dozens of other diseases. Also, and this is important, if you have cancer or an autoimmune disease like MS, Crohn's, or rheumatoid arthritis, it is absolutely vital to raise your vitamin D to an optimal biological level. Regular sun exposure not only provides UVB but over 1500 wavelengths and we most likely will not fully appreciate the value of regular exposure to many of these wavelengths for hundreds of years. Many people are confused about sun exposure, and don't understand that to reap the benefits they need a significant amount of skin exposed to the sun for their skin to stimulate vitamin D production. Even if you live in a sunny climate during the summer, it is the rare individual that is getting adequate sun exposure. This is typically due to the simple fact that most people have responsibilities during the work week that keeps them indoors, out of the sun. Remember that 15 to 30 minutes of eating outside with almost all of your skin covered, is not going to give you healthy vitamin D levels. The time necessary varies based on your age, weight (as fat tissue sucks up vitamin D), skin color, season, latitude, altitude, cloud cover, and time of day. The range can be anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours. The only way to know for sure is to make sure you never get burnt and to measure your vitamin D blood levels. 2) Drink Clean Water, Free of Toxins - Remember that most municipal water supplies are contaminated with chlorine and fluoride. It is relatively easy to remove chlorine and disinfection byproducts with high quality carbon filters. My favorite is the whole house water filter. The large filters are good for 5 to 10 years but the prefilters need to be changed every month or two. However carbon filters don't remove fluoride very well, so reverse osmosis or distillers are the best option. My favorite is reverse osmosis (RO) as they don't damage the water as much. The downside of RO filters is most have a holding tank that invariably becomes contaminated and needs to be regularly disinfected with chlorine, which is a maintenance hassle. 3) Eat Real Food - Getting proper nutrition is an important step in healing just about any disease. For some diseases, like type 2 diabetes, it will cure virtually every case. It will also prevent and treat most heart disease, cancers, and Alzheimer's. The key is removing the insulin resistance with diet and exercise. So what is the common thread that runs through these diseases? If you are a long time reader you probably know that the answer is insulin resistance. Resolve insulin resistance and you no longer have type 2 diabetes, and you dramatically reduce if not eliminate your risk of cancer, heart disease, and Alzheimer's. The simple key is to EAT REAL FOOD. Ideally growing it yourself is best. Next best is locally grown and organic. But if you can't do this for whatever reason, you still need to eat vegetables. Even non-organic ones are better than no vegetables at all. Avoid most processed foods, and especially sugars and processed grains, or even worse, heated oils. I am not sure which is worse, processed sugar or fats, but the key is to avoid both. That means industrialized polyunsaturated oils in a bottle, like corn or canola oil. Saturated fats like coconut oil are fine, as are olive oil, butter, avocado, and nuts (especially macadamia and pecans). But how do you know if you have insulin resistance? Simple: if you are overweight, have diabetes, high blood pressure, or taking a statin, you likely have it, but to know for sure, have a fasting blood insulin level test. If it's over 5 you're insulin resistant. The most powerful strategy I have ever encountered is to replicate our ancestral eating patterns. Remember, your ancient ancestors never had access to food 24/7 so it makes perfect sense that your genes and metabolism are optimized for regular periods where you don't eat. The key is to restrict your calories to a 6 to 8 hour window, and eat no calories for the remainder of the day. You can drink water, tea, or coffee as long as there is no dairy or sweetener in them. Why is it important to have a long span of time during which you're not eating before bed? Largely this is due to the way your body creates energy, which is through your mitochondria. These tiny bacterial derivatives live inside your cell and are optimized to create energy from the food you eat and the air you breathe. The mitochondria create energy by generating electrons that are normally transferred to ATP (adenosine triphosphate). When you don't have insulin resistance this energy transfer works quite nicely, but when you are insulin resistant or you eat excessively, all hell can break loose. If you eat excessive food and you don't burn the calories with movement fairly shortly after consuming the calories, the electrons back up inside the mitochondria as there is plenty of ATP that isn't being used. The problem is that these electrons are highly reactive and they start to leak out of the electron transport chain in the mitochondria, and if enough electrons leak out they wind up prematurely killing the mitochondria, and then wreak further havoc by damaging your cell membranes and DNA. There are many knowledgeable experts that believe this is one of the keys to accelerated aging. So how can you apply this knowledge? Simple: resolve your insulin resistance as soon as you can, and do not eat for AT LEAST three hours before you go to sleep. Your body will use the least amount of calories when sleeping and the LAST thing you need is excess fuel generating free radicals damaging your tissues. 4) You Must Regularly Move Your Body to Stay Healthy - The average American adult spends about 10 hours each day sitting, and more than 10,000 studies have now confirmed that chronic sitting is a potent independent risk factor for insulin resistance and an early death. Ideally, strive to sit for less than three hours a day, and make it a point to walk more. A stand-up desk is a great option if you have an office job, and a fitness tracker or cell phone can be used to ensure you're getting the recommended 7,000 to 10,000 steps per day. Next, you'll want to incorporate a more regimented fitness routine, and virtually any exercise is better than none. Benefits of high-intensity interval training (HIIT) includes cardiovascular fitness, improved muscle growth and strength, and the generation of "anti-aging" human growth hormone (HGH), also referred to as "the fitness hormone." It also effectively stimulates your muscles to release anti-inflammatory myokines, which increase your insulin sensitivity and glucose use inside your muscles. They also increase liberation of fat from adipose cells, and the burning of the fat within the skeletal muscle. Strength training is also an important component, and is recommended for all ages, including kids and seniors. Gaining more muscle through resistance exercises has many benefits, from losing excess fat to maintaining healthy bone mass and preventing age-related muscle loss as you age. Whatever you choose to do, please do take the time to exercise, and incorporate as much physical activity into your life as you can. 5) We All Need to Sleep Eight Hours to Stay Healthy - Most fail to fully appreciate how important sleep is to their health. I know, as I was one of them. However I have since learned to appreciate the major role that adequate sleep plays in recovery, repair, and optimal healing. I used to think I was immune to needing adequate sleep. I would routinely get less than six hours a night and thought I could function this way. But I've since realized that most adults really need about eight hours of sleep every night. Frequent yawning during the day is a major red flag that you're sleep deprived, as is nodding off when you're reading or in a meeting. If you need an alarm clock to wake up, and you wake up feeling tired and groggy, you probably need to go to sleep earlier (or get more restful sleep) as well. What to Do Next If you apply the 5 principles that I reviewed in this article, you could likely resolve over 80 percent of your health problems. Start today!! Source: The Week, 8/29/15.

7 Myths About Exercise

If you want to be optimally healthy and happy with energy and vitality to spare, exercise is essential. Most people are well aware of this, yet many still don’t make the time for it. Excuses abound; from “not having enough time,” to “if you can’t be consistent, there’s no point in even beginning.” A number of fitness myths may be holding you back. Nutrition Action recently listed 10 exercise myths you’re best off ignoring. Here are the top seven picks, in no particular order. Myth #1: Weight Training Will Make Women Look Bulky - Many women ignore strength training because they don't want to "bulk up." This is a mistake, as gaining more muscle has many benefits, from losing excess fat to maintaining healthy bone mass, and preventing age-related muscle loss as you get older. For a woman to turn into the Hulk, she’d have to be graced with exceptional genes, work out like a professional athlete, and take anabolic steroids, so ending up looking like a man really isn’t a concern for most women. Rounding out your exercise program with strength training will help you optimize all the possible health benefits of a regular exercise program, and that includes “anti-aging” benefits as well. In fact, strength training has a beneficial impact on at least 10 biomarkers of aging. Myth #2: It's Dangerous to Start Exercising When You're Older - You are never too old to start exercising. In fact, research shows that, no matter how old you are when you start, you can gain significant improvements in strength, range of motion, balance, bone density, and mental clarity. For example, consider the following scientific findings: • Even a small amount of exercise may protect the elderly from long-term memory loss and even help reverse some of the effects of aging. • Women between the ages of 75 and 85, all of whom had reduced bone mass or full-blown osteoporosis, were able to lower their risk of falling with strength training and agility activities. • Moderate exercise among those aged 55 to 75 may cut the risk of developing metabolic syndrome, which increases heart disease and diabetes risk. • Among those who started exercising at age 50 and continued for 10 years, the rate of premature death declined dramatically, similar to giving up smoking. • A combined aerobic and resistance exercise program improved physical function, muscle strength, and symptom severity among heart failure patients. Exercise will also help you avoid weight gain, which tends to creep up on you as the years go by. As noted in the featured article: “It’s a matter of reduced physical activity levels and lower metabolic rate caused by a loss of lean body mass [muscle],’ says JoAnn Manson of Harvard Medical School. ‘The lifelong loss of lean body mass reduces our basal metabolic rate as we age,’ says Arkansas’s William Evans. ‘It’s a very subtle change that begins between ages 20 and 30. The percentage of body fat gradually increases, and it produces an ever-decreasing calorie requirement.’” Muscle cells burn more calories than fat cells, so simply carrying more muscle on your frame helps you use up more calories even when you’re not exercising. Myth #3: Walking Is Useless - Chronic sitting is the new smoking, raising your risk of an early death from poor health independent of your fitness and other lifestyle habits. The medical literature now contains over 10,000 studies showing that frequent, prolonged sitting — at work, commuting, and watching TV at night — significantly impacts your cardiovascular and metabolic function. Walking more is an excellent remedy that virtually everyone would benefit from, even if you have a regular fitness program. My personal recommendation is to: a) limit sitting to less than three hours a day, and b) walk 7,000 to 10,000 steps per day, over and above any regimented exercise you may be doing. A fitness tracker can be a helpful tool to ensure you’re hitting your mark. Once you’re in the habit of walking more, consider switching up the pace, interspersing bouts of speed walking followed by more casual strolling. Numerous studies show that it is this intermittent high and low intensity that appears to produce the most significant results. So simply by exerting yourself intermittently when walking, you can dramatically increase the return of your effort without spending any extra time on it. Walking is also an excellent option if you’re so out of shape and/or overweight that the very idea of exercising seems too daunting to even attempt. Walking is among the easiest exercises to perform, no matter what your age or fitness level. Myth #4: You Have to Exercise Long and Hard to Lose Weight and Improve Fitness - Lack of time is usually at the top of the list of excuses for why people don’t exercise. They think they need to carve out at least an hour several times a week to see results, but nothing could be further from the truth. Research tells us conventional cardio is actually one of the least effective modes of exercise. Instead, high-intensity interval training (HIIT) — which requires but a fraction of the time — has been shown to be FAR more efficient and effective, compared to longer, slower cardio workouts. There are many versions of HIIT, but the core premise involves maximum exertion followed by a quick rest period for a set of intervals. The elliptical machine is a useful exercise tool when doing HIIT, although you can use a recumbent bike or no equipment at all. Exercises such as push-ups, burpees, jump squats, and walking/sprinting for example, can be done at high intensity intervals. You can also turn your strength training exercise into a high intensity one by slowing down your movements. Ideally, you'll want to perform HIIT exercises two or three times a week. Each session totals up to just four minutes of intense exertion, and you can be completely done in about 20 minutes. Here, you actually want to avoid exercising too frequently. Doing HIIT more than three times a week can be counterproductive, as your body needs to recover between sessions. Instead of time, the focus is on intensity. Myth #5: You Can Target Fat Deposits with Spot Training - Many have fallen for the misconception that exercising an area will result in fat loss in that area. As the fat starts accumulating around the waist, they’ll start doing sit-ups, and when nothing changes, they give up altogether. If this sounds like you, please reconsider your approach, because spot training doesn’t work. As noted in the featured article: “Abdominal and hip exercises can strengthen and tone the muscles. But those muscles are underneath the layer of fat that gives the appearance of flab. Only losing weight can get rid of excess fat, and where you lose the weight depends on your genes. Losing weight around the waist is easier than losing it at the hips.” If your goal is to shed excess fat, intermittent fasting combined with high intensity interval training is an excellent way to start. Again, if you’re too out of shape to attempt HIIT right away, begin by walking, and then adding in bouts of faster walking. Eventually, you’ll get to the point where you can do one, two, or more intervals of HIIT on an elliptical or recumbent bike. Work your way up to six or eight sets of intervals. Myth #6: If You Don’t Need to Lose Weight, There’s No Point in Exercising - While weight loss tends to be a side effect of exercising, it’s certainly not the only, or even the primary, reason for exercising. Modern fitness research offers many potent reminders that physical activity is one of the best “preventive drugs” for many common ailments, from psychiatric disorders to heart disease, diabetes, and cancer. For example, one meta-review of 305 randomized controlled trials comparing the effectiveness of exercise versus drug interventions on mortality outcomes found that medications were no better for treating diabetes and heart disease than exercise. One of the key health benefits of exercise is that it helps normalize your glucose, insulin, and leptin levels by optimizing insulin and leptin receptor sensitivity. This is one of the most important factors for optimizing your overall health and preventing chronic disease, and may explain why exercise is such a potent preventive medicine. Exercise also helps lower triglycerides and raise HDL cholesterol, both of which are important for lowering your risk of heart disease. In short, exercise is preventive medicine, although you may not realize exactly which diseases you’re preventing in the long run. Beyond that, it also adds to your general quality of life. Sleep and mental health, for example, are two areas that can greatly benefit. Those who succeed at maintaining good health into old age typically have one thing in common: a healthy diet and regular exercise is part of their daily lifestyle. It’s not an on-and-off proposition to fit into a particular garment for a special occasion. I recently wrote about how to make exercise a life-long habit, and one of the ways to do this is to reframe your ideas on the rewards of exercise. Instead of aiming for a particular number on your scale, shift your focus to the immediate rewards — i.e. how you feel right after exercising. Most will feel refreshed, more energetic, and clearheaded, allowing you to function at home, at school, or at work with greater ease and less stress. By noticing how exercise simply makes you feel “better,” that very same day, can help you embrace exercise as part of your lifestyle. No matter what weight you end up at, exercise is bound to pay dividends. Myth #7: No Pain No Gain - While high intensity exercise is an important component of a well-rounded and effective program, it’s a mistake to think you have to work out at maximum intensity all the time. As noted earlier, this can backfire, as your body needs time to recuperate between sessions. It’s also a mistake to think that exercise must hurt or somehow be excruciatingly difficult in order to work. As noted in the featured article: “[M]oderate-intensity exercise lowers the risk of dying just as much as high-intensity exercise. The trick is making sure that the exercise is at least moderate-intensity — that is, equivalent to walking at a pace of three to four miles an hour.” This does not mean you ignore low intensity movement. You need both to be optimally healthy. One way is doing ideally around 7,000 to10,000 steps a day of walking. As with other medications, it’s important to get the dosage right. Too little, and you won't get much benefit. Too much, and you could potentially do harm. For example, extreme endurance cardio, such as marathon running, can actually damage your heart. Your heart is designed to work hard, and will be strengthened from doing so, but it's only designed to do so intermittently, and for short periods. Two recently published large-scale, long-term studies have shed much needed light on the subject of optimal exercise dosage. After analyzing exercise data from 661,000 adults and 14 years’ worth of death records, they were able to figure out how various “dosages” of exercise impacted mortality. Not surprisingly, people who didn’t exercise at all had the highest risk of premature death. However, they found that among those who did exercise regularly, there was a “Goldilocks zone” within which people gained the greatest rewards. Any more and any less resulted in declining rewards. The ideal amount of exercise, providing the highest reduction in mortality risk, was 450 minutes per week (just over an hour a day) of moderate exercise, such as walking. Compared to non-exercisers, they lowered their risk of premature death by 39 percent. Those who got up to but no more than 150 minutes of moderate exercise per week lowered their risk of early death by 20 percent. Those who consistently got 150 minutes per week lowered their risk of death by 31 percent. Interestingly, those who exercised at 10 times above the recommended level — about 25 hours a week — gained no more mortality reduction as those who met the guidelines of 150 minutes per week! The second study focused on intensity. Health survey data from more than 200,000 adults was pooled, and the exercise that each person engaged in was qualified according to intensity. They found that people who spent more than 30 percent of their exercise time in strenuous activities gained an extra 13 percent reduction in early mortality, compared to those who always exercised at a consistent pace. As reported by The New York Times: “[A]s in the other study, they found that meeting the exercise guidelines substantially reduced the risk of early death, even if someone’s exercise was moderate, such as walking. But if someone engaged in even occasional vigorous exercise, he or she gained a small additional reduction in mortality.” Make Exercise a Daily Part of Your Life Making time for exercise is an important part of self-care, without which you’ll be less capable of attending to the needs of others. Viewing it as just another part of life, on par with brushing your teeth and washing your hair, can really help improve the quality of your life. Should your weight happen to be an issue, it’s likely to improve providing you incorporate some high intensity exercises. And if you don’t need to lose weight, remember there’s so much more to gain than a few less pounds. Exercise may mean the difference between being unable to move when you reach your senior years, or ripping up the dance floor on your 75th birthday. Depression, which affects about one in 10 Americans, can also be alleviated with the help of exercise. In fact, a number of studies have found the effectiveness of exercise to meet or exceed that of antidepressants. Ideally, you want to incorporate a variety of activities, including core-strengthening exercises, strength training, stretching, and high-intensity activities into your rotation. Also remember that intermittent movement is equally (if not more) critical for maximizing the quality of your life. Chronic, undisrupted sitting — even if you maintain an optimum fitness program — has been found to be an independent risk factor for premature death. Source: Nutrition Action, 8/10/15.

10 Signs You Need a Vacation

Americans are taking fewer vacation days than they did 15 years ago, often not taking all of their earned vacation days, according to a survey by the US Travel Association. But the decision to put work over family and friends can lead to burnt bridges among personal relationships that can make your life richer for decades to come. The survey revealed that seven out of 10 respondents skip kids’ activities, birthdays, and vacations in favor of work, while, paradoxically, 73 percent said spending time with family makes their lives richer and more meaningful. Another survey found Americans use only 10 of their average 14 days of vacation a year, and while about one-third of Americans report feeling stressed out at work, most won’t take a vacation day because of it. In short, many Americans find it hard to find a suitable work-life balance that allows them to pay the bills and earn financial security while still spending time with family and having ample free time for their own sanity. If it’s been awhile since your last vacation, you may be starting to feel it. Lack of adequate time off can manifest in many mysterious (and not so mysterious) ways, as the list below, compiled by TIME, explains. 10 Signs You Need a Vacation 1. Little Problems Seem Huge - When you’re in a good place mentally and emotionally, you can handle those daily curveballs that come your way – with ease and even your fair share of finesse. But if you’re overly stressed, forget about it. Even small nuisances will seem overwhelming and may cause you to snap at co-workers or clients unnecessarily. 2. Coworkers Ask if You’re Alright - You probably spend a lot of time around your colleagues, and they may be among the first to notice that you’re not acting like yourself. Maybe you’re unusually cranky, quiet, or tired instead of your chipper self. This is a sign that a long weekend is calling your name. If you can’t take a longer vacation, at least try to fit microbreaks into your day by walking outside for five or 10 minutes. 3. You’re Making Mistakes - Workplace errors are often the result of chronic stress. This can be problematic for your reputation and job security or, depending on your line of work, potentially deadly to those around you (such as if you work in the medical field). If you notice you’re making an unusual number of mistakes, arrange for some time off to regroup. 4. You’re Overly Cynical - Those who are most successful at work have about six positive experiences for each negative one. A ratio of three to one (in favor of positive) is about the bare minimum you need to stay happy at work. If that ratio gets flipped and you’re finding your work unfulfilling and frustrating without any positive merits, it could be due to impending burnout. 5. You’re Engaging in Counterproductive Work Behaviors - Arguing with co-workers, taking extra time at lunch or breaks, or “borrowing” office supplies are examples of “counterproductive work behaviors”. These behaviors are linked to high levels of workplace stress, and they may manifest weeks or months after the most stressful periods (such as a busy season). Time off may be a welcome cure and might even give you time to seek out other opportunities. 6. You’re in Physical Pain - Workplace stress, particularly heavy workloads, negative work environments, and obstacles that prevent you from completing your work, are linked to pain levels in employees. Stress also promotes inflammation and pain sensitivity, which is why recurring backaches, headaches, eye strain, and other aches and pains are signs that a vacation is long overdue. 7. Your Stomach’s Upset - An upset stomach and other digestive issues can also be manifestations of overwork and stress. The latter can even lead to changes in the bacteria in your gut that can make you prone to stomach issues. 8. You Have Trouble Sleeping - Excessive work stress and burnout can increase the chances of sleep problems, including difficulty falling asleep and staying asleep. People who are overworked have more trouble unwinding at the end of the day and also are more likely to report daytime sleepiness. 9. You End Your Day with a Glass of Wine - Regularly using alcohol as a coping mechanism may be a result of too much stress at work. Those experiencing chronic stress and burnout may be more vulnerable to using alcohol and food as ways to ease stress in favor of healthier options like exercise. 10. You Lost the Sense of Purpose of Your Work - A more serious sign of burnout is losing perspective of why you’re working in the first place. You may not see any benefits, when in fact your job benefits your community, your country, or your family. If you can’t remember why you wanted your job in the first place, schedule a break from your daily grind soon. What Do You Stand to Gain from Taking a Vacation? You’ve seen what might happen if you don’t take a vacation, but what might happen if you do? According to research from the University of Calgary, taking a vacation (or even participating in leisure activities) can actually reduce depression. A separate study found sharing vacation experiences with your loved ones is a valuable contributor to family cohesion. Immersing yourself in a different culture may also foster creative thinking and improve well-being. Whether your vacation is down the street or across the globe, you’ll enjoy numerous mental and physical health benefits both during your trip and upon your return. Surprisingly enough, even though many Americans forgo their annual vacations, 24 percent believe a vacation is a birthright… so go and take your vacation!! Source: Time Magazine, 7/30/15

7 Things Emotionally Successful People Do Differently

Your emotional health is at the crux of your quality of life. Without happiness, hopefulness and well-being, it’s difficult to reach your full potential and embrace each day as it comes. Your emotional health is also intricately tied to your physical health, such that an emotionally imbalanced person will be at a greater risk of chronic diseases and acute illnesses like colds and flu. One study found, for instance, that happiness, optimism, life satisfaction, and other positive psychological attributes are associated with a lower risk of heart disease. It's even been scientifically shown that happiness can alter your genes. A team of researchers at UCLA showed that people with a deep sense of happiness and well-being had lower levels of inflammatory gene expression and stronger antiviral and antibody responses. There is some research to suggest that some people are born naturally happier than others. In one study of nearly 1,000 pairs of adult twins, researchers at the University of Edinburgh suggested that genes account for about 50 percent of the variation in people's levels of happiness. The underlying determinant was genetically caused personality traits, such as being sociable, active, stable, hardworking, or conscientious. But this does not at all suggest that you're born with a certain emotional “personality” and powerless to change it. Anyone can improve their level of “emotional success,” and your environment and life circumstances also play a role, as there are many other indicators of emotional well-being outside of your genes (or your age). 7 Habits of Emotionally Successful People In many ways, your level of emotional success is based on your own choices and attitudes. While some people are able to roll with the punches, others get easily sidelined by challenges along the way. In order to “toughen up” emotionally, such that you’re able to live your life feeling naturally strong and confident in your choices (and in yourself), try some of these 7 habits of emotionally successful people. 1. Take Control - Rather than sitting back and letting life happen to you, take control and decide to make things happen for you. Take calculated steps to achieve your goals and desires. 2. Be Flexible - Life is likely to throw you a few curveballs. Will they throw you off course? Being flexible means you have an open mind and will adjust to whatever life throws your way. 3. Learn from Your Mistakes - Mistakes often offer valuable lessons that you can use to improve yourself in the future. Treat them as tools for improvement rather than letting them define you. 4. Create Specific Goals - Students who set goals earn twice as much money as those who do not. Further, those who set clear, written goals were earning 10 times as much. Setting and writing out your goals helps you to have a clear direction and plan for achieving your dreams. 5. Accept Yourself - Strength comes from within, so learning to accept yourself is crucial to being happy. Resist the urge to look for acceptance from others. Once you’re comfortable and strong in your own sense of self, relationships and success come naturally. 6. Keep Your Stress in Check - If you’re under stress, it’s harder to control your emotions. Figure out what works for you to keep your stress levels under control (exercise, talking with a friend, alone time, etc.), and be sure to engage in it regularly. 7. Let the Little Things Slide - Stressing over circumstances you can’t control or which don’t really matter in the big picture will drain your mental reserves and wear you down. Resist the urge to become a control freak and instead let go of the little inconveniences, upsets, and disappointments that come along the way. Choosing to Be Happy What you’ll notice about the habits above is that these are primarily choices you can make for yourself. It's thought that genetics account for about 50 percent of your "innate" happiness while life circumstances make up another 10. The rest (40 percent) is under your control, and the first step to harnessing it is to choose it and believe you can be happy. Research shows, that when people were told to attempt to feel happier when listing to music, they were (as opposed to those who were told to simply relax). It was the intention to become happier that made a difference. Consider your emotions as a form of energy. According to Dr. Bradley Nelson, when you feel an emotion, what you’re really sensing is the vibration of a particular energy. Each emotion has its own vibratory signature, and when intense emotions are felt, they can become trapped in your body, much like a ball of energy. These “balls of energy” can become lodged just about anywhere in your body, where they can then cause disruptions in your body’s energy system, which underlies your physical system much like an invisible matrix. Your body cannot tell the difference between an actual experience that triggers an emotional response and an emotion fabricated through thought process alone—such as when worrying about something negative that might occur but has not actually happened, or conversely, thinking about something positive and pleasant. The latter, of course, will help your body to express many of the health benefits associated with happiness, while ruminating or focusing on negativity can literally manifest disease. The Health Benefits of Happiness Happiness not only feels good… it’s physically good for your body. Research has found that positive emotions –including being happy, lively and calm -- appear to play a role in immune function. One study found that when happy people are exposed to cold and flu viruses, they’re less likely to get sick and, if they do, exhibit fewer symptoms. The association held true regardless of the participants’ levels of self-esteem, purpose, extraversion, age, education, body mass or pre-study immunity to the virus, leading the lead researcher to say: “We need to take more seriously the possibility that positive emotional style is a major player in disease risk.” Further, in a study of nearly 200 heart failure patients, those with higher levels of gratitude had better mood, better sleep, less fatigue, and less inflammation, which can worsen heart failure, than those with lower levels. What this means is that investing in your own happiness should not be viewed as a self-indulgent luxury. It represents an important piece of the puzzle when it comes to piecing together your overall health. Your mind can only take so much stress before it breaks down, yet many neglect to tend to their emotional health with the same devotion they give to their physical well-being. Happiness is associated with a smile, sadness with a frown, but researchers have recently been able to use technology to visualize how your emotions manifest inside your body. Researchers in Finland asked 700 volunteers from Finland, Sweden, and Taiwan to think about one of 14 predetermined emotions, and then paint the areas of a blank silhouette that felt stimulated by that particular emotion. Using a second blank silhouette, they were asked to paint in the areas that felt “deactivated” during that emotion. The experiment showed that emotions tend to be felt in ways that are generally consistent from one person to the next, irrespective of age, sex or nationality. As reported by The Atlantic: “The mapping exercise produced what you might expect: an angry hot-head... a depressed figurine that was literally blue (meaning they felt little sensation in their limbs). Almost all of the emotions generated changes in the head area, suggesting smiling, frowning, or skin temperature changes, while feelings like joy and anger saw upticks in the limbs—perhaps because you’re ready to hug, or punch, your interlocutor. Meanwhile, ‘sensations in the digestive system and around the throat region were mainly found in disgust,’ the authors wrote. It's worth noting that the bodily sensations weren't blood flow, heat, or anything else that could be measured objectively—they were based solely on physical twinges subjects said they experienced… [T]he results likely reveal subjective perceptions about the impact of our mental states on the body, a combination of muscle and visceral reactions and nervous system responses that we can’t easily differentiate.” 9 More Strategies to Stay Emotionally Healthy It’s clear that your emotional state is intricately tied to your physical and mental states. So what can you do to stay emotionally healthy? Like achieving physical fitness or a healthy weight, this is an ongoing process… something that must be tended to each and every day. The good news is that small steps add up and can make a major different for your emotional health. Tips for emotional nurturing include: 1. Be an Optimist - Looking on the bright side increases your ability to experience happiness in your day-to-day life while helping you cope more effectively with stress. 2. Have Hope - Having hope allows you to see the light at the end of the tunnel, helping you push through even dark, challenging times. Accomplishing goals, even small ones, can help you to build your level of hope. 3. Embrace Your Quirks - Self-deprecating remarks and thoughts will shroud your mind with negativity and foster increased levels of stress. Seek out and embrace the positive traits of yourself and your life, and avoid measuring your own worth by comparing yourself to those around you. 4. Stay Connected - Having loving and supportive relationships helps you feel connected and accepted, and promote a more positive mood. Intimate relationships help meet your emotional needs, so make it a point to reach out to others to develop and nurture these relationships in your life. 5. Express Gratitude - People who are thankful for what they have are better able to cope with stress, have more positive emotions, and are better able to reach their goals. The best way to harness the positive power of gratitude is to keep a gratitude journal or list, where you actively write down exactly what you’re grateful for each day. Doing so has been linked to happier moods, greater optimism and even better physical health. 6. Find Your Purpose and Meaning - When you have a purpose or goal that you’re striving for, your life will take on a new meaning that supports your mental well-being. If you’re not sure what your purpose is, explore your natural talents and interests to help find it, and also consider your role in intimate relationships and ability to grow spiritually. 7. Master Your Environment - When you have mastery over your environment, you’ve learned how to best modify your unique circumstances for the most emotional balance, which leads to feelings of pride and success. Mastery entails using skills such as time management and prioritization along with believing in your ability to handle whatever life throws your way. 8. Exercise Regularly - Exercise boosts levels of health-promoting neurochemicals like serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine, which may help buffer some of the effects of stress and also relieve some symptoms of depression. Rather than viewing exercise as a medical tool to lose weight, prevent disease, and live longer – all benefits that occur in the future – try viewing exercise as a daily tool to immediately enhance your frame of mind, reduce stress and feel happier. 9. Practice Mindfulness - Practicing “mindfulness” means you’re actively paying attention to the moment you’re in right now. Rather than letting your mind wander, when you’re mindful you’re living in the moment and letting distracting or negative thoughts pass through your mind without getting caught up in their emotional implications. Mindfulness can help you reduce stress for increased well-being as well as achieve undistracted focus. Source: mercola.com, 7/15/15.

Top Summer Foods for Health

Cooling foods tend to be in-season with abundance during the summer months. Most “green” foods, including vegetables and fruits, qualify, although some are better than others. To give your body a refreshing break from summer’s heat, focus on eating these cooling foods. 1. Sprouts - Sprouts may be small, but they are packed with nutrition, including vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and enzymes that help protect against free radical damage. They’re an inherently cooling food and are perfect for adding to salads, either in addition to or in lieu of salad greens, and sandwiches and are especially tasty in combination with fresh avocado. You can also add them to your vegetable juice or smoothies. 2. Watermelon (and Other Melons) - Watermelon is more than 91 percent water. This means that eating watermelon on a hot summer day is a tasty way to help you stay hydrated and avoid dehydration. Watermelon is also an excellent source of lycopene, with upwards of 6,500 micrograms in less than half a cup. Lycopene's antioxidant activity has long been suggested to be more powerful than that of other carotenoids, such as beta-carotene. Watermelon also contains citrulline, which in your body is converted into L-arginine, which is a precursor to nitric oxide. Nitric oxide may help your vessels stay relaxed and open for blood flow, which is one reason why it may help lower blood pressure. It’s rich in anti-inflammatory substances. For instance, watermelon contains the anti-inflammatory antioxidant lycopene as well as cucurbitacin E, or tripterpenoid. This blocks the activity of the pain and inflammation-causing enzyme cyclooxygenase – the same enzyme blocked by COX-2 inhibitors, which include most NSAID drugs like aspirin and ibuprofen. It’s not only watermelon that’s beneficial to consume in the summer – other melons, like cantaloupe, muskmelon, and honeydew, are also beneficial. 3. Cucumbers - Cucumbers are made up of about 95 percent water, making them an ideal hydrating and cooling food. Cucumbers may also help to “cool” the inflammatory response in your body. Cucumbers contain numerous antioxidants, including the well-known vitamin C and beta-carotene. They also contain antioxidant flavonoids, such as quercetin, apigenin, luteolin, and kaempferol, which provide additional benefits. For instance, quercetin is an antioxidant that many believe prevents histamine release—making quercetin-rich foods “natural antihistamines.” Kaempferol, meanwhile, may help fight cancer and lower your risk of chronic diseases including heart disease. Cucumbers also contain multiple B vitamins, including vitamin B1, vitamin B5, and vitamin B7 (biotin). B vitamins are known to help ease feelings of anxiety and buffer some of the damaging effects of stress. 4. Tomatoes - There’s good reason to regularly include tomatoes, another cooling food, in your diet, as they are rich in flavonoids and other phytochemicals that have anti-carcinogenic and other healthy properties. They’re also an excellent source of lutein, zeaxanthin, and vitamin C (which is most concentrated in the jelly-like substance that surrounds the seeds) as well as vitamins A, E and B-complex vitamins, potassium, manganese, and phosphorus. Tomatoes are also a particularly concentrated source of lycopene. In addition to lowering your risk of stroke, lycopene from tomatoes has also been shown to be helpful in treating prostate cancer. 5. Rhubarb - Rhubarb is high in fiber, which is why it’s long been used for soothing stomach ailments and relieving constipation. A one-cup serving of rhubarb provides high levels of vitamin K, vitamin C, vitamin A, and calcium, along with folate, riboflavin, niacin, B vitamins, and pantothenic acid. Rhubarb also provides important minerals, including manganese, iron, potassium, and phosphorus. Due to its sour flavor, rhubarb is often found in recipes alongside sugar and other sweeteners. But a healthier (and far more cooling) way to consume it is by juicing raw right into your fresh vegetable juice. Remember, only the stalks can be eaten; rhubarb leaves are poisonous due to high levels of oxalic acid. 6. Dandelion Leaves - Dandelion leaves contain vitamins A, C, and K, along with calcium, iron, manganese, and potassium. They also have antioxidant properties and contain bitter crystalline compounds called taraxacin and taracerin, along with inulin and levulin, compounds thought to explain some of its therapeutic properties. Dandelion leaves can be used in salads, soups, juiced, cooked the same way as spinach, or dried (with flowers) to make dandelion tea. 7. Citrus Fruits - Oranges, grapefruits, lemons, and limes are all beneficial to add to your summer diet. They’re rich in fiber and vitamin C and also contain additional antioxidants known as flavonoids that may play a beneficial role in fighting heart disease, cancer, and inflammation. Citrus fruits can be incorporated into vegetable juice, used in salad dressings, squeezed over veggies, or used to make lemon/lime water. You can also peel and eat them. 8. Bananas - Bananas contain dopamine, a natural reward chemical that boosts your mood. They're also rich in B vitamins, including vitamin B6, which help soothe your nervous system, and magnesium, another nutrient associated with positive mood. In addition, bananas are a good source of fiber, vitamin A, and antioxidants. They also contain fructooligosaccharides (FOS), which are a type of prebiotics that help nourish beneficial bacteria in your body while enhancing your ability to absorb calcium. 9. Watercress - Last but not least, watercress is another cooling vegetable that’s perfect for a hot summer day. It may actually be the most nutrient-dense vegetable out there, scoring higher on nutrient density scores than both broccoli and sunflower sprouts. Based on 17 nutrients— including potassium, fiber, protein, calcium, iron, thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, folate, zinc, and vitamins A, B6, B12, C, D, E, and K. Watercress, which is a close cousin to mustard greens cabbage and arugula, can be eaten as a salad green, steamed as a vegetable, added to soups and sandwiches, or, my favorite, sprouted. There are many more beneficial summer foods that are not listed here. If none on the list strike your fancy, other cooling foods for the summer months include: Spinach, Summer squash, Lettuce, Cabbage, Bok choy, Celery, Mint, Asparagus and Cilantro. Source: mercola, 6/30/15.