8 Ways to Keep Healthy Everyday

1. Drink milk.
Calcium gives your bones strength. However, if you're lactose-intolerant or just can't stand or abide the taste of cow's milk, go for soy milk. In Singapore, soy milk brands offer lots of variety. You can even alternate between soy and dairy milk so you get the best of both worlds.

2. Exercise regularly.
Running, jogging, playing sports-it doesn't matter what physical activity you choose. The clincher is to do whatever it is regularly. You have to give your body time to remember, to build muscle memory. Running once or twice every two months isn't going to cut it. Training your body to be healthy takes time. Make it a routine.

3. Have a healthy diet.
When you're young, you think you've got license to eat as much as you want of anything: burgers, steaks, ham, bacon and more. You're really not thinking about how many calories are being lodged into your arteries or worried about heart failure or diabetes or kidney failure. But you should be. Start eating healthy if you want to get more enjoyment-more energy, more time-out of your life.

4. Don't let stress get you down.
Stress is a normal part of your professional and personal life. The trick is not to let it control you. Find ways to alleviate the stress or cut down on it. If you think it's your work or someone causing you undue stress, then maybe it's time to find a new job or a new way of dealing with that person.

5. Think positive.
It's a cliché for a reason: it works. So make an effort to put yourself in a positive frame of mind every day. It might take a lot of effort and might not work every time but it's worth it. Positive thinking makes you feel better about a lot of things in the world and even helps you develop invaluable emotional resilience in life.

6. Go for regular check-ups.
Being healthy doesn't stop when you're feeling healthy. Get yourself into the hospital for annual checkups.

7. Sleep right.
Sleep gives you energy. And sleeping regular hours helps you stay healthy. So don't compromise on your sleep. If you have to, make sure you always make up those sleepless nights. After all, you concentrate more and have better attention at work when you've had a good night's sleep than if you haven't.

8. Laugh a lot.
Sometimes, all a tense situation needs is a laugh. Being able to laugh at yourself, your mistakes and at the simplest things in life, is a great ability. Not everyone can do it. And doing it helps a lot in keeping you sane and healthy in life-physically and emotionally.

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Weight Loss As Simple As 1, 2, 3

Why is it so hard for most people to lose weight? Is it genetics or hormonal? Sometimes. Is it overeating? Could be. I believe it to be one thing, at least 85% of the time, and that is not knowing their Numbers. When I mean by number is their BMR number. Regardless how you like to think about weight loss, it still comes down to one simple principle. Keep your caloric intake lower than what you burn daily. So here are three steps to make weight loss as simple as 1, 2, 3.

1. Know your BMR. BMR or Basal Metabolic Rate is the amount of calories your body burns just for you to be able to stay alive. So if you are burning an average of 2000 calories a day without exercise or any extracurricular activity, your body EXPECTS 2000 calories via food consumption so it can use those calories to keep you alive the next day. By decreasing your calories by 250-500 calories a day, forces your body to make up the difference in calorie consumption by using 250-500 calories of stored fat. This is called CALORIC DEFICIT. Keep this up every day and you can lose ½ pound to one pound without breaking a sweat. Use this formula:

• Women: BMR = 655 + (4.35 x weight in pounds) + (4.7 x height in inches) - (4.7 x age in years)
• Men: BMR = 66 + (6.23 x weight in pounds) + (12.7 x height in inches) - (6.8 x age in years)

After you calculate your BMR, subtract 250-500 from your BMR. REMEMBER, do not lower your calories below 1200 calories for women and 1500 for men

2. 80%/20% Rule: Eating totally healthy SUCKS! Let's be honest. So instead of trying to become the lean chicken King or the Salad Queen, try enjoying some of your favorite guilty pleasures as along as it is with your calorie range you just calculated. Understanding that 3500 calories equals one pound, as long as you stay within your numbers you will lose weight. YES!

3. If you want to lose more than ½ pound to one pound a week, EXERCISE but eat more: The downfall of many fitness enthusiast is they do a calorie restriction meal plan to lose weight, but also exercise leaving their net calorie intake below 1200 for women and 1500 for men. This is a recipe for disaster. You have to take in more calories so your body will not go into starvation mode AKA fat holding mode. So to know your numbers far as with exercise, use the Activity Factor with your BMR then subtract 500-1000 calories from your total number (BMR x AF). NOW You can allow your body to burn more calories for greater weight loss. The steps are to take your BMR (without subtracting the 250-500 calories) and multiply by your Activity Factor. Here is the formula: Your BMR X Activity Factor.

• Sedentary (little or no exercise): BMR x 1.2
• Lightly active (light exercise/sports 1-3 days/week): BMR x 1.375
• Moderately active (moderate exercise/sports 3-5 days/week): BMR x 1.55
• Very active (hard exercise/sports 6-7 days a week): BMR x 1.725
• Extra active (very hard exercise/sports & physical job or 2x training): BMR x 1.9

Now subtract 500-1000 calories from your total number. REMEMBER, do not lower your calories below 1200 calories for women and 1500 for men.

Weight loss should never be complicated. If you know your BMR, and try not to be so restrictive with your eating habits and add in extra calories if you are wanting to exercise along with your caloric restriction; you will lose weight as simple as 1,2, 3

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How To Eat Healthy And Lose Weight Fast In 10 Easy Steps

How do you get quick results to lose weight while eating healthy? It's an easy answer, but not always easy to do. Exercise. Watching what you eat and how much you eat will put you on the right track to lose unwanted pounds. Adding extra activity and exercise will increase the fat cell breakdown. Learning how to eat healthy and lose weight fast will positively affect your overall health and lifestyle.
How To Eat Healthy And Lose Weight Fast In 10 Easy Steps
1. Portion Control. Use your hand as a reference when judging portion sizes. The palm of the hand is the size of a protein based food. The closed fist is the appropriate size of carbohydrates. Fingers spread out wide or a "jazz hand" indicates how much fruit and vegetables should be consumed in a meal.
2. Go low on dairy. Small amounts of dairy are more appropriate since dairy is heavy with calories and fat grams.
3. Water intake. Drink water throughout the day and whenever you are thirsty. Keeping your body hydrated will aid in metabolism and energy. Water flushes out toxins and aids in digestion and absorption. Fat cells don't have a chance to produce when water is flushing out what the body does not need.
4. Processed food. Keep away from processed food when possible. Pre-packaged food lacks nutrients and adds excess sodium and calories to your system.
5. Indulge in vegetables. Eat a variety of vegetables and leafy greens everyday. They will burn fat cells and keep the blood clean from illnesses.
6. Boost energy with fruit. Fruit and berries are packed with antioxidants and give you quick and lasting energy. The sugar fructose is present in fruit and can help to satisfy sugar cravings.
7. Juicing wheat grass. Extreme caution and education should be warranted when using wheat grass. Wheat grass suppresses the appetite and melts fat cells rapidly. It is bursting with nutrients that fight off diseases.
8. Stay away from sugar packed beverages. Soda pop, energy drinks, and fruit juices that are not 100% juice are loaded with sugar. Excess sugar adds calories and encourages fat cell production.
9. Sprout your seeds and grains. Sprouted foods are 200% more nutrient dense than the food itself. Sprouted foods like wheat, lentils, beans, broccoli, and sunflower seeds suppress the appetite, give the body rapid and sustainable energy to burn fat cells.
10. Fish and seafood. Fish should be consumed 2-3 times a week. Fish is rich in omegas and protein. Fish is low in calories and encourages fat cell reduction

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10 Tips for Exercising in Your Office

Working in an office these days often involves a lot of sitting and staring, and when you're not doing that there's a high chance you'll be screen-watching on the bus or train, or sitting on your behind staring out at the road home in your car.
This is one of the increasing number of factors that can contribute to an unhealthy lifestyle without you realising, and not exercising due to inconvenience can be a tough habit to break out of.
However, there are plenty of ways you can keep yourself active while at the office, and although they can't replace the great exercise you can get after work (such as at a 24 hour gym) they are a great start to getting your body moving more.

1. Try this while sitting at your desk: straighten your legs and cross one over the other. Raise them and press the top leg down and resist with the other. Then repeat with your legs crossed the other way.


2. A crazy idea and maybe one that will lead to better office relationships, but how about standing up and going to visit a colleague at their desk instead of emailing them?


3. Use an exercise ball instead of a chair, no matter how comfy you find your office throne! There are plenty of interesting exercises you can do on these things, but you might have to find out whether it fits with the office's furniture policy first!


4. Have regular team meetings in which you have to stand? Don't just rock from side to side impatiently, perform subtle leg and ankle exercises! With a straight leg, lift a foot off the floor, and flex your ankle with the toes pointing up. Then point your toes down by extending your ankle. Do this ten times then switch to the other foot.


5. Why waste time at the office photocopier seeing if the magnetic paperclip-holder still works? Lean onto the copier with your hands and stretch your legs, one at a time, up to meet your back. Do this ten times and before you know it you're a little more limber and your prints are ready!


6. You should already have a water bottle from which you're drinking at least 1.6 litres (for women, 2 litres for men) of water a day. Take that good habit and make another out of it by using your filled water bottle as a handy dumbbell!


7. See if you can get an adjustable stand-up desk at your work station. It's important to stand whenever at all possible, to prevent poor posture. You can end up burning as many as 50 more calories an hour by standing instead of sitting.


8. Consider putting a mini-stepper beneath your desk for a sure-fire way to discreetly improve your posture and leg muscles. Not recommended for use with the aforementioned exercise ball, unless you have truly excellent balance.


9. Get out at lunch time! What's that you say? It's cold? Even better! Studies show that you burn even more calories when cold, so head out for a brisk stroll when you can.


10. Finally, know that the above isn't enough. Sure, these mini-exercises can help improve your posture and muscles throughout the day but they are no replacement for proper exercise that gets your heart beating and your muscles flexing. If you want to see true gains in your body and performance, get yourself down to a 24 hour gym after work and start putting the effort in. You'll be pleased with the results!

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Struggling With Hormones and Weight Loss

Fat around the stomach is a big issue that lots of Americans encounter. In fact, belly fatty tissue is one of the most dangerous kind of fat deposits. Excess weight around the belly can boost your chances of developing diabetic issues, cancer cells, heart problem and stroke. Not simply is belly fat deposits unappealing, but it could be a key indicator of a hormonal discrepancy.

Belly fat could be a sign of a number of hormonal imbalances including:

A decrease in testosterone levels in men.

Elevated testosterone or DHEA levels in women.

Estrogen dominance in both genders.

Adrenal dysfunction in both genders.

In order to reduce belly fat, one must engage in regular exercise, consume a healthy diet, receive plenty of sleep and address any hormonal imbalances that may be associated with your weight gain.

In order to lower belly fat deposits, one need to engage in normal physical exercise, take in a healthy diet regimen, get plenty of rest and resolve any type of hormone imbalances that could be linked with your weight gain.

More youthful women, specifically those taking care of PCOS, are also having problem with excessive weight around the waistline. This is particularly risky due to the fact that it can enhance the danger of a girl establishing diabetes or heart disease.

Abdominal fat cells can increase the aromatization of testosterone into estrogen. When estrogen levels rise, the likelihood of retaining more fat around the abdominal region becomes more of a reality. Hormones and weight gain can create a vicious cycle of blood sugar dysregulation as well hormonal imbalances.

Male testosterone levels begin to become lower as the result of stress, aging and obesity. In today's world, men are experiencing a decrease in testosterone levels much earlier in life than ever before. Lower testosterone levels are the result of insulin resistance as well as an increased risk of metabolic syndrome and diabetes.

Study performed at the University of Washington indicates that men with reduced testosterone degrees are much more likely to develop abdominal fat. Analysts additionally located that switching out shed testosterone can help to help in the fatty tissue loss procedure. Specialists at Yale College discovered that also slim women with high cortisol levels were most likely to still experience fat deposits around the waistline.

Struggling with hormones and weight loss can be a challenge. Diet and exercise are often your best defense against weight gain and can help you to lose unwanted weight. However, it is important to remember that hormonal imbalances can make weight loss challenging even when you feel you are doing everything right. Testing for hormonal imbalances can beneficial to help ensure successful weight loss.

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Let's Talk About Shame

For the past three weeks, as I have been traveling through the south of India, I have found myself on an abundance of overnight trains, planes, cabs, and rickshaws.

This has left me with plenty of time for self-reflection, and as an incredibly introspective person by nature, this is truly sacred time for me.

For the past few months leading up to this trip, I kept "seeing" Brene Brown's book, "The Gift of Imperfections" everywhere. It was mentioned in multiple conversations, appeared in my Facebook feed, and has shown up as suggested reading for me on Amazon over and over.

Whenever something of this nature happens, I take it as a strong message from my guides, spirit, the universe, whatever, that I need to listen up, pay attention, and in this case, read!

As someone who very much relies on her intuition, to me, synchronicity is like a wink from the universe!

As I started to dive into this book, I learned that Brene Brown has dedicated her life to studying difficult human emotions like shame, fear, and vulnerability, and her book is all about loving yourself throughout the process of owning your story.

Ah-ha! There it is! Got it!

Thank you universe for once again being so timely with your messages!

For far too long, I felt totally alone and ashamed of my struggles. I had a degree in nutrition, and had spent an inordinate amount of time not only in school, but of my own accord, reading everything I could get my hands on about what to eat and why.

After all, healing the body through natural foods is one of my greatest passions.

Yet, despite all of this, I was totally struggling with my relationship to food and my body. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't seem to get my behaviors in line with my knowledge.

I would fluctuate between compulsive bingeing and then attempting to restrict to "fix" what I had done, which would only lead to more bingeing. For years, I felt totally out of control, and stuck in a viscous cycle, which had conditioned me to feel incredibly negative towards myself and my body.

I couldn't even bring myself to say the words binge eater or emotional eater out loud because I was too filled with embarrassment, shame, and fear around anyone knowing how hard it was for me.

Well guess what... I really just don't give a f**k anymore.

I have come an insanely long way since that time, in fact, it is like night and day. And if I stay quiet and stuck in feeling shameful around "my story", I am doing a HUGE disservice to all the women who I feel called to serve, all the women, who I know, I can truly help.

Here's the thing about being a human... we struggle!

We all have different ways of taking the edge off. Some people numb out with food, while others use alcohol, drugs, sex, relationships, money, work, gambling, chaos, shopping, perfectionism, the internet. The list is endless and it is truly all one in the same. Struggling is a part of universal human experience and there is really no way around it.

In Brene Brown's book, she gives us three things that we need to know about shame:

1. We all have it. Shame is universal and one of the most primitive human emotions that we experience. The only people who don't experience shame lack the capacity for empathy and human connection.

2. We're all afraid to talk about shame.

3. The less we talk about shame, the more control it has over our lives.

There is a real power in embracing imperfections and vulnerabilities. In being OK with all your scars and humanness. One of the things that really helped me to let go of some of the shame that I was harboring around my food crazy days, was finally reaching out to someone and talking about it.

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Top Tips for Dieting on a Budget

When you want to lose some weight in order to enjoy a healthier lifestyle it may seem too expensive. It is the bug-bear of many that processed food is cheaper than fresh fruit and vegetables and attending a weekly slimming or exercise class seems to cost the earth. If you are in this position then you'll be glad to know that you can lose weight on a budget.

1. Slimming Clubs
If you need the support and motivation that comes with being part of a recognised slimming group then you need to minimise the costs while enjoying the benefits. The majority of clubs offer a monthly or longer term "pass" or "subscription" where you pay for a bulk of classes at once and this entitles you to a discount on what you would have paid each week. If you can do this by joining up on pay day when you have more funds available then this may be the sensible choice.

For those who don't want to or simply can't afford to attend classes some slimming groups offer online membership which works out cheaper again.

2. Food
The bane of all slimmers is the cost of food. Ridiculously food seems to cost more when you are trying to lose weight than when you aren't so bothered. Fresh fruit, vegetables and meat are expensive however there are ways around this. Shopping around for cheaper food is the way forward. You may find that greengrocers, veg box deliveries and stores such as Lidl or Aldi are significantly cheaper than buying healthy foods in bulk from big name supermarkets. If you simply don't have time to shop around then do an online shop, compare prices as you go while making sure you aren't missing any healthy offers and use discount codes and deals where you can.

3. Exercise
When trying to lose weight your food intake and exercise routines go hand in hand. A gym subscription may be costly however if you are on certain benefits it may be worth looking to see whether you are entitled to a discount membership as the majority of swimming pools certainly offer these. Again, if time is an issue or if you simply just can't face the gym at the end of a long day then exercise from home. There are hundreds of exercise DVDs that you can may from eBay or the car boots sales or use your home console, such as a Wii or an Xbox with Kinect to help you lose weight and tone up on a budget.

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Requirements To Building Muscle Effectively

Building muscle isn't tough, but it does require time, commitment, and some intelligence for most of us. Some people are naturally muscular, lean, and strong but that doesn't describe me and it probably doesn't describe you since you are reading this.

Here are the three requirements to build muscle effectively: exercise, rest, and nutrition.

The exercise part is the most obvious to people. Resistance exercise does work best, either free weights, exercise machines, rubber exercise bands, or similar. Now you can potentially build muscle with aerobic exercise, for example build big muscular legs through skiing or biking a lot, but that is a side effect of that type of exercise and to build an evenly muscled body you need some type of resistance exercise program. Now it just might be that you work construction or do other work that involves physical labor and get your exercise that way, but that is not most of us. Most of us have fairly sedentary jobs.

Of the options available to most of us, free weights certainly work best. Although machines etc. have their place and you can even use them exclusively, you will see the most benefits the fastest from free weights. Make sure you have someone show you the ropes: a personal trainer, a gym employee, etc. and be careful to avoid poor form as injuries are more likely then.

Also of course get a medical doctors okay before starting any exercise program! This is critical.

Rest is also important. Did you know that muscles do not grow when you exercise, but when they are recovering during rest periods between workouts? It is common for beginners (and others) to be too "gung ho" and over train. Severe soreness, lethargy, and moodiness can be symptoms of overtraining. Some soreness is certainly OK, and you will learn to tell "good" soreness and "bad" soreness apart quickly.

You need to make sure you do not work each body part too often per week, too hard at each workout, and that you get adequate sleep. I find that I need more sleep when I have extra heavy workouts. Also factor in other exercise you may get, including sports and aerobic exercises.

Nutrition is critical! As the saying goes, you cannot out train a bad diet! Protein requirements are perhaps the most obvious as they go up, but general healthy eating and nutrition is even more important when building muscle.

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Big Weight Loss Tips

You'll find that there are many different ways to lose weight and it can be confusing figure out what you need to do in order to achieve a large amount of weight loss. There are actually things that you can do that will turn out to provide and maximize your fitness results.

Giving up soda is one thing that you can do in order to achieve a great amount of losing weight. There have been studies that have shown that giving up soda can result in losing up to 26 pounds in one year. That is great news as it will help get rid of a lot of sugar and other artificial sweeteners from your diet.

Constant snacking is another thing that you should give up if you're looking to lose weight. You want to make sure you're giving up snacks like chips and candy and trading them in for fruits and vegetables. By choosing healthier stacks you are going to be losing a great amount of weight than a few were to continue with unhealthy treats.

Giving up desserts is another thing that you can do if you're looking to lose weight as efficient as possible. By giving up the sweet and sugary treats you'll be able to lose a great amount of weight so again you will want to trade them in for healthy alternatives so you do not feel like you are not being able to treat yourself. By being able to do this you will see great results in your fitness journey.

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The Obesity Impact on Society

The Obesity Impact on Society






In this section of Seattle Organic Restaurants I want to talk about life threatening side effects of obesity. Currently 72 million adults and 12 million youth in the US are obese and 144 million people in the states are obese or overweight. Being overweight and obese causes a wave of chronic diseases with long term serious health consequences.





Development of obesity and overweight in early ages has major early impact in accumulation of plaques and clot in the artery. Parents should be aware of the dangers of childhood obesity and should apply early life changing habits for their kids. Early obesity prevention is so important in preventing childhood obesity and unfortunately if theobesity isn’t prevented in young ages the consequences can be devastating in the adulthood life of the child. Large waves of chronic diseases are waiting for the new generation of kids with obesity and we should change the early life style habits of our kids. Life style changes include changing eating habits and increasing physical activity. The foods with high level of cholesterol and saturated fat increase the LDL. Reducing the intake of saturated fat in meat, dairy products and backed or fried foods can significantly reduce the level of bad cholesterol.





A recent study shows that a group of people whomaintained a healthy weight (from the age of 25 to middle age)were less likely to develop cardiovascular diseasethan those who gained weight from the age of 25 to middle age. Before the scientists thought that the blood pressuregoes up by age, now the recent studies prove that the high blood pressure has more to do with weight than age.


As a rule of thumb the blood pressure usually goes up about 0.1 every year after the age of 25, but there was no change in blood pressure of people who maintained a stable body mass. People who also maintained a healthy weight after the age 25 to middle age had stable sugar level and insulin in their blood. However people who gained weight had higher level of triglycerides (bad fat), blood pressure and cholesterol level than those who maintained a healthy weight. Increase in triglycerides directly increases the chances of cardiovascular disease. Helping people to maintain a healthy BMI will surely prevent a wave of chronic diseases that come with obesity such as cancer,cardiovascular disease and diabetes.





The scientific evidences show a solid prove that gaining weight and obesity directly increase the wave of chronic diseases that lead people to heart attacks and strokes. Every year cardiovascular disease causes over 800,000 DEATHS by itself in the US and currently we are spending 500 billion dollars a year on the health consequences of heart problems.


The upcoming cardiovascular disease is a direct result of obesity and being overweight. The health care as we have today isn’t affordable and in a decade from now there would be millions of new patients who have heart attack or strokes in an environment that we cannot afford.

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