10 Easy Fitness Tips

1. Start your day with a Healthy breakfast.
Breakfast fills your "empty tank" to get you going after a long night without food. And it can help you do better in school. Easy to prepare breakfasts include cold cereal with fruit and low-fat milk, whole-wheat toast with peanut butter, yogurt with fruit, whole-grain waffles or even last night's pizza!

2. Get up and Get Moving!
It's easy to fit physical activities into your daily routine. Walk, bike or jog to see friends. Take a 10-minute activity break every hour while you read, do homework or watch TV. Climb stairs instead of taking an escalator or elevator. Try to do these things for a total of 30 minutes every day.

3. Enjoy Healthy Snacks.
Snacks are a great way to refuel. Choose snacks from different food groups - a glass of low-fat milk and a few graham crackers, an apple or celery sticks with peanut butter and raisins, or some dry cereal. If you eat smart at other meals, cookies, chips and candy are OK for occasional snacking.

4. Work up a sweat.
Vigorous work-outs - when you're breathing hard and sweating - help your heart pump better, give you more energy and help you look and feel best. Start with a warm-up that stretches your muscles. Include 20 minutes of aerobic activity, such as running, jogging, or dancing. Follow-up with activities that help make you stronger such as push-ups or lifting weights. Then cool-down with more stretching and deep breathing. No need to spend a fortune at the health club. Buy some inexpensive home fitness equipment and burn those calories without leaving the house!

5. Balance your food choices - don't eat too much of any one thing.
You don't have to give up foods like hamburgers, french fries and ice cream to eat healthy. You just have to be smart about how often and how much of them you eat. Your body needs nutrients like protein, carbohydrates, fat and many different vitamins and minerals such as vitamins C and A, iron and calcium from a variety of foods. Balancing your food choices will help you get all more of these essential nutrients.

6. Get fit with friends or family.
Exercise is much more fun with friends or family. Encourage others to join you and plan one special physical activity, like a bike ride or hiking, with a group each week. Make it a weekly habit. Enjoy the time with family and friends.

7. Eat more grains, fruits and vegetables.
These foods give you carbohydrates for energy, plus vitamins, minerals and fiber. Besides, they taste good! Try breads such as whole-wheat, bagels and pita. Spaghetti and oatmeal are also in the grain group. Bananas, strawberries and melons are some great tasting fruits. Try vegetables raw, on a sandwich or salad.

8. Join in physical activities at work or school.
Volunteer to coach the school baseball team. Join the office basketball team or tennis league! Whether you take a physical education class or do other physical activities at school, such as intramural sports, structures activities are a sure way to feel good, look good and stay physically fit.

9. Foods aren't good or bad.
A healthy eating style is like a puzzle with many parts. Each part -- or food -- is different. Some foods may have more fat, sugar or salt while others may have more vitamins or fiber. There is a place for all these foods. What makes a diet good or bad is how foods fit together. Balancing your choices is important. Fit in a higher-fat food, like pepperoni pizza, at dinner by choosing lower-fat foods at other meals. And don't forget about moderation. If two pieces of pizza fill you up, pass on a third.

10. Make healthy eating and physical activities fun!
Take advantage of physical activities you and your friends enjoy doing together and eat the foods you like. Be adventurous - try new sports, games and other activities as well as new foods. You'll grow stronger, play longer, and look and feel better! Set realistic goals - don't try changing too much at once.

Relays of races, rugged and long,
       Up the peaks rising and blending!
     Wine for the daring, meat for the strong,
       Power with toil contending!
    "Higher! Yet higher!" the man's full song—
      "Never a last ascending!"

Saving on Health Care

Health care seems to be a Hot topic today. Is there no end to the rising costs of health insurance and even the most basic health care services?

Health insurance companies don't want change - they make too much money under the current system. Doctors and health care professionals might welcome change - if it means less red tape and bureaucracy.

How do some countries manage to offer free - or low cost health care to all their citizens while folks in the USA are paying through the nose?

One step anyone can take is to enjoy the fruits of living a healthy lifestyle. Better health and fitness is about making some simple choices and taking action. Better fitness is most often the result of 2 very simple habits.

Eating healthy foods doesn't have to be that hard. Choose to eat more natural, healthy foods. Getting started is easy. Spend an evening or any time convenient for you preparing some healthy meals. Then freeze a few portions for later in the week - or any time you wish. Stay away from fast food. Cut out the stuff we all know is harmful.

Your 2nd step is potentially even more enjoyable. Find a sport - or two or more that you enjoy and start playing. Play hard. Have fun! Find a way to get more exercise every day. Even of your new exercise habit is simply walking - you can still realize incredible improvement in your fitness level.

The more you do - the more you stand to gain!

Take control of your health and avoid expensive health care expenses. Start getting some exercise every day. Decide to start eating healthy foods. Your taste buds will be in for a pleasant surprise. And your waistline too! You'll probably be able to spend less and save more of your hard earned money! And, best of all - you just might notice a big improvement in your outlook.

You really can have more energy and more fun in your daily life. Try exercise. Pick up a healthy new habit. Take up a new sport - make some new friends and have more fun. Get your friends and family involved. Share the fun and the benefits!

Healthy people tend to spend less on health care - over the years than less active folks. And they generally seem to enjoy this wonderful life more and more. The experts say exercise causes certain endorphins in our brains. You feel better - a kind of natural high is yours to enjoy when you exercise hard.

What have you got to lose? except maybe a few pounds. and the need for more expensive health care services.

The choice is yours. Give your money to the big insurance companies and pay higher taxes. Pay for expensive health care if you choose to live a sedentary life and keep eating the unhealthy crap at your corner fast food eatery. Pay the big soft drink companies and keep consuming their high calorie fat concoctions.

Or you can choose just 2 simple habits. Do it for your children. Do it for your Country. Do it for you!

Believe You Can

It is firmness that makes the gods on our side. —Voltaire.

"There is so much power in faith," says Bulwer, "even when faith is applied but to things human and earthly, that let a man but be firmly persuaded that he is born to do some day, what at the moment seems impossible, and it is fifty to one but what he does it before he dies."

There is about as much chance of idleness and incapacity winning real success, or a high position in life, as there would be in producing a Paradise Lost by shaking up promiscuously the separate words of Webster's Dictionary, and letting them fall at random on the floor. Fortune smiles upon those who roll up their sleeves and put their shoulders to the wheel; upon men who are not afraid of dreary, dry, irksome drudgery, men of nerve and grit who do not turn aside for dirt and detail.

"Is there one whom difficulties dishearten?" asked John Hunter. "He will do little. Is there one who will conquer? That kind of a man never fails."

"Circumstances," says Milton, "have rarely favored famous men. They have fought their way to triumph through all sorts of opposing obstacles."

"We have a half belief," said Emerson, "that the person is possible who can counterpoise all other persons. We believe that there may be a man who is a match for events,—one who never found his match, against whom other men being dashed are broken, one who can give you any odds and beat you."

If losing weight is on your list for this year - or even for this month - believe you can. Take massive action towards your goal. Exercise and eating healthy foods are just the habits you need to achieve better health and fitness. Believe you really can build muscle and enjoy a slimmer, sexier body.

Do the work. Practice these two simple habits and you really can shed those extra pounds. Enjoy life more. You deserve to enjoy yourself. Just do it!

Stand firm, don't flutter. —Franklin.

Be good to yourself!

Eating healthy foods and regular physical activity are keys to good health at any age. These two simple habits may lower your risk for obesity, type 2 diabetes, coronary heart disease, cancer, and other chronic diseases. They may even help ward off depression and keep your mind sharp as you age.

To get started, pick any activity or sport you enjoy. Begin with small, specific goals, such as “I will take a 10-minute walk three times this week.” Slowly increase the length of time and the number of days you are active.

You may benefit most from a combination of aerobic, strength, balance, and flexibility activities. Build up to 30 minutes or more of moderate-intensity cardiovascular or aerobic activity on most ( preferably all 7 ) days of the week.

To keep your muscles healthy and flexible try to include balance and flexibility exercises into your daily workout as well. Millions of healthy folks all over the world have discovered the benefits of yoga and pilates.

Many activities give you more than just one benefit. For example, doing aqua aerobics using water weights gives you aerobic and strengthening benefits. Yoga combines balance, flexibility, and strengthening benefits.

For the best results - Work toward doing strength exercises 2 or 3 days a week.

Exercise is probably the single most effective habit you can use to enjoy life more and reduce your stress.

The benefits are clear:

1. Lose (or maintain your) weight by burning calories.

2. Lower your risk of coronary heart disease and stroke by strengthening your heart and lowering your blood pressure and cholesterol.

3. Keep your joints moving and reduce your arthritis pain.

4. Lower your stress level and boost your mood

If losing weight is one of your goals this year - Start Today! Health experts agree - the quickest way to lose weight and keep it off is exercise and healthy eating.

And lastly from the famous Christian writer - D.L. Moody:

"If we are children of God we ought not to have a lazy drop of blood in our veins. If a man tells me that he has been saved, and does not desire to work for the honor of God, I doubt his salvation. Laziness belongs to the old creation, not to the new. In all my experience I never knew a lazy man to be converted never. I have more hope of the salvation of drunkards, and thieves, and harlots, than of a lazy man."

Your Best Day Ever

You can have your best day ever - Every Day! Make every day a healthy day! Get a little exercise - or a lot! Our bodies are designed to move and be active. To work hard and develop strength. Your body will need the right fuel for building healthy muscles.

Your muscles develop from training and exercise. Protein is vital to help you build healthy muscles. Some nutrition experts recommend a nutritious, balanced diet that includes two or three servings of meat, beans or eggs and two or three servings of dairy every day. On days you plan to lift or do strength training - try getting a healthy dose of protein early!

When you eat starches or sugars your body changes them all to glucose, the only form of carbohydrate used directly by muscles for energy. Whether carbohydrates are in the form of starches (in vegetables and grains), sucrose (table sugar), fructose (found in fruits and juices) or lactose (milk sugar), carbohydrates are digested and ultimately changed to glucose.

Your body uses this glucose in the blood for energy. Most glucose is stored as glycogen in the liver and muscles. During exercise glycogen is broken down in the muscles and provides energy. Usually there is enough glycogen in muscles to provide fuel for 90-120 minutes of exercise.

Most exercise and sport games do not use up glycogen stores so eating carbohydrates during the activity usually isn't needed. But for some athletes, eating or drinking carbohydrates during exercise helps maintain their blood glucose and energy levels.

Most athletes need not be concerned with "carbohydrate loading," the special technique of eating a lot of carbohydrates for several days before an endurance event. Instead, focus on getting enough carbohydrates everyday. The best way to ensure plenty of energy for exercise is to eat a nutritious, balanced diet that is high in carbohydrates and low in fat. Enjoy a healthy variety of different foods!

Keep eating healthy foods, exercise daily and you really can lose weight and keep it off! Make every day your best day! Start getting in shape - fast!

The Best Way to Lose That Belly

There is an old saying that goes like - "Nothing worthwhile is ever easy".

It matters not what talent or genius a man may possess, no natural gift can compensate for hard, persistent toil. The Romans had a maxim as true to-day as it was when first uttered: "Labor omnia vincit," Toil conquers all things. The earliest Christians lived in communities and had all things in common. One of their precepts— a precept up to which all lived—was: "Laborare est orare," To work is to pray.

Someone has said that the difference between the genius and the ordinary man is that the genius has a tireless capacity for patient, hard work, while the other regards effort as a painful exaction, and is ever looking forward to the time when he can rest.

It is encouraging to know that the world's hardest workers have lived the longest lives. In this alone, labor is its own reward; but enduring success never came to a poor man without an unflagging patience and an unceasing toil.

Honorable industry, says one, travels the same road with duty; and Providence has closely linked both with happiness. The gods, says the poet, have placed labor and toil on the way leading to the Elysian fields. Certain it is that no bread eaten by man is so sweet as that earned by his own labor, whether bodily or mental. By labor the earth has been subdued, and man redeemed from barbarism; nor has a single step in civilization been made without it. Labor is not only a necessity and a duty, but a blessing; only the idler feels it to be a curse. The duty of work is written on the thews and muscles of the limbs, the mechanism of the hand, the nerves and lobes of the brain—the sum of whose healthy action is satisfaction and enjoyment. In the school of labor is taught the best practical wisdom; nor is a life of manual employment, as we shall hereafter find, incompatible with high mental culture.

Hugh Miller, than whom none knew better the strength and the weakness belonging to the lot of labor, stated the result of his experience to be, that work, even the hardest, is full of pleasure and materials for self-improvement. He held honest labor to be the best of teachers, and that the school of toil is the nobles of schools— save only the Christian one; that it is a school in which the ability of being useful is imparted, the spirit of independence learned, and the habit of persevering effort acquired. He was even of opinion that the training of the mechanic—by exercise which it gives to his observant faculties, from his daily dealing with things actual and practical, and the close experience of life which he acquires—better fits a man for picking his way along the journey of life, and is more favorable to his growth as a man, emphatically speaking, than the training afforded by any other condition.

Watt, the inventor of the steam engine, was one of the most industrious of men; and the story of his life proves, what all experience confirms, that it is not the man of the greatest natural vigor and capacity who achieves the highest results, but he who employs his powers with the greatest industry and the most carefully disciplined skill. The kind of skill that results from hard work, and experience. Many men in his time knew far more than Watt, but none labored so assiduously as he did to turn all that he did know to useful practical purposes. He was, above all things, most persevering in the pursuit of facts. He cultivated carefully that habit of active attention on which all the higher working qualities of the mind mainly depend.

Indeed, Mr. Edgeworth entertained the opinion that the difference of intellect in men depends more upon the early cultivation of this habit of attention, than upon any great disparity between the powers of one individual and another.

The best way to lose belly fat - and keep it off is with a healthy balance of aerobic exercise and strength training! Focus on losing those extra pounds. Work hard - exercise every day if you can. Eat plenty of protein and keep your metabolism at an optimum level for burning more calories.

Health experts agree - The Quickest Way to Lose Extra Pounds is eating healthy foods and exercising every day!

Make Your Self More Attractive

Some research guys recently asked a couple hundred women about what they liked and disliked about their boyfriends or husbands. Over 2 out of every 3 of the ladies suggested that they very much wanted their man to be in good physical shape. Two-thirds of these respondents want their men to maintain healthy, firm, and strong body types.

Skinny is out.

A little extra flab too often turns into even more.

The consensus is clear - most women want a man who knows how to keep his body toned and muscular.

If you find yourself looking for love this Valentines Day - take a quick look at your body. What can you do to make yourself more attractive to the fairer sex? The answer in many cases is very simple. Start getting in shape. Adopt healthy habits and practice them daily.

If you're a little out of practice as far as fitness and exercise goes - don't fret. Start with simple steps. Evaluate your current shape and think about where you'd like to be. Visualize your ideal body shape. Picture your wife running her hands up your muscular, firm chest and arms. Now start working - in whatever way you can to firm up your muscles.

Get some simple home fitness equipment - and start working out at home. No need to spend a bundle on that fancy health club. Avoid the lines and the hassle of just fitting visits to the gym into your already hectic schedule. Get up a few minutes early and start your day with some simple exercise right in the comfort of home.

If you want a tougher workout and the potential for quicker results - you might enjoy the benefits of using your very own Indoor Rowing Machine. These babies can really help you burn some major calories and strengthen your abs and chest at the same time. It won't be easy - but nothing worthwhile is ever easy.

Do it for your wife or your lover. Do it for yourself. You really can enjoy life more and have better relationships when you live a healthy lifestyle.

Don't Worry - Be Happy

We live in deeds, not years; in thoughts, not breaths;
In feelings, not in figures on a dial.
We should count time by heart-throbs. He most lives
Who thinks most, feels the noblest, acts the best.
BAILEY.

Does life ever give you so much you start feeling a little stressed out? Do you ever find yourself wishing you could escape the madness - if even for just a moment? You're not alone. Everyone gets stressed out.

And the good news is - there are a few simple steps you can take to greatly reduce stress.

Take care of yourself by maintaining your physical and mental health, because this makes it easier to bounce back when life’s unexpected twists strike.

Maintaining your mental fitness goes hand in hand with staying in good physical shape. Your mental health is – without a doubt - tied to your fitness level. It’s really just about living a healthy lifestyle. If you already exercise regularly, Congratulations! - you’re already on the right track! Medical science experts say that up to a quarter of the blood pumping through your body is delivering performance enhancing oxygen to your brain as you exercise.

Food choices are also vital to your brain’s overall health. Start by cutting the unhealthy fats from your diet. Some fat is actually good for you. Your brain actually benefits from healthy omega-3 fats. Cholesterol buildup can reduce the oxygen supply to your brain by almost 20 percent over time. Load up on foods rich in antioxidants, such as strawberries or red beans, to nurture brain cell health.

Add cold-water, wild caught fish like salmon to your diet a couple times a week. Eating fish helps reduce inflammation, increases your memory, and helps your brain send and receive messages efficiently. Eat lots of leafy green vegetables like spinach. Spinach – one of nature’s true super-foods – contains folate which is known to enhance your brain’s processing power!

Eating healthy foods can have a big impact on your mood. For breakfast, try oatmeal or eggs. Both contain an amino acid that helps boost the levels of serotonin, a neurotransmitter that makes you feel good. The protein in the egg-whites will help your muscles handle your daily exercise! Get your protein early in the day to fuel muscle growth and give your body an extra boost while working out!

For lunch - toss some dark red kidney beans in your salad. ( Try a low-calorie vinaigrette dressing on the side. ) Mix some frozen or fresh blueberries and strawberries in plain, nonfat yogurt! The antioxidants in them will help ward off workday stress. Then enjoy dessert with a small piece of chocolate! The chocolate will lift your mood, and the natural stimulant found in cocoa gives your energy level a pleasant mid-day boost!

For dinner, give your brain-power a boost with a piece of salmon. Add a side salad with leafy greens and spinach to increase folate levels and help keep depression at bay. During the day - try healthy snacks – like celery or a few ounces of low-fat cheese between meals.

If you find yourself getting a little low on patience - growing irritable or unfocused, take a little break and munch on an apple or a handful of walnuts and some dark chocolate! These help stabilize your blood sugar levels and help you avoid those mid-day energy drains!

If time permits - take a mental break for a few minutes. Close your eyes and focus on your breathing. Take a few slow, deep breaths and then return to breathing normally. Clear your mind of whatever you’ve been worried about or working on. Think about something pleasing – your memories from a favorite vacation. Think about the sights, sounds and smells of a day at the beach – or one of your favorite places in nature! Nature has a real calming effect – so try to get outside for even a few minutes if you can for your momentary escape!

Wherever you choose to make your escape - clear your mind. Forget about or divert your attention away from everything cluttering up your mind! Focus instead on a single pleasant thought. Breathe in slowly. Take a nice deep breath and then exhale slowly. Stretch your body – slowly! You’ll soon feel a renewed sense of energy and clarity!

Take care of your health – invest a few minutes each day for healthy habits. Enjoy eating healthy foods, and exercise frequently. If you're a bit out of shape or haven't been getting enough exercise lately - start getting in shape fast.

Exercise is probably the single most effective habit you can use to enjoy life more and reduce your stress.

Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.—GOLDSMITH.

Live Better

Exercise helps you enjoy a better life. You can add around two hours of life expectancy for each hour of exercise you do. Just 30 minutes a day can make a real difference in your health. Exercise does wonders for your mood and hormones, and can send your energy levels soaring.

Play with your little ones at the park after work. If the weather outside is simply unbearable - get some inexpensive home fitness equipment. Hand weights and a jump rope will help you get started. Or you can outfit that extra room with an indoor rowing machine and a Total Gym.

Once the weather gets a little nicer - walk, roller blade or play basketball with your friends. Park a little farther away from your destination. Better yet - ride your bike to work or school. Take the stairs, not the elevator. Enjoy a brisk walk with your family or friends after dinner. Do some sit-ups, push-ups and leg lifts to keep your body moving and toned while you enjoy watching your favorite tv shows. Use hand weights or the TotalGym to make the most of your TV viewing time.

Eat Healthy Foods. The American Heart Association recommends filling up on the good stuff. If you're watching your weight, fruits and veggies will give you vitamins, minerals and fiber with few calories - and you'll feel fuller. They're low in fat and sodium and contain no cholesterol. Eating fish is a great way to add lean protein to your diet. Fish high in omega-3 fatty acids, like mackerel, lake trout, tuna and salmon are all great for your heart. Try broiled, baked or steamed foods, not fried; add a salad, not fries, as your side order; drink skim milk, not soda. These small choices can add up to big calorie savings

Getting fit and staying fit with daily exercise and eating healthy foods is essential to a long and healthy life. The quickest way to lose weight and keep the excess weight off for good is really very simple. Practice these two habits for a life of better health and fitness.

Finally - if you are like the millions of people who still smoke - Quit smoking. You know smoking is bad for your lungs. Did you know it's also bad for your heart? Smoking increases blood pressure, decreases HDL (the good cholesterol), decreases exercise tolerance and causes fatty buildup in arteries, increasing the tendency for blood to clot

Look Up - Seek Grand Goals

Practical success in life depends more upon physical health than is generally imagined. The capacity for continuous working in any calling must necessarily depend in a great measure upon this; and hence the necessity for attending to health, even as a means of intellectual labor. It is perhaps to the neglect of physical exercise that we find amongst students so frequent a tendency toward discontent, unhappiness, inaction, and reverie—displaying itself in contempt for real life and disgust at the beaten tracks of men—a tendency which in England has been called Byronism, and in Germany Wertherism. Dr. Channing noted the same growth in our land, which led him to make the remark, that "too many of our young men grow up in a school of despair." The only remedy for this green-sickness in youth is physical exercise.

The success of even professional men depends in no slight degree on their physical health; and a public writer has gone so far as to say that "the greatness of our great men is quite as much a bodily affair as a mental one." A healthy breathing apparatus is as indispensable to the successful lawyer or politician as a well-cultured intellect. The thorough aeration of his blood by free exposure to a large breathing surface in the lungs is necessary to maintain that vital power on which the vigorous working of the brain in so large a measure depends.

The lawyer has to climb the heights of his profession through close and heated courts, and the political leader has to bear the fatigue and excitement of long and anxious debates in a crowded House. Hence the lawyer in full practice and the parliamentary leader in full work are called upon to display powers of physical endurance and activity even more extraordinary than those of the intellect.

Self-discipline and self-control are the beginnings of practical wisdom; and these must have their root in self-respect. Hope springs from it—hope, which is the companion of power, and the mother of success; for whoso hopes strongly has within him the gift of miracles. The humblest may say, "To respect myself, to develop myself—this is my true duty in life. An integral and responsible part of the great system of society, I owe it to society and to its Author not to degrade of destroy either my body, mind, or instincts. On the contrary, I am bound to the best of my power to give to those parts of my constitution the highest degree of perfection possible.

To think meanly of one's self, is to sink in one's own estimation as well as in the estimation of others. And as the thoughts are, so will the acts be. Man cannot aspire if he looks down; if he will rise, he must look up.