I enjoy jogging and I jog every weekend. I use the time to get in tune with myself and at the same time keep myself fit and healthy.

While I was jogging last weekend, I came out with an idea for this post. I found that there are lessons for us to pick up in a simple morning run and I decided to come out with this article. Who says learning only takes place in school? Here are the 7 life lessons I picked up from my morning run.

1. Keep Moving Forward, Don’t Quit and You Will Achieve Your Goals

I believe many (if not all) of you have goals that you want to achieve. (If you have not set your goals set, please proceed to do it now.) Some goals will be harder to achieve and there will be many who fail to achieve their goals.

Most people fail to achieve their goals simply because they gave up too fast. It comes down to whether your goals are something that you really want.

I don’t believe that you will give up on something easily if you really want it badly. I don’t think Tony Robbins or Richard Branson treat their goals lightly. They see it as something that they really want and their goals are something important to them that they will not give up pursuing them.

To be frank, it isn’t hard to complete a marathon. I know, I know. Some of you may think that I am a little crazy to say that and not everyone is a runner. However, I saw people who didn’t train much for a marathon end up completing it. Completing a marathon is 80% mindset and 20% fitness. If you want to reach the finishing line no matter what, you will definitely reach it.

To complete a marathon may seem daunting. However, you can easily complete a marathon if you decide to show up on the starting line, keep moving forward and promise yourself that you will not give up no matter what. This is the magic formula.

This philosophy works the same for your life goals. If you have something that you want badly enough and you decide that you will show up, move forward and don’t quit, you will definitely get it.

Most people quit too early. Don’t be someone who quits, be someone who persevere and you will definitely achieve whatever you want to achieve.

2. There Will Be Obstacles – Choose The Right Thing To Focus On

I ran from the north to the south of Singapore last weekend and it is a great experience.

During the journey, I met several obstacles.

- Lack of water checkpoints
- I got lost (I wasn’t particularly good with directions and iPhone saves the day)
- Aching foot
- iPhone running out of battery

I understand that life journey is filled with obstacles. However, every obstacle comes with challenges that will help you grow and every problem comes with solutions.

I know that there isn’t any water check points that I can find in official marathon competitions so I got my own bottle and plan my own route where I can rest and fill up my bottle.

I’m not good with directions and there is always the possibility of getting lost. However, the GPS function in iPhone really helps me with my direction. I wouldn’t leave home without my iPhone if I were to go for a long run.

During my run, I also experience pain and discomfort with my foot. It may be due to the stress on my foot due to hours of running. I wanted to give up at the half way mark, but I didn’t want to fail what I set out to do.

I modified my running style a little to help alleviate the pain and I did some stretching to see if it helps. It did and I am glad that I didn’t turn back during the half way point.

As you can see, there are always solutions to every obstacles and problems that you face. However, you will fail to notice the solutions if you choose to focus on the obstacles and problems instead.

3. Focus On The Present

Whatever you focus on will expand. If you focus on finding what is good about a person, you will be able to find all the positive traits of the person. However, if you had a quarrel with the same person, you will immediately find all the negative traits of the same person. Same person, different focus. This is why relationship always seem great at the start (you see everything great about him/her) and it goes sour as time goes by if you start to focus on the negative traits of your partner.

Whatever you focus on is your reality.

We should always be aware of where is our focus and choose to focus on things that empower us.

If you are trying to complete a marathon, you can choose to focus on the future (how far do I need to go?) but it is disempowering. Imagine focusing on you still have 20 miles or 40 kilometers to go. Suddenly the journey seems so far and arduous.

It is the same if you are trying to achieve your goals. If you want to turn your life around and you choose to focus on the future, you will think about how much it sucks to be in the present. Negative emotions don’t help to inspire you into taking action.

What you can do is to focus on the present. Focus on the moment and think about what you can do now to improve your current situation instead of thinking about tomorrow, which isn’t even here yet.

4. There Is Always Help Along The Way – Just Ask

I lost my way a couple of times during my run and sometimes it is much easier to ask for direction than simply trying to figure it out with my iPhone map.

There isn’t anyone who refuses to help me until now and I think it is good to know this. Most people won’t refuse to help you if you ask for help.

It may be fear that holds you back. Perhaps, it is the fear of rejection. If you fear being rejected, think about this; if you don’t ask, you have a 100% chance of being rejected. Asking for help means that you have at least 50% chance of getting the help that you want.

Do the maths. The odds work in your favor.

5. Have A Destination In Mind

I don’t run without a destination in mind. I don’t feel good running aimlessly and it is hard to get motivated if I were to run without a direction.

Destination gives you clarity. It gives you something to work towards to and knowing the destination means that your mind will actively search for ways to reach it.

Similarly, in life, if you do not have a goal/outcome in mind, you drift aimlessly and it is hard to achieve anything.

If you are reading this article and you have not yet set your goals, please do it now. Go write down your goals on a piece of paper and the deadline that you want to achieve it. It helps you gain clarity and it tunes your mind to search for ways to reach it.

6. Reward Yourself And You Will Work 2X Harder

I reward myself with a good breakfast after my run. I think about my rewards before I begin my run and this helps to motivate me to reach the desired destination.

Sometimes I reward myself with a good walk at the nature reserves to enjoy the scenery or/and I will buy myself a good breakfast after my run.

I look forward to these rewards. This reminds me of a donkey chasing a carrot. It may sound silly to some but having a reward system helps you to stay motivated.

The next time when you are out to do something, always set a reward system in place. It can motivate you more to take action and reach your desired outcome. Tell me how it works for you.

7. Constant And Never Ending Improvement

There are always things that we can improve in our life. For me, I want to improve on my timing for my run and maybe my sense of direction.

Whenever I run, I find ways to improve my speed, timing and distance covered. The constant and never ending improvement attitude will help me get better, faster,  stronger and healthier.

I picked up from Tony Robbins this important philosophy. Having this attitude can help us to achieve breakthroughs in our life.

Think about how much difference it will make in your life if you always strive to improve 1% every single day. Each 1% improvement adds up and it can snowball into major breakthroughs in your life.

Productivity Ebook

I am working hard on writing the productivity ebook. It is hard work to write an ebook, especially with the deadline looming near. However, I believe it will be worth it to write this ebook because I believe it will be able to help many to learn how to take massive action in their life and be truly productive so that they will be able to achieve success in the things they set out to do.

There are some hiccups and obstacles along the way but I’m trying my best to get the ebook launch by the end of October. I need some help in naming my ebook. I receive some great responses from the subscribers of HMS and if you have not done the survey yet, help me choose the title of my upcoming ebook by doing the survey through this link.

Click here to do the survey.

Wish me luck everybody and once again, thanks for reading this article and if you have any constructive feedback, do drop me an email or leave a comment below. I know there is always room for improvement. Enjoy the rest of the week and all the best to you!

Cheers
Vincent

Post from: Health Money Success

7 Life Lessons I Picked Up From A Simple Morning Run

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• Day 18 Of 30 Days Challenge (8)
• Week 5 Fitness Update: Why I Abandoned My Colleagues And Ate My Lunch In My Own Cosy Cubicle (5)

Image courtesy of lusi

In order to achieve my desired results in this 16 weeks time, I had decided to pack my own meals last week. I prepare three of my meals to bring to work every day and consume them at every 2 – 3 hours interval.

I think this is a great decision because my lunch with my colleagues always consists of eating processed food (carbs like white rice and noodles) which is making it difficult for me to lose weight. I believe eating these processed foods can slow down my progress and may even stop me from achieving my desired results.

Some Of My Fears

I thought it would be hard to stop going for lunch with my colleagues. Some of the things I fear are…

1. Colleagues think that I am a weirdo
2. Endless question about why am I packing my own lunch
3. Colleagues sympathizing me
4. People think that I am too poor to afford lunch

In fact, making this decision does not turn out to be that difficult. I was focusing on my desired outcome and I just decided to abandon my colleagues and eat my own lunch at my cubicle for the sake of getting my desired results.

My colleagues may find me a weirdo but I do not really care as long I get my results at the end of the day. There are still lots of questions from caring colleagues as they were puzzled by my decision to skip lunch. I just tell them honestly that I am on a diet to shed the extra pounds. In fact, more people talked to me than usual, asking me about why I skip my lunch etc. Therefore, I guess that skipping my lunch improves my networking ability.

Most of the fears are illusion in the mind. I find that most of them do not really matter when I finally decide to take the action to skip going for lunch with my colleagues. This is the same for most situations when fear tries to prevent you from doing something. The surprising thing is most of your fear will be so insignificant when you decided to take the action. Most of the fears you have in your mind doesn’t happen anyway.

Conclusion

Eating my own packed lunch is giving me some great results. The last week I had mentioned that I had gained a bit of weight. I lost it back when I started to eat my own healthy lunch. I also feel better now because all my meals are clean. One meal does make a difference.

Vincent
Love His Bento

P.S: Do you eat lunch with your colleagues? Are they stopping you from losing weight? Do drop your comment below and share with us. Remember to subscribe to my blog to receive my latest articles in your inbox.

Post from: Health Money Success

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• Gymboss Interval Timer Review – Increase The Intensity Of Your Workout Now (3)
• Week 3 Update: Beware! This Article Is Filled With Photos (2)

Gymboss Interval Timer Review

As promised last week, I am going to write a review on the Gymboss interval timer that I am using for my workouts.

My workouts consist of circuit and interval trainings. Circuit training consists of doing a set of exercise in a specific amount of time. There are no set numbers of repetitions in each of the exercises. All you need to do is to do as much repetition as you can in that fix amount of time.

I prefer doing circuit trainings as compared to doing exercises with fix repetitions. Our body can get used to the fix amount of repetitions and this can delay muscle growth and weight loss. Circuit trainings is the solution to this problem and it keeps your intensity level high during your workouts.

I used to use my digital watch or iPhone to time myself (45 seconds exercise, 15 seconds rest) when I am doing my circuit training. However, I find it too troublesome to keep an eye on my stopwatch and press the start and stop button for every 45 seconds.

Doing this affects the quality of my workout. It is impossible to be 100% focused and concentrate on your exercises when you are worrying about when are you going to hit the stop button at the 45 seconds interval.

Gymboss Comes Into Play

This gadget comes in handy for situation like this. Gymboss Interval Timer has 3 main settings; auto, auto with number of times to repeat and manual setting.

1. Auto: It will continue to beep for the amount of time that you set. (example:beep every 10 seconds until you stop it)
2. Auto with number of times to repeat: 2 timings are involved here. For example; beep at the 45 seconds (you can change the timing) mark and beep again at the 15 seconds mark.
3. Manual: Instead of auto restarting itself when it reaches the time that you set, you need to press the start button to restart the countdown again.

Gymboss Interval Timer is hardy and it can take any of your rigorous workouts. It runs on a AAA battery and it has a clip that you can use to clip the it on your workout gear.

Check out more about Gymboss Interval Timer in this video that I did.

The Gymboss Interval Timer Is Suitable For…

If you are currently doing interval training or circuit training (or you want to start one soon which I recommend if you want to lose weight), the Gymboss Interval Timer is highly recommended.

However if you are doing a fix amount of repetitions for your workouts or long distance running, this gadget isn’t for you.

If you decide that Gymboss Interval Timer is the right gadget for you to get fit and healthy now, you can get yours by clicking here.

I had written this article right after my workout. It is time for me to take my well-deserved rest and I will talk to you soon.

Vincent
Fan of Gymboss Interval Timer

P.S: I will post the update (week 5) of my 16 weeks fitness challenge next week. If you have not read my previous update, you can read it here. Remember to subscribe to my blog to receive my latest updates.

Post from: Health Money Success

Gymboss Interval Timer Review – Increase The Intensity Of Your Workout Now

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• Week 4 Fitness Update: Isn’t A Great Week (5)
• The Relationship Between Physical Exercise and Success (9)
• Are You Neglecting The Most Important Thing In Your Life? (11)

Image courtesy of lusi

Previous Updates

If you have not read my previous weeks update, you can read it here.

• Week 1
• Week 2
• Week 3

Week 4 Update

I have a confession to make.

I missed 2 of my workouts this week. 2 interval trainings to be exact. It has been raining for quite a few days this week and it makes it harder for me to grab my kit and go out for my training. Okay, I know it sounds like some excuses and yes, I admit it is. It is still possible for me to go out there to climb the stairs or find other alternatives but I didn’t really make the effort to do so.

On the brighter side, I completed 4 days of workouts. I must give myself a pat on the back for completing my first month of training.

What I Am Doing Now

I started doing circuit trainings this week.

Example of circuit training:

- Do as much push up as I can in 45 seconds and rest 15 seconds. Repeat.

My resistance workout right now consists of 8 exercises. I will go through all the 8 exercises in the above format (45 seconds followed by 15 seconds rest) and repeat them for a total of 3 sets.

Circuit training is a great way to ensure growth and prevent my body from plateauing. I am currently using my Gymboss Timer to time myself. I will show you a video on how to use it on my post on Friday.

My Weighing Scale Is Fooling Around With Me

I am facing one problem right now. Instead of losing weight, I am gaining weight! I am somewhat shocked to see that my weight is increasing instead of decreasing. However, I did my research and I found out some possibilities:

1. I am gaining more muscles that weighs more than fat.
2. I am taking in too much calories that caused me to gain weight.

I do not know the reason that caused my weight gain, hence I decided to get a caliper to measure my body fat percentage. Using the caliper is a much more accurate way to check the progress as compared to the weighing scale because it normal to gain weight when you gain more muscles. This can be rather misleading.

It is demoralizing to see yourself gaining weight when you are supposed to lose weight. A caliper helps to get a clearer picture of what is happening so I can decide whether I need to make any changes to my plan.

Fitness Tip Of The Week: Fit Your Workout Into Your Schedule First

If you fail to fit your workout into your schedule first, you tend to miss it.

Keep this in mind. I missed most of the workouts when I had slotted them last in my schedule. This means that I left my workout to be the last task for the day. I am usually rather jaded by then and motivation itself isn’t enough to get me to start exercising.

In order to complete your work out successfully, prepare your environment and schedule to make it easy for you to get into action. Dress in your work out gear so that it is easy for you to start your exercises. Make your workout one of the most important tasks in your day.

If you have the mindset that your workout is an important task that you must complete, you tend to complete it. Make your work out one of the most important tasks for the day and schedule it as the first task for the day.

It is hard to miss a work out when you scheduled it as the first thing you need to do. Wake up earlier if you need to. Working out in the morning on an empty stomach is also more effective as your body will draw the energy from your fats when it has no energy to burn.

Before I leave, I have one question for you. How do you keep yourself motivated to exercise when you don’t feel like doing it? Share with us in the comment section below and I will talk to you over there.

Vincent
Working Out

P.S: If you have any questions, you can drop me a mail by clicking here. I will be glad to help.

P.P.S: Remember to subscribe to my blog to receive my future updates.

Post from: Health Money Success

Week 4 Fitness Update: Isn’t A Great Week

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Editor’s note: This is a guest post by Oscar from FreeStyleMind

Exercise is one of the most important activities to integrate into our lifestyle. Aside for the almost infinite list of health benefits you get by exercising, something that probably not everyone knows is that exercise is also one of the best ways to do a mental workout.

The reason is that your brain loves movement, and it performs better when you are in a good shape. Thus, the more you exercise, the more you’ll be able to learn, and the more successful you’ll become.

It doesn’t matter what your goal is, you’ll get there faster if you are in a good shape.

There’s a strong scientific background behind this claim. Scientists have proven that children who do physical activities perform better at school, and when the same students stop to exercise, their scores drops as well.

The relationship between exercise and success is even greater as you become an adult. Especially if you do a sedentary job, starting to exercise regularly will sharpen your mind, which in turn will help you to generate new ideas.

The good news is that even if you did not do any kind of exercise until yesterday, it’s not too late. We know from science that you can boost your mental performances in a matter of weeks or months, regardless of your age.

It takes nothing to do a ten minutes run, yet is enough to get you started. And it turns out that getting started is indeed the biggest obstacle people find, usually because they think they’re not good enough, but the truth is that is through exercise that you’ll eventually become good enough, not the other way around.

Below are some tips that will get you started with physical exercise.

• Start slowly. You need less than 30 minutes per day to be in a good shape. If you are just starting out, some jogging, pushups and squats is a good workout to do. You can start with 10 minutes three days per week, and then upgrade until 30 minutes per session when you feel comfortable.
• Don’t buy anything. You may be tempted to buy some expensive equipment which promises to assist you in your endeavor. Don’t. You really don’t need anything except your body, and you can save the money for later.
• Expect results, but don’t be obsessed. Beginners especially, will see faster improvements, however don’t be obsessed by them. For example it will take only a few weeks to move from 10 to 30 minutes of running, but don’t be obsessed by it. Goals are important, but having fun is more.
• Notice small improvements. Be happy when you reach a new result. If you can run just for just 5 minutes or less initially, be grateful when you’ll be able to run 10 minutes. These small achievements are a signal that your body is growing.
• Take a challenge. If what you need is motivation, perhaps a 30 days challenge is the best way to start. Commit yourself for exercising 3 days a week for 30 days no matter what. After these 30 days, you can then decide if it’s worth continuing or not, but at least you tried.

What if you don’t have time? I have heard this question a lot of times. If you really can’t find 30 minutes three or four times per week, then there’s something wrong in your lifestyle. Exercising is important and if you really don’t have time, you have to make it. Maybe you can avoid watching television in the evening, or maybe you can wake up 30 minutes earlier, you decide.

The time you spend exercising is nothing compared to the benefits you’ll get from it, and it’s your choice if you want to switch your habits or continue with your old lifestyle. Remember, you don’t have to train a lot, 3 times per week will do. Have fun.

Author’s bio. Oscar Del Ben writes about personal development and lifestyle design. He’s always trying new things and he blogs about his experiences at FreestyleMind.com.

Post from: Health Money Success

The Relationship Between Physical Exercise and Success

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I think that it would be fun to share this with my readers. Here are the top 10 healthiest food that I love.

1. Oats

Image courtesy of santos

What is good about it?

Oatmeal is high in fibre and hence it aids keeping bowel movement regular. It also helps in keeping your blood sugar steady throughout the day which will prevent you from succumbing to your cravings or pigging out. It is also a good source of food that can help to lower cholesterol level.

How I prepare it:

I don’t really drink milk nowadays after reading about so many articles that have negative news about it. I tend to just mix my oat with honey and hot water and it is ready to serve.

2. Salmon

Image courtesy of territu

What is good about it?

Salmon consist of the good fats such as omega-3 fatty acids which is good for the heart. Omega-3 fatty acids also help to prevent blood clots which causes stroke. It also consist essential nutrients such as B6 which your immune and nervous system need in order to function properly.

How I prepare it:

I don’t like to spend too much time on cooking and hence all I do is to bake the salmon and squeeze some lemon juice on it once it is cooked. It is ready to serve! You can also sprinkle some oregano on it to add some flavour.

3. Grape Tomatoes

Image courtesy of sygnetcreations

What is good about it?

Grape tomatoes have a high content of vitamin A and C. Vitamin A plays a part in a variety of functions of our body such as keeping our skin, immune system and vision healthy. Vitamin C also helps in removing free radicals from your body which can cause cancer or heart disease and it also helps in keeping your immune system healthy.

How I prepare it:

Do it the salad way. I mix it up with either lettuce or butterhead lettuce and add a handful of almonds in it and it is ready to be serve. Some times I snack just on it since I can easily grab it and no preparation is needed.

4. Kiwi

Image courtesy of macxoom

What is good about it?

Kiwi contains a high amount of vitamins such as vitamin C, E and A. It also has a high fibre content which can help in controlling sugar level and improving bowel movement.

How I prepare it:

You know how to do it.

5. Almond

Image courtesy of African Import Photos

Almonds are packed with nutrients such as iron, calcium, riboflavin, fibre and magnesium. They are also a great source of protein and fat which is good for the heart.

How I prepare it:

Almond is a great snack and I either snack on it alone or just add it into my salad for that crunchy bite.

6. Sweet potatoes

Image courtesy of pinch my salt

What is good about it?

First of all, it is sweet and tasty! It helps when you craving for something sweet. Sweet potatoes contain a unique protein that have potent anti oxidant effects. It is also an excellent source of vitamin A and C.

How I prepare it:

What I do is that I usually steam it. However the problem comes after this. I find that it is a hassle to peel the skin off and sometimes it can be quite a turn off.

7. Apples

Image courtesy of macxoom

What is good about it?

This is one of my favourite fruits. Apples are a rich source of flavonoid and polyphenois. Both of these are powerful anti oxidant that can help to eliminate free radicals. It also contains pectin that can help to remove toxic waste from our body. It is highly recommended as a healthy food and do remember the old saying, “an apple a day keeps the doctor away.”

How I prepare it:

I usually eat the apple whole and do not peel the skin. It is said that there are high amount of fibres nutrients in the skin of the apple but I believe I just find it too troublesome to peel it. Eating apples are convenient since all you need to do is to wash it and eat.

8. Olive oil

Image courtesy of tomargh

What is good about it?

Olive oil has a remarkable amount of mono saturated acids and antioxidant substances. It is good for controlling bad choleric levels and protects us from heart disease. Research had also shown that taking olive oil can lower the risk of getting colon cancer.

How I prepare it:

There are a few types of olive oil and what I usually get is extra virgin and virgin olive oil. Virgin oil that are pure or extra light are usually processed and their beneficial properties may be lessen. The lesser the olive oil is handled or process, the more it is near its natural state and so does its properties.

There are times when I take a table spoon of it directly (it helps to prevent cravings) or I add it into my salad. I also cook with olive oil however over cooking can lessen the olive oil’s health benefits.

9. Carrot

Image courtesy of winemegup

What is good about it?

Carrots have anti-carcinogen properties which can help to prevent cancer. It also consists of beta carotene which is an anti oxidant that prevents cell degeneration and get rids of free radicals. Carrots are also good for the skin and eyes.

How I prepare it:

I normally juice my carrot as it helps to removes the indigestible fibre. There are lot so of nutrients that are in the indigestible fibre but you will not be able to get those nutrients if you are eating the carrot by itself. Juicing get rids of those fibres and you can thus get the nutrients in larger quantities.

10. Celery

Image courtesy of bethsweet

What is good about it?

Celery has been long recognized by Chinese medicine practitioner that it has the property of reducing blood pressure. It also has a high amount of Vitamin C which can aid in fighting cold and keeping your keeping immune system strong. Celery has diuretic properties which can help to clear up uric acid and provide some relief of health problems such as arthritis and rheumatism.

How I prepare it:

This is a regular item in my fruit as it adds a great flavour. What I do is to cut away the base of the celery (2 – 3 stalks) and juice the remaining of the celery.

Parting Words

As I had mentioned in my previous article, health is the foundation of our life. It is essential to take care of our body by giving it the fuel that it needs. I had shared with you some of my favorite food that are healthy, what about yours? I would love to know it and I’ll talk to you in the comment section.

Cheers,
Vincent

P.S:If you like this article, enter your email below or subscribe to my RSS feed so that you will not miss the upcoming articles.

Post from: Health Money Success

Top 10 Healthiest Food That I Love

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Image courtesy of nexus_icon

I believe the majority of you who read this blog have goals that you want to achieve. Having goals is fun because it gives us something to aim for and to look forward to. However are you doing all you can to achieve your goals yet you are neglecting something that is the base for your success?

Health

The health is the base for your life.

Health is the base for our success. You cannot be anything when you are seriously lacking in the health department. It acts as a base or springboard for success to come into our life. There are people who would do anything to get the results they want and kudos to them for their tenacity. However if they forgo the health department in their life, any success they had achieved will be short lived. How can you truly enjoy the fruits of your labour when you are sick and feeling miserable? Or worst, you don’t even have the time to enjoy your success. Basically, without health, you are nothing.

I was hospitalized some time ago and that incident knocks some sense into me. I was working almost every day and earning money is the priority at that time and health had taken the second seat (maybe not the second, somewhere near the last few seats). I had never even given health a thought because I felt that I was in my prime of my life and health isn’t an issue to me. (Being young can spare me from diseases, am I right?) But I knew I was wrong when I find myself ended up in the hospital for a week and a half.

Neglecting our health is also the same as trying to saw a tree with a blunt saw. When you push your body too hard and don’t take care of it, your energy level drop drastically and you will feel tired easily. If you feel tired easily, how are you able to harness your maximum creativity, energy and passion into doing something for the best result?

Healthy Living

Healthy living isn’t about eating supplements all day. It is about changing your lifestyle. In our time now, we search for immediate results and speed. We want fast food, ready to cook food, immediate weight loss diet or anything that doesn’t takes up a lot of our time. Our time is precious and we want to save up those times to do things that we want to do. But adopting an unhealthy lifestyle only shortens the time you spend on earth alive. Contradicting.

The first thing you will need to do is to start out my taking note of your diet. Are you eating processed food, fast food, refined carbohydrates, canned food or any other junk food daily? If you are, you will need to start making it a habit to cut those foods out of your diet. You do not need to eliminate it completely and minimizing the intake of those foods is a great first step. To fight off your cravings, substitute those foods that you minimized with natural food such as vegetable and fruits. These are real foods that are packed with nutrients for your body.

Do hydrate yourself adequately daily. I start out my day with 2 cups of water with slices of lemon to help alkalize the body. It is also recommended to drink around half your body weight in ounces.

(Formula: [Body weight (lbs)/2 ] = Answer (A). Take Answer (A) X 29.57 = Amount of water to drink daily (mL)

Lastly, you will need to introduce exercises back into your lifestyle again. If you are watching more than 3 – 4 hours of TV programs per day, you need to get your ass out the couch and start moving again. This reminds me of what Tony Robbins said at his last UPW seminar in Singapore.

Motions = Emotions

Which means your physiology and action will in turn lead to how you feel. Most likely you will only feel tired after seating at the couch for hours.

These aren’t rocket science and everybody is able to do it. Everyone have the knowledge of living healthier but they just chose to ignore the knowledge and go with the flow and only do what they feel like doing. By the way, did I mention that if you go with the flow in life, you may end up at somewhere that you do not want to be at?

To your healthier living,
Vincent

P.S:What do you think you can do to have a healthier lifestyle? I would love to hear your thoughts.
P.P.S: In the next post, I will put up a list of top 10 healthiest foods which are part of my daily diet. Enter your email below or subscribe to my RSS feed so that you will not miss the next article.

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Organic Vs Non Organic

I was browsing the web this morning and I had found a site called The Renegade Health Show. It is an interesting site that talks about raw food diet and they got a whole load of great information over there.

What caught my attention is the above video that I had embedded. I am currently still eating non organic food and I am actually thinking about converting to organic food after watching the video.

My question for you today is…

What do you think of organic food? Are you eating organic food? If yes, why is it and are there really great benefits in doing so? If not, are you thinking of replacing your current food with organic food after watching this video?

Vincent
Healthy Blogger

If you like this article, it will be great if you can digg, stumble or bookmark it in de.li.cious. Remember to subscribe to my blog via Email updates or RSS feed so that you won’t miss out on my upcoming articles. (It is free!)

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Should You Eat Organic Food?

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Image courtesy of dominiqs

Importance of Sleep

Adequate sleep is important because lacking in sleep will affect our health and well being. Research had shown that lack of sleep can cause weight gain, moodiness, cardiovascular disease and even make our body more vulnerable to disease. Most people knew that sleep is important but somehow people nowadays are getting lesser and lesser sleep due to reasons such as overflowing work, bad sleeping habits or etc.

My Sleeping Habit

Recently I had a bad habit ingrained in me. I am frequently sleeping late. This is either due to me working on my blog, late night mahjong games or staying over with my friends and enjoying playing with the Xbox 360 over night.

Gradually I started to have the habit of sleeping at 2am, then 3am and sometimes even 4am in the morning. This lead me to wake up late in the afternoon and basically half of my day was wasted by that time. I found that by sleeping late and getting up late, my body would feel lethargic and most of the day I will be in a zombie state. What worst is I am actually feeling guilty because my productivity was affected whenever I woke up late.

This is one bad habit that can be disastrous to my health and also to my productivity and I decided to change everything in order to make my body function in it’s most optimal condition so that I can achieve more. During my research, I had found tips on sleeping better and I will share it with you guys to help you grab a better sleep too.

10 Tips To Help You Sleep Better

1. Exercise

Exercising will help us to fall asleep easier at night, so try to incorporate exercising into your daily ritual and you will find that you will sleep better in the night.

2. Schedule your time for sleeping

By scheduling your time for sleeping and sleeping at the same time for multiple days, you will set the bio clock in you to sleep at the same time every night.

3. Know your habits

Once you know what time you are going to sleep every night, be sure to do your preparations so that you wouldn’t miss the timing. For example, I planned to sleep by 12am everyday and I have a habit of reading before sleeping, so I will prepare myself to sleep by reading at 11.30pm and fall asleep by 12am.

4. Do not eat heavy meals before sleeping

Do make sure that you had not eaten too much before sleeping. A light dinner will be great. A full stomach may make it harder for you to sleep and if you are hungry, snack on fruits instead of junk food.

5. Turn off your computer

This is a killer for me. Whenever it is nearing my bed time, if my labtop was still turned on, I will spend a huge amount of time finding things that are interesting or checking out on the latest news. This will cause my brain to be in an “alert mode” and I will find it harder to fall asleep later. Be sure to turn it off an hour before you sleep so that you will not return to check your mails and such.

6. Don’t chat on the phone before sleeping

Whenever I am chatting with my friends and cracking jokes, my mind is turned back into an alert mode. I find it much harder for me to sleep whenever this happen, so whenever you are about to sleep, try not to answer any call. If it is possible, switch off the phone 30 minutes before sleeping.

7. Ensure that your room is dark

When there is light in our room when we are sleeping, it will affect our sleep quality. Turn any lights off or you can use a dim orange light which is more soothing. Draw your curtains to prevent outdoor lights from shining in and if it is possible, cover things that produces a bright light such as a LED clock.

8. Mattress

Is your mattress too old for use already? If it is sagging in the middle and out of shape, it is recommended that you change one that will help to support your body and make you more comfortable during your sleep. I recently changed my mattress and it really does help me to sleep better.

9. Sleeping environment

If you are frequently waking up in the night to turn off the air con or fan, it may be seriously affecting your sleep quality. Try to set them on timer or cover yourself with blanket before sleeping so that you won’t wake up in the middle of the night to turn them off.

10. Sleep disorders

Sleep apnea can cause you to wake up hundreds of times in the night to gasp for air without you noticing. This can cause you to feel tired the following day even if you slept for 10 hours last night. I used to snore but I do not know whether it is sleep apnea because I did not consult a doctor at that time.

One thing I definitely know is that I always felt tired the next day no matter how many hours I slept. Sleeping on your side during the night or losing weight will help to alleviate this problem. If you had tried the methods and it does not help, it is recommended that you visit an ENT specialist to get their opinions.

Parting Words

Getting enough quality sleep will definitely help us tremendously in terms of our health. Whenever we get enough quality sleep, it will also help us to look more alert and brighter. So start today and use the above tips to help you get a better quality sleep.

Cheers
Vincent
Sleepy Blogger

**P.S**Do you have any other tips in regards to help us sleep better? Share with us in the comment section and I will see you there.

If you like this article, it will be great to digg, stumble or bookmark it in de.li.cious. Remember to subscribe to my blog via Email updates or RSS feed so that you won’t miss out on my upcoming articles. (It is free!)

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Post from: Health Money Success

10 Tips To Help You Sleep Better

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Image courtesy of sOulsurfing

30 Days Challenge For A Healthier Body

Time really flies and this is the end of my 30 days challenge. It had been a challenging 30 days for me and I will share with you guys what I had picked up in these 30 days time.

Previous Updates Of My 30 Days Challenge

1st update of 30 days challenge

2nd update of 30 days challenge

3rd update of 30 days challenge

Post 30 Days Challenge Thoughts

Yesterday was the last day of my challenge and I felt great after I accomplished the goal I set for myself. I had doubts at first on whether should I publish my challenge on my blog because I fear that it will be embarrassing if I failed in sticking to my challenge.

In the end, I decided to go with it and I do not regret it because by publicly announcing my challenge, it had definitely help me to be more focus and determined to succeed because people are watching my actions.

My Challenges

Before I started my challenge, I ate mostly bread for my snacks and it isn’t really helping me to shed the pounds. It is also challenging for me to remove any food that got to do with flour from my diet and certainly the huge number of bakeries in Singapore doesn’t help. I found that by removing processed starch from my diet, there isn’t really much varieties of food that I can snack on and this lead me to snack less and healthier as I was eating a lot more fruits as my snacks instead.

I do not have much complain about the veggie juice I had every morning except for the cleaning up and a one time blunder of “choking” myself with garlic. (**Hey Bonnie, if you are reading this, just to let you know I’m not blaming you )

I believe the veggie juice have an effect of boosting my energy because there was once I tried to have my juice in the afternoon instead to see will there be any effect on me and I found that I had trouble concentrating in writing my articles and was constantly lethargic. It was until I had my dose of juice in the afternoon, then I got the boost of energy to finish my article on that day.

I had consistently exercised for 6 days a week and I did missed some trainings but I will always make up for it on other days. With a mixture of resistance and cardio trainings, I had shed some pounds and overall I feel more confident, leaner, sharper and more energetic than I was before.

Stats

My weight before my 16 weeks challenge –> 160.6 lbs
My weight before my 30 days challenge –> 152.9 lbs
My weight at the end of my 30 days challenge –> 147.4 lbs

Amount of pull ups I am able to do before my 16 weeks  challenge – 3
Amount of pull ups I am able to do before my 30 days challenge – 8
Amount of pull ups I am able to do after my 16 weeks challenge – 11

After removing the extra few lbs from my body and adding on the muscles, I feel really “light” when I move around and it is really great to see myself in the mirror.

Even though I do not have very clear definition of my 6 pack abs, I still can see the shape of it. I conclude that this is a successful 30 days challenge for me and I am very happy with my result which is a healthier me.

Conclusion

Although this is the end of my 30 days challenge, I would like to regard it as a start instead of an end. Because of this challenge, I had cultivated some good habits and I do not want to let it go to waste. I will still exercise regularly and eat healthily to maintain my weight. Heath is something irreplaceable and is something that we should not take for granted.

Thank You

A very big thank you to everyone that is following me on my blog and reading my articles. It is your constant support that allow me to keep on writing valuable articles and it had also help me to reach the finishing line of my 30 days challenge. Another piece of good news is that my blog had a surge in daily readership. All these were possible because of my loyal readers and a big thank you to you again.

Cheers
Vincent
Personal Development Blogger

If you like this article, please digg, stumble or bookmark it in de.li.cious. You can have my latest articles sent to your email by subscribing to my blog via Email updates or RSS feed so that you won’t miss out on any of my articles. (It is free!)

Post from: Health Money Success

Result Of My 30 Days Challenge

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