But it doesn’t work out that way!

An empty tummy in the morning weakens your body and even overturns your weight loss goals. Several studies provide strong proof that early morning eaters are slimmer than skippers. Other studies reveal that schoolchildren who are denied breakfast lack energy, have trouble concentrating in class, and unfortunately fall behind in their studies.

Why add morning calories?

Beginning your morning with a healthy breakfast gives you the following benefits that help you reach your weight loss goals:

• Burn more calories. After sleeping for eight hours or more, your body’s morning blood glucose levels are very low. And if you skip the first meal of the day, you deny yourself of the glucose you need to fuel your brain and your body. As a result, your metabolism slows down to conserve energy, decreasing your body’s ability to burn more calories throughout the day. So eat a hearty breakfast to replenish glucose levels, increase your metabolism, and burn more calories!

• Flatten your belly. You skip breakfast, you go to work, and you feel stressed the whole day. Why? Because your body responded to the deprivation, and in response, increased the production of cortisol – a stress hormone that leads to fat storage especially in the midsection. A hearty morning meal helps you fight stress, counter fat storage, and flatten your belly!

• Controlled eating. Most people tend to make up for the calories later on in the day after leaving their homes in the morning with an empty stomach. They’re likely to reach for sugary, high-calorie options like chocolates and pastries. The popular high fiber and high protein breakfast choices will make your feel full longer, reducing your tendency to overeat and reach for high-calorie foods.

Eating breakfast is basically a rule of thumb in many sustainable weight loss programs. So be sure to enjoy a big breakfast everyday to keep those extra pounds away!

Health and Love,

Summer

While the gym is a great option for those with the financial capacity and time, not everyone can afford a gym membership. If that’s the case, you might consider doing your exercise at home by taking advantage of you’re your household chores. The calories burned while you’re doing household chores can really help compliment weight loss regimen. In fact, some household chores can help you burn calories as much as workouts do!

Here are ten household chores that can help you shed some pounds:

1. Cleaning the Bathroom

The bathroom is my favorite part of the house, so I tend to keep it clean and smelling good. Cleaning the bathroom is often the least favorite chore, but the good news is, an hour of scrubbing the bathroom helps burn over 250 calories.

2. Scrubbing the floors

Scrubbing your tiled or wooden floors can help you burn over 350 calories in an hour. Think about that next time you’re scrubbing mildew, and remember to wear kneepads to take some pressure off your knees!

3. Washing the car

Save money by washing your own car and burn an astounding 316 calories per hour.

4. Vacuuming

Did you know that you can tone your arms and burn around 160 calories an hour while vacuuming?

5. Gardening

An hour of weeding and grooming your plants can help shed over 200 calories. It also gives you the chance to get plenty of fresh air.

6. Mowing the lawn

Using push mowers for an hour can help burn over 120 calories.

7. Ironing

Ironing your clothes for an hour helps you burn over 120 calories and tones the muscles of your upper body. It’s best to do this in a standing position, while switching hands periodically.

8. Baking

Bake cookies and bread for you loved ones and burn over 260 calories per hour.

9. Making the bed

Making the bed every time you wake up in the morning helps burn 15 calories. If we add that up, making the bed every single day can burn over 450 calories a month. Changing the sheets of one bed, on the other hand, can burn over 40 calories.

10. Doing the laundry

You could lose over a 100 calories for every hour spent on washing your clothes using a washing machine.

If you don’t want to hit the gym this weekend, stay home and do some chores instead. Doing household chores regularly can help you stay in shape while keeping your house neat and clean.

Health and Love,

Summer

Unfortunately, the air that we breathe indoors is not as fresh as what our body needs. If you stay in a closed in area for a long time, you end up breathing in the same air over and over again, decreasing the content of oxygen as you continually exhale carbon dioxide.

The positive effects of fresh air are highly underestimated. Getting outdoors on a regular basis can help improve your overall health and well-being as you get the chance to catch plenty of fresh air.

Here are some of the basic reasons why you need to catch plenty of fresh air:

• Getting plenty of fresh air gives you more chances to boost your weight loss efforts. The secret lies behind the ability of oxygen, the fresh air you breathe, to increase our metabolism.
• Cleanse your lungs. It helps the airways of your lungs to dilate more fully, improving the cleansing ability of your lungs.
• Supplying your immune system with oxygen it needs boosts your body’s ability to fight diseases.
• Helps improve your heart rate and blood pressure.
• Helps you improve concentration and helps you think more clearly.
• Promotes better sleep.
• Helps eliminate toxins in your body.

To get you motivated and get your quota of fresh air you need to be healthy, find some interesting ways to get plenty of refreshing fresh air. Run some extra miles at the park, play golf with your peers, frisbee with your family, go for a relaxing garden work or take some challenging adventures like hiking.

Make sure you get plenty of fresh air, and discover the wonders it can do for you!

Health and Love,

Summer

“Blepharospasm”, commonly known as eye twitching, happens when your eyelid muscles rapidly contract. In other instances, the eyelid may repeatedly close and re-open. This fairly widespread condition is characterized by involuntary blinking of the eye lids, often referred to as “blinking disorder”.

What are the common causes of eye twitching?

Cause: Eye twitching often occurs during stressful times. Stress can cause involuntary spasms causing eyelid ticks or twitches.

The Fix: De-stress! Several anti-stress or relaxing techniques, such as meditation and deep breathing, may reduce twitching.

Cause: Sleeplessness or overall fatigue is also a common cause of eyelid twitching.

The Fix: Get enough sleep. Catch up on your sleep and give yourself a chance to recuperate.

Cause: Eye strain or vision-related stress can trigger eye twitching. Squinting and prolonged use of a computer are common causes of vision-related stress.

The Fix: Your eyes may be working too hard. You may consider talking to your eye doctor.

Cause: Experts have linked too much caffeine or alcohol to eye twitches.

The Fix: Cutting back on caffeine or alcohol is worth a try. You may switch to decaf coffee or drink at least one cup per day.

Cause: Aging, hormonal changes, and several environmental factors cause your eyes to dry. Dry eyes are also common for people taking certain medications.

The Fix: Over the counter eye drops could help reduce the twitching caused by dry eyes, but it’s best to see your eye doctor for a dry eye evaluation.

Eye twitching is generally non-harmful and usually only lasts a day or two. In some serious cases, eye twitching can be a sign of neurological disorders, allergies, and other complications. MedlinePlus suggests you seek an eye care doctor if:

• Eyelid twitching does not go away within 1 week
• Twitching completely closes your eyelid
• Twitching involves other parts of your face
• You have redness, swelling, or a discharge from your eye
• Your upper eyelid is drooping

Health and Love,

Summer

If the answer is yes, it’s best to be proactive about ensuring your mental and physical health. Working in front of a computer for prolonged periods of time can put strain on the neck, shoulders, back, and arms.

Add yoga to your workplace regimen to relieve muscle strains and relieve stress!

Here are a few reasons why you should consider doing “Office Yoga”:

• Increased productivity
• Fewer sick days
• Improved focus
• Mental clarity
• Stress relief

High blood pressure, shallow breathing, and tensed muscles are all manifestations of stress in the office. Try these four simple Yoga moves, guaranteed to be a great anti-stress:

Deep Breathing. A few minutes of deep breathing can do much to relieve stress and help you relax. In your seat, straighten up your back, relax your shoulders and inhale as you raise your chest and exhale slowly as you bring it back in a relaxed state.

Neutral posture. The most important position that you should practice and maintain in the office is the neutral posture. This position relieves back pain and properly aligns your spine, making it more stable and relaxed. When you’re sitting on your chair, your heels should sit right underneath your knees, allowing your knees and hips bent at right angles. Sit tall, lift your ribcage, roll your shoulders back, and keep your chin level.

Stretch your neck. Your neck is bearing a lot of the weight from your head, especially when you slouch. Prevent muscle strain by doing some simple yoga neck stretches:

Step 1: Sit up in neutral posture. Rest your hands on your waist, gently lower your chin, and feel the slight tension at the back of your neck. Stay in this position for at least ten seconds.

Step 2: Return upright to neutral posture, and then lower your left ear towards your left shoulder for at least three breaths.  Repeat this on the right side.

Step 3: Rotate your neck to left, hold it for at least three breaths, return to the center and repeat on the right side.

Stretch your wrist. You’ve been typing for hours, and your hands and wrists tend to stay in a tense position. As a result, the muscles get stiff and blood does not properly circulate. Get rid of the pain in your hands and wrists by doing these stretches:

Step 1: Stay at neutral posture. Interlace your fingers, breathe in and gently press your palms away from you.

Step 2: As you breathe out, raise your arms over your head as high as you can. Feel the tension and hold this position for at least eight breaths.

Shrug your shoulders. Place your hand at your sides. As you inhale, lift your shoulders up in a half circular motion then release them back down in another half circular motion as you exhale. Work this up for at least four to five repetitions.

Stay healthy and stress-free no matter where you are! Do these simple yoga moves to relieve the pains of your desk job.

Health and Love,

Summer

Osteoporosis is tagged as “the silent disease” because there are often no symptoms of bone loss until the bones become so weak that a sudden bump, twist or fall causes a fracture. Such fractures typically occur at the hip, vertebrates, and ribs. This progressive disease typically worsens with age and primarily affects females (80% of people with osteoporosis are women). The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has revealed that about 10 million Americans over the age of 50 have osteoporosis, with treatment costs skyrocketing at $17.9billion annually.

Taking synthetic calcium alone is not enough to avoid osteoporosis. Your bones are active organs that are gradually affected by the food you eat and the lifestyle choices you make. Maintaining healthy bones begins with adopting a healthy living lifestyle.

Osteoporosis can be a devastating disease, but the good news is “you can prevent it”. Here are four basic measures that may reduce bone loss:

mple Fruits and Vegetables – Fruits and vegetables are good sources of magnesium and potassium — two essential nutrients for bone protection. A recent study found that women who consumed three and a half servings of fruits and vegetables on a daily basis had greater bone density than those who did not.

one Exercises – If you are physically active, your body works to make your bones as strong and flexible as possible. Bones are like muscles; they get stronger when they get sufficient pressure, tensile stress, and shear stress. Your bones react to exercises in a similar way to muscles – they increase in mass. Jogging, weight-lifting, hiking, aerobics, dancing and other weight-bearing exercises are the best exercises for building strong bones.

alcium – At the age of 30, your bones stop growing. And at this point, it’s very much important to increase your calcium intake. Calcium is the most abundant mineral found in your body and is primarily responsible for maintaining strong bones. In fact, 99% of your body’s calcium is stored in bones and teeth, basically for structural support. Milk, yogurt, tofu, and cheese are good sources of calcium. However, since most people don’t get enough calcium in their diets, physicians often recommend calcium supplements.

3 – Vitamin D3, commonly known as Vitamin D, boosts absorption and maintenance of the calcium and phosphorus levels that your body needs to build healthy bones and teeth. This fat-soluble micronutrient is produced by your body when exposed to sun, but is also available in some foods like boned fish and grains.

PureandHealthy offers a proven mix of natural minerals for efficient calcium absorption, such as Calcium Magnesium Zinc with D3 supplement. This all-natural, pure supplement promotes growth and maintenance of bones and bone density and aids in proper bone development and muscle function.

Take charge of your health, prevent osteoporosis now for a stronger and healthier you!

Health and Love,

Summer

Why is your nose so important?

• The small hairs in the nose filter the air you breathe and trap airborne particles to prevent them from entering the airway and lungs.
• It humidifies the air that you breathe, adding moisture to air to prevent dryness of the lining of the lungs and bronchial tubes.
• It warms the cold air you breathe to match your body temperature.

A cold and a clogged nose impair proper breathing, which has a remarkable effect on our energy levels, on how we eat and sleep, and on how well our body functions in general. Here’s an interesting Fact: Our sense of smell is 95% of what we taste. Yup, you read that right. What you smell is actually what you taste. So if you’ve got a stuffy nose, there’s a greater chance that you can’t taste what you’re eating.

The nose filters, humidifies and warms about 15,000 to 20,000 liters of air a day! This is why nasal hygiene is so important, especially if you live in the city, and therefore more susceptible to infection. The nose is a very sensitive organ that needs great care and attention.

Why breathe through your nose?

Our breathing is specifically designed to take place mainly though the nose and not through the mouth. Breathing through the nose helps maintain the correct balance of oxygen and carbon dioxide in our blood. In fact, breathing through the mouth, which causes the lungs to inhale and exhale air quickly in large volumes, can lead to hyperventilation. Medical experts also claim that shallow mouth breathing causes numerous anxiety and stress-related problems that deep, regulated nose breathing can prevent.

Nose breathing, meanwhile, causes you to accumulate increased oxygen in the lungs for greater endurance and more regulated breathing. This leads to better physical health and reduces the risk of sleep apnea, heart conditions, hypertension, high blood pressure, and dehydration. It also clears our minds of frenzy thoughts and stress-related problems. That is why yogi often promote regulated nose breathing, they believe that it leads to optimum emotional health, overall well-being, and greater inner peace.

Nasal hygiene tips:

• Clean your house! One of the most highly allergenic contaminants found indoors is house dust, often contaminated with fecal pellets and the skin of dust mites. Studies show that dust mites may be a contributing factor in 50 to 80% of asthma cases and hay fever.
• Don’t use nasal sprays too often. Unless instructed by a doctor, don’t use nasal sprays more than recommended. Using them too often can irritate the nose and worsen nasal congestion.
• Swab dry mucus. Soak the cotton swab in warm water to gently loosen any crust that is stuck inside your nose. Do this twice a day, at night and in the morning.
• Breathe in warm steam. To moisten nose and prevent dryness, inhale hot steam or keep a humidifier in your room.

Health and Love,

Summer

Take a deep breath

Deep breathing is a perfect way to release pent-up emotions. Almost every stress-relieving discipline such as yoga involves deep breathing, which stimulates the brain stem and triggers the release of mood-modulating chemicals like endorphins and neuropeptides. A minute of deep breathing can alter you brain’s chemical balance, providing a sense of peace and calm.

Squeeze a stress ball

Exercise the muscles of your hand and squeeze the stress away with the popular “stress ball”. Psychiatrists frequently recommend this as an instant stress management tool for people living a busy and hectic lifestyle. Squeezing a stress ball can also reduce the amount of strain associated with repetitive tasks like typing and writing.

Push-ups

Health and Love,

Summer

Hula, the ancient dance of Hawaii, is known for its grace and elegance and has evolved over time, now popular to audiences far and wide. This expressive and interpretative dance often tells a story and serves as a means of self expression.

Learn five basic steps of hula:

Ha’a - This is the basic hula stance; stand with your knees bent.

Lewa – Lift your hips to the right, lift your hips to the left and vice-versa.

Kaholo – Do the lewa and do a sidestep opening with the right foot and closing with the left, and vice versa.

Hela – Point your left toe forward but maintain your bent-knee stance. Return to the starting position and repeat with the right toe.

‘Ami – Rotate your hip following an eight figure pattern.

Match these steps with proper arm movements — imitating the ocean waves or rain drops — which are the key to hula’s story-telling nature.

Health benefits of hula:

Cardio exercise. Unlike other dynamic dances, hula is slow and contained. Nonetheless, this relaxing dance still raises your heart rate and speeds up your blood flow and metabolism.

In shape. Constant rocking hula movements gives you toned abs, mid back, hips, quads and glutes. After about 20 minutes of hula dancing, you will start to burn up calories and shed pounds in a fun and motivating way.

Improved posture. Hula dancing helps you attain good posture, which makes you look younger and more confident. Hula dancing keeps your joints and bones in proper alignment, thus helping prevent the back pain, neck pain, and stiffness you get from improper posture.

Anti-stress. Accompanied by percussions, or chants and soulful music, hula dancing helps you relieve stress as it draws your attention to the slow, even, sweeping movements. Hula dancing also enhances your coordination and leads you to a heightened sense of self-confidence.

Health and Love,

Summer

Runners from all age groups and across diverse socio-economic backgrounds are now taking part in several charity-focused running events. You’re doing a good deed, and you get the benefit of staying healthy!

Run to improve cardiovascular health. The more you run, the stronger your heart gets. When running, your arteries expand and contract three times as much as they do when you’re at rest. Running helps maintain the elasticity of your arteries and also lowers your blood pressure, greatly reducing the risk of suffering a heart attack or stroke.

Run to burn calories. Those who are looking for ways to shed some pounds often find running as one of the most effective ways of reaching their target weight. Few other exercises can match the running when it comes to burning calories. Running can burn 100 calories per mile for a person weighing about 150 pounds.

Run to relieve stress. Study after study has shown that running is a fantastic stress buster. The secret lies behind your body’s ability to release huge amounts of endorphins while running. Endorphins are neurotransmitters that help produce the “runner’s high”, a familiar feeling of well-being. So if you’re feeling stressed, frustrated, tired, or discouraged, running outdoors is a great outlet.

Run to help. While running is a great way to maintain a healthy living lifestyle, several charitable organizations and private groups are now organizing running events as a form of fund-raising to help those who are in need. To “run for a cause” is to sign up for a race or running event in order to raise money for a specific charity.

If you’re planning to join a running event, take note of the following tips and safety reminders:

Before Running

• Pack all the things you need the night before to save time the next morning.
• Go to bed early the night before the race.
• Eat a light, healthy meal at least three hours before the start of the race.
• Warm-up prior to the race to condition your body, to assure maximum performance, and to reduce the risk of injury.

During Running

• Start at a slow pace. Take it easy at first to save energy.
• Drink regularly to hydrate yourself.
• Modify your pace according to your breathing rate, soreness, and general comfort level.
• Make the most of every step and have fun!

Be part of the running movement! Give yourself a healthy boost while helping others, one step at a time.

Health and Love,

Summer