:Where Worklife Matters

The past few years have seen a bit of a resurgence of interest
in healthy living and healthy eating, and that is a good thing.
We all know that most people do not eat enough fruits and
vegetables, and that many people eat too much of the wrong
things - like sugar, salt and fat. Reversing this trend will
take some time and some effort, but starting with your own diet
is a great way to improve your health and your life.

The key to changing your diet, of course, is to change it is
ways that you can live with for a lifetime. The reason that most
diet and lifestyle changes fail is that they are too difficult
to follow once the initial excitement has worn off. The key is
to make small changes, simple changes, that you can follow for
the rest of your life.

Where you start your healthy eating plan depends in great part
on your particular goals. For many people, a healthy eating
program can be as simple as eating more fruits and vegetables.
For others, a healthy eating plan will require a radical change
in the way they shop, cook, and eat.

Since healthy eating means so many different things to different
people, it is impossible to come up with a single healthy eating
guide that will be right for everyone. The runner toning up for
a marathon will have different nutritional needs than the factor
worker who wants to lose 20 pounds.

No matter what the goal, however, it is important to eat a
variety of foods, and to make smart choices when shopping, when
cooking and when eating. Eating out can present special
challenges, and it is important to familiarize yourself with the
ingredients of the foods you order in your favorite restaurant.

Making healthy food choices means eating more of the good foods
- like vegetables, fruits, whole grains, etc., and less of the
bad foods, like salt, sugar and fats.

Starting by eating more high nutrition, low calorie foods is a
good place to start. Luckily, the produce section of the local
grocery store likely contains hundreds of different examples of
such foods. Fruits and vegetables are almost always low in
calories and fat, and they are generally very nutritious as well.

Since variety is so important to a healthy diet, it is a good
idea to try out a sampling of different fruits and vegetables on
your first healthy eating shopping trip. Start with some of the
fruits and vegetables you have always wanted to try but never
gotten around to. For instance, many people have never tasted
asparagus, spinach or Brussels sprouts. While some love these
foods and others hate them, you will never know unless you try
them for yourself.

This kind of foraging is a great way to introduce yourself to
foods you have never tried before. It is a great way to try new
things, and you just might discover a new favorite food while
you’re at it.

Experimenting with cooking all these exotic fruits and
vegetables is another great idea. There are a ton of healthy
cooking recipes and cookbooks on the market, and a new cookbook
can be a great motivator for healthy eating.

It is important to remember that making your diet healthier does
not necessarily mean making a radical change. Simple changes,
like trimming the excess fat off of a steak, or substituting
nonfat yogurt for sour cream on your baked potato, can go a long
way toward enjoying a healthier lifestyle.

As a matter of fact, in the long run the simplest and easiest to
follow changes are the ones that matter most. That is because
making easy changes means that you will be able to stick with
them for the long run. Healthy eating is a marathon, not a
sprint.

Comments Off

Copyright 2005 Ardmore Internet Marketing, Inc.

With all of the conflicting studies and fuzzy interpretation of
information, it’s no wonder that confusion reigns when it comes
to the value and safety of low-carb diets. It seems like heated
debates are raging everywhere!

Whether it’s Atkins, the South Beach or some other low-carb
plan, as many as 30 million Americans are following a low-carb
diet.

Advocates contend that the high amount of carbohydrates in our
diet has led to increasing problems with obesity, diabetes, and
other health problems. Critics, on the other hand, attribute
obesity and related health problems to over-consumption of
calories from any source, and lack of physical activity. Critics
also express concern that the lack of grains, fruits, and
vegetables in low-carbohydrate diets may lead to deficiencies of
some key nutrients, including fiber, vitamin C, folic acid, and
several minerals.

Any diet, weather low or high in carbohydrate, can produce
significant weight loss during the initial stages of the diet.
But remember, the key to successful dieting is in being able to
lose the weight permanently. Put another way, what does the
scale show a year after going off the diet?

Let’s see if we can debunk some of the mystery about low-carb
diets. Below, is a listing of some relevant points taken from
recent studies and scientific literature. Please note there may
be insufficient information available to answer all questions.

- Differences Between Low-Carb Diets

There are many popular diets designed to lower carbohydrate
consumption. Reducing total carbohydrate in the diet means that
protein and fat will represent a proportionately greater amount
of the total caloric intake.

Atkins and Protein Power diets restrict carbohydrate to a point
where the body becomes ketogenic. Other low-carb diets like the
Zone and Life Without Bread are less restrictive. Some, like
Sugar Busters claim to eliminate only sugars and foods that
elevate blood sugar levels excessively.

- What We Know about Low-Carb Diets

Almost all of the studies to date have been small with a wide
variety of research objectives. Carbohydrate, caloric intake,
diet duration and participant characteristics varied greatly.
Most of the studies to date have two things in common: None of
the studies had participants with a mean age over 53 and none of
the controlled studies lasted longer than 90 days.

Information on older adults and long-term results are scarce.
Many diet studies fail to monitor the amount of exercise, and
therefore caloric expenditure, while participants are dieting.
This helps to explain discrepancies between studies.

The weight loss on low-carb diets is a function of caloric
restriction and diet duration, and not with reduced carbohydrate
intake. This finding suggests that if you want to lose weight,
you should eat fewer calories and do so over a long time period.

Little evidence exists on the long-range safety of low-carb
diets. Despite the medical community concerns, no short-term
adverse effects have been found on cholesterol, glucose, insulin
and blood-pressure levels among participants on the diets. But,
adverse effects may not show up because of the short period of
the studies. Researchers note that losing weight typically leads
to an improvement in these levels anyway, and this may offset an
increase caused by a high fat diet. The long range weight change
for low-carb and other types of diets is similar.

Most low-carb diets cause ketosis. Some of the potential
consequences are nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, and
confusion. During the initial phase of low-carb dieting some
fatigue and constipation may be encountered. Generally, these
symptoms dissipate quickly. Ketosis may also give the breath a
fruity odor, somewhat like nail-polish remover (acetone).

Low-carb diets do not enable the consumption of more calories
than other kinds of diets, as has been often reported. A calorie
is a calorie and it doesn’t matter weather they come from
carbohydrates or fat. Study discrepancies are likely the result
of uncontrolled circumstances; i.e. diet participants that cheat
on calorie consumption, calories burned during exercise, or any
number of other factors. The drop-out rate for strict (i.e. less
than 40 grams of CHO/day) low-carb diets is relatively high.

What Should You Do? - There are 3 important points I would like
to re-emphasize:

- The long-range success rate for low-carb and other types of
diets is similar.

- Despite their popularity, little information exists on the
long-term efficacy and safety of low-carbohydrate diets.

- Strict low-carb diets are usually not sustainable as a normal
way of eating. Boredom usually overcomes willpower.

It is obvious after reviewing the topic, that more,
well-designed and controlled studies are needed. There just
isn’t a lot of good information available, especially concerning
long-range effects. Strict low-carb diets produce ketosis which
is an abnormal and potentially stressful metabolic state. Under
some circumstances this might cause health related
complications.

The diet you choose should be a blueprint for a lifetime of
better eating, not just a quick weight loss plan to reach your
weight goal. If you can’t see yourself eating the prescribed
foods longer than a few days or a week, then chances are it’s
not the right diet. To this end, following a moderately low fat
diet with a healthy balance of fat, protein, carbohydrate and
other nutrients is beneficial.

If you do decide to follow a low-carb plan, remember that
certain dietary fats are associated with reduction of disease.
Foods high in unsaturated fats that are free of trans-fatty
acids such as olive oil, fish, flaxseeds, and nuts are preferred
to fats from animal origins.

Even promoters of the Atkins diet now say people on their plan
should limit the amount of red meat and saturated fat they eat.
Atkins representatives are telling health professionals that
only 20 percent of a dieter’s calories should come from
saturated fat (i.e. meat, cheese, butter). This change comes as
Atkins faces competition from other popular low-carb diets that
call for less saturated fat, such as the South Beach diet plan.
Low-carb dieting should not be considered as a license to gorge
on red meat!

Another alternative to “strict” low-carb dieting would be to
give up some of the bad carbohydrate foods but not “throw out
the baby with the bath water”. In other words, foods high in
processed sugar, snacks, and white bread would be avoided, but
foods high in complex carbohydrates such as fruit, potatoes and
whole grains, retained.

Comments Off

Beautiful flower gardens have been a part of our world for
thousands of years. Yet, flowers don’t provide us with food,
clothing fibers, or any other item considered necessary for
survival. So, why do we spend so much time planting and caring
for flowers?

A recent study conducted at Rutgers University, the State
University of New Jersey, offers scientific proof that flowers
do provide happiness, surely a necessity for our emotional well
being. The study was conducted under the direction of Jeannette
M. Haviland-Jones, Ph.D., who is a psychologist and
internationally known expert in emotional development in human
behavior. Of the results, Dr. Haviland-Jones said, “What’s most
exciting about this study is that it challenges established
scientific beliefs about how people can manage their day-to-day
moods in a healthy and natural way.”

The study lasted for 10 months and produced proof of the
following:

* Flowers immediately affect happiness. * The impact of flowers
is positive and long-term. * Flowers help to enable connections
between people.

In the stressful world we live in, isn’t it nice to know that by
taking the simple step of purchasing flowers, you can quickly
improve your own mood or someone else’s? And, better yet, the
flowers you buy for yourself will make those who see them happy
as well. Just place them in a high-traffic area like the
entryway to your home, on your kitchen table, or in the family’s
sitting room. Dr. Haviland-Jones agrees, saying, “Flowers bring
about positive emotional feelings in those who enter a room.
They make the space more welcoming and create a sharing
atmosphere.”

Want to boost the mood of your employees and customers? Place
flowers in your lobby and in areas used by your employees, like
the break room, cafeteria, or meeting rooms. You’ll benefit by
having a more beautiful workplace and you’ll see more smiles
around the office. Improved morale can also increase employee
productivity, so your small purchase of flowers can result in
huge returns!

Your florist can help you choose the perfect flowers for any
occasion and can even help you pick the right flowers to match
the recipients personality or the space they’ll be placed in.
Just pick up the phone and call or visit the flower shop to
discuss what you need and what you’d like to achieve.

Comments Off

In the ancient India, philosophy has been traditionally divided
into two main groups. These groups are called as the orthodox
group and heretic group. The orthodox group believes in the
authority of Vedas in all the philosophical matters. These
orthodox systems are six in all. One of the most popular systems
of philosophy is yoga.

It shares the following common beliefs with the other orthodox
systems:

* Belief in the permanent soul, which forms the basis of life.

* Soul is supposed to discard one body at the time of death and
enter a new one at the time of new birth.

* A strong belief in the karma, which states that the events
happening in a person’s life are a direct results of the events
in his previous life or lives (if the person has been born many
times).

* A belief that the life of an individual is primarily of misery
and sorrow.

* A belief in the state of complete freedom from misery and
sorrow called mukti or moksha.

Yoga adopts the dualistic doctrine of explaining the universe of
objects and living beings. It assumes that the universe was
originally created by the uniting or samyoga of two eternal
realities called purusha and prakriti. Purusha forms the basis
of all the spiritual objects while prakriti deals with the
material objects. Prakriti and everything that comes from it has
three gunas viz.: sattva, rajo and tamas in various proportions
and combinations.

Sattvaguna deals with all that is pure and holy while rajasguna
deals with all the rich and royal qualities and tamasguna deals
with all the baser qualities like greed, lust, anger, fear etc.
The samyoga of the purusha and the prakriti is virtual. It does
not exist but only the ignorant mind thinks it is real. This is
due to the illusion called avidya and binds the purusha and
causes him to transmigrate from one body to another in the
various births. Once the avidya is dispelled completely, one can
break free from the cycle of bith and death and can achieve
moksha. This is easily achieved by following the eightfold path
given by Patanjali in his Yogasutras.

Comments Off

Bhakti means devotion or faith. It can be devotion towards your
fellow men as well as for the need we are living in this world.
The devotion towards your god no matter which faith you are. It
is the faith towards the Supreme Being which some may believe
and some may not.

The thought is about how devoted you are towards the path you
have taken. It is the energy which denotes the path and how
important is the path for you. It talks about your full devotion
towards the direction you have taken and the values for which
you are standing by.

It is also a bond of love which grows between the one who prays
to the one he prays to. It talks about love and devotion
transcending all the boundaries you must have ever known about.
It is not the physical attribute which creates the impact; it is
spiritual, which creates unison of mind and soul.

It is one of methods to gain your spiritual path and gaining
immense self-awareness which would be very hard to find. Looking
into your heart and soul just makes things crystal clear. Need
for a mind which is clear from all worries and attachment, for
undivided attention to the devoted path.

It talks about love, devotion and knowledge in all forms which
can bring a bright change in your life. It can create immense
presence of your being in the beautiful world. It is beyond
religion, a search for higher ground with your devotion
(Bhakti). It is a form of love creating a merger between you and
the outside world. It is a process to gather knowledge and also
provide it to the one who needs it.

Comments Off