Eating for A Healthy Heart

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I love to read online women’s magazines. I subscribe to a whole lot of them. Not only for their entertainment value but they provide a lot of interesting tidbits and tips on home and lifestyle, fashion, fitness and diet and more. One women’s magazine I like a lot is Fitness Magazine. They have a lot of simple, easy tips on being healthy and keeping fit. Articles like these inspire me to be be healthy.

Lately I’ve been really interested in eating healthy food. I want to be fit using only healthy methods, no quick weight loss schemes, appetite suppressant and the likes for me. Why? I discovered there are no shortcuts to being fit and healthy. Also, I want to be kinder to my body particularly my heart. I just dread having a heart disease so from now I want to be good and take care of it.

One articled featured in Fitness Magazine, “How to Eat for A Healthy Heart” lists some food good for the heart. Let me just share some.

• Blueberries – rich in antioxidants help fight inflammation and lower bad LDL cholesterol, blood fats, and blood sugar;
• Canola and Olive Oil – High in heart-smart monounsaturated fats; lower in saturated fat than other oils;
• Cinnamon
• Oatmeal – lots of soluble fiber and full of heart-friendly B vitamins.
• Peppermint
• Nuts – rich in omega-3 fatty acids, phytochemicals, potassium, and vitamin E
• Salmon – Omega-3s help reduce triglycerides and bad cholesterol and make blood flow smoothly, lessening the chance of clotting;
• Ginger
• Crushed Red Pepper
• Red Wine and Grape Juice – rich in antioxidants
• Sage
• Spinach – B vitamins and antioxidants fight heart disease; magnesium can help lower blood pressure
• Curry
• Flaxseeds
• Legumes
• Soy

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Foods That Speed Up Weight Loss

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A week ago I started a diet. South Beach Diet to be exact and its doing great. I’m shedding kilos without actually getting hungry hehe. And I’m still doing my exercise routines to go with the diet. So, its quite safe to say that right now, I’m plenty preoccupied with dieting, weight loss, fitness and no I don’t have room right now in my time to search for car insurance quotes which I am supposed to do. Lol! I’m really ecstatic enough that my usual fickle-minded self is absorbed on this goal: to lose weight.

Anyway, weight loss crazed that I am, I’ve been browsing online for some healthy eating articles and I came across an article in Yahoo Health. It’s all about seven foods that speed up weight loss.

1. Cheese.
2. Almonds.
3. Coffee.
4. Peppers.
5. Green Tea.
6. Eggs.
7. Portobello Mushrooms.

Read the entire article from the link above. =)

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Easy Dumbbell Exercises For Women

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I mentioned in my previous post – Calorie Burning Activities, that I’ve taken up light strength exercises. I’ve been using a dumbbell and I did a bit of ‘looking out’ for basic dumbbell routines that I could start with.

Having toned and strong muscles is one way of upping my metabolic rate. I don’t aim to have bulging muscles the way a body builder would look like, I simply want to have toned muscles particularly in my arm area which I think is approaching jiggly gross standards. I want to be in my right weight for my height and I wanna accomplish that without fancy weight loss products but the good old fashioned way, meaning – I wanna sweat it out!

The Side Shoulder Raise – for outer portion of the shoulders (2-3 sets)

Front Shoulder Raise – for front portion of shoulders  (2-3 sets)

Upright Row – for shoulders, upper back and the neck

Bicep Curls (Standing) – for front of arm (2-3 sets)

Bicep Curls (Sitting) – for front of arm (2-3 sets)

Tricep Curls – for triceps (2-3 sets)

Tricep Kickbacks (2-3 sets)

Alternate Dumbbell Press (2-3 sets)

Dumbbell Squats (2-3 sets)

Reverse Dumbbell Lunge (2-3 sets)

Chest Dumbbell Press (2-3 sets)

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Tricks To Speeding Up Metabolism

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I’m one of those genetically unlucky women who has a really really slow metabolic rate. How I envy those who could eat truckloads but not even gain an ounce. But I realize I have to do something about this. When I was a teenager, though I have slow metabolism, I always have a healthy weight. Even in my 20′s I had that ‘just right’ body weight.

Everything went downhill after I gave birth to my child. And my weight gain was not helped when I quit working and starting working from home. I had my jewelry business and working was done mostly sitting down. Talk about a drastic change in my physical activities. When the business was doing good I had tons to do and exercise was put on the back burner. Before I realized it, I gained lots already. Oh, I’ve tried a smorgasbord of diets, weight loss drinks, at one time I did even try diet pills but none of them worked. Sure, I lost some weight but I did easily gained it all back after a month or two.

Now I’m in a serious dilemma coz I’m working online on my blogs so I sit down a lot of times. Losing weight is now becoming an almost obsession to me. For two weeks now I’ve been doing lots of research and I’m starting to realize where I’ve gone wrong.. I realized I’ve got to improve the rate of my metabolism, knowing that I am sedentary most of the day just prompts me now to do something to remedy the situation.

One article I read on Yahoo! Health discusses 7 tricks to a speedier metabolism. Click on the link to read the full article. But in summary, the article lists down the following ways to increase our metabolic rate and therefore increasing the rate we burn calories..

• Get more than 5 hours of sleep. – I am so guilty of this! I always sleep late and wake up early so the whole day I mostly feel lethargic.
• De-stress – true. Whenever I am stressed I tend to binge.
• Do not skip breakfast – At least this one I am religiously following.
• Get out of the chair - “Staying on your feet revs metabolism and doubles your calorie burn during workdays”..
• Avoid junk foods – “Junk food might stimulate a gene that encourages your body to store excess fat, causing you to gain weight over time.”
• Avoid falling into workout rut – when weight loss plateau arrives, I often lose interest. Experts advice continously eating a healthy diet and trying out new workout routines.
• Add some weight exercises – muscles help in burning calories so don’t dodge the weight training room. “Add weight-bearing exercises like planks, lunges, squats and tricep dips to your workouts three times a week.”

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Rambling On About My Body Image

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I am in one of those musings, self-introspective moods. You see, I’ve been cleaning out my closet and ended up being almost depressed. Almost like how I feel when I’m reading a dwindling bank statement or comparing Clinicallix reviews. Why? A lot of my clothes don’t fit me anymore!! This is like a lot of women’s nightmare and I should start admitting now that, yes! I have gained a lot of weight and should do something about it!

This quote from Cindy Crawford seriously illustrates what I’m feeling right now..

You start out happy that you have no hips or boobs.  All of a sudden you get them, and it feels sloppy.  Then just when you start liking them, they start drooping.

Which brings me back to the time when I was in my teens. I had a nice slim body and didn’t give a hoot about it. Then late 20′s and I was suddenly nicely curved and I loved it. I haven’t even enjoyed it yet that much and now, whaaaaaaaaaaaa!

Why, why did I allow myself to become like this?  I’m not yet on a super obese scale but I am seriously in need of shedding pounds. Maybe about 30 lbs. And I should really get down to it, instead of complaining, right? And I really should stop this lazy attitude, see cartoon and you’d ‘get’ what I mean..

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