Reason why we should drink more water

10 Reasons Why You Should Drink More Water

At the airport gate, on my way back to the U.S. (from Africa), the second security check confiscated the 3 liters of water I had just purchased in the main terminal. I cried. Literally, I cried. Clearly, the security agent didn’t understand exactly how much water I consume on a 17 hour flight (about 6 liters actually!). Water has always been my drink of choice. It just makes me feel good. I tell my clients to drink water if they have a craving, a headache, are constipated, hungry, etc. Water is so beneficial, so easy, so free yet so easily overlooked. It’s really a no brainer (actually your brain is 90% water!!!). Your body is about 70% water, the majority of your blood and every cell in your body is composed of water. Therefore, you need water to function properly.

I don’t get headaches and don’t own Tylenol, Advil, etc. I believe it’s because I drink enough water. I’ve often been complimented on my clear, youthful skin. Again, Ithank my water intake!

As with most things, the amount of water for each person is very individual, but if your pee isn’t mostly clear or you have any of the symptoms I mentioned above, you most likely aren’t getting enough H2O. Some suggest 8 (8 oz) glasses a day while others suggest take your body weight (in pounds), divide it in half and drink that many ounces. Listen to what your body needs.

If you don’t care much for the taste of... nothing, then you can add a squirt of lemon, a squeeze of lime, a few sprigs of fresh mint or a cucumber or orange slice. You can even be so bold as to add a few berries or watermelon. What ever gets you to drink it up. Cheers to your good health!

30 days plank chalenge

The 30 Day Plank Challenge will send your core strength through the roof! Yes, all you have to do is HOLD this position, nothing else! It looks pretty easy, but it isn't!

Benefits of Plank Exercise:

*It strengthens your lower back

*It develops your core muscles – which include the abs, back, hips and the butt.

*Helps you to avoid injuries and encourage good posture

*Can be done anywhere

*Develops your abdominals by targeting the rectus abdominis

SUPPORT each other in Fitness!!

This is a beginner routine.. everyone starts somewhere!

ENJOY this Challenge! Share with your friends to help motivate others!

Healthy Diet tips

EATING FRUIT...

We all think eating fruits means just buying fruits, cutting it and just popping it into our mouths. It's not as easy as you think.
It's important to know how and when to eat.

DON'T EAT FRUIT AFTER MEALS!

FRUITS SHOULD BE EATEN ON AN EMPTY STOMACH.

It will play a major role to detoxify your system, supplying a great deal of energy for weight loss and other life activities.

FRUIT IS THE MOST IMPORTANT FOOD. Let's say you eat two slices of bread and then a slice of fruit. The slice of fruit is ready to go straight through the stomach into the intestines, but it is prevented from doing so.

In the meantime the whole meal rots and ferments and turns to acid. The minute the fruit comes into contact with the food in the stomach and digestive juices, the entire mass of food begins to spoil....

Eat fruit on an empty stomach or before meals! People complain, "Every time I eat watermelon I burp; when I eat apples, my stomach bloats up; when I eat a banana I feel like running to the toilet, etc ” This will not arise if you eat the fruit on an empty stomach. Fruit mixes with the putrefying other food and produces gas, hence you will bloat!

Gray hair, balding, nervous outburst, and dark circles under eyes will NOT happen by taking fruit on an empty stomach.

There is no such thing as some fruits, like orange and lemon are acidic, because all fruits become alkaline in our body, according to Dr. Herbert Shelton who did research on this matter. Master the correct way of eating fruits, and you will have beauty, longevity, health, energy, happiness and normal weight.

Drink only fresh fruit juice, NOT from the cans. Don't even drink juice that has been heated up. Don't eat cooked fruits because you don't get the nutrients at all. Cooking destroys all the vitamins.

Eating a whole fruit is better than drinking the juice. If you should drink the juice, drink it mouthful by mouthful slowly, because you must let it mix with your saliva before swallowing it. You can go on a 3-day fruit fast to cleanse your body. Just eat fruits and drink fruit juice throughout the 3 days and you will be surprised when your friends tell you how radiant you look!

KIWI: A good source of potassium, magnesium, vitamin E & fiber. Its vitamin C content is twice that of an orange.

APPLE: Although an apple has a low vitamin C content, it has antioxidants & flavonoids which enhances the activity of vitamin C thereby helping to lower risks of colon cancer, heart attack & stroke.

STRAWBERRY: .. have the highest total antioxidant power among major fruits & protect from cancer-causing, blood vessel-clogging free radicals.

ORANGE : Taking 2-4 oranges a day may help keep colds away, lower cholesterol, prevent & dissolve kidney stones as well as lessening the risk of colon cancer.

WATERMELON: Composed of 92% water, it is also packed with a giant dose of glutathione, which helps boost our immune system. A key source of lycopene the cancer fighting oxidant. Other nutrients found in watermelon are vitamin C & Potassium.

GUAVA & PAPAYA: Clear winners for their high vitamin C content. Guava is also rich in fiber, which helps prevent constipation. Papaya is rich in carotene; good for your eyes.

Drinking Cold water after meals = Cancer!

It will solidify the oily stuff you have just consumed and slow down digestion... Once this 'sludge' reacts with the acid, it will break down and be absorbed by the intestine faster than the solid food. It will line the intestine. This will turn into fats and lead to cancer. Better to drink hot soup or warm water after a meal.

HEART ATTACK PROCEDURE': Not every heart attack symptom is going to be the left arm hurting. Be aware of pain in the jaw line. You may never have chest pain during a heart attack. Nausea and intense sweating are common symptoms. Sixty percent who have an attack while asleep do not wake up. Pain in the jaw can awaken you. 

Top Exercise Excuses and How to Beat Them

Top Exercise Excuses and How to Beat Them

What’s keeping you from working out? Whether it’s too little time, not enough energy, or just hating to exercise, there's a solution. Get ready to get motivated.

Exercise Excuse No. 1: 'I Don't Have Time.'

"How much television do you watch?" asks Walter Thompson, PhD, professor of kinesiology and health at Georgia State University.

During your shows, use resistance bands for strength training, or walk in place. You could also record your shows and watch them later, skipping the ads; use that time to exercise.  

If you don't have a long stretch of time, you could break up your workout into shorter sessions. Some activity is better than none. "We find time for things we value," says James Hill, PhD, co-founder of the National Weight Control Registry.

Exercise Excuse No. 2: 'I'm Too Tired.'

Working out actually gives you more energy. Your body makes feel-good hormones (endorphins), "and you're getting the circulation going," says Marisa Brunett, a certified athletic trainer in Orlando, Fla. 

It may help to work out in the morning before your day gets away from you, says kinesiologist Lynette Craft, PhD. She's an assistant professor of preventive medicine at Northwestern University.

Not a morning person? No problem. Do it whenever you feel best, says Brunett, who likes to work out in the middle or at the end of the day.

Exercise Excuse No. 3: 'I Don't Get a Break From the Kids.'

"Take the kids with you," Hill says. While they're playing, you can walk around theplayground, or jump rope nearby. During their games or sports practices, walk briskly around the field.

Go biking with your kids, put up a badminton net in your yard, sign up as a family for "fun runs," or just walk around the neighborhood with your children. When the weather's bad, try active video games like "Dance Dance Revolution," "Wii Sport," and "Wii Fit."

"When mom or dad is more fit, has more energy, the whole family benefits,” says psychologist Christina Recascino, PhD.

Exercise Excuse No. 4: 'Exercise Is Boring.'

Find an activity you love. Try inline skating, dancing, or gardening. Join a sports league. Or go dancing. "There's an exercise for everyone," Recascino says. "It doesn't have to be onerous or unpleasant."

If it makes exercise more enjoyable for you, it's OK to watch TV or read while you're on the exercise bike or treadmill, as long as your workout is still challenging.

Get some friends to go with you, or join a group.  And every once in a while, try something totally new. “Mix it up so you don't get bored,” Brunett says.

Exercise Excuse No. 5: 'I Just Don't Like to Move.'

First, figure out why.

Is it that you don't like getting sweaty? You can work out indoors where it's air conditioned. You can swim so you won't notice any perspiration. Or try a low-sweat activity, like gentle types of yoga.

Is it hard on your joints? Head for the pool. Exercising in water is easier on your joints.The stronger your muscles get, the more they can support your joints and the less you'll hurt. If your physical limitations are more serious, check with your doctor, or find an athletic trainer who can help you figure out exercises that are still safe and easy to do.

If you’re self-conscious about your weight, you could start by walking with friends, working out in the privacy of your home, or exercising with a trainer who's supportive. Wear clothes that feel comfortable.  

Exercise Excuse No. 6: 'I've Tried Before.'

Set goals that are small and realistic. Then you're more likely to feel like a success, not a failure, Brunett says.

It also helps to keep a log and post it somewhere public -- even on Facebook. Craft calls it a "wall of encouragement." Friends and family can then say, "Hey, you did 15 minutes yesterday. Great job," she says. A log also helps you see if you're starting to fall off the wagon (or the treadmill).

Having an exercise buddy keeps you accountable as well, says Boston psychologist Eric Endlich, PhD. You may be more likely to show up for your workout if you know someone is expecting you to be there.

stop making excuses and start getting fit.

Why You're Not Losing Weight

Reasons Why You're Not Losing Weight 

 Sometimes, people can diet and work out and track their calories and do everything right—but still not lose weight. I can't begin to tell you how often members, friends and even acquaintances ask me why they're not losing weight despite doing X, Y or Z. It's one of the most common questions I get as a trainer. Sometimes, the answer isn't that easy to come by.

  But usually, when someone seems to be doing the right things but not making progress, a list of possible problems runs through my head. These are the most common scenarios I tend to see that stop people from getting results—and they could be the culprits for your weight woes, too.

So here are a few cold, hard truths about why you're not losing weight.  

You're eating back all the calories you burn.
When you work out, you're burning extra calories. That's why exercise is so important in the weight-loss equation. But a lot of people overestimate how much they burn—and even use the "I exercised today" excuse to later overeat, overdrink (think alcohol) or overindulge. How many times have you faced a food temptation and thought, "Well, I worked out today, so it's OK this time." Or even, "I'll have this now, but work out extra hard tomorrow to Burn it off." If that sounds all-too-familiar, this is one major reason why you're not losing weight. For the exercise to help you lose, you can't re-eat all those extra calories you burned. And in most cases, we overestimate how many calories we actually burned and underestimate how many calories we're actually eating, which means using that 3-mile walk (240 calories burned) to justify that restaurant meal (1000 plus calories meal?) leaves you in a worse position than if you may realize: at a calorie surplus.

The Takeaway: Exercise can help you lose when you're really using it to burn extra calories, not as a reason to eat more.
 

You're relying on exercise alone to do the trick.
Yes, exercising can help you lose weight (and it has so many other health benefits) because it helps you create that calorie deficit needs to drop body fat. But here's the truth: Exercise alone will not help you lose weight. For emphasis, I'll say it again. If you are relying on exercise alone to lose weight, you are fighting an uphill battle. Here's why.

Exercise burns calories, but not as much as people think. When you consider how many calories you burn in a day, exercise burns very little. And it takes a lot of time and effort to burn even a few calories. A full hour of intense exercise may only burn 400-500 calories for a lot of people. On the flipside, it's easy to eat hundreds or thousands of calories in even a few minutes. But it would take hours of exercise to offset those calories. If you are not changing your diet and reducing your calorie intake, exercise alone probably won't help you much. As they say, "you can't out-train a bad diet." No amount of exercise can make up for a poor or high-calorie diet. You've got to have both (calorie reduction through diet and exercise) for optimal weight-loss results.

The Takeaway: The best way to lose weight is to cut back on what you eat and increase your burn through exercise—not one or the other.

You're not eating as healthfully as you think.
We know that Americans and others who eat a Western-style diet have a lot of health problems—and weight problems. The vast majority of people are overweight these days. Yet research shows that the vast majority of people also think they eat healthfully and consider eating healthy a priority. Are you as confused about that as I am? Clearly, we are not eating that well if we continue to see steady increases in heart disease, type 2 diabetes, overweight and obesity.

Here's the thing: We all think we eat pretty well. Even people who eat a pretty bad diet don't think it's that bad. No one really wants to admit that their diet might be pretty unhealthy. We all think we're probably doing better than others. This is especially true if you compare your diet to what you see your friends, family or co-workers eat and consider your choices to be "better." Whether that's actually true or not, the truth is that the vast majority of people could (and probably should) improve their diets immensely.
 

The Takeaway: If you're not meeting basic guideline for healthy diet (which involves way more than just counting calories alone) and/or you don't actually track your food/nutrition to see how it all adds up in black and white, don't make assumptions about how "good" you really do eat. Research confirms that people underestimate the quantity of food they eat, so read labels and measure.

You're doing the wrong kinds of exercise.
If you are exercising regularly, you're already doing a very important thing to improve your health. But when it comes to exercising for weight loss, there's a lot of confusion out there. One day you hear that strength training is the best way to lose weight. The next day you're told to focus on cardio—but not just any cardio, intervals. Then you hear it has to be high intensity intervals or Tabata training. What gives?

The truth is that all types of exercise will burn calories, which can help with weight loss. But when it comes to losing weight, it's all about burning calories. And in most cases, cardio is the calorie-burning king. Strength training is important, too (for many reasons), such as reducing the amount of muscle loss that occurs during weight loss, but it's typically not a major calorie burner. So if you are relying almost exclusively on strength training as your weight-loss strategy, it could backfire.
 

The Takeaway:  The best exercise plan emphasizes cardio for calorie burning, but still includes strength training to preserve lean muscle. Both are important; neither option can do everything.

You're not being consistent enough.
When you're struggling to lose those final 5-10 pounds or to overcome a plateau, consistency in your efforts is even more important.  A lot of people stick to strict diet and fitness programs for days or weeks at a time, but their habits simply aren't consistent for long enough. Ever eat "perfectly" and exercise "religiously" for a whole week, only to step on the scale that weekend to see that you haven't lost an ounce? "What's the point!" you may think as you go on an all-out eating fest and skip the gym for a couple days. Maybe you don't even make it a few days "on track," but rather you eat right for one day, then fall of the wagon the next.

Or perhaps you do feel pretty consistent in your habits, but the occasional slice of birthday cake or drinks with friends happens more often than just occasionally. Eating that restaurant dessert that's 4-5 times a standard serving size (and packed more sugar and fat than seems physically possible) doesn't really count as moderation, even if it's the only sweet treat you've had all week. Moderation needs to apply not just to the frequency of treats or rest days, but the amount, too. Practice portion control—so that you don't go overboard and set yourself back.
 

The Takeaway: Eat right and exercise as consistently as possible and apply both moderation and portion control when it comes to indulging.

You're not measuring the right things.
A lot of people complain that they're not seeing the scale move, even though they are losing inches and clothing sizes. Despite these obvious signs that they're getting leaner, they still want to see the scale change.
If you are noticing other improvements in your body shape or size, you are losing fat. The scale might not always reflect that you've lose weight—but ultimately it is the shape of your body and the amount of lean muscle vs. body fat you have that shows you're making progress.
 

The Takeaway: Don't just rely on the scale to measure your weight loss. That number won't really tell you everything you need to know.

You don't need to lose weight.
If you are at a healthy BMI or a body fat percentage in the healthy range, you probably don't need to lose weight for any health or medical reasons. Still, you may want to lose some pounds for vanity's sake, or even to improve your athletic performance. There's nothing inherently wrong with wanting to lose weight when you're already at an acceptable weight. But, when you only have only a little body fat to lose, it can be extremely challenging for some people.

Your body is usually content to be right where it is, weight-wise.  For many, their body has sort of settled in to what it feels like is a good, natural weight—which may not be your ideal weight in your head. It's certainly possible to drop your body fat percentage and get leaner, but it will often take even more dedication—and time—than it will for someone who has a lot of weight to lose. For some, it may involve dieting or exercising to extremes rather than a moderate amount. But with diligence and some experimentation, you can get there—especially if you follow the other tips outlined here (consistency being #1).
 

The Takeaway: When you have less fat to lose, the road may be harder and longer; consistency is key!

You have an underlying issue.
When all else fails and you've truly adhered to your program—and all the advice here—and you're still not losing weight, you may secretly wish you had some kind of underlying medical problem that would explain it—a slow thyroid, some kind of hormonal disorder, or something that popping a pill could fix and then magically help melt away the pounds. While it is true that people with certain medical issues or on certain medications can have trouble losing weight, most people struggle with losing it because they struggle with consistently burning more calories than they eat. The only way to do it is to track, measure and weigh your food honestly and accurately, and burn excess calories through increased physical activity.

The Takeaway: If you've truly tried everything discussed here and more—and simply aren't making progress—it would not hurt to check in with your medical provider to see if any underlying issues are at play.

Here are a few other common reasons you may not be losing weight despite doing everything right:

• You're skimping on sleep.
• You don't fit the standard formulas for calorie estimation
• You "cheat days" are cheating you
• You're battling chronic stress
• You're eating too many or too little carbs, protein or fat

Weight loss seems simple, but it doesn't happen easily. But many, many people just like you have fought the battle and won—and you can, too. Just be consistent. Track, track, track. Ask for help and support. And slowly but surely, you will get there.

Can you relate to any of these tips? What do you think is the main reason people struggle with weight loss?