Healthy Mind

Fitness Classic Diet Concepts Nutrition Dilemmas
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Fit exercise harmoniously into your lifestyle

Your decisions to exercise and to lose weight must become integral parts of a harmonious lifestyle. As long as you consider any lifestyle modification as something "additional", you are likely to abandon it sooner or later.
     According to the dictionary definition, harmony is a consistent, orderly, or pleasing arrangement of parts. Let's say that the father of the family on the photograph is distracted by some professional or personal problems and only on the surface enjoys the event. The rest of the group will quickly detect - on a conscious or subconscious level - his mood. The picnic will be, most likely, spoiled for everybody. To put it "scientifically": malfunctioning of one part (father) causes malfunctioning of other parts (wife, children) as well as malfunctioning of the whole structure (family).
     Approximately the same thing happens when we arbitrarily "distract" physical activity or nutritious eating from the wholeness of our persons. Mother nature chose the best menu for us, nature made us to be physically active, she also requires that all aspects of our lives remain in a state of harmony, if we want to be healthy and happy.
     We can do nothing to challenge this natural order, but we can do a lot to follow it in a challenging way. Harmony comes with versatility, so it spontaneously invites countless variations into our lifestyles. When you start exercising and targeting weight loss - you may see it as a limitation put on your life. In fact, your life was dangerously limited, when you were not exercising. Only if you stick to stiff programs, gurus preaching one approach, or instructors using simplified formulas, may you feel limited. Otherwise, particularly when you decide that Nature, Intuition and Imagination should be your main Masters, you decision to be fit will initiate a never ending, exciting adventure.

Healing is a movement toward harmonious wholeness;
and so are exercise and healthy eating.

INTUITION

One of the greatest friends of harmony is intuition. It has many definitions: direct perception of truth, immediate apprehension, quick and ready insight, etc. We believe that everybody comes to know intuition by experience. All of us, at some difficult or critical moments, undertake the right decisions without any engagement of our logical faculties.
    When you decide to change your lifestyle, you may think that it means following strict rules and nothing but rules. Intuition will try to correct resulting lack of balance sooner or later. You may suddenly have a strong urge to skip a given exercise during your strength training routine. Or, while driving to your gym, you may get struck by a strong desire to turn around, go back home, and watch TV.
     Listen to those signals and never dismiss them as signs of laziness or weakness. With time, you will learn to differentiate between earthly seductions and subconscious warnings. We think that real intuitive messages occur as sudden and very strong impulses, obvious intrusions into a current course of thoughts.
      It is also important to remember that intuition speaks differently to different people. It may attempt to contact you by emotional feeling, mental reflection, inner voice, inner image, bodily sensation or a combination of these and other factors.

IMAGINATION

Another great friend of harmony is imagination. If your decision to become fit or to lose a lot of weight results in blueprints put on your life, you will never succeed. Refrain from detailed planning and set only general goals. Then combine professional advice with your own experiences and imagine different ways of achieving your ends.
A healthy imagination tends to use all our past experiences and all our knowledge to build visions of a happy future. Being a sibling of intuition, imagination seldom pushes us into the negative. Use it when you are changing your lifestyle, and you will most likely avoid boredom or discouragement.

No physical development can be fully accomplished without the accompaniment
of mental, emotional and spiritual growth.

RELAXATION

Relaxation is a lubricant of any lifestyle change. We can relax in thousands of different ways and virtually at every moment of our everyday life. Several deep breathes combined with a visualisation of a positive course and outcome - will well predispose us to any imminent event. Lying down and surrendering ourselves to self-hypnosis or just to a recording of soothing sounds of nature - will dissolve any stress or even distress. Relaxation can be physical, mental, emotional, spiritual. You relax physically, when you stretch your tired muscles. You relax mentally, when you meditate. You relax emotionally, when you visualize a positive solution to your problem. Your relax spiritually when you affirm to be associated with some universal power.
Develop a custom of responding with relaxation techniques to discouragement, stress, misfortune, anger, sense of guilt and all other negatives.

HEALTHY BRAIN

    The Food you eat effects your thinking, memory and intellect. Nutrition also effects brain chemicals, brain cell structure and function, and the ability of the brain to transmit electrical messages.
   Your brain and other tissue in your nervous system are very dependant upon glucose. When our blood glucose levels drop below normal, we become dizzy and light-headed. Under normal conditions, your brain and nervous system require a minimum of 160 grams of glucose each day.
   Our brain benefits when you consume your meals on time. If you limit your food intake because you want to lose weight eat less but don't skip meals. One of the biggest mistakes negatively effecting the brain function is skipping breakfast. Breakfast not only boosts blood glucose levels, but restocks our liver fuel supply.
   Although your brain runs on glucose, it does not mean you should consume that form of sugar. It would disappear from your blood stream in a matter of minutes. Eat nutrient-dense carbohydrates, such as whole grains, fruit and vegetables. Add some high-quality protein. Do not overeat. Very large carbohydrate meals can actually decrease alertness and memory functions.
   The mineral iron is also very important. It helps to provide your brain with adequate oxygen. Warning: avoid taking iron supplements. Iron-rich foods include lean red meat, pork, poultry, legumes, raisins and dried apricots.
   Of all the vitamins in your diet, the B vitamins - mainly B12, folic acid, B6, thiamin and niacin - appear to be the most important for your brain. Good food sources of the B vitamins are: milk, cheese, beef, pork, fish, whole grain breads, legumes, potatoes, bananas, peanuts, green leafy vegetables, eggs, butter and many others.
    Obviously, if you eat a variety of foods, your B-vitamins supply should be adequate. If you avoid some of the above foods, consider taking a B-vitamins supplement several times a week. Another option would be taking multivitamin/multimineral supplement every day.

NUTRITION AND DEMENTIA

    Dementia is a progressive brain disease that effects cognitive functions and memory. In Alzheimer's there is degeneration of brain cells and accumulation of protein clumps or plaques. Oxidation (free radicals) and inflammation also play role in dementia's development. Healthy diet can prevent or mitigate the above and other factors associated with dementia.

   First of all, consume healthy fats; avoid saturated and trans fats. Elevated blood cholesterol levels decrease brain circulation and have potential for clogging the arteries in the brain. Eat fish, because fish oil or omega fatty acids play a role in dementia prevention. Just one fish meal per week appeared to decrease risk in two separate studies.

   Vitamins are also important in prevention, particularly folic acid and B12. They keep blood levels of the amino acid homocysteine down, and several studies have found that high homocysteine levels are linked to Alzheimer's. Antioxidant nutrients, mainly vitamin C and E, also play role, but you should acquire them through food sources rather than supplements. Some experts believe that antioxidant pills do not benefit our bodies and sometimes may actually be harmful.

Fitness Classic Diet Concepts Nutrition Dilemmas
Exercise Ideas Strength Training Fitness Opinions Archive