A healthy diet should achieve all of the following objectives:

•It should have sufficient calories to maintain one’s metabolic needs and to power you through whatever activities you undertake. However, the number of calories should not be so high that it causes your body to begin storing excess amounts of fat. Stored fat should never be more than 30% of your body mass.

•A good diet should have sufficient quantities of fat including monounsaturated, polyunsaturated and saturated fat. This should be balanced by omega 6 and omega 3 lipids.

•It should also avoid saturated fats as much as possible, as well as trans-fats or trans-fatty acids as they are sometimes known.

•A good diet should also include a significant amount of amino acids (which are complete proteins). This provides replenishment to your cells and transports proteins throughout your body. All the essential amino acids are present in both animal and plant protein.

•There must be complete avoidance of directly poisonous substances such as heavy metals and carcinogenic substances.

One should also avoid high doses of certain foods that may be alright in small doses, such as:

•Food or substances with directly toxic properties such as ethyl alcohol.

•Foods that could exhaust the normal functions of the body such as eating refined carbohydrates that need extra dietary fiber to be digested.

•Foods that could interfere with other body processes, such as refined table salt.

The checklist seems simple enough because a simple list is exactly what it is. It is just a basic guide – a list of the dos and don’ts for your diet. Your lifestyle is becoming increasingly complex as is the food we eat. The optimal diet has to be more than just the basics. It must include the basic food groups, as well making allowances for your specific health issues and aims.

The essential food groups
Food groups’ refers to a classification method for categorizing the various foods that we consume on a daily basis based on the nutritional properties of these types of foods. Eating a certain amount of food from each of the categories is recommended as it is one of the most natural ways in which you can begin to achieve a healthy lifestyle through diet.

Fats
The words ‘oil’, ‘fat’ and ‘lipids’ all refer to fats. ‘Oil’ refers to fats that are liquid at room temperature, while ‘fats’ refer to fats that are solid at normal room temperature. ‘Lipids’ refer to both ‘fats’ and ‘oils’. Despite the poor image that fats generally have, they are nevertheless an important part of the human diet. Fats and lipids are broken down in our body by the enzyme lipase in the pancreas. Edible animal fats include lard, fish oil, butter and ghee. These are obtained from the fats in milk, meat or from the fats stored under the skin of animals.

Edible plant fats include peanut, Soya bean, sun flower, sesame, coconut, olive and vegetable oils. Margarine and vegetable shortening which are derived from these oils are nowadays generally used for baking.

Meat
In the broadest definition, meat is animal tissue that is used as food, although technically it could more accurately be described as skeletal muscle and associated fat. It could also refer to non-muscle organs such as the lungs, liver, skin, brains, bone marrow and kidneys.

Milk
In almost all mammals, the young get their milk needs met through breastfeeding. Humans keep consuming milk beyond infancy. They also use the milk of other animals (cows in particular) as a food product. For many thousands of years, cow’s milk has been processed into dairy products such as cream, butter, yogurt, ice cream and cheese. With the development of industrial science we now have casein, whey protein, lactose, condensed milk and powdered milk products.

Vegetables
Vegetables’ is a generic term which generally refers to that part of a wide range of plants which is edible. All parts of herbaceous plants eaten by humans, whole or in part, are considered vegetables.

Bread and Grains
Bread is the staple food of millions across the world. It may be prepared by baking, steaming or frying. The main ingredients are flour and water, whilst salt, yeast and some form of fat are also commonly used. There
are many kinds of breads that contain things such as milk, sugar, egg, spice, fruit, vegetables, nuts or even seeds. Grain is however the principle ingredient of most kinds of bread.

The food guide pyramid
The food guide pyramid (more commonly simply called the food pyramid) was introduced as a nutrition guide by the United States Dietary Association. The food guide pyramid suggests optimal nutrition guidelines for every food category per day, using a pyramid with horizontal dividing lines, to represent the suggested percentages of the daily diet for each food group.

Coach Ransy

The lifestyle that you choose or are forced to lead by your job will have a significant bearing on your decision to live a healthier life

From the moment that you first wake until your head finally hits the pillow at the end of the day, there are millions of decisions, both big and small; that you take that will have a direct bearing on your health.

Now, some aspects of your chosen lifestyle are obvious and the effects on your health are equally plain.

Smoking cigarettes and drinking alcohol would be two very obvious examples; things that you categorically know are bad for you beyond any reasonable doubt.

But, even if you are a non-smoking teetotaller, there are still a million little things that you probably do each and every day that could be effecting your health, and you are possibly not even aware that you are doing these things, or that they are taking place around you.

What’s In a Day?

So, here’s what you need to do.

Buy yourself a notebook – that is easy to carry around.

Then, for a few days, try to write down everything, literally everything that
you are involved in. It doesn’t matter how small or seemingly insignificant it is, write it down.

Write the time you get out of bed and record how well you believe you slept and whether you feel fully rested.

Did you take a shower or a bath? How long did it take?

Was today’s choice of shirt long sleeves or short and what color was it?

What was for breakfast, and did you drink tea or coffee?

And so on throughout the day.

Write down everything that happens, everything you see, hear, feel, think, smell – literally, everything.

And, yes, it is a little bit time-consuming and tedious, but it is only for a
couple of days, and there will be very clear benefits that arise from doing
this, as you will quickly see.

What you are building here is a detailed picture of every aspect of your
lifestyle, many of which you have probably never thought about before.

And it is only by taking the time to review and analyze what it is that you do every day that you can begin to make the changes that will ultimately help you to become the healthier and fitter you that you want to be.

So, once you’ve got two or three days listed, go back to the beginning and start to analyze what you have written.

For example, when you woke, how did you feel?

Were you fresh and full of the joys of winter, or thick headed and jaded?

What did you do the evening before to make you feel this way?

Did you watch a little TV or read a book before retiring nice and early, or
spend the evening in a sweaty, smoky bar with your colleagues from the
office?

If you were with your colleagues, was it a fun time or a stressful one?

The point of this exercise is to try to highlight the areas of your life where
the way that you are living could be improved.

Why? Where is the pressure coming from, and what is causing your stress?

Do you need two strong black coffees with your breakfast in the morning?

It is widely accepted and acknowledged that caffeine is bad for your health.

So, could you reduce your early morning intake, or ‘kick’ the caffeine habit entirely?

Analyze everything that you do for two or three ‘average’ days of your life, and you will be amazed at how many small changes you could probably implement that would make your life far healthier and most likely happier too.

Stress is an acknowledged killer too.

Everything about modern life can causes stress, from getting stuck in a traffic jam on the way to the office to the dressing down you get from the boss for being late because of it!

It sometimes seems that there is literally no escape from stress, no matter how hard you try, and completely irrespective of what you attempt to do!

Stress is everywhere around us, and in almost everything thing that we do.

Everything is not entirely black, however.

There are things that you can do, decisions that you can consciously make about your lifestyle that will have a positive reductive effect on the stress that you might suffer.

Here are a few specifics that you might want to try when things start getting on top of you and you feel the pressure starting to build up:

Breathe Deep: Make a conscious effort to breathe slowly and deeply, in
through your nose and out through your mouth. Visualize the tensions and pressures leaving your body with each outgoing breath.

Walk Away: If it is practical or, indeed, possible, walk away from whatever it is that is causing your blood to boil! Failing that, the old standby of slowly counting to ten often works!

Change Job: You spend the majority of your life at work, and whilst some stress is almost an inevitable part of working for a living, you must draw the line somewhere. If your job is just too stressful, and the rewards (financial or emotional) are not enough to compensate, then maybe it is time to think about a change of career direction?

Find An Outlet: Many people find that a competitive sport is a great outlet for their tensions and pent-up aggression. Not having such an outlet can, on the other hand, be distinctly unhealthy so if you don’t have one, maybe you should start searching.

Learn To Relax: The more you can teach yourself to relax properly, the less negative effect stress will have on your life. Yoga, meditation and other advanced relaxation techniques could all help you to significantly reduce the stress levels that you feel as a part of your normal day-to-day routine.

Time for Yourself: Understand that sometimes you do need to get away from other folks, even your nearest and dearest, to take time for yourself.

Only by doing this can you have an opportunity of recharging your own
internal batteries, which you must be able to do if you want to be able to
resist the stresses and strains that life will throw your way without suffering too badly!

Everyone gets ‘stressed out’ from time to time. That is a simple, fact of life.

But, it does not necessarily follow that you cannot manage the stress that life sometimes throws at you.

CoachRansy

Most of us consider ourselves ‘healthy’ individuals. We may, however, just be blissfully unaware of the grim reality!

According to the World Health Organization, health is a ‘state of complete physical, mental and social well being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity’.

Our health is not only maintained because of the advancement and application of the health and medical sciences. We also need to make intelligent lifestyle choices that will ultimately affect our health. It is our responsibility to look after different aspects of our health. Of course, advances in medical science and research can help us help ourselves in our efforts to maintain health.

Food or nutrition is the primary source of energy and hence health for our body. Nutrition is the science that studies what and how we eat and the effects it has on our health, such as what food or food components may cause disease or adversely affect health. It also studies food and dietary supplements that can help us to improve our performance, promote our health and help in the cure or prevention of disease. For example, eating food that is rich in fiber can reduce the risk of colon cancer. Also, supplementing daily food intake with vitamin C strengthens your teeth and gums and improves the immune system of your body.

There is a variety of diseased states that can be caused by and cured by changes in diet or supplements. Imbalances in our diet, deficiencies of a particular kind or the excess of a particular form can equally affect our health negatively as they can lead to conditions such as scurvy, obesity and osteoporosis.

In today’s polluted environment, the ingestion of elements that play no role in maintaining or protecting your health such as lead and mercury is also a major health hazard.

Exercise is crucial to maintaining physical fitness. It helps maintain a healthy weight, promotes the building and maintenance of healthy bones, joints and muscles, engenders physiological well being, reduces surgical risks and strengthens the immune system. Proper nutrition is no less important to good health than exercise and when you are exercising regularly, it is even more important to have good nutrition. This helps the body recover after strenuous exercise. On the other hand, proper rest is also important.

We have established that proper diet and nutrition are crucial to maintaining your health. Maintaining a healthy diet involves making choices of what to eat and in what quantity, with the overall aim of maintaining your best and most healthy condition. This involves the intake of necessary nutrients by eating the right amount of food from all the food groups and drinking the right amount of water. Often, we need to consume these essential nutrients as additional supplements to ensure that the body is at its best.

You might be surprised to learn that a lack of proper ‘nutrition’ can also be responsible for weight gain. Our modern diet is unfortunately rich in carbohydrates, fats and sugars but lacking in crucial nutrients such as vitamins and minerals. These nutrients are responsible for ensuring that your body performs at its best. They are the crucial ‘supplements’ that your body needs to survive the stressed out, badly nourished life that most of us lead.

Coach Ransy

Our body is an amazing piece of natural equipment. Most of the time, we are not even aware of the fact that our body is running and doing as many tasks as it is at one time. It is certainly something that we take for granted all too often in our lives. If our health starts to go downhill, however, our body may be on our mind on a constant basis. It is a much better idea to make sure that we are taking care of ourselves regularly before something goes wrong than to try and correct it once it does.

Staying fit and making sure that you’re not carrying around too much weight is a very important thing to many people. Unfortunately, it is also something that is very difficult to achieve in the busy lives that most people follow. That doesn’t mean that it is something that is impossible for us to do. For example, we can make sure that we are helping our body along to the greatest extent possible by keeping our metabolism running at optimal levels. This can either be done by eating properly, getting exercise or taking supplements. Any one of these will work or you can try a combination of two or more.

Taking supplements to boost your metabolism is a relatively easy thing to do. There are plenty of supplements out there which help to fire up our metabolism and to keep it running well for us throughout the day. The main thing is that you choose something which is all natural so that you do not end up damaging this vital part of your body in the process. Taking man-made chemicals in order to alter the way that our body functions is simply a bad idea from the start.

Although there are a lot of different supplements which can increase our metabolism, one of the safest and most effective is green tea. You can either take this in its natural form by brewing it as a tea or get it concentrated in the form of a pill. Green tea has several natural ingredients which can keep our metabolism running smoothly as well as some which work as an antioxidant. Make sure that you take this natural supplement on a regular basis and you will see results come your way within a short period of time.

Coach Ransy

It can be difficult to recognize the signs and the symptoms when you are in the throes of stress. Many people misunderstand the true definition of stress and would resort to medications and herbal remedies just to get rid of it without even trying to find out what started it in the first place. Being hasty will only lead to temporary results and will return once the effect of the medication has run its course.

Personal stress management involves making your own routines that will allow you to cope with problems and avoiding a possible occurrence of stress in your daily life. Here are some tips on how to get rid of stress in your own personal way.

Understanding is the key to enlightenment

The first step in personal stress management is to know what stress really is and how it can affect your life. For starters, stress is a scenario or events in your life that will affect your emotional, mental and physical faculties in a negative way. Most often, stress starts off with the mind, branches off and affects your emotions, and if left uncontrolled will then begins to take its toll on your body.

Try to take some time off to reflect on what problems in your life stresses you out. You can write a diary and state all your problems there then try to analyze it one-by-one. If you can narrow the cause of your stress then you can easily find ways in getting rid of it. Talking with a close friend or a family member about your problems is also a great way to deal with it. Since stress are bottled up emotions, you better find ways to release it before it blows up inside you – which is never a pretty sight.

Help yourself

Now that you found out how stress affects your life, all that need to do is to make it go away. Resorting to medications or tools will only lead to temporary results, you need to choose a more permanent approach, and that is your mind. Stress usually rears its ugly head when we start to think about it. If we let our problems control you then you will the effects of it almost immediately.

You need to relax and face stress head on. Identify that causes it and find a solution one at a time. You may use music therapy to help you relax, or meditation to clear your mind for a fresh start.

Aromatherapy can also help in relaxing your mind. Certain scents like lavender and jasmine are proven to have a calming effect and can help you keep a clear head. This is practically useful if you plan to sort through all your concerns and try to find a solution for each one.

Start small

Problems are usually a prelude to stress. The more the problems pile up, the more stressed you will eventually become. If a certain event enters your life, whether career or personal, try to take care of it as soon as possible. Don’t let your work pile up or they may become too much to handle later on.

The secret to success in personal stress management is to identify the causes of stress in your life. Find a self-made routine that can help you deal with it and cope with future problems that will surely give you a house call.

Coach Ransy