Tips to Improve Your Metabolism

Having high level of metabolism is a gift that not all of us could receive.  Those who have higher metabolism tend to lose weight easily, while those who don’t tend to gain more weight.  But don’t despair.  You can do something about it.  Here are some methods to improve your metabolism.

1.  Don’t skip breakfast.  Breakfast is the most important meal of the day but a lot of people take it for granted.  Skipping breakfast slows down your metabolism and signals the body it’s starving because you go without food for a long period of time. 

2.  Don’t starve or skip meals.  Once your body senses that you are starving it slows metabolism down.

3.  Eat smaller meals, about 4 to 6 small meals at 2 to 3 hours interval.

4.  Stay away from sugar. Sugar allows the body to store fat.

5.  Get enough exercise.  This increases your metabolism all day if done especially in the morning.  Try to build up lean, mean body mass.  Build strength and resistance through working out at least twice a week.  You should match the amount of food taken to your daily activity.  Staying active is very important. Walking or doing house chores can also help you stay active.   

6.  Have more sleep. Those who have less sleep tend to gain weight.  It is during last couple of hours sleep that the muscles regenerate.

7.  Drink plenty of water.  Water cleanses our system by flushing out toxins.  The energy burning process of metabolism needs water to work effectively. 

8.  Try these foods to help improve your metabolism.

a.  Grapefruit – decreases insulin levels that prompt your body to store fat.  It is also rich in fiber thereby making body burn extra calories to break it down.

b.Almonds – the essential fatty acids found in almonds help improve your metabolism. However, it is also high in calories so don’t over eat.

c. Apples – are also rich in fiber and help you stay full for longer, so you’ll eat less.

d.Eat spicy foods, like jalapeno and curry.  Hot cuisine with peppers can improve metabolism.

e.Green tea – has epigallocatechin gallate which speeds up your brain and nervous system, making your body burn more calories.

f.  Turkey – is high in protein which builds lean muscle tissue, prompting your body to burn more calories.

g. Broccoli – is high in calcium and vitamin c. Calcium triggers metabolism, while vitamin C helps your body absorb calcium.

h.Oatmeal – is also high in fat-soluble fiber.  It lowers insulin level and boosts your metabolism.

9.  Include more energy giving foods in your diet, like fruits, vegetables, beans and whole grains.

10.  Avoid stress.  It triggers the release of cortisol, a type of steroid, which lowers metabolism. 

Improving your metabolism takes a lot of discipline.  Always remember that eating the right food and exercise should not only be short-lived, but should be a way of life.  Keep yourself healthy and improve your metabolism.

Foods for Beautiful Healthy Skin

For most of us having soft, healthy, younger looking skin is the top priority. After all, the skin is the largest organ of our body and the first line of defense against sickness. Forget those expensive lotions, creams, and other skin care products. Proper nutrition is the key to having healthy, soft, glowing skin. So what kinds of foods should we eat?

If you want healthy skin you should eat foods rich in vitamin A. Low-fat dairy products are excellent source of this vitamin as well as acidophilus. Acidophilus is a live bacteria found in low-fat yogurt and is good for the intestine by helping digestion. Include cod liver oil, leafy vegetables, sweet potatoes, carrots, and fortified breakfast cereal in your diet because they are also high in vitamin A.

Egg whites are a great source of zinc which is important in keeping skin young and firm. It is also rich in protein needed to produce collagen. Pomegranate is rich in vitamin C but its seeds are rich in ellagic acid and punicalagin. Ellagic acid fights damage from free radicals, while punicalagin boosts your body’s ability to maintain collagen, which makes your skin soft, smooth and younger looking.

Blackberries, strawberries, blueberries, plums, prunes, pecans, artichoke, as well as black, red and pinto beans are great sources of antioxidants. Antioxidants and phytochemicals found in these fruits can protect skin cells, protect from premature aging, therefore making skin younger looking. Antioxidants like vitamin C, potassium and Lycopene found in watermelon help regulate the balance of water and nutrients in cells.

Spinach and kale contain vital Phytonutrients also referred to as antioxidant compounds that help guard against damage from the sun. These two leafy greens are loaded with beta-carotene and lutein, which improve skin elasticity and firmness.

To diminish brown spots, drink green tea. It boosts your metabolism and contains “catechins”, which prevents premature aging and sun damage. It also has anti-inflammatory properties.

Essential fatty acids keep cell membranes healthy, and allow nutrients to pass through. Foods rich in essential fatty acids are salmon, walnuts, canola oil, and flax seed. Cold-water fish like salmon, sardines or mackerel naturally has Omega-3 fatty acids which strengthen skin-cell membranes, which helps to hydrate the skin. Include olive oil in your diet for a healthy glow. Olive oil has "good fat". It contains heart healthy omega-3's, which improve your circulation, leaving skin rosy and supple.

Eat whole-wheat bread, muffins, and cereals as well as turkey, tuna and brazil nuts for selenium which could help lessen sun damage. Opting for whole grain types of complex carbohydrates can have a remarkable effect on insulin levels.

More than anything else hydration is the secret to vibrant, healthy, youthful looking skin. Therefore drink lots of water. Water also helps move the toxins out of your system so they have less chance to do damage. Include these foods in your diet now for a healthy, younger-looking skin.

How to Interpret Food Labels

It is not often that we can measure the food we eat, but it is still an excellent though to know how much we consume. This is especially important when we dine out. A lot of individuals are amazed to learn that single serving is in fact two or more.

There are a lot of tools that can be used to determine your total daily food and nutrient intake. However, the most helpful way of ascertaining the appropriate kind of food to be purchased is reading the food labels. Food labels give nutritional facts about foods such calories, fiber, total fat, vitamins and minerals “per serving”. You can also compare foods and choose the healthier ones. However, reading and interpreting food labels can be confusing and most of the time annoying.

You must be aware of the following things to have a clear and more in-depth comprehension of the items specified in the food label in order to make smart food choices.

1. Serving Size

This is the fundamental item you notice in a food label. The serving size tells you the size of each serving. The quantity of servings specified in the food label indicates the amount of food people normally eat. In addition, the amount of nutrients that goes into the body is determined by serving size. Nonetheless, this does not exactly suggest that it indicates the amount of your very own food intake.

For example, if the food label states one serving size is equivalent to 54 grams, this indicates you have to weigh 54 gram and consume that and you have just consumed one serving. In other words, the amount of nutrients stated in the food label is the same amount that has just got into your body taking into account the fact that you have just consumed 54 grams.

Nevertheless, if the food label states that every pack is equal to 4 servings and you have consumed all of it, you have to compute the quantity of nutrients that you have consumed. Therefore, if the food label says 250 calories per serving, you have to multiply it by four to determine the total calories you have consumed.

2. Nutrients

This section refers to the list of nutrients available in the food package. You can find the nutritional claims of the product here. Normally, the nutritional amounts are on based on both the 2,500 and 2,500 calorie diets.

You must know that the “% daily value” indicated in food labels shows how a particular food corresponds to the recommended daily dietary allowance for a 2,000 calorie diet in order to understand the value of each item.

If the dietary allowance of the item that you bought is different from the 2,000 calorie diet, all you have to do is divide the specified quantity by 2,000 and you will be able to determine the “% daily value”.

3. Ingredients

Each product should indicate the ingredients that were used to make the product. These ingredients are usually listed from the greatest to the smallest amount by weight. To simply put it, a food contains the biggest quantity of the first ingredient and the smallest quantity of the last ingredient.

4. Label claim

This denotes the types of nutritional claims of a certain food item. Examples of these claims are low cholesterol (at least 25% less cholesterol and 2 g. or less of saturated fat), sodium-free (has less than 5 milligrams per serving), low fat (3 g. of fat or less), cholesterol free (less than 2 milligrams (mg.) cholesterol and 2 g. or less of saturated fat), fat-free or sugar-free (less than 0.5 gram (g.) of fat or sugar), low calorie (40 calories or less).

Without a doubt, reading food labels can be confusing and boring. Even so, once you become good at it, watching what you eat is a lot easier because now you can control the amount of food that you take.

How to Become Truly Happy

Life is not always a box of chocolates – all you get are sweet, tasty treats. At times, life could be so difficult and unfair; just too much to carry. But then you see other people continue to live amazing and fulfilled lives, then you ask yourself, “How are they able to live a life so sweet? How can they still laugh and go on notwithstanding the difficulties they face?”

So, how does one become truly happy? First, love yourself.

To love oneself means to accept you’re not perfect - we are not perfect. All of us have shortcomings. And by accepting our shortcomings we can gather great amount of courage to find ways to improve ourselves and learn from our mistakes.

In life, we constantly find about right and wrong, success and failure, trying and quitting, winning and losing. These things happen as long as we live. However this should not stop us from becoming happy. Making mistakes and fail are part of life – they abound and as important as the air we breathe. Yet if you continue questioning why life has never been good to you, you will never find true happiness.

You must accept yourself first and in the process you learn to accept others. You can’t love other people without loving yourself and learning how to love. When you discover to accept yourself, your own mistakes – you learn to love yourself and become truly happy.

Second, be contented. True happiness is also connected with contentment. Contentment is a simple word yet very hard to achieve. When you are contented with your job, your physical attributes, with your family, your friends, and all the things you now have – certainly, you found true happiness.

However, every individual has his own definition of ‘happiness’. Happiness for an actor may mean blockbuster movies. For a politician, happiness may mean having great political influence. And for some, it may mean being able to live each day, having a job, a family, a nice car or enough money to support their lifestyle.

No matter how complex or simple your definition of happiness, it all boils down to love and contentment. If the actor is not contented with his current blockbuster, how can he be happy? It’s really simple. You don’t have to have the best things in this world to be truly happy. You just have to make the most of every single thing you have and accept the fact that you can’t have everything in this world. If you could smile at your own mistakes and tell yourself to do better next time, you have the determination to carry on and the eagerness to stand up again and try – that will make you a truly happy individual.

To the Mountains...

Glen's Photos

solitary

..road to nowhere?

---in the midst of sweet potatoes