I have a question for you, do you treat your health like a bank account? So now you may be thinking what has health and bank accounts got to do with each other. Well when you put money into a bank account, it gains interest, which makes it a small investment.

So why is it that we don’t tend to treat our health the same way? isn’t our health a investment surely, it must be if we invest in our health we are making a good investment just as if it were a bank, and we were depositing money each day. We could apply this to food and exercise.

So much is society these days we tend to focus on wealth rather than health, we seem to be so obsessed with how much money we are earning and we never seem to have enough.

So why is it that we don’t tend to treat our health the same way? isn’t our health a investment surely, it must be if we invest in our health we are making a good investment just as if it were a bank, and we were depositing money each day. We could apply this to food and exercise.

So much is society these days we tend to focus on wealth rather than health, we seem to be so obsessed with how much money we are earning and we never seem to have enough.

But which is better? having enough money to get everything you need rather than what you want, and being healthy at the same time, if you don’t invest in your health then you are more likely to become ill even if you don’t feel unwell at this particular time.

We do need balance within our lives and I think having enough money and good health both go hand in hand, what is the point of being poorly if you can’t enjoy your money in a way it becomes meaningless.

Why Invest in It

Well as we have seen above when you invest in something it’s an investment, so if you start treating your body like a bank and invest in it right, then just like money when you invest it wisely you can make more money. So if you look after your body then you will reap the rewards here are some of the things you may experience, a better self-image, feel better, less health problems, less visits to the doctor.

If you could buy those things in a shop or where shares what would you say they were worth? Because I would guess you wouldn’t be able to put a price on them it would be far too expensive.

The reason I am using this analogy is and this may not apply to everybody, is when you have good health it’s so easy to take it for granted, and having money can be very much the same. If we have had no money for along time, it’s something that we can tend to forget about very quickly, and our health is the same more often than not we forget what it is like to have good health.

Food As Deposits

So now we have to use the analogy of the body is a bank, if we invest wisely we do well, so if we eat junk food or food that is no good for us this is like small change. Even though we eat it isn’t a very good investment and in the financial world it would be considered a risk, if you eat food like this they will not be much return after a long time.

You may feel tired, have headaches especially if you are eating a sugar laden diet. And if you continue to keep making these deposits in your body bank, then long term you may have a body bank crisis this could range from anything to diabetes, heart problems, poor immune system function, high cholesterol levels etc. so the interest that we gain from living like this is not good at all.

Healthy Food As Deposits

If we put good food into our body bank then this is more of a wise investment, and is more like investing thousands of pounds or dollars. If you do this you will feel better have high energy, and be investing in a good health investment within your body bank. You are far more less likely to become unwell so often, have heart problems, have poor immune system function, and all the other problems associated with eating a poor diet.

No Exercise As Deposits

If you don’t exercise at all then at the same can apply as far as your health is concerned, not exercising at all is like putting no money in your bank account so you get very little interest. And the results of this are feeling tired, you may suffer from depression, or anxiety, if you have a bad day at work and don’t exercise there is no where to get rid of your frustration so you just carry it around in your body bank.

Were it does very little, so if you don’t do any exercise you won’t get a very good long-term investment, in your body bank and just like money your health becomes that instead you lose your investment because you didn’t invest wisely. In your health from the start

Exercise As Deposits

If on the other hand that you decide to start investing in your body bank with exercise, then over a period of time your interest will turn into, feeling great, having more energy, feeling positive, and a overall feeling of well-being. So if you invest wisely as regards to exercise just like money grows, so will you and your health. Now let me ask you a question have you ever thought as your body as a bank. If you look after your body bank you will have a great overall return and will have may made a very wise investment.

So do everything you can to look after your body bank and you will get lots of interest back which equates to good health. And your body bank manager will thank you.

Post from: Weight Loss Blog (Lose That Tyre)

I don’t know about you but at one particular time, when I was changing my eating habits to more healthier ones. I started eating more tomatoes, as I do quite enjoy them. The great thing about tomatoes is what you get is what you get.

They contain no additives or preservatives, but may have residue pesticides on them so it’s a good idea to wash them before consuming them. Another benefit of tomatoes is they have water in them. Which adds to the full effect.

It’s come to light that eating this particular fruit can make you feel saited so you are far less likely to eat more food, which will help in your quest for weight loss.

From what has been learned about tomatoes they contain something that works with appetite hormones within our bodies, this information became known with research based around other ingredients in bread with tomatoes.

Some people on a study were monitored, between the ages of 18 and 35 years of age, they were offered some sandwiches, which contained the following ingredients, cream cheese sandwiches, and the bread had tomatoes added within them. As well as bread with carrots added to them, the researchers assumed that the fibre within the carrots would keep people fuller longer.

But instead what happened was the tomatoes kept the study subjects fuller for longer, the people involved with the study were given sandwiches at random intervals so the data was more concise that they got back.

Here are some health benefits of tomatoes;

• Tomatoes can help with liver detox, and can protect it from cirrhosis, which is liver disease
• Tomatoes can be very good for your blood
• They contain a high amount of something called lypocene which is a powerful antioxidant which will prevent cell damage
• One of the ingredients of tomatoes can help with cholesterol and the lowering of it

So it looks like it’s thumbs up for tomatoes.

Source  http://www.dailymail.co.uk

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Here is a video post where Dr Hilary Jones Explains How We Are Eating Ourselves Sick,

Food intolerance is a delayed food allergy and can affect long term health and quality of life with symptoms such as IBS, bloating, tiredness, migraines and digestive complaints. Up to 45% of the UK population suffer from food intolerance and a new study shows that it could be what we are eating that is making us sick

Dr Hilary Jones,resident Doctor on GMTV believes that the results of this research offers a chance to get to the root of these conditions such as IBS and arthritis by tackling the possible cause, rather than relying on long-term treatments for chronic conditions.” .

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Are you free on the 18th of November between the times of 8 p.m. and 9 p.m.  If so then why not join weight loss guru, who is in than Pete Cohen on a free weight loss and health webinar.

There is no where to go physically you will be able to do it from the comfort of your own home, all you need is access to the Internet and some speakers so you can listen.

Here are the details;

You are invited to a FREE workshop with Pete. Nov 18th -8pm to 9pm

It will be an inspirational event and Pete will introduce you to exciting new tools and techniques to help you get slimmer, fitter and healthier. In addition Pete will explain how you can get the most out of petecohen.tv to guarantee success.  All you need to do is register your place on this workshop by sending us an email at info@petecohen.tv

You don’t even need to leave your front door to attend this session as you can take part over the Internet.

Technological advancements now make this possible and anyone with a Broadband Internet connection and a browser can log onto the Internet and take part in this event.

All you need are speakers so that you can hear Pete, and you will also need a pen and paper. This is not an interactive session but you will be able to type any question during the workshop and Pete will answer as many of these as possible.  Places are limited so book now…

Post from: Weight Loss Blog (Lose That Tyre)

Just recently I did a post about using twitter to lose weight and it just the other day, in my inbox I received something which I thought was a very good idea is which is finding a e-mail buddy.

It’s something I haven’t heard of before and everybody at some time or another, may need moral support when they are trying to lose weight or eating different foods. Studies have shown that people supporting each other morally when they are doing particular things can help a lot when you are trying to reach a particular objective.

Here is where you can find weight loss buddies if you are looking for one weight loss e-mail buddies I tend to think that it is always a good idea to try new things. Here is another link to a site with more people looking for weight loss e-mail buddies. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain.

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We tend to live in a society where we are brought up with set values and ways of doing things, I don’t know if you can remember this but when I was younger we used to have a milk break in the morning at school I think it was a thing that some schools did but I believe now it has been scrapped.

But milk however is one of those things that is part of our society and because of the way it is integrated into our lifestyles we very often don’t think about alternatives.

There may be reasons for this but ultimately it’s probably more to do with how things are marketed at us that makes our buying choices, there are other alternatives to cow’s milk such as rice milk and So Good Soya Milk which I highly recommend.

So first we will look at cow’s milk to see what benefits there are of it.

Cow’s Milk

Has the following benefits;

• Protein which it is a good source of
• You can gain energy from the fat that it provides
  
• Provides a great deal of nutrition that people need and the higher fat variety of cow’s milk is a good source of nutrition for infants that are aged six weeks and above

Some disadvantages of cow’s milk are;

• Certain people may be allergic to proteins which can be contained within cow’s milk, these tend to be things like asthma, certain skin conditions and IBS
• The lactose which is contained within cow’s milk which is its own sugar, can affect people also they may not be able to ingest it properly with in their stomachs and this may lead to things like stomach cramps etc
• Some people may be both intolerant and have allergic type reactions to cow’s milk
  It also has none of the following vitamins and minerals C &D and lacks iron

Soya Milk

Has the following benefits;

• It doesn’t contain any lactose so if you have a problem with this particular sugar than drinking soya milk is a alternative for yourself
• The protein that they tend to use in soya milk is different to cow’s milk so if you have any kind of problem  relating to this you don’t have to worry about it
• Soya milk and the proteins that are used within it have been proven to lower cholesterol
• Soya milk will be more often abundant with vitamins and minerals
• The fat that is contained within soya milk is unsaturated so no worries about having too much saturated fat
• The way that soya milk is made which is from beans gives you a good source of fibre
• Soya in itself has been a large part of the Japanese’s diet for quite a long time

Some disadvantages of soya milk are;

• Some people can be allergic to the proteins which are contained within it
• It may give you wind or in plain english you may fart more
• It’s not recommended for infants that are younger than 24 weeks old

So from the above data so we can see that both have some advantages and disadvantages, but what about how it works in real life, here are some notes from studies that have involved soya milk.

Soya Milk Studies

Studies Relating to Heart Health

Yoshihiro Kokubo who works at the Cardiovascular Centre in Japan , studied 40,000 people over a period of 12 years.

They found that women who ate soya as part of their diet five times a week were far less likely to have a heart attack, their overall risk factor was 45 percent compared to people who ate soya two times a week, their risk factor was 69 percent in comparison.

A scientist based in America named Elaine Kru who analysed 45 studies all based around soya, came to the conclusion that those people that had soya in their diets, resulted in a four percent reduction in cholesterol and five percent reduction in LDL cholesterol which is the bad one. All you need to do is eat 25 grams of soya in your diet and you will get the same effect.

Studies on Appetite Suppressent regarding Soya

At Leeds University two researchers Clare Lawton and wh Louise Dye, who did a study gave their participants which were 20 young men, a soya-based breakfast which consisted of the following, soya milk and cereal and a yoghurt.

Then later on in the afternoon for dinner they had some soya mince and chocolate, or they had similar breakfasts and lunches which were made up from milk and cereal and meat as a alternative, this was a week apart.

They were allowed to choose what snacks they wanted for both evening and dinner snacks. The researchers found that when they included soya in their meals they ate  significantly less than when they didn’t eat the soya.

This resulted in a deficit of 144 calories and they said that they felt fuller when eating the soya, but did not feel so full when they didn’t eat it. A144 calorie deficit over a period of the year will result in a 14 pound weight loss which is a stone in weight.

Studies on Abdominal Fat Reduction regarding Soya

Some researchers did studies on women who had gone through the menopause, they studied 15 of them to see what difference soya would make to them nine were given a soya shake to drink. And six were given a placebo drink.

When the women were scanned there was a difference in the size of their abdominal fat compared to those to had the placebo drink.

I myself have just recently tried soya milk and I think it tastes great it has a sort of vanilla taste to it. If you are interested in soya milk then please visit the following web site to learn more www.sogood.co.uk

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Even if you’re not the right shape that you would like to be, and you are exercising does it actually affect the way you see yourself mentally?. In the news today some researchers seem to think so.

What they say is even if you do some exercise you convince yourself that you look better even if nothing has changed from a physical perspective.

Also they say that we cannot tend to feel any better about ourselves the more we do in other words we get used to what we are doing, perhaps because we want to look shapelier, quicker this is one of the downfalls of our instant gratification society that we live in these days

The researchers claim that when we have worked out, we can tend to think that we look fitter. Even though we may not have done enough in our exercise routine to justify doing so.

Professor Heather Hausenblas who conducted the research said that;

“You would think that if you become more fit you would experience greater improvements in terms of body image, but that’s not what we found ”

“It may be that the requirements to receive the psychological benefits of exercise, including those relating to body image, differ substantially from the physical benefits”

It’s it’s a well-known fact what the physical benefits of exercise, but there is another aspect which we probably don’t think about sometimes which is the psychological aspect of it. When were not particularly happy with our own body image certain addictions can come to the surface, like smoking, drinking, overeating etc.

When the results came back from the study they found that people thought no different of their body image who exercised five days a week for 30 minutes.

How we see ourselves these days can start at a very young age as young as five years of age and this can be in both men and women. Can you relate to this at all yourself how do you feel after your workout? does it affect how you see yourself. Or do you just feel fitter mentally as in exhilarated.

Or have you just lost quite a lot of weight and do you like your new body image? be interesting to see what people say about this and if it relates to you at all.

Source and references http://www.mailonsunday.co.uk

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Having excess abdominal fat isn’t very healthy, it’s well known that it can be a precursor for diabetes, another reason is when you have excess belly fat it can make you eat more food which is something I have previously discussed.

But now it seems there is another factor which scientists have been investigating which is more to do with having a fatty liver. They have been putting more emphasis on having a fatty liver which may be a greater health risk compared to having excess belly fat.

This research which came about from the annual meeting of the obesity society, which was conducted by Samuel Klein, he says that “Fat in the liver is a more important factor of health problems”.

During the research Klein and his associates had 31 obese men and women, and compared their visceral fat which is the fat which is in the organs in your belly, they also measured their liver fat. If you compare two livers side-by-side non-fatty liver will have five percent fat and a fatty liver will have 50 percent of fat in it.

When they compared the participants some had higher levels of fat others had lower percentage of fat in their livers, during their tests they found that the people that have fatty livers tend to;

• Have increased levels of triglycerides which means higherLDL levels of cholesterol which is the bad one
• They will probably more likely to be reactive to their own insulin, which means that their bodies don’t keep blood sugar levels under control very well compared to if they had less fat in their livers

Dr Klein said “We do not yet know whether the liver fat is causing these health problems or is simply a very good indicator of health risk,” he says. “Even though it looks like visceral fat itself might not cause harm, it is often high in people with increased liver fat.”

In another study people who had gastric bypass surgery and lost weight and whom were severely obese, had their liver fat measured and it was significantly lower.

One of the reasons to take notice of what is being said in this particular study is even though you may not notice that you have fatty liver to start off with, it could creep up on you eventually. There may or may not be symptoms with fatty liver some people get them some people don’t if you do get them

You may notice the following; Feeling lethargic or tired all the time, feeling generally unwell a good percentage of the time, you may experience some discomfort in the upper part of your abdomen which is at the base of your rib cage.

If you would like to know some of the foods to eat which will help your liver then please see my previous posts  The Secret Life of Your Liver Recipes.

Source http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/weightloss/2009-10-25-liver-fat_N.htm

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Nuts do we really eat enough of them? I would say probably not, this is something that we probably indulge in especially in this country at Christmas time, even know you can buy nuts all year round. But today we are going to talk about a nut which you may not of heard of these particular nuts are called Macadamia Nuts.

These are one powerhouse of a food on their own and something you won’t want to miss eating, unless of course you have a allergy to nuts then perhaps you can’t eat them.

Some History about Macadamia Nuts

Macadamia Nuts were discovered in 1853 by two European botanists, they were found growing in Australian rainforest’s all those years ago. They got their name by, being named after someone called Dr John Macadam, who was a friend to the two botanists; he was a philosopher, politician, and medical teacher.

For a while, the trees that grew the nuts were used for ornamental purposes only, but later on during the 1890s some were moved to Hawaii and this was the start of the nuts being grown commercially.

What Do They Taste Of

They have a soft crunch, and have a smooth buttery taste which melts in your mouth, which is slightly sweet.

How Can You Eat Macadamia

Here are some suggestions, use them as a snack so you could include them in your sandwich box or just have some, as a snack for in between meals. Depending on what type of breakfast you have you could add them to porridge, or make your own muesli using them by using the following ingredients, bran, seeds, some dried fruit, and the nuts themselves.

Have them with a salad, rice, or sprinkle them on your vegetables with your dinner just to add that little bit extra of zing to your dinner. Add them to some yoghurt with some fresh fruit.

If you would like some recipes to try here is a link to a PDF that has some Macadamia Recipes , one word of caution here if you are a dog owner do not give them to your dog, it can cause weakness and they may not be to stand for quite a while. But it will not be permanent it only lasts for 48 hours.

Here are some other links to Macadamia websites just in case you want to get more recipes

http://macadamias.org/

http://www.samac.org.za/recipes.html

Where Can You Buy Macadamia in the UK

You can buy Macadamia in supermarkets and most reputable health food stores, as far as snacks are concerned people are turning more and more to things like Macadamia, purely because of their health benefits there has been a real growth of people buying nuts between the years of 2001 and 2006.

What Are the Health Benefits of Macadamia Nuts

These particular nuts have some power health properties;

• Can help with lowering cholesterol
• May prevent coronary heart disease
• They have a very high fibre content approximately seven percent
• They have no cholesterol whatsoever
• High levels of mono saturated fat which is a good fat, they have low levels of saturated fat, and polyunsaturated fats
• Have high levels of protein which comprises of essential and non-essential amino acids, high levels of vitamins and minerals which include potassium, magnesium, phosphorus, calcium and small amounts of various B vitamins

So all in all it such a small package you have one heck of a punch as far as eating a healthy food is concerned. So go nuts for Macadamia Nuts.

Here are some links to studies which talk about Macadamia Nuts and people who have eaten them and have been monitored.

click here to read more

click here to read more

click here to read more

click here to read more

click here to read more

Source and references

http://www.macadamias.org.uk/

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Following on from the post about breakfast, I thought it might be quite interesting to see what breakfasts other people eat and how long it keeps their hunger pangs at bay before they need anything else to eat.

Here is roughly what I eat breakfast on alternate days I don’t normally document what I eat each day, so this is just a day-to-day guide of what I eat.

Weetabix

Is one of my favourites and I have noticed like the study says, it does keep me for quite a while although I haven’t noted how long it is before I need something to eat again.

But having said that it does seem to keep me going for quite a while after eating it. I eat mine with semi skimmed milk. And have about four biscuits.

Scrambled Eggs on Wholemeal Bread

These is something I used to eat quite regularly for breakfast but haven’t done so recently, I would say overall that this particular breakfast can keep you going for a while before you need anything else to eat, this is probably due to the effect of the eggs. As they do tend to have a appetite suppressant effect, and the fibre in the wholemeal bread.

Porridge

This is something I tend to eat on a regular basis, and to compare notes to the experiment it does keep me full for a long time I also add some sweetex just to give it a bit of flavour. And I tend to make it with water and semi skimmed milk sometimes.

Muesli

This is something I have just been eating just recently as I had never really given much thought to eating muesli, but I do like the raisins and the chopped fruit etc that they put in it

This does seem to work quite well for me and can feel like I have had something to eat, probably up to about11:30 a.m.

Full English Breakfast

This is something I will eat every so often, I tend to use cooking oil to cook it and will have, some fried wholemeal bread, tinned tomatoes, a rash of bacon, and a fried egg.

Probably not as much as the researcher ate in his experiment, but it does keep you full for a long time I can certainly vouch for that.

So that in a nutshell is what I tend to eat a breakfast, maybe I should eat some fruit with my porridge etc just to make it a bit more interesting.

So what do you eat for breakfast and how long is it keep you full ?

If you are interested in participating in this then either leave a comment or send me a DM via twitter if you are on there or you can e-mail me at markcoruk at gmail.com.

I look forward to hearing from you.

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