Am I Really Hungry, Or What?

Hunger is a normal and desirable mechanism that reminds us to eat. But did you know that real hunger and hunger from other needs is sometimes hard to differentiate? There can be other reasons why we may interpret hunger sensations incorrectly. Before eating perhaps it could be a good idea to ask yourself a few questions from this list:

1. Am I thirsty? Our minds sometimes mistake hunger for thirst. Drinking the equivalent of 8 glasses of fluid per day will help hydrate the body.  Fruits or vegetables contain a lot of water naturally so some of your fluid will be derived from them. If it has only been a couple of hours since your last meal and you feel hungry, try drinking a glass of water, a small amount of diluted fruit juice or a cup of green tea.
2. Do I feel tired? Sometimes we look to food as a ‘pick me up’ where in reality you may not have had enough sleep or are experiencing stressful events in your life. Looking for this ‘pick me up’ can apply to sugary drinks as well. If at home take a power nap (10-15 minutes) on the couch or at work lay your head down at your desk during coffee breaks instead of eating to squelch the tiredness. Or go for a walk and energize your body by getting the blood flowing. Stretch.
3. When did I last eat? You should not be hungry within 2 hours of your meal unless you only had a nibble. Eat a some protein or low GI foods as these stave off the hunger pains longer. If you ate a piece of fruit at 10:00 a.m., it is normal to be hungry by 11:30 a.m. Before stuffing that high carb doughnut into your mouth at break ask yourself does my body really want this or does it just look good?
4. Am I trying to fill a void in my life or am I feeling depressed? We often use food as a form of comfort and as a safety net from our problems. Find another way to get those serotonins happening other than eating which puts on weight, and then we get even more stressed and less healthy. Everyone feels anxious or depressed from time to time in their lives. Try going for a walk or taking the stairs to your next meeting. Exercise is a great way to deal with conflicting feelings. Then, if you are still hungry, eat a healthy snack or sensible meal.
5. Do I eat on a regular schedule? Our bodies work like clocks. Ideally, we should eat at the same time every day, eat a balanced diet, sleep 8 hours a day, etc. As much as possible try to eat regular meals. Breakfast is often overlooked in a hurry to get out the door in the morning but it is vital for the body to function at peak.  That is why it is called break-fast. Use mid morning and mid afternoon snack time for fruit consumption. Or perhaps try a handful of nuts. Eating at about the same time every day makes us less likely to suffer from real hunger and chemical fluctuations that cause headaches, irritability and fatigue.

Yvonne

Controlling Anxiety and Panic Attacks

Not all pharmaceutical drugs used to control anxiety disorders are successful and many produce unwanted side effects, including neurological damage, impotence, and profound weakness.

Here are eight tips to help control anxiety and panic attacks:

1. Avoid excitotoxins in your food. This is so basic but most important. These include MSG, aspartame, hydrolysed proteins, artificial flavouring, sodium or calcium casein ate, and others. All of these food additives worsen brain excitation and have been shown to specifically target the amygdale nucleus — a set of neurons in the brain’s temporal lobe. They are key to the processing of emotions. White Sugar is a very high excitotoxin and could be replaced with honey as a sweetener.

2. Eat at least 5 – 8 servings of vegetables each day. Many of the flavonoids in vegetables have been shown to reduce anxiety — especially hesperidins, quercetic, and cur cumin. For the highest nutritional benefit -Steam vegies rather than boiling or using a microwave.

3. Drastically reduce your intake of saturated fats and omega-6 fats found in fatty meats also vegetable oils, such as corn, safflower, peanut, sunflower, soybean and canola oils. Studies have shown that animals on high-fat diets release more cortical and take longer to recover from stress than those on low-fat diets.

4. Dramatically increase your intake of Omega 3 to help the brain receptors transmit more effortlessly. High deposits of these Omega 3’s are found in Atlantic Salmon, olive oil, grape seed oils and flax seeds.

4. To naturally calm increase Magnesium. It reduces excitotoxicity and, when taken at bedtime, it aids sleep. It also reduces the immune over-reactivity seen with anxiety disorders. In addition, it reduces your risk of heart disease, stroke and Type-2 diabetes (and metabolic syndrome).

5. White tea contains flavonoids. This flavonoid has recently been shown to calm the brain and reduce anxiety. It works by activating the organ’s most protective system against anxiety — the GABA receptor. This aids sleep as well. White tea has a higher level of this flavonoid and much less fluoride than green tea.

6. The herb valerian has been shown to activate the same calming brain GABA receptor as the pharmaceutical drug. It has been used to induce sleep but also calms anxiety during the day. It should not be mixed with medications that act as sedatives or tranquilizers.

7. Avoid caffeine – especially instant. People with anxiety disorders hyper react to stimulants, such as caffeine. They can also worsen insomnia.

8. What is the emotional programming of the anxiety.  Often when a person can identify the cause behind the anxiety as being FEAR (false evidence appearing real) they are able to alter their thought process about the anxiety.

How’s Your Memory?

Always Losing Your Keys? Forgetting People’s Names? As funny as it may sound, if you find yourself struggling to remember people’s names or you find yourself searching for your keys all the time, then you may not be getting enough exercise.

In a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in 2007, researchers at Columbia University Medical Centre reported that exercise “appears to stimulate the growth of new brain cells in the region linked with memory.” Perhaps this is the real reason why as we get older and often exercise less, we begin to loose our memory (and things)! No wonder we have trouble memorizing peoples names when we meet.

Scientists studied the magnetic resonance imaging scans (MRIs) of the brains of 11 healthy adults, taken before and after their assigned aerobic exercise programs, and found that the number of memory cells do increase after their subjects worked out.

“Our next step is to identify the exercise regimen that is most beneficial to improve cognition and reduce memory loss, so that physicians may be able to prescribe specific types of exercise to improve memory,” said lead researcher Dr. Scott Small.

In 2001, scientists at The Salk Institute found that running could boost brain cell survival in mice with neurodegenerative disease. Carrolee Barlow, a Salk assistant professor and lead author of the study, explained: “When these mice are sedentary, it appears that most newly born brain cells die. Running appears to ‘rescue’ many of these cells that would otherwise die.” Barlow also added that “the miles logged correlated directly with the numbers of increased cells.”

So, perhaps if it’s good enough for mice, then it’s good enough for humans!  My suggestion to take up running or at least a good walk. It will do more than help you get fit; according to the research it will most likely sharpen your memory, too.

Note: Always check with your doctor before beginning an exercise program. Get some coaching from a qualified professional or try something low-impact if you don’t have access to a coach.

What You Don’t Know Can Hurt You

There is always a cause for every effect, nothing just happens by itself.

Have you heard it said that “what you don’t know can’t hurt you?”  Pleading ignorance to the law of cause and effect doesn’t stop it working in our lives. What you don’t know will hurt you!  This “not knowing” can sabotage you in your goal achievement and then you get frustrated because you set goals just like they said and they never happen. Not knowing that you have deficits in your level of self-esteem will hurt you. Not knowing that eating a food can harm your health doesn’t prevent the problem. When you are unaware of the cause of a problem, you can not solve it intentionally.

There is always a cause for every effect, nothing just happens by itself.  There is always a reason for everything that happens around us in our lives. Most times however, we aren’t ‘in tune’ to our role in attracting it – or not!

Of course, if you are like the majority of the population, we would rather not accept personal responsibility for being the cause of these less than exciting events. It is obviously easier and much more pleasant to blame outside circumstances and justify the obstacles and negative events to something beyond ourselves. But in reality, when we begin to understand the role that we played in bringing about these negative circumstances, we can learn how to effectively change how we think and behave. This is when we can begin to take personal responsibility for creating the results we desire in life.

Once we understand this paradox – this law of cause and effect, the question becomes: “What changes within ourselves need to occur so we can become more effective at attracting the desires that we really want?”

The answer may really surprise you! It is “Your Level of Self-Esteem”! Your level of self-esteem is the basis for almost everything that influences your behaviour in every circumstance of your Life!

Studies have shown that over 85% of us experience some type of lowered self-esteem during our lives. Many people can get stuck and live at this point of low self-esteem.

Low self-esteem can hurt you the most during emotional moments of your life. For example,

• You may be sitting for a really important exam and get those “exam jitters” where the butterflies in the tummy are having a war. The answers escape you and then you are hit with the thought of overwhelm, stupidity and inadequacy.
• Or you could be applying for that dream job that you have wanted for so long and during the interview you are asked a question. All of a sudden, you start feeling uncomfortable. Your brain sits down and you answer some sort of way out gobbledegook. Because you lack the necessary self-esteem to see yourself as an outstanding employee for the company interviewing you, you sabotage your chances by saying something foolish.
• Sometimes we can put on the “I’m totally confident” ego, but your eyes will tell the truth. When someone looks into your eyes your low self esteem will cause your eyes to dart away. We don’t want anyone to “see” into our soul.
• Sometimes in a business meeting diminished self-esteem can cause you to feel intimidated, shy or uncomfortable and so you don’t speak up and offer your opinion.
• Perhaps your poor self-esteem might prevent you from finding a life partner.
• Low levels of self esteem can also be passed on to children who experience problems similar to those that their parents have.
• Sometimes low self-esteem tries so hard to “prove” itself and gain acceptance that you can dominate a conversation without even realising it.

I certainly know that I suffered from low self esteem. I think you will agree that most people have experienced some type of “low self esteem” situation at some time in their life. Here is the good news – If you have experienced low self esteem, it does not need to continue in your life! You can choose to be as confident, strong, and productive as you wish in any situation – and don’t you think you deserve that?

I am committed to showing you the way to build a stronger and healthier overall level of self-esteem – one where you will enjoy a higher quality of life on a daily basis.

In order for you to identify the basis of the problem and how strong it is, please answer the following few questions:

1) In what circumstances do you experience “low self esteem”?

2) How might this feeling of inferiority block you from achieving what you really want?

3) How would you be more productive in these important life areas if you raised your level of self-esteem?

I look forward to championing you to achieve every aspect of your dream life. Together, we can make it happen.  Contact me for personal life-coaching at www.totalhealth.net.au

Yours in Health and Prosperity,

Yvonne

Vibrant Health

Vibrant Health is not just about eating organic food. It is not just about a daily exercise routine. It is also not about going on a trek to the Himalayas to find enlightenment.  You have heard it said “it isn’t what you eat – it is about what is eating you”. Total vibrant health isn’t just about positive thinking disregarding what is happening in our world. We are a spiritual being having a human experience and every area of our life is interwoven with the next to make up our total being. True Vibrant Total Health is being at peak in all the various components of our being. Being at peace with our Creator, having the healthy foundation of every cell in our body working to the good of every other cell, being in enriching relationships with family and friends, having a worthwhile goal that we are passionate about, using wisdom to interpret all the knowledge that is available, financially having more than enough for our daily needs so that we can be a conduit of blessing to the world around us.  Total Vibrant Health is feeling total comfortable in our skin, loving who we are and the purpose that we have in fulfilling our destiny. It is living in harmony with abundance all around us.  It is becoming aware of new opportunities to make a difference and being able to grab the opportunity with zest and run with it because we are confident in every area of our life. You can’t run with confidence for very long if your body lets you down. You can’t run with confidence for very long if your emotions are in turmoil.  You can’t run for very long if your finances don’t support your dreams. You won’t run for long if you don’t have a passionate goal. Our Total Health website is to bring all aspects of our being to our attention so that we can be all that we created to be. Enjoy.

Your lifecoach,

Yvonne

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Honest Communication

When resentment occurs one way to handle it is with “Honest Communication”. Often we just blow up when we are not used to expressing our anger or have allowed it to be bottled up over a period of time. When we allow this to happen our communication does not come out responsibly and can cause even further resentment and breakdown. “Honest Communication” that is non responsible may be manifested in several ways that can be destructive to building a better relationship. Here are some ways that many of us communicate honestly, but non responsibly….

1. Blaming the other person for how you feel
2. Embarrassing someone in order to get revenge.
3. Leaving the receiving person or team with negativity they can do nothing about.

For example, imagine a garden hose that has been coiled up all winter. Then when the weather warms up, you’re outside and thirsty and go to get a drink from the hose. The residue of water from the hose comes out and…. UGH, it’s foul tasting!

Sometimes we can be like the dormant hose.  If you don’t think through these negative feelings, words may come out like foul water from a dormant hose.

If you are the one learning to communicate open and honestly, try rehearsing your communication in front of someone you trust. Tell them what you are doing and request that they listen for “laying blame to the accused” versus “I am responsible for the way I interpret your actions”.

Responsible communication always begins with the word “I”. The feelings you express are yours, so you must own them. How does that sound? One example that works is to say: “I felt this way when you did …

Actually say that you are not blaming the other person. Express the reason you are communicating openly and honest because you desire a better relationship with this person.

Twenty-Five Things About Your Health

Things You Probably Didn’t Know About Your Body and Health

1. Rinsing your nose with salt water can help keep you healthy and ward off allergy symptoms.

2. Dogs can smell cancer and low blood sugar. A study showed that it is possible to train dogs to identify, based on breath samples, which patients had lung and breast cancer. For diabetics, the dogs can smell ketones in urine and on the breath when blood sugars are high. Dogs can pick up on other smells that humans can’t when glucose levels drop.

3. Researchers found that people who pass through an entryway near the kitchen tend to eat 15 percent more than those who use the front door.

4. You’re more likely to have a heart attack on a Monday, or up to three days after you’ve been diagnosed with the flu or a respiratory tract infection.

5. You can’t get a tan from your computer screen. The Computer Tan Web site was created as a hoax to raise awareness about skin cancer.

6. Obese people spend approximately $485 more on clothing, $828 on extra plane seats, and $36 more on gas each year than their thinner counterparts. An overweight driver burns about 18 additional gallons of gas a year.

7. Smokers are four times as likely to report feeling un-rested after a night’s sleep than non-smokers. Smokers often experience withdrawal symptoms at night, thus causing periods of restlessness and waking.

8. Eating fruits and vegetables may help your body make its own aspirin. Benzoic acid, a natural substance in fruits and vegetables, causes people to produce their own salicylic acid, the key component that gives aspirin its anti-inflammatory and pain-relieving properties.

9. A 20-minute nap can improve your overall alertness, boost your mood, and increase productivity. In addition, your heart may reap benefits from napping — a six-year study found that men who took naps at least three times a week had a 37 percent lower risk of heart-related death.

10. Your kitchen sink is dirtier than your bathroom. There are typically more than 500,000 bacteria per square inch in its drain, and the faucet, basin, and sponge are crawling with germs as well.

11. Four out of five doctors in the UK don’t work out enough. Heavy workloads, lack of time and poor motivation contributed to the lack of exercise.

12. Baking soda can whiten teeth, garlic can help treat athlete’s foot, and honey can soothe a hangover.

13. Using a food diary can double your weight-loss efforts. Your food diary makes you accountable to yourself and provides you with clues on where the extra calories are sneaking in.

14. Regular exercise can lower a woman’s cancer risk—but only if she’s getting enough sleep. The National Cancer Institute followed nearly 6,000 women for almost 10 years. Women in the top half of physical activity levels showed an approximate 20 percent reduction in cancer risk, but sleeping less than seven hours per night resulted in a decreased benefit.

15. Watching yourself run in a mirror can make a treadmill workout go by faster and feel easier.

16. Third-hand smoke—the particles that cling to smokers’ hair and clothing and linger in a room long after they’ve left—is a cancer risk to young children and pets.

17. Walking against the wind, in the water, or while wearing a backpack burns about 50 more calories per hour than walking with no resistance. People who wear pedometers also tend to burn more calories and lose more weight.

18. Trained sexologists can infer a woman’s orgasm history by observing the way she walks. In other news, men find women who wear red sexier than those who wear “cool” colours such as blue and green.

19. Foreign accent syndrome and exploding head syndrome are real (but very rare) medical conditions. A person with exploding head syndrome experiences a loud, indecipherable noise that seems to originate from inside their head.

20. Vitamins seem to help older women guard against cancer or heart disease.

21. Some men experience pain, headaches, or sneezing as a result of ejaculation. The increased activity in the nervous system during orgasm may be the culprit.

22. Germ-killing wipes can spread bacteria from one spot to another if you reuse them.

23. Oatmeal, citrus fruits, and honey can boost your sex drive and improve fertility. Oats produce a chemical that releases testosterone into the blood supply, vitamin C improves sperm count and motility, and vitamin B from honey helps your body use oestrogen, a key factor in blood flow and arousal.

24. Twenty-nine percent of Americans say they have skipped filling a prescription due to the cost, and 23 percent use pill splitting as a way to save money.

25. Social activities may be good for your health; studies show that staying in touch with family and friends can ward off memory loss and help you live longer.

Source: MSN Health & Fitness April 21, 2009

Organic Vs Conventional

Tests have been done which give real and credible evidence that organic fruit and vegies are worth the extra money. Your cells are renewing themselves constantly and they need maximum nutrition to build healthy cells. Here are some of the stats from the latest studies.

Organic foods are:

63%        higher in calcium

78%        higher in chromium

73%        higher in iron

118%        higher in magnesium

178%        higher in molybdenum

91%        higher in phosphorous

125%        higher in potassium

60%        higher in zinc

29%        lower in mercury

conquering ignorance

Sometimes when you see all the amazing stuff people can do on the internet, my brain goes into a hurricane whirlwind spin.  I was attempting to have a simple “chat” to my son who lives in Japan with my 2 beautiful grandchildren and his stunning Japanese wife. They told me to use my computer instead of the phone  because when you use msm or skype I think it is called – it is “free”.  Well this sounded good, so I was on what they said was msm. My son said just plug in the webcam so we can see you.  Well I tried to do that and after many instructions in print because we can’t hear each other, I finally got a camera connected and we could see each other but still couldn’t talk to each other. I thought the simple solution was to pick up the phone and talk and then use the internet to “see” each other. But “no” mum you can do this.  I watch them create stuff by a simple (they say) click and then I try to do it and the whole thing jams up my computer and I loose skype, msm, internet, camera contact, emails and my nerve!  Where are the simple instructions in plain English for a Nana who just wants to see her grandkids grow and talk to them in a country that is so far away?  Well finally after clicking a button with ctrl then finding another with alt then delete it comes up and says do you want to send a report?  Now I ask you… What report am I going to send? I couldnt even talk to the kids to give you a report on how they are. I did see them jumping up and down in total excitement that Nana had finally connected. Now you ask me in all sincerity what I think of all this technology and I tell you  – I remember when the phone on the farm had a handle on it and you turned it around the same number of times to make it ring for the the number of the person you were ringing.  Sometimes you even got a real live person to connect the number. It was called a chat room!  All the neighbours could pick up the phone and listen in on your chat.  We couldn’t see each other, but we heard each other breathing.  Now that was technology!