Harmonia Health

Archive for July, 2009

Natural Weight Loss

These days more and more people are getting intellectual instead of physical jobs. Sitting in office chairs all-day long has become a norm for many of us. Stress, busyness and rush make us forget about regular food and we stuff our stomachs with cheeseburgers and sodas, which don’t do anything good for our bodies.

As a result of such crazy life rhythm, we rarely find time for exercises, gyms or balanced nutrition. As a matter of fact, it’s one of the reasons why more than 60% of U.S citizens are overweight. However, it is possible to change your lifestyle and lose weight if you are willing to.

These 7 day-to-day life tips provided below will help you to drop your extra pounds, become more energetic and healthier.

1. Drink More Water

Our bodies need a lot of water. Water removes waste from our organism and carries various nutrients into all our organs and cells. Your body also loses water by using it for various ways. For this reason you have to replace it and drink water more often than you are used to.

Start your day with a glass of water in the morning. Drink a glass of water before any meal. Take a bottle of water with you when you go to work. Your body needs approximately 3-5 liters of water during one day. So don’t hesitate to drink plenty of water wherever and whenever you can.

2. Eat Fruits and Drink Fruit Juices

Eating fruits and juices helps you eliminate toxins from your body. Eating a variety of fruits also helps you get enough fiber, vitamins, and antioxidants. That’s why you should eat fresh fruits and drink natural fruit juices as often as possible.

Fruit juices from stores are often sweetened. If you want to drink juices, make fresh juices yourself. If you think it takes too much of your time, then look for juices with labels that say “100% fruit juice”. These are much healthier for your body because they contain much more vitamins.

3. Eat Lots of Vegetables and Vegetable Salads

When it comes to losing extra pounds, vegetables are a great choice. They are natural and contain different vitamins, minerals and tons of other useful chemicals known to provide benefits to your body. Vegetables are low in fat and calories, they help control blood glucose levels, reduce blood cholesterol and reduce the risk of colon and other cancers. All these features also help control your weight effectively.

If you feel that eating vegetables alone isn’t a great choice for you, then make some salads. Mixing vegetables together gives you even more different vitamins and health benefits. There are tons of tasty, healthy salad recipes on the internet. You can also use your imagination to make some great salads.

4. Eat Only When You Are Hungry

How many times have you been to a party where you saw lots of different and tasty looking meals, which you were offered to try.

Don’t eat, because you are offered to. Eat only when you want to.

Many people like snacking in between meals or when they have nothing to do. Quit snacking. Most snacks contain a lot of fat and calories. Replace your usual snacks with vegetables or fruits. These are healthy for your body and you’ll never get fatter, only thinner.

5. Carry Healthy Food with You

Many of us work in busy office jobs and don’t have the time to eat regularly. In such a case, bring your own home-made food with you. Instead of bringing sandwiches with meat, take vegetable salads, carrots, chicken salads. Any low fat food will do. This way, you won’t have to wait for a break to fill your stomach. You’ll be able to have fixed times when eating food.

It’s also important to try to eat about 5 times a day, rather than 3 or 2. Eat in smaller quantities, but more often. This helps you to increase your metabolism.

6. Work Out When You Can

Working out in a gym is not only a great way to grow some muscles, but also to drop a few pounds. Exercising helps you burn your calories instead of storing them in your body as fat. Our bodies were made to be active, so exercising slowly and easily can actually help you get more energy and make you feel much better.

At the end of the week, try to lose all the stress and burn your calories in a gym or having some kind of physical activity at home. If you have time, then try to do easy exercises everyday.

7. Don’t Lie Down or Sit When You Can Move

Many of us like to watch TV lying on a couch or sitting in a comfortable chair. Of course, when you come home after a hard working day, you’re tired, and all you can think of is a couch and a remote in your hand. But such laziness won’t help you lose weight. On the contrary, it will make you grow some more pounds.

So don’t lie or sit, when you can walk and move. Instead of staring at TV, like a goofy, go ahead and work out in your garden for example, clean your garage, fix your car, go to walk in the park or on the beach. Breathe fresh air and move more often. Not only does it help to reduce stress after work, but also ups your mood and makes you more energetic.

Blood pressure problem is on the rise with many individuals and is becoming a silent killer as it is an increasing cause for a number of health problems. There is a certain amount of pressure at which blood is flowing through your body and a problem arises when the pressure at which blood flows is higher than the normal value and is known as high blood pressure or hypertension. Similarly, a very low pressure in the flow of blood is termed as low blood pressure and these pressure problems are primarily a result of a lot of tension and stress. Blood pressure problems need to be treated as it could lead to a lot of complications. High blood pressure especially, can be very dangerous as most of the times it does not show any prior symptoms and can directly result in a heart problem or a stroke.

The best way to keep your pressure under control is by leading a healthy lifestyle that is stress free, includes good eating habits and follows regular exercises. Yoga is a great way to treat blood pressure because it is known to have a number of positive effects. It helps to fight the factors that cause blood pressure in the first place and also helps reduce the effects that are caused out of having pressure problems.