Anybody else overwhelmed about the information regarding H1N1 this past month? It’s practically impossible to escape the crush of swine flu related facts and vaccination options. No matter the medium, be it the Internet, TV, radio, we’ve been overloaded with information regarding this pandemic and it seems to be a popular conversation with just about anybody you talk to these days.

Worst of all, the amount of email forwards I receive on a daily basis where poor Piglet is getting abused by Winnie the Pooh and company!

[Seems like something out of a movie but this was Mexico earlier this year!]

One thing to remember in all of this hoopla is the media and how they always reports things that go wrong, but rarely seem to find enough ink to talk about things that go right. Therefore, we hear about and subsequently pay more attention to the few people who ended up very sick or unfortunately died from the swine flu than the many people who successfully recovered from the swine flu.

What should you be doing?

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I was out with some friends recently and we stopped at a fast food joint.

“FUDGE, what in the world am I going to eat here?”

[Don Gorske seems to be fit for eating such a poor food choice. Is he a freak of nature or does skipping the fries and soda have a part in his diet?]

And yes I tried to persuade the group out of it without sounding like a pretentious prick who knows everything about nutrition and healthy eating, but sometimes when everybody else wants to go there, you just have to make the best of it and go with the flow.

The most common misconception about fast food that I hear is the burger, or main entree for the fast food aficionados, is the most dangerous item on the menu. Yes, the refined white bread, low quality beef, chicken, fish, or whatever mystery meat the establishment serves the paying customer is an issue. But equally serious damage can be found in your side choices!

How?

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Right next to the male enhancement products and the heartfelt letters from my Nigerian friends, are offers for magical weight loss supplements that claim to have the ability to evaporate my fat on contact!

There’s a lot of buzz, especially on the Internet, about all these outrageous fat loss products, especially teas that will help you lose weight: green tea with hoodia, green tea plus, wu yi green tea. You name the teas, and of course it’s going to magically help you lose weight.

[There are a ton of great pics on the web like this one that show the beauty of a green tea field. Supposedly, this is a shot from one such field near Mt. Fugi in Japan. Absolutely stunning! ]

Green Tea and Weight Loss?

Now the sexy part about green tea is that there actually is scientific evidence to show that green tea can help with weight loss.

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I see more flat stomach and six-pack ab infomercials everyday that revolve around the classic crunch move.

We all know this move: lie on the floor on your back, grab the back of your head with your hands and pull it two inches off the floor. I think it’s safe to say this method does not work very well for building your 6-pack abs and flattening out your stomach.

[There's nothing intense about this exercise. Look at this poor girl's facial expression! Not another time wasting crunch, please...]

Aside from them being useless for getting six pack abs, the crunch movement itself is actually harmful to your spine and lower back. Every single time you perform a crunch, you are doing what the world’s leading experts on back pain describe as a dangerous motion.

Research shows every time you crunch, you do what is called spinal flexion, and spinal flexion compresses the disks between your vertebrae. If you do that too much, you could end up with a herniated disc. It’s the same motion as rounding your back to pick up something off the floor, and you probably know someone who has hurt their back that way!

Total body ab exercises are more effective.

Instead of wasting your life lying on your back doing an exercise that you can do hundreds of times, you need to replace crunches and all those other 1980s aerobics style exercises with better, total body ab exercises to get more results in less time.

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The sentence above was actually blurted out loud by one individual to another in my local gym changeroom. I glanced over hoping to see a coy smile or a sarcastic eyebrow raise, but nothing. I don’t usually eavedrop on other conversations but the exchange continued with the following defending remark:

Downing an energy drink on the way to the gym is the best way to keep your energy levels up for a workout. *snicker*

Really? What happened to healthy eating and consistent chunks of sleep being the keys to long lasting energy to get you through your day and your workout? Contrary to the numerous ads and the abundant gas station stockings of these various energy drinks, here’s what we know about them:
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How we spend our time is just as important as how we spend our money. You have a finite amount of both so most of us know that to stay financially well, we need to set a household budget. The same practice can be applied to the game of life where we are juggling multiple roles and we need to schedule our time and allocate that time according to what’s most important to us. Although many commitments you may have are worthy of your time and speak to your goals or ideals, it can be difficult to say no to them. But too many of these commitments can cause unnecessary stress.

Here are 15 questions to consider when examining your own work/life schedule:

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During times of stress, our health can be severely affected depending on how intense we are feeling by these external stressors. These events can alter our entire body including our appetites, energy levels, breathing quality and especially our sleeping patterns. So what can we do to stay calm during these stressful moments? One of the best things we can do for ourselves is to prepare for these inevitable moments and get a minimum of 7 hours of quality rest each night. If we feel rested, we’re less likely to be exhausted and apprehensive during the day so that we have the energy and clarity to resolve our problems. Here are 4 tips to help you achieve this restful sleep.
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In many news reports this past month, there has been a rise of sales on comfort, or ”lowbrow” food.Items such as Kraft dinner, Jell-O and Campbell’s condensed soup are experiencing a strong resurgence as people are staying in, instead of eating out. Health experts across the board have been throwing there arms up in disgust, most notably Food Network star and chef Jamie Oliver who warned the British Parliament in November that the financial crisis would drive people and families to cheap food and worsen the obesity epidemic.

Various online forums and people we converse with on a daily basis have commented about the blatant advertising in there local grocery flyers for prepackaged foods like Lipton Sidekicks and instant potatoes. These items are always on sale and are plastered all over the flyers. Rarely are healthy foods or even organic foods even mentioned or advertised. Many people point to the disproportionate cost between milk and coke. You can pick up two litres of coke for half the price of two litres milk. Does this make sense to anyone?

Some health experts have also a growing concern about the larger shift to commercially processed food, with its high levels of preservatives, nitrates and saturated fats. Here are a couple of suggestions for all us when walking through grocery isles on our weekly shopping trips:
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A study in the New England Journal of Medicine found that obesity can be “socially contagious” and may spread among friends. Umm… Are we talking about the common cold here? Nope. Researchers say your own risk goes up 57% if a friend becomes obese. Here are three ways to defend yourself against those who put you and your fat loss goals at risk:

The Office Candy Jar:

Whether it’s actually a candy jar, doughnuts in the lunch room, or the vending machine in the hallway… it’s all bad news. Five candies a day can add up to 125 calories a day, or 12 pounds a year. SOLUTION: Pack some healthy snacks at your desk. Nuts, granola bars, and pieces of fruit work very well and don’t forget to drink your water. Sugar-free gum will help tame those cravings as well.

Your Significant Other:

It’s much easier to order in or go out for dinner but things can turn ugly when “once in awhile” turns into a couple times a week. SOLUTION: Get rid of those takeout menus and 2 for 1 dinner coupons, and start cooking healthy home-made meals at home with your significant other. Go all week without ordering in, then reward yourselves at a favorite restaurant during the weekend.

Your Colleagues:

Someone from your office always wants to grab a bite to eat at the food court or local fast food joint. There’s leftovers from a meeting in the lunch room, or Bill from HR is retiring so pieces of cake await. Sound familiar? SOLUTION: Always pack your lunch. Just think of the money your saving when your buddy Jim is spending $10 for his greasy burger combo and soft drink. If you must have cake, leave the icing on your plate.

For more ideas regarding healthy eating check out Mike Geary’s book The Truth About Six Pack Abs, currently the top selling abs program on the internet.

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To Find A Fat Loss Program that’s right for you, click the button below:

Does concern for the economy have you tossing and turning? Stress can have a big impact on how well you sleep. It’s often suggested that we need a minimum of 7-8 hours of sleep every night. How many of us can honestly remember getting that much sleep in one night?

To help you reclaim some of those ZZZs, try these suggestions:

1. Do a little yoga before bed to relax and gain balance. A light walk on a treadmill to burn off any negative energy accumulated from the days activities works well too.

2. Lie in bed and breathe slowly, allowing your abdomen and chest muscles to relax. Concentrate on your breathing and you’ll soon find yourself on top of pillow mountain.

3. Read a book. Something light-hearted that doesn’t require you to increase your mental compacity (this is not the time for advanced calculus or newspaper reading as it might make you more tense).

4. Try a warm beverage such as herbal tea (especially chamomile, which helps your body relax), warm milk, or something else you like that doesn’t have too much sugar or caffeine. Green tea can also be consumed at this time even though it has a very modest amount of caffeine compared to regular tea or coffee. It may be helpful to someone trying to ease back their consumption of caffeinated beverages during the day.

5. Adjust your environment by darkening the room, adding some white noise (soothing sounds such as the ocean, rain or crickets) or blocking out noise entirely with earplugs.

For more practical life-extending suggestions, take a look at our review of Suzanne Gudaknst’s The Top Secret Fat Loss Secret program. It is brainlessly simple to follow!

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To Find A Fat Loss Program that’s right for you, click the button below: