Quit Smoking

Quote for Today:
The starting point of all achievement is desire.
-Napoleon Hill


Help With Quitting Smoking

Enhancing the quality and length of your life by quitting smoking is a worthwhile effort. It is definitely not an easy task, but it can be accomplished with time and patience. To quit smoking successfully, explore your options are. Knowing where to go for help is a wise first step. Quitting smoking is the best move that you can make for your health and the health of all of those around you. Just about everyone knows by now that smoking causes diseases that shorten your life or those that may even end it. Diseases such as lung cancer, throat, esophagus, bladder, and kidney, and pancreas cancers are some horrible things caused by smoking for a start.  People who smoke are more than three times as likely to die due to heart attack as non smokers. Smoking is a major risk factor for a disease that narrow the blood vessels that transport blood to the limbs and muscles called peripheral vascular disease as well as the disease that causes some strokes.

If that’s not enough to convince you to stop smoking, let’s look at your appearance. Premature wrinkling of skin, chronic bad breath, discolored fingernails and hair, and an increase risk of macular degeneration a leading cause of blindness in the elderly. Smoking over the age of thirty-five if you are a woman can put you in a high risk group for stroke, heart attack, and blood clots of the legs, low birth weight of babies and miscarriages. But the hopeful portion of this message is that if you decide to quite regardless of how long you’ve smoked or how much, quitting will help you to live longer. In as little as twenty minutes after quitting smoking the heart rate and blood pressure drops and in one to nine months following quitting smoking, circulation in your hands extremities and lung function increases. Shortness of breath decreases and your lungs begin to function properly, cleaning the lungs and removing mucus that causes infection. Fifteen years of non smoking and your risk of heart disease is that of non smoking persons. These benefits can be obtained from quitting smoking even if you are suffering from a smoking related illness already. Smoking is less socially accepted now more than ever. Smoking bans have been placed in just about every workplace in the nation along with airports, public buildings. Even friends may insist that you not smoke in their houses or cars. Some people may even find dating more difficult because of a bad smoking habit. So the social impacts of not smoking will probably change your life for the better if you quit.

If you have a family, that is another great motivation to quit smoking. The main reason is that the secondhand smoke could pose serious health problems for others who do not deserve such things. You should also consider what kind of role model you are being to any small children that you live with, whether they are your own kids, siblings, nieces and nephews, or any other relation. You may be living with kids who look up to you as an authority figure, and if you teach them that smoking is alright you will feel very guilty later in life.

Some of the many new products used to help an individual to stop smoking are really very effective. Counseling services, reading materials, medicines, and patches are all widely available and have produced some amazing results. Educational materials alone may be the best beginning start to an attempt to quit because once you know what kind of damage you are doing to your body the prudent and reasonable person will definitely see that it is the very best thing to do.  Take the time and do it for yourself and your loved ones, quit for life.

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Keep Mentally Alert

Quote For Today:
Learning never exhausts the mind.
-Leonardo da Vinci

Keep Mentally Alert

Have you recently noticed that your mind tends to wander no matter what you are doing? Do you walk into a room only to forget why you even came in? You are not alone. This sort of absentmindedness plagues a huge percentage of the world’s population. It can be very frustrating, and so you should try to do your best to keep an alert mental state. There are many ways to do this, and if you are not taking advantage of any of them then you should start today. Read on to find out about some of the most common and popular ways to maintain mental alertness.

Exercise is the one that you will hear the most. It is easy to get caught in a rut of going to work and then coming home and relaxing. Instead of sitting in front of the TV all night, why don’t you lift some weights or go for a run? Exercise releases just the right chemicals into your brain to make you more alert, not only during the exercise, but for the rest of the day until you go to sleep. This is why so many people like to start off their days with a good run through the neighborhood. The type of exercise you choose will depend on what options are available to you.

Another way to increase mental alertness is to stimulate your mind at least once per day. It is very healthy to always teach yourself new things. Whether you sit down and read a science fiction book with interesting scientific theories, or you read a college textbook and discover new things about biology, there is everything to be gained from learning new things. Not only do you get to keep the great knowledge, but you also will sustain higher levels of alertness due to the effort that it takes to learn all of those things. So go to the library today and find a book that piques your interest.

A good amount of sleep is crucial to being mentally alert. If you are only getting 5 hours of sleep per night and you are complaining about being forgetful, then you should slap yourself in the face right now. The answer is very obvious. All you need to do is regularly sleep more. If you don’t give your mind enough time to recuperate, then you can expect to see poorer performance. If your job requires you to get up early, then go to bed earlier. If you have too much to do, then all you need to do is plan your days out better so that you get things done more efficiently and leave more time to sleeping.

Ultimately the best thing to do is to combine these three methods to remain as mentally awake as possible. If you start to utilize all 3 of these, you should start seeing improvements in a matter of days. Hopefully you will stop losing things, stop forgetting important dates, and generally stop being so absentminded. If the problem persists, then you should talk to a doctor or a licensed counselor about any stressors that could be causing you to mentally stray away from other areas in your life. Hopefully it does not come to that, but you should not ignore the possibility.

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Create a Budget Friendly Eating Plan

Quote For Today:

Only a life lived for others is a life worthwhile.
-Albert Einstein

How To Have a Budget Friendly Healthy Eating Plan

With food prices soaring these days, is there way for you to eat healthy, without pouring more holes in your pocket? There is a a way for you to eat healthy and within your budget. Before you head off to the supermarket, sit down and write out a list first, and remember to stick to it. Shop just once a week, cut out the sale coupons from the newspaper, but disregard the coupons for processed foods.


Before you make the dash for the grocery, make sure you don’t go shopping on an empty stomach. Eat a light snack or meal, so that you’ll be able to resist the temptation. Once you’re in the grocery, look for sales or discount promos on fruits and vegetables, as most groceries get a bargain on these items, which they pass-on as savings to their customers. Buy a large bag of fruit instead of single, large fruit items which are priced per pound. Also go for generic brand, which are labeled as the store brands, but are relatively priced less.


To make the most out of your budget, remember to get more healthy food items, as well as make significant changes in your food options.

Here are some helpful tips for buying healthy food on a budget:

- Buy in bulk and in season. Seasonal produce are generally priced less. too. Also, make a food list that is based on sale or discounted items.

- Eat more beans. Beans are relatively affordable sources of fiber and protein, particularly the dry beans.

- Cut down on your purchase of alcohol and other carbonated beverages, because these offer no nutritional benefits, and also cost a lot too.

- Use meat alternative such as beans and tofu for your stir-fry, spaghetti and chili recipes, as well as use ground turkey meat in place of ground beef.

More and more people are constantly looking for ways to get more out of their money when they go to the grocery. However, health professionals worry that as the economy gets tighter, more people will be making poor food choices, and will also turn to eating unhealthy fast food fare. But eating unhealthy food should not be the case, since there is a way for you to eat healthy without busting your budgets. All you need to do is buy smart, make more budget-friendly decisions, and change some of your shopping and food-preparation habits.

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The Perks Of A High-Fiber Diet

Quote For Today:
It is health that is real wealth and not pieces of silver and gold.
-Mahatma Gandhi


The Perks Of A High-Fiber Diet

Examples of high fiber foods.

Fiber is one of the main ingredients of healthy eating. If the body isn’t getting the required amounts of natural fiber, the person may be prone to disorders such as constipation, gas pain, and worse colon cancer. For those who are looking to have a healthy eating plan, fiber is one of the key elements to that plan. The sad thing is that many individuals still don’t take fiber too seriously. Here is a look at the many benefits of consuming high-fiber foods.


A diet that is rich in fiber can help prevent a number of diseases, from constipation to colon cancer. Eating a high-fiber diet actually helps the body reduce or eradicate bad cholesterol, by binding fat and cholesterol in the digestive tract. Natural fiber can also help stop overeating. High-fiber foods take longer to chew and digest, making the person feel satisfied and full longer.


These days, grocery shelves are often filled with lots of processed meats, snacks and other food items. They also contain large amounts of artificial sweeteners, flavorings and preservatives. If you love eating processed foods, you may need to increase your fiber intake, because most processed foods lack adequate fiber content.


Fruits and vegetables are great sources of dietary fiber, which is actually plant matter. Fiber is largely composed of cellulose, which aids the body in digestion.  Whole grains are also excellent dietary fiber sources. When cooking fruits and vegetables, you need not worry about cooking the fiber, because it stays there. The fiber found in most fruits and veggies are not just located on the skin or peel, but deep within.


Getting the right amount of fiber is quite easy. All you need to do is eat the right foods, and you will be on your way to getting adequate amounts of dietary fiber.

Among the best sources of dietary fiber include dried beans and legumes, bran cereals, dried fruit, sweet corn, raspberries and strawberries, whole wheat, broccoli, plums, pears, apples, potatoes, raisins and prunes, dark green lettuce, spinach, kale, nuts, cherries, carrots, bananas, coconut and Brussels sprouts and more. It ís not hard to see the benefits of incorporating fiber into your daily eating plan. All you need to ensure is that you add these delightful foods into your regular diet.  

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Change Your Diet For Better Health!

Quote for Today:

We can make a commitment to promote vegetables and fruits and whole grains on every part of every menu. We can make portion sizes smaller and emphasize quality over quantity. And we can help create a culture - imagine this - where our kids ask for healthy options instead of resisting them.

-Michelle Obama

Change Your Diet To Meet Your Goal!
It is certainly difficult to look for a diet plan that suits your lifestyle. However, you must remember that going on a diet is a lifestyle change itself. You must be willing to make early sacrifices in order to get you nearer to your goal. Luckily, there are several diet makeover tips you can use to help ease the transition. These are by no means diet routines but rather a way of changing your eating habit healthily and gradually.

With the number of diet techniques sprouting here and there, you definitely need a helping hand in choosing the right one. These tips can help you land the perfect regimen for you as well as shorten the time it will take you to lose those extra pounds.

Plan Your Meals

The first and most important part of transitioning into a healthy lifestyle is planning correctly what you must eat. This can be daunting task especially for those who are always on the go. You must remember, this step is important in helping you get used to the new eating habits.

Everyday, you must remember to plan you meal before you even take them. For instance, before eating breakfast, you must set up a desired meal plan the night before. Pack your food beforehand to ensure that you get the right measurements required by whatever diet method you are taking. The same goes for your lunch and dinner. As you continue with the diet, you would not believe how easy and beneficial it is to plan a meal beforehand.

Purge Your Fridge and Pantry

This is probably one of the hardest sacrifices you have to make in order to lose weight. It is time for you to open your fridge and other food storage and purge them of any unhealthy food. Get rid of that ice cream, cake, chips, candies and everything that are unhealthy, and replace them with healthier alternatives, like fruit, yogurt and low calorie popcicles.

Purchase Guilt-Free Snacks

The on-going need to stay fit and healthy brought about the creation of guilt-free snacks that you can munch on without worrying of gaining extra pounds. This is extremely helpful if you still are having a hard time giving up your in-between meal sessions or fighting those nasty cravings.

Some of these healthier alternatives include almonds, dried fruits, sugar-free desserts and more. Even your favorite condiments now have their organic counterparts, which are free of the chemicals sometimes attributed to weight gain.

Drinks and beverages that pack a lot of calories should also be lessened, if not eliminated. Instead of drinking carbonated sodas and commercially packed fruit juices, opt for healthier diet sodas and freshly squeezed juices.

Choose White Meat Instead of Red

The best way to lose weight without eliminating protein is to choose white meat over red. Skinless chicken breasts are very lean and contain high quality protein, which is essential in losing weight. Baking them can further enhance their nutritional value.

Another one of the diet makeover tips you can use is to substitute fish for your pork or beef. Fish is healthier and contains high quality fatty acids that can help improve heart and other bodily functions. Nevertheless, remember to include protein in your diet to create balance.

By giving these tips a try, it could help you meet your goals easier.

www.BrianNealFitness.org

The Heart and Healthy Aging

Quote for Today:

Always do your best. Your best is going to change from moment to moment; it will be different when you are healthy as opposed to sick. Under any circumstance, simply do your best, and you will avoid self-judgment, self-abuse and regret.

-

Miguel Angel Ruiz



The Heart and Healthy Aging

As we grow older we, experience higher risks of heart disease, cholesterol increase, weakening joints, muscles, and so on. Most people who experience illnesses often feel frustrated and experience feelings of despair. People who suffer illnesses or tragedies unfortunately set themselves up, saying, it can’t happen to me. It can happen to any of us, which is why we should take the steps in our youth to prevent illnesses and tragedies.

Many of us fail to take the steps in our youth. It hinders us to a large degree, yet we have options regardless of what we endure.

According to experts in aging and heart disease is rising higher these days than ever. The aging progression alone slowly builds up through impulsive changes of the body and mind. The maturity phase carries on starting at childhood as the person works through puberty, teenage and so on. At this time the body and minds starts to decline. As the person reaches mid-age or moves into advanced aging, the person starts to decline its natural physical functions.

Aging alone starts as we are born and carries throughout our life. Through the process, the body has positive reflections on our bodily components and development, yet as we age, negative effects take fold, which include the declining phase.

According to experts in medicine, no one can determine when our body becomes aged. At one time people 65 and older where considered the aged, yet today people are working further on than 65 years of age. In short, people are working in the 70s, 80s and even 90 years of age today, which returned a different view on the aged.

Still, millions of American citizens are falling victim to heart disease, strokes, etc. What can they do?

How to relieve emotional strikes after a heart attack: 
If you’ve experienced a heart attack, likely you feel frustrated, hopeless, etc. The emotions are common after any illnesses, yet you must take steps to control these negative emotions, since it only causes stress on your body. The stress will wear you down and perhaps lead to another heart attack. Let’s stop it now. After illnesses, including heart attack learn to focus on the day, instead of yesterday and tomorrow. You only have control of each day you live. Instead of sweating weeks ahead, try doing something you enjoy. Walking is a great way to reduce the risks of heart attacks. You can also visit friends or family members that make you feel good about you.

Support is essential. If you have support, you will have friends and family members who will open their minds to your feelings. You should never allow your feelings to linger in your own mind without expressing what you feel. Express your feelings to people you trust. Take time to listen to them and let these people know what you need. For instance, if you just need a friendly ear, then let them know. Holding back emotions leads to soaring complications.
If you can find support groups in your area that is experiencing the same thing as you, then join the team. The support will help you to share information with people who understand what you are going through. It can be frustrating to express feelings with people who have not experienced similar illnesses or experiences as you. Try to find someone that you can relate to and speak your feelings.

Exercise: 
Exercise is the leading element we have offered to us in life that helps to reduce any disease, emotional reactions and so on. When you sit around feeling anxious, depressed, or despaired, you are working toward worse health conditions. Reverse your actions and take the steps to live longer by exercising each day.

Always talk to your doctor before starting any exercise or diet program.

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Dancing With The South Florida Stars IV

This is the official video for Dancing With The South Florida Stars, our signature fundraiser for the Brian Neal Fitness & Health Foundation.

Thank you for all that contributed to help those living with HIV and low income have access to all star fitness service.

Please watch and enjoy!  Life And Fitness For All!

www.BrianNealFitness.org