Life As I see It

Celebrity Weight Loss - How Do They Do It?

2010-03-14T18:15:00.000-07:00

You probably have heard about Acai Berry. It is the herbal supplement that is becoming more popular every day. This superfood is full of beneficial health benefits, but the fact that it has great fat burning properties that is attracting many Hollywood celebrities.

It is a fact, celebrities have to put up with having their photos taken in no matter where they are, so they need to look their best. We have all seen unflattering pictures of celebrities and the comments about those pictures are downright mean. We should be grateful that we don't have to worry about this happening to us!

Since they really can't have a private life, many stars do whatever they can to look good at all times. One of the things that appears to be catching on with celebrities as well as the rest of us is the use of Acai products.

The Acai berry is found deep in the Amazon and in Africa. It grows at the very top of certain types of palm trees. This berry has a very deep purple color and is delicious to eat alone. This powerful fruit is chock full of protein, antioxidants and amino acids. It is beneficial for the heart and the digestive system as well as fueling your metabolism!

It is these fat burning properties that has made Acai berry such a hit with celebrities. By taking Acai on a regular basis, you can keep your metabolism fired up and running at its prime. When your metabolism is fired up and running good, your body can burn off more fat faster.

Now you can't just take Acai supplements and think it will work without any effort from you. It is important to follow a healthy diet and get regular exercise. The Acai berry products are a great addition to any diet and fitness program. The supplement will help you burn more fat and increase your energy levels. All of these things together equal a well balanced weight loss plan.

You can find Acai in juices, energy bars and supplements. It is a good addition to any diet because it has no known negative side effects. The health benefits of Acai make it a great supplement for just about anyone. Many doctors and health care professionals also recommend Acai as a good health supplement.

You can find Acai berry products just about anywhere today, but you want to make sure the supplement you buy is pure Acai. It is a good idea to purchase these supplements from a reputable health care store or pharmacy where there is someone who can answer your questions. Remember, just because something costs more doesn't mean it is higher quality. Do your research and get the one with the highest concentration of Acai and make sure there aren't a lot of artificial ingredients. You want your supplements to be as natural as possible.

Give Acai products a try and see if you feel better, have more energy and are able to drop more pounds. There is no promise you will look like a Hollywood star, but you will be a fantastic you!

Article by Piper Cox.Piper is a freelance writer who enjoys fitness and the outdoors. She love to observe wildlife and gets photos of birds in flight using her binocular camera. She enjoys nature, reading and fitness. Check out her new website, www.binocularcamera.org to learn all about a binocular camera so you can take great wildlife shots too!

Is Light Therapy The Right Treatment For You?

2010-02-26T17:47:00.000-08:00

Light therapy is a relatively new way to treat several different kinds of disorders ranging from seasonal affective disorder to jet lag. It can be helpful and has very few side effects. Can light therapy can be for you?

What exactly is light therapy? An effective therapy that simulates natural outdoor light to help restore the body's natural rhythms and help people overcome some mood disorders. Light therapy uses a special light that emits a light that is brighter than that of a normal household lamp. Many light therapy boxes emit a light that is brighter and more intense than the average outdoor light, a short session of exposure to the light usually helps.

Why is light therapy used? Light therapy is used to simulate natural, outdoor light. Research has shown that exposure to natural light helpsto maintain our body's natural rhythm. When we aren't exposed to much natural light it can upset the normal rhythm and cause disorders such as depression and seasonal affective disorder SAD. This therapy can also help to treat conditions such as jet lag, post-partum depression, and obsessive compulsive disorder OCD. Exposure to a light box can even help people who work varying shifts restore a normal sleep cycle.

What are the risks? Light therapy has a few risks, but they are generally mild. Some of the side effects may include: headache, nausea, eyestrain, agitation, fatigue, and irritability. Usually side effects will resolve themselves soon after beginning light therapy treatment. However if they don't go away on their own, try reducing the time that the treatment is used or change the time of day that you use the light.

A word of caution, light therapy may trigger episodes of mania in patients with bipolar disorder. There could also be a risk of suicidal thoughts in patients who are suffering from severe depression. If you are currently being treated for one of these disorders, please check with your doctor before starting any kind of alternative therapy.

How to get the most from your therapy sessions. For best results, you should use your light box at the same time each day. Most health care professionals recommend using the box soon after you wake up every day. Begin with a 15 minute session and slowly work up to 30 minutes to two hours. Consistency is important when using a light box. You might want to skip a day, but make your therapy time productive time. Place the box on a table near you and then read a book or watch television.

Light therapy may not work for every mood disorder, but it could help reduce symptoms and help you find relief. Spending some time in front of a light box every day could help you find joy in the little things again.

This article was written by Jamie Rona. Jamie is a mother of three who enjoys fitness and the outdoors. She loves to relax at the end of the day with a smoothie made with her hand held blender. Check out her website, www.milkshakemaker.org to learn all about different types of milkshake makers, blenders, and smoothie makers so you can make delicious treats too!

Stress Relievers - Finding Peace in a Crazy World!

2010-02-03T19:50:00.000-08:00

With the busy lives we lead just about everybody experiences stress in their lives. We are faced with stress from many different areas. Not only are we faced with the usual stresses of work and home, but we are also faced with stress in the world around us as well. We have traffic, city noise, and technology like TV's and radios, computers and phones. And don't forget the fact that we have artificial light throughout the day and night. Is it any wonder we feel anxious and overwhelmed?

Even if you don't realize it, your body starts to crave a more peaceful environment when faced with stressful situations. No doubt everyone has wanted to get into bed and crawl under the covers at some point of their life! We need to make the time to recharge and revitalize so we can handle the daily stress we face. If we don't find ways to relieve stress and anxiety in our lives, we may have bouts with depression, anxiety or physical illness. By using stress management ideas we can help keep stress from increasing and creating an emotional breakdown or a physical illness.

There are several different kinds of stress management techniques that can be helpful in overcoming the stress that we face. Some ways of overcoming stress can be as simple as working to overcome the source of the stress, being more assertive, or removing yourself from the cause of the stress completely.
A lot of the stress that we face comes from our jobs. There are a couple of main causes of stress on the job: the work itself and the people we work with. Pressures at work can include difficult tasks that seem overwhelming, pressing deadlines, and not having enough hours in the day to accomplish the assignments we need to do.

Although workplace stress cannot always be avoided, it can be managed. If you find yourself constantly being interrupted while trying to do your work, see if you can alter your work schedule so you can do your work when there are fewer people in the office. If you can't do this, use time management ideas to complete overwhelming jobs during the slowest time of your workday.

We all have to deal with difficult people and on the job this is a great cause of stress. Coworkers and uptight bosses can be a source of stress as well as angry customers. By learning to be assertive you can express your concerns without coming across as being aggressive or threatening. If necessary, find a book or an assertiveness training course that will teach you how to set defined boundaries. By creating boundaries and letting others know when they cross those boundaries you will become free from the emotional stress created by dealing with difficult people. Assertiveness training can also help with stressful family relationships as well.

Some other ideas to help relieve stress on the job are simple things such as taking scheduled breaks, having a clean and pleasant work area, and having a definite starting and ending time to your day. Giving yourself time for a break helps you to regroup and return to your work with a fresh outlook. A simple 15 minute break can do wonders for your productivity. Plus, if your work area is an area you like to be, the quality of your work will increase. It is amazing how little changes like these can decrease your work related stress.

You can deal with stress by developing a positive attitude. Keep in mind that no one has a perfect life and that difficult situations happen to everyone. If you have the attitude that this too shall pass, you are freeing yourself from unnecessary anxiety and worry. We all have problems to deal with, but we can learn to overcome rather than let the problems overcome us.

Stress is a part of the busy lives we live and we will never be free of it. But by learning to change our thinking from negative to positive, becoming more assertive, practice time management skills and looking for the good we will see that life is good. You can reduce your stress and discover the peace and contentment you want.

This article was written by Jamie Rona. Jamie is a mother of three who enjoys fitness and the outdoors. She loves to make fun treat for her kids with her milkshake maker. Check out her new website, www.milkshakemaker.org to learn all about getting the best milkshake maker so you can make great homemade milkshakes too!

Get Warm Quick with an Infrared Heater!

2010-01-23T08:31:00.000-08:00

With the economy we face today we are all trying to find the best way to keep warm and save money. The price of heating fuel is on the rise but, the price electricity is dropping. How can we take full advantage of this situation to help keep our homes warm? It is possible with infrared heat. Infrared heaters give effective heat and don't drain your budget.

You can find quite a few advantages of infrared heat over the usual method of forced air heating systems. Infrared works by heating people and objects, not the air around them, this provides a nice warmth minus the draftiness you get from forced air heat. It heats from the floor up, warming solid objects in its path minus the cold spots.

You can control the heat, giving warmth to only in the areas where you want it. If you are only using a small portion of your home, a portable space heater will allow you to warm up only the rooms you plan to use. By controlling the places you provide heat to, you will see a definite savings in your heating bill. You can save as much as fifty percent on your heating costs by using portable space heaters over conventional forced air heating system. You need to remember that your actual savings will depend on several factors such as the area you are heating, etc.

Quick heat is one of the best things about infrared heat. It is easy to just turn on the heater and instantly be bathed in warmth. It is a excellent great way to heat bathrooms where you want have some extra heat when getting out of the tub! You can also add an infrared heating lamp to bathrooms for quick instant heat.

Perhaps one of the greatest things about this type of heat source is how clean it is. Forced air systems usually blow dirt and dust throughout the house, contributing to allergies. By using infrared heat in place of forced air, there is no movement of allergens and dust particles. Just clean, draft free warmth with no filters to change and hardly any maintenance!

Infrared heaters are available in a wide variety of sizes and designs. There are large ones for garages and workshops, small, compact ones for bathrooms and smaller areas. You can even find ones that resemble furniture! These are the latest and greatest types of infrared heaters. They look just like an end table that is made with quality wood. The beautiful cabinet houses a great heater than can heat large areas effectively. The beauty of these new heaters is they are very safe. They are not hot to touch and safe for children and pets. You can put items on top of them and not worry. It is like having an occasional table in the room, with the great bonus of extra heat!

In this difficult world we are all wanting ways to save money. By adjusting the way we heat our homes, it is possible to notice a great savings in our energy bills. As well as saving money, you will be doing your part to save the environment as well. Clean, infrared heat does not produce the harmful emissions of petroleum based heating systems.

Try an infrared heater a try. You will enjoy the cozy warmth and the great savings it provides!

This article was written by Cecil Flynn. Cecil understands the importance of staying warm while saving energy! You can read his reviews on the different types of infrared space heaters on his website: www.infraredheatingsystem.org.

Remember When?

2010-01-21T18:56:00.000-08:00

Remember when? We have all heard that saying a lot, remember when days were quiet, remember when we used to play outside all day long. Ah yes, the good old days. We all remember those days no matter how old we are. Everything just seemed to be better when we were young, why is that?

When we are young we don't have the responsibilities of grown ups. You can play with friends all day without any concerns about how the bills will get taken care of if you are playing instead of working. Don't get me wrong, this is a positive thing. Kids need to be able to kick back and enjoy life. Having fun and socializing with other kids will help turn them into kind, caring grown ups. However you aren't doing kids a favor by letting them have the easy life. Parents need to balance play and work. Having kids do chores will help them to realize that you don't get something for nothing. You have to work for what you get!

Remember when the lazy days of summer meant long games of Kick The Can, Hide & Seek and Mother May I. I am not sure if kids today even know what those games are! I fondly remember gathering together with the neighborhood kids early in the morning and we would explore and play in the neighborhood all day long. Well, until we heard our mother's calling us home from the front porch. Kids today don't play like we did. The world is a much stranger place now. It is sad really, we didn't get into trouble and we didn't worry about strangers. The most that we had to worry about is someone getting hurt and needing stitches!

Remember the family trips of your childhood? Throwing the whole family into the car and driving for hours to get to our destination. We didn't have portable DVD players, Game Boy's or iPods. We played the Alphabet and License Plate games. We didn't have a GPS either, but getting lost made for fun memories of the trip, even if Dad got angry because he didn't know where in the world we were at! Back in the day getting there was half the fun. We still remember the places we would stop on our road trips. Somehow taking an airplane takes some of the fun out of a vacation. Of course you get there fast, but you lose out on all the great family fun in the car. Well, maybe all that time spent in the car wasn't as fun for mom and dad as it was for us kids!

This article was written by Jamie Rona. Jamie enjoys spending her time researching her family history and using her 35mm slide converter as part of the process. She enjoys nature, reading and working on converting old slides to digital for family members.

Getting Kids Excited About Fitness!

2010-01-04T17:41:00.000-08:00

We see it in the media frequently, stories that tell us that kids today are at risk. The obesity rate for youth is greater than it has ever been and just getting worse. How can we teach youth today how important fitness is for their health?

Kids today have more leisure time than ever before. It once was that all members of the family had to work for what they had. Kids worked gardens, tended animals, etc. The little luxuries we have today have made life easier, but it has also contributed to the rise in obesity of a generation.

There are so many television channels to select from, an endless number of video games to play, and hundreds of friends to chat with and text. Life has become wrapped around technology and the computer age has a handle on our kids.

But there are ways to get kids off the couch and moving. The first thing to do is turning off the television. I know some people won't want to do this, but so many families think the TV has to be on during every waking hour. They don't grasp the beauty of peace and quiet. If you shut off the TV, soon kids will wander off and find for other ways to occupy their time.

Get your kids involved in local children's sports. Many communities have soccer and baseball programs. Swimming classes may spark an interest in swimming competitively. Gymnastics and dance lessons are fun and rewarding. Children don't even realize they are getting fit!

Not all fitness for kids ideas needs to be competitive or costly. Take your kids for walks through your town or to the local park. If you are fortunate to live by a natural area, go for hikes and nature walks. Go on bike rides as a family or put up a basketball hoop in the driveway and play basketball.

You can find fun ways to stay fit with technology as well. A lot of new video games are interactive and get kids up off the couch and moving. The Nintendo Wii and Wii Fit are two examples of fun fitness video games. Nintendo has taken video games into a new arena by helping people get involved in games in a physical way. Hats off to Nintendo for giving us a way to enjoy fitness!

There are lots of choices for getting everyone in the family fit. Make fitness a priority and find ways to make it entertaining. Your family will be healthy and happy, who could want more than that?

Article written by Terra Hawkes: Terra is the mother of twin boys who she loves to take for walks in her BOB Jogging Stroller. Terra has researched double jogger strollers and shares her opinions on her website: www.doublebabyjoggingstroller.org.

Lose Weight Eating Real Food?

2009-12-25T11:42:00.000-08:00

So many diets require you to eat special food or take diet supplements. Well, that just isn't me! So I did some research and here is an article I wrote about what I discovered about weight loss and REAL food! I hope you find it interesting . . .

Lose Weight By Eating These Foods ~ by Paige Mercer
With all the different diet programs available plus all the diet supplements, it is easy to get confused about the best way to lose weight. There has to be away to lose weight naturally and without all the side effects you find with so many of the supplements on the market. Well you can lose weight effectively and naturally by adding five simple foods to your diet. These foods are nature’s fat burners and they will help boost your metabolism and do it in a healthy way!

Just by adding these five great foods to your diet you will see weight loss results.

Berries – Berries are one of nature’s super foods. They are jam packed with antioxidants so they help to boost your immune system and prevent illness. They are naturally low in calories, plus they taste so good! You can add berries to cereals, muffins, smoothies, etc. They taste wonderful no matter how you eat them, they make a perfect snack. Just remember, for weight loss you will want to eat them as close to their natural form as possible – a blackberry pie is not a way to get eat berries for weight loss! Combine them with other healthy foods to get the most benefit from berries.

Apples – Apples help to keep blood glucose levels even so they naturally curb hunger pangs. This also makes apples a great snack for people who have trouble maintaining their blood sugar. Apples are a good source of fiber, which helps you to feel full longer and keep you regular. They also have no fat or cholesterol so they are a perfect snack!

Spinach – Spinach has gotten a bad rap through the years so many people naturally avoid eating it. But spinach is delicious fresh – not the limp cooked mess that was served by school lunch! Spinach can be used in so many ways – add it to salads, stews, pasta, or blend it into fruit smoothies. Spinach has been shown to increase metabolism and helps to lower cholesterol. All these things make spinach the perfect weight loss food.

Potatoes – Potatoes are another food that has a bad reputation when it comes to weight loss. Potatoes are naturally low in calories and are full of vitamins. The problem comes when people add fattening toppings to potatoes. Stay away from the high fat additions and top your baked potato with yogurt, spices, or fresh veggies. Yum!

Whole Grains – In our white bread world, it is sometimes tough to appreciate the wonderful flavor of whole grains. Work yourself into them gradually, mix whole grain and white rice together at first and make your sandwiches with white bread on one side and whole grain on the other! Soon you will learn to love the flavor of whole grains and then you will begin to reap the benefits. Whole grains are a rich source of fiber which helps you to feel full longer. They are lower in sugar and calories making them a perfect choice as a weight loss food.

It is possible to lose weight eating everyday foods. It is all about the choices you make. Losing weight by changing your eating habits is the way to permanent weight loss. After all, it is all about lifestyle!

Paige is a graphic designer who enjoys fitness and the outdoors. She uses bluetooth printers so she can work anywhere, even outside! She enjoys nature, reading and fitness. Check out her new website, www.bluetoothprinters.net to find out how you can print from anywhere in your house - even outside!